Thank Grog It’s Firday!
I am starting to suspect that the lack of a Christmas Event in TSTO may be my fault. I know…I know…I’m just another blogger with an opinion. But, the correlation between game play and real life is starting to make me lose my freakinshirt!
This is the first year…ever…that there are some huge changes around my favorite holiday in our household…I mean huge.
Just like TSTO, “something is off” when it comes to tradition, and following any kind of regular schedule. And like TSTO, we are waaaaaaay behind on checking the boxes for this year’s celebrations.
But, even more terrifying to someone like me, who loves Christmas, is that it is starting to feel like the boxes are not only not being checked…but are being removed by a power outside of my control! It’s as if TSTO and life have suddenly changed, in ways that I never expected, nor really wanted! And, it may be MY FAULT!!
When you get to be my age, you start really diving into the “what is life all about?” questions that ultimately just open more questions than offering real answers. Every time you think you have it figured out, you suddenly realize that you don’t…and life takes you down a road you never thought you would be running upon.
So it is with the holidays this year. Nothing is what it is “supposed to be.” And, I blame myself (and my wife).
Hold on….hear me out. I know it is not cool to throw Deb under the bus, so to speak. But, of course, I would never actually do that…even though a city bus runs right down our street regularly. In fact, it is that same city bus that makes note every year of our annual Christmas lights display…which for the past 30 years, has included my hand-crafted display of Pooh, Piglet, and friends. It has been covered in the local paper…and people walking by always comment that they love the tradition, and count on it.
Christmas 2017
But, as I write this…our yard is bereft of any decorations. Why? Because most of them are buried under a giant heap of stuff that had to be moved to the storage shed, to make room for the giant remodeling job DEB is making me do. Yes. I am admitting it. I was fine with the house the way it was…mostly knowing what it was going to take to get her projects done.
But, I also admit, that I am enjoying the fruits of my labor…and am eager to complete it all before the holidays.
Which isn’t going to happen. Trust me…it isn’t going to happen. Because she shifted the list…changed the focus to FINISH the kitchen, before I cleared the living room and did the flooring…which would have allowed her to decorate.
But, before we go too far into a realm of digression from which we can’t return…let’s try to make sense of why I am taking the blame for the delay or perhaps outright cancellation of a Holiday Event in TSTO.
And…If there is any doubt of the delay…It’s the 6th of December, and this is still the opening screen. Why are there still turkeys? Why is Homer still a pilgrim? Why did they recycle the screen shot from last year (except for a couple of minor changes in the background)?
It’ like the game is dead and doesn’t know it. But, it is likely not dead…but, as Miracle Max says in the Princess Bride (one of my all-time favorite movies), it’s just “Mostly Dead.”
But what is dead, and what is “mostly dead?” And aren’t we all just as much “mostly dead” as we are “mostly alive” as we spend almost a third of our lives sleeping? But, I digress…
As I have mentioned before, after an NDE in the mid-1990s, I stared delving deeply into the topic, “what is reality?” I won’t go into my conclusions now…but, was surprised to read that there is a fairly strong case in theoretic physics, that one of two things could be true.
One, is that everything we experience is just a computer simulation, being essentially created by each individual. This isn’t as far-fetched as one would believe. This article in 2012, lays out a pretty interesting set of university-funded studies that seem to support this idea.
It’s pretty intriguing…but, coming from the University of Washington, our avowed enemies in the Pac 12 (yes they stink this year, and their coach just resigned), I have to discount it. Sorry, but that Dawg don’t hunt!
However…the general idea seems to have traction, especially if you read recent articles on the topic, including this one from Forbes magazine.
I think it has more substance than the U of W one…because Forbes doesn’t have a football team, and is certainly not in the Pac 12…which is as a good a reason as any for my next bit of logic.
I killed Christmas and the TSTO Holiday Update…
Let’s get back to the things we aren’t doing this year…which are benchmarks of the Holiday tradition.
We are not putting up a tree. As Deb argued, the kids aren’t coming home this year, nobody is going to see it, and it takes hours to decorate, and the living room is full of construction material for the flooring (that she delayed). OK. I get it. She’s right. No tree.
We are not decorating the house. (see the italics in the paragraph above for the same reason). Even though we have loads and loads of traditional decorations, including Deb’s huge snowman collection, a ton of Christmas-themed balance toys, and loads and loads of garland, we are not putting up any of it.
We are not going to be here for Christmas. That’s right. We are going to be in Portland with Maddy and Josh for Christmas…and then we flying out to New Orleans the next day, for a week…to celebrate Deb’s 60th birthday, and my 66th birthday, with a bunch of the kids. A first. Fun. But, kinda weird. No birthday football (I’m a New Year’s baby). No traditional meal of hamburgers and potato salad (Deb’s is the best ever). And no reason to look for snow. We’re going to be going to haunted mansions, Bourbon St. and reasons to don beads.
How does this have anything to do with TSTO???
Come on. Pay attention. If we are indeed living inside of a computer simulation, then my reality, may very well be the only reality that matters (at least to me). And in my reality, Christmas just isn’t really coming.
As it pertains to the game…Thanksgiving was late. Black Friday was lame. And, Christmas (snow, holiday lights, etc) didn’t come. There is no denying any of this.
But, as a test…just to see if my actions really do have any bearing on reality…I’m going to push the plunger…and turn on all of the Holiday Lights in my town. Snow or no snow (and don’t get me started on the weird weather this year), I’m going to buck the system…and bring the Holidays to my town.
AND… like it or not, I am going to defy Mrs. Miller…and put up Pooh and Piglet (I’ll update this post with photo proof later this weekend), with at least a few Christmas lights, so the good people of Eugene, will know we are still living here.
Will it be enough to bring about an update in TSTO???
Let’s find out.
TURN ON YOUR LIGHTS!!! Defy EA and the Grinches at Gracie! BRING ON THE UPDATE!!
And…while your “hitting your Holiday Plunger,” to trigger Christmas in your town, OPEN UP YOUR HEARTS (and wallets) to Help Us Over The Top for our kids in Uganda!
We’re getting there…but, not there yet!
Just 15 of you have generously brought is this far…
Will you add your name to the list to help us reach our goal?
CLICK HERE TO DONATE
And, have yourself a very UnChristmas!
UPDATE…
OK… I caved to the guilt and pressure from tradition…
Pooh, Piglet and Friends are up… Bring on the Snow!
