Youโre evil, you know that?โ I said. She grinned and shook her head. โChaotic Neutral, sugar.
Ernest ClineI've never really collected anything other than old Atari cartridges. I only had, like, 12 Atari games as a kid, so at some point in my 20s I decided I was going to own all of them.
Ernest ClineAs we continued to talk, going through the motions of getting to know each other, I realized that we already did know each other, as well as any two people could. Weโd known each other for years, in the most intimate way possible. Weโd connected on a purely mental level. I understood her, trusted her, and loved her as a dear friend. None of that had changed, or could be changed by anything as inconsequential as her gender, or skin color, or sexual orientation.
Ernest ClineI was one of the boys who made passes at girls who wore glasses. Any girl who was smarter than me - that was a huge turn-on.
Ernest ClineIf I was feeling depressed or frustrated about my lot in life, all I had to do was tap the Player One button, and my worries would instantly slip away as my mind focused itself on the relentless pixelated onslaught on the screen in front of me. There, inside the game's two-dimensional universe, life was simple: It's just you against the machine. Move with your left hand, shoot with your right, and try to stay alive as long as possible.
Ernest Cline