August 01, 2008

When On-Line Friends Disappear

I've been active on-line (blogging, chatrooms, Second Life, etc.) for years. I've developed a lot of wonderful friendships via the internet over the years...several people I care about deeply. We all, however, tend to keep an anonimity in tact with those relationships...know first name but not last, state but not city, etc. It's for safeties sake...don't want someone we don't really know going stalker or psycho on us.

Those that I am REALLY close to, I have phone numbers and such for...just in case one of us drops offline we can check up on each other, not to mention chat now and then. Those I don't have contact information for, however...it worries me some times. What if they were to disappear...never login again, not answer e-mails...the worry and wondering would be frustrating at best. I've had this happen before, but they eventually showed back up somehow, much to my relief.

I've a situation with one such friend. Well, I actually have this person's phone number, but the last I talked to him, he wasn't living at that house any more. This dear man, an intelligent, funny, soft-hearted person, is bi-polar and has suffered from horrible bouts of depression and other suffering. The last I talked to him, he had been in the hospital, and things had gone terribly wrong with his wife so he had moved out. He was miserable...missing his children, missing her, just completely miserable and so very down. There's only so much you can do from 2000 miles away...*sigh*

Well, I haven't heard from him now for months. Honestly, I'm worried sick. He's had a history of attempting suicide and I'm scared to death that he's done it. I want to call that number I have and check on him, but I know I would get his wife... I guess you can say I'm scared to call...scared of what I'll find out. I've e-mailed several times with no response...which is not like him. Sometimes they're slow in coming, but he always respond.

If I didn't have a phone number, I'd be completely clueless and helpless. But I have a number...I'm going to call soon...I just can't stand it any more.

Update 10/8/08: HE'S OK :) *breathes sigh of relief*

June 10, 2008

Hold on to Your Ass, Toto!

oh boy...wow, I've really not posted for like...forever. I'm still around, and have been poking my nose into your blogs though I've been rather quiet.

It's been a crazy Spring and early Summer here...tons of storms. I know many have heard about the monsterous F5 tornado that wiped out a whole town near here...but there have been many more of those twisters around...many more than usual.

Well, the night before last, I met one face to face. We had dropped D off at his grandma and grandpas as he's spending the week camping with them and was heading home. We could see a nasty storm coming in but thought we'd get out of there in time...hahaha. WRONG.

As I drove north, it started raining. Then it rained harder. Then it started raining sideways, so hard that I could barely see 5 feet in front of the car. The wind was blowing hard and I was having a terrible time staying on the road. As we approached an intersection where I could go right to my parents' place or left to go home, suddenly construction signs and those big orange barrels started flying across the highway. I turned right and opted to return to my parents' house. When I got there, after 10-15 minutes of white-knuckled struggle to stay on the road, I found them in their basement with the weather radio blaring tornado warnings...the twister had just passed over the spot where I was.

I knew it was a tornado, but never saw the funnel as there was just too much rain. Talk about an adrenalin rush, though...woo! I think there are still fingernail marks in my steering wheel.

So now, we get to deal with the floods...they're closing the down town bridges tonight. Just help me pray we don't lose power and water again. Now, THAT sucked.

January 09, 2008

It's a Cyber-Cat's Life

Many of you that come here or have been coming here know that I've been spending most of my on-line time playing Second Life. It's an amazing on-line world, and there are many games inside the game. Well, recently, I've tried something new in there and have found it very entertaining.

The world of Gor, based on the novels of John Norman, has a huge presence in Second Life. It is a somewhat primitive world, involving an alternate planet where men are very dominant and many women live as slaves. See the link for a lot more details if you're curious...it's rather complicated actually.

Quite a while back, a friend was telling me about her involvement in Gor in the role of a panther. Panthers are, in a nutshell, outlaws and escaped slaves - female warriors who live in tribes in the woods and jungles. Very protective of their own and dedicated to their tribes, they are fierce fighters. The world of Gor in Second Life relying on role playing to weave the intricate stories of each person's life there, panthers spend most of their days defending their territory and their "sisters" from invasions from unfriendly tribal rivals and Gorean men looking for slaves. Most of the fighting is done with bows and arrows (and very realistic, I might mention) but some hand-to-hand combat with spears and daggers comes into play as well.

I was initiated into my friends tribe along with my closest friend a few weeks ago. Yes...I am now a panther. We get captured now and then and it is up to us to find a way to escape or our sisters organize a rescue party to come get us. If we are victorious in battle, our captives are usually traded for goods or for a captive sister that the enemy may have. Sometimes, however, they are kept as slaves of the tribe and, now and then, they can even be killed. It's an exciting and some times savage world full of great fun and adventure.


Panther Celti :)

Last night, I kicked a Gorean pig's butt, tied him up and traded him for two bars of chocolate. whoochacha!