It Was a Lazy, Sports Filled, Weekend and Thanks for Voting, Now the Next Challenge Begins

We spent Sunday watching the Olympics, playing "Lord of the Rings Online" (we've been playing this since beta - more than 15 years ago) and generally relaxing. I did harvest some more cherry tomatoes, and convinced DH to water my pepper plants because they seemed really dry. Now ... I know that peppers actually enjoy dry - but to my ears they wanted water, so that's what I made sure they got. It's hard to believe that I'll be at the State Fair in another month, and that Ren Faire starts on the 17th. Oy - my summer is slipping away from me. 

I'm having a lot of fun playing my rune keeper in 
Lord of the Rings Online. I've been playing this game 
since Beta more than 17 years ago. I don't play it 
constantly, DH does, but I go in and out of wanting 
to play. Right now, I'm in a "want to play" mode. 

Thanks to those of you kind enough to vote for my latest story in LJ Idol, I have lived to write again. I don't have the current challenge quite yet - we have a write-off of the bottom four, and two of those will be eliminated. Unfortunately one of my online friends is in that group, and I really hope she survives to write again with us. 

I'm relieved that I live to write another tale. Now I actually 
have to get something going on the latest topic - stories 
are due on Friday, and right now, I'm clueless. *sigh*

I need to get some serious computer work done this week, and maybe the vacuuming. Sharon is coming in a few short weeks, and even though the house doesn't look like it's a health hazard, it can be improved - LOL. I also have to put some serious thought into my next story for LJ Idol - the theme is "Oubaitori" and I actually had to look that one up to figure out its' meaning. I'm not quite sure how I want to approach it, but my submission deadline is Thursday evening, so I'd better get something going fairly soon. 

Oubaitori - n. the idea that people, like flowers, 
bloom in their own time and in their 
individual ways. Maybe this one would be 
easier if I had kids, but, I don't, so I'll have 
to figure something out that will work. 

Speaking of LJ Idol, a big "Thank You" goes out to those of you who voted for me in this past round. I'm safe, and that's what's important. I was in the middle of the pack, as far as votes went, and since I went Sci-Fi with the prompt (and not all people enjoy that genre), I'm pretty pleased. I couldn't do it without all of you - my readers, and hopefully those who think enough about what they're read to put my name down when the call for votes comes through. 

I have a general issue with gender parity because 
it's not quite that cut and dried. People don't fit 
into these little boxes of Male/Female. There are 
plenty of people who identify differently, and 
they are just as valid as anyone else, and are 
true to themselves in their lives. But, when it 
comes to athletic competition on the order of 
the Olympics, I'll be happy that the numbers are 
truly equal for the first time EVER. 

Did you realize that this year's Olympics are the FIRST Olympics at which they have actual male/female athlete parity? I wasn't aware of that, but it came up in my feed this morning. Out of approximately 11,000 athletes, there are EXACTLY the same number of males as females - for the FIRST time! That totally rocks! Women power! LOL DH and I had a very enjoyable day yesterday watching the Olympics - track and field, swimming, gymnastics and table tennis (which is MUCH more cutthroat than it ever was when I played it as a kid). We love sports anyway, but the Olympics is always something we are glued to for the full period of time. I've been that way since I was 10 years old, DH also has been watching the Olympics since he was a youngster. Maybe it's in our genes? LOL Have an excellent Monday and I'll be back tomorrow before I head to the pool. Slava Ukraini (and the Ukraine athletes are doing VERY well at the Olympics too. Bravo!).