This One's for Bridget.....

I've always been a competitive person.... I am not quite sure where this trait came from.... but it is definitely there. I think I have to credit most of my competitiveness to my brother, Willy. Willy is just one year older than me, and we grew up doing many of the same things, in many of the same classes, and competing against each other in sports.

This is a picture of my brother and his bride, Erin.

Well now, all throughout school I remember getting back report cards and Willy & I comparing.... and then walking around the house flexing our arms, saying "4.0" in a 'tough' voice. If one of us did not make the 4.0, we made sure the other one knew. In elementary school our gym teacher chose team captains one time by "who had the longest fingernails" It was quite weird with me & my brother having teams that were against each other. Anyways.... what I am trying to get at is I have always been competitive. I wish I were not so competitive... but I guess in some ways (grades) it is good.... but this blog is about how it has gotten the better end of me...

You see, a couple months ago I was on Facebook (which I am on quite often).... and I became "friends" with many of Austin's extended family. They played this stupid little game called FarmVille. I would always get these stupid updates about lost cows, harvesting crops, and leveling up. I finally put all these FarmVille updates to "ignore" and went along my business. However.... One day while I was sick at home.... Austin's Aunt Becky emailed me that she wanted to be my "neighbor" on FarmVille. What the heck?!? I had nothing better to do in-between my trips to the bathroom vomiting....

This was the biggest mistake of my life. It started out just wasting time for the afternoon. But, I had planted crops.... and they wouldn't be ready to "harvest" until the next day..... I was forced to get on the next day and "harvest" my crops and "milk" my cows.... It became an obsession. I had to level up, I had to have the best farm, I had to plan everything around when my crops would be ready for harvest...... because we all know I didn't want them all to wither and die. That is a big waste of my fake FarmVille money. Pretty soon I could not hide my obsession any longer. I totally understood Aunt Becky asking me to be my neighbor, because I was asking everyone. When my family came to visit, I would have to jump on the computer really fast to make sure my crops were doing okay.... and see how close I was to beating someone else. One of Austin's friends was my biggest competitor.... he had such a high score... but it was nothing for me.... I was on a mission to beat him. Soon enough, I did. It became strategy... Now.... my score is much higher than any of my neighbors.... but I still can't find the courage to delete the application.

Look at my Farm here.... it is beautiful. All my trees, crops (melons, peas, onions are what I am growing currently), horses, pigs, goats, cows and even elephants! (Yes.... I think the FarmVille inventors are running out of ideas.... having Elephants now available to collect "circus peanuts" from...)

This has become a topic of recent conversation with my family. They cannot believe that I like such a game... and that I am so addicted. I don't even like the game anymore.... I just can't bear the thought of someone else beating me at it. It controls my life. My sister, Bridget, even joined a fan club entitled, "People Against Playing FarmVille."

One day, my FarmVille neighbors, you may find that I moved out of the neighborhood......