Apr. 5 - The Snowy Owl and The Ice Cream Man

I fell in love with the male Snowy Owl which I found at the Himeji Zoo last April 5.  I didn't know what he was thinking about, but he seemed to be happy.  Though I was standing alone looking at him for a while,  I could not help smiling.

One lady approached me.  As soon as she found him, she also smiled.  I was not the only one - we could not help smiling.  Unfortunately I missed the chance to take pictures of his partner who was sleeping above him.  Maybe next time, I would like to take some pictures of her. 

Here's the story that I'd like to tell you today.

I found my two pet birds dead within one month of each other.  The first one died in January, while the other died in February.  As I used to treat them like our family members, I still miss them so much.  I need to start something new for distraction.

My husband who graduated from a prestigious university in Kobe often says "I am always better than you." which makes me depressed.

Nowadays, I have been enjoying an online game named "Big Farm."  We are the farmers who grow various fruits and vegetables and take care of livestock.  We can choose to join a group of farmers in the game.  Once we join one of the clubs, we can enjoy chatting online with the other members in the group.

I use play money in the game, so my financial situation in the house isn't affected at all.

A few days ago, I lost too much money in the game and I felt depressed.  I chatted about it in the group.  Taro-chan, the founder of our group, responded very quickly, "Don't get depressed with such a trivial thing.  You could make money if you work harder tomorrow."  

He also said that I was trustworthy, so he told me that I could be the leader of the group which had 9 farmers.  He said, "You can make it!"   In this way, he  always cheered me up while playing the game.  The more I chatted with him, the more I felt delighted then. 

It is a good thing that he lives in the Eastern part of Japan while I live in the Western part.  We don't have any chance to see in person.

We chatted about how we should proceed with our club projects in the game.  The other 7 members didn't join the conversation. 

Two weeks after I joined Taro-chan's club, he asked me about its merit.  His farm was at level 60 and he donated more than $1,000,000 to his club.  Unfortunately, he couldn't find any value in what he did.  On the other hand, my farm was at level 30 and I donated only a little more than $300,000.

When Yo-chan, who started to get addicted to the game, reached level 20, donated $500, Taro-chan told her that she didn't need to donate her play money to our club. 

By then I had already checked information about clubs and I realized that pork can be sold at a price that is 20% higher, while eggs can be sold at 33% higher. 

I thought these projects are beneficial to each member of our club.  Taro-chan also said that these benefits were attractive to his farm. 

So, when I heard that Taro-chan told Yo-chan that there was no need to donate money to our club, I felt disappointed with him.

I thought nothing of it when I started playing the game, but I realized that if we face a problem or need  to answer a difficult question, it is important to find out what caused the problem in the first place.  Then, it is also important to determine how to solve it. 

Taro-chan is a game player who has been logging in on the game from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the past days.  He has been logging in even while he is working.  His brain does the simultaneous tasks of accomplishing his work and playing the game at the same time. 

I didn't feel attracted to him anymore because he didn't think about the importance of our club despite the fact that he was the founder.  Then, I donated $500,000 worth of my play money to Taro-chan's club to gain the advantage of selling the pork and eggs at higher prices.  

I also wrote to all the club members that I didn't enjoy being a member of the club anymore because Taro-chan was preventing members from donating money to the club.  I would rather be if all the members will have the opportunity to donate their portions and enjoy the benefits. 


I wrote to all of our club members, "Thank you for supporting me for two weeks but it is time for me to say good bye."

I left Taro chan's club then, so I did not get any chance to receive the benefit which I had paid for. 

I was very tired of being a leader of Taro chan's club.  For me, Taro-chan knew how to make our farm bigger, but he didn't study how our club members work as a team.  He left me all the tasks as the club leader, and I had to find out what kind of benefits we can get.  

Anyway I was happy to leave the club.  I took a short rest, and I have been enjoying the game without joining a club anymore.  As a 50-year-old woman, I felt that it is very important to keep my own pace. 

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Here are more pictures which I took at the Himeji zoo last April 5. 

Here is my husband licking his ice cream.
Behind him on the vending machine is the Anpan man.

 

Maybe he was so thirsty after taking many pictures at the Himeji castle. 

Maybe he was thinking about updating the pictures in his blog.