Anti-social?
Let me start off by saying that I love the game "Rock Band".
I've only played two nights and only played the drums, but each night has been magical. I've always wanted to play drums and have frequently dreamed of picking up an electronic drum set if I ever had the spare change lying around.
For a couple of days after each Rock Band session, I've pondered plunking down $500+ for an XBox 360 and Rock Band. This promptly gets queued behind paying off the credit cards, buying more children's bedroom furniture, replacing our TV on the fritz, and resuming paying off a colossal loan from my parents. (It's amazing how much debt you can get in trying to start a business, not to mention our recent termite invasion.)
But here's the other realization. I'd probably be playing Rock Band by myself... and that misses most of the fun. What makes Rock Band so much cooler to me than Guitar Hero is the group (band) dynamic. I play with two good friends at our regularish biweekly thing. The game requires us to all perform well to advance. If one of us is hitting a tough patch, the others can try to bail him out. And in most cases, one of us is bound to know each of the songs.
But outside of that biweekly thing, I'm rather light on friends or family to play with. Jacob is too young to play. I play cooperative games with Alicia, but I'm really not sure how that would go. At best, we'd be the White Stripes... at worst, Fleetwood Mac: Behind The Music.
But seriously, it's made me re-realize that making "activity" friends is not my strongpoint. It seems like the only people I did activities with post-high-school are a) roommates who included me, b) guys who put the effort in to get me to hang out, c) women I was seeing and d) organized groups. Today, this leaves my wife and that biweekly thing.
This is, of course, the biggest reason I've never been in a real band. It's always felt like that would require at least one friend in the mix. For a few months, Jack included me in a bandesque songwriting project with another guy. That was heaven. I even got to play drums now and then.
Making friends doesn't seem to be one of Alicia's strengths, either. She hasn't really made any local friends since she moved back to Gainesville. She has lots of friends through her national sorority work. They're not exactly local. The closest people seem to be her work friends from when she was in Jacksonville.
Alicia and I try somewhat. We have parties now and then. People seem to like them, but we don't get invited to many parties ourselves. I think we're out of our element if we're not running the parties, anyway. And, for some reason, I think Alicia and I end up being pretty picky about who we spend our time with. That might be the biggest element there.
And on top of all this, my golf buddies have both suddenly up and moved away.
I don't doubt that when the kids are older, Alicia and I will be encountering lots of other parents that may or may not be cool to hang out with.
But for now, I'm wondering if I need to change something. I'd like to be in a band. I'd like to play more Rock Band. Hell, I'd like to have a poker night or a pool night or something where I belong.
I've done dart leagues and pool leagues. Maybe I'll try to get in on a softball league. Sure, I've only played once in the last 14 years, but I know I enjoyed it. But then, honestly, no one I've met in any league I've played in has been someone I just wanted to hang out with (aside from women I ended up dating). I've even tried community ed courses to meet people.
People have also suggested open mic nights for the music, but I honestly have trouble getting mometum going in music (or anything) now unless someone else is interested in the end result.
But I do think something needs to change. I feel myself getting mopey punctuated with brief moments of where someone gives me a chance to feel alive. I'd like to feel alive more often.
But then, who'd fold the laundry?
I've only played two nights and only played the drums, but each night has been magical. I've always wanted to play drums and have frequently dreamed of picking up an electronic drum set if I ever had the spare change lying around.
For a couple of days after each Rock Band session, I've pondered plunking down $500+ for an XBox 360 and Rock Band. This promptly gets queued behind paying off the credit cards, buying more children's bedroom furniture, replacing our TV on the fritz, and resuming paying off a colossal loan from my parents. (It's amazing how much debt you can get in trying to start a business, not to mention our recent termite invasion.)
But here's the other realization. I'd probably be playing Rock Band by myself... and that misses most of the fun. What makes Rock Band so much cooler to me than Guitar Hero is the group (band) dynamic. I play with two good friends at our regularish biweekly thing. The game requires us to all perform well to advance. If one of us is hitting a tough patch, the others can try to bail him out. And in most cases, one of us is bound to know each of the songs.
But outside of that biweekly thing, I'm rather light on friends or family to play with. Jacob is too young to play. I play cooperative games with Alicia, but I'm really not sure how that would go. At best, we'd be the White Stripes... at worst, Fleetwood Mac: Behind The Music.
But seriously, it's made me re-realize that making "activity" friends is not my strongpoint. It seems like the only people I did activities with post-high-school are a) roommates who included me, b) guys who put the effort in to get me to hang out, c) women I was seeing and d) organized groups. Today, this leaves my wife and that biweekly thing.
This is, of course, the biggest reason I've never been in a real band. It's always felt like that would require at least one friend in the mix. For a few months, Jack included me in a bandesque songwriting project with another guy. That was heaven. I even got to play drums now and then.
Making friends doesn't seem to be one of Alicia's strengths, either. She hasn't really made any local friends since she moved back to Gainesville. She has lots of friends through her national sorority work. They're not exactly local. The closest people seem to be her work friends from when she was in Jacksonville.
Alicia and I try somewhat. We have parties now and then. People seem to like them, but we don't get invited to many parties ourselves. I think we're out of our element if we're not running the parties, anyway. And, for some reason, I think Alicia and I end up being pretty picky about who we spend our time with. That might be the biggest element there.
And on top of all this, my golf buddies have both suddenly up and moved away.
I don't doubt that when the kids are older, Alicia and I will be encountering lots of other parents that may or may not be cool to hang out with.
But for now, I'm wondering if I need to change something. I'd like to be in a band. I'd like to play more Rock Band. Hell, I'd like to have a poker night or a pool night or something where I belong.
I've done dart leagues and pool leagues. Maybe I'll try to get in on a softball league. Sure, I've only played once in the last 14 years, but I know I enjoyed it. But then, honestly, no one I've met in any league I've played in has been someone I just wanted to hang out with (aside from women I ended up dating). I've even tried community ed courses to meet people.
People have also suggested open mic nights for the music, but I honestly have trouble getting mometum going in music (or anything) now unless someone else is interested in the end result.
But I do think something needs to change. I feel myself getting mopey punctuated with brief moments of where someone gives me a chance to feel alive. I'd like to feel alive more often.
But then, who'd fold the laundry?