Sex or Video Games?

My son Nathan refused his nap and played while Inara slept this afternoon. Instead of gaming we watched Twighlight.  I read the books and really enjoyed New Moon.  The movie made me feel like a bit of a pedophile ogling barley 17 year old Taylor Lautner (aka shirtless eye candy.)  All of the sexual tension in the movie brought up and interesting question between John and I this evening:

Sex or Video Games? So the obvious answer: Um.  Both.

When you have children often you have to choose what to do with martial recreation time.  We have our TV shows that we watch when the kiddos go to sleep.  Since we have made our 100-day commitment we have sacrificed our TV time for games.  There is also that pesky sex life to fit into the mix.  When video games take the last iota of energy I have left am I sacrificing physical intimacy for technological intimacy? 

 Like everything else we are trying to keep up both.  Tonight we played DS that is much less vigorous and easier to wind down.  Elite Beat Agents is the game of the day.  It is Guitar Hero meets Ouendan.  We played in bed cuddled close and then John went back downstairs to play Uncharted 2.

Uncharted 2 is a new milestone for our marriage.  John was forthright about purchasing it behind my back.  Before he would have gone to great lengths to lie about buying games without us budgeting but instead he got the game and explained right away that it was a deal that he could not pass up.  We try to always discuss non-essential purchases. The fact that he did not try to hide his transgression means that either he knows I will see his play log or we are becoming more honest with one another about everything.

Playing video games in the bedroom and increased honesty; Video games make our marriage better every day. 

DIE Tinkerbell DIE

DAY 19

Today I have been in a fowl mood and have tried to nurse the small amount of patience I have left back to health.  I have some perspective that things could be much worse: Among other things I could have spent the day in airport lines with my electronics stored and hands folded neatly on my lap.  Are you home yet Henry?

Even though I am on the ground in Bakersfield I feel like I am trapped with my idle hands.  All day I have looked forward to getting a hold of my controller.

While we waited to ride a train John and I talked about which game would be best to work out my anxiety. I decided to reprise my play with Wolverine and maybe have some face time with the Thing.  The tween girls behind us in line sang the same song off key while we waited in line for 30 minutes.  30 minutes does not seem like a long time but the combination of cold, dust and tween tone deafness almost sent me over the edge.  Thankfully we made it on the train without our carolers. 

It was nice that we finally went to see the holiday lights at CALM.  Inara was excited to ride the Carousel and we all went on the train.  With the kids fast asleep I finally got to play some Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.  I played with both Wolverine and the Thing but favored the Thing tonight.

I thought it was strange that the boss for this level was called the Tinkerer.  The reason I found this odd is because that is the name of the vocation that Tinkerbell has a natural affinity for in her new movie (that Inara makes me watch.)  At first I felt bad killing a potential fairy but then he kept sending cyborg minions and all regret fell away.  
 

Now that I have worked out some of my rage issues I am ready to go to sleep.  John has prescribed yoga for my morning so that I do not go all Linda Blair on him.  I am surprised I am smiling as I write this blog considering how tense I was before we played today.  It is amazing that an hour with my partner can make things that were so irritating seem funny instead.  If you are reading this and stressed for any reason (1) get off the computer because facebook will not help you de-stress (2) grab your honey and spend an hour doing something recreational.  One hour of your day dedicated to the person you love will really change your outlook no matter what you are looking at.

 

Which Marvel Character are You?

DAY 18

I have completed my fair share of "which person are you?" quizzes on social networking sites.  My neglected MySpace page still lists my secret super hero identity as the Hulk and John as Robin.  At the time I found these quizzes humorous and partially accurate.  Now I realize that they were completely wrong.

To discover your inner Marvel self one must play Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. I am Wolverine.  I tried to switch between Spiderman, Ironman or Captain America but they just do not do it for me. Wolverine is self healing and famous for his use of agro tactics.  I may not have magical healing abilitues but I am a grab the bull by the horns kind of gal.  I am not sure what strategy we will have to take in the game to keep Wolverine in the Alliance but I hope we can hold on to him.

John prefers Ironman.  I cannot be bothered with aiming, flying and shooting. I am not sure if John strongly favors Tony Stark or if he is suffering from Ironman fever.  We went to see Sherlock Holmes today and saw a preview for the new Ironman movie.  John might prefer a more calculated super hero or it could be that he just thinks Tony Stark/ Robert Downy Jr. is awesome.

The controls of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 are easy peasy because the camera automatically chooses the view. My one complaint is how cluttered the screen becomes.  Since there are so many enemies and members of the alliance often the screen is chaos.  A few times I commenced button mashing because I was not sure which hero was mine.  There was no death or crazy confusion like the last few nights so overall this was a successful night for us. 

Getting Two-Timed

DAY 17

The last few days have just blurred together.  Christmas is over but the leftover food and festivities are still going strong. We played Bunko for three hours tonight with the Boone and McGraw familia.  I played Wii this afternoon with Marissa but not John. Even though John and I were at the same place it seemed as though we were not together at all today.

By the time we got home we were all gamed out. We miserably attempted to play Lego Batman.  This is the first time we have played this game without beating a level.  John had to check a Game Faqs walk through because we got stuck midway through the level.  There is no shame in the frequent use of www.gamefaqs.com a convenient alternative to dropping twenty bucks on a strategy guide.  We did not even get to see any of the tongue and cheek humor cut scenes that make me love Lego Batman so much.

Today I found out John is two-timing me.  I have long known he has a bromance with his best friend Rocky.  They maintain a long distance relationship with regular phone calls, emails and games.  Since I have been gaming with John every day I thought his primary gaming needs were being met by me?  He is still playing solo games via Dragon Age and talking through play with his boyfriend.  On top of that, they are also keeping late night play dates when I am sleeping.

When I first realized Rocky is dominating Johns gameplay time I was surprised.  I must admit as the day wore on and they talked for hours about games I was jealous.  They also tried to lure me into Diablo 2.  I am reluctant because past precedent has shown that whenever I begin any Blizzard title I get addicted.  Diablo 2 and I have some history that pre-dates motherhood.  The last thing I need is to turn into Clara from The Guild.

On the subject of The Guild I am thinking of experimenting with video blogging instead of journal entries?  On that thought it is time to wake  my wheezing sweetie and drag him upstairs to bed before he picks up the controller again. 

Nintendo= Dangerous

DAY 15 & 16  

It is Christmas.  We still played games. 

Yesterday, after church, celebrating with family and getting the kids to bed I had a nightcap before we played games.  After a glass of wine it is no holds bar with the trash talking.  Lugi was called quite a few choice names when he stole my stars during the game.  Instead of mini-games we played Mario versus Lugi. The New Super Mario is like the old Mario with the minor difference that you get to steal from your partner instead of helping them.  My one-sided ad-hominid attacks were met with chuckles rather than contempt.  I feel guilty that Christmas Eve was filled with obscenities but John said he preferred I work out my holiday stress while the children are sleeping.  

We played DS because we spent the night at the in-laws and the DS makes for easy travel.  This beautiful Christmas day woke early to find Santa left Inara a Barbie corvette.  Inara drove the 5-speed coupe around her grandparents’ cul-de-sac with Nathan riding shotgun.  When the battery finally died we dragged them both back inside.  There was an abundance of food, family and wonderful gifts. 

Lori must have heard I am working on my aim because John and I were given Nerf guns for Christmas.  Do I foresee a nerf battle royal in our future? 

The majority of the Boone family must travel a great distance to celebrate today.  The Arizona, Los Banos and Fresno Boone contingents braved the freeways and made there way to dinner.  After the festivities the Arizona Boone’s were so tired that they kindly lent us their Wii for the evening.

Tonight we played Wii Sports.  First we bowled.  John tried to get fancy and put a spin on his throw and was consequently beaten by me when I picked up a spare.  Wii tennis was a fiasco that resulted in John repositioning at the other end of the couch: my swing began to threaten my safety. I was an embarrassment to an American pastime and went three innings without a single hit. 

When I reflect on our holiday gameplay I feel a twinge of embarrassment that I am so mean to my husband.  Is gaming the only place where I take my frustrations out on my partner?  Does he really think it is cute that I swear like a sailor (or ex-policy debater) or is he just humoring me?  Maybe it is just Nintendo that brings out my rage issues? 

Today was my sons first Christmas and he grinned from ear-to-ear the entire day.  Now both kiddos are in slumber land for what I predict will be many more hours.  Cursing and dangerous Wii remotes aside it was a fantastic day. 

Doing It with the Lights On

DAY 14

John and I almost always play video games in the dark. The darkness might hold some deep symbolism or “symbology.” It is more likely because when it is dark John does not notice me jerking side to side to will my avatar to maneuver better (which I honestly do.) Perhaps the movie going experience has impressed upon us that screens are best illuminated in darkness?  Or is it just the best time since our kids are sleeping?  I am sure it is most likely due to the latter but today we successfully played for an hour while it was still light outside. 

When we began play of Little Big Planet I realized John had put yellow duck stickers all over my dress. Big yellow ducks are not flattering, even on a sock version of me.  Luckily, I can wash my costume in the game LBP.  The Frida levels we played today had explosives and my mantilla got all sooty so this knowledge came in handy.

John thinks that my character is scary.  I think she is adorable. I think our characters even look like a pair.  We both favor zombie-looking accessories with neutral colors.  John adds tacky accessories to his character but we still look cute.  I need to get a screenshot of our little people running around.  We spent more time today just being with one another during gameplay.  We played with explosives, taunted scorpions, died on cactus and danced. Even though there is not utilitarian purpose in the game we danced.

In the summer of 2006 John and I attended the amazing wedding of our friends Eryk and Dena in Hawaii.  The reception guests were inebriated enough that John felt comfortable dancing with me.  For the first time in the decade since we had been a couple we laughed, spun and danced.  Today while we were playing LBP Johns little sock man grabbed my little sock lady and dragged me to the dance floor.  We spun, made faces and danced for no particular reason.  Not to celebrate beating a level, bad guy or earn points: we just danced. 

Warm Toes & Demos

DAY 13

Today we played a new demo on the PS3 called Army of 2: 40^th day.  It made me want to play Gears of War.  The third person perspective is easier for me.  

Games are expensive and we do not buy every highly anticipated game.   Admittedly, we do buy a lot of games but cannot afford as many as we would like.  One way to break up the monotony of playing 100 days and not break the bank is demos.  They are free and it gives us a chance to try something new.  If we like it then we can go out and buy it and if we hate it, we go back and play one of our other games. 

They Army of 2 demo must be played as co-op.  This means that John had to either coordinate his schedule with Rocky or play with me.  Since Rocky has a full dancecard I got to play with John tonight.  The only downside to trying out this demo was that John has never played the Army of 2. Today we both went in blind.

We have our own little intermission sessions.  I am blogging while John picks our guns.  They even have an option for diamond incrusted grenades but I passed on that particular choice.  He did style all of our guns to match with camo and changed the stock.  John was almost giddy that you can customize your gun to be hideous and felt he should test the possibilities. 

I am not sure how far we made it into the demo but we killed a lot of people.  We saved a couple innocents but mostly we just shot a ton of bad guys and watched buildings get blown up. One of my favorite parts of the demo was controlling a turret; before today I was not clear on what a turret was but for me it is best described as a metal people mover with a really big machine gun attached.

John and I spent a lot of time apart today.  I went to church and then to help pack for the big move and John stayed home to finish up Christmas gifts.  Tonight, like most days is the first time we get to spend time together (grown-up time that is.) I realized that we have been playing footsie this entire hour. 

Today I am thankful to have someone to play co-op demos with and to keep my feet warm.