Real Life Romance

DAY 33

Last night after finally taking down the Christmas tree we played Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.  I did not make it the full hour of playing co-op.  Instead John played a level of Bayonnetta while I did my yoga hip sequence.  Little did I know that luring john to bed early I thwarted his plans to ambush me with an anniversary game.  This morning on the way to work he initiated his contingency plan.

My husband is the most romantic guy alive. He bought me gourmet chocolate and inside the box hid a puzzle to my next wedding anniversary gift.  I always let him do the sequence puzzles when we play co-op, now this is my chance to get better at puzzles and hopefully get more presents.  

Achievement Whore

When we play games I am usually the muscle.  Basically I take all the major damage and fight the biggest nastiest thing.  Today our task required destroying turrets all of which my character pounded until they collapsed.  After all that agro I discovered that Xbox does not give me achievements when I play co-op with John?  John gets points but I do not.  Yes, I am signed in while we play. 

This is a lot like real life.  People often clash with my personality because I am the verbal muscle.  John is a very laid back person who rarely speaks up.  I am the person who tells stories, gets rid of telemarketers and asks forthright questions. 

This morning at breakfast my grandma tried to Jedi mind trick the waiter at Tina Marie’s to get her coffee for almost 10 minutes.  The moment he made eye contact with me for a millisecond I remarked that my grandmother was likely to “go crazy without a cup of coffee.”  My grandma blushed at my remark but she grinned ear to ear when they brought that cup.

I am an underappreciated co-op partner, breakfast partner and wife.  It is not fun always being the muscle but someone has got to do it.  I am not saying my social role is horrible but the perceptions that accompany being the pushy wife are not fun.  In video games I should at least get my achievement points but no.  Damn you Microsoft, for shame.  

Yesterday my sis and I took our kiddos for a day trip to Griffith Park Observatory.  John spent the day at the campus doing math proofs.  We all had dinner for my cousin Nicks birthday and we barely made it to our games. 

We played DS while watching IronMan.  After an hour of mini-games we feel asleep.  It was a relaxing prelude to gaming today.

We finally unlocked The Thing today. My next anticipated character is The Hulk. 

Inara woke up from her nap and found John & I playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.   She demanded that John use Spiderman.  Even though that was not the best choice for our level, she was adamant.  She also explained that we need The Hulk.  We thought she was just listing names of superheroes.  Then she got the box and pointed to the Hulk in case she thought we misunderstood.  

My 3-year-old daughter knows more about Marvel comics than I do.  Recent movies have bolstered my knowledge of characters like Daredevil considerably but I am nowhere near John expertise.   It is interesting to see what the future holds for our little Marvel protégé.

I am off to start another vampire book and retire to bed.   

Choosing Sides

Tonight we played Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 and got to choose a side.  We are rebelling against the registration act and teaming up with Captain America.  The only downside to aligning with Captain America is that I have not been able to play with The Thing.  John was all for being a rebel but I can tell he misses Iron Man just a little.

Part of the fun of this game is playing with the different characters.  I think it is good that we chose a side that forces us to try out new heroes or I would never deviate.  Right now my characters are Wolverine and the Juggernaut.  I also played with Cable today. 

We played well over an hour tonight and it went by quickly because of three things.  The dialogue in this game is pretty darn funny.  Most of the humor is because we met up with Deadpool and he is set to be one of my favorite characters.  Secondly I learned when we are just meandering I can press select and auto follow.  Most importantly time went by quickly because we were having such a good time.

My eyelids are heavy and fingers achy.  I think it is time for my body to rest.  I know Nathan will wake me up soon so I better get a nap in while I can. 

Math Proofs= EVIL

I should start this post by saying that I want John to succeed.  I understand that mathematical proofs demand un-interrupted time and focus. That in order to finish his math credential he needs to complete proofs.  I want that all to happen.

WARNING: From this point forward in today’s post this blog digresses into selfish whining that abandons logic and reasoning.

After only 3 days of the quarter I hate math proofs. There are not enough hours in the day for John to sleep, complete 3 hours of math work, attend classes and play video games with me.  I think that I should fall higher on the food chain than at least sleep? 

This afternoon John accused me of neglecting my gaming commitment?  I answered student emails until midnight last night and got up all night with both kiddos.  I am not saying I mind him sleeping; in all honesty I am usually the first to sleep through the kids crying.  My point is that I am the one who offered to play with him in lieu of sleep and he refused.  I think pointing the finger at me for slowing our play is absolutely unfair.

I hope that this weekend will provide a much needed infusion of time. As I write this I just spotted my still decorated Christmas tree in my periphery that I suppose refutes my “free time” argument.  The goal of this project is to invigorate our marriage not give us another thing to bicker about.  I am confident our 100-day project is not the problem: The problem is that math proofs are evil and are stealing my husband. 

Competing with Teenagers

DAY 28

Gaming the last few nights has been racked with interruptions.  We have fallen asleep while playing games two days in a row.  John is eager to play both Bayonetta and finish up Marvel Alliance 2.  He is a little jealous that his teenage cousin who just bought Marvel Alliance 2 is already further along than we are. 

Today Inara requested that we play Little Big Planet.  John let her re-dress his character with the accessories of her choice. Apparently this is a task that she and John have completed before because she had marching orders ready.  First was changing its hair color and then putting his sock-person in a “spiny-dress.” 

We have to be out of the house ever day by 7:15 am. By out of the house I mean all four of us dressed, fed and prepared for the day.  Sleep deprivation has demanded that my blog appear before its usual midnight hour.   It has been a nice hiatus the last few days that allowed me to get my class preparation done & read another vampire book before the quarter started.

Even while prepping for my classes gaming has not been far from my thoughts.  I ran out of juice writing quiz questions and made Jeff Gerstmann of Bombcast a possible answer.  I wonder if my students will google Bombcast or just think I am crazy?  The funny thing is, it is such a wildcard answer some students will probably select it.

We beat another boss in Marvel Alliance 2 and are headed off to bed.  Hopefully we will catch up with those darn insomniac teenagers. 

High Matenience

John and I spent the majority of our day apart.  Thanks to John’s creativity we now have custom butcher block with my great aunt Honey’s marble cutting stone fit on top.  His project kept him busy all day and me and kiddos continued to help Mema move. 

Tonight I have been a high matenience partner.  I am sick and my voice is so hoarse it is almost completely inaudible. My whole body aches from moving boxes.  If I were an Xbox right now I would be flashing the red ring of death.

Before we played John moved a space heater by the couch and made some of my favorite Trader Joe’s holiday tea.  He scowled when I was not willing to unravel myself from my blanket to share with him.  I offered that we have several other throw blankets but he retorted that he “likes to share.”  I am not in the mood to share my blanket.

You are probably reading this thinking I am a spoiled mean wife.  I hope that my candid admission illustrates my desire to be less whinny.  But if you think I am a spoiled wife you have got me pegged.

Today we played Marvel Alliance 2. John finished Uncharted 2 and he has been itching to see what new characters we had unlocked from our recent MA2 play.  I tried out the Juggernaut for a few minutes but got bored with him and switched back to The Thing after no time at all.

Today gaming for me was a chore.  I love Marvel Alliance 2.  I love John.  But when I am feeling this miserable I do not love playing Marvel Alliance 2 with John.  Marriage and gaming like life has its bad days and today was one of mine.  

2009-My Best

Today John and I watched the Giant Bombcast top ten game picks of 2009.  I have to give Giant Bombcast credit because this year their postcast has stepped up and really filled the gap left when the GFW crew disbanded.  With the economy sucking it seems that good game podcasts are loosing their staying power, so mad props to GB. I was surprised how different the top ten for each reviewer was.  After watching these lists I really want to play Silent Hill and cannot believe that Flower just came out this year (nice pick Brad.)    

As I look back at the year a ton happened and I realized that this year was one of the best of my life.  In spite of the economy I have a career that I love.  With the birth of Nathan we completed our family.  Inara started pre- school and is thriving.  I began regular practice of yoga again. I read over 100 books almost all about vampires. John and I came up with a plan to keep our marriage strong: playing games.

For New Years Eve we played RockBand 2. I lost my voice singing off-key vocals.  It is funny how you think you know a song until you play this game and realize you only know the refrain; last night it was “so watch, watcha, watcha want?”  Luckily intoxicated loved-ones were on hand to sing duets.

I have been spending a lot of time watching John play through Uncharted 2. This was a holiday purchase we thought we would play co-op but then found out there is no split screen. Luckily, Uncharted 2 is more fun to watch then some games are to play.  It would take me forever to beat some of the platform elements of this game but John makes it seem effortless.  It is a lot like watching a James Bond meets Indiana Jones with the main character dying ever so often. Or once you get ambushed in Shangri-La dying frequently.  I find it incredibly amusing that Drake’s companions are so snide.  It is like when Inara and I are sleeping John still needs sarcastic women around.

Thinking back on the last month it amazes me how many different games we have already played.     

Today I naively realized that most gamers are one-trick ponies.  For example, my brother Alfred can play first person shooter on the Xbox blindfolded.  However, he is still working through the first Mario world on his new Wii.  Alfred like most gamers is really good at one kind of game but just dabbles in other genres.  This seems true for most people I know.  They are die-hard WoW, Halo or FIFA fans that are all forces to be reckoned within their respective genre. I am not good at one particular kind of game.  I think it is good that for these 100 days we switch between platforms and genres to find our niche. We are limited by finances but so far borrowing, replay and holidays have allowed variety.

We seem to enjoy Marvel Alliance and Little Big Planet more than other games but we still try other games in our library.  This experiment is about finding more than one game we like to play together.  Each game and system brings up new challenges for us to face together.  Some challenges so far include waiting for me to figure out camera angles or John being an item whore.  The other night we played Elite Beat Agents and had to fight to stay awake while we waited for our games to load.  

Marriage can be boring and part of this experiment is keeping things fun.  I could play Diablo 2 or WoW every day with John for an hour I am not sure it would have the same impact as diversifying our play?     

Diversity aside this month has made me realize my own considerable limitations in regards to gaming. My gaming ambition seems to exceed my skill level.  I regularly listen to gaming podcasts, read GameInformer or check out Kotaku and get excited for upcoming titles.  Often I never get to play said game or if I do loose interest quickly when I suck at it.  

My resolution for the year is, as Echo would say, “to be my best.”  I am going to try to be the best wife, mother, teacher and gamer I can be.  Maybe with daily martial play my skills will start to catch up with my interest.  It will be hard to top 2009 but maybe in 2010 I will suck a little less at first person shooters.