HWC's Diary. Read it at your peril.

	Introduction and Archives		Latest pathetic writings

November, 2000

Here's Sleipy, in a lovely Halloween costume doing the old mushy thing at sir West's grave.

Puddleopedia is off to a great start. I love the new look, so much better than what I could have done myself. And it saves me arguing with Tove too. It's already getting semi full-up, and has the potential to be a wonderful game resource. Been working a bit more on the Clan Pages, but GoLive 5.0 has put a temporary stop to that. One of those updates that makes everything much much worse, but you don't find out until it has "improved" your old files beyond recovery. I thought better of Adobe than making a piece of crap like that.

Sent lots of abuse Tarf's way in the new Tenebrion email group. Ho Ho Ho. He killed Tenebrion's emissary, how dastardly! Excellent chance to abuse a dorf. Of course the high and bloody mighty Elenis steps in to clear things up. Bloody hell, he sure can spoil a good fight. Baba can have him. And he her mind you. That Sylvan, needs a darn good kicking. And as for Tuan spouting piles of nonsense about Sleipy-poo, if he thinks I'm going to believe that crap he's got another thing coming. Oh yes, indeed. And I won't let Sleipy believe it either, I ain't that cruel.

More Halloween pictures to the right. It was all rather painful actually. All these little kids running around trying to bash on each other and yelling out "Man, he's got like 600 Darkus, wow, yeah". "Yeah? 600? I've got 3000 Balthus, but swinging out is like a real pain" "Hey, I just killed Natas, which felt really really like good, cause like he's got like 1500 ranks. Wow." Vomit stuff, I tell you. I'm too old to put up with that, I really am. So why am I playing such a stupid game? Bugger me if I know. Actually, I do know, but that doesn't mean you can bugger me. It's because of people like Tove and Tim (and I hope that embarasses both of you peeping Toms). And Jeff and Pam and Cam and ...... Etc. Mind you, I could do without the Black Baba. She ain't much of a babe at the minute, all nasty and horrible. And she has like wow 2000 ranks of like Balthus and would probably be running around killing like everyone. Like. But at least she wouldn't be yelling out sentences with too many likes in them. She has vices, but that's not one of them. And most humiliating of all, me wife told me mother. Now, I don't mind Monique knowing that I'm a juvenile delinquent, but Mum??!! Hell no. She thinks I'm upright, and moral and all that, no drink or drugs or ..... well, you get the picture. Actually, I'm not sure she really does think all that, but I am supposed to think that she thinks that, because it's what guys think of their mothers. Another one of those guy things. And now Mum knows I ...... (gasp)..... play an online computer game. Shit. How humiliating.

More Halloween. You know, it's hard to make out Sephiroth. Usually he's juvenile, thick, and rude, but every so often he can actually say something polite. Weird. Michael, on the other hand, is a permanent fool. And I actually had Ziff Rengar say something polite to me, I couldn't believe it.

It was after he bitched and moaned in the newsgroup, and I let Sleipy succumb to his base instincts and write in a really rude reply. So the next day I get a SS message from Ziff saying, "why are you so rude to me?" Well, hell, what could I say? I was a coward, and backed down. Shame on me. OK, enough for now.

I continue to find inspiration in Worf's diary. He writes about all kinds of stuff, so I figure I might as well also. Heard a rather funny joke at band practice yesterday (this is not the band that got fired from our residency because of me. It's a jazz trio. Corporate work mostly.). Punch line was "Because the bass solo is next". Who can guess the joke? It's too long for me to write up here. Introduced the guys to Sylvan Strut (the piece that made the Bards crap their pants.) "Nice tune. What's the title?" they ask. "Sylvan Strut", says I. "What the fuck is that, man? Stupid fucking name, What the fuck is this Sylvan shit?" they say. "Suck on it", says I. "Just play the fucking tune, OK. Jeez." Typical practice. We are such sophisticates.

Hee, hee, had a blast last night. Silly old Babs, and nasty little Tuan tried to drag Sleipy away while he was sleeping, and drown him. Not very nice of them at all, oh no. So he sues for assault and attempted murder. Or something. And won!!! Couldn't believe it! I was sure Sleipy would (as usual) get a pile of BK for daring to interrupt the rank whores in their whoring. But no, the jury must have been bored, and wanting to get at Baba. Sleipy tried to bribe Tuan to speak on his behalf, but Tuan accepted the money and then supported Baba. If I ever meet that Tim fellow, I'll kill him. I really will. Then I'll roast him and feed him to the dogs. Mind you, Baba's defence was exceedingly poor. Gentle knock on the head? I ask you. How believeable is that?

Ha! Jail time and a fine for Baba. 333 coins and 80 minutes in jail. Should have been much worse in my opinion. But that poor old sap Sleipy gets all weepy and pays her fine for her. I couldn't believe it. That bloody Knight needs his head read, he really does. Foolish ain't in it. And to cap it all off, while in jail, surrounded by sympathetic exiles, Baba comes up with this whole bullshit story about how mean Sleipy is to her, and how horrible he is. "Love and trust, love and trust" Blah Blah Blah, the usual stuff. Pffft. And they believed her! Pathetic. Just takes a cute Sylvan to shed a tear or two, and all those red-blooded males come to heel. Awful sight. And so they started picking on Sleipy, even he was the one who had just been almost murdered! Neither life nor CL is fair.

Heh, now that serves me right. No sooner do I make a smart remark about the weather than a big easterly storm blows up, with 40 knots howling in, and a pounding surf. Turns the whole east coast into a rather nasty lee shore, and I ain't going out in that. Bugger. So, sailing will have to wait. And my poor boat's getting quite a pounding :( Add to that the fact that one of my bands is going on their annual two-week Australian tour, and I can't go with them. So they'll be over in Sydney and elsewhere, partying up, and doing all kinds of bad and naughty things while I'm stuck here. Actually, that's not all bad really. I'm too bloody old for that sort of thing now, and I know that Monique is not a great fan of me going on tour. I wonder why. The shit has hit the fan in the Red Quill. Again. Babajaga left the clan, so Sleipy (of course) followed her out. I wasn't at the meeting where it all blew up, so I can't really comment. But it is a sad, sad thing to see. I've put so much time and effort into the RQ over the years that to see it fall apart in bickering is not nice. We just spent a lot of effort into redefining the clan, changing its manifesto, that sort of thing, and it's now clear all that effort was completely wasted. I was really trying to avoid this sort of disaster, but it came anyway. Do other clans have such troubles? From the outside it seems they don't. It's hard to tell of course. The real difficulty is that some members want the clan to be all goody-goody, nice, warm and fuzzy, while others (like me) want the clan to be more morally ambiguous, 'cause it is more interesting that way. CL is full of sugar-sweet clans, who all want to help everybody else, and be ever so morally righteous. I'd rather RQ didn't walk down that particular dead-end path. Mind you, Sleipy will always be icky-sweet. But that doesn't mean his clan has to be. Well, at least it will make a lot of people very happy, to see the Red Quill finally fall apart. The attempt at the Puddleby Government certainly is generating huge quantities of talking. I didn't know it was humanly possible for a single person to talk as much as Terence does. Quite extraordinary. But it doesn't seem that a lot is getting said. I'm convinced it will be a failure, and will fall apart in talk, talk, talk, with nothing ever getting done. And now that Carl Hommel has joined the fray, that has to mean trouble. I agree with Vagile, that any initial government must be based around the existing structures, i.e., the clans, and that to try to jump from total anarchy to full democracy in one fell swoop is just totally unrealistic. We shall see.

November 9th or so And now I'm really humiliated. Sent email to David Yule (he of the too much whiskey in Dresden) but used my Sleipy signature by mistake. Shit. Stupid fucking thing to do. So I get this email back from David.. well, you can guess what it said. He, of course, will tell his whole bloody crew, and I will get arseholes. I will be ridiculed from here to eternity. I'll be visiting David this January, so I'll have to be prepared. I really do try to keep my various lives completely separate. I hate it when RL people find out what I do in CL, I try to keep my music life completely separate from my other job (and vice versa), and I try to remain as anonymous as possible in CL. Ah well...... I guess I just mess up every so often. That's why this diary has been such a new thing for me, putting more of my RL self in it. Haven't been playing CL much, but the weather has improved and I've done a bit of sailing. Took Dad out a few days ago to go fishing, but we didn't catch a thing. Busy weekend coming up. Three gigs, a birthday party, and another fishing trip. We'll probably try to sail right out to the Noises and fish there. That will take a few hours. Heh. And yes, I'm turning 87. CL: an impassioned letter from Lilit. I love that Sylvan (and I envy Worf). The crap happening in the RQ is not her fault at all, but she can't help feeling that it is. I hope she reads this so I can tell her that if she thinks it's her fault at all then she's completely wrong. It's now become clear that it is essentially a straight personality clash between two opinionated and stubborn members. There doesn't seem to be much hope of patching things up. I'm bummed that IC reasons make Sleipy leave the RQ too. I'd much rather he stayed, but he won't hear of it.

Sleipy had a wonderful hunt with sir Maenygh the other day. For the very first time ever he went right through the southern brambles to the Savannah. Of course, it wasn't very difficult to do, but he'd just never got around to doing it yet. Lazy bugger, that's Sleipy.

<-----Please all admire my skinning

Sleipy is back in RQ now. Tove decided that she could argue better from within than without, which I think is a wise decision. I know that I put a bit of pressure on her (in game, and in me little diary), so I feel just a wee bit guilty about that, but I'm convinced she has done the correct thing. Even if she decides later to leave again, at least it won't be in the heat of the moment, and rushed through. Zwei reappeared briefly, just long enough to die to Marfisa in the Badlands, and try to convince her to take over as Knight of the Sword. No go. Marfisa is just too damn obstreperous. She'd probably do it if nobody ever asked her to, and she figured we'd all be pissed if she did. But as soon as we ask her, no way. Bugger. She's as bad as I am. Probably worse.

To the left we see some total bloody bullshit. Hypocritical twat that dorf. Sleipy still can't even hit the Rage. Not even close. Many, many months before he passes (unless he changes his training regimen specifically to pass the test, which would be silly). To the right we see what happens when a Knight sighs in the Town Square.

Dunil'sar coming up against the DM. I am strongly opposed to the RQ having anything more to do with the Dunilsar. I admire the work Fleming has put in, but the attitude of some of the younger exiles just annoys me. I'm too old to have to deal with such juvenile competitive crap. DM is one of the worst in that regard. Their last fiasco against the Rat Bastards was so indicative. They just didn't get the joke, 'cause they were so pissed at losing. Pathetic. Anyway, Sleipy can't do this coming Dunilsar anyway, cause I'm going sailing that day. All day. Hooray. Off to one of the offshore islands, as long as the weather holds.

Well, we tried to get to the Noises, but there wasn't really enough wind and after a couple of hours we gave up, and just chucked a line overboard. Caught some red snapper, which we ate for our tea. Huzzah. Taught Paul and Kate how to scale and gut a fish, which I imagine is a good sort of father-child bonding sort of thing. At the time it just felt messy and smelly. Gutting fish isn't so bad, but scaling them is the worst job in the world. Gigs went well, usual kind of thing. The bad band looks like it's getting another residency, at the Immigrant which gets much bigger crowds than the last place. We'll see. Not really sure I want that much work right now. The good band is still away in Australia catching diseases. So Sleipy comes out of the library this morning, right into the middle of a huge big Orga battle. It was fun to see OC4 again (he's only been there twice before, and died very quickly both times) and even see the fancy-arse power room. Not such an impressive room really, but at least he can say he's been there. Baba the babe falls asleep in OC4 so Sleipy felt good and noble while he guarded her. Everybody crowded into the power room (see below) once it was clear that no teleport stone was forthcoming. Bit squishy, and Prue smells soooooo bad.

Lately, interactions with Baba and others (A**, T**, M**, etc) have been rather confused. Sleipy just can't decide whether to hate them bitterly or not, so he vacillates from one side to the other. Relations with Baba are even more complicated, as he's rude one minute, and nice the next. He's a very confused little Knight is our Sleipy. But that's mostly my fault. I enjoy the nasty rudeness quite a lot, and can't resist saying horrible things to all concerned. A** especially is such a blast with the invective and malice. Great fun. But then I feel all guilty about Sleipy being unKnightly so I change around and make him all sappy again. He must be coming across as a real psycho. Just like RL I guess. Ooo, and I must post some more trivial crap to the Tenebrion list, just to annoy Worf. I can't resist baiting someone who complains about trivial email list postings. As if all the rest have a lot to say! Cough, cough. But I continue to read his diary; he must have got laid last week 'cause it seems he had an emotional overload and burst a few valves. *Chuckle*. Looks like ser Sadraz has gone all nasty also, just like Baba. Oooo, hooray, my chance to get back at her. I would say a 1,000,000 coin fine would be appropriate. Got John Junkar, Aldernon and Malloc all looking for the Separ. What to do when they find it? That is the million dollar question. Ho Ho Ho.

Not very impressive, is it?

Not very funny Mr. Hermit. I don't see why you have to pick on Sleipy like everybody else does. Looking for Gaeyl or Trillbane now. Hermit says that Qual might help. Trillbane hates Midnight Wendecka apparently. Not much help there.

Nov. 14th. My Birthday Today. Huzzah! 87 today. I am now under strict instructions to say something nice about Baba. Sleipy has put the hard word on me, and threatened all kinds of dire things if I don't. Hmmm.... this may not be easy. Well .... er... she is...... very strong! Very very strong. Huge muscles and all that. Well, not all that huge I suppose, but she's fast as greased lightning. And she is a little bit pathetic, with all her "love and trust, love and trust" blathering. I can't help but feel a little bit sorry for her. And her hair is a very nice colour. People with red hair are naturally better looking, not to mention more intelligent and clearly superior overall. And she would have a nice smile if her teeth weren't all black. And pointy sharp. And bloodstained. Hey, OK, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No bloodstains. And she used to be a real babe. And anyway, it's not how you look, it's how you FEEL about your body that counts. Her inner beauty still shines through at times. I think I saw it last week some time. (It may just have been the sun behind her though.) And I do like her, I really do, but she does put poor old Sleipy through the mill. He gets all sappy, and says lovey things (just small ones) and he gets them thrown back in his teeth. Forcefully. NO TALKING LIKE THAT TO ME, KNIGHT. (Babajaga whacks Sleipnir very very very hard). That sort of thing. And he just keeps going back for more. Ah well, he'll never change, and maybe one day he and Baba will get together again. If they ever do, THAT will be a party. The wedding of the millenium. Or something. Perhaps Sleipy is so pathetic because I am. A frightening thought. After all, I have heard from the expert that all characters are just like their players, that it is just not possible to play a character with a personality different from your own. The words of HWC John Junkar himself as we met over a drink one evening (with HWC Wormtounge, who is a very pleasant fellow). And JJ brooks no argument, even when he is utterly, clearly, and demonstrably wrong. "But", says I, "what about Sleipnir? He's not like me at all, really". "Oh yes", says the expert, "he is. Sleipnir is a really pompous idiot, just like you". "Oh", says I, and drink a little more gin. I didn't even use the F word (flip), I had to struggle so hard to contain my giggles. Must write some more CL music. Oh yes, and so GoLive 5.0 isn't actually all that bad. Quite the opposite in fact. User error. Ahem. Enough said.

All right, all right, enough. I cry mercy. I have removed the frames. Bugger the anchors though. The only good anchor belongs on a boat. Putting them in here is too much like hard bloody work. But thanks for the birthday wishes. (Worf and I seem to be having this surreal conversation over our diaries. Most entertaining. I hope Shamhat does what she is told at their dinner tonight. If she does, he'd better watch himself. Tee Hee.) Now there is another exile I'd dearly love to meet. Shamhat. Her and Worf having dinner together boggles the mind rather. And no, ye may speculate, but will ye never know the truth, verily so, for shall that never be told to ye, ask thou ye might. Ask Mike. Tried to go sailing again today. No way. More 40 knot winds, and a buggered outboard. We scampered back to shore in a hurry. Awaiting a letter from Tove. I fear a scolding for being mean to Baba. Bring it on, Tove, I'm a man, I can handle it. I have to admit, I was pretty mean, and she really doesn't deserve it. And if I eat humble pie here and now, in quantity, I may avert the bad things to come. However, I doubt it. Here you are Worf, an anchor specially for you. And watch out for that emotional roller-coaster you seem to travel regularly. Shit, reading that stuff makes me glad I'm too old for the passions and disasters of youth. Or something. But my heart goes out to you, Worf. I hope you survive it all, to laugh another day. Would you like to read, see, hear and taste more sex in HWC's Diary? Yes Yes Yes, of course. With pictures and scratch'n'sniff cards. Yes. And in real life too, please. Preferably in a plane to complete the set. And Wormtounge scolded me for quoting HWC John Junkar out of context (see above, but put the bloody anchor and link in for yourself, I'm not going to waste my precious time making your life easier). Well, Wormy is right really, I did quote JJ out of context, and I don't *really* think he meant to be quite so rude. But it sort of came out wrong, and was rather funny at the time. Still, I know we'll all get together again some time and have a laugh about it. Over (you guessed it) a drink!

Baba and Sleipy finally found the path through that nasty cave (see right) and emerged into the light of the nasty Devil's Island crater. (see left). Oh no, says Baba, we aren't in the crater, we are outside the fence. OK, says Sleipy, we'll try another path inside the nasty black cave. Ahem. That silly Knight shouldn't trust that Sylvan so much. Talk about making himself look foolish.

Baba appears unconvinced

I've been really crabby today. I wrote some regrettably bad-tempered emails to the RQ list, and regretted sending them moments after. Got suitably admonished by Tim and SWC Astrid. And I deserved it. But I did put the first part of my plot into action. Bit of a risk actually; hope it doesn't backfire.

Why the bad temper? I don't have a bloody clue. Menopause perhaps. No, that's not true, I do know why. It's the marking. Fucking marking. I hate it. I really hate it. Why oh why do the vast majority of students have to be such fuckwits? It's not like they give it an honest try, and can't do it. They just don't even bother to try. Why do they waste their time and money? Why, more to the point, do they waste MY bloody time making me read their shit useless exam scripts? You know, I really don't mind an honest incompetence. You admit to yourself you can't do it, you don't care, and so you won't do it. I do that with a lot of things. But if I want to do something, I do it as well as I can. Make the choice, and then do the best you can at what you choose to do. But this attitude of doing something in a completely uninterested fashion, without caring for the result, is just beyond my understanding. So I fail them. But what a total bloody waste of time they are. I missed the whole wild Wednesday stuff because I was busy marking. Last night I also listened to the music of a whole pile of other bards, as made available on web pages. Oh dear. Enough said. Some was interesting. And if I wasn't bad-tempered, I wouldn't even write that down. But at the minute I just don't give a fuck. Hmm.... what else can I bitch about? Gotta be something. Damn. Nothing really springs to mind, which is just too annoying. Well, I could bitch about a whole pile of work stuff if it was important enough to waste my time writing about which it isn't so I won't. So I guess I'll go back and mark some more turd piles.

Nov. 18th Hell, all this seriousness is getting a bit much. Lighten up, James, lighten up. And what better way to light up ones diary than by talking about ... (Ta Da, Ta Da, trumpets please)... ALTHEA! The InnerBitch Supreme. The preeminent foe of Sleipy and Baba (except for maybe Prue). And she is definitely cool. Very much so. Not quite the fast rapier malice of Prue (which remains unsurpassed, in my opinion), but certainly a more sustained and coherent strategy of long-term abuse. And Sleipy hates her bloody guts. I must admit also to being more than a little frightened of her. Try though he might, Sleipy usually comes out second best in their little contests. Which is really my fault of course. I fear I am outclassed. And Mary is definitely a dear. And she probably hates me calling her that so I will again. Mary is a dear, Mary is a dear, Mary is a dear. Ho Ho Ho. Or maybe I should call her a sweetie-pie? I wonder which she would hate more? But seriously, another great exile, and a great person. However, I must admit to being puzzled as to why Mary was surprised at the depth of IC dislike of Althea. She is, after all, a real bitch. What IS sad is how this IC dislike so quickly spills over into OOC dislike, and that is just plain silly. And talking about that, it seems I've got SWC Astrid so pissed at me that she will neither forgive nor forget. I misunderstood one of her emails to the RQ, wrote a rude (and quite unjustifiable) reply, but then apologised later. Huge mouthfuls of humble pie. But it seems that she is not the type to accept an apology gracefully, as curt wasn't in it. I hope she wonít hold a permanent grudge against me, but it ain't looking good. Sleipy hasn't done very much recently. Explored the Volkoons' place, died and departed. No surprises there. The Volkoons are chittering and clicking at him, but that's not a great deal of help. Looking for Gaeyl and Trillbane all over. I suspect the GMV holds some surprises for us, but that will take a lot of exploring. And people say there aren't any quests in CL! Beats me. There aren't any handed to players on a silver platter, no, but there are plenty of things to try and solve. It's like someone sitting in a library, surrounded by wonderful literature, and complaining there's nothing to do because they don't like the movie that's on TV. Mind you, CL ain't perfect by any means. Hell, their system of armour and weapons is bloody pathetic, they desperately need magic-users (and no I don't count mystics). Obviously there are game balance issues which DT cannot ignore, but they doesn't alter the fact that these things are desperately needed. On the other hand CL has some great ideas. You know what they are, so I won't bother writing them all down here. Unfortunately, Sleipy has started slaughtering Night Wendies now. Not all the time, no, but often. Very soon he shall be forced to hunt on Dal'Noth or somewhere like that to earn any experience at all. And I won't like that much. Full of crap those places are. Huge bloody egos (over a GAME, for Christ's sake. Yes, I know I have a huge ego, but it's not associated with a fucking game, it's associated with real life. There is a difference.)

Most interesting talk with Lilit's boyfriend. Samael is the name. Why oh why must we take Robert Jordan seriously? I'm not sure he actually uses English, it's some weird amalgam of US teen-speak, with attitudes and depth to match. Ah well. But perhaps the name Samael does not originate with Jordan; there's an idea. Hmmmm..... let me look...... (10 minutes later)... Damn, I am rather stupid aren't I? Of course. Lilith and Samael. You know, I just hadn't made that connection with Lilit before. What a stupid bloody twit I am. OK, OK, apologies to whoever chose the name Samael (which is obviously perfect now), but no apologies to Jordon who still writes with the maturity of a grasshopper. At any rate, Samael tried desperately to open Sleipy's narrow little mind, and probably succeeded a little.

The major point was, clearly, to get the Knights off their collective backsides and do something about the Lilit inquisition that was held a long time ago. Goodness knows what to do there, as apathy rules supreme. Sleipy visited Tenebrion's castle also, all while he was trying to get to the library. I felt a little guilty as Sleipy should really have been helping with the OC2 rescue, but he was caught as he headed out. First by Samael and then by ...er ... someone whose name I forget. Pulled a pile of exiles out from Tenebrion's nasty welcome tunnel and finally got away to study. Sleipy played his new piece (words and all) to the RQ. Half were entirely unimpressed. I can't wait to play it for Maz and Perkusi. I'm hoping for a formal eviction from the guild. I hope Sleipy gets to keep his gold belt when that happens. Working on a new piece now but it ain't going well at all.

Got some lovely emails from Wormtounge. Claims I lie like a flatfish. He claims I'm not 87, I do swear a lot, and ....well..... other things also. Do not believe a word he says. Trust me. Thought I had a quiet weekend coming up, it looked like I had not a single job over the weekend which would be the first time for a long time this has happened. But all is right with the world again and two gigs suddenly dropped into my lap. Band is back from Australia, minus one bass that got forgotten. Peter is most likely the best jazz bass player in NZ (I've played with a lot of them and he's the best I've found) but I imagine he spent his time in Australia drinking himself into a stupor and fornicating with anything that moved. Good for him. But when he fries his brain so badly that be forgets his fucking bass??!! Bloody hell. How does he *do* that. And talking about fornicating with anything that moves, it appears that there are some people who prefer fornicating with things that don't move as they are tied up so tight with various cords and chains that the only things they can move are their eyeballs. I spent an interesting evening following links from Worf's web page. Ouch. You know, I really don't think I'm particularly inhibited but getting tied up in painful knots and then beaten, pinched, burnt, whipped and eaten is just not my idea of what sex is all about. Upside down, fine; swinging from a chandelier; no problem, 20 at once, OK; planes, buses, restaurants, trains, cars, in public elevators, yes please; but no pain. Yes, yes, I know, opinions differ, but you're welcome to it. Tie a knot for me, Worf. And when we get together for a drink I'll make sure I look in your carry-bag very carefully indeed. Just in case the Rat Bastards decide to hog-tie a Knight and use him for BDSM practice. Nothing interesting happening in CL recently. Just the usual round of bickering with Baba and Althea, hunting for a few coins, and generally buggering about. I'm going to be away for the next week so Sleipy won't be around for a while. Very interesting article on the power of on-line games. Again found on Worf's diary. Mostly referring to EQ and UO, but applicable to CL too. There's no doubt that CL is addictive in every meaningful sense of the word. It may not be a physiological reaction but the psychological response is so strong that it can't be ignored. However, RL is RL and CL is CL. Don't confuse them. And it's a bit silly to characterise online game players as socially inept physically handicapped computer geeks. I'm not really like that. Really. I'm not. Truly. Not at all. Time to pick on another exile. Tuna today. A little turd that fellow, but Tim is one of my oldest friends in the game. sir West was my very first squire, and between us we built the Knighthood, and helped build the Red Quill. It's been interesting to see Tuan develop over the last year. He started out a little caricatured and forced, but has grown into a most charming rogue. A case, I'm sure, of practise making perfect. But don't trust him. Ever. He and Vagile make an excellent couple. In fact, they are probably having an extramarital affair. And that's all Tuna gets. Not as long or as serious as the Baba expose but Sleipy ain't hoping to marry him. Tim himself is one of those arty-farty creative types, with Photoshop dribbling out his ears. Or something. Seems to know everything about arty stuff and can do a lovely design. I listen to him. I should listen to Tove too (she says) but why would I want to do that? It might set a precedent. OK, time to go and do some work for a change. I'll be away for a while so you won't be seeing Sleipy.

In a typical change of heart, some of you may notice that I have removed some bits from my diary, and restored to link to it from Sleipy's home page. It'll stay this way now. In my naivety I fondly imagined that if I avoided having the Clan Bored crowd read my diary I could thereby avoid unpleasantness. However, given some recent newsgroup posts it's now clear that there are plenty of other deeply unpleasant people in this world. AloneWorld has to be one of the biggest wankers ever to grace the face of this earth, and I happen to know that Donna was reading this diary. My apologies to you, Donna, because I know that what I write here will offend you. It's not my deliberate intent to do that, of course, but unavoidable I imagine. I hope you will understand that I can like you very well, but detest your partner. Life is just too short to have to deal with people like AloneWorld, and to give someone like that any power over me would be just plain foolish. So, my diary is now censored, and I shall restrict what I write in it to items of public consumption only.

	Introduction and Archives		Latest pathetic writings