DS= De-stress

DAYS 9-11 

I have had a busy few holi-filled days.  On Friday night John and I saw Avatar in 3D.   The movie was as one reviewer accurately summarized an updated version of Dances with Wolves set in space.  Kudos James Cameron, the 3D was great because it was subtle and he did not hit you over the head with it.  If you are going to see this in town the Mayan Cinema on California was nice experience. My one complaint was that the movie was almost 3 hours long.  We usually wait until the kiddos are asleep to play games but used that time to go see this movie. 

We still managed to fit in game time with our DS.  We played versus mini-games with The New Super Mario.  This was perfect for killing time while we perched in our movie seats an hour before to ensure center seats for our friends. 

When playing Mario I enjoyed the card games.  It was a nice distraction to block out the loud teenagers.  I hate to chat too much before a movie because then it is hard for me to shut up.  Often we will send one another text messages just to keep quiet. 

Playing DS reminded me of midnight movie releases with the Gamestop crowd.  When John worked for Gamestop we saw movies at midnight with all the store managers.  We took up two rows of a theatre and both rows would be lit up with little DS rectangles.  At the time it just seemed to be what you do.  I was nostalgic for about three seconds and then I remembered how happy I am to have a husband who is not a Gamestop tool during the chaotic holidays. 

We celebrated Christmas yesterday with the Tehachapi folks at my house.  It was a lot of work wrapping, cleaning and re-arranging; We stayed up until 2 am getting things ready.  Due to holiday preparation John and I amicably decided we should forgo gaming Saturday night.  We were still tired from staying out late to see Avatar the night before and just could not add an extra hour on to our day.  I felt really bad about missing one day in a hundred but John said we would just move our days to 101 to fulfill them all.

After our early Christmas yesterday and putting the kiddos to bed we wanted to watch the finale of Survivor.  Since Survivor is not a very intense viewing experience we just played DS through the show and beginning of the news.  We far exceeded our playtime but it was much more superficial than other play we have experienced in proceeding days. 

I am glad we have games lying around.  I think if all 100 days were just spent playing one game over and over I would go crazy.  Someone asked me how to get their partner to play games with them for 100 days?  They went on to tell me that they play Halo every night but cannot get their partner to join in.  

If anyone is thinking of taking on this project I would strongly warn against jumping right into first-person shooters as the first or only game your play.  I have previous gaming experience but for those who do not have foundational experience or interest in games, starting with Halo right out the gate will decrease the fun factor quickly.  John and I are lucky to actually have a good gaming library that we have acquired over many years.  You do not have to run out and buy a brand new game.  Buy an older game because some of the classics like Mario are easy and can be inexpensive.  

This week my blog will focus on some of the how-to aspects of our 100 days.  A lot of people have sent me questions about costs, starting out or convincing a partner to play.  Today my suggestions is start slow, gaming has a learning curve.

The Pouty Husband

DAY 8

Today I was ecstatic to find out that I am teaching Interpersonal Communications at Bakersfield College this spring.  This is great news for our family but maybe not the best for my marriage. Adding 2 more classes to my full-time work schedule is going to have to fit into our 100-day commitment.  Life happens but keeping the vow we have made to one another is not going to go away.  Maybe I will have one assignment related to interpersonal communication and video games?

Both of the guys in my house are miserably sick.  John and Nathan have what we think are sinus problems and have both been clingy and sleepy.  Since he is under the weather I let John pick our game for the night.  He asked if he could cuddle and help me out with Drake’s Fortune. He kept me warm and told me which direction to jump as we played to just past the submarine.

Drake’s Fortune is a nice combination of platform jumping, shooting and puzzles.  It is like there are no puzzles since John just tells me what to do.  I like the premise behind the game and it is pretty.  I have not gotten a firm handle on the camera but I hope that will get better as I progress.

I was offended that John was shocked by my competence in solo play.  He even remarked that I “did way better than he expected.” A further boost to my self-esteem is that John is playing Dirt 2 while I blog and he is terrible; he is not a big racing game fan.  I think its neat that you can rewind play in Dirt 2 so that if you make one itsy-bitsy mistake there are actually take-backs.

John is still pouting that we are not seeing Avatar tonight.  My sister had to make things worse by calling to see if we were interested.  Of course we are interested in going to the movies but we have two small children.  Finding out there is no IMAX showing within 100 miles just made things worse. John is devastated that we cannot see the movie as it was meant to be seen but there is just no way we can leave our kids for 6 hours to see a movie.  He and I both agree we cannot see the movie in IMAX and yet he still pouts.  I mean I want to see the movie but I am not convinced it is pout worthy.  We will likely see it 3D sometime in the next few days when we can put the kids to sleep and slip away from my in-laws for a few hours. 
 

Today I played video games with my sister and husband, this must be some kind of holiday miracle?  I feel like I need to get in as much play as possible before the chaos of the New Year begins.