Multiplayer

I have been a gamer since the age of 4, playing Donald Duck's Playground on my dads Commodore 64, but it wasn't until getting my hands on Warlords and playing it multiplayer with my cousin, that I turned into a real computer geek. Why? Because multiplayer makes gaming social and I love socializing!

This thursday I got to add multiplayer to the baby experience as I attended my first mothers group. My little daughter got to meet 4 other babies between the age of 5 and 6 months.

It was awesome hanging with people in the same situation as yourself and because my daughter is only 4 and a half months old it was really interesting seeing the slightly older babies and what they were able to do.

It felt like when you as a complete noob joins a guild full of highlevel players. You get a glimpse into the future and you get to benefit from their experience and advice.

My daughter seemed  to mainly enjoy the experience although she did have a slight meltdown towards the end of the gettogether. In the long run I think she will benefit hugely from watching the other babies in action and I know I thoroughly enjoy discussion strategies with the rest of the "players".

My friends wedding - the movie adaptation

Last weekend I attended the wedding of two good friends. My daughter who is now 3.5 month old was there as well as I still have not found a way to feel comfortable having her babysat for an extended period of time.

Me, my partner and my little daughter were lucky enough to get a lift by two of our other friends, who also attended the wedding.

It was a casual, yet beautiful ceremony and I got the opportunity to hang out with my really good friends for an entire day. But I felt a bit sad at the end of the day.

I was reminded of when I watched the Lord of the Rings movies the first time. I am one of those annoying people who have always read the book. LOTR in particularly I have read 15-20 times. It is my all time favourite novel and I know quotes and scenes from it by heart.
I was so excited when I heard that the books would be made into movies, but I was also terrified. What if Peter Jackson ruined everything?

I ended up quite enjoying the movies and I have watched them multiple times, even sat through the extended edition versions a couple of times, however I always feel that something is missing. That the experience is not quite what it could have been.

It is understandable that directors cut out certain parts of a book when trying to fit it to the movie format, but it has always saddened me that the entire Tom Bombadil adventure disappeared. For me it is such a big part of the Middle Earth universe and is part of showing how the entire world is changing. The beautiful melancholy of the books simply does not get to shine properly without the adventures in the Old Forest.

And this is kind of how I felt at the wedding as well. It was a great experience and I am so glad I was there able to witness my very good friends getting married, but I deeply felt that I was missing out on part of the experience because I was there with my baby.

Having to leave during all the speeches to avoid disturbing and sitting out on most of the dancing and the dinner conversation just took away a bit of the awe from attending this ceremony with all its old traditions and changed the experience of the wedding subtlely. Same as having Arwen be the white rider at the banks of Rivendale instead of Glorfindel changes the story of Lord of the Rings slightly and makes the universe smaller.

My friends and partner were great and tried helping out as much as possible and I love my little daughter to no end, but I can't wait till the day where I fell comfortable leaving her with my mom for an evening so I can go out and be 100% present at a party or gathering of friends.

Also, what the hell are they doing with the Hobbit movies... That is not subtle changes, that is equivalent to attending the wedding through a video call on Skype.... >.<

ROFL

It used to bug me to no end when gaming that some people would abuse the LOL, ROFL, ROFLMAO terms. 

I would be on Ventrillo with my guildies and there would be dead silence or someone would be explaining tactics, meanwhile ingame one of the guys would be goofing around on his character prompting at least a couple of ROFLs and a good deal of LOLs in the chat... 

Liars! I can hear you on vent (actually no I can't thats the point!). So unless you have push to talk on and forgot to press it you are not making a peep!

The whole notion of rolling on the floor laughing is quite ridicolous. Who does that? I have always thought that rolling on the floor from laughter was only something that happens in cartoons, well I was wrong!

Yesterday my daughter laughed for the first time. She has been flashing me cute little smiles for some time now and lately her smiles has grown so big that her entire face is transformed into a baby version of PacMan. There has, however, been no laughing sound even though it has been clear that she has been trying to produce laughter.

That was until yesterday. We were playing on the floor and she was in a really good mood making contend and happy noises. She was looking around the room, but not directly at me so I took a piece of fabric and held it up between us, hiding my face, then right in front of her I dropped the fabric and heard the sweetest sound in the world. My baby's belly laughter.

It didn't last long, as she then proceeded to practice her rolling over moves which still takes all her concentration, but it was amazing while it lasted and I can't wait to hear her laugh again and again.

So yeah, yesterday my baby was ROFL'ing on the floor and I was LOL'ing next to her.