50 Summer Is Ending Survey

Originally posted 8-28-12.

The summer is nearly over, so let us wrap it up with an end of Summer 2012 survey- (oh, goody)

1. Tell me one positive thing that happened this summer?

Merlin marathon, bought the boxed sets, yay! I *really* like this dragon.

 

2. Tell me one major bad thing that happened this summer?

Despite the list I could go on about, I think we’ve been really lucky nothing was worse and I don’t feel like dwelling on something negative right now.

3. Did you get engaged this summer?

I made a commitment to going public again, which was a huge decision for me. My social anxiety goes pretty off the wall sometimes, but dang if I’m going to let that turn me into a crazy chicken lady who sleeps out in the henhouse. There really is a woman within a hundred miles of me who is like that.

4. Get married?

I invested in an updated Print Shop Professional. I’m very serious about where this is going.

5. Break up with anyone?

Well, I’m not exactly laying low, but I think I need a break from my mother-in-law again, so I’m just steering clear. Nothing terrible, just reached my empathy capacity. I’m not very good at playing dysfunctional codependent head games with emotion vamps.

6. Get into a fight with a stranger?

I have no desire to tangle, I’m way too lazy.

7. Get into a fight with a friend?

The survey maker is making me look really boring, my life is so lacking in reality show conflict.

8. Have someone close to you die?

I saved a rooster’s life, but that might have only been temporary. I just don’t wanna know *fingers in ears* ~lalalalala~.

9. Do you know anyone who gave birth this summer?

This survey maker is being very thorough, I feel like I’m being interrogated by the IRS or something.

10. Did you have a job this summer?

*dang* Did I call it? I’m the kind of person that hardly ever asks teenagers questions like these because I know that’s all they hear.

11. Did you graduate this summer?

My college keeps contacting me wanting fundraising money, and I bet next year they’ll push super hard about the reunion I won’t attend. This particular alumna isn’t into patronizing (pun intended) for some kind of weird glory in the form of a plaque or book with my name listed in it.

12. How many people have you kissed this summer?

There are supposed to be studies out about how gaming is so realistic to the brain that it’s like reality, one of the biggies coming up is the idea that something experienced in a virtual reality is indistinguishable in the brain, you respond chemically in gaming like you would in real life situations, so I’m wondering if imagining stuff is like that, too. I’m not sure that’s completely true or even healthy, since fight or flight response and skills originally help keep the body healthy and intact, but if the brain responds and the body has to deal with chemical changes without being able to normalize with actual activity, I’m kind of wondering if general anxiety is the new norm. Anyway, not in this to argue, I really don’t care, I just know I get so wrapped up in anything I see on a screen in any form that I get emotionally invested and have to pause and walk around or even abandon the screen. Where was I going with this, oh yeah, people’s brains have been making up virtual reality since the dawn of humans when it comes to imagining sex and kissing and stuff, and honestly, if we create an imaginary situation and have real emotions or chemical responses to it, how is gaming any different? So we live fake lives in our heads and our real lives rarely measure up to how we wish the universe could be, the only difference I see in gaming is that actually being physically interactive in some form (even if only your thumbs move) is much more satisfying than your body not being involved at all, and even more so because you can see that your thought and tiny action actually change a situation around you, no matter how virtual it is, which I think is way more satisfying than just making everything the way you want it in your head and there’s no real challenge from an outside source. And unless you can completely dupe or convince your brain that your own thoughts inducing chemical changes are better than real life, we all still have to eat and breathe. I can see where someone locked away in their head could stop eating, but our bodies will generally alert our brains when there is oxygen deprivation going on (unless you’re being poisoned by some kind of gas like CO), like if someone held a hand over your face you would come out of whatever virtual reality and start fighting for your real life, so the whole issue of what reality is to the brain is, I think, begging the question. I think our brains know dang well what the differences are, even if *we* don’t. Sorry, I got so distracted on this question that I wound up doing a lot of other reading on the side.

Simulated Reality: Are We Living in the Matrix?

Virtual Reality – Future

New ‘Active Gaming’ Doesn’t Change Reality of Couch-Bound Stereotype

I watch E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) on G4 every year, which is super cool. I think about gaming a LOT. Gaming is what our brains have been doing since birth. Ha, all this from a question about kissing. I think I got off on this tangent because I thought well, the only person I’ve actually kissed is Scott, but in my head… and is that *real*?

13. Underage drink this summer?

I like my milk strained and chilled, so maybe aged at least a day.

14. Meet anyone new?

Got to meet a different ER doc today. God help anyone having a food allergy in a restaurant early on a Sunday morning, there’s not an open clinic or urgent care in the whole region. Fortunately, I’m getting good at this and just started slugging down the prednisone and benadryl and caught it before the wheezing started, but it’s a hard reaction, I’ll be doing prednisone for a couple more days. I am never eating breakfast out again. Glass of milk, that’s IT.

15. Got drunk?

Got pretty wasted on that benadryl, wouldn’t mind having my brain back now, please.

16. Been to a bar?

I can’t imagine that working out, not being the charming socialite sort.

17. Did you go on vacation anywhere?

Scott went to Florida and got to go parasailing, and I don’t envy that one little bitty bit.

 

18. Did you get to go swimming this summer?

I’ve been attempting to get extra showers, so I think I’ve met my being wet quota.

19. Did you go the the beach at all?

In my head, I’m in Galveston. I can even hear the gulls.

20. Something expensive that you bought this summer:

Bought up a bunch of internet property, felt like playing Monopoly with blogs. I guess my widget is like a hotel.

21. Latest you stood up?

a. Awhile ago I stood up and got some cheese because it won’t spike my blood sugar while I’m on the prednisone.

b. I took a stand a couple of weeks ago against rooster killing.

c. I never stand Scott up. He’s a weird dork who makes weird decisions, like parking backward to pick me up at a door, or taking the long way through extra traffic lights when I’m having an anaphylactic reaction, but he’s never not by my side through everything that’s a real drag in this life.

22. Threw up this summer?

I never throw up. I had enough of that and just stopped, years ago. I have a will of steel.

23. Favorite food this summer?

I know this is weird, but even through all that heat, the thing I loved most was hot chocolate.

24. Something you wish did not happen:

I’m still feeling pretty cranky about thinking I could get away with eating breakfast out and having that food reaction. That was absolutely unnecessary. I get bone pain with prednisone, and I have to take it for two more days. #sux
25. Something you wish did happen:

I kinda wish I’d sent some money to Vegas with Twink so she could have brought me back a t-shirt.

26. Did you see the meteorite shower?

It’s really cool to see those on the Earth channel. Those little polygon light reflections are what the meteors look like from the space cam.

 

27. Did you pick wild flowers?

I’m picking up cute little eggs out of the nests from the new hens.

 

28. Did you move?

I migrate from room to room and deck to deck.

29. Are you going to be going to college?

I’m sure I’ll drive past it a few times. I’m thinking about going to the records office to see if they can dig up my ACT score. I can’t remember if it’s 32 or 34. That’s been bugging me ever since I wrote of horses and ACT scores.
30. Did you have a house party this summer at all?

Waaaay too much house party, all 80 and over. I got worn out way before they did.

31. Did you see a shark in the water?

Dolphins followed Scott’s boat when he went parasailing. He prolly came close to being seduced by sirens.

32. Did you go fishing?

I developed a major food reaction to salmon last spring and have been afraid to eat any kind of fish ever since. I can’t tell you how upsetting it is to think I may never be able to eat fish again the rest of my life. I think that upset me more than having to give up lemon pie and guacamole.

33. Did you go camping?

Our youngest once swallowed a roly poly on a dare during a camping trip. ~gag~ My idea of camping is someone’s pull out couch, haven’t done that in almost 3 years. I’m not really that prissy, but I slept on a floor for 6 months when I was 18 and various other tough living situations through a few years, so roughing it outside with bugs and allergies when I could walk back into a house seems a little ridiculous.

34. Did you read any books?

Nonstop. I can’t help it, I’m really bored with tv.

35. Best movie of the summer?

Hunger Games, but only because it scarred me for life with Effie Trinket and all the wannabes that sprang up in her wake.  Click the second one to see the site.

 

36. Person you hung out with the most:

Is it any surprise that it’s Scott. He’s posing as The Thinker in this one.

 

37. Weirdest thing that happened so far:

Weird stuff never stops happening to me. I’m a magnet for all that is weird in the cosmos. Yeah, I know, you want a story. Be patient.

38. Scariest thing that happened this summer:

I found my psychologist on facebook.

39. Did you learn anything this summer:

I seem to be learning a tremendous amount about myself. For instance, a few surveys back, I finally checked what color my eyes really are.

40. Do you have a pool?

No one ever asks if I live in the woods. You know how you read about the woods in fairy tales, dark and creepy and full of poisoned plants and stuff? Yeah, that.

41. Did you BBQ at all this summer?

Got a couple yummy dinners in before that awful heat wave parked itself over us for weeks. We were easily hitting 106 in the shade, daily. For weeks. BBQ didn’t even sound good.

42. Did you actually do the cooking, or did someone else?

Scott’s getting really good at it, so I just step back. He is turning into a foodie despite himself, goes to great lengths to shop for special onions and garlic and wraps them in foil with lots of butter, mmmm. That garlic turns into candy, you can’t stop eating clove after clove.

43. One person you hated the most this summer:

I think I finally got disgusted and hated everyone over 80 in general for a few days last month, but I’m mostly over it. I’m usually pretty tolerant, but I think too much happened too quickly and my patience maxed out. One of the key variables was how much really old people can talk nonstop, for hours, days… And there were 4 of them. I think the worst part was the hospital cops throwing some totally drunk and wasted belligerent people into our waiting room and telling them they couldn’t leave, and we’d already been there for several very long hours full of me getting stuck with the yappiest old person in the first place, and I’m not sorry, I bailed. I’m done with that crap. I don’t know what it is about passing 80 that makes someone believe you really want to listen to them flap on and on while you shrivel up and your brain kamikazes out through your nostrils, but if I ever reach 80, I hope my brain doesn’t feel compelled to spew every thought I ever had in my entire life while younger people think about poking forks into their eyeballs for distraction. I seriously did not know the compulsion to talk that much could really exist. HOURS. DAYS. NO COMMERCIAL BREAKS. And if I forgot to smile and nod, one of them would actually hit my arm for a response, another would make a big deal out of mocking me for not looking up and smiling until I actually did before he’d go on with his talking, another filled my worn out silence with continual noises of disgust every few seconds (for HOURS, I can’t even imagine keeping up that amount of energy), and another argued with me every which way because arguing is ~fun~. Hmm. Sounds like I’m not really mostly over it… Actually, it reminded me a LOT of being in middle school.

44. Did you have a yard sale?

omg, someone save me from the survey maker, maybe it’s an old person!!!!!!! That would sure explain all the interrogative kinds of questions.

45. Did you go to any yard sales?

I’m not even explaining this one. I just avoid them like the plague.

46. Did you go to a carnival?

I watched a couple of shows about the world’s biggest roller coasters.

47. Are you a summer person?

I don’t think even summer people were summer people this year.

48. Worst thing about the summer?

Bugs. Scott’s sudden bizarre horrible autoimmune vasculitis reaction.

49. Best thing about it:

No one died. Several sudden opportunities presented themselves, it’s been a little head spinning.

50. Summer is…(in your own words, describe it)
You’re kidding, right?