Hogwarts School Of Move On Already

When I was in High School there was a guy from my church who was actually famous through most of the northern half of Indiana. He played Dungeons and Dragonsavidly, often giving over entire weekends to the game. I know this isn't uncommon, and I confess to having gamed with his group a time or two myself. However, this guy went to work and classes as his character and was excused from activities for several weeks due to an injury he suffered. In character. More specifically, he himself was not injured, yet his character was. He walked with a limp for months because of the assault to his in-game persona. When I would tell people my home town, alma mater or planned college, I would invariably get a "Do you know Avid Gamer Guy?" His legend grew, and the apocrypha surronding his actions grew with it. Before long I was hearing tales of him being excused from the army because he showed up for his enlistment physical in character. To this day people in my hometown talk about him offering his character's service to the FBI and CIA.

In my mind this man will always serve as the benchmark for taking involvement in fantasy too far. In the thirty-two years of my evolution to nerdqueen status* I have had several personal geek milestones of my own. I've spent hours typing BASIC games into my Commodore 64 from the back pages of PC Magazine. I've been eaten by more grues and tormented by more Frobozz Wizards than most people. I've dressed up to see Star Wars movies and had a crush on Mr. Spock. I've fallen in love with Sherlock Holmes the person as well as the body of work and I've seen CATS four times. I started hanging out on the "Net" via VAX in 1989, back when it was all geeks in UseNet fighting over glass flow, and grieved when September came to the webworld without leaving. My first date with my husband was to the Rocky Horror Picture Show, where I went costumed as a female Riff-Raff.

I will not, however, repeat NOT wear a black armband in mourning for the character who has died in the latest Harry Potter book. I'm sad that this character has taken the tumble over the Wizarding Reichenbach Falls and I'm kind of sorry that this character will not be in future books. I get that most of the people who are doing this are teenagers and have to make their own nerdly pursuits, what with BASIC being out of vogue and all. I just can't see dressing in "morning" (as the promoter of this idea suggests) for a literary character. Although those of you who are may want to use it to try for an excused absence from gym class. Worked for Avid Gamer Guy.