"I didn't know what she looked like, had no idea of her age range or even know if she was a woman, but she had a female avatar, so I asked her to send me topless pictures of herself, to which she immediately agreed. I liked what I saw, so I asked her to meet me in person so that we could have sex."

"As we were snuggling, I discovered that she had not only a great body, but also a charming personality. One thing led to another, and here we are: married with kids."

I witness this on PlayStation Home all the time. (Except for the part about getting married and having children.)

Maybe I am getting too old for this, or perhaps it is my lack of experience with Internet social networking, but it surprises and shocks me that there are so many sleazy, tactless men out there who have no issue with going up to female avatars (that may or may not be controlled by women) and asking for revealing photographs, or more.

And it surprises and shocks me more that so many women are apparently willing to comply with such requests from men with whom they know nothing about.

But then, I am inexperienced with social networking over the Internet. I don't use MySpace. I don't have a Facebook account. And I don't "get" Second Life, much less why Reuters had a bureau on it.

I thought, at best, that these services and their competitors were for socializing without socializing, and, at worst, that they could be excuses for employers to fire you because of damaging personal information made public on them.

I had no idea that this seedy element existed.

Naive, I know. Anything on the Internet that can be used for sex is used for sex.

I started using PlayStation Home because it's free, was already there and required no setup on my part. I assumed that I would use it once and never touch it again. Socializing without socializing is of no interest to me.

But morbid amusement is.

Men trying to pick up women who may or may not really be women is the most common and the most amusing, but it is not the only thing that makes PlayStation Home amusing. That alone could get dull after a while. There is also racism, sexism, sexual harasment, homophobia, xenophobia and all sorts of other forms of stupidity.

I don't know where it's all coming from. I thought that most people had evolved beyond such bigotry decades ago, or at least knew to keep their prejudices to themselves. I certainly don't see anywhere as much of it in the real world as I see on PlayStation Home.

In the real world, these things are disturbing, but on PlayStation Home, they're harmless and therefore amusing. No one can truly do anything to you unless you give out your personal information.

Seeing this stupidity is what makes PlayStation Home fun, and why I keep on coming back.

Remember the orange pair of glasses with the black highlights that I showed in the last entry?

It was really, really expensive.

As in, it cost more than the other three pairs of glasses combined.

I had wanted an orange pair of glasses for several months. When I was given a new eyeglasses prescription, I had my excuse to buy one.

Alas, orange glasses are uncommon, I discovered. Many stores had no orange, and the ones that did have something had nothing that fit my style. I figured that SEE Eyewear would have something, but not even there.

But there were places that I had avoided, and had hoped that I would never step inside, but I saw no other option to get my orange glasses.

If you have a bold sense of style and more money than sense (or more debt than cents), a luxury eyewear store is the place to go to get your next pair of glasses. Such stores carry glasses in colors, shapes, materials and sizes more interesting than what is available at, for example, Pearle Vision.

Indeed, I found my perfect pair of glasses at a luxury eyewear store. It's a semi-rimless frame with thin, curvy half-rims; a double bridge and thick temples. The fronts of the rims and top bridge of this mostly orange frame are black, and a layer of black covers much of each orange temple.

This is why I can't buy anything fun for several months.

Almost perfect anyway. I would have preferred a brighter shade of orange, but this is as close to a perfect pair of glasses as I will ever see.

But perfect is ultra-expensive. I have more sense than money. I would like to retire at some point, so I have to cut back on other things to "pay" for my perfect pair of glasses.

That starts with video games. The five Wii games that I ordered last month? They're all still in plastic--I ordered the DS version of Final Fantasy IV with them and decided to play it first--so they are going back for a refund. As much as I would like to play these games, the potential consequence of working until I die is one that I fear too much to consider.

And no additional game purchases for at least several months. Or anything else that isn't necessary.

Well, maybe a few movies.

Click for larger image.

I can quit whenever I want.

But first I want a thick plastic pair of glasses in bright blue, and I need to replace my black pair with one that doesn't look dated.