In times like these

I got up this Sunday morning, and was for some reason, confused about the time. Have you ever been disoriented about what time it is? I was thinking as I was taking my shower that Daylight Saving Time ended today at 2:00am, and that we failed to set the clocks back. Quickly I made several decisions based on this information: I could let my husband sleep in a little longer before waking him up-the poor man with his two jobs certainly could use it. I could spend the hour since I was already up, doing something productive. I wondered how many people would get to church early. I thought about calling my daughter-her husband had to be to work at 7:00am this morning. I thought about calling my son-he's working today. I signed on to the computer to confirm my inclination and yes, the time in the lower right hand corner said 6:30am. "I knew it!" I thought to myself.

But something gnawed in my brain. Was it really 6:30am? I was beginning to experience what psychologists call "cognitive dissonance". This phenomenon occurs when new information does not seem to match or jive with prior information you have stored in your gray cells and you begin to be vaguely aware that something is amiss somewhere in your thinking process. I decided to do a google search of "Daylight Saving Time 2008". Then I really had cognitive dissonance. DST doesn't end until NEXT Sunday at 2:00am. I have no idea why the time on my computer is an hour early-it must have to do with the IE program-perhaps it was already fixed to change the last Sunday in October. Now how to change the time on the computer is another issue. OOO-it only took this computer tech dinosaur three clicks to figure it out!

Speaking of cognitive dissonance, did you read about the woman from Japan who killed her virtual-reality husband's avatar and was arrested? She wasn't arrested for killing the avatar, she was arrested for trespassing with his password into the reality computer game they were participating in. An avatar is a persona you take on when you participate in online computer games. Apparently, there are several popular games you can play which are interactive with people around the world-you (or rather your avatars) can live together in communities, and my son in law was telling me last night that one of the most popular games is one which you can live in other worlds and universes. Anyhow, in this game, this woman's avatar was married to this man's avatar, and they were living together in this virtual reality computer game. Apparently, the man's avatar divorced the woman's avatar rather suddenly, leaving the avatar homeless. The REAL woman behind her avatar grew so enraged at how her computer persona was treated that she hacked into the game with the REAL man's password and had his avatar commit suicide.

When I was talking about this with my daughter over lunch, she blithely told me that back in the day when she was participating in this sort of thing, she allowed one of her avatars to go swimming in the pool and then took the ladder out to see if it would drown, which it did. There was a funeral service and cremation, and the urn was displayed prominently in the home that this avatar lived in.

Online gaming is the fastest growing industry in the world-bar none. There are millions of people worldwide who for hours a day, live in these imaginary kingdoms, worlds, and communities and create a life's existence which they have created to be more fulfilling than their REAL life is. I realize for some, it's entertainment, but I cannot imagine first of all, having the time to devote to it, and secondly, wasting the time it takes to devote to it. However, there is a certain advantage of living in a virtual reality world, and that is, I can be in control of what happens to me. I can dispense justice, take revenge, and get rid of those I'm angry with. Even the guy whose avatar was done away with can in about a minute, create a new one. In virtual reality worlds, the players can be "god", and I would hypothesize that this is why they are so popular. Comments?