God I miss SWG.  It is funny how something that wasn’t based at all in the real world could have such a profound effect on me.  It brought me happiness, comradery ; in a very twisted way there was a sense of belonging.  There has only been one other place in my life that made me feel good about being the weird fool that I am.

I lived in this small town that was very pretentious.  On the surface it looked the very picturesque meaning of quaint.  An outsider standing in the middle of the downtown area could easily believe that this was a place that could feel like home.  Every one was part of your extended family.  A place of peace and acceptance.  A place that made you feel like you had a big fluffy blanket wrapped around while you were sipping hot cocoa on a cold stormy late Autumn evening.  Of course that was what they wanted outsiders to think.  It was a tourist trap.  But as soon as the tourists went home from their little mini vacation a completely different atmosphere appeared.  And the true town’s personality emerged.  The people were not so well adjusted, nor excepting.  I always saw the town as a form of Broadway stage during tourist season.  When the lights went down and everybody went home – the makeup and costumes came off.

Then late at night the circus freaks emerged. Mostly during their beloved Halloween season.  October was their time to show their true form and come out and play.  The city officials and those who ran the town hated them.  Hated their existence.  They thought it was a blight on their perfect little town.  This little group of circus freaks were twistedly talented volunteers of the local haunted school house.  And I was one of them.  A proud member in fact.  I cherished my part in smearing the towns perfect little exterior.  All of us at the haunted house did, I think.  The town wanted to hide it’s imperfections.  Shoving them in the basements under lock and key.  October was the only time we could escape and show our deformed faces and non compliant revolutions.  It was mostly innocent of course.  We never really did any visual damage.  We were hooligans but we were not criminals.  This was my first true realization of home.  My first place of refuge.  Empowering, we were all royalty there.  Not the vagabonds the town branded us as.  Plus there still is nothing like scaring the pants off a guy twice my size.

I then lost it.  You can’t stay in one place forever though.  You must move forward on your path wherever it may take you.

I didn’t find another home until a few years later.  And oddly enough it took its form as a MMORPG.  It’s insane but in a lot of ways it filled the gap in my life that the haunted house made when I departed from it.  Once again I was able to be a more projected version of the things I wanted to be and liked in myself.  I put on the skin of a Twi’lek and played my grandest role yet.  That of a little blue Tyrenanian Twi named Xie ‘lanthia.  In actuality I found it terribly easier to be comfortable with being me under the guise of lighthearted silliness of a cantina than those of your everyday “real life” scenarios.  With SWG I found true social happiness.

The truth be, I am a bit of a social reject.  A self proclaimed hermit.  Even my husband scorns my antisocial tendencies at times.  He has dubbed me socially challenged and he is most definitely correct in his view of me.  In some ways it is something that is beyond my control but mostly I find contentment and even a bit of honor at being a mob of one.  It fits me.  I do love socializing with people once you get through the BS but unfortunately I found that a large majority of people are entirely made up of BS.  I actually should rephrase that.  I hate people.  I love persons.  The easiest way to get rid of me is to play at one of the mindless drones.  It does it every time.

By now as you can guess, SWG is gone for me also.  The truth being the game changed way to much and that caused a different type of people to become attracted to the game.  Sadly, it also chased away the type of “persons” that helped make me fall in love with SWG, so eventually I left also.  WoW, EQII, and all the other MMOs fall tragically short of the splendid social sandbox that was once SWG.  So, in a moment of weakness I very seriously think about renewing my subscription to SWG, even though I know full and well that the fix I am longing for I will never get again there.

Five years ago it was annoying. In today’s world it is down right unacceptable!

I am talking about a few Utilities Service companies refusal to transition into 21st century technology amenities. Simple things like being able to pay your bill, check your account online; pay by phone with check or credit card; and the worst one… excepting credit/debit cards as a form of payment. Yes there are still a few utility companies who do not have these services available. Can you believe it. In this day and age it seems almost unimaginable.

It does get worse though. Most of the time we as customers do not have the luxury of shopping around for a better price and service from these companies (e.g. garbage disposal service, phone, gas or whatnot) because there is no competition. There is only one company that will handle said utility service in the area you live. We are stuck with what they give us and we are expected to be happy about it. Cause if we are not and we happen to speak out against these atrocities, they will most certainly make sure to inconvenience you to almost the point of harassment. Ever wonder why when they tell you they’ll be at your house between 12pm and 5pm sometimes you come home, on time mind you, only to find a note on your door timestamped at 11:45am – sorry we missed you, please call this number to schedule. They’re teaching you a lesson that’s why. They are smug about it too because they know they are not going to lose your business. If you want electricity or water you’re stuck with them and boy do they know what power they have over you. They seem to enjoy rubbing it in your face every chance they can get.

I’m going to buy a plot of land out in the middle of nowhere. Built my house with my own bare hands. I am going to make it completely self sufficient too. I won’t need to rely on these bastards any longer. Ah, what a dream!