But it was hot, and the theatre promised to be cool. Oxbridge took me out for some iced tea just before, so I was starting to feel my perky best. No matter how lame, there is something gratifying about sitting in a restaurant, sipping cool drinks with that special someone just before a show. And the theatre itself didn't fail to impress--very nice and Victorian with faded murals, statuary and an nearly impossible amount of scrollwork everywhere. We even got our balcony seats upgraded to ground level. It was just cool enough inside for an appropriate amount of hand holding. In short, I was entranced heart heart
But, despite all expectations of this cynical girl, the play was hilarious! Pure, hyperkinetic miming and voice imitations. Think Eddie Izzard meets Mystery Science Theatre. Whiney voice: "Bennnnn, whyyyyy didn't you tellll me who my father was?" Embarassed, spot on, Alec Guiness imitation: "Um. I forgot. Sorry!". Watching someone mime the destruction of the Death Star is priceless. Trust me, if it comes to your town, see it! (He's in D.C. this weekend).
Back in Gaia, my friend Fallen Angel Chii had her account hacked and all her items and gold taken. She was really, really upset and talked about leaving Gaia. On the face of it, you can buy stuff if you need to (2000 gold/dollar), so from a pragmatic point of view, it was like losing a twenty dollar bill.
From a purely emotional point of view, though, it's a violation, made worse by the fact that it was unexpected. I mean, Gaia is a pretty friendly place. If it were the real world, it'd be the sort of town where people don't lock their doors. And Chii is one of those honest people. You can look at her profile if you want, but just chatting with her the last few days, she is clearly somebody who is either blessed or cursed with the ability to empathize with others immediately.
So when someone like that meets a jerk, it's not pleasant. If you empathize with other people, it's hard to deal with someone who is less than good. (Chii, if you read this, please don't take this as patronizing. I admire those attributes). Well, lots of people sent her donations and told her not to leave Gaia, so a certain amount of faith in humanity might be justified after all.
Today, Chii tried to start a forum for helping people who got "hacked". People would write in and say they were hacked and people would give them sympathy donations. Only someone with an incredible faith in humanity, one I hate to say I don't share, could come up with this idea. I told her the obvious--people would lie. Some others on the thread said less than charitable things about her motives for coming up with the idea.
An hour ago, she sent me another letter, saying that she was leaving Gaia for a while. I hope she comes back. In addition to being nice, she's amazingly creative and creates wonderful multimedia presentations. As I keep saying, I never was that clever when I was that age. Cynicism, however, that I had down. confused
Before going, Chii also sent me a picture of one of her favorite anime characters. In many ways, it reminds me of her, or at least her personality. Once again, Gaia lets us see the real people behind our "real world" masks. I have no desire to ever learn what Chii "actually" looks like. As far as I'm concerned, she looks like this:
