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 The pact. Good lord, the pact. I am now twelve days, two hours, fifty three minutes, and thirty six seconds into the pact, and nobody here even knows what it is yet. I have made one vague reference to it and then just vanished.
The reason I haven't posted in two weeks is directly related to the pact. The pact very nearly destroyed me, and yet it continues. I think about the pact every hour, and sometimes even more frequently than that.
So here it is, the who, that what, and the why. And a lot of pointless rambling on top of that. I think first off I will explain the rules of the pact, because without them you really won't have any idea what is going on...
The Time Frame
The pact runs from June 1st until July 31st, 2006.
The Rules
Rule 1:
No games in the house unless I am the one who has built them.
Rule 2:
No console, arcade, or PC games anywhere. Handheld games are allowed, but only when I am out of the house.
Rule 3:
No video game purchases. None. No used games, no new games, no controllers or carry cases, no video game magazines or online game site subscriptions. Nothing, zip, zilch, nada.
No, Aaron...
Put it down and walk away.
The Reason
Why is it that a gamer such as myself would give up gaming for two months? Is it religious reasons? Have I come unhinged, am I mentally unstable? Have I been possessed by the spirit of Jack Thompson?
No.
The reason is simple. Variety. I miss the insane shuffle of life, I have become set in my ways and I want to shake things up a bit. It wasn't that long ago that I used to draw, rollerblade, act, do stand-up comedy, bicycle, and get very, very drunk. Now I spend my free time essentially seeking out the next game, buying it, and then playing it sober. SOBER!!!! How anyone can be expected to live their life in a cycle of work, aquisition, and sobriety I can't possibly fathom. The honest truth is that I used to enjoy games more because they complimented my life.
So I figured I had two options. Break the cycle or succumb to it completely. Either take a break from games or spend every minute of every day playing them. I decided on the former.
The Judge
I am the only judge, and I am also the person who I have the pact with. It is an experiment in self denial in a way. I am trying to shake things up, but it is something I am doing for myself, so only I will know whether I have managed to stay on track or not. Of course, the pact may cause me to develop a split personality, as I wage war between the part of me that wants to succumb to the urges and buy that new DS Lite, and the part that wants to feel like a well rounded human being again. =)
So here I am, nearly thirteen days later. The reason I haven't posted in so long is because I decided that one of the things I should try is going to the gym. Now, as nerds go, I'm in pretty decent shape. Wait, did I say "decent"? I meant to say "decrepit". But what I don't lack is enthusiasm. So when I went in to the gym and had them show me how to use some of the equipment I decided to launch full bore, head first into this whole exercising thing.
Six days and two bottles of muscle relaxants and anti-inflammatories later I regained the use of my arms. I'm not kidding. Sure, I can laugh about it now, and I fully expect you to laugh at the image of me trying to lift anything but a game controller, but last weekend I was fully convinced that I was going to die. I had visions of me curled into a ball on my living room floor, my arms cramped across my chest much the same as any ant that has died. This is how the pact nearly destroyed me, I pushed myself WAY too hard my first time at the gym and damaged the muscles in my chest, shoulders, and biceps. Of course, it did help me through some tough days of the pact, it's hard to be obsessed with video games when lifting your arms at all feels like dipping your arms in a vat of boiling Coca-Cola. Sure, I could have said boiling oil, but honestly the Cola is probably worse for you.
But now that I have recovered I have a LOT of stuff to write, and hopefully without the distraction of games around the house, I may actually find the time to do it.
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