Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time

A brief flurry of comments and emails about MUDding made me decide I should come clean as to how this blog even started.

Back in 1994 was when I got net access for the first time. I think it was also around that time that I got my first CDROM drive and 14.4 modem. How times have changed. Anyway, there wasn’t really a web to speak of at that time. Main protocols were email, telnet, usenet, and gopher. Having cut my teeth on the Infocom games such as Zork, and being a devotee of Moria, I got excited when I found that there were online RPGs, also known as MUDs (Multi User Dimensions). I found a list of them somewhere and tried a few, then noticed that one was being hosted at UT, where I was sporadically attending school. It was called StrangeMUD.

So I logged on and created a character and the local Austin people (notably Questor saw that I was logging in locally and started chatting with me. A couple of weeks later I hit a death trap by typing “ea” for “eat”, which the parser took to mean “east” instead and I went off a cliff. I bitched loudly and heartily and Questor outfitted me with a set of equipment that was slightly better than the newbie stuff I had, but to my eyes it looked like pure gold and I told him I wanted to buy him a pack of smokes in thanks. He and Aeia used to hang out at one of the UT computer labs and he said to come on over anytime, and I did, and started hanging out there with a motley crew of characters and having a jolly old time. School? What school?

One day, Caila came for a visit and said she wanted to eat at Popeye’s, the closest one being east of the highway in what was considered a Very Bad Neighborhood Indeed, but we went anyway and I grew an extra pair of eyes to see who was sneaking up behind me. Caila and I got to be very friendly too, and she ended up moving to Austin, and we would have endless Spades and Hearts marathons with Questor and Wiilf and hang out constantly and have a lot of fun. School? What school?

The next spring, another person from the mud hosted a party in Houston and Caila convinced me to go, since she had met the hostess and said she was a hoot. We went, and had a fabulous time, and I met quite a few other mudders, including DrTongue (a.k.a. “Hub”).

Years later Caila told me she was starting a blog and I said that’s it, I will too since all the damned cool kids have them.

So you see, if it were not for StrangeMUD (and Caila!) I would not have this blog today. You may either thank the mud or curse it. It still exists, after having been through some plot twists that would put the soap opera “Passions” to shame. You should check it out sometime.

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