It's my birthday tomorrow. I'll be one of the oldest, biggest children you've ever met. I don't feel old. I don't think a numerical age defines my physical or mental age.
I can't really gauge my age (hehe, that rhymed) by the physical ailments or pangs that I may have when I get up in the morning from laying asleep for 6-8 hours. I can't say that I feel old when my joints creak and pop when I stand up after sitting for a half an hour or longer. These ailments and pops have always been there.
I feel aches in my back, my arms and tightness in my legs after a four hours of tennis Saturday morning or two to three hours one evening week day. If I played more consistently, these symptoms are usually a non-issue. It's the five to six days in between the tennis playing that causes me to ache afterwards. Of course, I could always ride a bike or jump rope--things I can do conveniently within my house/yard or in the neighborhood--to offset the long duration of serious physical inactivity between tennis episodes. I think about doing so often but thinking and doing are two very different things.
I lack motivation. Actually, that's not entirely true. I think about it. I get excited and anxious about it. Then when the moment of opportunity comes, that's when the motivation wanes. I tell the wife that's why I can get up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning after going to bed around midnight and drive for 20-30 minutes to play tennis but I lack the energy and drive to do so on a daily basis for work. Tennis day is the one or two days I know I need to get off my ass and do something because 1) my ass would be doubly overweight instead of slightly overweight and 2) I have people that I play against that I know will be there to play and somewhat push me to have to exert myself versus hitting the ball with the wife and/or kids. I enjoy both but for me the playing with my wife and kids doesn't give me the genuine exercise I need or want.
Anyway, it's my birthday tomorrow. My wife will be at work in the evening before I get home from my job. This means there will be no celebration of my birthday with my wife and kids on my actual birth date. So, today, after I got home from work, the wife and kids gave me my presents. The first was an awesome batch of brownies that my eleven year old made solo without the help of mom. They were great even without any milk which is how I prefer to consume delicious brownies but we are out at the moment. The second gift was a wrapped-by-my-nine-year-old present that turned out to be a Dual Shock Wireless Playstation controller. I thought it was great as it was and I jokingly mentioned to the wife that it was for a Playstation 3 and not a Playstation 2 (which I already own). She said the guy at Best Buy said it would work with the PS2. Totally joking, I said, "Nah, this is a PS3 controller so you'll have to take it back." She said, "Really!?" I said, "Nah, just kidding." About that time my oldest comes around the couch from the dining room holding a box with labeling stating it's a Playstation 3. I said, "That's really funny to bring me a box like this." Mainly because I've been joking with my wife about getting a PS3 because the HD format is now exclusively Blue Ray and the PS3 is a BR player as well as a gaming system so it's like we are getting two products for the price of one. I speak the truth as anyone who knows, knows that a BR player is like $200-$300 easily. I didn't ever press the issue thought because like many things I want, I really don't need and can do without. In fact, I've done without a PS3 or ANY new gaming system for a long time. Which isn't a big deal but I love to play games and I love to share that passion (or sickness) with my children because it was something I did without as a child.
Off topic...Playing games as a child for me was going to the backyard with baseball glove and tennis ball in hand to throw it upon the roof and try to anticipate or use my ninja-like reflexes to catch the ball as it rolled off the roof.
Back on topic...one of the main reasons I wanted a PS3 and not a good enough one to justify the purchase, hence throwing in the BR player, is that Grand Theft Auto IV is only available for the PS3 and not the PS2. I have all the other versions, starting with GTA III as that's the start of the best of graphics versions. When I heard they were coming out with GTA IV, I was stoked but then I wanted to cry when I found they weren't making a version for the PS2. To further my hesitation of purchasing the PS3, I heard that the more recent versions didn't play well if at all the PS2 games. The ones that did play weren't that great because the newer versions used software emulation versus hardware emulation like the older ones but that is what allowed the cost to lower a bit. Anyway, I still have quite a bit of PS2 games that I still play and my kids play like Guitar Hero I, II, and III. I really didn't like the idea of having to have two systems for games made basically for the same system. It should be backwards compatible and anyone in Sony who thought different should be tarred and feathered after having bamboo slivers shoved under their fingernails.
So, longer story shorter, I got a PS3. The wife is awesome. She knows me well but I could have done without it or until I got a really good deal on it...like damn near free. She told me that I have done without it for over a year so she thought I was finally deserving. Funny, I could see her saying I've done without sex for over a year so I deserve to pillage and plunder her lady garden but a PS3? But what the hell, I'm not going to fight her on it. She bought it. I got it. I love it. The kids and I will have a blast playing it. Go me!
I can't really gauge my age (hehe, that rhymed) by the physical ailments or pangs that I may have when I get up in the morning from laying asleep for 6-8 hours. I can't say that I feel old when my joints creak and pop when I stand up after sitting for a half an hour or longer. These ailments and pops have always been there.
I feel aches in my back, my arms and tightness in my legs after a four hours of tennis Saturday morning or two to three hours one evening week day. If I played more consistently, these symptoms are usually a non-issue. It's the five to six days in between the tennis playing that causes me to ache afterwards. Of course, I could always ride a bike or jump rope--things I can do conveniently within my house/yard or in the neighborhood--to offset the long duration of serious physical inactivity between tennis episodes. I think about doing so often but thinking and doing are two very different things.
I lack motivation. Actually, that's not entirely true. I think about it. I get excited and anxious about it. Then when the moment of opportunity comes, that's when the motivation wanes. I tell the wife that's why I can get up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning after going to bed around midnight and drive for 20-30 minutes to play tennis but I lack the energy and drive to do so on a daily basis for work. Tennis day is the one or two days I know I need to get off my ass and do something because 1) my ass would be doubly overweight instead of slightly overweight and 2) I have people that I play against that I know will be there to play and somewhat push me to have to exert myself versus hitting the ball with the wife and/or kids. I enjoy both but for me the playing with my wife and kids doesn't give me the genuine exercise I need or want.
Anyway, it's my birthday tomorrow. My wife will be at work in the evening before I get home from my job. This means there will be no celebration of my birthday with my wife and kids on my actual birth date. So, today, after I got home from work, the wife and kids gave me my presents. The first was an awesome batch of brownies that my eleven year old made solo without the help of mom. They were great even without any milk which is how I prefer to consume delicious brownies but we are out at the moment. The second gift was a wrapped-by-my-nine-year-old present that turned out to be a Dual Shock Wireless Playstation controller. I thought it was great as it was and I jokingly mentioned to the wife that it was for a Playstation 3 and not a Playstation 2 (which I already own). She said the guy at Best Buy said it would work with the PS2. Totally joking, I said, "Nah, this is a PS3 controller so you'll have to take it back." She said, "Really!?" I said, "Nah, just kidding." About that time my oldest comes around the couch from the dining room holding a box with labeling stating it's a Playstation 3. I said, "That's really funny to bring me a box like this." Mainly because I've been joking with my wife about getting a PS3 because the HD format is now exclusively Blue Ray and the PS3 is a BR player as well as a gaming system so it's like we are getting two products for the price of one. I speak the truth as anyone who knows, knows that a BR player is like $200-$300 easily. I didn't ever press the issue thought because like many things I want, I really don't need and can do without. In fact, I've done without a PS3 or ANY new gaming system for a long time. Which isn't a big deal but I love to play games and I love to share that passion (or sickness) with my children because it was something I did without as a child.
Off topic...Playing games as a child for me was going to the backyard with baseball glove and tennis ball in hand to throw it upon the roof and try to anticipate or use my ninja-like reflexes to catch the ball as it rolled off the roof.
Back on topic...one of the main reasons I wanted a PS3 and not a good enough one to justify the purchase, hence throwing in the BR player, is that Grand Theft Auto IV is only available for the PS3 and not the PS2. I have all the other versions, starting with GTA III as that's the start of the best of graphics versions. When I heard they were coming out with GTA IV, I was stoked but then I wanted to cry when I found they weren't making a version for the PS2. To further my hesitation of purchasing the PS3, I heard that the more recent versions didn't play well if at all the PS2 games. The ones that did play weren't that great because the newer versions used software emulation versus hardware emulation like the older ones but that is what allowed the cost to lower a bit. Anyway, I still have quite a bit of PS2 games that I still play and my kids play like Guitar Hero I, II, and III. I really didn't like the idea of having to have two systems for games made basically for the same system. It should be backwards compatible and anyone in Sony who thought different should be tarred and feathered after having bamboo slivers shoved under their fingernails.
So, longer story shorter, I got a PS3. The wife is awesome. She knows me well but I could have done without it or until I got a really good deal on it...like damn near free. She told me that I have done without it for over a year so she thought I was finally deserving. Funny, I could see her saying I've done without sex for over a year so I deserve to pillage and plunder her lady garden but a PS3? But what the hell, I'm not going to fight her on it. She bought it. I got it. I love it. The kids and I will have a blast playing it. Go me!
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