Thursday 21 October 1999
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Bear with me. I just had to put in another comic chat strip before the fad passes. This time it is Corvin (I hope I got the right Corvin here...), me (the alien), and Kara Leah. The thing that is even more frightening is that I feel the cartoon character is at least as representative of me as my photos... ... Me being the likeable guy that I am, I was recently elected Governor of Greater Kazakhstan as well as Ukraine. Well, actually this all happened in the game 3rd Millenium, but it's still a nice feeling. :) The first thing I do is to start building lots of primary schools. Not that this is going to win me any votes, I guess. Just like in real life, primary schools don't have any effect until a couple decades later, and then only if you don't build them or don't raise the budgets accordingly. In the meantime, I'll try to get the unemployment down by starting new building projects, run a budget deficit and try to bargain with the religious majority for more time...I wish more than ever that they had given this game a variable speed and a thorough documentation. It could have become a hit. Then again, I highly recommended Shadow President once upon a time, another great strategy flop. This was back in the times when I was writing for the Norwegian games & leisure computing magazine Databladet. Which is now, by the way, finally being forcibly dissolved. This is years after the nice crooks and good friends of mine sold it. I never had any ownership or formal position in it, thank Good Old Deity. I had a ball writing, though, back when I used to play lots of new games. Oops, I forgot to put in a nostalgia alert... A honest and God-fearing man once warned me about writing in that magazine. "Lay a ruler on what you are doing" he said to me. "Today you are writing articles, in the future you may be the editor, and then, who knows?" Not I. Perhaps what he envisioned is what I do now. I guess it could be a scary thought to many more than he. ... How alien am I? It is a question I have asked myself many a time. Ironically, it may be that most of us have at one time or another had the feeling of being a stranger in a strange land, an alien among our own kind. Certainly one of the beloved local poets here on the south coast is famous for his musing that he seemed to be on the wrong planet. Then again, I guess the south coast of Norway can be one of the places more conductive to such feelings. It is also Norway's traditional breeding ground for unusual sects, and a major destination for psychopharmaca, particularly sleeping pills and relaxants. With probably no connection to this, let me also note that the south coast girls are generally the most good-looking of the lot. They are certainly on average less masculinely muscled than most west coast girls that I remember. Incidentally, the south coast is also one of the fastest growing areas in the country. Not that this says much, Norway's entire population being less than many of the world's greater cities and growing quite slowly.Not that I am helping, I guess. And on that note I bid you a good night. If the good Lord lets me wake up tomorrow (and basically unhurt), there should be more. I have already taken some notes, but enough is enough already. Been a long day in town and a short night at home. May you rest well and wake in peace. |