Archive for January, 2005

Where the 12-year old mind reigns supreme

Published
by
beccataylor
3 years, 8 months ago
in Musings
. 1 Comment

Imagine, if you will, spending a quiet evening with your husband in front of the TV. In my house, quality time often means me tossing all dignity aside and allowing my husband to demonstrate his utter dominance in the realm of his latest video game (in this case, Halo 2). I don’t mind it so much. After all, it’s only a video game.

So, a few nights ago, we’re sitting in our loft playing Halo 2, giddy in love (because doesn’t everyone classify Halo 2 as quality time with their spouse?!). Nathan, of course, is totally kicking butt, and I’m just wandering around the Halo map like a dog who lost his bone.

This is a knock-’em-down, shoot-’em-up, and shoot-’em-up-again kinda game, so gunfire erupts in our living room every 10 seconds. Every once in a while, though, I do manage to score. To my left, an all-terrain vehicle speeds into action, and I can hear its wheels cruching over the dirt and rocks of the Halo world. To my right, a grenade just exploded, momentarily stunning my Halo character.

And, suddenly, the game is over. I look up in a daze, and Nathan reassures me that it’s all over. Reviewing the score, I see our team of four scored 18, 16, 14, and 1. You can guess who scored 1, I think.

I whine, “Honey, when am I going to get better at this?! I totally suck!”

Then, over the game communication system, what HAS to be a 12-year old screams out, “Zappper1, you suck! I mean, you REALLY suck! GO HOME! I can’t believe you think you can play this game! Zappper, you’re OK, man. But Zappper1, you REALLY SUCK! Go bob for apples or something.” Nathan and I look at each other, not quite sure where to start. So we giggle.

“Bob for apples?!?!” I say. “What kind of insult is that?!”

Nathan consoles me, “Nah, just tune it out. Don’t listen to those twerps trash talking. They do it all the time.”

“Yeah,” I say, “But ‘bob for apples’? That’s just stupid.” I pause. “Nathan, I understand if you don’t want to play online with me anymore. I really do suck, and I don’t want you to earn a bad rep!”

Nathan just looks at me (laughing on the inside, I just know it!), and says, “Honey, I think my reputation is safe with the 12 year olds.”

The week that was

Published
by
beccataylor
3 years, 9 months ago
in Uncategorized
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I’ve successfully finished my first week back at school! I had a paper due last night, and of course, procrastinated until the end. But, hey, the good news is that I can crank out 1500 words in under an hour now! They’re not the best papers I’ve ever written. Actually, some of them are mind-blowingly putrid piles of dog doo, but somehow, the profs totally dig them. For now, that’s all I ask. :)
The most notable event of the week was getting called to the carpet for a slip-up at work. I’ve been out of college and working in the “Real World” for about 5 years now, and this is the first time someone reported me to my supervisor. Nothing major, but I managed to build it into a major internal crisis, of course. You know, all that jazz about us being our own worst critics. Even so, sometimes it’s hard to really, truly care about it when you wish you could be somewhere else. I don’t like my job, but I still care how others think of me. So hearing that I dropped the ball, and then hearing that my boss wasn’t surprised about it really threw me for a loop. But, I’m recovered now! To show that I’m a good little corporate citizen, I signed up for time management training (gasp). Although, I worry that won’t help with some fairly extensive surgical enhancements of my memory, which seems to taking more breaks lately. Every time I’d lose my student ID in high school, my dad would tell me, “Becca, I swear to god, you’d lose your ass if it wasn’t bolted on.” Wow, Dad, who knew your words of wisdom would come back to haunt me all these years later???