Genesis of the Emoticon

Well, OK, not the FIRST emoticon. The one (my LOTRO guild and) I created and have tried to foster and nurture to prominence. The task is not an easy one.


Perhaps I should do some establishing first. We humans live a pitifully short time. The whole concept of legacy...creating something that lasts long after we're gone...be it a child, a novel, a legend, whatever...is, in essence, a feeble grasp at immortality.


Founding Wendy's after the jump.



Leaving a legacy is HARD. I'm conspicuously bad at sparking relationships, particularly the kind that could result in Punnett Square Live Action Actual Playing. I don't have the attention span necessary (and some would argue the talent needed otherwise) to pen some sweeping epic. The most legendary I ever got was either the time I futilely chased a shoplifter around a parking lot or the time I beat an 8 year old at chess (I was 17 at the time).


Sometimes...you just have to get creative.


INSTEAD of doing THAT...I was playing LOTRO, my current Pay MMO of choice, where there was a spirited and whimsical discussion in the chat channel of our kinship, Lindsay Rohan (you're welcome). One thing led to another and we were discussing how we wished there was the ability to tag the landscape with sprays similar to the functionality present in Team Fortress 2. At this point, my roommate recalled the Dave Thomas (yes, the founder of Wendy's) spray he enjoyed using in TF2. Bemoaning the lack of this feature in LOTRO, I blurted out that we might as well use:


d_t

Like this, only text.

It was as if a fanfare had sounded. It's like we were playing Periodic Chart Roulette and the ball landed squarely and emphatically on Au. Maybe I'm overreacting. We started using d_t after every statement to see where it fit best. We began using JUST d_t as a response to questions and ideas. We began going through permutations...capital d? T? Double underscore? Changes in font size?


Its level of expression is unparalleled and just as ambiguous. Is it slightly confused? Are its facial features a study in unsettling asymmetry? Does it have one too many chromosomes in its makeup? Was it a case where d_t's parents were a little TOO closely related to engage in textual intercourse without first thinking of the repercussions?


Needless to say, the beast evolved beyond the bounds of our initial parameters into something beyond our control. Use it. Embrace it. My immortality depends on it. Make d_t a part of your unnecessary discourse today!