My dad used to say that when he was a kid playing baseball he wasn’t very fast, but at least he couldn’t throw very hard either. I thought this sort of assessment could be applied to me and my dating prowess during my single years. How I look doesn’t matter so much now that I’ve locked my starting pitcher into a long-term contract, but I’m still plenty dorky.
I have a habit of getting really interested in a hobby, buying a ton of stuff to support it, and then moving on. My latest fetish has been quite long-lived though. I’ve been overly interested in boardgaming for like four years.
Now see, if I was single and made that statement you’d hear the screech of chairs on tile and the pitter patter of all the single women leaving the room. At this point in life all you hear is the barely audible sigh from my wife as she hangs her head in shame and the knowing nods of fellow wives and sisters-in-law.
To feed the fettish, one of the web sites I frequent is the aptly named Boardgamegeek. BGG is a site where each geek can rate games he owns, comments on them, post pictures, whatever. I mostly use it to find new games I might like and try to contribute to other geek’s search for The Next Game so I don’t feel like a total taker. As it turns out, I currently own nine of the top 10 rated games and 13 of the top 15. I will soon have to trim either shirts or pants from my wardrobe to make room in our closet for more games.
The reason I bring up this indiscrete little habit of mine is that I posted some time ago about the withdrawal symptoms I’d been having since my friends and family that I game with are at least eight time zones away. Well a couple of weeks ago we figured out a way to play one of our favorite games across the Internet. I know, I know. Videogaming is totally geeky. Boardgaming is even more geeky. So isn’t boardgaming on the Internet the apex of geekiness? I now hang my head in acknowledgment.
But it’s been fun.
A game that might normally take an hour or two, a couple of 2L bottles of Dr. Thunder and a bag of M&Ms now takes over a week, and the good-natured banter now happens over email or IM. But we’re having a good time. It is a pleasant break from the day to decide where to place my king once Craig finally crawls out of bed. It is a welcome addition to my morning to wake up and see if Dean’s attacking my poorly placed priest. And it’s cool that Ty’s finally back at the table since his move to SoCal.
So mock if you must, but the withdrawal symptoms are subsiding and my breathing has returned to normal – if you can call any of this normal. And if you want to get in on a game, send me an email - I won't tell your wife or girlfriend.
3 comments:
*audible sigh*
I enable the addiction. I've more than once helped Dean make his move because his computer at work won't let him get on the site (how do I do that to my computer?)
I haven't checked my list of blogs for a while. What a nice surprise to see so many posts. I loved them all.
Where there is a will there is a way. Time zones, continents, techno difficulties et.al, nothing will stop the true gamer! Play on,gentlemen. Just be grateful it is 2007, in times past players had to rely on snail mail.
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