Obliviate!

I believe "obliviate" in Harry Potter refers to the spell that wipes out people's memories. I'm going to add an auxiliary definition. Obliviate (v.)-- to play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for hours, to the exclusion of other aspects of non-computer a.k.a. "real" life. If you haven't played this game, I am here to say that it is THAT COOL. Technically, I haven't even played yet today. I just spent an hour going to various scenic spots and snapping screenshots of my character. Here she is. Her name is Thayet. She's a Redguard custom class (involving a mix of swords and thievery). At the moment I'm about 4 hours into the game and still on Level 1. I haven't taken any quests, nor have I spent much time in any cities or talked to many people.

What exactly have I been doing in the game? Well, I walked out of the Imperial sewers and into the wild world for the first time. Let me tell you, it was a moment. First of all, the world is moving. What I mean by that is there is grass blowing in the wind, and a blue butterfly hovers around you. The sun was setting (time passes in this game, albeit at a much quicker rate than actual time, and there is weather), the music swelled around me, and I scrolled back the mouse to get a larger look. There I was standing next to a river, across which there were hills spotted with trees and mountains in the distance. I was still enjoying the moment when the stars began to come out, and I was delighted to discover that there were two moons. I had no idea what to do next. In this game, you don't have to follow the main quest because there is so much stuff to do. I wanted to look at things, I wanted to explore.

So I took a running leap off the dock, swam across the river, and took off for those mountains. Because it seemed like the thing to do. If you were there, you'd understand. View Thayet's photos so far... warning: of interest to probably no one else except me. :-)