What Makes Me...Cam.

For my next few posts (unless something remarkable and exciting happens...yeah right) I'm going to explain to everyone what makes me who I am. The places, people and things I love and some of the ones I love less.

I figure I'll start with what makes me "Cam". As you might have guessed (and a lot of you already knew all too well), my real name (real meaning the name on my birth certificate) is not Cam. Nor is it Cameron or Camryn or any variation thereof. What that name on my birth certificate is I will not be sharing here for various reasons, but the most glaring of those reasons is that I'm comfortable with being called Cam. After all, it's what some of my dearest friends have called me for years.

On my wedding anniversary some 2 and a half-ish years ago, my husband introduced me to a whole new world. A world known as Azeroth. Yes, that's right, we started to play World of Warcraft.

I tried out a few characters but ultimately settled on a human priestess because I could make her look like me!!! (Thunder Thighs and all!!!)

I promptly named her...Camelot.

For the next year, this was my identity. As the mother of a then-2 year old and a newborn, I didn't get out much in the real world, but I was free to roam the wilderness and cities of Azeroth at my leisure. I met interesting people from all over the world, some of whom became my lifelong friends and others who I haven't heard from since. The one thing these people all had in common is that, to them, I was "Cam".

After about a year of playing Camelot, I got bored. I decided it was time to try something completely new, but no other games appealed to me and I still wasn't able to get out and socialize due to a very strict budget and lack of friends in this town. Instead, I decided to play the other side of the field for a while.

I rolled Horde.

Venit was my character's (a blood elf warlock) name, but as I am by nature a person that needs to reach out to people, I had become quite well-known on our realm forums, everyone STILL called me Cam. It had stuck. So much so that Val (and no, that's not HIS real name either) sometimes would slip up and call me Cam at home.

Now I don't play Venit anymore, I went back to the priest class as well as a "Cam" name (Camdyn) but remained horde as a blood elf. But it's become rather comfortable, this identity. I think I'll keep it. It gives me a warm feeling inside when I get a phone call from a "WoW-friend" or talk to them on voice chat and hear them call me Cam.

Some people make fun of gamers. They stereotype us as either fat forty year old virgins who live in their mother's basement with a pile of twinkie wrappers next to our computers, (I'm NOT fat, I'm not even thirty, I have my own apartment and it's Rice Krispy Square wrappers THANK YOU VERY MUCH!) or acne-prone socially retarded teenagers who talk with a lisp because of their braces. This is not the case. The different people who play this game would astound you. I have met stay at home moms and successful physicians both in this world we call Warcraft. It made a social network for me that I couldn't have brought myself to make without it. The friends that I have made in this game have encouraged me to better myself, to never settle for less, and to test my limitations.

So to know who I am, you must know that even though the gloss has worn off this game for me, the people keep me going back and the world known as "Azeroth" is in my life to stay for as long as Blizzard Entertainment lets me play in it.

To My World of Warcraft Friends....

Somebunnie loves you!!!!

More to come later. <3

The Crazy Continues...

With deciding to do kitchen inventory and clean out my cupboards! I only got one cupboard done before deciding to finish tomorrow...but holy crap. Where did some of this stuff COME FROM? I'm sure I didn't buy all those canned tomatoes since we don't even eat them...

Yeah, yeah...I know...Kraft Dinner. *gag* Auntie Dale would be so horrified...

Okay, this one has me baffled. 10 cans of salmon?! We don't even like canned salmon so I know we didn't buy it...

And the finished product! A clean and organized cupboard!!! Job well done, I'll get at my baking cupboard tomorrow. Now THERE'S a chore and a half.

Baking Day!!!

So today was a busy day of yummies here! I don't remember if I posted that my mother's day present was a breadmaker, but it was...and today I decided to try it out!

Isn't it PRETTY?! It has all kinds of settings and stuff like that, but since it was my first time trying it out...I decided to go with the simplistic white loaf.

TA-DA! My first ever loaf of breadmaker bread!!!!!!

But I didn't stop there. Oh no! I decided that since I was on a roll, I must also make blueberry muffins!!!

Val's absolute favorite!!!

But...why stop there, right? I have this new recipe for Pineapple Squares that I have been DYING to try out and Silas was quite eager to help me!

Because Mommy cannot SURVIVE without some help from Silas! He even helped me press the base into the pan.

Don't you wish that YOU had a kitchen helper that looked this awesome?!?!? How could you RESIST?!

And the finished...Wait a minute! Weren't there a DOZEN muffins??? VAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

From Me and Mine to You and Yours...

Have a wonderful Mother's Day!


I spent the day with my mother and my boys and it was a fantastic day. I'm so glad to be able to be close to my mom. I hear about friends of mine that have gone for months or years without speaking to their mother and I can't imagine it. My mom is closer to me than anyone else.



So for all of you moms and moms-to-be out there, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day and are waited on like a queen!

For the rest of you...

CALL YOUR MOTHER!!!!!!

The Eye of the...Listener?

I have often wondered if there are other people who see the world as I do.

The saying is "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", but I see the world in sound. Now if you're wondering, I am not blind. With the help of my glasses I see the world the same as anyone else. However, I am affected much more by sound than by sight, and the world is infinitely more beautiful to me if the sounds surrounding me are beautiful.

Take Steven Tyler for example.

Not exactly an attractive man...his eyes are a bit small when you compare them to his HUGE mouth. But when this man opens that mouth, beautiful sounds come out. Which makes him so beautiful to me that even Brad Pitt just can't compare.

Recently Andrea Bocelli has become the music of choice in our household. Silas is fascinated whenever we play his music and will just sit with his fingers in his mouth, listening in amazement to the beautiful sounds that this man can make, with seemingly little effort.

Knowing that Mr. Bocelli has been blind since a young age, it's made me wonder if perhaps he "sees" his world as I do. If he is more attracted to beautiful sounds as most people are attracted to beautiful sights. Our favorite performance of his thus far is his "Time to Say Goodbye" duet with Sarah Brightman, and as we all know this woman has a voice of such loveliness that it is not to be compared with others, as well as a beautiful face. I wonder if when he pictures her, he sees her as she is because of the sheer beauty of her voice.

Andrea Bocelli's voice wraps me up like a blanket and gives me a feeling of warmth unlike anything else I've ever heard. I think his voice sounds the way that love feels.

On that note, I'll leave you with my favorite Andrea Bocelli duet with Sarah Brightman. For today, it's "Time To Say Goodbye".

PS: And if you're wondering, Silas is the only child in my house who appreciates culture apparently. The entire time that I'm playing Italian opera...Hayden is driving me crazy to play "Inside the Fire" by Disturbed. Gonna have to work on that one...