East So Easy

By Nyllone

 

 

I would like to start off by saying I have no sense of direction.  Real life, and in There.  Not that I’m proud of it.  In RL, I am the kind of girl who would go out of a movie house or a store not knowing where I have been before I went inside.  I would need somebody beside me to tell me where we are going when I’m driving, which is very seldom. 

In There, I am very dependent on my Legendary Navigator Phonk to drive.  But when he’s not online, I try to read the map on my own.  I can’t survive without the Bedican Compass while questing.  And of course, the ever reliable Tablatronix’s GoThere Portal Links.  But that doesn’t guarantee that I can finish the quests.  I suck big time.  But still, I love questing. 

This interest is shared by my good friend Aradriel.  She has started writing quests too, but then hers were a bit more challenging than mine.  I’ve tried doing her quest one time, but had to stop.  I wasn’t just lost.  I was clueless.  Picture Quests, Coordinates and Nyllone just don’t match.  When she wrote another one, I tried to do it again, thinking I may have improved my questing ability.  Until I found myself in the location of her first picture quest.  At least I found the location!  I was just a few weeks too late.  Ara couldn’t laugh hard enough. 

That’s when she came up with a Coords Tutorial of some sort.  Patiently trying to explain (I guess, specifically to me) about x and y like they are kids playing Patintero in the Philippines.  While staring at the map, I remembered how I hated Geometry.  I guess you can tell I am no Math whiz now.  But it helped me to refresh my low RAM mind.

Positive x would mean it’s on my right, and positive y would mean I go up.  Negative x then would mean I go the other way, while negative y would mean I go down.  I smiled.  Wow.  Had Ara been my teacher in Geometry I would have aced it.  I was so proud of myself that I understood it.  I felt so smart.  I was patching like crazy and doing the ‘idea emote. 

When Phonk came online, I couldn’t help but show off my newfound knowledge.  “I already know how to read the coords!”  His avatar smiled and nodded, “Congratulations!”  But I know he was snickering in RL.  I wanted to try a quest with coords just to test my ability or should I say, dis-ability.  But he detests quests that I didn’t bug him about it.  He then suggested we take the boat and fly.  I asked if I could drive, and I could almost imagine him doing ‘doh in RL.  “Uh… Ok.”  He typed.

 

 

From our house in Paradise, he asked me to drive to our clubhouse in Hermit, which should be easy.  I had GPS displayed.  I know from our past flights where the house is located, and where the clubhouse is.  I had already flown in my IG boat and Maui hoverpack from the clubhouse to the house.  I had already ridden in my bacio, bike and buggy from the clubhouse to the house.  It *should* be easy. 

 

Right about the time we lifted from the ground, I was turning right.  Phonk was frantic, “Left, hun.  Left!  We’re going to the clubhouse!”  I knitted my ThereBrows, “I know!  We are! O.o”  He ‘doh-ed.  “You’re going in the wrong direction.”  I re-checked compass.  All of a sudden, I was confused so I heeded his instruction.

 

 

When I finally saw the clubhouse, I shyly asked while staring at the compass facing North, “Hun?”  You could actually hear the crickets now.  “Is East on the right? ‘blush.”  Phonk rofled.  “It’s always been there, hun…” 

At least I got us both home, safe and sound. :p