We Got a Wii last night.
And by we, I do mean 'we'. Not the Royal We (mq-nsfw: movie quote - not safe for work), or we as in 'me', but we.
It was an instant fam-favorite move but, with my seeming inability at this early point to stop playing, uhhh, setting up the Wii room, I now question my judgement. The Sony PS that's up in the attic has barely been touched and likely due to the fact that nobody but me enjoys Gran Turismo 2 (and I we haven't bothered with showing the kids another time-wasting tool). Fine. I can live with that. It's 10 years old anyway.
Nowwww, now, now there will need to be more family communications, more scheduling and prioritizing, more sharing and give and take. I can see the almighty Wii may already have us hamstrung. Damned machines. Enslaving all peoples to their basal instincts for pleasure and recreation. Damn you Nintendo, damn you to hell. What? It doubles as a DVD player? Welllll, that's actually relatively somewhat practical. Oh, and there's 'yoga and fitness' and stuff like that? Hmmm...
OK, maybe... juuust maybe, it won't be so bad. Perhaps abstract thoughts such as 'give and take' and 'work before pleasure' and 'communication' and 'sharing' and 'I said it's bedtime' will actually have some genuine meaning. Maybe this will open a new chapter of family togetherness and co-operation. Perhaps all will be well with my soul.
Yeah, and as long as my household 'to-do' list is currently, multiplied by my current rate of completion, I won't getting any more turns on the Wii until approximately August of 2011.
Wii may not be ready for a Wii, but at least it doesn't poop on the carpet.
(it doesn't do that too does it?)
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Nostalgia and Change
OK, so we have our very own, brand spankin' new Funky President elected on a platform of 'Change'. Being contrary to the previous administration and party, very little more than the word 'Change' was all one needed, and it was an easy sell.
I've thought a fair bit about change on the more abstract level recently. Some if it started with something as benign as this: The landmark little Speedway Motel in which I stayed the night prior to one of the Top 10 best days of my life, is being razed. I found it odd how it seems like that day is years ago already. Just scant months beyond my single and greatest encounter with it and this little landmark of 50 years or so is suddenly gone.
In span of just a few months, things have changed alright. I don't know how anyone could argue otherwise. My mother-in-law and I were discussing a recent relative's death and the discovery of this person's diary. How great it was for those left behind to have that insight, that view into the recent and distant past. It allowed me to think of Change and another great memory I have.
Upon my first visit to NYC back in 1997, Lynne and I, in a moment of sheer spontaneity, went from the relative comfort of the glass observation level of the World Trade Center, to the roof observation platform. What I saw there on that gorgeous, sunny June day was truly eye-opening and amazing. The same could not be said for the similar view just one floor below and much less open. To be able to experience that again or to simply return there to relive the memories cannot happen.
People are gone. Places gone. Things gone. The only thing that can survive Change is memory. Curious images, words, and senses of things gone.
I've grown up and currently live in a place where relative little changes over time. Things on the surface seem to be in serious flux, changing rapidly and irreversibly. Logically, I suppose, that must be the nature of change, but it still seems to cause me some trepidation because there are so many cherished things that don't change, often deeply rooted in the past, that seem to pull back against change and make you question why change is so vital.
I guess Change is a universal constant that must always be met.
Change will provide birth, provide destruction, provide opportunity, provide newness, provide the ability to see nostalgia, provide the ability to lose the past, provide us with the never-ending and ever-shifting world in which we live. Change is equally welcomed and feared. Change will allow us as individuals and the collective world to move both for better and for worse.
I now see Change more neutrally. Neither positive nor negative. Equilibrium is the seeking to balance between forces. Nature always seems to seek Equilibrium, yet Change is the unstopping force that actively shifts matter, ideas, people, geography, money, wealth, climates, emotions...
Change is constant. Change is unavoidable. Memories need to be the stuff of forever. Remember and record even the smallest of things. Times and places that provided joy, pain, the greatest of highs, and the most desperate of lows. Jealously guard those memories of all, for better or for worse.
Store it and cherish it for it is our here and now, and, because before you know it, often in the blink of an eye, it will be gone. Do yourself and those who come after us a great service - experience life as it is each day, and when you're done, record it accurately for the benefit of the future.
I've thought a fair bit about change on the more abstract level recently. Some if it started with something as benign as this: The landmark little Speedway Motel in which I stayed the night prior to one of the Top 10 best days of my life, is being razed. I found it odd how it seems like that day is years ago already. Just scant months beyond my single and greatest encounter with it and this little landmark of 50 years or so is suddenly gone.
In span of just a few months, things have changed alright. I don't know how anyone could argue otherwise. My mother-in-law and I were discussing a recent relative's death and the discovery of this person's diary. How great it was for those left behind to have that insight, that view into the recent and distant past. It allowed me to think of Change and another great memory I have.
Upon my first visit to NYC back in 1997, Lynne and I, in a moment of sheer spontaneity, went from the relative comfort of the glass observation level of the World Trade Center, to the roof observation platform. What I saw there on that gorgeous, sunny June day was truly eye-opening and amazing. The same could not be said for the similar view just one floor below and much less open. To be able to experience that again or to simply return there to relive the memories cannot happen.
People are gone. Places gone. Things gone. The only thing that can survive Change is memory. Curious images, words, and senses of things gone.
I've grown up and currently live in a place where relative little changes over time. Things on the surface seem to be in serious flux, changing rapidly and irreversibly. Logically, I suppose, that must be the nature of change, but it still seems to cause me some trepidation because there are so many cherished things that don't change, often deeply rooted in the past, that seem to pull back against change and make you question why change is so vital.
I guess Change is a universal constant that must always be met.
Change will provide birth, provide destruction, provide opportunity, provide newness, provide the ability to see nostalgia, provide the ability to lose the past, provide us with the never-ending and ever-shifting world in which we live. Change is equally welcomed and feared. Change will allow us as individuals and the collective world to move both for better and for worse.
I now see Change more neutrally. Neither positive nor negative. Equilibrium is the seeking to balance between forces. Nature always seems to seek Equilibrium, yet Change is the unstopping force that actively shifts matter, ideas, people, geography, money, wealth, climates, emotions...
Change is constant. Change is unavoidable. Memories need to be the stuff of forever. Remember and record even the smallest of things. Times and places that provided joy, pain, the greatest of highs, and the most desperate of lows. Jealously guard those memories of all, for better or for worse.
Store it and cherish it for it is our here and now, and, because before you know it, often in the blink of an eye, it will be gone. Do yourself and those who come after us a great service - experience life as it is each day, and when you're done, record it accurately for the benefit of the future.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Compendium II - NYE edition
I know I have a fondness for comparative listing.
I know several of my mates do as well and I can recall a time (circa 1987 you might guess if you're a faithful reader) when driving to various sporting events we'd pass the car ride by making lists of favorites or posing either/or questions to each other now more famously called 'would you rather' questions. Juvenile perhaps but it was still clean entertainment and made a four hour car ride go surprisingly quickly.
One listing that I've been logging in my head for years emerges this time of year and always adds one new contender. Actually there are only a few true contenders as I see little prospect of anything in the future coming close. "In the category for best New Year's Eve, the winner is..."
1. December 31, 1987 - Two college friends, who shall remain nameless, let's call them D and R, and I met up right after Christmas to travel to Florida for a nice winter break. Our plan was to drive non-stop to Ft. Lauderdale and spend a few days there, head out through the Keys to the southermost point in the US, and then back to Ft. Lauderdale for NYE. All went as well as possibly could right until I got (inadvertently?) shoved into a swimming pool at the bar, (Summers On The Beach, now long gone) we chose for NYE. I never saw who did it and neither did my compatriots. Hmm... January 1, 1988 - appx. 12:45 am - soaking wet, laughing hysterically, and knowing this would be one for the record books. Later that day we lounged by the pool and then watched The Orange Bowl game featuring #2 Miami Hurricanes and the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Two prolific college football schools in what many writers penned 'game of the century'. Miami won and all you would hear on the radio that night and into the next day were requests for The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane". Not totally surprising since it was nearing the apex of the Hair Metal era anyway.
2. December 31, 1988 - D (again), J, and several other friends were in Chicago for NYE. Geno's pizza dinner and clubbing downtown were on the agenda (Mother's, I think it was called then). The afternoon of NYE we watched the Bears game on TV which now is famously known as 'The Fog Bowl'. The thickest pea soup fog you've ever seen decended upon Chicago in rapid fashion rendering TV cameras nearly useless in covering the game. It added quite a mystical element to this NYE in which two of our group had disappeared downtown, the temperature dropped some 25 degrees to near zero while we were in the club, and the two lost ones were later seen on local TV coverage as being in the first fight of the New Year. Apparently soon after midnight, some fracas developed which involved two of our group that we lost around 11PM. Approximately 4AM they were released from the city pokey and made their way back to the hotel. After that, NYE was really never the same for me. Thank goodness.
3. December 31, 1999 - In our current neighborhood, outdoors with a neighbor banging on pots and pans to ward off bad luck. While clearly unconventional, it sounded like an idea with little downside since Y2K mania (remember that?) was in full effect. It was almost as if we were waiting for the sky to fall in that night. The thought of that makes me laugh to this day.
Many other worthy and enjoyable times and places were had, but the above were the classics I'll remember for a looooong time. Things have changed quite a bit for me regarding this holiday and I wonder if I'll ever feel a weighty significance of the passing of a year again.
I know several of my mates do as well and I can recall a time (circa 1987 you might guess if you're a faithful reader) when driving to various sporting events we'd pass the car ride by making lists of favorites or posing either/or questions to each other now more famously called 'would you rather' questions. Juvenile perhaps but it was still clean entertainment and made a four hour car ride go surprisingly quickly.
One listing that I've been logging in my head for years emerges this time of year and always adds one new contender. Actually there are only a few true contenders as I see little prospect of anything in the future coming close. "In the category for best New Year's Eve, the winner is..."
1. December 31, 1987 - Two college friends, who shall remain nameless, let's call them D and R, and I met up right after Christmas to travel to Florida for a nice winter break. Our plan was to drive non-stop to Ft. Lauderdale and spend a few days there, head out through the Keys to the southermost point in the US, and then back to Ft. Lauderdale for NYE. All went as well as possibly could right until I got (inadvertently?) shoved into a swimming pool at the bar, (Summers On The Beach, now long gone) we chose for NYE. I never saw who did it and neither did my compatriots. Hmm... January 1, 1988 - appx. 12:45 am - soaking wet, laughing hysterically, and knowing this would be one for the record books. Later that day we lounged by the pool and then watched The Orange Bowl game featuring #2 Miami Hurricanes and the #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. Two prolific college football schools in what many writers penned 'game of the century'. Miami won and all you would hear on the radio that night and into the next day were requests for The Scorpions' "Rock You Like A Hurricane". Not totally surprising since it was nearing the apex of the Hair Metal era anyway.
2. December 31, 1988 - D (again), J, and several other friends were in Chicago for NYE. Geno's pizza dinner and clubbing downtown were on the agenda (Mother's, I think it was called then). The afternoon of NYE we watched the Bears game on TV which now is famously known as 'The Fog Bowl'. The thickest pea soup fog you've ever seen decended upon Chicago in rapid fashion rendering TV cameras nearly useless in covering the game. It added quite a mystical element to this NYE in which two of our group had disappeared downtown, the temperature dropped some 25 degrees to near zero while we were in the club, and the two lost ones were later seen on local TV coverage as being in the first fight of the New Year. Apparently soon after midnight, some fracas developed which involved two of our group that we lost around 11PM. Approximately 4AM they were released from the city pokey and made their way back to the hotel. After that, NYE was really never the same for me. Thank goodness.
3. December 31, 1999 - In our current neighborhood, outdoors with a neighbor banging on pots and pans to ward off bad luck. While clearly unconventional, it sounded like an idea with little downside since Y2K mania (remember that?) was in full effect. It was almost as if we were waiting for the sky to fall in that night. The thought of that makes me laugh to this day.
Many other worthy and enjoyable times and places were had, but the above were the classics I'll remember for a looooong time. Things have changed quite a bit for me regarding this holiday and I wonder if I'll ever feel a weighty significance of the passing of a year again.
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