sociology class is now a writing class suckas

When thinking about significant events, it is easy to recall a list of traumatic events, many with a devastating loss of life. It seems strange that these are the times we claim we'll "never forget," as according to a slogan derived from one such event. I don't know about you, but I'd like to forget, really. In fact, there are two numbers in particular I wouldn't mind replacing if it meant I never had to hear them consecutively again - but that is another story for another day.

As a result of this realization, I'd like to draw attention to some pretty awesome events that make my free time rock. Though these events are actually inventions, the creation of something, surely, is an event!

When my back end was still covered in diapers, some computer nerds were busy making a video game that would set the stage for the future of gaming. The game was Final Fantasy and it was the very first role-playing game of its kind. In 1997 (I could flush by then), after numerous sequels, an online role-playing game was introduced: Ultima Online. This gave people the ability to play a game together over the internet in real time and see the same moving images as millions of other people. What once was just artistic scenery became full-fledged online towns with residents and an in-game economy. Okay, okay, it was grainy and looked like doodoo, but it was still pretty sweet for the time. Regardless, these types of games have taken off and have millions of paying subscribers worldwide. Many argue that these virtual realities make addicts and hermits out of people, and that may be true, but that's a personal problem. There was this one lady who let her baby starve to death after she forgot to feed it due to being involved in the game, which is horrible, but it definitely speaks to the quality of such games. Another guy committed suicide after staying up for days on end in the so-called "World of Warcraft." If that's not a fully immersive game, I don't know what is. After all, the creators can say "People DIE playing my games, that's how good they are."

But wait, we have to time travel back to 1993 to note the very important introduction of broadband internet - letting creeps be creeps in the privacy of their own home (think streaming video as opposed to adult video shops) - for without ethernet cables and cable modems, we'd still be listening to the phone dial as we waited for the inevitable "You've Got Mail!" and I wouldn't have been playing Ultima online in 1997. And of course with broadband internet access comes, oh, you know, not much, just EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO SEE OR HEAR EVER IN AN INSTANT FOR FREE. So that's just a minor tidbit. Don't pirate, by the way, it's bad and illegal! I prefer to "fileshare," and sharing is caring, and I'm sure the two greatly differ.

I had planned to say more so others wouldn't struggle with the word count requirement when deciding to respond to my post, but now I'm going over my own word co-

Oh, wait, that was over one hundred words ago.