Nemesis

Though my new additional job is temporary, it requires that I interact with the youth of this culture. In attempt to better understand them, I am exploring alternate methods of research into this subculture, and based on conversations I have overheard from some of the more apt students of science in my classroom, I am investigating the world of online gaming.

This new path of research has required that I invest a good deal of time playing a video game called "Call of Duty," which my understanding has it is how the peace-loving youth of this world avoid military service by experiencing it in a virtual way.

I have spent many hours over the weekend playing this game, and I have discovered a community of "online gamers" as they are called. One member of this community is an enigma to me and has become a bane to my enjoyment of this form of interaction. This human, who goes by the alias "morgoth6977," has repeatedly been responsible for killing my own avatar in this online game. This is quite a nuisance. No matter how I plan my moves, wherever I hide my avatar in wait for him, this Morgoth character always bests me. I have taken it as a personal vendetta to discover his weaknesses. Even in a virtual world, I find it hard to believe that a gamer could play so flawlessly.

Madison says I have become obsessed and am playing too much. She has been spending too much time on her own, communicating via online instant messaging with this boyfriend of hers that I have forbidden her from seeing, so she is not in a place to judge. I may be playing for long periods of time, but I only just found this new avenue of research, I tell her, so I much "take a crash course" as they say to play catch up. That, and my nemesis must be destroyed.