490th Friday Blog Roundup

So I was about to start out this post by telling you that I was deleting Candy Crush from my mobile device. I’ve definitely slowed down in my playing. (I’m on level 421, so not making a lot of forward progress anymore.)  But moreover, I haven’t been able to have it sync with Facebook for a week or so.  This means that even if I pass a level on one device, it won’t update my progress anywhere else.  And I can’t send my friend tickets nor ask for people to send me tickets when I get to the end of an episode.

I looked online to see if anyone else was having this problem, and though I couldn’t find anyone else talking about it on Twitter, there were plenty of bulletin boards that spoke about this problem.  The two suggestions were logging into Facebook via the settings on the phone (vs. just downloading the app and signing in there) or deleting and reinstalling the app.

The first one was a no-go.  If you read the TOS and see what you are granting Facebook once you log in via your settings, you would revoke that privilege so quickly from them that Zuckerberg’s head would spin.  There is no game — not even Candy Crush — that would entice me to give Facebook that sort of access on my phone.

And the second one begged the question: if I was deleting the app, why would I reinstall it?  Why wouldn’t I just delete the app and go about the rest of my life, Candy Crush-free?

So I opened this post box to write the Roundup, and I paused to dramatically delete the app.  And then, like a junkie, I decided to reinstall just to see if it worked (and then I could always delete again).  It did.  It worked.  My device connected via Facebook, and took me back to where I had been on the map before the problem cropped up.

Deleting Candy Crush is like burning the bridge to a semi-dysfunctional friendship.  Yes, it would emotionally cocoon me to not have access ever again to the Crush.  But just as I sometimes like to get coffee with an old friend, not to rekindle the friendship back to a daily basis but to touch base with the past, I sort of like seeing that app on the phone, knowing I can sneak in a round or two before bed if I choose.  If I choose.  Because you no longer have a choke-hold on my life, King.com.  Well, you do.  But I pretend you don’t.

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YOU CAN GO TO HOGWARTS.

Esperanza told me about a LARP that fans created online where you can enroll in Hogwarts and take online classes.  It’s like University of Phoenix for the magical world.

Yes, I am enrolling.  Yes, I am going to complete all the course work.  Yes, I am going to talk about it incessantly.  Yes, the twins enrolled too which means, like Hermione, I need to help them with their homework.  Yes, I am going to neglect things like basic hygiene and eating in order to fit more Harry Potter in my life.

HOGWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTS!

Who is joining me?

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And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Mday” (Because We’ll Figure it Out)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Inconceivable is at the start of a pregnancy, deep in the waiting zone from beta to beta as she tries to discern what her spotting means.  She pulls in a quote from the Princess Bride that so perfectly sums up the feeling that hangs over an infertile person’s head during pregnancy.  A perfect post, though I’m hoping that like the Dread Pirate Roberts, nothing comes of the threat.

Life as I Know It has a post about her seventh blogoversary.  While she’s started and given up on many things in life, she keeps coming back to her blog, year after year.  She says it best with this simple thought, “I blog because it frees me to just be and feel.”  Hells yeah, and happy blogoversary.

Anabegins also has a post about blogging. (You know I’m a sucker for blogging about blogging!  And the fact that she named it “Meta” made me swoon.)  It’s about finding the energy to do the hard work of writing when you aren’t forced to do the hard work of writing.  And all the things she gets out of blogging in return.

Lastly, Mona Darling has a post about never being too old to try something new.  To quote the teens these days, YOLO, and this blog post embraces that idea of not waiting or making excuses to take a risk.  She writes, “Why is 40 too old to change careers? Or, 45 in my case. Don’t you don’t deserve better from life then spending a majority of your day doing something you don’t enjoy?”  The post is a rallying cry for figuring out what you want to try, and then doing it.

The roundup to the Roundup: I fixed Candy Crush… crap.  I AM ENROLLING IN HOGWARTS!  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between April 11th and April 18th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.