Sunday 9 June 2013

Arcade times

Remember when you were a kid and you'd go to the gaming arcade, and on every machine, every fucking machine there'd always be a dude called AAA with the high score...man, I always wanted to meet that kid, I mean, he was obviously rich as fuck, because he could spend all day playing computer games and because of that he'd be getting perfect scores, none of this "200 193" bull shit, no, he'd always get "200 000" or "50 000" or whatever, he'd get that perfect round number every time...do you know how hard that is? to not only soundly beat other people's scores, but then just drop the controller on that perfect score and be all like "game, you're not even worth any more of my time." Dude must have obviously been hardcore.

He had friends, BBB, CCC, DDD, sometimes EEE and FFF....I figured they were part of some travelling gang of gaming gods, all perfect scores, all top scores, on every machine....and i wanted to join them so badly, to learn their ways, to aspire to that perfection....

but then i got older, and the obvious truth dawned on me...they weren't a gang of kids playing every arcade cabinet in every arcade i'd go to....no....they were obviously a group of older, jobless men (or women, lets not be discriminatory here), beards crusty with dirt (yes, the women also had beards) because all they did was play arcade games, and because they spent all their lives there they would be smelling like arcades too, that horrible bitter tang of musk and electrical wiring...no, these were no gods, they were merely lost souls, addicted to clay fighter, street fighter dream warriors, gauntlet and whatever other games were in arcades during the 90s...fucking virtua cop....and not just addicted to these titles, but beset with OCD about scores, dropping out as soon as a number was reached. I felt sorry for them, but then I went about my business because things don't get done if you don't do them. Tru fax!

Once someone tried to tell me that these high scores were just programs, built into the arcade cabinets, and I told him to shut up, video games can't play themselves, let alone set the high scores...but then Final fantasy 12 came out and i was all like "ooh, i was wrong..." so I apologised most profusely...except well, I didn't, because I hadn't seen the kid in like 15 years, and it would have been very strange to have tracked him down then turned up at his door and be like "remember that argument we had 15 years ago, well, turns out you were right! well, good bye!" but if he were here, I would have, because I am as humble as I am great, which is to say very.

Anyway, back to the point, sometimes I think things that are very wrong...everyone does...and I don't mean wrong like "hey, that rabbit....would you? I totally would..." because that's a different kind of wrong altogether, I mean wrong like "I am telling you that coca cola invented father christmas! i read it on the internet! and it was on QI...probably...i have partial evidence!" but, you don't, not really....what you have is an opinion, and don't get me wrong, opinions are really fucking important, they are what define us, and that really is great...but there's a saying i really like because it's true, "we think of others what we know of ourselves", that is to say when we judge someone else we judge them according to our own world view, but that is not necessarily a correct view...the example i always think of is people trying to lose weight, they see someone else, someone skinny and it's "that bitch! why can't i be like that!" but...you know why...you don't put any real effort into working toward the goal, or rather, maintaining the effort required..."why can't I have that life?!" ...because you aren't willing to accept the sacrifices it requires. If you're going to be jealous of someone, you have to be jealous of everything that person has wrong with them as well as what you perceive them to have right. "oh they're so smart" yeah, that's because they read books for 10 hours a day, every day because they came from a broken home. "Oh, they're in such good shape, why can't I be like that?!" because they're exercising properly for hours and over days. "I can't believe that celebrity is moaning about whatever, if i had his/her life..." you'd be living a vacuous existence, unsure of whether your friends are really friends or people just exploiting your money and fame...

There is no life that is perfect, and it simply makes no sense to wish you were someone else because they have problems as well. You might say "well, i could deal with their problems, those are some small problems compared to mine." of course they seem like smaller problems...they're not yours, but if you had their life, then you'd be just as worried by their problems as they are now. Equally so, it doesn't make sense to chastise people for their problems and lifestyles, you don't know what they have to deal with outside of their interaction with you. You could have a very firm idea of someone in your head that is only the merest palimpsest of their actual personality, their life and responsibilities, how they feel on subjects, what they've had to deal with in the past, it would be the right view, but it would also be a very incomplete view.

Anyway, I think this all points to one thing....I really should not be allowed to drink tea, it makes me too bloody pensive and oddly hyper...which is an unusual combination I grant thee, but whatever...i guess I should really get back to work 

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