Godless Mom in the Bible Belt

I must have been about nine or ten years old the first time I saw a Space Invaders machine. It was sitting next to the entrance in our neighborhood grocery store surrounded by at least a dozen teenagers. I can remember the sound effects that went with that game like I heard them yesterday and if I close my eyes I can still see those little primitive computer graphic aliens marching down the screen.

Space Invaders gave way to Astroids which in turn gave way to Pac Man and Tempest. I remember as a young teenager going into the arcades and leaning against the machines while I watched my friends play. The rooms were always filled with the electronic noise made by the machines and the cursing and pounding of the frustrated patrons. I enjoyed the games, but usually as a spectator. I didn't have a whole lot of spare change as a kid and I wasn't about to spend what I did have on a game that would last maybe 3 minutes.

The evolution of video games has been an incredible thing to watch. I am always amazed by the huge technological leaps that come with each new generation of games. Many of them are so realistic now that if I stare at the screen for too long I actually get motion sickness!

Scott has an XBox and I've enjoyed many a lazy hour watching him play some of the shoot 'em up, car chase games he enjoys. I still remain an observer, I'm content to sit on the sofa with a book or a magazine while he plays. However, Liz has recently gotten to the age where she is interested in developing her own XBox skills which means Mommy gets to fight the battles while Liz practices moving the characters about.

Over the weekend we rented Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and today Liz wanted me to play it while she watched. I spent the better part of an hour trying to defeat these silly ghosty things called Hinky Punks! I'm certain there were better ways for me to spend my time (loading the dishwasher for instance) but I couldn't bring myself to break away from the silly things. I kept thinking that if I just made all the right moves in all the right order I would be able to help Ron defeat the Hinky Punks and then help Harry rescue Neville from the ghoul.

Needless to say, Ron is still trapped with those damned Hinky Punks and I'm sitting here thinking about going upstairs and having another go at it! Freakin' Hinky Punks!