PWNED by my Six Year Old

Day 149: Unpack the PS4 first

My kids are having a hard time adjusting to the end of the school year (my lil’ geeks love their school) and to moving homes so abruptly.  Our move was sudden and the kids have been distressed about their belongings being in garbage bags.  There is not a single room in my home that is unpacked and not under construction (my kitchen is almost done just missing half of the floor).  With all the stress and woes that come with the end of the school year and moving we have still made time to kill some (very few) but some bugs and set up our high speed internet.

Kitchen halfway done 

Laundry Room Paint Done 

 A FAMILY WITHOUT INTERNET CANNOT STAND

Our previous residence had spotty cell reception and rock built into several of the interior walls that disrupted our wifi connection.  Even with high speed internet and two top of the line routers our connection was not consistent.  I would often hide my daughter’s kindle so she wouldn’t steal bandwidth while I was trying to play a game (I know, I know I can be a shitty mom sometimes). 

Our awesome neighbors at the new house let us siphon Internet for a few days but this was not adequate or viable long-term solution.  The hubs called our local service provider to tell them we were moving and the next day they came out and hooked us up.  The craziest part of this story was the service guy was 10 minutes early (we weren’t even home when he arrived).  We were unpacking games and anime and quickly discovered the guy was a fellow nerd who explained why we should upgrade and how to maximize our service.  Um…this guys is basically my hero.  Needless to say I have not had to hide my kids kindle for 2 days straight.

THE CON ARTIST

My little PS4 Con Artist 

I am not trying to diminish the fact that my kids have actually had a hard time adjusting with our move.  But my son is totally using his baby brown eyes to milk it for all its worth.  The hubs and I discovered he has been logging 3-4 hours of PS4 time a day by conning adults into “playing with him because he is lonely” (cue teary eyes here).  My teenage sister, neighbor, hubs, and myself have all fallen prey to this adorable kid without realizing we are each getting conned.  No wonder unpacking is taking so darn long.

MASTER BEDROOM

So the master bedroom needs so much work I cannot even begin to describe to you.  I love that the kids don’t call it the master bedroom but “mommy’s room.”  Currently all that is in that room is my bathtub sofa, yoga props, our 42 inch high def television and my PS4 system and games.  The room is not practical for anything at this time but playing PS4 which though not ideal is working for us.

My blogging and gaming have been inconsistent but they are not abandoned completely.  Now that I am on to my 6-year olds manipulations I will get some married time with my controller.

Me n Kiddos on Mother's Day just bc

The Purge

Day 130: Spring Cleaning

For a multitude of reasons our family is moving into a smaller home and attempting to simplify our life.  I have mentioned previously that I am not really a shopper so I don’t have an excess of clothes or accessories to donate.  The ominous task that has recently faced the hubs and myself as a couple is narrowing our gaming collection.

Tiny Living

02' Dave & Hubs on couch/bed/game station 

When we were first married and living in the San Fernando Valley (So.  Cal) we had the tiniest studio apartment you can imagine.  It was behind a house and was half of a converted garage that was actually constructed in the early 1970’s and had never been renovated.  It was a total sh*t hole but was also crazy affordable and is the primary reason I have hardly any student debt.  I describe this place because I remember the primary challenge when living there was where to store our video games and set up our gaming desktop.  We were broke college students without any credit or sense of style.  But we survived with the most basic of amenities, a place to play games, and each other.

As anyone with kids knows once you start breeding the amount of stuff you acquire is ridonkulas.  The toys, the rockers, the changing stations, the strollers, and the onsies.  Oh my goodness the lists provided by stores for first time parents contains so much stuff it will not even fit in a standard size family home.  Even amidst the clutter created as we have reared two little ones we have always had a desk in our home with ample space for a gaming desktop and places to store our myriad of video games.

And once we both had jobs and a 3-bedroom house the Warmachine miniatures, board games, and multiple systems overwhelmed our personal “style.”  For us basic design included organizing most rooms to accommodate each of our gaming habits.  Now that we are undergoing a process of transformation both the hubs and me we realize we need to reevaluate what kind of home we want to live in.

The Bedroom

I used to believe that a TV or computer should not live in a bedroom.  But once I removed media from my bedroom I just started searching the Internet on my phone and watching Netflix on my tablet (always in bed).  Because we primarily use the PS4 for adult games we have decided that the PS4 and our awesome 40-inch HD television should live in our master bedroom.  As a couple we want our room to be about us and we want to keep playing together  feng shui be damned.

 

The Living Room

For at least the last 8 years our living room has been a place for morning cartoons and twilight solo gaming sessions.  Unfortunately it has rarely been a place for coming together.  When considering our move the room that has gotten the most attention has been our future living room.  We decided we wanted a more industrial feel, lots of seating, tables the correct size for board games, and video games that are accessible to our to young kiddos.  As we started to sort out what should stay and what should go we realized almost every single PS3 and 360 game was rated M.  After much conversation we decided we needed more family friendly video games in our communal space.

I still own my treasured game cube and animal crossing from over a decade ago.  But in all honesty it has been over a decade since I have purchased a game or system from Nintendo.  After lots of research and conversations the hubs agreed eventually we would need to invest in a Nintendo Wii for our living room.  

Sacrifice

A Wii is outside of our price range as we are currently downsizing everything in our life.  But I could not have been more surprised that the day after this conversation that the hubs listed every single one of our 360 and PS3 games on eBay.  We have some lingering older gen Xbox and PS1 games but almost all the mature games are gone from our home.  For any of my readers that have been lifelong gamers you understand the gravity of this sacrifice. So many hours of the hubs life have gone into these plastic disks that I could not imagine him parting with them…but he did.

SOLD Xbox 360 Collection 

SOLD PS3 Collection 

No matter how small our previous dwellings I would have never have asked my partner to give up any of his games.  Now I am realizing I should probably get rid of my GameCube and Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds in solidarity but I will be honest it is so freaking hard.  And if getting rid of 4 or 5 things for me seems impossible imagine how difficult it was for him to sell his entire gaming library (sans PS4).

Daily gaming has been on hiatus this week because of painting our house and sick kiddos.  But everyday games remain a part of our recovery, a tool for our marriage, and a way to keep showing our love.  

**We still have a well-behaved, other system friendly, current with its updates Xbox 360 and PS3 that need new homes.  

 

Why You Should Bring Joss Whedon on Your First Date

Day 124: Dating my husband the reboot  

PLEASE PROCEED WITH MY FULL ASSURANCE THERE ARE NO ULTRON SPOILERS IN THIS BLOG POST 

Joss Whedon is my Hero

I love Joss Whedon.  Not a crazy stalker kind of love.  But I am so moved by his storytelling that spans different mediums from the big screen to his awesome comics.  One of the best aspects of his storytelling is his ability to create an ensemble that portrays real life interpersonal relationships diluted with hilarious quips.  A few, I am showing amazing self-restraint here, but a few examples of my favorite lines include:

“The thing about changing the world... Once you do it, the world's all different.”
― Joss Whedon, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home

“I'm not a leader now. I'm a whole damn army.”
― Joss Whedon, Fray

“He is reproducing faster than catholic bunnies.”

― Joss Whedon, Age of Ultron

Dr. Horrible & Captain Hammer (me n hubs)

Plus Joss is unapologetically a feminist and supports women both through his art and his fame.  Since I am obsessed with all things Joss it goes with out saying that I had to see Avengers 2: Age of Ultron on opening night.

Sci-Fi /Action Movies 101

Though my Joss love runs deep, seeing action movies at the stroke of midnight is not a new thing for me.

I think the hubs for first realized the depth of my geekiness on May 18, 1999 when I convinced him to ditch school so we could be first in line to see the midnight showing of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  If convincing him to wait in line for 16 plus hours was not proof enough I was also a 17-year old girl that brought a light saber with me to the movie (yup I am a big ole’ geek). 

This was the night that he also first experienced my interactive relationship with action movies.  I get really excited and often will clap, cheer, curse, or dialogue with the screen while I watch an action movie.  This is a learned habit for which I blame my mother who took me to Rocky Horror for so many years.  But I am not embarrassed by my behavior, when you attend an action movie on opening night the room is usually packed and filled with anticipation, so my conduct goes largely unnoticed (thank you rowdy teenage boys).  However, further into our relationship the hubs would realize that even during matinees filled with gray hair I will holler at the screen.  Needless to say he pretty much always tries to get me into a full theatre on opening night. 

But it is not just the excitement of seeing it before anyone else.  Or that there is almost always crazy good previews.  And it is not just the relief that you can open your computer without fear of spoilers.  The collective energy of the crowd combined with the big screen makes it the only way to experience a big action or sci-fi movie.

Dating My Husband

Over the last few months I have played a lot of video games with the hubs.  We have gone to couples therapy, retreats, church, and lots of other group functions together.  But last night was the first time in 124 days that we have gone on an actual date.  And I have to say it was so weird. 

For a few minutes I felt self-conscious for being the only one clapping in the theatre when the Marvel title appeared.  But once mesmerized by the amaze-balls special effects that nervousness wore off because I kinda forgot the hubs was there (I know that is bitchy but seriously Joss has the ability to totally captivate me).

I had yoga before the movie so we arrived at the theatre separately.  Arriving was made all that more strange because there was nostalgia attending the same rinky-dink theatre that I dragged him to so many years ago to see Star Wars.  Even in the fervor of the occasion there were many moments that I felt the overwhelming since of grief that has plagued me for the last few months start to creep in.  

I was still on a date with a fellow geek but he is not the same guy I married and he never will be.  Well ain’t that a kick in the pants?  Tip of the day: when things are crazy awkward-- taking your wife to see a blockbuster movie written and directed by her hero is a great buffer (heh heh buffer, get it?).