A brief spark

Well, this blog is going to change pretty drastically in a little bit.

A little while ago, when I watched the Oscars, I sat there thinking.  I said to myself, “You know, Thomas, I bet not one of those Academy Award winners plays video games.”  Then I reckoned that no successful person, save for people who make video games, play video games, or at the very least as much as I do.  And I bet even Will Wright doesn’t play that much because he’s probably too busy making the games.  If I could suddenly wake up as a casual gamer and have the kind of mind that gets bored of any given game after an hour then this wouldn’t be a problem.  But I am a highly conditioned gaming athlete, and can literally play a given game from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, then do it again the next day.

No matter how you look at that — not healthy.

So.  I have decided to renounce video games.

AHHHH!!!!

I want to say “psyche!” but I can’t.  Each time I think about what I’m endeavoring to do I start thinking about all the cool games coming out this year, all the great ones I’ve played, all the fond memories I have of LAN parties as a teenager and the games themselves.  Jordan, were you there at the Schwartz’s when we played Delta Force?  That one epic game of Capture The Flag that lasted like an hour and a half?  I was the king of all snipers and no one could touch me.  It was that valley map and I just sat there pegging people off with such efficiency they couldn’t even poke their head out.  We finally got Brendan down there in the bottom of the valley and he grabbed the flag, then it was insane as everyone tried to cover him as the other side tried desperately to shoot him dead as he made a mad dash back to our side.  We were all yelling.  And when he got back the downstairs (my team) erupted in cheers while we could hear everyone upstairs cry out in anguish.

Ah…SO much fun.

But therein lies the rub.  How to curb that fun?  My problem is that sometimes I have too many hours in the day.  Sometimes I’ll wake up and look at my schedule and see it’s blank and say, “oh boy, how am I going to fill that?” and then I’ll just play video games.  I cannot keep it in check.  That is why I’ve decided to cut it out.  Full stop.  Cold turkey.  All of it.  I’m probably going to delete the little iPhone games on my iPhone.

I’ve played video games my whole life.  From the Apple II, to the Amiga, to the Sega Genesis, then Sega Saturn, then a big PC gamer for a while, to Xbox, and if you’ll scroll down to see earlier posts you’ll see my blatant enthusiasm for spending a ridiculous amount of money on a brand new uber gaming rig.  But I think I’ve reached the point.  The Point.  I think, I can bow out, and say to the gaming industry, “bravo.”  They’ve supplied me with so much.  But now, I’ve abused their gifts.  They’ve turned me into a monster.  WHO AM I??!?!

*punches a mirror*

So there.  There you have it.  I’m getting rid of the Windows partition of my MacBook, I’m going to sell all my Xbox stuff back in NYC, and then I’m going to go through some serious withdrawal.  I’m going to have to figure out ways to fill up all those hours but I’ll do it.  I have to.  For the sake of all mankind, I have to.  You see, one of the things that I wrote down on my list of “Things I Should’ve Been Doing All This Time” was FIX EVERYTHING.  So, it behooves you all to support me in this.  And to touch on my Xbox, if you want to take everything off my hands (tons of games, a racing wheel, a flightstick, controllers, etc.) we can work something out for a reasonable price.  The only thing is you have to take everything.  My epiphany is your gain!

The biggest thing that I think will happen, honestly, is that when it’s all said and done, when the dust has settled and it’s been a year or whatever and I’ve fully gotten video games out of my mind, I will be the guy saying, “I wish I would’ve done this sooner.”

In terms of this blog…I know you were all thinking, “But Thomas, what about the blog for heaven’s sake?!”  I have enjoyed the writing.  I hope you all have too.  So, it either might stay and the theme will change focus, or I’ll start a new one about dogs.  ’Cause guys, dogs are super fucking cute.  PUPPIES!

But right now, I’ll try my best to document my saga of “coming clean”.  One starfighter against the whole Armada?  Here goes nothing.