Late Bloomer

John was still working on this computer practically all day yesterday. And here I thought the project was practically done on Friday. Silly me. There was mucho swearing and frustration yesterday, so this upgrade wasn't the smooth transition I thought it was. I understand it's still not technically done, but I have what I need for now. I just have to pray the hard drive doesn't crash, because I cannot back up to CD right now. That's one of the things that aren't done yet. I can sync my Handspring though, and we know how important that is to me.

While John was cursing the computer gods, I busied myself with a book. When I finished the book, I tried to do some tidying up around the house, but I just couldn't seem to focus long enough to put more than a dish away before I got distracted by something. I watched the kids play video games, watched TV, then started playing video games myself.

I was never much of a video game gal. I grew up in the infancy of computer gaming, and we even owned Pong, which I played relentlessly. After that, it was a little Texas Instruments computer with a tape drive. That would be a cassette tape, the kind we don't even use to listen to music anymore. Yes, that kind of tape. We also had an Atari, and I did play that quite a bit. Now kids are wearing the Atari symbol on t-shirts. I cannot believe my childhood is now retro. Anyway... as computer gaming advanced, I became more interested in the wonders of word processing. My excitement for going to Chuck E. Cheese was in playing skeeball. Games like PacMan just seemed like quarter-hungry beasts to me. I wasn't very good at them, and I didn't bother with them. I happily played Pitfall at home and eventually tired of that too. I mean, how long can you jump over tar pits and snakes?

One of the main problems I had with the early games was there was no end. It just kept getting harder and harder--the aliens kept coming at you, or the ghosts ran faster or the barrels rolled down more frequently. You couldn't beat the game. You could only hope to beat the person with the highest score. Though I am a very competitive person, this didn't appeal to me. I would rather beat the stupid aliens. You don't strive to be the soldier on the losing side of the war that shot the most others. You strive to win.

The new generation of gaming was much more appealing to me, because you could win. But my coordination and dexterity leave something to be desired, so my ability to win is quite low. I tend to stick to thinking games, like Myst. I loved that game! I still haven't played Riven, but one of these days, I'll buy a copy off eBay. I'm obviously not all about the latest, greatest releases.

That could explain last night's obsession with Frogger. I never played Frogger in the old video game era that was my childhood. I don't think the number of arcade games I played got off of one hand, so it's really no surprise I hadn't played it. Hammy borrowed the fancy, new version for Playstation from a friend. I really liked the little froggie, and I was bored, so I started playing. At first, I was flat every three to five seconds (see previous comment about coordination and dexterity), but I got better and better. And then, I had to beat that game, not that you can beat the retro version. It's the same, old style of play-for-high-score game it used to be in the arcade, but I wanted that high score this time. I had to beat John, and I did. I took over all three high score slots. Then I went on to beat the next, newer level of the game.

It's a little late in coming, but I really love playing that game, and I want to rule the high score board. Proof positive I am not entirely old yet. And to further that notion, I kind of want a Playstation 2. Watch out!