Playing at Life

When I was a little girl, I used to fantasize that I had a box under my bed, and in that box was a tiny world of people. Miniature living people with hopes and fears, families and lovers, dreams and ideas. To them, I was like a God - sometimes I was a benevolent and gracious God and other times... well... it's safe to say:

Don't piss the God off,

Stay out of sight and well hidden when she's having a bad day!

And so, when I discovered The Sims - it was like having a childhood dream come true. A tiny world of people "alive" in my computer ... how cool is that?

Probably I've talked about this before... and you're bored stiff.. and wishing I'd get to the point already. So, here's the thing. Whenever I play The Sims, I learn something important about life. For example:

1. Physical comfort is important.
2. If you aren't having enough fun, you won't want to do anything at all.
3. If you don't get enough sleep, you won't want to go to work. 

And probably you're thinking to yourself  "well duh" because you already knew that. But I was astounded by that realization - oh... when I'm tired I should sit down... and not only that, but I should sit down in a comfortable chair! I did know that all work and no play made Johnny a dull boy - what I hadn't realized was that all work and no play made Shirley a cranky bitch.

Other things (some of which I already knew) include the following:

1. If you want to make friends you have to talk to people.
2. It's impossible to get a good night's sleep if the TV is on in the bedroom.
3. Untrained pets can ruin your house in two seconds flat.
4. You rarely make good decisions when you are really tired and in a very bad mood.
5. Just because you hire someone to do something, it doesn't mean they will do a good job.
6. If you want to fix dinner, there has to be food to fix it with.
7. Don't jump into a swimming pool if there's no way to climb out of it when you're done swimming! 
8. If you don't know how to fix a garbage disposal - and you're not mechanically  minded - don't even try.
9. If something in your house is on fire - don't just stand around screaming "fire" "fire" - do something! Call the fire department and grab the fire extinguisher, and if neither thing is an option, then at least get out of the house!
10. Life is easier if you have a maid that comes every day and cleans up your mess.
11. Even loners can get lonely.

So there you have it... some tidbits of Sim Wisdom. Coming up next I'll be sharing the secret to peace of mind and lifelong happiness - which I discovered just last night!