Anyone remember the Apple II game, Below the Root? It was only my all-time favorite computer game when I was a kid!

Released in 1984, it was also one of the most complex adventure games around, grooming my taste for later games such as Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Nowadays, you can download a C64 emulator and play the original Below the Root in all its colorful and musical glory. Also, the world of play is enormous for its time.

Tonight I discovered a user on YouTube who has videotaped himself playing the game, narrating as he goes. It's essentially a Below the Root tutorial/walkthrough, but since I've only watched parts 1 and 2 so far I'm not sure how far he goes. Some of his comments are kind of lame, but he actually does a pretty good job explaining the world, the premise, how items are used, how to use your skills, etc.

Below the Root: Part 1

Conversations like these are why I still log on to NannyMUD after more than 12 years. You can always count on refreshingly geeky banter by old, familiar faces after a day spent with mostly normal people in the real world.

Wiz Narya: WASHINGTON - President Bush says he has no doubts about launching the unpopular war in Iraq despite the "high cost in lives and treasure," arguing that retreat now would embolden Iran and provide al-Qaida with money for weapons of mass destruction to attack the United States.
Wiz Narya: See, that was the thing. He thought he was a level 20 priest and Saddam was a demon.
Wiz Narya: Treasure. Jesus H. Christ.
Wiz Belegur: I'm pretty sure Bush lacks the requisite intelligence to be a level 20 priest.
Wiz Lonewolf: Oonst.
Wiz Yaleah: OMG, Belegur, priests need high WISDOM.
Wiz Yaleah points at Belegur and snorts.
Wiz Belegur: Oh.
Wiz Belegur hmms.
Wiz Lonewolf: Bah, clerics, not priests!
Wiz Narya: Didn't int help them remember things too?
Wiz Narya: No, maybe not.
Wiz Lonewolf: Depends on how crazy newfangled you wanted to get.
Wiz Narya: Okay, FINE, so I play WoW now and haven't played D&D or AD&D or their ilk in years and years.
Wiz Lonewolf: Good ol' fashioned D&D had a Prime Requisite of 9 Wisdom to be a cleric, and that was that.
Wiz Lonewolf: AND WE NEVER LIKED YOU ANYWAY NARYA
Wiz Lonewolf runs away crying.
Wiz Narya: He thinks he's a level 70 holy-specced priest and Iraq was the Black Temple.
Wiz Yaleah: All these points are moot; Bush doesn't have any of it.
Wiz Belegur: Unfortunately he's got pretty decent Con. :(
Wiz Narya: Well, maybe he needs to repair his armour to get his stat boosts back.
Wiz Oak: D&D sucked. GURPS rules!
Wiz Narya: Oh, NOW we're gonna start the whole Linux-vs.-Windows thing too, right?
Wiz Yaleah: And Luck. He must be a halfling.
Wiz Moonchild: Rumsfeld's broken and can't be repaired.
Wiz Narya: "GURPS is like GNU!" "YOU SUCK"
Wiz Moonchild: And he lost Colin Powell somewhere.
Wiz Narya: Colin Powell left the guild. :(
Wiz Narya: He doesn't run dungeon raids any more. I think he's off working on his tradeskills.
Wiz Earendil: WHOAHHHHH!!!
Wiz Yaleah: The real question is, if they all played WoW, which ones would be manginas?
Wiz Moonchild: it's OK, they recruited Joe Lieberman to replace him.
Wiz Earendil: Chester Cheetoh totally, absolutely, fricking RULES now
Wiz Narya: Manginas? I don't think that's in WoW.
Wiz Earendil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X2qT7Ki29Y
Wiz Earendil: stop talking WoW and watch this cheetos advert

Who remembers reading the original Sweet Valley High paperback series?



In the first chapter of every book there was a quick recap/rundown on Elizabeth and Jessica and their family, including physical descriptions of them, many reprinted nearly verbatim from previous books in the series. The twins are described as golden-haired, blue-eyed and being "perfect" size 6s (note that last). As we all know, youth are highly impressionable, and these past 20 years I've been carrying size 6 in my subconscious as an ideal -- only recently have I actually become conscious of its origin.

What's interesting is that I now wear a size 6, but I don't feel "perfect." I feel mostly healthy, perhaps with a few unwanted bits of pudge I try vainly to conceal, but not remotely perfect. Ignoring the arguments against defining perfection in women's body shapes and sizes, which is a whole other debate, here's what I'm wondering now:

Were those bits intentionally thrown into the books to provide teenage girls with a healthier standard? Clever.

Or were teenagers actually pleased as punch to be a size 6 in the mid-1980s? If that's the case, comparing them with today's fashion-conscious teenagers and, indeed, most young actresses (both of whom make me feel slightly ill), things have changed.

[I disliked having to use arbitrary terms like perfect, standard and ideal in this post, but I couldn't find a way to avoid it.]

Woohoo, finally it's weekend.

Work was relatively un-noteworthy, just a regular day. For dinner Jonas and I picked up Leonardo's Florentine. Soooooo yummy. Munched on that while watching TV, then spent the rest of the night putzing at the computers -- Jonas playing games and I surfing and spodding.

Speaking of spodding, we had a rolicking mini reunion on Cut this evening. Somehow at least 10 of the old Ohio fest/Lakeside crowd all managed to be online around the same time. God, it was hilarious -- really felt just like old times. Everyone so far thinks a real-life reunion is a fantastic idea, so it will just be a matter of when and where.

Thinking of getting my webcam working again. Took it down about a year ago for some reason. I guess I got bored with it, but I sort of feel like putting it up again now. We'll see if that happens this weekend. Jonas would have to mess with it.

Watched Law & Order later in the evening, and we actually went to bed at a fairly decent time for a Friday night. The other day we decided we really needed to regulate our sleeping habits better (i.e. no staying up really late and then sleeping in late on weekends). It's going to be hard -- I love to sleep myself out on Saturday and Sunday mornings!

Back in the fall of 1995, a bunch of of spods decided to get together for a meet over the long Thanksgiving weekend, and so in Columbus, Ohio we all converged.

Attendees included Cliffy, Vlad, Hypo, Mona, Chrisi, Hazard, Puma, Essexlad, Badguy, Quartz, Twit, Cat, Woodenspoon, Elena, Swissmiss, Pinkie, Ryner, Brina and Teela (who generously offered to host and put everyone up in her home). (A side trip to West Virginia was also made by some of the spods to visit Bethiah.)

Just recently several of us have bumped into one another, mostly by accident, at one of several talkers. (What is a talker? See my last entry.) The idea of a reunion meet for all the participants back then is being tossed around. Of course, we're all almost 8 years older now, and many of us have married, had children, etc., and it would undoubtedly be impossible for everyone to attend whether for familial, financial, or other reasons, but it's maybe worth looking into in order to gauge interest.

The most amazing thing is when I mentioned it to Jonas (this was all before we'd ever met), he thought it a great idea, as long as he didn't have to be there. *smirk* He was also unopposed when I mentioned the the idea of hosting it at our place. Wow! :) Really wasn't expecting that. Of course, the entire idea is still in its infancy, so I don't want to get too worked up, but seeing everyone again would be an incredibly fun thing to look forward to.

Pretty quiet day today. Jonas has been studying and I've been bouncing around online. We just had roast beef, potatoes, beans and half a cookie each for dinner.