Today the professor and the princess went for a walk. The professor brought along the princess's camera, a vtech kidszoom camera. The princess brought along a baby carriage, with a plush dog (named Beeta Selena Lola) and a plastic batman.



This walk was born three hours earlier, when the professor decided to introduce his students to sf0, and to think about the possibilities a real world mmo might hold for pedagogy. He remembered the quest he completed with the princess sometime ago. He decided it was long past time for the professor and the princess to begin their quests.

The two walked down the street. The professor was in search of people. The princess, a fan of Scooby-Doo, was in search of ghosts. Instead of a ghost, she found a pretty red flower. And she took a picture.



In the distance they saw a man and his dog. The professor took their picture.



The princess called out to him "may I pet your dog." The man was on a cellphone. He seemingly did not hear the princess. The adventurers watched him turn the corner and walk into his garage. The princess said "I guess he needed to get home."

The adventurers turned right and walked until we met a dad and his four kids, three boys and a girl. The princess asked the little girl "Can I play with you?" The girl nodded yes. The professor appreciated the princess's bravery. While the girls played, the dads talked. The kids through pool noodle's into the air. The professor took some pictures of the noodles, but not the kids. The princess danced, the girl watched her. The professor felt awkward, so he explained that he works at the local University and is teaching a class on the technologies, ethics, and social potential of New Media.



The dad's name was Joe. He has lived in Florida since 2005, and in his current house since 2007. He is from Cleveland. The professor had visited Cleveland once, several years ago. The professor remarked how strange it was for him to experience the mass migration of a "commuter city," the way it transforms into a ghost town at precisely 6:00. Joe agreed it was weird. And the professor thought, for a second, that he couldn't remember the last time he was outside after dinner.

The professor learned that Joe moved to Florida to join his brother-in-laws construction company during the Florida's construction boom. The recession has crippled the construction industry in Florida, so Joe had returned to his first profession, software engineering. We talked a bit. Joe asked the professor about how tenure works. The professor explained that tenure isn't what a lot of people think it is--it is not a lifetime guarantee of employment. This was on the professor's mind because earlier that day he sat through a rather depressing faculty meeting in which he learned of the increasing threats to humanities funding and to tenure and promotion developing across his state university system. At this point, the kids through a ball into the road, and the professor picked it up.



At this point the princess decided it was time to move on. The little boys were being mean to her. They refused to tell her their name. The professor said goodnight to Joe, and the adventurers moved on. The princess spied a path.



The path led us pass a bush. The bush contained crickets. Loud crickets. But they weren't crickets--for the princess declared they were man-eating crickets. The professor and the princess turned around and ran back down the path into the cul-de-sac. It was growing late, so the professor and the princess started walking home.

We passed a garage door with a large dent.



And the professor began to silently wonder how the door got such a large dent. The princess wondered too, speculating out loud that "I bet that garage door got hit with a really large rain drop." "Maybe" the professor replied.

The two walked on and discovered a cat. "Aww, a nice kitty" the princess remarked. It was a black cat, and it crossed our path. And the professor decided that it was too soon to tell of black cats and bad luck. Without skipping a beat, the princess turned and saw the moon. She sang a song "to the moon, to the tiny piece of the moon, to my great friend the moon."



The professor wished he could still invent those kinds of songs.

The professor and the princess returned to their castle. It is an unremarkable, cookie-cutter castle in an unremarkable neighborhood. The professor has lived in his unremarkable castle for 4 years now, and knows the name of one of his neighbors. One of his neighbors, and Joe, from Cleveland, down the street.