An Update!

I recently received a worried email from a friend, making sure I was ok, since I hadn't posted here in 7 days. Heh. My public commands!

But nah, I'm fine. Been gearing up for the Revlon Run/Walk this coming Saturday, and have been happily overwhelmed with generous donations. If you haven't yet contributed and want to throw in a few bucks (no obligation, but I will send you a sweetly worded "thank you" note), drop by here and do so.

In work news, I'm thrilled to announce that I've signed a new client. Go to her website and pick up her book. You'll like it, I promise. Especially if you're a fan of The O.C.

I also recently had another fun contact with my friend and banner designer while playing City of Heroes, who kindly took the time to tell me he read all about my misadventures with Glow Boy and the subsequent denouement, and wanted to check in on me. Keen, you're the best, really. Thank you so much!

Which brings me to my next little thing to ramble on about: writing my character in the game. I think the thing I love most about playing CoH isn't beating up the bad guys, though that can be quite a rush, but rather the interactions that develop between all the players. The whole thing with Glow Boy developed out of that, for instance, as the relationship our characters had in the game expanded into a very real friendship. Now, I'm having fun continuing to play with that, with subtle, exciting little twists. The fact is, Glow Boy hasn't been around much in-game lately, and my character, his girlfriend... well, she's getting a little restless, a little lonesome. She/I recently had the change to hang around with another young hero, one of those bad boy types that girls are ALWAYS falling for, and well... there's something there. Some little spark.

If nothing else, I'm having huge buckets of fun playing with him, as the chatter and conversation that goes on in a mission with him is hi-larious. As a player, it's light and silly and entertaining. On a deeper level, for my character, it's bringing up all sorts of strong feelings that she has for Glow Boy, and her whole team, which I'm getting to play with in a posted story on our "Alliance" website. Honestly -- I don't know where it's going. I mean, I have an idea of what's coming up, what she'll do and say, but how it happens, and what the result ends up being... I don't know.

And this isn't a reflection on Glow Boy having a girlfriend!! At least, I hope not. I don't want to be that petty. The fact is, a lot of the other people I play with online, and whose posts I read and enjoy, have these deep and complicated relationships with other players, and it makes the game more fun for everybody. And I had that with Glow Boy, back in the day, and I want it again. If not with him, then, well, maybe this bad boy might do the trick. More as it develops.

Just to clarify though, I'm not shaping my entire life around this game. And I'm not setting all my hopes (or any, really) on this new guy, this bad boy, being someone I want to meet and date in real life. More than ever, I want to meet someone real, and have a face-to-face relationship. I'm going to give speed dating another try, and updated my profile on Salon's personals site, but am taking the advice I learned from a great book I read to heart, and trying to limit my email conversations to just a few notes before cutting right to the "So, do you want to meet for a drink?" stage. And I'm trying to "put myself out there" more, as advised, though it's more fun to sit in a corner of a bar and mock the other patrons than swallow my pride and try to talk to them. But I'm working on it. And I have to ask all my friends again -- if you know anyone, even vaguely interesting who may be game for a date -- please let me know. I'll try anything once.

And on that note... I should get back to work.