When "Real" Life Gets Really Stupid

NOT REAL LIFE

As I write this, I realize that you cannot hear me, see me or interact with me in any "real" way. Oh, you can send a comment or email me. Those of you with time on your hands can find me on the internet and phone me for any reason. Most of you won't, I hope...especially the stalkers out there. I've got enough trouble without looking over my shoulder all the time, especially on my bike. (I've been known to run into parked cars, although not recently). Anyway, it's just that the world has become a virtual place nowadays, and real interactions are growing less and less common.
I discovered this the last year of my teaching career when, in health class, students admitted to spending more time online interacting with kids they saw in school every day than they did WHILE AT SCHOOL! It seemed that personal communication was too dangerous. So...I set up a MySpace page just to see how long it would be before I didn't need "Tom" to be my friend anymore. Eventually, a number of students with nothing better to do found me, and I was able to interact about school stuff that came up that they really didn't want to discuss in class. OK, so that was a positive. Fifteen or so people wished me a happy birthday on Facebook, and that was cool, especially those of you whom (not "who") I have not seen in years. However, my wife and I still have a "real" life together.
Not so for Amy Taylor and David Pollard of Great Britain (and you wondered whether or not I had a point!)
It seems that Taylor, 28, and Pollard,40, were part of the online universe of Second Life. If, like me, you've never heard of it, it's a gaming site on which anyone can create a character like himself or herself calld an "avatar" then proceed through meeting people, getting a job, etc. (in short, having a second life). Taylor and Pollard were so into the game that when they got married in 2005, their wedding was a lavish affair in the Second Life universe as well as in "real" life. CAVEAT: In no way is Second Life real! It is a game played online with made-up characters!!! (just in case you hadn't figured it out). This is where things get totally wierd:
It seems that Taylor has now divorced her real world husband because she found his avatar having sex with a MAKE-BELIEVE hooker in the GAME. He says they weren't; she says they were...the point is...IT WAS AN ONLINE GAME WITH MADE UP PEOPLE!
Taylor immediately hired a private detective to follow her real-life husband around, but there was no hanky panky going on anywhere but in the online, fantasy world. Still, she noted that she was so hurt that she needed a divorce. Those wacky Brits!
I am totally nonplussed by the whole affair (so to speak).
As a postscript, Taylor is now involved in a relationship with a man she met while playing online in the World of Warcraft.
I simply cannot think of anything to say to that. Call me, and we'll chat about it.