Scribblenauts is awesome!

It's the only game where you can drop a t-rex in a grocery store to kill the clerk that's pissed off.

Right to BEAR arms

So I've been shooting a few times. It's an interesting feeling - holding the gun in your hand. After awhile you forget that what you are holding is a deadly weapon. It doesn't feel like one. It's probably something I shouldn't forget, though.

Shooting is certainly fun, there is no argument there BUT I feel that it isn't challenging enough. I suck, yes, but I'll learn to be a better shot and then it would just be shooting targets. I think I would like hunting. That would be a challenge. Knife hunting would be totally intense. Knife hunting a bear. Yeah.

Let's try this ONE more time

Currently at work and currently bored. My supervisor is out for 2 weeks - presumbly fleeing a possible firing. A mysterious and dark cloud hangs over the office. Our files are undergoing an audit by some ominious G-man. Okay, I'm exaggerating, he DOES work for the people we insure, but he's a super suit.

I have little faith in this blog, as I've said before. I don't travel. I don't do much besides read. And all my friends lead equally as boring lives as I do. So much for the eccentric post-college life a'la "Reality Bites". Maybe I'm just missing something...like a mac, hip indie glasses, and cool bo-ho skirts. I saw this man once sitting in a Starbucks. He was typing furiously on his mac book, and occassionally looking at..."Blogging for Dummies". He was so ready to blog. I literally stood there for a good 2 minutes staring at him, mouthing "No way. No way. NO WAY is this guy for real."

I'm looking forward to this weekend as it's the Newberry Library's annual book fair. I've read most of the books on my shelf except for "Brothers Karamazov", and THAT is a beast I'm not quite ready to tame. Adam forcefed "Nickel and Dimed" down my throat, which left a stale taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong, it was very interesting, but Ehrenreich offers up no real fix/ideas to the absolutely mammoth problem that is America's under-paid workforce. I wasn't changed by it like Adam said I would be - he should demand his money back.

So, for right now, I'm content to wait for my '70's edition of "Left Hand of Darkness" to come in. It has an essay by the author, which wasn't in the edition I currently own and BONUS: comes with awesome 70's style cover. That book is brilliant, and I've tried fruitlessly to get my friends to read it. Stupid friends.

Yeah Work

I work. I'm tired. It's boring.

I have a dream...

In honor of Martin Luther King Day I want to talk about equal rights...for online gamers. I'm know MLK wasn't concerned about the rights of an e-whore who is not being treated fairly by her guild but in the spirit of equality I would like to discuss it. And those who write off this post as fluffy have to remember the number of people that play games like WoW - it totals in the tens of millions.

Here is a link to an article from WoW insider made one year ago regarding Nihilum(a hard core raiding guild on an EU server) who barred women from applying to their guild. Nihilum is known for completing world firsts which, for the uninformed, is most of the time nothing more than bragging rights to all the other hard core guilds. It can be competitive, however, like an actual sport. Nihilum, like some other hard core guilds, is sponsored by some seriously beefy tech industries i.e. Dell, Razer, and Geil. I don't want to link their site for fear of...action...but google them and then you'll see. So there is obviously some major moolah involved. I was most outraged by the fact that their sponsers, some publicaly traded companies, did not quash this.

The reasoning behind all of this: Nihilum cites the fact that girls can create drama and are unable to withstand the onslaught of offcolor and extreme humor(racism/homophobia/sexism IM ASSUMING). The recruiter even went so far as to state that "they were merely protecting the women from offensive behavior that can occur in guild chat/vent". Wow. Thanks. Because Lord knows that most women now adays are prone to fainting spells when presented with the aboslutlely overpowering machismo of the male WoW player.

You may ask why I bring this up, it is a year old, well a few days ago I was casually browsing my old guild's forums(a semi-hard core guild) and one of the new and improved application question is: "Are you a girl/Do girls make good WoW players". They currently have no serious girl players, the ones that did play were never invited to raids and they slowly /gquit to join other more casual guilds. The guild leader cites past drama and poor ability in his reasoning to include this. If you read the WoW insider comments you'll see why most people think this occurs and why this practice is not uncommon, and a year later is definitely not uncommon. My favorite, and most ridiculous, one is that the guild is like any football/basketball/PHYSICAL CONTACT SPORTS TEAM where girls cannot keep up with the boys. What the fuck? What the fucking fuck? Some girls actually agreed. Seriously, playing WoW does not require you to have anything other than a functioning computer and keyboard, a frontal lobe(IF THAT), and 15 dollars a month. It's not like a greased up 300 lb nerd tackles a whorish 90 lb girl through a computer screen(although the thought is hilarious).

Yes, I have played with girls who have lacked decorum/basic english skills/being fucking smart. I hate them, and they are unfortunately common. However, I have played with girls who are the exact oppposite, and they are not rare, they just do not advertise the fact they are women. These girls, myself included, have learned to roll with the punches, and oh the punches we have rolled with. Speaking for myself, I have played with more disgusting men than I can count. I have been sexually harassed, verbally abused, and ignored plenty of times. All because I was a girl. I have listend to the homophobic/racist/sexist rantings of insane men, some of whom, I suspect, were into cat skinning when the were little. Complaining to an online administrator can fix the small situation but will never solve the larger one. What I've done, and what most women are forced to do, is suck it up and continue. I'm not continuing to play so I can be some martyr, I want to play because I love it. I'm good and I deserve the same chance to apply and play to/in great guilds like any other player.

Despite the fact that what these men do is totally disgusting(and some should probably be in prison or a heavily padded cell in a psych ward), the problem lies primarily on Blizzard and the gaming world in general. Even though the WoW world may mimic real life in many disturbing ways, Blizzard treats the player as nothing more than party in a legal contract. You are not a citizen with rights, there is no legal department in game who you can appeal to. Like any party in a contract you are required to follow the terms of service to continue to play, you violate them actions can be taken, you don't like them you can terminate the contract. However, I'm fairly certain the terms of services doesn't allow/ require people to stomach harassment and exclusion merely because they're a woman/gay(it has happened)/french. Most women understand that gaming is a bit of boys club, there is going to be some male bonding rituals that you will have to put up with. However, severe verbal abuse/harassment and the disregard of equal rights is something noone should stand. This may not seem like it's that important, it is just a game, but look at it this way: Blizzard and these other large companies are essentially supporting/inadverntantly encouraging this behavior. Without the fear of any serious action being taken, these players are able to cultivate an idea that some parts of life are not subject to the same rules a civilized society is subject to. They will take these beliefs with them, it's hard not be influenced by something that is such a huge part of your life. In turn, the girl players will learn to be callous towards demeaning verbal abuse, which no woman should be tolerant of .

Blog 7.0???

Seriously. I have no idea how many I have of these in the world. My thoughts are scattered to the wind. Maybe some day some perky internet archaeologist - I assume they exist in the future - will uncover one of my many blogs, read my brief rantings over and over in order to gain some insight into the mind of a 21st century every-girl. The student will then compile their findings and present them at some prestigious intergalactic symposium where stuffy academics from all over the universe will nod and appreciate their findings. I have grand plans for this blog.

I am actually going to try to keep this up. Blogging, or blogging properly done, should help me keep my writing up, which is something I need. Also, I enjoy looking back on my xanga, which I kept for 2 years, and seeing how much I've grown - and now is certainly a time for growth.

I came up with the name shamanvoltron from WoW. I play a shaman and it's an inside joke that I have with a friend. I thought it was funny(noone else did except my drunk friend) but I realized it was unique and easy to remember.