Crazy busy...but making time to play a few games...

Well Marcus & I have been pretty crazy busy over the last two weeks! I feel like I am so out of touch with the cyber world!

Part of it is just busy at work, at home, etc.. but we also have been addicted to our Wii lately. We took it up to Rob & Regina's & downloaded all the classic Nintendo games. Super Mario lives and breathes in our house (ALL OF THEM from the very first to the last version they created) IT IS AWESOME!!! Marcus also downloaded Punch Out!, Metal Marines, MegaMan, Castlevania, & Secret of Mana. I can honestly say that when I sat down to play Super Mario Bros. my mind slipped back 18 years. I could picture my friend Weslyn's house, the smell of Hot Pockets (because her mom can't cook - really cannot cook), and I could see the stuffed animals, the Barbies, and the Nintendo. We played all the time. She had this addiction to Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers. I remember once when it snowed, 1993 I think, we were holed up in my parents house playing Nintendo. She could not get past this one level and let out a loud "Damn it!" my mother had to keep from laughing. We were only like 11 or 12 and that phrase was obviously stolen from an adult, but used correctly. We were chastised, but that memory is still so strong.
Video games are a part of my life. I really thought about this when we were picking out what games to download. They are much like books for me, they trigger memories and almost all of those memories make me smile.
My brother Eric, was a gamer. He loved NCAA Football, PUNCH OUT!, Contra and many others. We would argue over who got to play when, who got to play what, and the fact that sometimes we were forced to play together. Now I look back and a huge grin spreads across my face. More times than not we actually had a great time together playing Nintendo. It was those times that I no longer existed as the annoying little sister & he wasn't just the mean big brother. We bonded. Granted when his friends were over I released the annoying little sister & he released the mean big brother.
High School came & I still loved gaming. Board games, Nintendo, Play Station. I am competitive so games are a part of that competitiveness. I met Marcus & found another gamer. Actually Marcus & Rob were two of the biggest gamers I had ever met. Rather than think it odd for a girly girl to enjoy gaming he embraced it. Here was a level of competition he could do with a girl who was a friend. I could hang my own with the guys in this sense. I had been doing so since I was 9. So at 15 I was actually someone who knew the buttons, knew the games, and knew how to win. Marcus & I both have enjoyed all nighters of strategy role playing games. We spent an entire weekend during college from Friday when the game hit the shelves - came home with us - when into the Nintendo - and the quest of Zelda began. We played from 4 in the afternoon until midnight that Sunday. Stopping only for junk food snacks & the occasional walk outside with the dogs. We had folding chairs up against the TV and we could not have been happier. I sat in the same type of setup more than once with Rob & Marcus.
Now I find myself with a full time job, a dog, a husband, a house to keep clean, food to cook and gaming. We sat Sunday night and played for hours. Every night this week we have played for at least two hours. It will pass and the newness of the old games will tame down a bit.
But we both love that nostalgic feeling that we are getting and also the new memories we are making. Peanut sitting on your chest until you finally put the controller down and just let him lick you into oblivion. Also that while he plays Metal Marines, I thumb through magazines, read a book or we'll mute the tv so he plays without sound but we talk about anything.
So even though work has been a little stressful, life is always crazy and there are tons of things to do around the house; we are still making time for each other & Stevie-the-TV of course :)