The DS Life: Damaris

The DS Life is a weekly feature in which we scour the known world for narrative images of Nintendo's handhelds and handheld gamers. If you have a photo and a story to match it with, send both to thedslife at dsfanboy dot com.

Make the most out of what little warmth the autumn months haven't stolen yet. Grab your portable system, find a place outside where no one can bother you while you play, and enjoy these dwindling days when you can still afford to leave your coat at home. These weeks never stay still for too long, and before you know it, Halloween is long forgotten and there's no more Thanksgiving dinner to look forward to. Evenings creep in at 6PM, and the cold -- oh, the cold!

You spend an extra minute shivering in your car while waiting for the engine to warm up, visible puffs of breath fogging up the windows until the damn defrost finally starts working. Chips of snow sneak into your shoes somehow, despite your best defenses, melting and leaving your socks wet. Week nights are spent staying in and watching television, and you walk around the house with a comforter draped around you like blanket royalty.

So play with your DS outside now, while you still can!

Srdurden shot this week's photo of his girlfriend, Dàmaris, at a Barcelona park. He captioned the image on its Flickr page, "25 years old and still playing in the park, but time changes the way we play." The statement and image combined, it's an evocative piece, aided by Dàmaris' casual posture. She's turned away, legs pulled up onto the bench, a pair of headphones resting in her ears and drowning out the beeps and artificial clicks of her companion's digital camera.

Her pale skin and dark, short hair invite comparisons to Audrey Tautou's eponymous character in Amélie. You can almost hear Al Bowlly's rendition of "Guilty" playing in the background. Maybe if you spent more of your DS-playing days outside, you'd meet more girls like Dàmaris (or the male equivalent)!