Strange Conversations: Part One Hundred and Three
Posted 18 March 2009 in Strange Conversations by Catriona
Nick plays Bejeweled 2 on his iPhone:
NICK: You’d think, when you exploded more than one Power Gem, that it would set off a massive explosion.
ME: Sometimes it does.
NICK: But this was four, all together!
ME: And it didn’t?
NICK: No.
ME: Oh, well. These things happen.
NICK: True.
ME: But you should still feel bad.
NICK: Really?
Share your thoughts [23]
1
Drew wrote at Mar 18, 12:13 pm
what I find fascinating is the people who play bejeweled while playing WoW. Getting from one place to another in WoW often involves flights on gryphons with preset flight routes, the longest of which can take over 10 mins. There is a bejeweled add-on for WoW that people play while using a taxi-gryphon. That is, they play a game to occupy their time while playing a game.
2
Catriona wrote at Mar 18, 12:27 pm
I remember the general bewilderment on the Internet when the Bejeweled plug-in for World of Warcraft was announced. But, honestly, once they introduced Bewjeweled versions for mobile phones, that’s exactly what the game was used for: wiling away boring journeys. So why not on taxi-gryphon trips?
3
michelle wrote at Mar 18, 12:38 pm
My brain is still mush from teaching today. Not much makes sense. So, when I skimmed the first line of this post, I read:
“Nick bedazzled his iPhone.”
And I thought, well, goodness me. I knew that was possible, but … Nick?
4
Catriona wrote at Mar 18, 12:43 pm
He does like sparkly things.
And you, Michelle—not being on Facebook or Twitter—missed the even more exciting news later in the evening, when we had to dash to the medical centre because Nick got an insect stuck in his ear. (A very, very small insect.)
It has been an evening of much and varied excitement.
5
michelle wrote at Mar 18, 12:54 pm
You know, of course, that what you have described is one of my biggest fears OF ALL TIME? It happened to my brother when I was a little kid. My bro was screaming and panicking, so my dad emptied all this canola oil into his ear to try to kill the insect (one of those hard brown beetles). Ever since, any time a bug flies past my face, I cover my ears with my hands, or, if possible, with my hair. No ear bugs for me, no sirree. It is also one of the few threats that can induce girl-shrieking from me.
Poor Nick. But also, awesome Nick!
6
Catriona wrote at Mar 18, 01:00 pm
But, then, wasn’t there an additional problem with having canola oil in his ear? Though I applaud your dad’s quick thinking.
This was a tiny, tiny, little bug. In fact. I insisted for about ten minutes that there was no way Nick had a bug in his ear, since he wasn’t feeling any pain, at all. But he said he could hear odd sounds and was getting a little worked up, so off to the twenty-four-hour medical clinic.
And he was absolutely right.
7
Wendy wrote at Mar 18, 09:13 pm
my mum once had a bug fly into her ear. she got a torch and shone it in her ear and the bug flew out towards the light. not sure if that works with all bugs though.
8
Catriona wrote at Mar 18, 09:30 pm
I would think that would certainly work with moths—since I understand they navigate by the moon? and that’s why they fly towards lamps, because they get a little confused about light sources?—but I’m not sure it would be a surefire method for all bugs, no.
(And I’m still uncertain about canola oil.)
In these situations, I’m more than happy to go through to the doctor’s. They’re the professionals.
I am, however, horrified by how many people get insects in their ears, and think I will make some fetching ear guards. Or buy a deerstalker.
9
Tim wrote at Mar 18, 11:24 pm
If you kept a gecko on a string around your neck, it could catch any bugs for you.
10
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 02:43 am
See, now that is an excellent idea—reminiscent of the weird CSI: New York episode where people were wearing live jewelled cockroaches as brooches, but less, you know, cockroachy and therefore more appealling.
If anyone worries about the potential cruelty behind wearing geckoes on strings, we could restrict the practice to those geckoes we know for a fact are working against us in the planned insurrection.
11
Wendy wrote at Mar 19, 02:46 am
one vote for the geckoes….not at all keen on the canola oil in the ear…and i think the effectiveness torch would definitely depend on whether the insect is one attracted to light or just a stupid lost crawly bug.
how is the tweezer situation btw?
12
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 02:52 am
So far, the tweezers remain stable at three pairs. I’m currently uncertain as to whether the mysterious third pair is actually a gecko spy in disguise, so am not using them. Just keeping them on my shelf, so I can keep an eye on them . . .
13
Tim wrote at Mar 19, 03:00 am
You can’t watch them when you’re not in the room, though. Unless you’ve set up spy cameras, of course.
14
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 03:03 am
Yes . . .
Note to self: next time I throw a party, remember to tell people about the spy cameras I set up in the bathroom to watch my tweezers.
15
heretic wrote at Mar 19, 03:42 am
I remember the general bewilderment on the Internet when the Bejeweled plug-in for World of Warcraft was announced. But, honestly, once they introduced Bewjeweled versions for mobile phones, that’s exactly what the game was used for: wiling away boring journeys. So why not on taxi-gryphon trips?
You know I think this right here is why I truly can’t wrap my head around WoW as a pastime. “My choice of game is so damn boring that they put a game into it to keep me occupied!”
I mean, really, WTF? Who really thinks it’s an awesome time to be bored for fun?!
That’s why I like CoD4. The absolute longest you can be out of action is about ten minutes, if you get yourself capped in the first seconds of a search and destroy round. Even then, you spend the rest of the time observing (learning better tactics) and heckling.
16
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 03:54 am
I don’t play World of Warcraft, of course, so I’m going on circumstantial evidence. But Drew’s suggesting above that ten minutes is roughly the longest you’re out of action during a gryphon flight, too. Now, if a trip took four hours, that might be a little much. But ten minutes is just about time to make a cup of tea.
There’s something appealing to me about a nod to travel time in a game—and it would only be a nod, because I don’t think gryphons have warp speed. It’s like admiring the fact that a fantasy writer can really grasp the logistics of an army slogging from one town to another, instead of having them dashing two hundred leagues at, well, warp speed.
17
richard wrote at Mar 19, 05:35 am
“My choice of game is so damn boring that they put a game into it to keep me occupied!”
…which also explains mexican waves and beer snakes at the cricket.
18
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 05:47 am
Well, Richard, I tend to argue that cricket only became boring when Australia starting winning everything and being quite smug about it, but then, I’m unashamedly biased on the subject.
And I still maintain, we invented the game. We don’t actually to be any good at it. We’ve already done the hard work.
Oh, no: I’m not still bitter about the time we were bowled out for forty two in a test match or anything . . .
;)
19
Drew wrote at Mar 19, 06:21 am
one of the aspects of WoW that I really enjoy is the fact that you have to travel, be it by horseback, taxi-gryphon or onboard a ship to reach your destination. The game landscape (like all game landscapes I imagine) isn’t really all that big but it certainly does feel like it, and therefore feel more real, when you have to wait for a boat to dock and board it in order to get where you want to be. I can understand that this might frustrate some people, but I like it.
20
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 06:43 am
I’m with you, Drew—though I’ve never played World of Warcraft. It’s analogous to something I like in Dungeons and Dragons; it is frustrating to be just too far out of reach of the orc you wish to cleave in twain, but it adds a dimension to the game that I enjoy.
21
Sam wrote at Mar 19, 08:01 am
The solution to being just out of reach of that orc is to have a much larger axe.
In fact a much larger axe is the solution to many problems I find.
22
Catriona wrote at Mar 19, 12:41 pm
I’m a Ranger, Sam. I don’t think I’m allowed to carry an axe—or, at least, it would be a waste of two-blade skills, since most axes, I suspect, are two-handed weapons.
23
Tim wrote at Mar 19, 02:23 pm
There are one-handed, two-handed and throwing versions of axes.