I had a busy weekend living in the real world instead of the internet world... Ok, actually that's not entirely true because I did spend a bunch of it watching Season 3 of Angel, and playing a delightfully mindless game on my partner's iPod, entitled "Angry Birds" (that's the game, not the iPod), in which a variety of oddly-shaped birds enact their revenge on a hierarchy of round, green, egg-thieving pigs. Oh, mindless, repetitive joy!!
It might seem incongruous with my so-called-yogic life, but I love these kinds of games. Perhaps it was because I wasn't allowed to have them as a child. Until one year when a doctor/teacher/someone wise told my parents that I had terrible hand-brain-eye coordination, and that s/he thought video games would help.
So my parents went out and bought us the very first Nintendo. My parents, who disliked television (except educational shows, which included, of course, Star Trek) and restricted us to one hour per day of staring at a screen, my parents who believed in social interaction and educational games. My sister and I thought it was birthdays and Christmas all at once!! Of course they didn't TELL us that it was prescribed, that would have spoiled the fun. In, fact, my Mom let this juicy fact slip only recently when I visited her on holidays.
Anyway, my sister and I spent countless hours rejoicing in Mario Bros, Tetris, and of course, that old classic, Duck Hunt. It makes my sides ache to giggle when I think of me and my sis, aged about 9 and 6, wielding that funny plastic pistol and gleefully blasting helpless digital ducks out of the sky. Not very in line with Ahimsa, but I guess I turned out OK. And quite opposed to real sport hunting, as life would have it! Of course, this experience was tinged with a bit of irony from the start, when my mother became completely obsessed with Tetris, sometimes playing it well past bedtime and into the night! ;)
Ah well. Not sure why I shared that story, but there you have it. What strange habits or hobbies do you indulge in? :)
I have the entire box set of Angel AND Buffy (LOVE them both)! And maybe one or two others... Actually, I tend to enjoy watching series TV on DVD far more than I ever do when they're screening. Perhaps it's the lack of ads? No, actually, it's the sheer indulgence of watching one episode after the other! Which tends to turn me into a bit of an anti-social couch potato... lucky I don't do that all the time then! ;)
ReplyDeleteI love those sort of games. I can spend forever playing Country Life on Facebook....
ReplyDeleteI'm showing my age when I say I used to have those black and white Game and Watch games... pre-the original gameboy. Gods I loved those. I had one where you were a cowboy trying to stop Indians setting fire to your saloon. Not very PC admittedly but still, a lot of fun...
Cheesy shows like Ugly Betty and Gilmore Girls :). Love the dialogue and fun of them. Love the way they help me forget about the world and its troubles for a little bit. So much abandonment all it once. Perhaps that's why we're drawn to these random things. I also love the occasional bath with scented candles and a good book to read, though I always feel guilty about filling up the tub with so much water.
ReplyDelete@Svasti - Yes!! I own both series too. Love, love, love them... Buffy and Angel have gotten me through a fair amount of grief and trauma still in one piece. ;)
ReplyDelete@Rachel - I know, some of these games are so, well, wrong, yet so amusing...
@Juliana - It is all about escapism isn't it. Sometimes we just need to surrender our brains to an alternate reality and let go.
TETRIS is amazing!!!!!
ReplyDelete@Jamie - Yes!!! And soooooo addictive...
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