The Ubiqutous Nature of Time

This house is a 1,000s sf, 5 stories tall and only 5’6” wide. Do you know how many times you would have to climb those stairs everyday? What would it be like to live in a house like that. Would you and your spouse have to get bunk beds?

In light of the recent events that have transpired within Tiger Woods life, I came across this article and made me wonder. Why do men marry high, but cheat low?

I thought this article was funny, because like Andy Murry I’m also going through relationship problems due to my video game habits. I can’t stop playing the new Call of Duty sequel. I have no idea what they do when they develop these video games, but whatever their doing – its working.

It’s amazing how far the industry has come since its humble beginnings with the analog and now archaic Pong machine, which was developed by Nolan Bushnell. Since I was birthed during the ass end of Generation X insertion point, I grew up with video games during my maturation. It all started with the Atari 2600 that my parents bought my brother and I. The flickering lights and chaotic chorus of beeps and buzzes kept my brother and I amused for hours on end. This was probably due to the delight of my parents since I was somewhat of a problem child who needed plenty of mental stimulation in order to behave.  To my weary dual income earning parents the exorbitant sum of a video game system seemed paltry in comparison of hiring a babysitter. The video game console is always the sidekick to every latchkey child.

Like every other child of the 80’s, I eventually graduated to the NES. This was when I first experienced the agony and joy of the syndrome now diagnosed as Nintendo thumb. In 90’s I saw a movement to the Sega Genesis, and Sony Playstation. I took a break in the early 2000’s in order to finish my masters’ degree. I could hardly justify playing video games while a thesis had to be completed. However, I was still able to sneak a little time in on the PS2 every now and then. The later part of the decade brought me to my current and favorite system the Xbox 360.

In my opinion there is one single reason for the addictive nature of this current generation of consoles. You would think it’s the amazing graphics, but that idea is not true. It is the online multiplayer aspect that makes these consoles so damn time consuming. Like a giant voracious time consuming Pac-Man, its diet of your hours, minutes, and seconds is insatiable. Being able to get away from the doldrums of normal everyday life to kill hoards of terrorists, monsters and aliens competitively or cooperatively with your buddies online is just too damn satisfying.

Andy Murry is the No. 4 ranked tennis player in the world, and he has a hard time getting away from COD on his Playstation 3 to spend quality time with his supermodel girlfriend.  This article made a big deal about the fact that he would spend up to seven hours a day on that game. However, those of us who have played that game know that’s really not that unusual.

Maybe the reason that I like this article so much is that it shows that my situation is not that unique. Even the No. 4 ranked tennis player in the world has a little/lot of couch potato in him.

The problem with video games now is that they’re too damn good.

My advice for other gamers who suffer from the dilemma of delegating time between their gaming habits and the attention sipining demands of a girlfriend is to put down the controller and let the girlfriend play with your joystick for a little while.

That way you can live in a harmonious polygamist relationship with both your loves.