The other day I was asked to appear in an Italian football shirt together with the real Italians at work. Apparently, all of the girls had pulled out. So there were a few of us that...hmm...didn't quite fit in. But the pictures were ok, I suppose. It's for a promotion/newsletter thingie for the Italian version of our site.

I am going to moan a bit about the gaming community again. Actually, coming to think of it, maybe I haven't moaned to much about that in the past. I will start now. The thing is, I have been a bona fide gamer now for 21 years. Most of you should know or have realised by now that I am of the female persuasion, and so can probably understand that being a girl gamer is not that much fun because the guys don't ever take you seriously. These days, when there is a whole new generation of adults who grew up playing console and computer games (video games, they were called back then), we are definitely supposed to "grow up" and get rid of this silly notion that we can actually still be entertained by such childish pastimes. Well...turns out we can't. And those who did not grow up with this kind of entertainment don't understand us. Many of these are girls my own age, actually. They have only in recent years learnt how to use the computer for word processing etc., and some of them love playing Mine Sweeper and Solitaire and that's just about it. And then you have my friends, of whom most play more complex computer games, just like I do (although I think it's fair to say I'm much more of a geek than they will ever be and that I have so many games that most guy gamers would be extremely envious). I don't really like playing multiplayer games, but I think it may be due to the fact that I have not been used to playing computer games with others for so long, not since my early Amiga days in the late eighties. I don't particularly feel like jumping into to testosteron-filled world of online gaming, either, because the discussions there are mostly ridiculous unless you happen upon a group of core, adult gamers, but they are usually too close-knit that they would rather not let anyone else in anyway. Argh! So I stick to single-player games, which suits me very well, and occasionally wander into the odd discussion forum (ok, I do so every day). What really annoys me is when they try to "find a game for their girlfriend" or something like that and the replies are usually "Barbie" or "My Little Pony" or "The Sims" or "Solitaire". Yes, many of my gaming female friends play "thinking games", like adventure games and puzzle games, but I think all of them would cringe if they were given stupid games like Barbie. No wonder most of the male forumites talk about girls all the time - they're obviously not used to having them around! I enjoy the odd action game, too, for instance the Grand Theft Auto series is great fun and I love car racing (always have), and I think some of the old platform games are still brilliant (Apprentice being a top favourite). But put me in front of a nice strategy game and I stay there for most of the day, if possible. Those are the best, together with the role-playing games. But I can play just about anything, really. Some of my very diverse favourites are: Amplitude (very addictive rhythm-based reaction game), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (adventure role-playing game with lots of swoosh sounds - I have finished both games), Master of Magic (Civilization-like game with added magic), Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (and it helped my conscience when I suddenly got an incredible sum of money through horce race betting and didn't have to mug old ladies for food) (in the game), Zeus (historic city-building game), The Sims 2 (spend all of your time spending some digital person's time) and Push-Over (puzzle game with cute ants or summat).

Anyway, that out of the way I'm going to go home and spend the next three days doing what I love the most (sleeping, eating, playing computer games) before going back to work as a break before This Year's Ultimate Experience.......... Evita!!! Never mind the World Cup.

Current track: Nothing.

Labels: evita, gaming, musicals, personal, theatre