572nd Friday Blog Roundup

It is so quiet on the Internet today.  Facebook is already hopping with pictures of people who have been up all night for Black Friday deals, but the blogs are quiiiiiiiiiiiet.

Do you guys play Candy Box?  I leave it playing in the background while I’m working.  Every so often, I take a break and tend to my lollipop farm or go on a quest.  I’ll warn you if you begin playing it (and you should because it’s the sort of game that gives more than it takes), it has a learning curve.  When you first start playing, it won’t make sense.  What you need to understand is that the story is unfolding in real time.  And there is a lot more to do than eating candy, but you need to wait for it.

For instance, I have a lollipop farm and a diamond sword and 7-league boots and a key.  I’ve planted my lollipop farm to over 100,000 lollipops, and I’m producing them at a rate of 100 per second.  This morning, I’ve been hanging out at the sorceress’s hut to have her put a spell on my sword.  Plus I like that the Candy Merchant looks like an ASCII version of the 4th Doctor Who doctor.

It will take an hour or two of game play before you get to a fun point in the game, but once you’re at the fun part, you remain at the fun part forever.  So let it play in the background, plant your lollipops, and enjoy.

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Stop procrastinating.  Go make your backups.  Don’t have regrets.

Seriously.  Stop what you’re doing for a moment.  It will take you fifteen minutes, tops.  But you will have peace of mind for days and days.  It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.

As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.

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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:

• “571st Friday Blog Roundup” (Stirrup Queens) — thank you, 35jupiterdrive
• “I Was That Girl” (The Barreness)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Bent But Not Broken has a post about Facebook’s memories feature throwing her back into a moment she’d rather forget, especially as it dredges up a slew of realizations.  It’s a wonderful post about being tossed back into a moment and applying what you know now to the past.

The Next 15000 Days has a post continuing a story about a man she met at a dinner in March.  (So maybe read that last link first, and then go to the middle link.)  They talk about their regrets or lack of regrets.  She writes: “I spent a whole decade regretting not having children. But now I am done with regrets. I did my best to get a child, but it wasn’t written in my destiny. It was not meant to be. What should I regret?”  And then she explains his side of the story.  I can’t really describe this well; I think they’re just two posts you need to read and experience and think about.

Lastly, the Empress and the Fool had me by simply referencing the Odyssey, but she took this post to such a deep level.  It is stunningly gorgeous; a comparison of journeys and what is learned along the way.  I love this consideration of our own personal lotus-eating: “I’m caught somewhere in the debate between terming this ‘avoidance’ or ‘self-care’.”  Read this post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Enjoy Candy Box.  Your weekly backup nudge.  And lots of great posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between November 20th and 27th) 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.