Video Games and Family

Video games are a huge part of my life. They have been since I was 7, and a NES system entered our house with a cartridge of Super Mario 3. I'd played Mario games before but this was the first one that I had access to in my own house. That was when the addiction started. This may be the reason why the list of systems that were in my own house reads like a Nintendo's greatest hits roster, including about every possible incarnation of the Game Boy. I think the only one we missed was the Virtual Boy, but I got to play that once at a friend's house and it gave me a headache, so I didn't mind too much.

My family was split over video games the way way most families were back then; the kids loved them, the parents not so much. My mother kept telling me how awesome BurgerTime and Centipede were, and how I was playing Tetris wrong when I covered over holes on the bottom. (In her defense, she was right.) But the concept of having them in her home as opposed to the arcade was a little foreign to her at first. I cannot think of a time where she sat down and grabbed a controller and played with me. And the times my father did can be counted on one hand, with fingers left over. My parents would watch my siblings and I play, but never join in.

My wife Kim grew up in a house where video games didn't exist. Her younger brothers eventually loaded some on the family computer, but they were considered a waste of time by the family and she never played them. When we got married, her attitude towards my games was understandably negative, but I eventually won her over. I handed her my DS one day and showed her how to play Final Fantasy III. 4 hours later she handed it back because her hands were tired and she was stuck. I had expected 4 minutes, tops. She finally let me buy a Wii, as long as she got a "toy" too. I'm almost positive she's played our Wii as much as she's used that iPod I got her to even the score.

My family that I grew up in had video games, but just us kids played together. My wife and I play now, and will definitely be playing with our daughter in a few years. She tries now, but at 18 months she's got a little ways to go. But even though I've gotten my father to sit down once and play LittleBigPlanet with us, I never thought it was something that his generation would seek out as a way to spend time with family. Then I read this.

How "World of Warcraft" helped me through my divorce

A mother going through a divorce used World of Warcraft as a way to bond with her 9 year old son. Their family was falling apart, and so she used an interest her son had to pull herself to him. She states that she never would have played WoW on her own, and that the game is not for her, even though she is now a Level 21 Darkspear Troll mage. Yet she plays the game, and through it her son is able to communicate his love for her, something most 9 year-old boys find hard to do.

I will have gaming in my house when I grow up (if I ever grow up), and I will continue to share it with my wife and children, so that it can bring us together. I hope other people can see this too, not so that more people become gamers, but so that more people allow the things in their families to draw them closer, not push them away.

Weekends are hard.

Don't get me wrong. I love weekends. I just subscribe to the version of weekends I had when I was a kid:" Get as much playtime in as you can until you have to go back to school on Monday." Now I am an adult, and weekends are supposed to mean "Get as much stuff done you couldn't do during the week before you have to go back to work on Monday." The difference is striking, and now, more than ever, I miss being a kid. This weekend I succumbed to my inner child and spent more sequential time in front of the TV than I have in a long time. I watched Netflix and played video games until I couldn't stand it anymore.
Now for those of you reading this and thinking, "Wow, my wife would kill me," know that my wife was beside me the whole time. She's been fighting morning sickness and this weekend she left the house in my dubiously capable hands and rested. For those worried about the state of our house now, it is still standing. The bathrooms got cleaned this weekend, and I managed to stay on top of the dishes (mostly). Two or three loads of laundry even got washed. But school starts tomorrow, and so I think that's why the kid in me reigned supreme this weekend.
Neither Kim or I are really looking forward to this particular semester, since scheduling around a pregnancy and a needy 1 year-old while nether of you are home is rough. I've never been a huge fan of school anyway, so we fought against the establishment with laziness. Now we're going into the new semester with a cluttered house, and no enthusiasm. I'm sure we'll make it through, but if I become a recluse for the next 4 months, now you know why.

Writing ain't easy.

I awoke this morning and decided to write. So I went to my computer, surfed a little, then finally shut down Facebook and opened Google Docs. I went to my novel from NaNoWriMo that I hadn't opened since the beginning of November, and re-read it. I didn't like half of it. Now, instead of bothering to change it, I decided to keep trudging on, and go back to fix it later.
Then I tried to start the next chapter. I couldn't remember where I wanted to go with it, or what the story should be in the first place.
Why did I want to be a writer any way?

Happy? New Year's Day

Twas the day after New Year's and all through the house,
not a person was stirring, not even a mouse.
The bottles were strewn on the floor without care
in the hopes that soon sober people would clean up there.

I've never under stood the tradition of staying up as late as possible to greet the new year, so that we can start it off with a riotous party and then collapse in to a coma. We torture our bodies, either with alcohol or unhealthy food, then we begin the brand-new year in some kind of pain, either a hangover or indigestion or some combination of other, easily avoidable ailments. I'd almost think it would be better to go to bed early, then wake up at midnight to greet the new year and actually spend some quality time with it, whatever that means to you.

Then we have resolutions. Now, I've never been a huge fan of New Year's resolutions, but I have been inspired this year. I'm not generally the kind of person who is dedicated enough to complete a daily goal for any period of time. I have multiple Journals with only a few, widely spaced entries, and my attempt to write a book this year went horribly awry as well. About the only thing I am sure to accomplish daily are my natural body functions, which apparently includes video games. Which, buy the way, is pretty much what I accomplished on January 1st this year; massive amounts of gaming.

However, I was inspired by a good friend this year to try and make something more out of myself. He did accomplish some great things this year. He had set a goal to become a better artist, so he took to drawing a "daily sketch." Over the course of the next 365 days, he drastically improved his artistic skills. He also successfully completed NaNoWriMo, and managed to write a 50,000 page novel in a month. So, as a tribute to him (or something), I've decided to take advantage of this New Year's Day and make a couple of resolutions for myself.

Number one: I am going to write more. I'm resolving to write something worthwhile every week, whether it be here on this blog, or a novel I'm working on, or appreciative notes to my wife for what she does for me. (Note to all guys; regardless of your marital status, all girls love these kinds of notes. Especially mothers.) There are two reasons that this isn't a daily goal. Firstly, I'm a full-time worker and a part time student with a wife and daughter, and another one on the way. Secondly, I know I won't achieve a daily goal, but I have had success with weekly goals in the past, so here we are.

Number two: I am going to spend more time with my daughter. Our daily schedules tend to conflict, but I am going to make sure to take advantage of the little time we do have. Because she is only 18 months old, she sleeps a lot, so the only time I'm home and she's awake tends to be between 6 and 8 pm. Of course this means more than just holding her on my lap while the TV is on, (except on Mondays at 7, when Chuck is on.) Now that wife will be taking evening classes, I am going to get plenty of time alone with our little girl, and I want it to be more meaningful than just her watching Daddy play Epic Mickey and Little Big Planet. Until, of course, she's old enough to play along.

I wish you all luck with whatever you choose as your endeavors for the new year, and if you are interested in mine, you can see how I'm doing right here. And if I know you're watching, I can make sure I'm doing something too, so you are keeping accountable. Sound like fun?