It Was The Ears, I Tell Ya

Thank God for "Blue's Clues".

I'm not talking about the show (we don't watch TV), but the computer game I'm forever grateful for. It is Michaela's favorite. Her all-time favorite.

And I'm not just talking about A game. We're talking numerous games. Perhaps 6 in all.

She's crazy about them.

She's also been playing them for almost 7 years now.

It doesn't really bother me, but I just can't believe she still likes them. Talk about a return on your money, eh? $10-$15 for 7 years of simple satisfaction.

If only we could get that kind of return out of the computer.....

***

She's not doing the greatest lately. Not bad. Just not great. She's still talking and eating, so that's really good. But she's drooling a lot too. Drooling is the pits. There's nothing worse than getting a hug and a wet willy at the same time.

But she's playing her Blue's Clues. At least, she's trying to play. Her arms are giving her trouble, so managing the mouse and the left click button can be a hassle for her. It's times like this where I think she gets really frustrated. She soooo wants to move that cursor to that spot, but she can't get it to move. So she'll give up on the game for awhile, but almost always goes back, just to see if that stinkin' cursor will cooperate this time.

Well, today she had given up and walked away from it (she NEVER turns it off). But I was sick of hearing the same ditty playing in an endless loop. So I decided to turn it off. I figured I could just start it up again later if she wanted it.
The particular game she was playing is called "Blue Takes You To School". It's her new fav, and I think I know why: It has a "rabbit table". This is where the "classroom pet" needs to be taken care of, and you get to give it water and food and brush it and so on. It's really cute.

But there's a twist. The game has some kind of internal timer that dictates how often these things need to be done for the rabbit. The longer you ignore it, the "sadder" it gets, and the more intervention it needs.

Michaela doesn't tend to neglect the rabbit for very long. She's often inundating it with carrots and water and lots of brushing, to the point where Periwinkle the cat has to tell her to quit it. The rabbit's gonna explode from too many carrots!! (Just kidding) But you get my point.

So when I went to turn it off, I was pretty astonished to see that the rabbit was at an all time low on the sadness scale.

I'd never seen it that bad. Half way, yes. But never almost dead. The thing looked pitiful. Ears down, not hopping, cage a mess. Poor thing.

So I did what any decent human being would've done:

I fed him, watered him, changed his paper, brushed him, and played with him.

And before long, he was his happy rabbit self. Bouncy and playful. I had successfully rescued Giggles the rabbit from immediate danger. It was a very cool feeling to see him all normal and stuff.

Until I realized that I had just rescued a computerized rabbit.

And a cartoon one at that. All I had to do was turn the thing off and Giggles wouldn't have known the difference. It's not like it's REAL or anything, Kell!!




(Please don't tell P.E.T.A.! They'll try to recruit me!)