Text Messages #2

From Sarah, regarding the best possible use of the ORL Conference Room:

Im actually playing rock band in the conference room...

From Lauren, regarding residents:

So get this. My rezzies stole one of the tubs of cereal from the dining hall. Like the clear plastic things that holds a shitload of rice crispies

From Lauren, regarding life as an RA:

Fire alarm @ 3am last night. Oh the wonders of being an ra

From My Youngest Brother, regarding the greatest coincidence ever:

Dude pokemon tells the future. Think about the first gym leader.. Its BaROCK and when you beat him you get tm '08 which is BIDEn

From Sarah, regarding jealousy:

I woke up to snow, be jealous ;-)

From Aaron, regarding push ups:

im sad you're not here, but im comforted to know that where ever you are - you're doing push ups!

From Sarah, regarding me trying to ice skate:

Oh that would be priceless. I thought you would have been good with balance with you martial arts an ish

From Ariel, regarding her crazy professor:

My professor just compared the Amish to the Taliban, but with less guns and a better aptitude for making furniture. Umm....

From Ariel, regarding a program we don't much care for:

OMG OMG OMG Noooooo

From Ariel, who obviously isn't a Sci Fi fan:

What's a hologram?

From Ariel, regarding the roof sweep I got to do:

OMG I should have stayed! I'm so effing jealous right now!

From Aubrey, regarding Thanksgiving:

Turkey! AWESOME!

From Lauren, regarding a funny coincidence (three-parts):

One of my residents had ur dad as a teacher. Random

His name is [censored]. He said he was from [censored] and went to ur high school. He said he had ur dad and then proceeded to tell me his son went to ucla

He had no idea how i knew his teachers name. I had to fill him in that i dated his son

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Video Games and HIV/AIDS Awareness

I found this article online, and thought it was a pretty interesting little blurb. I've copied the full text below, since the article has an annoying popup ad:

"Here's a very cool use of videogames for a great cause.

As part of a larger corporate partnership with the U.S. government, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment is launching a free multi-player PC game in Kenya intended to change HIV risk perception, attitude and behavior. Called "Pamoja Mtaani" ("Together in the Hood"), it's launching in youth centers in Nairobi, Kenya.

This is how WBIE describes it:

"The "Pamoja Mtaani" game, developed by noted serious games developer, Virtual Heroes, Inc., follows five strangers who are brought together through unforeseen circumstances, losing what is most precious to each of them. Working their way through various East African neighborhoods, players must recover the stolen items and help an injured woman on their quest. Along the way, they will experience barriers and facilitators to behavior change through a variety of missions and mini-games."

The five person game, which can be played via LAN, also has music from Kenyan hip-hop artists. All of the characters are being introduced via trailers that the studio is producing.

"Pamoja Mtaani" is part of the Partnership for an HIV-Free Generation, a public-private partnership that's part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

Kudos to Warner Bros. for not only getting involved, but using its videogame unit to engage young people in this vital issue."

This is cool, because it is a case of a "good" use for video games (though I don't mean to imply that video games are "bad" in general... just an entertainment medium). It's nice to see video games being used this way, and for a really good cause too. While not something I'm personally passionate about (though I'm very supportive), I do know that HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention is really important to some of my good friends. So much so, that one of them took off to Africa for a couple years to work on this very thing.

Court, this one's for you! =)

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