Finally winter is coming to a close and not a moment too soon in my opinion. Everything about winter time is horrible, so I’m truly glad to see it go. Every morning I wake up and hear birds chirping it puts a smile on my face because it is a little like listening to winter's death rattle. The only thing wintertime has to offer me now that I’m not in grade school is an excuse to not be social and play MMOs inside.
The wintertime is actually quite brilliant for that. I can get away with three or four subs active in the wintertime because we have the extra funds. Usually that extra money is spent on going out to bars and such, but not in the winter because we live in Ohio and winter time is a constant crap shoot of bad weather combos. Nothing I like better than coming in side from a blinding and privates shrinkingly cold blizzard to a warm computer chair. What’s strange is that I don’t really get that many complaints assuming the kid is asleep or preoccupied.
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Now, I may be able to keep more subs active and squeeze some more play time in on average than any other season but, the quality isn’t really there. If I do get into a situation where the weather is so bad that my wife and I are stuck in the house I have to pretty much do anything and everything my wife asks me to do while I’m gaming. If I don’t do these things my gaming time is effectively quartered because fighting will erupt much sooner. So forget raids or grouping with strangers in dungeons. I usually get a lot of crafting done and localized questing. I have found out that my wife has a limit of how many times I can say to her “yeah, in a min.” or any variation of that before she gives up on having me help her do anything. That is where the countdown actually begins.
If she hasn’t asked me to get up from my chair to do something for about fifteen minutes, I know my gaming time is quickly running out. Either she is mad at me because I half assed most of the things she asked me to do, which is the usual scenario, or she is just out of stuff to do. At this point I have, at the most, another hour to play before either fighting starts or she just gets tired of me ignoring her.
So, why did I just tell you all of that? Wasn’t this supposed to be about how bad winter sucks or something? Oh, dear Reader, I thought we had gotten past the point of silly questions. I thought that you and I had developed an understanding. I thought that by now you would trust me enough to not just leave you hanging or otherwise lead you astray. I guess I was mistaken... Anyway, this winter has taught me a lesson about how squeeze in a little more play time and you are more than welcome to use this to your advantage, even if you betrayed me.
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Winter time is cold and flu season as most people know and having a cold is miserable. I was lucky enough to get the flu once and I have had a cold for the majority of the winter. I hate having a cold. HATE IT! Sorry for yelling, but I truly hate having a cold. I especially hate colds that last for longer than two weeks. At least you know that the flu is only going to last two or three days. I have had a cold almost all winter. I don’t remember what it feels like to be “normal” or “well”. This year, however, I noticed something interesting.
After I got home from work on a day, where my cold symptoms were especially horrible, I came in and immediately tossed myself down on the couch in a heap. I felt wretched. My sinuses were so congested that it felt as though the front part of my skull was going to explode. I had a sore throat and a cough that was so bad it was making my abs sore. I must have looked as bad as I felt because my wife looked at me like I was a hurt puppy. I will never forget the conversation that followed.
“Would it make you feel better if I made you some soup?” she asked me. I just gave a sad little nod as I grabbed some tissue to blow my nose. “Ok baby, I’ll make you some soup… and why don’t you wrap yourself in a blanket and play some World of Warcraft (she calls all MMOs World of Warcraft) because that will probably make you feel better.” I couldn’t believe it, actual permission to play MMOs! I tried to hold back my excitement as I gave another tiny nod. I took my spot in front of my computer with blanket wrapped around my body and did actually feel a little bit better. My face still felt like it was going to blow up and I was still coughing up bits of lung but I at least I was playing an MMO without interruption. I was still only able to play for about three hours but that is a marathon session for me these days. I probably could have played for longer but I was actually sick.
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So there you have it readers, if you are on the verge of death you can play video games without any kind of hassle. It’s actually encouraged if you are sick… at least it was in my case. Too bad I learned about the power that colds have towards the end of the winter time and not the beginning. Maybe next year winter won’t suck quite so bad.
It probably will though.
