The day I found out I had 11 toes

OK the real title of this post is: "Routines". But who will click on something boring like a routine; right?

This post is inspired by updates of people on Facebook that I get about an online game called FarmVille. I've never played it or seen it, yet people play this game 24/7. Apparently it's about having a digital farm and doing everything you'd do with it, as if it were real. I have read updates of people missing SLEEP over this game.

I don't write this to make fun of it; every hobby is heaven for one, but a total waste of time for others. I love to cook & bake. But others buy precooked meals to save time and enjoy an evening doing other things. The concept of homemade meals isn't appealing to everyone, lest the idea of slow cooking probably medieval to most.

Anyway, It's beyond my comprehension that one would choose to lose SLEEP over sowing seeds or the watering of a crop and to incorporate a digital world like FV or Second Life as part of your daily routines. These farms aren't real! I'm not buying your meat and veggies to cook here (slow or fast, but certainly not digital).

But I understand; everyone has hobbies and hobbies may grow into routines as part of your life. FarmVille players probably plan their day around the game - my guess - to make sure their farms do well. Others have more accepted digital routines like checking e-mail, online news or Twitter.

When I was sick in bed with "morning" sickness 24/7 for six weeks, I developed quite a few silly routines as well. It was basically: have breakfast (in bed), get up (for 15 minutes), crawl back into bed, watch ER, do nothing but feel sick, nauseous, sad and depressed and watch Discovery Channel and at the end of the day watch Gillmore Girls. What was on TV was my routine as my ability to do most other things was temporarily gone.

Now that I feel better, I enjoy being part of the normal world again. Real people, my spontaneous and funny children, unexpected things, art, music, surprises, creating and even something silly like the changing of the weather.

I dropped every single routine I had developed to survive when I was sick. I'm enjoying life as it comes and I - for now - really don't get why anyone would choose to have a routine that doesn't involve enjoying life. The real one. Not the one made of 1's and 0's.

"As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge. " Henry Van Dyke

But than again, the same author also said:

"Look around for a place to sow a few seeds. "

PS: you didn't really think I had 11 toes, did ya?