I like playing with interactive fiction and hypertext. I’m fascinated by the way the trails lead you away from and into the forest. I’m also spatially impaired, directionally dysfunctional, and one of my greatest fears in life is getting lost, metaphorically as well as literally. Right now, I’m not at my brightest in mental alacrity. I’m bogged down by bundles and walking through fog. But even then, I believe, I firmly believe that there is that so-called light at the end of the tunnel, so I’ve come to accept that it’s okay to wander for a bit.
But this is truly aggravating: the one and only course I’m taking this semester, which should be fairly straightforward and commonsensical, is an online adventure more confusing in its navigation than any IF piece I’ve attempted getting through before. I realize that it’s me, and not the course nor the instructor, since I seem to be the only one who’s lost. There’s just so very much to absorb from so many different sources and the crunch of time and lack of mental prowess right now leave me limping through. Every stop is keyed with secrets that take more time to figure out. The Lectures seem to be the primary point of importance, and yet it is the one area I cannot seem to be able to enter. Computer tweaks and phone calls are what it will take, and these just seem to take so much more time. I’m left alone and far behind again. The sound of my own voice to yell for help would scare me. It’s not my way.
But then, I can’t seem to find my way, now can I?
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology