Xbox

With my job there are some days and nights I have to travel to other cities in Nebraska. Tonight I had to go to Lincoln for an event. While on the phone earlier today with my husband the following conversation occurred.

Me: What is the deal with the pugs? Who is going to take care of them tonight?

Him: Jurgita (our Lithuanian neighbor, we love her) is. I think she is also taking them on a walk. When will you be home?

Me: 8:30-9:00 ish.

Him: Oh. Maybe you can extend that to later...

Me: No. Why?

Him: Well that doesn't give me enough time to play video games.

The Xbox probably ranks in the top 10 things my husband maybe loves more than me. Believe me that is a hard list to get on. It also involves cartoons, ninja's, comic books, hockey, kung fu movies and beer...just to give you an idea.

Anyway, about a year ago he started talking about the possibility of buying an X-box. He was already heavy into World of the Warcraft (or whatever that computer game is called. "WOW" for short), so the deal was if he got an Xbox, "WOW" would have to end. He agreed to stop playing the computer game and soon we were the proud owners of an Xbox 360.

Now not only with the Xbox do you just play video games, but you can play live, with your friends using the internet. When you play live you get to wear this totally sweet headset that plugs into the controller; think Janet Jackson circa Rhythm Nation. This enables you to have conversations with your friends while killing Zombies in "Left For Dead" (bazinga! I know a game name). Also, you can get a mini keyboard that plugs into your controller for times when you are chatting and just need to post something to facebook or write your friends a message. Who knows why you need to text when y0u have a headset, but I digress.

As with the Wii you get to design an avatar for the Xbox. My husband's avatar wears a Mexican wrestling mask, leggings (side note: he is now in a light blue tux, wardrobe change), fingerless gloves and has a pet pug. Totally S & M gay. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he and his friends are in an Xbox gang. Yep it totally just got gayer. The gang's name you ask? The Stabbed in the Throat Gang, and yes, that is a gay reference.

So a few months into the Xbox playing my husband was starting to feel bad and thought that I was feeling left out and wanted me to play (really I said, I was fine and did not feel left out). In late December I finally gave in and we set myself up with an Xbox live account and my own sweet avatar.

We would play each other in 1 vs 100 and Peggle. In fact, on Christmas night we came home from dinner at our Lithuanian neighbors, drunk, and played Peggle until 2:30 in the morning. Unlike my husband my love affair with the video games came to an end after the Christmas Holiday.

His affair is still going strong.

I will now leave you with a sample of some of the things I have heard from the headset chats. Feel free to make up what the other gang members are saying in response to the quotes below. It is a fun game.

-"Nobody cares, let's just keep that to ourselves."

-"In fact, the only thing that would make me happier is a robot monkey that would fetch me beer."

- "Cheevos!"

-"Do you know how fun that would be if we were all breeding horses and shit?"

-"Crystal Castles! That game is awesome!"

-"Babes, there is a new puzzle game. You would like it. You like puzzle games." (yes technically this was said to me, but he was wearing the headset when it was said, so it counts)

-"We're still wearing suits right?" (he is talking about the gang's avatars: their uniforms change frequently and you run the risk of ridicule if your avatar is not up on the latest fashion trend)