Functional Not Just Decorative

From Kristin:

I love attending LANs. I also hate attending LANs.

No matter how many girls there are are a LAN there is always someone who decides they need to be an ass and make some condescending comment regarding my sex and either gaming or my rig. I love being a girl. Really I do.

Last weekend at PDXLAN for instance I sat down with my blackbird and began installing a few updates I needed and the young man sitting next to me inquired about my computer. I was telling him about it and showing off the innards, while he's looking at my dual SLI'd 8800 Ultras he goes on to say, "Oh all this just for surfing the web and checking email?" Wow, way to completely piss me off and make sure that I begin to hunt you down in-game.

The WORST burn I've ever recieved was from a mom interestingly enough. I was attending my first LAN ever at the University of Oregon waiting for the doors to open. I was sitting on a table playing lumines, watching a couple rigs while friends went and got food, and generally just hanging out. This guy walked up with his mom (he carrying the monitor and she carrying the case), she sets the case on the floor and asks me, can I leave this right here? I told her sure, I didn't care where she left his machine. She then continues on to say, "Oh so your functional and not just decorative?" Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah....I have never been rendered *that* speechless my entire life. It was impressive. Although it makes for a great story so now several of my signatures now bear the words "functional, not just decorative" because of this encounter.

Next time you attend a LAN, if you see a girl, don't be a jerk. Really it's not that hard. Instead of going up to her and saying something completely condescending - try something nice. Especially if your sitting there having to reformat your hard drive.