Five Dollars for a Giant Pink Donut

Last night I dreamed....

I'm working with a computer program that lets you create stories using Family Guy characters at an amusement park. 

I'm planning on doing a scene that has similarities to the boat scene in Willy Wonka. I consider using Puck's soliloquy from A Midsummers Night's Dream.  I'm wondering if I should write the monologue in italics.

Then I end up with a log ride, which I'm not sure what would work for my boat scene.

And then...I feel like I'm actually on the log ride. I lose interest in creating a story and become more interested in using the program as a sort of virtual reality.  I swim underwater and look at leaves, noting that I can breathe underwater.

After that, I walk around. I stop at a donut stand. They have huge donuts the size of my head. The woman working there isn't very friendly, and there's a sign warning that all sales are final.  

I order a donut, learning that it costs five dollars. Despite there being different flavors, she doesn't ask what type I want.  She just hands me a pink donut.

I leave the stand and begin to eat. The donut no longer looks like a donut. It's like the program couldn't keep up the imagery. Now it's just layers of brown dough. It tastes sweet but dull.  

The Family Guy thing was a big random. I don't watch that show.  But I've been reading bits and pieces of screenplays, and that's one that I looked at.  Although that was weeks ago. 

I guess the pink donut is a reference to The Simpsons.

I think, though, that my main reason for having the dream is this idea I've had since the pandemic began. Why aren't we working harder on making Ready Player One a reality????

I was preaching about that in the spring. And I started again this week with the colleges opening.  Why isn't anyone creating a massive virtual university; one with classes, dorms, parties, clubs, etc. 

Would it work? 

I'm not sure. 

I haven't had much experience with multiplayer games or experiences.

I played a few Minecraft games. But it didn't go beyond games. There was no real conversation or socializing. 

And I know colleges already have a lot that is virtual. A lot of classes are virtual. And thanks to online groups/apps, Jack already had a fairly rich college social life, before even getting on the actual campus and meeting his fellow students in person. 

Would it be worth it to have an extensive online college experience with pretend dorms, pretend roommates, pretend coffee shops, pretend cafeterias, etc...and real classes? 

A part of me can't picture it working. I picture professors trying to teach via virtual classrooms, but then all the little avatars don't want to stay. They want to jump around the virtual world—playing, chatting, and exploring.

But, in a way, regular college is like that too. 

I was talking to Tim about that yesterday.  College is supposed to be about the classes and the degree. But when I look back to my college days, the classes feel kind of like the subplot.