Blog jar...

Since mostly this blog is for me, I'm using this jar that has questions in it to prompt my entry questions. Today's question is: What games did you play in your house or neighborhood?

When I was younger I spent a lot of time playing with toys or dress up by myself as there weren't many kids my age on our street. One of my "games" was "Setting the Rocks Free." This involved me collecting pieces of gravel and putting them in a pile by our back door. When they were "ready" I would take them across the back alley and throw them at the gas station down the hill. I would also yell while throwing them. No specific words, just primal yelling. I was four.

For one of my birthdays we had a big party and had a huge water fight (this was prior to my moral objection to water fights). Everyone was running around the yard and in the house. Today my mom would have blown a gasket, but she was all about the water fight that day. That is until my dad waited at my bedroom window (2nd floor) until my mother was under the window and dumped a whole bucket of water on her. That has to be one of the best things I've ever seen. Ever.

The late 80's brought Nintendo and Tetris into our house. One summer, an unearthly hot summer, my folks and I would stay up into the wee, cooler hours of the morning playing Tetris. We made up all kinds of rules about how long you could play, factoring in each "death" verses wins. For example, "Ok, you can play 6 rounds, and if you win on the last one you get 4 more, but if you die you only get 2 more..."

One of the most creative "games" has to be my mother's invention of "Domestic Executive." This is like the Olympics as there are different, timed events such as taking out the trash and dusting the living room. And I was such a sucker! I loved to play. Now I'm a little sad that I was taken in by getting faster times than the previous session. Sick. And sad.