Ultra-Rarities

My real-life day was quite pleasant. The kidlets were home from school for what I kept hearing referred to as "vicious, oppressive European day," or words to that effect. Happy Columbus Day to you, too, dearie. Honestly, I'm not going to apologize for what somebody who has been dead for centuries did long before I was born. I do, however, promise to not try and take over land somewhere just because my method of transportation led me there.

Anyway, the day was enjoyable. We had a nice, relaxing breakfast followed by the kidlets working off some steam on the Wii. I called a friend of mine to see whether we should postpone today's playdate due to Pig Jr.'s recent recovery from illness. It was determined that my son still acting tired combined with her son's goopy nose made for a bad playdate combination, so we chatted on the phone instead. She told me she found a pair of flannel lined jeans made by a company that I adore. They had been mislabelled, so she purchased them by accident. Because she cannot use them, the fact that they are only one size too large for me and she knows I love baggy jeans, she immediately thought I might like them. Huzzah for accidents that work out in my best interest!

Horse was invited over to a friend's house later in the day, but was unable to attend due to a special project that is due soon that required her attention. I wish I could say she completed it this afternoon, but that would make me a liar. She did, however, manage to spread oodles of newspaper ads and random bits of paperwork all over the living room in an attempt to organize her project. Rooster and Pig Jr. had a blast trying to be silly while sneaking as close as possible to an absorbed Horse. Apparently, her shrieked giggles kept them in stitches, too.

I remembered we needed to go out and purchase a few things from the grocery store. Why is this a good thing? Simple. Normally, I remember at the exact moment I go to use something and realize we are completely wiped out of our supply. This time, I remembered before we even technically ran out!

The girls and I went out again this evening for our usual Monday night library run. I had fun chatting with one of the librarians while the girls picked out their books for the week. When we got home, Pig was just finishing up doing the dinner dishes, so I felt like I lucked out perfectly in my timing. (To be completely fair to Pig though, he has finished doing the dinner dishes every other week when we have gone out to the library, even if we returned home long before he was done. I just feel less guilty about it when the timing works out perfectly like this.)

The overall real-life day was great. There were happy kids, the ability for me to speak with other adults, and the actual achievement of a few errands.

It was my virtual world that was a bit odd. I know I have talked before out an online game that my husband and I both play. I have mentioned how my husband found an ultra-rare item in the game and how I was massively jealous. After growing up a bit and finally being happy for his virtual achievement, I managed to find the very same ultra-rare item just a few weeks later, on one of my two accounts. Here's where my virtual world got odd today. I found the exact same ultra-rare item on my other account this morning, when I was just dorking around and not really paying attention to what I was doing or where my character was adventuring.

Now I love ultra-rare items. They are really hard to find, hence the whole "ultra" and "rare" parts. You might play this particular game for years and never find one. Indeed, Pig and I had each played for over five years without finding one before these recent occurrences. Yet somehow, this insanely difficult to find item has popped up on our computers three times over just a few months.

I know that these ultra-rares appeared simply because some random number generator somewhere decided they should do so. Our online characters were simply in the right place at the right time. Somehow, it gives me hope about other things in reality that seem daunting. Our house selling in this exceedingly slow market would be the equivalent of an ultra-rare accomplishment. Getting Rooster's food allergies and reflux under control enough that she could eat a "normal" diet would be like finding an ultra-rare item. The kidlets all staying healthy through cold and flu season appears to be as unexpectedly wonderful as fighting an ultra-rare monster. If we could virtually get the same ultra-rare monster to appear and drop the very same ultra-rare item three times for us, then maybe, just maybe, something that seems next to impossible in real life actually has the chance of coming true.