A Satirical Essay

On video games When I was a child, younger than 5, I think, my mom received as a Christmas present the very first Nintendo. The game I remember her playing was Mario Brothers and she really knew how to play it well. I would clamber for my turn on the video game, fighting my older sister and my younger brother for control of this miraculous piece of technology. When I got the ultimate gift of a turn at playing, I would make little Mario run and run and run until I ran into the first mushroom and died. Then my sister or brother would get a turn. They would go three or four levels or more before dying and I got another turn to run and run and run and jump on the mushroom. But then came the first pipe and then another mushroom, which I promptly ran into. My little thumbs couldn’t understand what I wanted them to do and soon enough, I lost complete interest in the gaming world. I turned instead to books. Ah, what a subject. While my brother and sister sat in front of the television screen with the blue light flashing on their dear little faces and their eyes burning while they tried to finally rescue Princess Peach, I began my solitary life of reading. I filled my head with so many fantasies that I began to think I was a strong princess without need of a prince charming. I began to believe that I could discover buried treasure like the pirates and I could talk to dragons, learn magic and ultimately, fly. My readings took me deeper and deeper into the dangerous world of make believe. Meanwhile, my brother became adept at video games, moving on to bigger and better worlds to conquer. Soon he moved on to computer games, hand held games and even purchased his own X-box. His pursuit of the gaming world brought friends to our house, company to compete with, boys who he could discuss strategy with and more games to play. My books brought me solitude as I walked to the library with my heavy backpack, dumping it out in the drop box and refilling it for my walk home. My trips to school and home from school were done with my nose in a book, almost a different one every day. Reading caused me to complete my school work faster and faster each day so I could have even more time to read both in class and at home. At night, my brother would fall asleep dreaming of the next adventure that his video games could bring him and I would stay awake with my eyes itching, head hurting, reading and reading and reading. Although I finished my novels at a quick pace, I got less sleep than a growing girl needed and my brother began to excel in classes where I merely stayed where I was at- surely because he was sleeping and I was not. As an adult, I have come to learn of the admirable qualities of video games that I wish I had known when I was younger. I may have continued to practice as my brother did and gained the unbelievable benefits as he did. My sister played with controllers that required thumbs to push buttons and as she did so, she was strengthening the muscles that she will inevitably be using later in life to text message her myriads of friends. This is obviously true for all other video struck youngsters. Staring into a screen daily for hours on end, playing challenging, mind bending and entertaining games ultimately prepared my sibling’s eyes for the eventual job of staring at a computer screen every day during college and the rest of a chosen career. Another benefit of the video games is that ultimately, everyone who plays video games on a regular basis has better hand-eye coordination. It’s been proven. This hand-eye coordination will be beneficial in future life as my sister, brother and all their friends become surgeons and show their excelled ability in removing arthritis from the fingers of other video game players. The benefits of video games are many but I do need to mention on very important thing. Prolonged exposure to video games deadens one’s ability to feel apathy for people in pain. That’s been proven too. And violence present in many games has been suggested to contribute to the increase in violence in the real world. But you shouldn’t worry about that too much. Since everyone is playing video games or becoming doctors to fix people who play video games, wars that are started by video-game-players will be fought by men with excellent hand-eye coordination. This will be beneficial because less bullets will be used, therefore cutting the cost of military supplies by nearly half. I remember playing “Operation” as a child. There was a silly looking man on a table who had a red light bulb as a nose. We would each take turns drawing cards that would tell us which body part to remove. If we were able to remove the body part without touching the tweezers onto the metal rim, we would earn money. I was horrible at this game, probably because I read rather than exercising my thumbs. My brother and sister though, would not only swiftly and deftly remove the body parts without ringing the bell but would also earn much more money and thereby win the game. Likewise, the doctors employed by the military during war have been raised on video games and are and excellently skilled in the art of ‘operation’. Because of their video games, they will have less men dying on the table (partly because of the deadly accuracy of the shooters and partly because of their ability to swiftly remove debris). This will benefit the country because fewer doctors will be needed in war and it will further decrease the cost of war. The money saved directly because of video games will be put to very good use. After the government has seen the unimaginable benefits of the citizens of this country playing video games, they will make video games free, enabling avid gamers to quit working and enjoy a life of leisure. I’m sure my brother would enjoy that immensely. Now, I have seen the error and follies of my youth. I’m a committed woman. I am changing my life, one video game at a time. Playing video games in adulthood hasn’t come nearly as easily as it would have if I had stuck to it as a child but I, like adults who try to learn a foreign language, am going to become proficient at playing video games. Its for my own health and safety and if I am lucky, one day I can save lives because I played video games.

Beach Fun

Matt and I went with my mom and brothers to Nauvoo Illinois two weeks ago. There is a section called "Pioneer Passtimes" that has a bunch of games that pioneers used to play. There were a bunch of clothes that kids and adults could dress up in (isn't mom beautiful?), games such as the teddy bear on a rope (you can see it in the background) and there was even an entire log house built for kids to play in.

Mom dressed up as a pioneer woman...the color is so good on her!

Spencer decided to try his hand at carrying the water pails. He seemed to think it was easy- wonder what he'd think if there was actually water in there!

Emmaline enjoyed this area more than anyone else. She dressed up (somehow I didn't get a picture, just a video that after 2.5 hours of trying to download I deleted instead. Sorry.), played in the log cabin and rode the horse and sheep. She has never had more fun at a playground.

This is a picture that I loved (I know, another book picture!). She was pulling each book off the shelf and flipping through a few pages then tossing it aside until she had gone through a lot of books. And I couldn't help but take pictures. (If you notice, she doesn't have any pants. She is going through a pants strike lately. And since she knows how to take them off herself, its pretty much a waste of time to chase her around putting them back on).

And this picture...This is a dress that I wore when I was two. I think I got pictures taken in that dress as well. Emmaline looks so much like me and so different at the same time but I think its pretty cool that she is wearing one of my dresses.

This is my garden. I would love to have garden boxes or beds or something but in the condo we have limited capabilities. These planters are really common in our complex and you have probably seen them around before. Traditionally they are for tomatoes but the box also mentioned several other veggies that you can plant in them. So we have one tomatoe plant in each and its sharing with either a bell pepper or a zucchini plant. I don't remember which plant is which so when they finally start bearing fruit we'll be nice and surprised.

We've also taken advantage of the movies lately. Last week we saw Kung Fu Panda (way way better than I thought it would be) and Tale of Desperaux. Emmaline was great for both, only getting really fidgety toward the end where, obviously, she was loosing interest. Thats not to say she watched the movies. In fact, she probably watched no more than 10 minutes of the entire thing but lap-hopped most of the time.

This week I was meaning to take Emmaline to the some story time at the Library but I forgot to call and sign her up. So we'll be hanging at home most of the week. I don't think we are going to see any movies- Stuart Little 3 is playing and I am not really interested in seeing it. Its supposed to be in the 90s every day this week and today the humidity is around 75% so we probably won't be going out much. I'll have to be creative to keep her occupied all week.

I have been remiss

I appologize for my lack of updating recently. Unfortunaely when things start slowing down around here I seem to feel like nothing is happening. That is not the case and I need find reasons to update my blog- it might make life more interesting if I'm constantly looking for the next story! Emmaline is growing up and doing some of the cutest things. She has a very large vocabulary - enough words that I cannot list them. Every day I feel like she is saying something new! Her latest word is 'strawberry' which just happens to be her favorite food at the moment as well. Her favorite activity is reading. She has a few shelves of her own books and she is constantly pushing books at me saying 'read, read, read' until I finally do so. Sometimes its highly annoying (like when I'm on the computer and she pushes enough that the books land on the keyboard) but I'm proud of the fact that reading occupies much of her life. I hope that continues. Emmaline asleep in a cute new dress we found at Burlington Coat Factory (I love wandering that store!) Emmaline and Daddy chillin on the patio:

So, Matt's graduation. He was really cute in his robes

I tried downloading the video of Matt walking across the stage but after an hour of it trying to download, I abandoned the pursuit in favor of eating dinner.

As for me: I started another course- chiseling away at my remaining classes! This one is about the American Family from the colonial era to the present and my oh my is it interesting. Its so weird how economics, politics and religion have all had a hand in forming the family over the past four centuries. I never would have guessed at all this I'm studying.

I tried to create my own hanging baskets for tomatoes last week but they have so far been a failure. The plants have all had their leaves torn off or the stems broken because of mishandleing and even if they did survive, I doubt they would recover enough to produce fruit. So we'll either be ditching the effort or attempting again. I'm not sure which I'd prefer. I guess I'll let you know!

So something I'm excited for this summer: This area has free movies every week during the summer. I don't know if it extends beyond the St Louis area (it would be a great idea to check into). They are generally movies that you could find in the dollar theatre and may even be on DVD already but the bonus is that its the movie theatre experience for free and thats pretty cool. Of course they make all the money up with the snacks they sell. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing Coraline, Madagascar 2, Over the Hedge, Tale of Desperaux, Kung Fu Panda, Marley and Me and Hotel for Dogs. I have not seen any of those yet and they are also not movies that my parents have bought (so I could borrow from them). The only concern is Emmaline- I'm not so sure she'll be amenable to spending two hours in a theatre. But if I have to take her out, at least it was free!

So thats the bulk of the things going on around her. Besides all that there is the ever agonizing wait for Matt's job. I'm really really hoping that he'll get a call some time this next week but with my limited understanding of the way the military works he may not get a call for another 3 months and I wouldn't have any clue as to why.