The very courteous Little Mermaid returns, for another tea party. Her theme, this month, is making confessions. The tell I want to bring, to the party, is how roadblocked, I’ve been, by Zork.
I know I am in a sense very old. Have you played Zork? It’s a game where you explore a dungeon and combat monsters.
Your commands for playing Zork typically consist of two words apiece, often a verb and a noun, short and sweet. It commands hours of your time if you are among the dedicated.
Did you run Java? It once boasted a solid three billion devices did. I’d sit, sometimes, on the main page of a Java site, to read chat remarks.
Photographer:
Elliott Chau
In college, a savvy young woman from Scarborough got to know me a little. Her name was Julie, and she was a singer. I’m sure she knew nothing about Zork.
All the same, Julie was outright a rock star on Livejournal. Her email was routed by beer.com, appropriately fashionable for that subculture.
When she wrote, ”it’s called myspace, and there are millions of brilliant people,” I was taken aback. I’d played Zork, in a retro edition. Facing the myspace site, I had a silent question.
“How do I move to the next room?” It was weird. Years later, Christmas, 2016, my very smart nephew referred to that, nonsense in the distant past.
I remember, because of Rogue One, a Star Wars Story. About IRC, “Justacrap,” my brother’s boy pronounced with scorn. Discounting me?
For wasting time with websites? Can you believe that? Sure, I made friends one way or another, but those people are now gone.
It wasn’t the sum of my activities, I guess. Truth be told, I was rotten at Zork, too.
The tea parties are great. You can find that blog here: https://thelittlemermaid09.wordpress.com
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