Merry Fucking Christmas

         Sorry 'bout the not-so-friendly post title, but it's how I'm feeling at the moment so it's what I went with. That's the whole point of having a Blog in the first place, isn't it? To have someplace you can freely spout whatever drivel/sentimental crap you want to without any fear of *retribution* or getting yourself banned from someplace. It's hard to get banned when you're the one in charge!

So anyway, on with the post:

As I write this, I feel like I've almost literally been punched in the gut.

            As anyone who *knows* me already knows, I am a huge fan of the Sims 2 & derive untold pleasure from tinkering, tweaking & toying with the *lives* of my little pixel minions. Sitting on a shelf just above my computer monitor are four well used 3-ring binders full of information on every one of my pixel peeps, divided by neighborhood & diligently organized in a way that would likely only make sense in my own strange little brain. Next to the binders is a row of no less than 26 books of "baby names" from every culture imaginable, which I refer to frequently when either naming a new character or bestowing a new moniker on one of the more strangely named Maxis-made Sims. On my computer itself there are almost countless folders containing my self-made "spread sheets" & genealogy charts & story outlines & character overviews & "read me" files for the myriad of hacks & mods that I have downloaded over the years. And let's not forget the programs I've installed to do everything from meshing (MilkShape 3D) to custom content installing (Clean Installer & Delphy's Download Organizer) to file editing (Wardrobe Wrangler, Sims 2 Categorizer, The Sims 2 Enhancer) to graphic editing (PaintShop Pro X3, ArtRage Studio & GIMP) to manipulating the very game files themselves (via the awesomely awesome SimPE.)

In other words that crazy, silly game takes up not only a rather large chunk on my hard drive, but my *life* as well.

So why am I telling you this?

            Because hand-in-hand with my obsession has been the discovery of some truly amazing people that I have met on some truly amazing sites. People that I've come to regard as close, personal friends even though I've never met any of them face to face & indeed likely never will, as most of them are not only from out of state, but reside in completely different countries than I do. People who have got married, had babies, bought houses, lost jobs, purchased computers & a myriad of other things, all while we shared a deep & perhaps even indescribable (to non-Simmers) bond, all because of a strange game that many people either don't *get* or condemn as being *stupid* despite never having played it themselves. People I respect, people I admire, people who I look forward to *seeing* during my near daily trips to my favorite sites...people I fear I will soon be losing touch with. Because in the midst of this holiday season with it's lights & it's music & it's glitter & it's bows, I have just learned than no less than 3 sites I used to haunt will be closing for good, one in six months & the other two this very January.

            No more Ancient Castaways, no more CrazyTown & saddest of all no more Simbology- the site where I not only met some of my dearest friends, but the site that gave me the courage (and the place) to try my timid hand at creating my very own game content. 

The site that became a second home for me. 

The site that I finally broke 4,000 posts & officially became a "Whippy Whippersnapper" which made me happier than I suppose most *normal* folks would say I should have been over such a thing.

            Of course there have been offers from some folks to come *join* their sites, which is nice, but all the people extending such invitations are fans of the Sims 3, which while I understand many people are enjoying it, it is NOT the game for me & I really enjoyed having a place (Simbology) to go where I could post questions & pictures & read stories about I game I still adore & greatly enjoy & know that the people who I was *talking* to shared my enthusiasm, as much as I shared theirs.

            This isn't a *dig* at the folks who owned the sites that are closing, as I totally understand about life moving on & interest changing & I truly hope they all find joy in whatever endeavors they are moving on to...

...but it doesn't change the fact that in the midst of this holiday season, with it's warmth & it's joy & it's presents & it's message of peace on earth, the only thing I'm feeling at this particular moment is the bitter sting of reality spitting in my face as it takes yet another source of joy from what passes for my life.


So happy holidays & have a merry fucking Christmas.