Gaming with Mom

     For the last decade or so, I would be considered a hardcore gamer.  I finally got my own PC not long after I got married in 2001, but I had been gaming on console since I was about four and playing Pac-Man on the floor on my mom's Atari 2600.  My mom was awesome that way. How many women get their little girls into gaming?  We played Frogger, Super Breakout, Combat, and Pac-Man the most.  I was also selected to be in a computer class when I was in kindergarten in Florida.  I remember playing something like Space Invaders on these strange-looking computers.  Those old computers looked as odd as the new microwave we bought that wouldn't even fit in our little farmhouse kitchen.  Instead, it sat on the back enclosed porch and set fire and sparks to anything with foil on it...who knew?!  Since then I have gamed on nearly every console produced and enjoyed it as a hobby immensely!

     These days I spend a lot of time playing games because my real passion, having a hobby farm, seems out of reach, so I sit in my dark house and, I like to say tongue-in-cheek, I am "Saving the World from Evil...Again!" as that is so often the premise to games.  I even made that the tag-line for my gaming blog, Limited Addiction.  I have been a life-long story enthusiast.  I love writing, reading, and listening to stories.  I love movies and tv because of the stories.  I really love and miss a tv show that was on PBS when I was younger where a storyteller would read a story (usually an older one) while I watched someone draw out some of the scenes in charcoal.  I loved it and am still inspired by it.  My point is, I love stories and love gaming because of it.  It is so rewarding and thrilling to play through a story!

     It is so much fun to talk to my mom and hear how she is playing Kingdom Hearts again, but this time on the hardest difficulty, or how she's stuck on a boss in Beyond Good and Evil and do I remember how to beat him?  She's in her sixties and lives in a tiny rural southern town, and the nearest game store is twenty miles away, but she is still a gamer!

What's the first game you remember playing and how did you get into gaming?

Things I Miss

• Walking in the rain
• Being thin
• Dancing
• Being comfortable in my skin
• Being confident
• Classes and the wonderful teachers who inspired me
• Knowing that I could charm anyone I wanted
• Being fearless
• The warm, whiskery nuzzle of a horse
• The sweet scent of hay
• Sunshine
• My grandmother's voice
• The oak tree in my front yard
• Walking to the beach
• Tanning topless in the neighbor's pool
• Watching the fiddler crabs
• Snuggling with my cow
• Playing with the goats
• The smell of my grandfather's workshop
• Wagon rides
• Opening presents
• Falling in love and romantic gestures
• Being healthy
• Feeling special
• Rollerskating
• Bowling
• Playing Softball
• Clogging
• Dressing up
• Traveling
• Fresh cut lawns
• Walking barefoot
• Riding horses
• Sharing my soul with someone
• Having a balanced checkbook
• Written communication
• Being part of a family
• Believing in Santa Claus
• Riding my motorcycle
• Picnics
• Family reunions
• My husband being home every night