To satisfy his curiosity he took a trip back to the room and looked up some information on other caves in the area. He figured it to be a nice distraction from the work he had come to a non-descript eastern European country to do, and would stay to complete for an estimated 3 months. He decided to go deeper and deeper into the cave each day, until he reached the end or an impasse. He wouldn’t ever look up any information about it, preferring to discover information about the thing first person. He had grown tired of hiking, anyway, and could put the overpriced materials he had purchased for this failed hobby to some use.

Day one he ventured back out to the area, but had carelessly forgotten to mark the cave’s location on his map, or make note of any extraodinary land mass near it. After stumbling around for an hour or so, unable to find it, he angrily quit his search and began storming back “home”, to his room, exhausted and dirtied.

Of course, what else should happen besides the cave conveniently popping up on his travel back? He didn’t have a map of the place, but noticed a particularly large tree sitting nearby. It was so tall, in fact, it seemed as if someone had moved a redwood out to this remote area of eastern Europe, and it had managed to survive and continue to grow. Completely out of place it made the perfect spot to look for, and next time he came he’d purchase a map beforehand.

However, when he returned two days later, the cave wasn’t on the map. That was not the problem, however: the whole area wasn’t. Wondering if he’d somehow passed into an unmapped area of the country, he shrugged off his concern, deeming it stupid and wishful thinking and found a spot on the edge of the paper to mark, doing so. He took out his flashlight, pointed it at the entrance and turned it on. Immediately he was greated with several bats, angered by the sudden burst of light trained directly at their sensitive figures, as they flew out of the cave and at him. He ducked and turned around as they flapped off, presumably trying to find another spot to rest.

He shrugged off the attack and trained the light in front of him, surveying the path ahead. He pointed it at the ground, noting the location of several hazards. He pointed it back at the roof, bracing himself in case he found more bats: there were none. He walked ahead with the light in front of him, careful not to trip over the many obstacles in his path. As he walked further he heard a constant, crashing noise; figuring it was rushing water, he continued walking until he reached a fork in the cave. He considered his options and decided to head back to his room, deciding it was a good place to stop for the day.

He made the journey back to his room, becoming more and more exhausted as he did so. The cave exploration seemed to have taken a lot out of him, and by the time he made it back to his hotel room it was late at night and he collapsed on the bed, having not eaten at all that day. When he woke up he had a throbbing headache and no energy; he was filthy, tired, hungry and late. He hurried himself into the shower and apologized profusely to the businessmen he had angered.

When he left the meetings he had no desire to do anything but go back home, to the U.S., wishing he had never accepted the job. Yet something changed his mind and within an hour after the meeting was over he was back at the cave, dressed in suit & tie, venturing back inside with his flashlight.

He worked his way back to the fork and chose the left side. As he progressed further he could tell he was going up an incredibly steep hill. It was completely silent back here; the rushing water had faded and was out of memory. His flashlight bounced off of the walls of the cave, casting the shadows of the natural structures jutting out of the walls, turning this into a haphazard journey.

He continued walking, sucked further and further in. It was completely silent: even his footsteps made no noise. The flashlight faded, his backpack weighed and was dropped off his back, left behind; he didn’t need it.

He continued his journey, further and further into the cave, the silence noise and the darkness light, the unknown the known and-

The sound of a thousand voices, causing him to whip around, tripping over his own feet, unsteady on the unsure cave ground. His flashlight flew out of his hand and he fell backwards. Instead of ground, nothingness: as he plummeted down the cliff, the flashlight smashed against the ground and broke, slowly rolling back downhill to the entrance.

Not a huge fan of the length. Should be longer.

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14194403?nclick_check=1

It talks about how he and his wife decided to return the Wii they bought for their young children for Christmas, due to concerns. Now, while this may sound at least partially rational, the reasons he gave really aren’t.

This article was posted about on Kotaku, the popular gaming blog. There were over 800 comments, many of which blasted the guy for his decision. Friday, he wrote a response. It was posted on Kotaku today.

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2010/01/22/how-my-wii-column-drove-gamers-crazy/

As an avid commenter on Kotaku, I responded to the first one. It was a terse comment, nothing more than a simple statement of my opinion. I am not linked to in the article. However, given the circumstances and my feeling on all of this, I wrote a much longer comment today in response to it. I urge you to read the two linked above, and perhaps check out the two Kotaku posts:

http://kotaku.com/5453144/no-wii-for-the-kids-hidden-costs-compel-console-return

http://kotaku.com/5455737/wii-dad-columnist-pens-response-to-kotaku-commenters

Here is the comment I left today, under my moniker of “OctaneHugo”. Enjoy and feel free to leave a comment, either in response or whatever. Do so on PoB as well. Register on Kotaku or use an existing account – whatever you please. So long as you read it.

The issue people had with this guy’s column is that he returned a christmas gift, a big one, that happened to be a video game console. If it had been anything else, other people would have reacted negatively.

Equally dumb reasons as well. Reading BACK over the column, with a bit-by-bit analyzation:

“Our current rule is that each kid gets 30 minutes of “screen time” once a week to play games online, surf the Web or print out coloring pages.”

30 minutes a week? Sorry sir, that does not equate to “techno-obsessed shut-ins who spend all day online and have no friends.”

“But as I looked at some games we wanted, like “Lego Rock Band,” I realized that I needed other controllers, like a microphone, drums or guitar. These could run another $100 or more if I got all of them. So I passed and didn’t get any games, figuring they could just play the games that came with it for now.”

So you, Mr. O’Brien, either neglected to seek out the MUCH cheaper – and, arguably, more fun – games for sale, or looked at those but decided that to spend anywhere from $20-$50 was too much money, and didn’t purchase anything.

“As I examined the box, I realized that I had forgotten that the Wii could also be connected to the Web. The problem here was that our cable modem is in the kitchen (don’t ask) and the TV is in the living room. Guess that’s a headache I’d have to figure out later.”

Ah, but this is HARDLY a necessity, and not something that I’d ever let my 7-and-4-year-old children bother with. Flat-out stupid thing to actually complain about.

“As I was finally checking out, the cashier asked if I wanted any batteries. “Batteries? For what?” I wondered. She explained that the controllers ran on batteries. Gulp. I grabbed a package of rechargeable batteries, for about $30.”

And instead of purchasing a pack of batteries for $10 you went for RECHARGEABLES, meaning that you are saving quite a bit of money in the long run (though, considering that you let your children have 30 minutes a WEEK on their computer, I hardly expect you’d blow through them quickly).

“Back on the couch, as my wife and I were discussing this, we also started trying to figure out what the new policies governing this device would be. Would we still have only 30 minutes of screen time a week? Could they play it every day for 10 minutes? One thing was sure: They’d be asking for it every second of every day.

Cue the panic attack. The next day I returned the whole thing. No questions asked, thank you very much.”

There’s your “lazy parenting” comments right there. You can’t bother to set some sort of limit on the thing? If they can resist using the computer – which has FAR more entertainment options than a Wii, especially one with one game – they can surely stay away from using the Wii for more than 30 minutes a week, or whatever.

“Come Christmas morning, I knew I had done the right thing. First of all, had there been a Wii, it would have overshadowed every single other gift. As it was, Liam was excited by his Lego sets and Bakugan ball. Kalian was tickled by her Groovy Girls dolls. (Our attempts at gender-neutral parenting have not been 100 percent successful.) And both of them have been enjoying some basic board games we got this year: Trouble and Operation (which technically is a consumer electronic device). All of these would likely be gathering dust on a shelf somewhere if we kept the Wii.”

And you assume wrong, espcially if you set a limit on the alloted time to play the console. Since when do young children simply IGNORE gifts they enjoy simply because they got a “better” one? Who’s to say the Wii IS better?

“Now, in all likelihood, we will probably — probably! — get a Wii next year. But for now, the kids seem quite content with the other consumer electronic gadget we did buy this year: a calculator.”

This is the only sentence in the whole column I can give you credit for, which you then immediately ruin with this:

“If I can maintain that childhood innocence, that appreciation of simple things, for one more year, then passing on the Wii this year was the right move.”

Yep, good job there. ‘Cause as we all know, buy your kids a console or let them have more than ~4 minutes a day on the computer, and they become “techno-obsessed shut-ins who spend all day online and have no friends.” It’s like a gateway drug.

This comment would have been better posted on the original article, when Mr. O’Brien’s piece was first written. I’m sure of this. However, I will not stand idly by as a columnist proceeds to write ANOTHER column trashing those who disagreed with a decision he made. It’s become petty schoolyard bickering if anything. Especially when I disagree.

If this comment does anything, I wish it to express my distaste for this man’s stances on these issues, and my hope that he does not raise his children to be unable to do basic things their classmates will be able to perform on computers, as they become ever more important. Believe it or not, it is going to take a lot more than a basic understanding of typing, internet navigation and operating Microsoft Word to succeed in the future.

Like, the past 2 years, I was carefree.

This year, I just don’t give a fuck.

See, there’s a difference.

When you’re carefree, you do the things you gotta do when/before you gotta do ‘em, and you do ‘em well, and everybody wins.

When you don’t give a fuck, you do the things you gotta do never/after you gotta do ‘em, and you do ‘em shitty, and you lose.

Being carefree is nice, and you feel good about yourself.

Not giving a fuck is shitty, and you feel bad about yourself.

2+2 = Jello, people.