[aclug-L] My friend may have put our entire group to shame.

[Patrick Klee <misterp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Well,
as most of you are aware, John Goerzen is back in town and has presented
at a recent meeting, and may present again.  I know I did a geeky
probably even horrific thing by having him sign my copy of the book he
wrote called the Linux Programming Bible.  Most people laughed, and may
have throught it was cute.  But I am going to tell you something that is
somewhat related to geeks that may have beat my geeky moment that
night....Here goes:

I have a friend, now 24, who is two and a half months younger than me. 
He bought a house, lives on his own and has does pretty good.  He is a
meat market manager at Dillons and can pay bills and have enough left
over to buy a Playstation 2 one week and a $4000 stereo the next.  

Back in 1996, I am sure we have all heard about the alpha test for the
first ever, Ultima based, Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game,
simply called, Ultima Online.

He has played every UO game from 1996 to now.  Now if I was a woman, I
would say he is handsome, because he works out and doesn't smell and
isn't considered a social outcast like some geeks I know.  He says he
isn't a geek, although he plays D&D and has EVERY R.A. Salvatore novel,
up to present day. 

Well, just recently, I got this fancy, HTML email that had I used
text-based, sendmail with mutt, instead of Ximian Evolution, I could
have locked up Linux like when I bought the Celine Dion copy protected
CD, because I wanted to see what it would do to my machine, CLINT :)
Anyway, It was an invitation for a wedding, and I heard my friend was
engaged, I just didn't know to whom, where or how long ago.

The invitation was a mailing list announcment, stating there was 99th
level king to marry a 47th level bard.  I scrolled down more and it said
who it was, my friend.  

I thought wow, I have officially seen everything that I can see in my
adult life.  I called him, and he told me I had to somehow obtain an
account.  I went out and bought the latest and greatest, $50 copy, and
luckily, received a first free month.  He gave me a command to enter in
the in-game console that would transfer me to the wedding.  It wasn't
anyone I knew, as if.  There were only the 300,000 people world wide who
sadly thought this was cool, and played the game.  

Anyway, they got married, they now run a small city south of Brittainia,
and murdered a dragon that was plagueing their city for quite a while.
He, to this day, has the head mounted above his throne in the city he
controls.

I personally think this is hillarious, I just wanted to post this,
because this is a discussion list, and it's....geeky.  But I was
wondering your takes on all this?  I haven't talked to him in three
weeks.  But I am sure even ALL of you will agree, like SciFi themed
weddings, that MMORPGs or getting hitched in an online realm, to someone
who happens to live in the same city, can't just call and take her out
to dinner, or a symphony at Century 2 or something.

I seriously felt weird having John Goerzen sign my book, and Clint even
said, it was bad.  But I think this event has made my day.
I have heard rumors about couples getting married online, I just NEVER,
EVER imagined it would happen to someone I knew.

I just wanted to tell you guys and gals, and see if I am stereotypical
or hypocritical for thinking that this is very, very sad.

Patrick Klee

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