My husband has played role playing games since he was in high school, it’s just something that he and his friends enjoyed doing together. Even when we were first married, he was still playing with them on the weekends. With the advent of so many great new games for the PC, they all sort of naturally moved to that, although they still like to play together every once in a while. Even now they get together to play Magic(it’s a card game) on the weekends pretty regularly. And, they also play games online together. A few years ago, a friend of ours who had moved to Florida tried to get all these local friends to play a game called World of Warcraft, because then he would be able to play with all of them again, even though he lives many miles away. You can instant message each other, and now you can even talk to each other as long as you have the program and a microphone. It’s great.

After my husband played for about a year, he got me involved, and I haven’t regretted it. Think of anything that you do for fun. This is what we do for fun. World of Warcraft, or WoW as it is called by most players, is a fun and fairly cheap form of entertainment. You remember “The Sims?” It is fairly similar to that, you create a character, and then you play that character in the game. WoW is different in that it obviously involves fighting, but the idea is the same. It’s a get away for us, a form of entertainment, and through it, we have been able to stay in touch with some distant friends, and also make a lot of new ones. In fact, this week, we are having our second annual get together with some of the people that we have gotten to know online. There are two Canadians currently in my house, the aforementioned Florida friend and his family are arriving today, and we have several others showing up this weekend. There is a couple coming from New Jersey, a couple from North Carolina, and several people who live in Boston will be here as well. It is so cool to meet in real life these people that I have never met, but that I truly consider friends.

I was in my dentist’s office two years ago, and read an article a woman had written about WoW, and how her whole family played the game. At the time, I couldn’t believe it, but now I do, because now two of my three children play as well. I figure if they are going to be an the PC, there are a lot of things I can’t control, but this I can. I don’t consider WoW a violent game, although some might, but I think WoW is a lot tamer than many other video games that I see kids their ages playing. WoW has become part of our lives and is a really fun game that we all enjoy. As my friend says, “If we went out to dinner and a movie once a month, we’d still spend more than what we spend on our WoW playing.” If it sounds like something you are interested in, I highly recommend it!

There are a few shows that my family has gotten hooked on that we watch together every summer now. They have become tradition for us. I love “So you Think You Can Dance,” I loved dance as a kid, and I wish I could dance like some of those kids on the show. I think some of them don’t even realize how lucky they are to have that kind of gift. This summer Billy Bell is back, he was on the show before and got sick after the first episode, so they let him try out again this year. His solos bring me to tears, he is such a talent. I also really like the choreographer Sonia Tayeh, she’s such a weird and funky person, and an amazing artist. This is not my kids favorite show, but I watch it religiously.

We also watch “Wipeout,” and it is hilarious if you have never seen it. The big red balls are my favorite. I always wonder what a fool I’d look like if I got on the show! Some of the people on there are just plain weird. If you don’t watch, it’s a giant obstacle course with all these impossible challenges that people have to get through to win $50,000. When people do make it across these obstacles, it is funny to see, and they play lots of the falls in slow-motion to make it even more hilarious. My kids are definitely into this show, they’ve even made their own obstacle course in the back yard, which is funny to see.

We also watch “America’s Got Talent.” I didn’t think I’d be able to watch again after Kevin Skinner won last year. I mean, come on, I was amazed when he could sing, but he was definitely not the most talented finalist that was on the show. I like the variety types acts the best, since we already have a singing show, and several dancing shows, it’s nice to see these other off-the-wall talents that show up on the show. This year there are some amazing magicians, and some of the kids acts that tried out really blew me away. The strong man that is in the semi-finals is great too. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out. If you need some summer entertainment, these are my top suggestions! I mean, where else can you see a guy cut a piece of celery with a playing card?

Now, why can’t I think of something like this? Colored rubber bands in fun shapes that you wear as bracelets! Who is the genius, and I’m sure now, millionaire, who thought of this idea? What is wrong with me? Why can’t I think of these things, I just want to kick myself. This guy has literally hit the lottery.

My kids really don’t ask for much, and sometimes I have to say no when they do ask, but right before school was out this year, my oldest daughter asked me if we could go to the store to look for some bracelets that everyone at school was wearing. She told me what they were, and where she thought we could find them, and that her friends said they only cost $1.00. Now $1.00 I can do. So since we were on our way home anyway, we stopped at the store. Now, I had never heard of these bracelets, but apparently I was the only one. The first store we went to was out of them, and one lady kind of laughed when I asked her about them. Later, I figured out why she was laughing. We couldn’t find them anywhere. That night, I told my daughter she would just have to wait, because it was sort of late, and we had to get home. I said something to one of my friends about them, and got filled in on the popularity of these little rubber bands. Now I was curious, and I had to know, I still hadn’t seen them. After three stores on the weekend, not just for the bracelets, mind you, we were actually shopping, we finally tracked some down.

She now has over one hundred of these “silly” things, and I have seen firsthand how popular they are, she was right. They are everywhere. Now. Not when I was looking for them of course, but we’ve found them other places since, and now it seems like every place has them. You can even find them at our local gas station. You kind find every shape from a cowboy boot to a magic wand. They are all colors, and you can get ones that are tie-dyed and glittery. I think it’s cool when she lays them all out. Take a look at her collection: