Thursday, August 21, 2008

I NEVER thought I would say this, but

I am addicted to a video game.

Addicted, I tell ya.

I cannot wait to get my work or my writing done every day so I can play my game on the Wii. I don't even have my own Wii. I never thought I would ever, ever want one. Why would I need one?

To play Endless Ocean, that's why!

I am an amateur marine biologist in real life (no George Costanza comments, please - The sea was angry that day...). Let me rephrase that. I know a lot about sharks and whales and I've visited a lot of aquariums in my lifetime.

I don't swim in the ocean or in lakes (I just prefer chlorine too much - it makes my blonde hair such a lovely shade of green), so I have never had this experience in real life, despite having friends who are expert divers.

So anyway, where was I going with this? I'm trying to type and drive my boat at the same time. I have to go diving and look for a blue whale. Now I'm petting a sea lion.

This is how my mind works when I'm playing this damn game. I just got it for my birthday a couple of weeks ago, and I can't recall what my life was like before it! The idea is that you dive around reefs and in the open ocean with tasks you have to perform. You learn about fish by petting them (my old friend Kirk mentioned that you're not supposed to touch marine life - but is that just coral reefs?) and feeding them. You get to fill an aquarium with the species of marine life you like (although my right whale looked mighty cramped in there and I set him free), you get to take pictures and make an album, and they give you training partners, like the dolphin I named Baxter, who dives with me and we practice tricks on the stern of the boat.

All this is done to the most relaxing soundtrack ever - check out the singer www.hayleywestenra.com - she's like Sarah Brightman, but not nearly as cloying. It relaxes me totally, which is hard to do sometimes.

So I am now a video game addict. I hope I finish this game soon, because there is no way I'm going to get bored with it.

I have a book I should be working on, but instead I'm screwing around in a make believe ocean and petting sharks that would bite my arm off in the real world.

4 comments:

Narm said...

I know the feeling. I've been stuck inside Mario Kart for two months. Every time I drive on 480 I try to shoot turtle shells at people.

Anonymous said...

Oh MAN...I LOVED Mario Kart...haven't played the Wii version yet.

Something tells me your vehicle actually does have turtle shell ammo built in!!

Kristen....I guess you musta needed a vice, right? Yours just happens to be titled Endless Ocean...

Kristen Kaleal said...

I already have enough vices...
shopping, martinis, lipgloss, shoes....

EJH said...

See this is a problem, because I used to work at Sea World and am kind of obsessed with cetaceans (toothed whales & dolphins for you non-marine nerds) so now I am going to have to get a Wii and that game... and I seriously have a problem with video game addiction (I had to cut myself off of World of Warcraft before law school so I wouldn't fail out).

SIGH!

On the other hand, this explains why we get along so well :)