FarmVille on Facebook-How I stopped playing

Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. It is more than that actually. For people of our age our lives revolve around facebook, isn’t it? 

From the moment we reach office, the first thing we do is open the facebook page, then only comes the official emails and all :P. And basically we are on facebook all day long; God only knows what we are doing. Today it’s "are you on facebook?." I wonder what our lives would have been if there was no facebook.

I was rather amused when an elderly blog friend of mine in Massachusetts said that she is not on facebook. Holy cow! When asked why, “it’s simply that however much I try to create my username, it always says try another name, sick of it I gave up the idea of opening an account.” Too amusing, isn’t it? Hats off to her!  

I have my 9 and 10 years old niece and nephews who are on facebook. God forbid, how could they access it? The true digital natives.

After being on facebook for quite some time, I got bored with it. I had one sole purpose to be on facebook-to play FarmVille, a farming social network game developed by Zynga in 2009. You can virtually farm, starting from plowing land, planting, growing, harvesting crops and trees and raising livestock.  

I have never been committed to FarmVille than any other game. I have been continuously playing FarmVille for the last 4 years with just a 6 months break in between, constantly worried that my crops would wither since a crop-specific amount of time would be there. It needs lots of dedication and commitment. From a level 1 farmer I reached to level 100, quite an achievement! I have become a sophisticated agriculturalist now hehe. 

I introduced this game to my roommates whilst in Post Graduate days and to others and since then we have had competition as to who would reach the higher level even after joining jobs lol. I know I have wasted a lot of my time yet this have become rather addictive:(.

  

I had this target of reaching level 100.  Yay I did it! Now I am all goodbyes to FarmVille. I am stopping playing this game and rather invest this time productively. Hope I keep my promise :P.

Here are my farms, altogether there are 5 farms, but I have only 3 pictures here. It usually takes an hour every day for me to visit all the farms and work on it. 

Original Home Farm

Winter Wonderland

Lighthouse Cove, another farm

Another week is gone, I spent my weekend watching Jism 2, loved the movie.How was your weekend? The whole time I was doing this post I listened to Maula song from the film. Another heart touching song with wonderful lyrics. 

                                                

 

A happy week to all! 

The 6 p.m chore

On a Pedestrian day in July, I open my eyes to the blinding morning sun and realize the hangover of the terrible headache and sore throat from last night. I had gone to bed crying last night because of my chronic tonsil from the past. Few years back in a cold September night, this same monstrous tonsil had me admitted in the hospital. After that it had been dormant until yesterday. The terrible pain while swallowing anything is too dreadful. 

And today, Pedestrian Tuesday and I had the best excuse ever to stay at home. I had wanted to go to work but the unfriendly scorching sun was too discouraging, so to avoid falling sick again, I called in sick at office and took rest at home. On an average, there must be many cases like mine on Tuesdays which would mean more absenteeism at work. And the outcome? Calculate it for yourself: P. No wonder, numerous reports in the media says about the alarming poor attendance at school on Tuesdays. Somebody should find about the absenteeism at workplace on Tuesdays also, I thought to myself.   

It was unusually quiet right from the morning till 6 p.m in the evening. No honking of the cars. The place where I stay has unusually large number of cars, so there is always a parking crunch. You come after 8 p.m and you had to park your car on the road and stay alert the rest of the night in case you hear some vandalism by some nocturnal high spirited teenagers. Thimphu is no longer safe :(. And I never stay out late for this very reason.

Thus, my Tuesday was spent watching Olympic on Tv and reading Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. The Fountainhead, a modern classic tells the story of the desperate battle waged by architect Howard Roark, whose integrity was as unyielding as granite…of Dominique Francon, the exquisitely beautiful woman who loved Roark passionately, but married his worst enemy…of the frantic denunciation unleashed by an enraged society against a great creator. Its theme is one of the most challenging ideas ever presented in a work of fiction-that man’s ego is the fountainhead of human progress.

                                                                                                            - From The Fountainhead

I heard the screeching sound of the tyres and honks of the cars outside my window. I orderly folded the page of the book I was reading, set aside my cup of green tea and looked at the clock hanging desolately on the wall. It was exactly 6 p.m, it marked the end of another Tuesday in Bhutan. It was as if everybody has been waiting for the clock to strike 6 p.m, like that in Cinderella’s story save that the people were beginning their normal activities. And from my window I watched people going about their Tuesday chores. 

A view from my window, I love watching the activities from here :)

A view from a moving car, how clear the sky is yet the pelting of the rain on the glass of the car is harsh.

Pedestrian Tuesday

So how many of you enjoyed Bhutan’s first pedestrian Tuesday? It sure was a different Tuesday for most of us especially for those who have to commute to work. The road along the swimming pool complex was deserted except for a few taxis plying on the road. 

Honestly, I was a little excited to walk to office from Changzamtog where I live to Kawajangsa. This would be some burning of extra calories in me, I thought to myself. Energized with a good breakfast, I started my day towards an effort to reduce carbon footprint. I had this freaking thought that the streets would be filled up with people walking to and fro to work or to run some important errands just like you see in movies. 

Alas!

Just a handful of people were seen on the road. Am I too early or late? Does no one walk to the place where I work? It was a great disappointment! :(. Just then, I saw Dasho Neten Zangmo hurriedly walking to office, oh what an inspiration! Then I plodded on. 

    The greatest inspiration -His Majesty the King bicycling at the heart of the city.Pic courtesy: Kuensel, 5th June 2012

The once busy road with heavy traffic gave a deserted look. It had been so long that almost all of us walked to office. Thimphu must have been like this back in the 80’s with just a countable number of cars. The feeling was of being transported back to those times when I had the road to myself. I felt incredibly awesome. 

Then people came out of their houses on the way and I could see the number soaring. One look on the face of the passerby and I get this feeling, “Hey I have seen him/her somewhere.” And I get this hazy feeling of “where could it be?” until and unless my head don’t stop reeling. So foolish of me :P. 

Past 45 minutes and finally I reach the vicinity of my office. I meet my Secretary at the entrance who had also walked down to office, oh another inspirationJ. As soon as I reach my office, instantly I put on the fan and lie down, oh how exhausted I am early morning. 

I could not do anything for the next 15 minutes. This is because of the 1^st Tuesday, I console to myself. The sun had been mild yesterday fortunately; otherwise there would have been too many casualties at the hospital with heat strokes. 

Speaking of casualties, I had an aunt who was referred to JDWNRH for an immediate surgery from Punakha. Unfortunately they were here on the 1^st Pedestrian Tuesday and God knows how much time they took to reach the hospital.
They were diverted all the way by the traffic police towards Tashichhodzong, and from there again had to come through the outskirts of the town towards JDWNRH. Then parking their car, they had to walk to the hospital which my poor aunt could not do because she was suffering from hemorrhage. When in that condition, imagine her horror to walk. 
Finally they had to catch a cab to reach the hospital. What is to happen to our rural community who happens to visit the JDWNRH on some unfortunate Pedestrian Tuesday? I believe there won’t be an ambulance to ferry every sick person.

On a Pedestrian Tuesday, there would not be any absenteeism at workplace, however there would be less public frequenting the offices which is the case I saw yesterday. It was a huge sigh of relief to see the office car parking lot empty too. Otherwise we had to rush for parking space both at office and home. With crammed parking spaces, thanks to our planners, it has literarily been a race against time to catch a good and safe parking space for one’s car. Since I had guests at home, I had to miss the walk to home after office. 

The cabbie charged me frigging 80 bucks from BCCI hall. Wooh that was quite a loot the cabbie did. In case I am not well but emergencies at work make me to go to office, I would not be able to afford the extravagant taxi fare. 

As long as I do not have to tend to kids at home and drop them to school, I would be OK with Pedestrian Tuesday. And my heartfelt sympathy goes to those new parents who have to juggle between home and office frequently. 
God bless them and let the decision makers have some solution to it just like they do things on their whims and fancies like the one they did now. After all who are we? Just some experimental mice! where everything can be experimented on us. Or let the mother with newborns  have holidays on every Pedestrian Tuesday: P. 

Till then, I pray for no rain on Pedestrian Tuesday or scorching sun.

I pray not to fall sick on Pedestrian Tuesday.

And hope this pedestrian Tuesday will lead us far as a country.