Well, here it is, another Monday. Doesn’t matter that it’s a Public Holiday, it’s still a Monday, and therefore to be hated and despised (that’s the Garfield in me talking – take no notice! 😉 ) In actual fact, I like Mondays (I get my hair done on Mondays! It makes me feel good, and I start to look semi-human again! 🙂 ) The beginning of a new week – who knows what might happen? Who knows where you might go, or who you might meet. Of course, it could all be horrible – you could fall down the stairs and break both arms and both legs at the same time, or meet up with your worst enemy at a function where you’d be forced (obviously against your will!) to be pleasant, if not nice, to them (Oh, the shame of it all!) But on the other hand, you might win the lottery! (please Mrs. Goldstein! Will you come half way to meet me, and buy a ticket?! *) or you might find the most perfect pair of shoes you ever set eyes on (or foot into) at a 75% off Sale. Beginnings are exciting – endings? I don’t like endings… depending on exactly what is ending, that is. Anyway, it’s the beginning of the week, I had my hair done, and I’ve thought of a new way to incorporate my season icon(s) into the blog header, now that I’ve started using the frames around the text. I don’t have time to start work on them tonight, but I can hardly wait to try it out tomorrow morning. It’s a shame I didn’t think of it until just before my evening Stair Walk (wot I’ve just come back from) because I wouldn’t have spent so much time Rifting today, I would have been… “designing“! 🙂 On the down side of today (why does there always be a down side to most things? It’s not fair!) I found that due to various extraneous circumstances, I wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with a friend as I had done in the past. We’ll still be able to correspond, but not for as long, or as often as I’d like. I shall miss them a lot… 😦

After lunch, himself and I had a couple of hours Rifting together. We’ve both reached level 48, and have finally been able to get to Ember Isle! How long we’ll stay there I have no idea, because we’ve already been given our “breadcrumb” quest to Dusken and Brevane… How to explain it… ummm… OK. A long time ago, in a mythical land called Telara, you could really only live and quest until you were about (level) 50. Then you were expected to either go fossicking in deep, dank, dungeons, or go Raiding, or, to live on through your successors… But the Programming and Game Writing ghods of Telara took pity on the people living there, and created for them a sort of Island Paradise, called Ember Isle. It was a beautiful island, full of majestic trees, scenic mountains, gushing waterfalls – a true paradise – except for the fact that it was populated by a lot of nasty mobs who just wanted to spoil things for everyone who went there. So the Programming and Game Writing ghods decreed that any adventurers willing to go there and slay these nasty, blood thirsty mobs, would be given the chance to reach the ripe old age (level) of 52! Time passed, and the adventurers who went to Ember Isle found that they very quickly tired of their new “paradise”. Well, it was only a very small island, and once you’d been around it three or four times, it all started to get a bit boring. Well, the Programming and Game Writing ghods had anticipated this, of course, and had been secretly working on… not one… not two… but three new islands for these adventurers to go to! Two larger islands, one called Dusken, and the other Brevane. There was a third, smaller island, called Tempest Bay, to act as a Capital City (incorporating an extremely busy Banking and Auctioning centre, and Skill training in all areas, from Fishing and Survival, to Runecrafting, and more!) for all the adventurers heading off to Dusken or Brevane. In these brand new areas, adventurers could reach the truly giddy heights of (level) 60! Later, these same Programming and Game Writing ghods created yet another new area, where you could reach the pinnacle of success, at (level) 65 – but that’s a story for another night! 😉 So there you are. People became too bored with tiny Ember Isle, and it’s largely a forgotten zone now – most people skip it altogether and go straight on to Dusken or Brevane once they reach level 50 – and as yet, I’m not sure what we’ll do…

Weigh-in this morning was a real eye-opener! I weighed myself three times, just to be sure the two of us, Julian and I, really were seeing what we thought we were seeing – but the scales didn’t even waver once – they just went straight to…. (drum roll, please!) 95.5kg! I tell you, the scales were quite insistent! That’s a drop of over half a kilo! Seven (7) points, to be precise! This has put me in a state of great agitation! – from a drop that big, I know I’m going to have to suffer a bounce back… this is expected, and assumed to be “normal”. However, at 95.5kg, is the bounce back going to be big enough to bounce me back into the 96kg zone, or, at 95.5kg, am I already far enough into the 95kg zone to remain in it?! I sure hope so! I still can’t quite believe I lost so much – overnight! Perhaps I should eat a very small Hot Cross Bun, with just a smidgen of butter, more often! (only kidding! I had a normal breakfast this morning…) I think I’ll almost be too scared to get on the scales tomorrow morning – because I’ll find that today’s weigh-in was, after all, just a dream, and instead of being 95.5kg, I’ll really be back at something like 96.8kg, or something 😦

And that was my start of the week! 🙂 How was yours? 🙂 Tomorrow can’t come fast enough! As I said earlier, I’m absolutely itching to try out my idea for a framed header, which will incorporate my season icons (and where applicable, appropriate zodiac signs for those having a birthday that month!) So there’s really not much more to tell you, except to remind you to drop by again tomorrow night, and find out how I went with my framed header and season signs idea – in fact, if it works out, you might even see the blog wearing one of them – so take a good look at what’s there now – because you might not see it again! 😉 You’ll also find out what happened at my morning weigh-in – did I bounce back up? By how much? Or did I stay the same (boring!) or… did a major miracle occur, and did I go down again? Whatever – I’m sure there’ll be lots of other news and tidbits  with which to regale you all 🙂 So until tomorrow night, please try to bee good, don’t throw balls in the house (you might break a window!), and above all… stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂

* Very old Jewish joke… If you want me to tell it to you, just ask… (it’s a little long to print here… 😉 )