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Sunday, August 14, 2005

Games We Play (and Updates)

I have my son fully equipped with a Playstation 2 and Xbox. He adores them. I have to limit his time on them or he'd play night and day. I've been told it's unhealthy, but I don't agree. He also reads avidly, and interracts pretty well with others. He is relatively athletic, and is taking karate. So, I don't have problems with his choice of recreation.

Now, I'm going to admit that I am still a kid. It's marvellous to have kids so that you can do kid-stuff without looking apologetically at all the stuffy adults around you. So we have lots of fun and laugh at the boring grownups and live our lives to the fullest while they are worried about how to cook the chicken for dinner. When I have to, I'm an adult. After all, someone has to clean the toilets occasionally. Life is large, and Martha Stewart isn't coming for a home inspection.

But when I try to explain to my son that I lived before there were computer games, Gameboy, and Playstation, he has a hard time comprehending it. When I was a kid, I could play for days on end with my best friend and never watch TV and never get bored. We had tons of plastic animals and made up elaborate storylines for them, full of kingdoms and adventures, and then acted them all out. We wrote stories, we drew, we played hopscotch, we climbed trees, we caught tadpoles, we played hide and seek in the neighborhoods (you can't let your kids do that here any more), we rode our bikes, went swimming, played with our animals, and beat up boys. We loved our weekends.

What did you do as a kid on the weekends back in those primitive days of yore?

UPDATES

Pie: I will get up some pictures of Pie very soon. But yesterday, when I had scheduled the modelling session, she had taken off.

I hunted high and low for her, and came to the conclusion that she had somehow got into the linen closet and gone through the little emergency door (there was a tiny crack where it wasn't all nailed down) and was curled up somewhere under the bathtub. I tried not to be frantic but when my friend Michelle called, she understood my worries despite the fact that she thinks I'm loony for having a baby possum. ;o)

I left out some yummy banana baby food for her, and found her peacefully curled up in her towel this morning. I guess she doesn't like 'roughing it.' I will try to get pics later today.

Ozma: Ozma's family still hasn't told her. They are reasoning that he slipped out of consciousness days ago, and there is no sense telling her until he's good and dead because there's nothing she could do anyway. I am not sure they're right, but am honoring the family's wishes. Ozma kept herself busy with housework yesterday and sounded very cheerful. She's an adorable person, someone anyone would treasure as a friend, and she's incredibly loyal. Everyone is tremendously fond of her, which is why we are all so worried.

I should add that her daughter (Jodi) is a very tough tomboy with a soft heart. She's 18 and I really like and respect this kid. When she was young (and was molested by this jerk) she did tell Ozma and Ozma's mom about it. But it was a time when they were all at odds, and Ozma and her mom thought that Jodi was just trying to make things worse. After that, Jodi clammed up and didn't speak of it to another soul until she told me about it when she turned 18. So don't be too quick in condemning Ozma for her disbelief. On the other hand, if I even suspected someone had molested my child, he would be missing his nuts.

17 comments:

Jeff said...

Funny you should talk about this. Just last night I was at a toga party of all things and we were discussing that very thing. Remember bottle rocket or roman candle fights? How about chasing each other down with BB guns and wrist rockets? Remember when the only motor we got on our bikes was clothes pins and trading cards? (My favorite for this purpose was the KISS band trading cards because they weren't worth shit then and what I wouldn't put in my mouth to get them all back today...) Remember riding a bike without a helmet? I'm only 30 so I'm a wee younger than I think most of you are, but remember the excitement when the Atari 2600 came out? And Pong? I can still sit and play pong for hours. Remember when it was ok for the teacher to pat you on the back when you did good and whoop your ass when you didn't do so good? Remember how much hell it was when your mom forced you to write thankyou letters after christmas and stuff? (Where have the manners gone these days?) Remember when Christmas was about giving and not getting? For that matter, remember when Christmas was a birthday celebration and not a day off work? Remember trick or treating alone until 3 in the morning? Hell, in some places, remember trick or treating at all? Remember when you ate at home, every night, 99.5% of the time a home cooked meal, with the family at the table? Remember "please" and "thankyou"? (I rarely hear those things anymore and often, when I employ such niceties to say...a waitress, I get some of the oddest looks of unfamiliarity.) Remember when cartoons were on saturday morning and for an hour in the afternoon on school days? When did it become ok to be openly gay in highschool? Did I miss the bus on that one? Remember when "faggot" was a genuine insult? Remember when it was ok to hurt someone's feelings by telling them "no, I'm sorry but you can't have your way"? Remember the time when "I'll sue you for this" was not even a thought in someone else's mind? (Hell, I won't even stop at a wreck anymore because God forbid, you accidentally hurt someone a little while trying to save their life it's your ass in the sling and I ain't gettin' sued for nothin'! Shit, these days kids sue for better grades in high school! Pathetic.) Remember the days before fad diets and plastic surgery when it was ok to be who you are? Remember when it was ok to be second place as long as you did your best? Remember when mom said move, you fucking moved because arguing with the fairness of her word was NOT an option? Remember when people took responsibility for their own actions, unlike today when it's everyone else's fault but our own? Remember when only the real trouble makers knew what ritalin was? Remember sex without a rubber?

And the list can go on and on and on but I need to quit because I have things to do and don't want to take up all the "remember when"'s. Until later...

Jeff said...

I forgot a good one...
Blowjobs. Kids these days sure do see that one alot different than they did when I was a kid. So different in fact that some days I wish I were about 15 years younger because something tells me I missed out on alot.

mal said...

With 3 older brothers you can safely assume I was not playing with Barbies (never owned one). Up until I was 10 we used to chase around the neighborhoods doing all sorts of meaningless fun stuff. We moved when I was 10 and it was never quite the same. We quit being kids and were working part time from then on. My brothers got to be "THAT" age and did not have as much time for the younger sibs. My sibs and I talked about it when we were together a few weeks ago. They were happy times for all of us

As regards your comment on molesters, I am typically opposed to capital punishement, but I view rapists and molesters as exceptions to that. Mad Dogs will always be Mad Dogs and should be treated as such. Best to just put them down and be done with it

Saur♥Kraut said...

Jeff, OMG, yes! That just reminded me of the time my brothers got into so much trouble. We had a neighbor with a little yippy dog (I think it was a pomeranian). He was ugly and nasty, and yippy. He had a horrible underbite and two fangs that stuck up into his upper lip. He hated kids. So one day the boys lay in wait with bottle rockets, and when the pom came trotting by, unsuspecting, they started shooting the bottle rockets at him. My mom had a fit. My dad thought it was pretty funny but had to be all serious about it.

And Christmas used to be so much fun, you're right! We didn't have much money, but we were so happy with what we got. I always loved to read so there was always a book for me, and my favorite kind of candy, and some toys. I just can't seem to recreate that excitement (but then, as I've pointed out, I'm no Martha Stewart). Divorces that lead to multiple families also confuse the celebrations.

Funny about the word 'faggot.' You're right. When we were kids, if someone did something lame we'd say "you're such a faggot." I haven't used that word since I was 10, although I have gay friends that do(?)

Please and thank you...something that many of us still use...but what about 'sir' and 'maam'? I mean, that sounds so antiquated now, though many people still use it.

Nah, you're not a lot younger than most of us in here. And I have friends of all ages, and somehow usually ended up dating guys who were younger than I am (a lack of maturity on my part?...)

I'm really glad you've joined in. You'd also enjoy a couple other blogs like The Lazy Iguana's, Polanco's, and Daniel's blogs. (Daniel is an actor in England who's a lot like you.)

Mallory, you're right about the child molestors. God help them if they harmed my child and the cops didn't get to them first.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Jeff, here's Daniel's blog. Polanco and The Lazy Iguana are listed in my links.

The Lazy Iguana said...

I had an Atari 2600. Later, I had the Sega Master System.

There was a fairly large gap between the Arari and the Sega.

But anyway, Atari games were fairly limited in the amount of time it took to play them. I still managed to get outside. I would bike ride, climb trees, catch lizards (I still catch lizards), collect water critters from the many canals for my aquarium, and stuff.

By the way, if you really want to mess with your kids, google Atari 2600 java. Try to find some java sites that have the old atari games on them. Then tell your kids that back in the day, there was nothing better than pong and pac-man.

Saur♥Kraut said...

Lazy Iguana, *LOL* Yeah, you're right. But you know what? My son rocks at the old games too! It's not fair!

The first 'high tech' computer game I ever played was some silly Nazi game with green stick figured guys who would walk through mazes. You'd try to get around them, and occasionally they'd say something like "swineheart" or something like that. I don't know why they said it. I thought it was uber cool.

Anonymous said...

I just got a PS2 for my bday from my girlfriend and I can safely say that she knows me very very well..lol..i love gaming a LOT.
ajay

Jeff said...

Ahhh...Castle Wolfenstein! I love that game but Duke Nukem kicks much more ass! And this is going to sound pathetic, but of the 5 or 6 Playstaion 2 games I have, 4 of them are of games from the Atari and ColecoVision (however you spell that) and the like. Old Nintendo games are fun to play too and I have several emulators on the computer that allows me to paly them all. You can find almost everyone of them for free on the net if anyone is interested.

I got out of the navy in december of 2001 and moved to Texas and the sir and ma'am thing caught me off guard. Partly because kids calling me sir somehow signaled the end to the childhood part of me that I clung to sooooo tightly and partly because even though I am from a military family where said words are required from everyone, it had still been a long time since I heard them employed. Kids down here in this area do and it was almost a surprise. As for me using them myself, it was quite literally beaten into me that I WILL use those words and when I got into the military myself, I grew a huge element of distaste for it. The officers somehow thought that they were better than me in a royalty sort of sense and that they DESERVED to be called that. FUCK THEM! You gotta earn that shit with me so I pretty much refused to call anyone sir or ma'am from that point on. Being forced to call another man sir like that was demeaning and I guarantee I am meaner than all of them so it was sort of my private little "fuck you" to those turds. Maybe that's why it threw me for such a loop when I moved back down here. Who knows? I certainly don't.

When I was five, my dad was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso and I can still remember this as if it were yesterday. It was hot as hell and my little brother, my dad and I were in the car waiting while my mom ran into the store to get something. My brother and I were dying and I can still picture the sweat rolling off my dad's head as the sun baked us. So what do five and three year olds do when it's hot? Get thirsty. And so we begged..."Dad, we NEED something to drink, please" "WE don't have anything and we'll behome soon." "But dad, we're dying here and NEED something to drink." And then, for just a moment, I saw the devil in his eye without knowing it as he turned his head and said, "here, eat some of these delicious Pringles and that should help until we get home." FUCKING SWEET! It was almost as if we were singing "DAD IS GREAT! Give us the chocolate cake" Until...
That would be considered child abuse today but the amusement I can clearly recall him enjoying at our collected agony then is equal to the amusement I get today as I recall it. OH the memories...

And you're right about the Atari games not taking long to play, but the beauty of them as oposed to games of today is that playing them was a repeatable thing that you could easily enjoy time and time and time again. Once you beat the games of today, the fun is generally gone from them all together. There is exceptions to the rule of course, but after you beat Grand Theft Auto, as BB King would say, "the thrill is gone."

And thanks. I'm glad you don't see me as so angry anymore?

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Speaking of nuts, how about the lady who has a possum for a pet?

Saur♥Kraut said...

Jeff, No, I don't see you as so angry anymore. ;o)

Castle Wolfenstein!!! Sweet! That was the name of it. I liked Duke Nukem better, too. I guess it's my fault that my son loves these games so much, because I used to play them and entertain him for hours that way. He used to love Nintendo's Aladdin when he was a baby, and would beg me to play it for hours. I would download the cheat codes because I couldn't get through the cursed thing. He never knew the diff.

Your dad and the potato chips thing... My parents wouldn't have done that. But I do remember a time when we were all in our teens and were 'embarrassed' by our parents. One day we were walking out of the grocery store and my mom did something that 'embarrassed' me, so I did the typical teenager thing... rolled my eyes and said "Mommmmm," in an aggravated tone. Mom walked out into the parking lot, stood in the middle of traffic, spread her arms wide up into the air, and yelled out to everyone "I'm Saur's Mom! Hello, everyone! Here I am!" I didn't do that again.

I was too rebellious to ever be in the military, and knowing your personality - I don't see you you ever could have been in the service. I understand what you're saying.

Ajay, your g.f. is truly in love!

Saur♥Kraut said...

Oldhorsetailsnake, yeah, I don't deny it... ;o)

michelle said...

Yup. Tree forts in the woods. Running around in the wheat and corn fields playing hide and seek. Camping out in the tent in the back yard. Puttin up the flimsy swimming pool jut to sit in. Playing kick ball and dodgeball. Popping the road tar bubbles and makeing a mess of ourselves, that doesn't come off easy. Ice skating on the ponds. No afterschool care, no babysitters unless it was dark. No coming inside even after dark. TV was only Saturday morning cartoons and the after school special........

Fred said...

My weekends were easy to remember. Cartooons were on from 7-12 on Saturday mornings, so you'd always find me there. Saturday afternoons were in the park playing baseball or stickball. Then, in the evening, we'd play "kick the can" in the street.

Sundays, it was chuch until noon. Then, off to friends to play all afternnon. I had to be home by 6 for dinner. Then, we'd settle in for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and The Wonderful World of Disney.

Life was pretty simple back then; I really enjoyed my childhood.

Anonymous said...

Remember two square?

Lila said...

I can't wait to see more Pie!

You're right about the toys... Man, if I had a little kid I'd be out of control!

Jamie Dawn said...

Pie pics... please!

So sorry about your friend Ozma and how difficult all this is. Her ex-fiancee sounds like someone I would abhor.

I loved being a kid.
Jacks, arm wrestling, jump rope, and hula hoop.
Great fun!