Random Musing of the Day

carmen
Originally uploaded by Beatrice Petty.

Hey there,

Kind of felt I had to blog, if only so that the first thing you saw wasn't Scott's Savol's unfortunate mug.

Kudos to people who know who this is. One of the earliest computer memories I have is from grade 5. A couple of times a week, we would come down from class into this new thing called a "computer room" (quotation fingers). In it were about a dozen or so huge things called "computers" (quotation fingers again). You know, the ones whose disks were "literally" floppy. And while we were sent down there to learn how to use these new fangled devices, what we did in actuality, was play games. Of course, they were nothing near what exist for kids today.

One of the games I remember playing was hysterical. It was called called Lemonade Stand or something like that. You old-timers MUST remember that one... where you had to decide how many glasses to make for your stand based on the weather forecast, how much to charge, how much sugar to use etc... A totally retarded game but fun when you are in grade 5 and thought that computers were the coolest new invention EVER! I digress...

The other game that we got to play is one that I has stuck with me even to this day. "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" was a freaking blast and a half. Based on geography clues given by Interpol, you had to track down the thief Carmen Sandiego. The fewer clues you needed to find her, the higher you climbed in the ranks of Interpol... so much fun. So, that was grade 5... cut to...

Present Day-ish. I still love playing Carmen Sandiego on the computer, except now they also have "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" which, as a total history dork I had to try. Of course now the graphics are much better-- no more blackscreens with pumpkin orange or pus green graphics.

There also used to be a Carmen Sandiego cartoon (which I watched when I could... that was about 5 years ago) AND "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego" game show with uber annoying Rockapella singing the theme... Carmen always stole really big things like the Eiffel Tower, or Buckingham Palace... Come on... how could you steal those... impossible!!! No wonder Interpol's been relegated to investigating the "unauthorized copying of video tapes" (more quotation fingers) ... I took great pride in whipping the pants off the kids on the show. There was also a "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego" game show, but by the ripe old age of 27, I felt the time had come to move onto to some slightly more challenging kids shows, like Magic School Bus (beepbeep). Don't get me started on Inspector Gadget.

So there you have it... yet another little nugget that makes me look like a weirdo... or as I like to call it... "Special" (no more quotation finger, I promise).

Bea is Outtie!