Payday 12 May 2003

Pic of the day: Chic in chainmail (again). Well, and some scale mail too. Actually apart from the head and the chest, there is no obvious difference between the sexes in DAoC. Women don't get a bonus to intelligence, and men don't get a bonus to strength, for instance.

Acting like a girl

I was up a bit later than usual, having been up late enjoying my belated teen angst. I still intended to go to work, but my digestion was acting up. It's an hour of travel, and there are no toilets along the route... Under doubt, I decided a day of rest would probably be good for body and soul. Hopefully I will be back to work tomorrow. Even work is better than being sick.

Played DAoC, of course. Yet another character, yet another paladin. A girl this time. Some times I just like to play a female character. It's not like I'm gay or something (actually, it's not like we have tinysex with our toons ... I guess I would be more eager to play my male characters then...) - but the female play style kinda suits me. Especially when exploring a new continent ... it is kinda neat to be able to ask for directions. ^_^

Spent much of the time in an all-girl group. Of course, I don't know that the others were actually girls; I know that I sure wasn't. But we kinda acted like girls: Not suicidal, not trying to impress anyone, just quietly trying harder tasks as our abilities grew. And staying in the same area. I just recently read in New Scientist that women playing simulators do as well as men if they have really wide screens, but they have trouble with spatial orientation when using screens designed for men (that is, standard screens). Strangely enough, this is the same as me, even though I am definitely still male. (You should have seen me before I shaved this morning.) Some days I feel like a lesbian in a man's body, as the comedian said.

***

Also watched a little anime. You know, "Japanese cartoons". Stellvia is progressing really fast now, I've got to episode 6, and the main character is already a famous astroball player ... even though she originally wanted to play in the art programming competition. It is kinda funny. Also it is about a big space station. I love that. When I grew up, we thought the future would be like that. But see where we are now. I thought for sure I would get into space when I was in my 40es, on tourist class, to see the new cities in orbit, perhaps the moon. Surely not Mars, only pioneers would be there by now. Oh well. I've visited other worlds for sure, and at much less risk. I still get a kick out of seeing Earth from space, and the trackless 3-dimensional sea of darkness and stars.

Also watched the beginning of an interesting series about a girl, Nanaka, who at the age of 17 falls down the stairs and loses all memory after age 6. She retains some skills, but all conscious memory is gone. Only her childhood friend (conveniently a boy) knows what happened, except for her father. She used to accuse him of being childish and admonished him to grow up ... now their roles are reversed indeed. She believes that it is an effect of a magic staff like those that are a mainstay in "magical princess" anime for children: In these series, the main character is usually a small girl who has some object that magically transforms her into a pretty and powerful adult when needed. So, she thinks she is 6 years and a magic toy has transformed her and her friend into adults. He plays along with her, and tells her that only their bodies are grown up ... now their minds must grow up too. Together. Needless to say, this experience makes him a lot more adult too, in a good way.

It is a tragic story, but also very funny. I guess this is often the case with children who remain children when they should have been grown up.