today it's an ipod--what will it be tomorrow?

There has been a lot of talk around our house about what Samuel wants for his birthday. Though it's a bit indulgent, my kids know that their birthdays are the one day a year where I'll finagle and wrassle whatever to figure out how to make things go their way (within reason, of course!). So after the kid got over the fact that we absolutely will not buy him an iPhone (seriously???), he lowered his expectations and told us he wanted an iPod.


Okay, I can get into that--he can listen to music in his room, or in the car... And nine years old seems to be about the time where a kid gets pretty interested in their own music. But then he started talking about being able to download movies on the Nano and play games, and the truth is, I just don't want him downloading movies or games so that he can sneak off to his room and watch in private. Partly it's because I totally don't trust his own judgement as to what is okay and not okay to watch, but it's also that I want him hanging out with the rest of the family, too. And seriously, the kid has a Wii and a DS. Why does he need another form factor to play games on?


So after much discussion with his grandparents, we all agreed that a Shuffle would be the best move. Super cute, no screen, lots of music. And the other day, a package arrived for Sam in the mail from his Saba Moty and Grandma Myra. When he saw the Apple box he was ecstatic. And then he noticed there wasn't a screen on the shuffle.

"Um, there's no screen," he said.

"You don't need a screen to listen to music," I said, holding tight.

"Hey, you're right!" He grabbed the shuffle to charge it and then listened to the songs his Saba recorded on the shuffle of his own music over and over until he went to bed.

The next morning he wanted to download music from iTunes.

"I need an email address," Sam told me as he maneuvered through the site.

"No, you don't," I told him. I'm picturing him receiving spam about xxx enlargements and not being able to filter that from real email, whatever that is when you're nine years old.

"But how else will I buy music?"

"You don't have a credit card," I said. "You need one to buy music, so until you have one, you have to ask Daddy or me. An email address isn't going to help you with that."

"Okay," he said thoughtfully. "I need a credit card."

"What you need is a full-time job," I told him. "But you can't have that yet, either."

I'm bracing myself... The tween years are approaching.

have I mentioned how badly I need to go back to work?

This was last night's accomplishment. My parents must be so proud...

i'm bedazzled by bejeweled...

So, you know how much fun it is to work on coverletters and resumes? Well it's such titilating entertainment that I've taken to rewarding myself with playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook every time I finish one.


And then every time I half finish one.


And then every time I work for ten minutes without stopping.


And then today, I gave up and gave myself an hour to play the blasted one minute game, which means I probably played at least 50 rounds.



Can you say pathetic?

That game is video crack. I can't stop, and all those sparkly jewels flying around (I like the diamonds best...) You just know there are subliminal messages entering your brain when you hit that five in a row blitz.

But also, I'm a bit of a competitive person and this is what really drives me:

Once I got ahead of Princess Mikkimoto and Aunt Princess Mikkimoto, I stopped playing and went back to working nicely on my um, work. I thought to myself that I should do a screenshot of the score because it's rare that I have a higher score than them, but then chided myself for being totally superficial and ridiculous.

But then later this evening, I went back to check on my status and as you can see, Princess has beat me again. Sigh... How does one get so good at Bejewelled? I ask you?

(Seriously, I need to get back to work before I lose my mind completely...)

what wii did during our winter break...

The kids are back to school (thank goodness Sunday's Seattle snow didn't terrify Seattle schools into calling another snowday on Monday--my gaskets have been preserved) and we're very slowly working our way back into a normal, regular schedule. Last night after dinner, baths, and homework, we even got the kids to bed at a halfway decent hour--which is also pretty normal.

The only spur sticking out of our totally well-greased machine of a schedule (I'm cracking myself up here) is that after almost three weeks of no school, the kids are resistant to going back to the no screen time during the school week rule.

They watched a lot of television and played a lot of Wii during their snowdays and winter break. A lot. There's been a whole new population explosion of Miis on our Wii, and after discovering the Wii Fit, the kids have started complaining about getting antsy without their morning workout. Huh. And that bouncy little Wii medley? We all know that by heart now. Naomi was humming it to herself in the bathtub last night.

It is my fault they got out of control.
In attempt to get some work done, I knew it'd be easy to put on the Tinkerbell video, give the girls a bowl of popcorn, and know that an hour and 22 minutes was take care of. And all of them like the Wii. And Samuel did learn some interesting things about Native American history on Google (though I did have to do some supervising--who would've thought that searching on "Squanto" would bring up sexy photos?) Seriously, that was one long winter break with some serious cabin fever...

But when they start getting antsy for the screens, it makes me nervous. For someone who is definitely drawn to technology and video games herself, maybe it's hypocritical of me to feel so skeptical about the draw. We all know that moderation is good, too much television is bad for multiple reasons, but what about something like that Wii? They're interacting with each other, they're getting physical activity, especially with the Wii Fit, and they're even using their imaginations as they role play with some of the games.

Yesterday, on an NPR story about the closing of the Woolworth's stores, a woman was talking about how her childhood memories included buying a bag of broken biscuits from Woolworth's and taking them home to eat with her brother in a tent they'd made in the living room out of sheets.

Which got me thinking...
My kids don't make tents out of sheets. And at the risk of becoming a cliche, I used to love making tents out of sheets. I also used to love to play outside, which is something my kids don't do much of because of all the rain. And I walked to school. Or at least to the bus stop.

And even though Samuel loves the Wii Fit and loves to jump and do all the physical activities, and is even very interested in what makes a body healthy and how much activity needs to go into that, I feel a bit sad when he talks about taking an early morning "jog" around Lake Wii.

But I guess the thing I worry most about is are they losing those wonderful make-believe games they loved to play just a few years ago, especially Samuel, because the video games are so much more attractive? Or is he simply outgrowing them?

For now we'll experiment by taking away the DS and putting away the Wii controllers during the week so that he's freer to do the other things he enjoys. And our normal schedule doesn't really involve a lot of time around the house, anyway, so it's a pretty natural change.

But after the kids go to bed, I'll bet there will be some Wii Fitting going on. Boaz has some pretty slick hula hooping moves...

the next american idol...

For whatever reason, I never really got into the television show, American Idol. Maybe it's because it's not music I usually listen to, I don't have much time, and really, I spend too much time online to spare on AI.

But yesterday, Kim and I headed to the mall to purchase the American Idol Encore game for Wii and I'm sadly addicted. (Have I ever mentioned, though, how easily I am addicted to anything?) We stayed up late into the night singing to songs I haven't heard since the 80s, and then getting trashed by Simon, Paula, and Randy. I never realized quite how ungroovy I actually was--I felt like that Tina Fey character in Baby Mama. But once you got over the fact that you were trashing the songs, it was so ridiculously fun. Who would've thought that simply being handed a microphone and an audience would make you want to sing out loud and proud?

But the best part was waking up this morning to some loud crowing from downstairs. I ran down to find Samuel and his friend, Jacob, singing along to Madonna's Holiday, and trying to read the words as fast as they'd appear.

Now, they'd really have me addicted if I could add my own music to the game. And despite all his trashtalk, I think that Wii Simon really loves me.

wii are family...

Last night, Boaz and I gave Samuel a Wii for his birthday. He's been pretty much drooling over them since he played one for the first time nearly a year ago and has been dutifully saving up his money. And Boaz and I have been pretty much smitten by them, as well. They're so sleek and cool looking, and so ridiculously fun to play.

So when I searched on them on craiglist and found one in good condition for a good price, we got it. Our boy was so surprised because not only was he not expecting it, but he knew that there weren't any in the stores, and the look on his face was priceless.

(It is really such a good thing that he doesn't know that seeing his expression of pure joy turns his parents into silly putty.)

The whole family made their Miis (your own Wii avatar, for those of you not in the know, and which we not so cleverly named Amii, Talii, Sammii, Boazii, and Boa (Cousin Noah)), and and then played round after round of Wii Sports, which was actually very fun for everyone--the players and the spectators. How novel!

Afterwards, Noah and Samuel found the Smash Brothers game that the guy we bought the console from threw in. It's rated T for crude humour and graphic violence, which it absolutely involves, as well as cute Mario figures to entice young children into participating in bloodsports and cartoon murder. WTF, Nintendo? Why is it necessary to include familiar cartoon figures in games not appropriate for children?

Samuel: Noah, you are so dead! I slayed you!
Me: (APPALLED) Samuel! Is there any reason why you think it's okay to say that? Also, don't you think that a game where you're just killing isn't appropriate?
Noah: It's okay, Aunt Amy... Look, my guy is applauding Samuel's guy, and I'm not actually dead. See? This game is teaching us about good sportsmanship and stuff like that.
Samuel: (laughing) No, it's not, Noah!
Noah: (now laughing, too) I was just kidding.

Needless to say, we switched back to Wii Sports immediately and I'm posting Smash Brothers back on craiglist. Maybe we can trade it for some other rated E game (though, somehow I don't think he's going to want the American Idol Karaoke game I thought looked like fun)...

That said, as soon as the kids went to bed, Boaz and I had a pretty good time bowling on Wii. (Watch out, Tacoma and Bellingham!)

there's something not quite right here (and it has nothing to do with wings)...

wordless wednesday