Red Shell, Green Shell

Okay. I promise I'm not going to start constantly ranting about MarioKart. I know where it all ends up - people get so annoyed you have to start another blog.

But...

I was just lazily reclining in my hammock on my front deck, dappled sun filtering through the jasmine vines, warm light spring breeze blowing from the north-east. As I lazily swung to and fro, I was locked in a fierce battle for kart supremacy with some bad spelling stranger known only to me as 'MasterCheif". We were at 1-all after the first two races, and had settled on the spooky Luigi's Mansion track as the decider.


Towards the end of the third and final lap, I jumped into a big long slide that gave me the perfect boost - I was headed for victory, for sure. I could see MasterCheif languishing behind me. Just as I began to laugh maniacally, a green koopa shell, (fired by me two laps before) appeared from nowhere and knocked me into a spin, leaving me about a foot short of the finish line. As I fell out of the hammock in shock, MasterCheif shot right past me to claim the title.

Amazing - the game engine, the wireless technology, the whole infrastructure that lets you share such an awesomely fun experience with someone on the other side of the planet.

When I was 12, I used to have a pen-pal in Germany. We used to write letters on paper with our hands, and send them to each other on aeroplanes. Nowadays, people I've never met can knock me out of a hammock remotely. Now that's progress.