Still Recovering From The Eve

When it comes to parties, I'm a simple girl. My favorite gatherings are easy and family oriented, with food and comfort in abundance. I don't need planned activities, decorations, or themes; I'd much prefer to be surrounded by loved ones in a cozy environment than be at a highly-managed event. So, our New Year's Eve celebration was perfect.

We went to my cousin's house for an impromptu party with good friends and family, lounged and laughed for hours, and enjoyed the night before 2010.

My friends Annie and Jason (who may as well be family) brought their Wii. I haven't played video games in...maybe 10 years? And I didn't ever plan to really play them again, either -- they're not my strong suit. In fact, they're so much not my strong suit that you could safely say I'm the least talented video game player you've ever seen. I'm not being modest here: I'm terribly un-coordinated in the hand/eye realm. It's dangerous, really.

But...something came over me on New Year's Eve and I wanted to play a game. Not just any game, though -- Mario Kart: the only video game I ever really liked as a pre-teen. My brother and I played for hours on snow days and long summer afternoons, perfecting our trash talk and having the images stamped into our brains forever. I remember dreaming in Mario Kart.

So seeing the familiar images on the screen that night, I had to play. I picked up the foreign remote control, got some basic instructions, and off I went. I drove straight into walls, right over cliffs, directly over banana peels: I was terrible, as expected. And I loved it. Justin was my opponent, and a worthy one he was. He easily beat me several times. But then, among all my hooting and screaming and squirmy steering, something strange happened -- I won.

I beat Justin. He must have lost his groove while standing next to his attractively feminine wife, I'm sure. That must be it.

But that can't be it. I was behaving so erratically while trying to stay alive...definitely not attractive or feminine. I'm relieved beyond measure that there were no pictures taken of me while this was happening. I had to stand up to get my bearings, and I think I was all over the living room floor trying to keep the cart on the track. But that's not the worst part: my tensed and anxious facial expressions must have been awful to behold. Maybe that's what scared Justin into losing his rank. That would make more sense.

Nevertheless, I had fun. So much fun, that I woke up the next day with strangely aching arms and shoulders. It took me awhile to put the puzzle pieces together for why I was sore, when I'd done nothing strenuous....what could it have been?

That tricky Wii. I was so tense and nervous, I think I gripped the controller with more force than was intended. Not to mention the muscles I pulled when I tried to do a victory dance in my defeated husband's face.

I'm just not cut out for video games: my muscles can't take it.