8.19.2010

Fanatic

I was a bit of a weird kid.  Not overly strange in any obvious ways, but looking back, I realize how odd some of my obsessions were.  The thing is, a lot of the weirdness went on in my head, so no one really knew it. 

A few examples:  I had a little cough/sniff/clear-my-throat routine for awhile.  That one was noticed by my family and they still give me grief about it!  I felt like I physically couldn't do one of those actions without following it up with the other two.  I obsessively twisted my hair around my fingers...and I had to do it an equal amount of times around each finger.  Every time.  I counted my steps everywhere I went, and always had to start climbing stairs with my left foot.  (Okay, this one I still do...some of the tendencies didn't leave me!)

Anyway...like I said, I was a little strange at times.  You may pick up that those examples involve similar themes of pattern and order.  Despite sometimes living amid chaos, I do have a thing for order. 

There is a certain video game that has been around for a LONG time that played right into my obsession with patterns... I know you played it too... just admit it...


I LOVED me some Tetris!  I played it on the original Nintendo, then on the computer, for hours and hours.  I just love the way those pieces fit so neatly together when you found the right combination.  It fed right into my love of patterns.

I might have played Tetris a little too much at times.  I can remember closing my eyes to go to sleep and seeing the blocks falling against the darkness.  I even dreamed about Tetris pieces a few times...can't believe I just admitted that on the Internet!  (Oh, wow... In looking for pictures of the game, I found out there is an actual term for this kind of thing.  It's called the Tetris Effect.  Who knew??  Maybe I'm not as abnormal as I thought!)

It's been a long time since I have played a good, old-fashioned game of Tetris.  They came out with a new version for Super Nintendo and other gaming systems, but I like the classic version, without all the fancy new graphics and changing rules.

Well, friends, it was a happy day last week when I was browsing the Wii games and came across this:


I couldn't resist...the obsession begins anew!  Although when I played for the first time last night, I realized my eyesight is not quite what it used to be... I guess that's a good way of limiting my playing time.  I can't wait to wow Jeremy with my Tetris skills this weekend.  : )  Wonder how long it will take before those geometical shapes start showing up in my dreams?

Mama's Losin' It

16 comments:

  1. I still twist my hair. I do it all the time. When I was little I made sure to never ever step on a crack. I was never really a huge fan of Tetris. My games were Donkey Kong and Mario. I still play them to this day.

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  2. I always loved Tetris but I'm a Mario Bros girl! When we first got our WII I got the New Super Mario Bros game (dude, best game EVER) it's like a combo of the the originals and my kids were stunned by prowess on that Bad Boy. It may have earned me the title Coolest Mom Ever. Stopping by from Mama Kat's!

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  3. Oh no! Why did you have to tell me that? I had tetris on my keychain! I played it nonstop until the battery went out, then promptly went out and bought a replacement!
    Now I'm gonna have to go buy it on Wii.

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  4. I love Tetris. It is one of my all time favorite games. I found Bejeweled blitz on Facebook. It is somewhat like Tetris.

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  5. I still have my Nintendo system, and it hasn't been too terribly long ago that I played an old-fashioned game of Tetris. I loved it, too! And I would realize I was playing too much sometimes when I would look at a counter, or a coffee table, and somehow imagine how a Tetris piece would fit around it. After reading your post, I have hope that I'm not the only one who did that! :)

    On a (sadly?) related note, I bought a Frogger plug-and-play for the TV a couple of years ago. I finally had to "hide" it from myself...I was spending too much time with it!

    On a positive note, it sounds like we both spent our fair share of time in front of the TV screen...and look how well we turned out! It gives me hope that I don't have to totally shield my children from all electronics...hahahaha!!!

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  6. Guess who is pulling out her nintendo tonight and sending her husband to Tarjay in the morning??! I love love love tetris!

    Counting steps is totally not weird, I do it ALL THE TIME! 13 steps down the stairs, 18 to the bathroom (including turning to sit) and I even put the turns in my counting routines! Walking on side walks I have to put two feet in each square too. Maybe I am a bit off...

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  7. Thanks for stopping by! MamaKat's writing prompts are so fun.

    i liked Tetris too when i was younger. My sister and i played Dr. Mario a lot too. Do you know that game? It was like Tetris but with pills. (Looking back, that might not have been a good theme for kids.)

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  8. I love to play Tetris (my husband have a DS and I play and play and still play with it).

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  9. I use to love Tetris. I would play it all the time. Thanks for stopping by my site.

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  10. OMG! I ADORE Tetris! What a blast from the past! Have a great day!

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  11. I loved tetris too. Before I got married I thought I was good at Tetris. Then I played against my husband and found out the my hours of Tetris were nothing compared to his hours - I quit playing it. Now, I'll play it with the girls cause I can still beat them.

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  12. Jessica-- I STILL walk without stepping on cracks...I just can't help it!!

    Melaina--I remember Dr. Mario too! I played it when I couldn't find the 'real' Tetris. : )

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  13. Tetris! Haven't played that in FOREVER! I used to sit and play it for hours on end...all those little blocks constantly falling...the memories! Looks like it's time to buy Tetris on Wii! : )

    Thanks for your comment on my post over at M&M. I love your blog and will be following along!

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  14. i used to have tetris dreams, too! lol.

    have you read david sedaris? i think that you would like him. he has a few "tics" that he talks about and he also talks a lot about his love for order and how it originated when he was younger. it is hysterical!

    :)

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  15. If you were acting like that now as a child, doctors would be diagnosing you with Tourette's Syndrome and OCD! You sound like you turned out pretty well without medical intervention!

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  16. Oh.... tetris. That evil game that I devote way too much time to. I just downloaded the app for my iPhone last week. Trouble, I tell you.

    Charlotte has been twisting her hair so badly it gets in huge knots. sigh...

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