Game On

I'm amused when playing video games with my boys -- their competitive instincts come out, both with each other, and with me. While I don't play whole-hog versus my boys, I also definitely never just let them win to pad their egos. I play with them as a friendly competitor. I did that the other day, when I was showing B1 how to play basketball, was telling him "Now, this is what you'll be up against, what your opponents will try to do, so you have to be ready for it, and not be surprised or thrown off by it." I wasn't playing Detroit-style rules, mind you, but I was giving him the basics of mindful play, of offense and defense.

Same with the video games -- B1 in particular gets furious when he loses (B2 does, too, but only with his brother -- and, because he's 6, I play easier against him than against his 10-year-old big brother, so I guess there are less opportunities to earn his ire). But, oh, man, does B1 ever get mad when I beat him. He cries and rages, and gets more determined to play again to try to beat me. He hates if I get a high score that knocks his score down a notch.

I gently point out to him that this is the nature of competition, that, to win, you have to work hard for it, and even when you win, it's not like you'll always win; that records are made to be broken, that when you're on top, there's always (eventually) going to be someone better who comes along and knocks you off your perch, so it's important to have some humility along with your satisfaction of a well-earned win, and not to lose your head, one way or another.

Watching B1 rage, I'm reminded of endless chess games with my stepdad, who would beat me again and again and again and again (that's what I get for going up against an Ivy Leaguer!) But, eventually, I was able to beat him -- and I knew he wasn't cutting me any slack when we played, and it forced me to up my game.

So, on a smaller scale, I'm doing that with my boys -- teaching them the nature of competition, and how to win with humility and honor, and to respect themselves and their opponents, and to not lose their heads when somebody's beating them, and how to lose with grace.

It still amuses me -- B1 fumes and rages; B2 actually will get physical with his brother when he gets beaten. He will put down the controller and tackle his brother, and then I have to pry them apart, joking about penalty boxes and unsportsmanlike conduct.

I also tell them, when I'm playing, that while I know it's frustrating to lose, that when they're up against another player, they can't bank on that person ever throwing a game -- they certainly can't depend on that. That they have to play fairly, and play well, if they want to win. And sometimes, even that's not enough -- that they may be unlucky. But the way to minimize the role of luck is through skill and practice.

Of course, the video games are really just a petri dish for competition proper -- but baby steps.

Spin Cycle

Doing laundry this morning, after putting it off for a few days. I don't mind doing laundry; for me, the folding of the laundry is the most annoying part, going from the pure chaos of the laundry basket to orderly piles. Urk.

Can't believe the boys' school year is nearly over. B1 will be in 5th grade next year, and B2 will be in 1st grade. Amazing how quickly it all goes (cliché, I know). When B2 was still in preschool, that seemed to stretch out time more (since he'd been to young to be in Kindergarten the other year, falling just under the age cutoff, it meant an extra year of preschool for him). But now, he's hopping, skipping, and jumping his way to 1st grade. When your youngest is going from 6 to 7 this year, where does the time go?

The boys are completely stoked for the trip I'm taking them on after school is out. I'm busy planning the logistics of that; or I will be, this week. Just have to get it all sorted out. I've long ago gotten the time request from work, so that's covered. I just have to organize the rest of it. Road trip! The boys are psyched, want me to get a van.

Hoops

I took the boys out yesterday, took advantage of the ongoing unseasonably warm weather we've been having (strange, it's like being in a...hmmm...greenhouse). Taught B1 the rudiments of basketball; since he's so clearly going to be even taller than I am, I figure he should at least learn about it.

It's supposed to be this hot all week. I've been taking advantage of that to bike to work; as I may have said already, I never ride this early in the season, but with these temps in this whole Year Without a Winter, I might as well.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Bitches

I'm taking the boys downtown for the St. Patrick's Day Parade, which is always a good time. They love all the throws that people toss and it's fun to see the river run green. B1 is fascinated by that, the plumber's dye they use to transform the river.

80??

I'm rather floored to find that we reached 80 degrees today. That's unheard for Chicago in March. Historically, we get a couple of weeks of warmth in April, before a temperature crash for most of May, but never in March. At any rate, I got my bike out and rode today, the first ride of the season. Again, I never ride this early, but when it's that warm, there's no excuse not to. And it looks like much of the week will be as warm, so I'll bike on those days, even as I wonder whether we'll get an inevitable temperature drop in the coming weeks. Or maybe it will just get warmer. This felt like the Year Without a Winter, at least here in Chicago. I'm amazed at what a non-event winter was for us this year. Again, entirely unfamiliar to me in all the years I've lived in Chicago. Makes me wonder what's in store for the summer, weatherwise. All the same, it was nice to have my bike out of storage.

Emilia Clarke

I do have to say that Emilia Clarke, who plays Daenerys Targaryen in "Game of Thrones," is quite the juicy little morsel. Apparently she got the part after the original choice (Tamzin Merchant) dropped the role (I wouldn't be surprised if Merchant balked at all the nudity required of the role of Daenerys). But, seeing both actresses, I think Clarke is a much better choice for Daeny. She's a far better fit than the first choice. She absolutely looks the part, exactly as I envisioned it.

One frustration for me -- they just list her birth year (1987 -- what a baby!) but they don't list her birth month! So, I'm left to guess her sign. I'm guessing Pisces, because she has the doe eyes going, and has a rather nice ass (two qualities I've noticed with Piscean women). But I don't know for sure. Anyway, she's well-cast, and she's rather tasty, and she's playing one of my favorite characters in the books, so that's nice, too.

I hope HBO funds the series all the way through. I want to see it from start to finish (again, assuming George R. R. Martin finishes it!)

Thrones

I finished watching it, and they were, indeed, very faithful to the source novel, from start to finish. If they follow the one-book-per-season formula for the series (and if HBO is smart and keeps renewing it, hello?) it should give Martin enough time to finish the series! He sure as hell better.

I personally felt he'd gotten into a speedbump in Book 4, which was why it took him so long to get to Book 5, but (haven't read Book 5, yet, but it's on its way) maybe he'll have written his way out of the hole he'd dug for himself.

All the same, having enjoyed the first season, I'm still tempted to craft a "Game of Thrones" drinking game out of some of the things portrayed in it. Stuff like...

Bare ass (male or female): Take a drink
Bare breasts: Take a drink
Medieval sex scene: Take a drink
Joffrey acts like a shithead: Take a drink
Someone carries a torch: Take a drink
Homo-erotic scene: Take a drink
Actor playing Varys calls to mind Donald Pleasance in his acting: Take a drink
Someone's throat gets slit and they die gurgling: Take two drinks
Someone gets a blowjob: Take a drink
Character looks gravely on at something or someone: Take a drink
Cersei scowls with wrinkle-browed disapproval: Take two drinks
Battle scene is implied but never shown: Take two drinks
Catelyn acts like a bitch: Take a drink
Sansa does something stupid: Take a drink
The Imp does something witty or charming: Take a drink
Lord Baelish ("Littlefinger") smirks and/or grins: Take two drinks
Someone reminds Jon Snow that he's a bastard: Take a drink

And so on.

A Game of Thrones

I picked up the first season of "Game of Thrones" on DVD. One of my favorite fantasy novels of the 90s, I'm glad to see it finally realized in a show, and I have to say that the casting is perfect, and they've done credit to it.

For those unaccustomed to the series of books, however, I imagine the body count is startling and/or shocking. Which cracks me up -- welcome to the world of George R. R. Martin, who is crueler and harder to his characters than anybody. I'll keep a running tally (without saying who falls, for those who aren't familiar with the work):

GT SEASON 1 BODY COUNT: 4

These aren't just minor characters, either, but are major ones in the story.

Anyhow, it's just getting started. I'm pleased to see the show so faithfully and successfully execute (pun intended) the novels. I haven't read Martin's Book Five, yet, since it took him so long to get that one done, but I'll get around to it.

Great series, though. Can't wait to see how far they run with it, once things really get out of hand. And I dearly hope Martin actually lives long enough to finish what he started. Finish the series, man!

Trumped

For all of his associated hoopla, I have to hand it to Trump with the Trump Tower -- it's perfectly situated downtown, has managed to seamlessly integrate with the skyline, and has amazing residences therein (to say nothing of their five-star restaurant, Sixteen). The floor plans for the various condos look sharp. If you're even remotely cosmopolitan and urbane, the appeal of the place is undeniable. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do, just because it was a Trump property, but having seen it up close, I'm admittedly impressed. Even the landscaping around the base of it is impeccably chosen, fully integrates with the surrounding area in ways that neither the Hancock Building nor the Sears/Willis Tower do -- likely reflective of architectural advances in aesthetics. For a building as tall and large as the Trump Tower to do all that it does as well as it does is worthy of recognition -- it's another architectural jewel in the crown for Chicago, which is already an abundance of architectural treasures. I can't help but think that even the most aesthetically benighted of rural-suburban bumpkins from the collar counties would be able to look at that tower and think "Wow." Whomever Trump entrusted to oversee that project did a very good job.

Oh, Hi! Oh.

Meanwhile, Ohio continues to accelerate its race down the toilet. Talk about a death spiral. Exene and I left Ohio in 1993 -- 19 years ago. It was a different state, then; it still was some semblance of itself remaining when we left the sinking ship, before the GOP had its way with the place.

Seriously, though -- the state GOP has dominated Ohio for most of those 19 years, so, following their ideological claims, the state should be thriving, since it's followed Republican policies for so long.

And yet, hmmm, it's in freefall. Funny, that. In fact, their condition parallels most Republican-dominated states: economic freefall, widespread destitution. It's almost like their cockeyed economic tropes don't actually deliver what they claim they to. Huh. It'll take Ohioans another 30 years to make that realization.

G-Ain't

So, looks like no G8 for Chicago, after all. No doubt Obama, Inc. are sweating having riots in the home city in an election year; they're opting for Camp David for a more secure place to conduct business. The NATO summit will still be here, so there'll still be enough craziness to go around, for sure.

Speaking of that, it's Stupor Tuesday. No doubt the GOP will continue cutting its own throat. There's not enough voter fraud and voter suppression in the country to enable them to win this year. They'd have to create massive ballot bonfires to be able to prevail with whatever candidate they belch up at this point.

Romney's the only actual threat to Obama in the general election, but only because Obama's the most Republican of Democrats to ever be President; he makes Bill Clinton look like a radical by comparison. But the Republican voters want some serious fascist Kool-Aid this year, and won't stomach Romney, it would appear. Gonna cut their noses off to spite their faces. It's going to be a GOP flameout of epic proportions. Maybe they're banking on a putsch or something, but, in terms of elections? No way. Obama's going to mop the floor with whichever sorry soul the GOP trots out. Except, of course, for this last dirty trick up their sleeves. But doing that would create a situation where there would be a president-elect robbed of even the semblance of legitimacy; it would make the Bush/Cheney electoral theft of 2000 seem almost quaint by comparison.

That's not to say Obama's particularly good; he's been a big disappointment precisely because he's governed so far to the right. In the overcooked atmosphere of today's politics, if he were actually governing as a moderate, the GOP would declare him a socialist -- oh, wait, they already have. Actual Republicans from the 90s back to the 50s would look at Obama and recognize him as one of their own. Only cross-eyed Republicans from 2000 onward fail to see that. The beast is eating its own tail, and it's not pretty (although, as somebody from the left, I welcome that partisan ugliness endemic to the GOP; let'em eat their own tails). It's just unfortunate how much it's cost this country for the last 30+ years.

Anyway, onward into the abyss.

Whew

Had stomach flu over the weekend, most likely norovirus, judging from the symptoms. I had hoped to make it through gastroenteritis season this year unscathed, but no such luck. Got wrung out like a dishcloth Saturday, although, thankfully, after about 10 hours of hell, it promptly ceased. It was like a gastrointestinal Mongol horde riding over me, then, having decimated all that they surveyed, rode on. B2 has already had this one. B1, so far, has not caught it. Nor has Exene. Anyway, nasty bug, but I'm actually glad it hit over the weekend, as it let me just hunker down and deal with it, versus being at work or something.

City of Big Shoulders

Happy 175th Birthday, Chicago! You know you rock!