Imaginary friends

[Tracy Hammond <hammond@>]

Who needs April Fool's day when the world is as unbelievable as it is, 
with 40% of the world's population being imaginary?

65% of seven year olds have had at least one imaginary friend.  That 
means most of you probably also had imaginary friends when you were a 
child. Either that or the world has changed dramatically in the last 20 
years (which may be true).  I did a quick informal query of fourteen 
people, and five of them remember having imaginary friends.  Some examples:

   * Metin shared an imaginary friend with his sister.  His name was 
Hilmi and in his 20's. Hilmi was so short (only 3 feet tall) that he 
often got hurt as he was usually stepped on by other people.
  
   * Mike O's imaginary friend was a "woman", okay a "girl". Mike 
forgot his friend when he was on vacation at age 5, and she is still 
stranded somewhere.  (If you find her, please direct her to 32-239.)

   * Another lab member had an imaginary friend that was actually a 
rock, and the rock's name was Peter.  She used to keep Peter in her 
pocket and take Peter with her to the zoo and take him out of her pocket 
to show him the animals.

 * Another lab member had an imaginary friend that was a young girl 
similar to herself except that her friend was more courageous.  The lab 
member was not allowed in the kitchen because it was dangerous, but her 
imaginary friend was.  They would pretend to cook together outside of 
the kitchen and the imaginary friend would run back and forth into the 
kitchen to get the necessary items.

Unfortunately I did not have an imaginary friend.  I feel left out.  
They seem so fun.  Perhaps I can create one now.  Maybe my imaginary 
friend could get research done for me, or even better yet, maybe she can 
write GSB messages for me.   Or wait, maybe I do have an imaginary 
friend -- named Lirpa Loof -- and maybe, just maybe, it is she who is 
writing this message.

Bring your imaginary friend to tonight's:

          +-                                                  -+
             girl scout benefit -+-  5:30 pm  -+- 32-G9 lounge
           +-                                                  -+

              For those coming from elsewhere: Building 32 is
               <http://whereis.mit.edu/map-jpg?selection=32>
          Once you are in 32, just take the G-elevator to the 9th
      floor and we will be in the lounge that you will be looking at


--
Tracy Hammond
PhD Candidate
MIT CSAIL, Design Rationale Group
32 Vassar St., Room 32-239
Cambridge, MA 02139
hammond@
http://www.csail.mit.edu/~hammond


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