Pressure

Yesterday a friend had a birthday party that was unlike most I've been to since I was a kid, and not much like any from when I was a kid. It was a daytime birthday party (mostly) and had as the primary activity a program of field day style games. My team fared poorly, but we had one or two bright spots. One was the trivia race. Each team had to designate a person to run out to a spot before they could answer the question. It was novel.

We also had a tolerable showing at team Jenga, at least in a way. Jenga is a pretty fun game. I hadn't played it in forever, but I don't think I suffered on account of that. Our game drew out a long time. I had two turns come and go without incident. The first was easy. There are lots of great options at that point. For someone thinking at a higher level there may be ones to go for that help you down the line, but as far as I can tell, it's all good at the outset.

Trivvies

A number of weeks ago, a friend of mine asked if I was interested in doing a trivia competition with him. I had been in past ones with him before. They were relatively casual ones at a local bar. I do fairly well at things like history, movies and sports (though with the last one, I do well only by comparison with the non-sports fans who are so numerous here in LA). This trivia night was a little different. Just getting a team in it was a competition in itself, I gather.

When the big night came, I'd already had a plenty long day encompassing a Toastmasters contest and matters of supreme domestic importance. I was tired and frazzled. Still, I dragged myself out to the place, where I'd been before for special screenings of movies on 16 millimeter film. I found myself waiting for my friend some thirty minutes. The rest of the team had already been there for much of that time if not more, but not knowing them by sight, I was at a loss (in spite of having their names, or at least one name and one apparent alias).

New Tack City

A while back, I came by a jigsaw puzzle of "Forbidden Planet" (which is a great old scifi classic, and an artifact from the long era in which Leslie Nielsen played serious roles). The way I got the puzzle is to be found in some old post here, and I believe that a subsequent post outlines difficulties I'd had in getting going on assembling it. I was at the time eager to find someone with whom to assemble the thing.

I'm beginning to wonder if the puzzle will ever be assembled if I insist on having someone to do it with. There was a woman who expressed interest, but somehow those plans did not come to fruition, and this was a long time ago, to say nothing of how long ago the original acquisition of the puzzle was. We're talking several years here, I think. All that time the puzzle box has just been sitting around decorating my place.

Head To Head

There I was, on the subway train and bound for a movie screening whose purpose was to celebrate a friend's birthday. Because the movie was the recently released "Great Gatsby", the idea had been conceived that we dress up in fancy Jazz Age-appropriate garb. I complied as well as I could, putting on the suit generally reserved for the likes of weddings and funerals. On a hot day, it maybe looked a bit out of place on the train.

I was listening to a podcast and playing "Angry Birds" when a family got on. There was the mother, the father and the child in a stroller. I thought the child was a little old for that, but it's not my business. The child was also playing "Angry Birds", which made me question my behavior. How could I, a grown man wearing a fancy suit, be playing the very same game at the same time in the same place as this apparently slow child?

Still Here

Still hanging around the apartment is something that I thought I would have dealt with by now. An awfully long time ago, a fellow member of my Toastmasters club entrusted me with his tickets for a raffle. I submitted them for a variety of prizes, taking care to balance desirability with winability. One thing that I won on his behalf was a jigsaw puzzle: "Forbidden Planet". Believe it or not, he didn't want it, so he gave it to me.

I wouldn't have necessarily been eager for it myself, but I am generally glad to get free things, as most people are. I figured that I would put it together at some point, and I would have by now, but I've been hoping for someone to put it together with. Some time ago, a friend expressed interest, and we made plans for her to come around and help do the puzzle, but somehow those plans fell through and never were renewed.

Playing Games

The last time I was back home, I was advised that I ought to go through those possessions of mine that remained in my parents' house. The ordeal of it did not appeal to me, but it proved to be a worthwhile experience. There were many memories which came back to the surface as I extracted box after box from the crowded spare room where it all has been since I moved away. These were all the items deemed non-essential at that time.

I rather regret not grabbing some things a long time ago. One of them was my beloved Nintendo 64. I went as far with video games as to buy the Xbox 360, but it got to the point of collecting dust, and I sold it several years ago. The 64 I bought on the day it was first sold. I lined up, got my number and played it enthusiastically until it became obsolete. I kept it even after that. I'm pleased that it survived to this point.

When It Was A Game

It has been a while since I played video games much. A number of years ago, I sold my Xbox 360 on Craiglist because I realized that it had been collecting dust and I figured that I could use the money. It was a kind of sad moment when they guy came around to pick it up, but it wasn't so sad when he paid me the money in cash. Of course, that occasion didn't entirely end my interest in video games. I still like the older, simpler stuff.

I enjoy the old games they had for the original Nintendo and Genesis. I could play some of those for hours, particularly back then when there were few alternatives. I shudder to think of how many hours I spend in vain trying to progress in "Tom & Jerry" or in "The Goonies 2". The latter game had me convinced that a sequel had been made to the movie, but it was alas only in video game form. I surely did have an interest in games at the time.

Hate The Game

There I was, sitting with some friends after a recent improv show. I had thought of just going home, but I generally figure that impulse to be borne of faulty thinking when it comes, so I consented to hang out instead. We had some wine, some stale Pringles and some popcorn. We talked for a while, and the idea came up that we might play a game. A brief survey outlined the various possibilities, which were actually few in number.

We settled on Scene It. The game is incredibly complicated for a trivia game, or maybe it just seemed that way because I payed so little attention to the introductory video. The game depends heavily on an accompanying DVD, and plays clips you have to answer questions about. I'm not sure I understand the game even now, but that's really now what I was interested enough to write about. Games and refreshments are only lubricants for the real game of interacting with others.

Game Of Clicks

There's a computer game I just adore called 'Baseball Mogul'. That I like it is probably quite revealing, considering what it's all about. Where other sports games provide vicarious thrills by allowing the player to pose as an elite athlete, this one puts you in the position of the heretofore less-heralded general manager and president of a baseball club. What one does is set prices for tickets and concessions, determine levels of investment in areas like medical care and scouting, and of course draft, sign and trade the players who make up the roster from which you make a lineup, rotation and bullpen.If that sounds less than exciting, I can certainly appreciate your point of view.

Basically you spend a lot of time poring over names and figures as they change incrementally from day to day. As I said, it probably says much that I can't stop playing. I hadn't been able to for several years, as I believe it to be a PC-only game and I was for that time only using a Mac. Is it coincidental that I experienced considerable personal growth during the time I could not play the game? Even as I write this, I can hardly keep myself to this task instead of turning to that game. I don't know what it is about some simple, cheap games, but they hook you.

That Game

I like games well enough. I may not be extremely competitive outside of not ever wanting to be wrong, but I like playing games reasonably well most of the time if I know how to play them. Boardgames are pretty fun, although there are too few opportunities to play. I got out of video games some time ago, not finding the financial outlay necessary to be in line with the amount of time and energy I had the desire to put in. I like card games in principle, but favor some more than others. I like blackjack, and would like it more if I could count cards (that applies to most card games). I very much like hearts, which I learned to play in Boy Scouts. I don't care for poker.

Tragic it is therefore that the sole game of cards I have the opportunity to play is Texas Hold 'Em. The game of poker and all its permutations is a total mystery to me. I have little interest in the psychological gamesmanship of the betting phases, and I cannot say what constitutes what hand. I have a vague understanding of where some of the hands are in relation to each other as far as strength is concerned, but would be flying blind in a game. The fact that I do not know how to play and consequently am not very good undoubtedly has a great deal to do with how I like the game, but whether I would like it anyway I can't say.