"Lights," I said softly. This had become my favorite word over the past week. In my mind, it had become synonymous with freedom.

Virtual sex, no matter how realistic, was really nothing but glorified, computer-assisted masturbation.

I've been invited to speak at about 20 colleges. There's always this moment when I'm having dinner with the college president: 'Ernie, where'd you go to school?'

I was watching a collection of vintage '80s cereal commercials when I paused to wonder why cereal manufacturers no longer included toy prizes inside every box. It was a tragedy, in my opinion. Another sign that civilization was going straight down the tubes.

I don't know if the '80s were unique, but we certainly got original, groundbreaking stuff at the time with movies like 'Back to the Future' and 'Star Wars' - movies that became classics.

"Lights," I said softly. This had become my favorite word over the past week. In my mind, it had become synonymous with freedom.

For one quarter, Black Tiger lets me escape from my rotten existence for three glorious hours. Pretty good deal.