*War*!
January 20, 2009
About six months ago, a friend and I started talking on Google Talk. In Google Talk, if you enclose words in asterisks, *like this*, it bolds them. If you enclose words in underscores, _like this_, it makes them italic. If you do both, it makes them both.
When you chat with someone, you generally put actions in asterisks. For instance, let’s say you were insulted by something the other person said. You, being offended, might do this: *slaps*. Or perhaps this: *clobbers*. Or, my personal favourite: *takes to desolate island, leaves, drops 15 megaton nuclear warhead on said island*.
And that’s how the concept of *War* came about. My friend getting irked by my *slap*ping of him. He then punched me back. And so on and so forth.
Having A War
Four tips:
- You don’t have to have it in Google Talk. Other chat clients will do. We do it in MSN now, works a charm (just without automagical bolding)
- Let the person know about the war before you hold it. You don’t want to shock them, or confuse them, or make them cry.
- Start off small, with *slap*’s and *punch*es and stuff like that, then work your way up to the nuke.
- A good war can last anywhere from fifteen minutes to half an hour. Do it when you have free time or when you’re at work with nothing better to do (i.e. that fifty page report on sales of turnips in rural Tasmania that you have to have done by tomorrow)
Rules
There are only three rules, they’re simple… but there’s penalties, of which one must remember.
- You can only have one turn before someone else takes theirs. For instance:
Douglas says:
*punches*
Douglas says:
*shoots*
Is totally unacceptable. However:
Douglas says:
*punches, shoots*
Is acceptable, as you’ve made two moves in one turn.
Penalty: Number of extra turns you took x 2 turn penalty (i.e. you took three turns instead of one, thats 3 x 2, and 3 x 2 = 6, the opposition gets six consecutive turns) - With Rule 1, comes a sub-rule: you cannot make more than three moves in one turn.
Penalty: Two turns - Suicides, or suicide missions, are forbidden unless the chances of either person winning are unlikely. Ditto for big stuff in the first bit of the war.
Penalty: war continues as if though nothing happened, two turn penalty.
So… what are you waiting for? Go find a good friend, hit them up on MSN\Googly Talk\AIM\whatever, and go to *WAR*!
Four Day Weekend, or Life is Not Sweet
June 9, 2008
Well, we’ve gone from one extreme to another — last time it was a one-day weekend, and now I’ve had a four-day weekend. I had Friday off, and today is Her Majesty’s Birthday. Hopefully, she got some nice presents.
So, Friday I went down town, hit the Public Library for the internet, and my mate turned up. So I had a good day there. We insulted each other via BabelFish. It was muchly fun.
Then I wandered around town for a while, and caught a bus home, then wanted naptime. But that had to wait until the evening, because I can only sleep during the day when a) I’m sicker than I normally get (which isn’t hard: I don’t get sick often, but when I do, I get sick bad!) and b) It’s around 4-5pm and c) I’ve no energy.
Don’t critisize my over-zealous and-ing. Just, don’t.
On Saturday and Sunday, it was your standard mope around at home, watch TV, etc., etc.
Today, it was “Woohoo! I’ve got the house to myself for a bit this morning!” This entailed watching all my favourite TV programs that I’d recorded, having a late breakfast of Vegemite on Well-Buttered toast, and, most importantly, sitting down on the computer, music on full-bore with no headphones. Life is sweet. Then everyone came home, so I had to help bring in the groceries, and resume my computering, still in my pyjamas, but with headphones on.
Life is not sweet anymore.
On the upside, it’s about ten past eleven, and I am still, yes, still, in my pyjamas.
At least I’ve got my pants on right-side-out today.


