how my life has become more like the Sims.

this is something i've considered for some time.

primarily because when my father had lit our kitchen on fire, we both looked something like as pictured at the left. a certain screaming, up-in-arms motion as we stared dumbfounded at it, profoundly doing nothing as the stove went up in flames. only after a good ten seconds of registering "FIRE!" did we proceed to put it out. this is how i came to understand why my stupid Sims would never put out their own fires: they're like us.

as we become more and more digitally integrated, life shares more and more characteristics of the Sims. for example, Myspace Top Friends (and now with one of the new apps, Facebook, but less so). i revisited this the other day with am&a, and the conversation went something similar to as follows:

me: i'm not in your top friends! i am dejected. hahaha.
she: i didn't know you still used myspace! i'll put you back in. you'd just gone quiet, and you know, friending politics and all.

now mind you, am&a has a Top 24, because she's that popular, and she's right: i don't use Myspace all that much. i'm familiar with it, i have a certain friendgroup there, but that's not really my thing. what got me thinking was the Politics of Friending. the Unspoken Rules of the Top 8.

some of which are:
. if someone puts you in their top friends, you put them in yours.
... unless they're really not your friend.
... unless you have no interest in being their friend.
. you give them the benefit of the doubt.
... which is to say, they start the highest they can be.
... i spoke to you in HS, we're reconnecting, you get 6.
... unless you do me a solid and we become best friends.
. you take me out of your friends, you come out of mine.
... even if we talk every day in real life.
... just because you don't comment enough.
... come on now, realty is precious.
. i am not obligated to put you at the same # as you do me.

you could, if you wanted, weigh in your social weight by your travels in your friends' top 8s. which is to say, in the Sims, if you don't call a "friend" for awhile, your rapport decreases until a frowny face appears over their heads. if you don't Myspace your friends for awhile, your rapport decreases down the 8, letting you know a frowny face is sure to follow in-person. so be kind. check the 8s. make some comments. save the frowny faces.

and hey, now that Islands of Adventure will be opening the Harry Potter section, we really can go to Wizard World, too. just keep me away from the magic acts.