Ordinary Language

Who Am I? Who Do I Want To Be?

I went into the East Bay for the last time today to look at rooms, and came home with a dilemma of the sort that I most hate - having to make a legitimate choice. I believe choices should be easy. The best choices are the ones that don't even really exist - you have to pick the obvious one. And this one was obvious, until she said it.

"I used to be a tester for Sega."

And then I realized, these weren't just technodorks who happened to play some games. They were Gamer Dorks. That was a monkey wrench.

The deal at first was fairly simple. There's one house which promised everything I ever wanted. Nerdy grad students, a room which could be private, great setting. The only real problem was the location, it's a little farther than I wanted (a long walk to my workplace).

But since I was in town, I may as well check out the other offers people have given me, right? Particularly the ones who sent the really long detailed e-mails. Almost obligated to see those...right? So I did. Instead of the beautiful house near the college campus lined with trees, this is the trendy apartment, much closer to the city. And instead of the fairly open spaces of the house, tastefully decorated, it's cluttered with cool furniture, tvs, and computers. Like 4 computers in the 3 rooms I saw. I sat down to talk with the tenants. This place was worth checking out, its location was far superior, though I would have to wait longer to move in. We spoke briefly of video games, and I mentioned my love for the greatest ever monkey maraca rhythm dancing flying skull Ricky Martin game of all time, Samba de Amigo, and my disappointment that I'd never played it with the maraca controller. And then she said it.

"Oh, I have one of those. I used to test for Sega."

How much are the maracas worth in rent? Are they worth the extra ~$40? Are they worth waiting an extra 10 days to move in?

And most importantly, who are my people? Are my people the gamer dorks or the intellectual dorks? I want to be an intellectual gamer, no help there. Am I better off in the college town sort of environment, hanging out with a bunch of grad students, sipping wine and discussing African politics on their cute little porch? Or should I stay up into wee hours of the night playing Halo?

I didn't have to worry about this at Antioch. I could do both, and usually chose Halo. But do I want to stick with the video games...?