one is silver and the other is gold

Once upon a time I had a brief but torrid affair with a video game called The Sims. As I remember it, the player controls a family to include bathrooming them lest they wet the floor and then cry about it. You also build and furnish their house and help them progress along their career paths by leading them to bookshelves to read and toolboxes to manhandle. Your job is to balance their professional, social, domestic and basic needs. If you are doing well then their mood, which is monitored at the bottom of the screen, is good. A good mood means survival and hours more of fun bathing, feeding, shopping for and entertaining your family.

Why something similar to the tedium of daily life could lure me in I do not know. But the parallels between my daily life now and the life of my long neglected and deceased Sims characters are closer than they should be. Especially my social life.

In the video game social interaction is imperative for the happiness of your characters. When new neighbors move in  you need to call them and invite them over to interact. And if the interaction goes well you gain friends who are also, along with your mood,  monitored at the bottom of your screen. When characters talk a speech bubble appears over the head of the speaker indicating the topic of conversation. In the screen shot below you can see that the brown-haired fellow is chatting it up about the impending rain forecast for that evening. The ladies don't have a particular feeling about this topic as there is no positive or negative reaction his conversation. The blond gentleman, however, is quite taken by this conversation as you can see by his desire to hold the man's hand. If the brunette man has a similar warm fuzzy about the blond then a friendship blooms and they will have many scintillating conversations about the weather ahead.

Sometimes things don't go as smoothly as they did in the hot tub. In the following screen shot you can see that these lovely young ladies are sharing no love. Negative signs all around.

In summary, cause this is complicated stuff,  as you interact with different characters you collect positive or negative vibes ultimately resulting in a friend, an acquaintance or, as is the case with these women, an arch nemesis. You get my point.

Now on to the seamless parallel to my life.

I have met many women during the last eight months here on Okinawa. I am seriously on the prowl for girl friends so I take these points seriously. There have been lots of positive and negative points handed out during each and every interaction. As a result of my fortitude and determination, I have one friend. She's no BFF but we bump plus signs on many topics. That is a happy ending.

Then there is the woman I am showering in plus signs who isn't reciprocating with quite the intensity that I need. And her indifference or neutrality hurts my feeling. I want to tell her to like me because I am likable. But with so little to show for eight months of work, I wonder if that's even true. Maybe my likability has vanished. Making friends has never been such a challenge for me so something has got to give.

Meanwhile as I have been writing this I got an e-mail from the woman-who-loves-me-less-than-she-should asking if I'd like to start a playgroup with her on Mondays. Um, YES. Plus sign, plus sign, plus sign, plus sign. And my spirit is revived and there is love like that night in the hot tub to go around.

Also, an armful of plus signs to you from me.

Comments

[Old Horsetail Snake]

Pluses back. Many, many pluses.

[Marie]

Lots of pluses back at you, Meredith! Seriously, you got an e-mail from that woman as you were writing this? Whoa... holy vibes.

Tell me, are all the Sims people so damn skinny? Do they plump up if you feed them too much? or don't exercise them enough? Cuz if not, I'd have to get rid of that game.

[Priscilla]

So glad you're back...your postings and pictures make me smile
++from your old hillbilly pal in PA

[MommaK]

I'll be your girlfriend ;-)

I used to try to make friends - now I try to hide from them. Oh well.

My oldest girly is a sims addict. I found one E rated game boy version and that is the only one she is allowed to play. I don't want her ++ing in any hottubs!