New friends welcome

I suppose it had to happen sometime.  I am now the (proud?) owner of an iPad and iPhone, and I make use of them every day.  Not only for useful things like checking the weather or checking email or reading the paper, but also - more so - for entertainment.  I love the games I can play on my new devices.

Games.  Apps.  Now I understand how people can spend hours on their tablets and never notice how much time has passed.

The best are word games.  I love word games, and a friend at work introduced me to WordOn.  It's like Scrabble without the game board.  I am now playing with 15 different people and I know only four of them; the rest are strangers - people looking for someone to play with.  They seem to be people like myself - lovers of word games and just a teensy bit competitive when it comes to words.

For my part, using words is how I make a living. I have a reasonable vocabulary and.like to think that I am - maybe - above average when it comes to putting words together.  And I can spell.  So I think I have a pretty good chance of doing well at word games.

Obviously, others have the same idea.  I sometimes struggle to find ways to use my letters and the letters sent to me by another player, and I watch the scores carefully, trying to find ways to bring my score up.  I have never thought of myself as a competitive sort, but apparently I am.

What is the best thing about the game is that I can 'chat' with other players - just a few phrases or words of congratulations over a good word or apologies over a profanity that was the only word I could make.    

I have now come to understand what The Kid meant when he was playing online with people he never met.  He would refer to them as "his friends" and I endlessly ragged on him about how he should be spending time with his real friends and how he didn't know the people online so he shouldn't call them friends.  Now I see that even though I don't know most of the people  I play with online, I somehow think of them as "my WordOn friends".  I feel a responsibility to them - a responsibility to tune in and seen what words they've made or which letters they've sent me.  A responsibility to keep this strange, distant relationship going.  And they seem to feel the same way.   We all enjoy the few minutes we take to trade words and letters and maybe a few cheerful comments.

So if you are looking for me and I'm not here (I really did intend to post something weekly ... I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep that resolution) you might find me as valeriew on WordOn.  I'm using the default funny face - that's how you should find me.  I always welcome new WordOn friends.

Saviour wanted

It’s the end of the week and I still haven’t posted anything – the pressure is on.  I checked the random word generator for some help to get me started and it spit out ‘Bodhisat’.   

Believe it or not, I actually know this word, or at least a different form of the word - Bohdisattva – as it came up in a comparative religions course I took in university.  A Bodhisat is a Buddha-in-waiting – someone who has reached the highest degree of enlightenment – or saintship, if you want the word used in the dictionaries – and will become the Buddha in their next reincarnation.  I’ve always liked the word and the concept, but have wondered if Bodhisats actually know they will be the next Buddha.  Do people know they are enlightened?  Do they choose to be Bohdisats?  Do they want to be Buddha?  It’s a big job, and a thankless one - no one wants to listen. 

I’m sure all my questions would be answered if I was Buddhist or took the time to read a bit more.  I do know there have been 28 Buddhas and there’s another expected.  I actually find that kind of exciting.  Having grown up a big-C Christian (although that status is surely in doubt in the minds of some people), I was always taught that Jesus is *the* saviour – no others exist and no more are expected.  

Don’t you find that sad?  No one to show us where we’ve strayed?   No one to remind us what needs to be done?  No one to show us a better path?  

I like the idea of a saviour in the wings – I just don’t know how you’d recognize one.