Defeat, Thy Name is Mario

Creativity is a bit of a mixed bag to possess. Don't get me wrong, it's great to be able to imagine and create things that are of my own design. I think it may be something akin to penis envy. My theory is that creativity is largely our way of channeling the natural instinct to procreate and sire future generations. I'm male, so I can't make babies; I'm a bit crucial to the process, but in the end, all I do is provide the seed. Also, since no one is exactly willing to mate with me at this particular juncture, I've decided to make due with my musings. Ideas are my brain babies, and the great thing about them is that they don't eat or poop, but they do sometimes keep me up at night because they won't shut up.

I think I may have discovered my kryptonite though. There is apparently one thing that dulls my senses to the point where I suffer from a prolonged case of writer's block. It's not inactivity, because I do that all the time and I'm still able to crank out a little nugget of genius every once and a while. It makes me feel a little dirty to actually admit to this thing, because it has been with me for much of my life, and it worries me a bit that it has this effect on me. I'm going to share it with all of you because it does no good to hide things like a critical weakness, because eventually, your archnemesis will discover it anyway and hit you with it when you least expect it. This way, I get to be paranoid about it and be prepared for an impending attack.

My weakness...is video games.

There. I said it. It's out there all pink and naked for all the world to see. Video games give me massive writer's block. I don't quite understand it. I've been playing video games since I was five years old. Over the years they have given me plenty of joy, but at the same time, one could argue that they might also be a soft addiction for me. Whenever I get my hands on a new game, I have to play the hell out of it. I just do. This usually means going until I beat it, but it also may just mean until the shine wears off, but I usually beat it first. I'm voracious at this. I think it goes back to when I was younger and could never afford to by games, so I always rented them. This meant that I only had five days to enjoy a game, so I got really good at finishing just about any game in that time span. Unfortunately, I now have the scratch to buy, but that impulse still resides within me and rears its ugly head from time to time.

To throw myself completely into something like that robs me of the ability to do anything else. When I game, that's all I do. It sucks, because it's fun, but at the same time, I now know what it does to me, so there is a certain bittersweet quality to it now. I can't ever give it up. I love video games too much for that. Maybe moderation is the key? It seems to work for everything else in my life up to this point. We'll see. Rest assured though that I will be putting down the controller soon and be ready to rock and roll for 2009. I can't tell you what to expect, but what fun would it be to know ahead of time anyway? I'm no seer, but I see some interesting times ahead, and rest assured that all of you devoted followers will be privy to whatever useless bits of my wisdom leak out onto the ol' Mind Munch. I've already got one treat in store, but I'll save the details for bit later...