Monday, May 25, 2009

a day off can be exhausting . . .

so today . . . i spent a lot of time catching up on my reality tv and farming. i'm exhausted!

as i've mentioned, our lives have been unusually busy the last few weeks, so our schedule has just gone out the window. it wouldn't be that much of an issue, except that we like some reality tv shows, and may is "finale season." i managed to keep up with the shows that i watch by myself (american idol, dancing with the stars) because i try to watch them live. but the ones that rollie and i watch together on the weekend (survivor and the amazing race) were just sitting there on the tivo, waiting for us . . . we had the final three episodes of the amazing race, and the final FIVE episodes of survivor, and if we wanted to be surprised by the winners, we needed to get them watched! i already knew the results of survivor, because someone wrote about it on facebook. let that be a lesson to me--don't read facebook until i've watched the finales!

we like these shows (survivor and the amazing race,) because it is fun to watch the interaction of the people in these situations. it is fun to see how they make decisions and then how those decisions affect their progress in the game. and it is fun to try and predict what is going to happen . . . we boo the people who are mean, and cheer for the ones who are not. we pause the tivo and talk about what we would do if we were playing the game, so it is more interactive than most of what we entertain ourselves with on tv. but it isn't nearly as much fun if you already know what is going to happen. today i had to amuse myself with trying to guess who was going to be voted out next on survivor, because i already knew who the winner was going to be!

and the winner is never going to be me. please!! i wouldn't last 3 days on survivor--no packaged food, no toilet paper, no laptop or ipod or cell phone . . . and unlimited bugs, dirt, backstabbing, and conniving (well ok, i admit, i might enjoy the conniving part . . . ) and, i'm pretty sure i would whine (which doesn't make for must-see-t-v) and yet, i mercilessly mock the whiners (that would be my non-existant spiritual gift of compassion coming out!) and you cannot survive the amazing race unless you can swim, which i cannot. besides which, i would want to stop and take pictures of everything. twice.

but i couldn't just sit here and watch tv all day--well, i probably could, but at some point i would fall asleep. so instead of taking that chance, i plopped my computer in my lap and headed to farm town. my farm is getting pretty big--in fact, i earned enough points today to enlarge my farm once again. i'm following the example of my friend sherry and think i might become a farming tycoon!

when it was time to harvest, three of my neighbors were online--my mom and two of my friends. i needed to ask someone to harvest, but who? i wanted to help them all, and i couldn't choose, so i just hired all three of them! and then i zoomed out on my farm so that i could see all of it, and it was so cool! i could see their little avatars running around, and saw my crops disappearing as they were harvested. it was a little confusing because two of them looked exactly the same, so i couldn't tell who was who (not that it mattered.) but as the harvesting progressed, i found myself getting a little anxious . . . what if someone got more than someone else? what if one of them felt like another one was infringing on their territory? what if someone got stuck and had to reload the game? i mean, i've harvested with multiple harvesters before, and i know what it is like to be working along and suddenly see the adjacent fields being harvested right out from under you! or be stuck and unable to move, and watch while the crops fall all around you . . . so i don't know if i will do that again or not. maybe if i do, i should just go hang out at the marketplace until they are done . . . because i can't watch!

when i first started farming, i looked at the long term crops and thought to myself, "i will never plant very many of those-they take too long!" i experimented with sunflowers, which take three days to grow, and it killed me! i'll bet i checked those crazy flowers 6 or 7 times a day! which is insane, because it's a computer game!! if they say it is going to take them three days to mature, then it is going to take them three days to mature. it isn't like some of them were going to surprise me and be done in two days!!! and yet, still i checked . . .

but today i discovered the reason for longer term crops. you see, i accumulated enough points today to enlarge my farm AGAIN. so, of course, i did! after my three neighbors got done with the harvesting, i started plowing. and i plowed and plowed and plowed and plowed. then i got the notice that i could enlarge, so i did, which required more plowing!!! now i realize i am not actually out in the hot field riding farm equipment around working in real soil. but can i just say, my right index finger is just a little bit sore! really!! by the time i got done plowing up all those plots, AND THEN PLANTING THEM, all of which requires my finger to tap on my mouse pad, it was tired and the tip of it was sore!! ok, i know you are laughing at me, but can you see how doing this day after day after day might cause some sort of medical problem . . .

ALSO it was time consuming. i don't know exactly how long it took, because as i said, i was also watching tv. but it took up a good chunk of my afternoon, and i realized that i cannot do this every day--i just don't have time! but i love to farm!! and that's when it hit me--plant longer term crops! MENTAL HEAD SLAP! of course! if i would just divide my farm up into sections, plant longer term crops and rotate them, then i could still harvest and plant every day, but i wouldn't have to do the WHOLE DANG FARM!! if i planted 3 day crops, then i could just work on a third of it every day. that would be much more manageable.

so that is my plan. the very next time that i enlarge my farm, i am going to plow the whole thing under and start over. and i will plant more interesting longer term crops. and maybe buy some fencing and finally pen my animals up so they aren't all over the place. and i have my eye on this very cute white farmhouse . . . and llamas! i am so envious of sherry's llamas!

i can see that i am going to have to teach my other fingers how to farm . . .

3 comments:

Mom said...

I'm considering connecting a mouse to my laptop for farming. Much easier to control and I will be able to harvest FASTER!!!!!! I think my finger (or laptop) is slower than some. Great idea to rotate crops. Real farmers do that so their whole farm harvests at different times. You are becoming a REAL farmer.

Al said...

and sometimes you have to wait,and click again because your avatar is "busy"...

Jewelielyn said...

yes! thus, in effect, doubling the effort it takes to plow and plant! my avatar is not very efficient in her movements--i may have to rename her . . .