I’m watching an anime full-screen right now called “Lucky Star”. I read the description before watching it and didn’t really want to watch it, but I thought I’d experience it anyway just to further my knowledge. I thought I’d turn it on for a minute or two, watch it, and then discard it as a childish cartoon. Unfortunately, the opening song is so fast-paced that it immediately caught my attention in a worse way than a television jingle. The chick who seems to be the main character, despite being both smart and athletic, doesn’t use all of her skills. She doesn’t join sports clubs at school or get good grades. The lack of grades is due to her disregarding the given homework.

Instead, she plays online video games and watches anime all day. When she’s talking to her friends at school, she bumbles on about her online video game friends even though they don’t necessarily understand her. During the episode, she actually describes her real life and her online video game life as being one and the same. It’s kind of sad in one way, but it describes the progression of video games and the psychology of world society through technology in another way. I can definitely relate to her friends in that way, especially around OmegaBot.

OmegaBot will slip out of talking about the video game areas/item/character statistics and into talking about real world objects as they would be reflected if they were in the game played. It’s quite amazing, really. I occasionally want to reach over and poke OmegaBot in the shoulder and say “Come back to the real world!”, and sometimes I do something of the sort. Most often, though, I stop myself and think about how boring the real world can be at times and try to imagine myself in the game world. I don’t always succeed, but by the time I fail I just don’t care anymore and I’ve moved on to thinking about something else or I’ve zoned off into my own little world. Of course, if I fail to imagine myself in the video game world and zone off into my own little world, people start thinking that something is wrong because I can’t relate to the conversation and have stopped talking. The thing is, it doesn’t matter to me at that point (usually).

I’m already in my own zone at that point, watching things happen around me that aren’t really happening. In that way, you could say that there is a similarity between being lost in my head and somebody else treading the social line between virtual life and real life. I’ll go and tread the line between imagined life and real life (aka daydream — I consider this both a source and a symptom of “extreme empathy”). Whilst the gamers are weaving their discussions in such as way as to intertwine real time and game time, I’m already looking out the window and walking down the street. I’ll occasionally stop to read an advertisement, or a poster on a wall. I’ll make my way back to the place where I’m sitting and start moving people’s things around, rifling through their bags, and listening to their conversations. I’ll sit next to them and joke around with them and maybe even provide some useful ideas. Perhaps then I’ll go sit on the floor and watch the room as if from a reverse perspective, seeing myself staring off into the distance, seeing the gamers become animated about their intertwined lives…no…I have to come up with a name for that now. I shall call it… “The Qwerty Perspective”.

The Qwerty Perspective. An original thing, my own term. They’re seeing the world through a keyboard’s or computer’s view, but also putting their input from this world back into the keyboard when they get a chance. They’re speaking a language that both gamers and non-gamers can understand, although the game specific terminology can get a little muddy to non-gamers, and the gamers who aren’t present would require real-world context to understand the similarities being drawn between the game and real life. I can’t say anything like “it’s a trap into which the unimaginative fall”, because that would make it sound like a bad thing, and it’s not necessarily. I actually think it’s a positive thing that games and computers can help people describe things with words where they would otherwise not have such a description. Through the Qwerty Perspective, people can relay emotions and describe things in a way (although game-specific at times, unfortunately) that allows another person to empathize with them more deeply. Through such empathy, bonds are formed. The Qwerty Perspective is a GOOD thing. No, that’s not Martha. I will, however, say that the truly imaginative people out there stand to bury original perspectives under the Qwerty Perspective and that it could take them years to recover.

Extreme empathy. Hmmm…for fun, I looked that up just now. I came up with this article, which describes very briefly something called mirror-touch synaesthesia (MTS). (I haven’t taken this, but for those of you interested, here is your empathy quotient.) [I believe that the best massage therapists have MTS.] When I say extreme empathy, I don’t mean MTS. I mean it in the sense of the word that my mind puts me in their place. This is one of the reasons that I have trouble watching horror movies. I don’t like feeling the pain of the characters. The scene with the patient and the eyes in 28 Weeks Later left me somewhat scarred. The memory of that pain is almost too unbearable to handle. I am EXTREMELY thankful that my mind is already starting to bury that.

MS messaged me a little over an hour ago — sorry MS, I’m not ignoring you!

There’s SO MUCH to write about right now…and I’m getting tired again. I’m tired a lot these days, but I think it has to do with work. Work…hmmm…so much stuff going on there lately. I’m dealing with some complex clients at work, and tomorrow…well…today at this point, I have to go train somebody else to deal with the clients so that I can get back to doing my normal job. I have a day to train this person, but the clients take a month to learn. I have a feeling that the trainee and I will be interacting rather closely over the next month until the clients are learned. Yes, I’m writing in passive voice on purpose. Shut yer beautiful traps and deal with it, grammar majors.

I really wanted to do DDR/ITG today (this brings to mind what it would be like if Pepsi had children), but I ended up taking a much needed nap instead. Hopefully between that and the sleep I get tonight, I won’t have trouble waking up early this morning. *insert yawn here*

Dang it!!!! I can’t stop surfing. And as such, I’ve decided that Yuri Ebihara is now one of the most beautiful AND cute women on the planet. Okay. Bedtime.

I want to write about something, but I have absolutely nothing interesting to write about. Today is going to be all about leaving for work early (i.e. getting there before 11, in this case getting there at 9). Leaving for work early (should) mean(s) getting home early, and getting home early means getting the place all cleaned up and getting my oil changed in my truck before my Pepsi gets here. I think I need to apologize to anybody out there at this point who thinks that I’m a Pepsi addict, but it’s true. I am.

Hmm…what to write about…ah! Catholics with guns. But hey, what’s new?

Umm…ah…blah blah laundry blah blah take out the trash, do the dishes, sweep the floors. All the usual fun things. Work up a budget for myself for the next month because of not having received my FTL trip reimbursement money yet. I have so much to do at work these days that it’s not even funny. Even my work has work to do. I’m just glad that I don’t have to do my work’s work for the most part, because that’s laborious stuff. My part of it isn’t laborious, just time-consuming.

This weekend is going to be a weekend of resizing files at work, going to the beach, exploring St. Petersburg with my Pepsi in the truck, and remotely possibly Busch Gardens.

OH! One interesting thing happened. I was tired last night and walked into the local Walgreens to get some water. Tired = not thinking about what I’m wearing = the bum look. And for some reason, looking like a bum drives women crazy. The cashier asked for my phone number. …no, thank you.

First thing’s first — I’m getting a cold sore, and I don’t like it. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about it. I guess that just means I don’t get to taste any Pepsi this weekend. There are plenty of other fun things to do though, I s’pose. The forecast says that there’s a 30% chance of rain on both Saturday and Sunday, so that’s a “maybe” to beach weather. At least it’s only going to be a high of 89 degrees this weekend.

You have to understand when I say “only”, though. Monday night, 06/11/2007, my air conditioner decided to break. I guess I need to look on the bright side, though. At least I wasn’t a Catholic in Cologne on this day in 1964. Anyway…I didn’t sleep at all on Monday night. Period. At 4:30 AM on Tuesday, 06/12/2007, I gave up trying to sleep when I realized that it was 84 degrees in my apartment, and the sun hadn’t even come up yet. I simply drove into work and started working in the air-conditioned office. Calls every 2 hours to the landlady finally proved fruitful and an air conditioner repairman was sent out to fix the problem. I met him here, in my NINETY DEGREE APARTMENT.

Fixing the problem meant that I finally met my downstairs neighbor, PoliceGirl, as my air conditioner electrical lines run down through her air conditioner closet as well. She was born in the same state as me We struck up a lively conversation in the awkward lull while the repairman was out gathering the tools of his trade. We both told our entire life stories to each other in under two and a half minutes each. I was rather impressed, actually. I hope I get to interact with her more, she really was cool.

So…he fixed it, I left, he left, everybody’s happy. Then I get a call from Pepsi telling me that Gator(yeah, from Gainesville) is in my area and implying that it’s my duty to keep the Gator sufficiently amused for at least a short time. I’m dead tired. What to do, what to do…I know! I’ll agree to meet Gator, chug a power peanut butter smoothie, and then wear myself out at the local arcade for free. That took all of three hours to do. But hey…I did my duty.

Now I’m dead tired, but I can’t sleep just yet. I think it’s because I was very very awake at this same time yesterday morning. I also blame the wonderful (that’s not sarcasm, but I don’t know how to get you to believe me) people over at Questionable Content for one of the best webcomics *ever*. Read these comics, I implore you. It’s like a story about my life, even my life right now! Methinks the author has been secretly watching me for years to create this masterpiece.

I think that’s all I can handle. I also think that one of the reasons that I can’t sleep is because I need to take a shower. G’night.

I saw a quote on a forum today that says something close to what this T-shirt says. I don’t get it. Are they trying to hit people with a comet or something? It’d be rather strange if people started getting smashed with comets.

That reminds me of a commercial that I saw at D&T’s house once upon a time. A lady is standing in an office building and doing her thing at the copy machine, rubbing her head slightly because she thinks that she feels a headache coming on. She turns around and her boss has just walked up to her. She can see out the window behind him. He looks at her and says, “I have another report for you to do — how are the ones I’ve already asked for coming along?” She just stares at him for a second (at least, at first we think she’s staring at him), then he looks at her with a quizzical/persistent kind of look. He opens his mouth again and then she points past him and she screams out, “OH MY GOD, IT’S A METEOR AND IT’S HEADED RIGHT FOR ME!”

A meteor smashes through the office window and into her. Clouds of dust and smoke ensue, and clear themselves away within a few seconds. The papers from the copy machine are scattered everywhere. The lady is pushed back against the copy machine, leaning against it with the last ounce of her strength. All of her coworkers and her boss just keep going as if nothing had happened. Her boss keeps staring at her, and then says, “I’ll come back later and ask again, I guess.” The commercial announcer then goes on to talk about how migraines are in YOUR head, not theirs, and how you can avoid the problem by taking their medication.

I wish I had somehow saved that commercial It’s made my day just thinking about it so many times!

And…I get to drink my Pepsi tonight

Orlando Door Code name: Pepsi

This is the best freakin’ Pepsi I’ve ever had, I have to at least say that much. I’ve only leaked again one time since, and that was when I was down in FTL for work and I had to go to the emergency room for severe bronchitis. I was coughing up blood and I wondered if I was going to die or something stupid like that (as if *I*, of all people, could die) without ever telling Pepsi…well…the things that you tell Pepsi. (For those of you who talk to your Pepsi, like me)

Anyway, I had some Pepsi the weekend after I went to the ER and things started to feel better and shape right up Talk about a magic potion!

So…I’ve updated the blogging software once again. I have the latest and best version of it (I *do* try to keep up with it) as of last night.

Last night, I also enjoyed some DDO One Liners. It’s such a fun game, and the characters are also fun. Unlike a conventional MMO, there’s no grinding necessary. You spend the first 20 minutes learning the basic controls of the game, the next hour playing with a slightly more advanced area and learning what it’s like to play with other characters, and then SHAZAM!!!(thanks VG Cats!) you get plunged into the world of creative parties, escaping traps, and figuring out puzzles.

A real RPG…who would have thought? I’m considering taking up casually playing again sometime in the future…after all, Pepsi plays FFXI. Why can’t I play stuff, too?

Now, let’s get down to the lemon of the story. The lemon, you say? That’s right. Sometimes people have lemons with their Pepsi. Strange, but true. It’s not my personal taste, but it seems to be working out lately. Lemons are a fine fruit, if used properly. However, I like the lemon floating in the Pepsi, maybe adding a little spark to the flavor, but I don’t like it mixing with the Pepsi. I’m not the kind of person that enjoys having lemon squeezed in and mixed thoroughly with my Pepsi. With lemons, no matter how good they are, you can only have so much of them. You have to draw a line saying, “Here is the lemon. Here is the Pepsi. A lemon is not Pepsi, and a Pepsi is not a lemon.” The flavors need to remain distinct and zingy. I don’t mind drinking Pepsi slowly, or quickly, or however I feel like drinking it. I enjoy letting the Pepsi sit on my taste buds for a bit before drinking. I do NOT want to have a lemon do the same thing. As such, I shall occasionally be eliminating the lemon completely from the Pepsi just to make sure that my taste buds know the difference between a good drink and a nasty one (because too much lemon ruins the drink), and to teach the lemon that no matter how good it is in moderation, it is still a lemon.

Sorry, lemon…if you want to mix completely, you need to find some 7-Up or some Sprite. I’m not eliminating you from my beverage repertoire, but I am reducing you so that you find the RIGHT mix for you.