Fine Motor Skills

So, today the kids are home from school. It's their first official day of Christmas vacation. I have been encouraging them to spend the day playing Super Mario Brothers 3, an activity I affectionately refer to as "strengthening their fine motor skills". "Strengthening their fine motor skills" is a fantastic activity, because it also serves to "keep them out of my hair".

I left them to it all morning as I cleaned up after breakfast, did some laundry, and dabbled on the computer for a while. When I went up stairs to tell them to come down for lunch, they were already on Level 2 (remember, the level with the dancing cacti and the quicksand?).

Now, I distinctly remember that it took me months to get this far as a kid! I said to them, "How did you get this far already?" To which Sam answered, very quickly and seriously, "talent."

I guess kids nowadays learn on more complicated games, so the vintage games seem easy to them? It's kind of a shame that super graphics are needed now to sell systems and games. As kids, we were perfectly happy to play with the simple, left to right, prehistoric cartoon Mario. The simple games were fun.

I sat cross-legged on Sam's bed for most of the afternoon and played the game with them. It was a very nostalgic feeling. If the kids with me hadn't been my own, I could have imagined that I was seven years old again. playing with my sister, or the neighbours kids, or whoever. \

I think I'll bake cookies this evening. What's Christmas without cookies?

Help! What's wrong with our TV?

Tonight I bought an old Nintendo system from an old friend. Yes, an original Nintendo, and some games too! I got Super Mario/Duck Hunt, Super Mario 3, Tetris, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fun times.

I brought the Nintendo home with the intention to hook it up to the living room TV, but because the TV is 6 years old, it's one of those enormously clunky ones that take up half the floorspace in the room. After about a minute of trying to move the damn thing to get behind, I gave up and decided to take the Nintendo upstairs to the sexy new 42 inch in our bedroom. Let me tell you, my old friend Mario has never looked as hot as he does on our new TV.

(Ok, I have to take a moment to rave about the TV. I love it. Seriously, I watched my Lost DVD's on it a few months ago and it looked amazing. Even more amazing than it did on the boring old downstairs TV. I was up every night until 4 AM until I'd watched the entire series.)

Anyway, I played with the Nintendo for a while as Tom watched, then we came back downstairs to make some tea. Tom turned on the living room TV to check the hockey score, and...

Of course, the colour was all effed up. Something happened when I was trying to move the damn thing. Anyone have any idea what I can do about it? I don't want to spend a fortune getting it fixed, since it's kind of dated anyway. But I also don't want to buy a new one right now.