Author: marylowd

Sometimes these strange glowing boxes we hold in our hands let us be kind to each other — sharing love and good feelings across the esoteric realm of the internet — and when that happens, it’s nothing short of magic.

I don’t think I’ve read any books during my adulthood that brought me back to how much I loved reading — how I lived to read — when I was a child as much as Seanan McGuire’s.

As a child, I saw a copy of Watership Down with a starburst on the cover emblazoned with the words, “More than One Million Books Sold.

My child’s brain for one glorious moment interpreted that as one million -different- books.

One million sequels to Watership Down. Continue reading “Falling Into Reading”

Sometimes when I’m playing World of Warcraft, I stop and wonder: will I someday regret all the time I spend playing this game? Will I feel like I wasted it?

And, no, I don’t think I will.

I genuinely love playing Warcraft.

There was a time when I hated playing World of Warcraft. And I know, nobody was forcing me to play… but it was almost a game I could love? It was like I could see its future, in its bones. Continue reading “Video Games and Regret”

I’m listening to Taylor Swift’s new version of the album Red, and my first take is that the sad songs sound more changed than the happy ones… More wistful.

Happy is simple. It feels the same, young or old.

Sadness grows depth over time; complexity with age.

I am really torn between hating Stardew Valley (because it goes out of its way to preserve far too many aspect of real life) and desperately wanting to win at it…

Except it’s not really the kind of game where you “win”…

Which brings us back around to the possibly hating it. Continue reading “Preserving the Wrong Aspects of Reality”

Shortly before starting high school, my heart was truly & completely broken by my best friend who essentially outgrew me. I didn’t really know how to make new friends and mostly went through high school without.

However, Nick at Nite played a week long Monkees Marathon… Continue reading “A Voice That Sounds Like Friendship”

I decided it’s time to get around to re-leveling my druid. (Back in the day, she was one of my four level 60s.) So, it’s been… more than a decade since I’ve really played a druid. But having flight form AND stealth AND self-healing definitely feels kind of like cheating.

…also an instant distance pull and enough toughness to just stand around while things beat on me. Continue reading “Druid Leveling”

Ha hah! I have flying in Kul Tiras!

Take that Boralus with your Escher stairs! And Nazjatar with all your spiky cliffs!

Time to gather a lot of jelly to feed a growing bee now. Continue reading “Tidbits from Virtual Worlds”

We’ve been discussing whether the kids want to go back to in-person school next term, since we’ll all be vaccinated. Elder Child casually mentioned active shooter drills as part of something else… and I suddenly want to turn into a bunker family like in Blast from the Past.

Me: *stays up until 4am*

Hazel: *fetches me to bed with much meowing*

Me: *goes to bed at 2am* Continue reading “My Cat’s Opinions On My Sleep Schedule”