two bits

Rock Band is a pretty great game, even for someone with as little musical talent as me. It was especially fun because the others hadn’t played before so I didn’t feel like I was holding anyone back. I played guitar with a turn or two on drums.

My image of the ideal family evening is spending time together doing something somewhat active and involved without being overly complicated or tiring after a full day at school and work. I’ve always like board games and puzzles, but you can’t always get people interested. They require more energy or something. This new style of video game seems perfect, so much better than watching television or escaping to separate rooms.

This morning on the subway I started reading this NY Times article over someone’s shoulder and was ready to agree with it and the description of the new American family, but in the end, it kind of depressed me. When I have kids, it’s not going to be like that. My ten-year-old daughter will not call our band the Sex Kittenz, her name won’t be Clementine, and they’ll all want to include me in their fun. The only good part of the article is the link to Bloons.

Three weeks before I leave for Peru is the perfect time to dream about my next trip, right? A question on metafilter got me thinking about the stars.

As a kid I didn’t know enough to appreciate the sky in northern Minnesota in the winter when everything is crisp and cold. I remember my dad pointing out the dippers, but I was mostly unable to connect the dots and, like my inability to spot deer, was never looking in the right place to see shooting stars.

The first time I really saw the sky was on a driving trip down the coast of Oregon. We rented a convertible and a nice side benefit was being able to look up at night without any awkward head craning (no worries, I was the passenger). I saw my first shooting star from the lodge at Crater Lake. The stars there are unbelievable.

Lately I’ve been looking up more often and can pretty reliably pick out the basic outline of Orion on my walk home from the subway. It’s one of the (only) things I’m going to miss come summer. Thankfully, summer is when astronomy groups haul out the telescopes to let the public look at the planets. I went to one last year and will definitely make an effort to go again.

And after that, maybe a trip to a dark sky destination is in order.

Photo by DJMcCrady.

It’s funny how things happen. Somehow I convinced myself that my problem with space centered around my desk and CPU and so yesterday at about noon, after weeks of deliberating, I took the plunge and purchased a very expensive laptop. I was so excited for the whole day. I even called Apple to expedite the shipping.

But then a faulty fire alarm at work prompted me to leave early with just enough time to get to the electronics store (again, in excitement) to test out the laptop I just bought. Okay, so yes, I should have done that before I bought it, but I was so sold on the idea. It turned out to be much bigger and heavier than I expected.

I’m generally not one to get a thrill out of a big purchase; I usually get a sinking feeling instead. It hit me hard, in my gut. Plans kept me from a computer until many hours later, but thankfully the machine hadn’t shipped yet and I was able to cancel the order with no repercussions. Sweet relief!

Maybe I should have titled this “Valerie’s Issues with Money”. But really, I had romanticized the notion of laptops in coffeeshops, held tight to unrealistic expectations and a warped sense of my actual wants/needs. Some would argue that I should just go for it and indulge my gadget-greed, treat myself, but, well, that’s just not who I am right now. And that’s okay.

Now I’m lusting after a cute little Eee – and before you ask, yes, I have seen one in person. Of course, this brings my whole reasoning into question as they can’t really be used as a primary machine. I have been interested in very small laptops since hearing about the ones created for the One Laptop Per Child project, but if I’m honest, I would mostly use it for the internet, so I suppose I’ll just wait until the iPod touch has a bigger hard drive and comes down in price.

There you have it, a very long story about how I didn’t buy a laptop.