The freshmen keep getting younger

Went to Micro Center to look for stuff, didn't find any. But I did pick up Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, which is the third and newest game in the series. Besides the "it was there" factor, I skipped right to this one because of the online play feature.

( Some features made me think of Volity (which is half the point of me playing these games). )

Anyway, my first experience with R&C online didn't go too well. When I hit "quick play", I was dropped into a game setup screen with one other player, named "Ghost!!!!". When I left and re-selected "quick play", there I was again. Well, OK; I joined and waited. I got to see some people come and go, but didn't actually get to start playing; my ghostly friend never got around to hitting the start button.

However, I did have my USB headset plugged in, so I got to eavesdrop on my fellow players. And again, I am reminded that the video-gaming world is larger than me and my friends: every voice I heard was that of a little kid. I mean, young enough that I can't say if they were boys or girls. Kids playing video games? What next! Yeah, I know. Here is a partial transcript:

kid2: Ghost?
kid1: What?
kid2: Gonna start?
kid1: ...
kid2: [leaves]
jmac's deep booming voice: Uhhhn, are we waiting for more players?
kid1: ...
kid3: [enters]
kid3: Hi Ghost!
kid1: Hello.
kid3: Wanna buy a helmet?
kid1: How much.
kid3: It's worth 40K.
kid1: Yeah how much.
kid3: Eh, since you're [something] I'll give it to you for 35K.
kid1: That's still a rip-off!
kid3 and kid1: [Game-specific-lingo-heavy jibber-jabber about the value of this helmet]
jmac: [sets status to "unready", then hits the "exit" button]
one of the kids [from behind the "are you sure you want to leave?" screen]: I like waffles! Waffles are great.

Something about the timing of that send-off just made me bust a gut.

In the unlikely event that someone reading this plays that game, I am online as "Zendonut". Say hi.

(no subject)

According to sunspiral by way of this post by hrafn, there exists a meme in the northeastern U.S. where motorists put signs saying "Free NP" in their vehicles' windows, in hopes that female drivers will flash their breasts at them. (hrafn's post includes some pictures she snapped of some of these signs seen in the wild.)

It apparently originated from local radio shock-jocks around 10 years ago, and has indeed outlived them (for this was that brief era when, for some reason, there were many more shock-jocks then there are today). What I find most intriguing is that, as of this writing, there are no relevant google hits explaining this phenomenon. Googling for ["free np"] gives some sites about NeoPets, some random commercial-product giveaways, and the number-one hit of another blogger himself asking what the hell this means and noting the lack of google hits. (Fun irony!)

If sunspiral's account is corrent, then it seems that the virulence period for this meme began and ended before the Web took off among the mainstream. For 10 years it has lain dormant, with all carriers of it completely failing to spread it any further, apparently not for lack of trying.

The very notion of a pre-Web meme remaining in stasis for a whole decade is amazing to me, like discovering a stone-age tribe living in isolation.

Shaving is hard and I am bad at it.

So I've been shaving about as often as I used to trim my beard; once every few days. Usually when I catch myself in the mirror and think, "Ugh, that looks terrible." And then I let it go two more days.

Today was a shaving day and I didn't slice up my thumb like last time, but I did give myself a hundred invisible cuts, the kind that you don't notice until you splash water on your face. I can't see my face right now but I'm guessing by the lack of people staring at me in horror that I look OK, at least. Unless they're actually averting their eyes in shame OH GOD

Maybe I should actually dispose of the disposable razors after I use them. I hate throwing things away, though. Surely they've invented some sort of non-disposable razor by now.