Sexism conspiracy and gaming

Maybe it's just me, but I'm so sick of all the "#Gamergate" and "Quinspiracy" bullshit.  Every time I go on Twitter, there's some new article or tweet about sexism in games and corruption in journalism.  Of course there is!  There always has been.  Games have been sexist since Mario was rescuing his first princess.  Who was making those games anyway?  Not women.

Journalism has always been corrupt.  Has anyone watched Fox News in the last....ever?  Pretty much every written word has been backed by bias.  Usually male bias, since women weren't considered capable of anything other than reproduction.

On that note, if women are better suited for the home and pregnancy, why can't the United States support them like other first world nations?  That is a discussion for another post.

Back to my original point.  All this vitriol over sexism in games and lack of journalist integrity makes me want to stay far away from the industry.  I used to be interested in game design or doing artwork either during production or afterwards, but after all this, I'm glad I stayed away from it.  The behavior is so juvenile and pathetic that I want nothing to do with it.  Can't we all just act like human beings and respect each other?  Actually, I take that back because I have no desire to hold any respect for people that behave like adolescent bullies.

While you all argue about who's right and who's wrong, I'm going to go play my games and enjoy them, like I'm supposed to and engage my children because I choose to (and not because I'm supposed to).

Game consoles in the matrix

I'm taking a finite mathematics course and most recently we learned about matrices.  We've been discussing Gauss-Jordan Elimination and terminology.  I was doing my homework and having a pretty easy time of it until given a matrix and being asked to find the linear equation it represented and show the solution.  Here:

[1  -2  0  -3 | -5]  = x1 - 2x2 -3x4 = -5       The confusion I had was what solution I was supposed to show.
[0   0   1   3 |  2]  = x3 + 3x4 = 2                There are four variables and only two equations.

My husband teaches math in high school so I figured he could help.  As he had me point out, x4 is present in both equations.  Therefore, it becomes t.  Okay, simple enough.  So then we say x3 = -3t + 4.  Okay, still good.  But now what do we do with x1 and x2 ?  As we all know, solving for one variable is easier than two so we say x2 (or x1) is s.  So x1 = 2s - 3t -5 and we're done.  I say to hubby, "It all seems so arbitrary.  How can you assign random letters to different variables and retain some meaning?"  This is how he explains it:

"Say we have PS2's, PS3's, PS4's, and Xbox's and we want to find out how many we need to sell of each to get a specific sales figure.  If we say that 5000 Xbox's were sold, does that guarantee that 400 PS4's sold?  No, so we assign a value t.  We then say that another console, PS3's is represented by s.  It's not arbitrary because we're accounting for the many real numbers that could be the values for the four variables."

I'm paraphrasing, since he definitely did not use those words exactly, but you get the gist.  I was like, "That makes so much more sense when you put it that way".  If I didn't have to go to my Statistics class immediately upon finishing Finite, I might have been able to ask my professor, but he doesn't know me personally and know what context would make sense to me.  That and my husband is a great teacher.

Electric toothbrushes for the win

Today I went to the dentist.  Usually a trip to the dentist involves scraping and poking at my gum line until they bleed.  It's fraught with guilt and deception (you know you've lied about how frequently you've flossed or brushed).  I get more of a lecture there than I got in 18 years of living with my parents.  Yeah, it's that bad.

In the past, I was a lazy flosser and brusher.  I have veneers on my first six upper teeth to fix a slight under-bite and discoloration from a calcium deficiency stemming from a milk allergy when I was young.  Since they're porcelain, I didn't feel like I needed to take as good care of them, which was stupid.  I also didn't visit a dentist for five years.

After starting to see a dentist again, I fell back into my old habits when I was pregnant.  I didn't want to brush or use mouthwash because the taste and sensation made me feel sick.  Flossing made my gums bleed, which is normal in pregnancy due to increased blood flow, but still unpleasant.  Less than a year and a half after birthing that child, I was pregnant again.  I tried to get back on track.  Dental hygiene is important in pregnancy since a bacterial infection in your mouth can get in your bloodstream and get to your baby.  I did a decent enough job until after the birth when I ended up nursing my son and eating round the clock to support my milk production (sorry if that's TMI).  At nearly a year old, we are still nursing, but not nearly as much as before so my eating has backed off.  Since I'm not eating all the time, I now have a tooth routine. 

The last time I was at the dentist, I was told to kick it into high gear because if I didn't start taking better care of my teeth, I'd lose them.  That terrified me so I got an electric Sonicare toothbrush and started my now-current routine. 

Let me tell you, it helped.  I only got picked at for a few minutes and only around the middle four bottom teeth.  I was told to focus on that area because of salivary glands causing issues there, a "common problem for people" and was treated to another demonstration on proper flossing ("make sure to hook it around each side of the tooth").  Otherwise, it was a great visit. 

In summary, I'm glad I shelled out the extra money for the brush.  Anything that helps me keep my teeth is a winner in my book, and who doesn't want to get fussed at less by their hygienist?

I blogged! And spent some time thinking about my education and how much fun it is to claim you have a "B.S."

The topic should come as no surprise as I am typing on a blog now, but I'm pretty impressed with myself.  I've spent so much time wasting time and fiddling with technology that it's rare that I get things done.  That's not entirely true.  I get things done in big clumps.  I'll run laundry one load after another, fold while other clothes are washing and/or drying, then clean whatever room the clothes are going to.  It's a mess.  I get distracted easily by the sheer volume of things to clean.  Our house has about 2000 feet of dustable space and little less than 500 bug-infested feet of garage that I dream about "factory resetting".  Truth be told, it's so discouraging that the house rarely gets the cleaning it needs and deserves.  I can be a floor Nazi though.  Our sons drop Cheerio's all over the kitchen floor and it ends up being like a minefield of crunchy, oatey, goodness.  I hate the sensation of crushing Cheerio's under my feet.  It's even worse when I look at my sock and it's dirty from the floor.  I know that's hard to avoid with five people walking around, but it drives me nuts so I frequently vacuum floors and steam clean whenever possible.

Another example of clumping behavior is the extreme amount of time I take researching anything.  I spend weeks or months reading specs and reviews on phones, TVs, computers, even external hard drives.  I just want to make sure I'm not blowing my money on a shitty product.  Can't say the end justifies the work, but at least I'm making an informed decision.  Today I looked at degree programs at two local universities.  It's stupid, but I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to degrees.  I really want a Bachelor of Science, not Arts.  I guess it's because I feel like hiring managers see "B.A" and automatically skip over what the degree was in.  A degree in "Science" sounds so much more legit and smart, and who doesn't want to sound smart to an employer?  Or anyone you're bragging to about your degree.  Maybe the thought of saying I have a "B.S" makes me chuckle.  I don't know.  Either way, it's what I'd like to have.  I mean, I'd be happy either way with any degree since I'm nearing thirty and still haven't notched that on my belt.  No joke, my self-esteem relatively hinges on earning my bachelor's.  My problem now, and always, is what to get my degree in.  I've spent hours researching degree programs and thinking back on the classes I've taken.  I know what I want out of my career in a generalized sort of way, but damn if I don't know what it is I'd like to actually do.

Math hurts my brain

Today I worked on math review for four hours before taking a placement test for two hours.  That's not including the two days spent prior to this preparing for said test.  Basically, my brain hurts.

To be fair, I don't mind math.  I'm just extremely out of practice.  The last time I took a math class was over ten years ago.  Since then, I've been a store manager, wife, and mother of three.  My mind is usually preoccupied by things other than mathematics.  Why not, right?  Math isn't usually going to help me when I'm trying to explain to a screaming two-year-old that he can't push his brother over while also trying to soothe the nearly one-year-old screaming brother.  Not that history or Spanish is helping me then either.  Although, I've taken those classes much more recently so I'm in a better position for using them.

The most important thing from today is that even though my brain hurts from reading problems off of a computer, working them, then scrolling down to check answers on the computer, and finally taking a computerized math test for two hours, I successfully tested into the two classes I want and need.  Thanks to my brilliant math teacher husband--and public libraries.  Quiet places are very helpful when re-learning math.  Remember, one- and two-year-olds?  Yeah, not math friendly.  Not really brain friendly either....

On a separate note, for anyone who's interested, I have a second blog at http://thewritingprojectblog.wordpress.com/.  Some of it is a rehash of this blog, but that's only until I get into the routine of writing in general.  The content will come after the habit is developed.  Believe me, the ideas are there, I just don't have the "oomph" to bring them to life right now.  Keep following and together we'll get there.

Onwards and upwards

Two days ago I started a new blog about my self-imposed writing project.  The goal is to write for thirty minutes a day.  I already failed.  I didn't write yesterday.  I logged in to the blog and spent twenty minutes sampling themes.  Then True Blood came on and that was that.

Today I will successfully write for thirty minutes.  Fortunately, I now only need about twenty-five minutes more, less if I keep going on here.  Not that I'm trying to limit the writing I do.  That would kind of defeat the purpose.

In case you're wondering, the purpose is to get inspired to actually write something of value.  Don't get me wrong, I have ideas for writing projects, I just never get going.  I'm hoping the thirty minutes a day provides the momentum I need because I realize that my interest in writing isn't enough motivation.  You might be thinking, "Well, thirty minutes isn't that long".  It is with three young children running around. 

Basically my mindset is that I don't have time to set aside for writing.  Why make the time when I'm not benefiting from the writing?  But I know intellectually that while there is no monetary benefit, there is an emotional benefit to pursuing a passion of mine, especially a creative one.  I used to do oil painting.  Now with little ones, I can't leave my paintings lying around to dry for two weeks, or more.  I know I could paint with acrylics, but they just don't have the depth of oil.  I digress.  The point is that I haven't had a creative outlet for over three years (I'm including time served pregnant in addition to the years since the birth of my second child).  Now that the youngest is going to be a year old, it's high time for him to leave me alone and take naps in his own bed (although his two and a half year old brother has recently decided that he's done with napping, thereby nullifying the freedom gained from getting the baby asleep).  In any case, I'm hoping my productivity will increase one way or another.  They say practice makes perfect, so hopefully the daily thirty minutes will produce some results.  Hopefully.

Time for the tooth fairy

Today my daughter lost her first tooth.  She is so excited. She has been showing off her new smile.  I went online to see what to expect from the tooth fairy.  Apparently she now gives an average of $3.75, but I'm not telling that to my daughter.

We have the tooth in a special pillowcase that is just for teeth.  My daughter said her teacher told her a story about how she put her hand under her pillow as a child and felt the tooth fairy's hand.  I hope that doesn't happen tonight.  She might scare the tooth fairy away!