Video games

I have a PS2 that I got for free for helping a friend move. I have 5 video games. I enjoy playing them from time to time, but inevitably, upon finishing an hour or 20 of staring at the tv screen immersed in what is a made up world, I feel empty. I feel like I just ate an entire bowl of jello, slightly full but really really unfulfilled, and kind of sick. Escaping into imaginary worlds is a fun exercise and I try to do it often, however video games are someone elses imagination. How can you imagine what it looks like to drive at 200 mph, when someone else has provided the sights and sounds...all you have to provide is the imaginary smell, taste, and feel; it smells and tastes like cherry and feels like cubified snot.

Some games have you enjoying adventures through mystical lands, but most have you racing other players, or shooting faceless enemies. Personal interaction consists of yelling obscenities over your headset (if you're playing multiplayer) or at the AI "enemies" as they mercilessly ruin precious minutes of "progress" that you made through a digital maze.

I did some reading this morning on a video game called Red Dead Redemption. It's a story about a guy in the old west who can be good or evil and can pretty much do whatever he wants. He can explore the vast prairie and search for treasure, or shoot prostitutes and skin cows, the choices are endless. I pasted a trailer below, and I have to admit I am tempted to play. But the reviews talk about "endless replayability" and how one reviewer "spent 6 hours just exploring the landscape".

Last weekend I spent 2 hours exploring the woods on my bike. I got a tick, I lost my gloves, and as it was my first "longer" mountain bike ride of the year (no comments super-Trish), my legs felt like rubber the next day. I've ridden in those woods literally dozens of times. I know almost every path, but on Saturday I met Morgan, an Autralian Shepherd with a great personality (she is a dog.) It was the best 10 minutes of my ride. When I got back to the parking lot, I drove home and sat down on the couch with a beer. I looked at my dusty ps2, contemplated upgrading to a ps3 and instead started stretching, because the next day was time for some water polo, or in other words, yelling obscenities at others in real life and I wanted to win.