I didn't mention it to anyone for fear of eye-rolling because I knew.

Oh yeah, I got mocked a lot this weekend. Lovingly mocked, but still.

Ahem -- I linked to the Hoorenbeck story here two days ago:

Theodosia "Natter 53: We could just avoid making tortured puns" Aug 11, 2007 6:43:45 am PDT

I think people are mistaking a symptom for a cause -- when you find out that not only did his mother die suddenly two weeks before he started online with SL, but he's also had to go on disabiity for health reasons. So it's an unhealthy obsession, but it could have as easily been for gambling, drugs or sports paraphernalia.

Did they steal your actual card or get the number from somewhere?

They got the number somewhere. Funny thing is, one of the charges from Sunday was for Second Life!

We're heading over to the bank now, and then some shopping at Nordstrom's Rack for shoes. Tata!

I should still be here then.

Ok, am I the only one who went "still be here"? Where are you planning on going, missy?

Is spending too much time and emotional energy at work "Office Adultery"? If he was at church all the time is it "Jesus Adultery"? If it was with his Mom is it...

Well, no, but if he had an "Office Wife" and a "Church Wife" and called his mom "Mom Wife," and if he had private jokes with them and did fun things with them and was generous and supportive and involved to the point where his quotemarks-less Wife Wife felt seriously emotionally shortchanged (not because he was too overworked to give that emotional spark to anyone, but because he had it to give and was giving it elsewhere), and he continually brushed off her concerns as petty fussing over what was "just work" and "just church" and expected her to be cheerful and merry about the other wives just because he was generously refraining from having actual sweaty sex with them...

Okay, possibly not adultery. But really skating right on the edge of it, with a hearty side helping of emotional abuse and monstrous selfishness. Not quite adultery, but near enough as makes no difference.

Also, he hid the whole 'wife' status of the relationship from RL Wife, who thought SL Wife was a business partner.

Ok, am I the only one who went "still be here"? Where are you planning on going, missy?

You're not the only one.

paperdol, if he hated you and your uninteresting life, why did he read the whole darn thing? And give you the mention? Oy. People.

Kathy, I hope this gets cleared up and never comes back to haunt you.

Now I have to figure out what job Vortex wants at UC-Davis.

Okay, possibly not adultery. But really skating right on the edge of it

eh, cheating is cheating in my book. Parsing the difference between adultery versus some other intense emotional investment to someone other than his wife is probably not going to mean much to the person who's feeling neglected. But yeah, his mother dying, his own health woes, RL marriage to someone he probably isn't suited to, looks like a fairly typical case of mid-life crisis. But with cute avatar photo-op!

Also, he hid the whole 'wife' status of the relationship from RL Wife, who thought SL Wife was a business partner.

In one of the blog posts about the article, it seems the author misled him as to what she was writing about (claiming it was about his online business), and failed to disclose that she'd met his wife (the real one) through that EverQuest widows support group.

The whole thing's one big bad taste in the mouth.

In other news, Rudy Giuliani is still a prick. Gawker on the New Yorker article.