I’ve been on my own with the kids a lot lately. Particularly this weekend, while my director girlfriend has been off being a director.
Now, that’s not a bad thing. A lot of the time I cherish my one-on-one time with the kids. It’s a privelege and a gift to be able to spend quality time on my own with them as someone who came into their lives at a relatively late stage in the game.
Still, something about today has been particularly rough. Something in the air. Maybe the constant snow and rain for the last few days has had something to do with it. But the butting of heads started by about 8:00 AM and didn’t stop until bedtime.
On days like this, sometimes the best cure is to snuggle up with Natalie Joy once the kids are in bed and pass out early. Sometimes, like tonight, a couple of hours worth of vegetative gaming is necessary. I don’t usually crawl into a quiet little hobbit-hole and disappear into my computer these days, but it’s awfully therapeutic.
Simple goals, repetitive tasks, engaging but unchallenging narrative… it’s a recipe for success when it comes to decompressing after a difficult parenting day.
Surprisingly enough, I didn’t actually end up using the controller. I jumped into Star Wars: The Old Republic tonight for a little while to see if I could wrangle some enjoyment out of it, and it turns out there’s no controller support. I understand there are apps out there to map keystrokes to the controller, and I think I’ll play with that at a later date. The keyboard controls… well, they play like an MMO. And in spite of the fact that I actually enjoyed my game time in TOR tonight, I cannot abide MMOs that play like MMOs.
Hope the week treats you well.
And, as always, paddle your own canoe.
-Trevor
