I know. There are lots of cool games and lots of cool people playing them. But I can't seem to find any of these games and every hard core gamer I know bears more than a passing resemblance to either Beaker or Bunson of muppet fame.

I did once have a Nintendo many many years ago. I think I had maybe four games, five if you count the one that came with it. You know, the one that had Super Mario, Duck Hunt, and that crazy Olympic Game for your Power Pad which was always a blast when you just cheated by getting down and punching the circles with your fists really fast. Oh and of course hopping OFF the pad and back on to accomplish those inhuman long jumps.

Probably the last video game I ever beat was the Super Mario game for the Super Nintendo. I think. It's hard to keep up with these things now. Is Nintendo still around? I think they are making the Pokemon cards but as far as video games all I ever see is XBoxes and PlayStations. My wife and I rented an XBox one weekend and some games just to check out what we were missing. The verdict: not much. We got bored after 45 minutes and went for a walk and grabbed lunch.

I've also tried PC games here and there. Diggles was fun for a few weekends but you sort of lose your enthusiasm for taking care of a bunch of itty bitty critters digging around in virtual dirt. Hitman was just plain awful, don't know what I was thinking. I should have just rented ASSASINS instead I could have saved myself 30 bucks. We tried to get in on The Sims phenomenon but our favorite part was designing the houses after our friend told us how to get unlimited money. I had a bit of a kick when I made a household featuring Michael Jackson with 5 famous adolescent boys including Harry Potter --- it doesn't seem as funny now --- oh heck, sure it does. But anyway, I don't know when the last time was either of us played the Sims.

I don't know, I mean real life isn't always hurried and packed with fun. I'm not one of those people who turns up their nose at gaming. Or I'm trying not to be. I didn't do anything this weekend that would exclude an hour or two of gaming fun, in fact, I did download the trial version of The Corporate Machine from Stardock.com

That's what gave me the idea for this blog. Okay the game actually is not bad. It reminded me of a game we used to play on the old Macintoshes in middle school where you'd run a lemonade stand and try to make money. It's like that but more complex. By the time I figured out how to hire employees and start doing things to turn a profit and run marketing campaigns the other computer controlled companies were way ahead of me. And sure, now that I KNOW what to do I give it another go --- who knows, maybe I will. But most likely, no.

I am not a gamer. I have yet to meet a game that I really enjoy. There are albums I love, books I love, TV shows I love, people I love, animals I love, movies --- etc--- but games? No. But who knows, maybe that one game is out there and I will find it, or it will find me.

Hmmm wonder if anyone out there has a copy of Duck Hunt?