Leaving My Family

Day 29: Alliteration  

Birthdays and Batman

The birthday fairy visited our home yesterday to celebrate the birth of my favorite little man.  He requested bacon, eggs, and gold coins for dinner.  He also asked to play Lego Batman and totally made me feel completely inadequate as he guided me through each level with ease.  Because he is a generous little person, he let me play as Batman and I chuckled as the lego version of the dark knight followed behind Robin as we jumped platforms and built contraptions.  We told my son he could do anything he wanted with the family on his day, and he chose to play video games with his mom.  There are a lot of things that I am failing miserably at this phase in my life, but I think I am doing alright with raising this kid (the jury is still out on the other one).

Birthday Fairy visited 

Family Birthday Selfie 

 Traveling and Trusting

Today I am leaving Bakersfield for the Bay Area and will be gone for three full days.  My heart aches that I am leaving the hubs and kiddos behind.  Several people have inquired about the “plan” while I am traveling and I happily reported that turn-based games Carcassonne and Agricola have been added to our digital devices by the hubs.  After yapping on for a few moments, I realized that the intention of this question was not about my plan to keep up my gameplay while I travel.  So truth time, we don’t have a plan.  All we have is trust.  Well trust and a strategy that we will keep playing video games, even while we are apart, and that everything will be okay.  If you find that as you read that last line, you are shaking your head from side-to-side, just remember, it is technically none of your business, and you are being super judgy right now. 

RL Romance (so ominous)

It is a little over a week until Valentine’s Day and if you read this blog you know that subtly is not in my arsenal.  In case I forgot about the looming holiday, the 50 Shades trailer that shows on every Hulu show I watch reminds me in regular intervals (vomit).  I am thinking of re-posting my blog from last month about why it is great to send gear and not roses to your fellow gamer.  I am torn because maybe sometimes it is good to send the guy in your life flowers.  Not because consumer culture deems that you should, in fact we are told all women want jewelry and flowers by every commercial currently running on Hulu (FYI big ole lie).  So to challenge gender norms, to support small business, to have something pretty blooming in the house maybe I should send my husband roses.  But just so I am being totally clear, I fully expect and desire to receive gear in my Diablo 3 mailbox on Valentine’s Day.  I would also not object to a clean house in RL with that gear.

Wil Wheaton & other Blog Updates

As soon as I arrive back from my trip this weekend we will start playing Grim Fandango on the PS4.  The blog received a twitter challenge by another couple to defend the Ticket to Ride title and I will post the outcome soon.  The hubs is open to guest blogging again but I need to come up with some questions.  If the two people who read this blog have anything they want him to write about, please tweet or write in the comment section below.   

Most importantly, I have not heard anything new about Wil Wheaton coming to Bakersfield.  I went to mass yesterday and added Wil's visit to my silent intentions.  What did you do today to get Wil to B-town?  What should we be doing?  How can we make this happen?

Gone Girl the Game

Day 13: Think Small

Game: LotR Card Game

System: Table Top

Developer: Fantasy Flight Games 

Kiddos grabbed a pic of us play LoTR

I am not known for my artistic or domestic capabilities but I pushed this year to keep my 12^th anniversary gift themed.  My gift was a scavenger hunt, without the Gone Girl evilness, that involved a series of 12 clues hidden throughout the house.  After puzzling out the clues the final gift item was a love letter from me, and the LoTR card game that I discussed in my previous blog.

I got a cool gift from my partner too.  It was custom artwork from a local artist, Johnny Ramos.  One thing that we discussed after we traded gifts was that we both went out of our way to acquire local items.  No, the LotR card game is not developed in B-twon, but it is sold at a local gamestore Otto’s.  Though we both contemplated sending flowers from big box stores or shipping something sparkly (like a game disc) via Amazon as an easy solution to shopping, we wanted to do something more thoughtful.

I am a Gamer not Hoarder…Really!  

I am totally fascinated by people who live in “tiny houses” and I have watched everything on Netflix, Hulu, and Xfinity, that I can to learn more about them.  It is profound to watch people pare down their lives to the bare essentials.  On the spectrum between Hoarders and Tiny Houses I am closer to the hoarding condition.  I have not been able to part with my GameCube, Super Nintendo, strategy guides, and cartridges, and have a china hutch filled with board games.  But when it comes down to it, I have reduced my marriage to the activity that brings me the most joy and that is games because it is about being together.

It makes me sad that when we visited Otto’s, the aforementioned local gamestore, that the neighboring bar was full (Sunday football) and the gamestore was empty.  I will admit that I loved having the space and selection of board games to play in store, but it made me a little sad.  I hope that my current challenge to my marriage that is about reconnecting with a person I love will inspire the 3 people who read my blog to enjoy someone they love, instead of just being with them.

At Otto's playing "Hey That's My Fish"  

At Otto's Playing "Tsuro"

At Otto's kissing the winner. 

Have Games will Travel

This weekend we will travel as a family for the first time since before the separation.  But living in a hotel for three days with two small children is not a reason to abandon games.  My hubby organized our new LotR card game into snazzy boxes and put the cards in sleeves so that we have a portable game to play while we are traveling.  Staying in hotels is like living in a small house, you start to realize you don’t need most of the stuff around you—you just need the people you love.