Wii Dog

Playing games with Alex is getting more and more fun the more he levels up. With each passing month, he gains points in dexterity (better small motor skills to press the buttons when he actually wants to), cunning (to help him figure out the right button to press), willpower (to keep trying even after things don't work the first try), and constitution (to help him know when to ask for help with a certain task). (Clearly, I have Dragon Age on the brain.)

The one that I totally didn't expect him to love, however, is ngmoco's Touch Pets: Dogs. It's a little virtual pet game for iPhone that is really quite simple and a direct rip-off -- and vast improvement on -- Nintendogs for the DS. You visit the dog daily to feed him and give him water, take him out to the yard for exercise, care for his hygiene, change him into cute outfits, etc. Alex LOVES all these activities. He seems, especially, to relate to the dog's need to be let outside every day to poop. That's always his first priority after booting up the game, and he is very conscientious about cleaning up the poop. He also loves feeding the dog and giving him water, and washing and brushing him. It's so much fun to see how such a tiny human, who can do so few things on his own, can understand and use the intuitive interface (I credit both ngmoco and the iPhone itself--and, of course, my brilliant child).

The cutest part for me, though, is what Alex calls the game. He asks for my phone, then tells me, "Let's play Wii Dog." When we're done with all the tasks in Touch Pets, he says, "Let's play a different Wii." It's amazing -- to this child, "Wii" = "game." Even though I should probably correct him (for the sake both of literacy and of fairness to the other consoles ;), I find myself just letting this one slide and enjoying this simple time when one child's entire view of video games is formed by his early life experiences with Wii.

NoNoBloMo

That stands for November Non-Blogging Month... I can't believe there was a time when I blogged every day in November. Now it's an accomplishment to blog every month! And though I don't think this really counts as a post (I have a few topics I really want to cover but just haven't had time!), I'm hoping it'll at least get my editorial juices flowing again.

I'm busily gearing up for Thanksgiving, which I'll be hosting again this year at my house. It's going to be a potluck and gamefest with family, friends, and Beatles Rock Band. We might also break out New Super Mario Bros. Wii, though since Shoe will be in attendance, it might turn too competitive. We'll see. I've only recently checked the game out, and I will say that playing cooperatively is really fun--I love how you can bubble yourself out of tough spots, as long as you're playing with a more skilled friend. I haven't gotten to a point yet where I've needed to use the hand-holding Super Guide, though I am really curious how that will work out. I accidentally played a level in Uncharted 2 on their Super Easy mode, and I was shocked how they sort of shuttle you forward if you fail in any way. Very jarring for an experienced gamer--I wonder if this actually attracted many non-gamers into Uncharted.

Oh, and in other news: I'm pregnant again! This is kind of a weird venue for that news announcement, but nowadays, what really is the best way to share such info? I'm due in February and looking forward to it, though if I think I'm busy now, I shudder to think what awaits me then. So let's not think about it and instead just try to enjoy this moment of quiet and calm when I actually managed to blurt out a few words to the world.

Now, on to Mass Effect! I'm replaying it to get a character ready for import into the next game (I never played the original on retail because I reviewed it). I'm hoping they let you change your character's looks though--I really don't like my current incarnation of Ms. Shepard.

My Awesome Brother and Terminator 2

The last time I blogged, I mentioned that a lot of things were going on in my life that were preventing me from having the mental energy to write on my blog. And though I don't exactly feel like I've "caught up," I do have the sense that either things are returning to a pace I can handle, or I'm getting my annual burst of fall energy that is making life seem a bit less overwhelming and hard. (I really love this particular change of seasons--from summer to fall.) It's nice, and I'm thankful.

And while I do have several little posts starting to at least poke their heads through the haze in my head and request to see the light of the Internet, I wanted first to share a couple of the things that have kept me so hazy for so many weeks and months. I'll start with the easiest--which is the easiest only because it involves linking to a post someone else wrote.

My brother has been undergoing chemotherapy for the last few months, and he's been blogging about his experience so friends, family, and other people struggling with cancer can follow along. Last week he wrote something profound and beautiful, and I wanted to share it with as many people as possible. So do yourself a favor and check it out -- I find the wisdom contained therein applies to a lot of the struggles, small and large, life threatening and trivial, that we all constantly face. It's called No Fate, and maybe I especially like it because it takes its title from one of my favorite films, Terminator 2.

Thankfully, my brother is coming to the end of his chemo, and though the next week or two are supposed to be the worst, at least it will be over soon. We'll all be glad to see him get through this and on to the rest of his quite extraordinary life.

Too much!

Lately there has been a LOT going on in my life, more than I can talk about openly, and more than I think I've ever experienced all at once. Every time I think things are settling down, a new wrench gets tossed my way (I even have mysterious bruises that are possibly evidence of these "wrenches"). Not all of it involves just me, which is why I really can't share details, but I hope it explains just a little bit why I haven't been writing much of substance here. I've also realized how difficult it is to use the social networking sites to express one's true feelings. Facebook really needs to add a "share only with the people who won't judge you when you say you are depressed or stressed or feel like crap" button.

But anyway, it's been a while since I wrote, and I just felt like putting something -- any words, really -- out there. And I'll leave you with this very important Bill Moyers' piece about the health insurance industry -- just watch the first few minutes for a reminder of why reform is necessary. In this economy, I hope more and more people are realizing how very precarious employer-based health insurance is.

That's the way it is

I really liked Katie Couric's show tonight on Walter Cronkite. It's truly the most appropriate format for an obit on this legendary newsman.


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I really hope Cronkite's standard of journalism isn't dying. Some would argue that it's already dead, but I don't agree. I think things are simply evolving and adapting to some seriously disruptive technological changes. The love of truth and representing important issues and stories to the public is what drives real journalism, and I can't see human beings ever surviving without that.

All these deaths lately are making me realize that I guess I finally am "growing up" (a.k.a. getting older). With Michael Jackson, it was remembering "Beat It" as one of the first music videos I'd ever seen. This time, it's remembering watching Walter Cronkite on the evening news. My mom would have it on during dinner, and I remember hearing him count each night how long the hostages had been held in Iran. I guess getting old isn't so bad -- think of all the history you get to see! (Uncle Walt himself would probably attest to that.)

I think what astonished me most about Katie's report was the part where they showed his old papers, and his old reporter's notebooks. He kept everything! I can't wait until that guy publishes his biography. I'd love to see some of Cronkite's old notes. It also makes me sad my own notebooks have rarely if ever captured anything worth saving for decades, and even when they have, my notes have always been so sloppy I don't think they'd be worth poring over ever again. I might have 'em tucked away somewhere nonetheless. (I guess reporters are reporters, whatever the generation! Gotta save your notes!)

Belonging

I hope I'm getting this just in under the wire of relevant Michael Jackson posting, because it has got to be said. Every time the question of Michael Jackson's kids' paternity and custody comes into question, somewhere an adoption angel dies. Really. I've really been wondering how adopted (or any non-traditionally conceived) children feel when they hear these newscasters pondering that because Jackson may/may not be the biological father to those children, it's just a complete MYSTERY who is going to take care of them now that he's gone, and really, to whom do these kids belong? It's ridiculous. Why should his kids (which I assume are legally his kids, especially if their mother relinquished her parental rights) be treated any differently than any other kids whose parents/guardians die? To say that they should be treated differently because they might not be genetically related to their father is such outright ignorance and stupidity, and I can't believe how glibly it keeps getting stated and questioned over and over again.

The other thing that has been nagging at me is this question of whether the kids are his, based completely on their looks, and whether there's any way those kids could be half-black. I thought we had come farther than this as a society, I really did. I mean I grew up with people questioning whether my dad was really my dad, questioning whether I was really Chinese, etc. and I never really held it against anyone. Back when I was growing up -- believe it or not -- multiracial marriages and mixed children were still quite unusual. But nowadays it is so obvious how quickly "dark" genes can get diluted. I'm not saying it's the norm, but it can happen in a single generation. Genetics are weird, and there's so much living proof of this fact that it is simply ignorant and embarrassing for people to insist that there's just no way those kids could be half-black. That's simply not the case. I'm not gonna go on record and say I think they actually are half-black, because frankly, Michael Jackson's life and ways give me plenty of reason to believe that they might not be genetically related to him at all. But to be so ignorant of the reality of mixed ethnic heritage in the multicultural era in which we live makes you painfully out of touch.

And then finally, to top it all off, today when I was finally saying, ah, well, I'm taking this all too seriously and just need to let it go, I see this ridiculous, embarrassing, preposterous story on ABC News of all places (Peter Jennings, please be rolling in your grave!) about Michael Jackson's "white" kids and the challenges they are going to face getting along with his black family. I don't think I need to break down all the things that are wrong with this article, but I do have two questions for our friends at the network:

1) Did Luchina Fisher, the author of this story, and whoever edited it get a serious talking to? Will an apology be appearing for this frankly racist "news" article?

2) If not, then when are you guys going to do a retrospective on my life growing up as the one "white" kid dealing with an all-Chinese family? The language barrier! The hair color! The pressure to do well in school! The chopsticks! Oh, the stories I can tell! If only I'd realized earlier this was breaking news!

Race in this country is a complicated issue, and judging by how contemporary media are handling the strange, sad, unusual story of Michael Jackson's life and death, it's clear that whatever progress we so celebrated when we elected our first black president back in November was -- important though it may have been -- still just a baby step toward combating our tribal, xenophobic, and prejudiced human nature.

On <3 and Animal Crossing

I've been playing this game against my will lately. My niece and nephew adore it, so I've sort of been peer-pressured into playing it on Alex's behalf. He's not quite old enough to play it on his own, but he is old enough to appreciate it and understand that he and his cousins can play it "together" online, visiting each other's towns and such.

We all know the <3 emoticon denotes love. What's the opposite of that?

See, I've played the previous Animal Crossings, on Gamecube and DS, pretty extensively. I've already paid off multiple mortgages to Tom Nook and filled numerous museums with dinosaur bones. I've shaken trees and conversed with town inhabitants ad nauseum. Even the hottest show in town, KK Whatever-his-name-is on Saturday night, got boring years ago. So this third time around, enduring all of Animal Crossings odd quirks (the endless dialogues, the not-quite-exact enough controls, the lack of new content or gameplay) doesn't feel quite as rewarding or enchanting as it was, especially, the first time around.

The game makes you pay a steep price -- especially if you want to go online. I knew about friend codes, so I was expecting that part. I wasn't prepared for the fact that, before you can even get your damned friend code, you need to complete your first round of odd jobs for America's favorite predatory lender Tom Nook (which happens to involve having lengthy conversations with every bleepin' animal in town). Then, once you have all the friend codes (and every human player needs his/her own code -- fun fun fun!), you have to be online simultaneously, with your gate open (a setting which requires a save and restart to change) and Wi-Fi firewall settings fixed just so. For some reason, I had a ludicrous notion that I'd be able to mail letters to another friend's town, but I couldn't get that to work. I mean, there's absolutely no way in hell you are ever getting Animal Crossing set up online without also having to be on speakerphone with the people you are trying to contact, which just seems ridiculous. What's the opposite of <3 again?

But when we finally succeeded, and Alex's cousin made her first exuberant foray from Pretty town into Gearland -- with Wii Speak enabled and everything! -- I've got to admit, this game that has frustrated me so, the game that has been shoveled from system to system with the most minimal of effort, became magical all over again. My ennui evaporated and I was full of <3!

I'd still like to know the other emoticon, though. Alex and I haven't even made our first mortgage payment to Nook, and given how he always gives us an earful even for the simplest transactions, things are bound to get ugly.