FIELD TRIP TO EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY

It's no secret that our boys play video games quite often. Lest you wonder if they play them to my chagrin, please know that I encourage it. It is a pet peeve of mine to hear moms poo pooing them. It grates on my nerves actually.

I've ranted about moms who look down their noses at me or say that it's just not right "in their home." Sometimes they imply that they are raising their children better than I raise mine but I don't care, obviously. Our boys have a blast playing them.

Please spare me the old myth that gamers are less intelligent than non-gamers. For those who agree with the widely excepted notion that gamers are less intelligent than those who are not gamers, I invite you to suck on...I mean, chew on this, and this, and well, allow this to simmer a bit as well and this and this and this ...

Games build better minds my friends. Oh yes, I said it, better, faster, quicker you know...better.

Oh! and for those who think it makes you fat...I do not play video games...ahem...my husband does NOT play video games...ahem We are the chunky butts in our family.

Our boys are the bookends in the picture and play video games hours and hours a day.

PJ is the friend in the middle who goes to public school and doesn't get to play much.

The tall man in the middle makes his living playing them.

I rest my case.

And Yes our boys do play the bloody ones. They play the really gross, gory, head rolling, blood squirting games. I would venture to say that our household deals in reality rather than rose colored glasses. Bye bye pack man, hello virtual reality. I like desensitizing them to blood. They won't be the weak boys who faint at the sight of blood that's for sure. I want my boys to be strong, what can I say?

As you can imagine, boys who play online video games tend to follow other great players. They keep up with who the best players are and where they are playing and how much money the players have made. It is much like following a favorite athlete except these athletes use their intelligence and fine motor skills rather than gross motor skills.

So, you can imagine Kazz's HUGE excitement when he saw that Walshy was going to be in our neck of the woods today. HOLY COW!! He was more amped than I think I've ever seen him. When he found out that we could actually go to the event WELL, it was bright beams and Halo practice till the wee hours of the morning.

All we had was an address and a time to arrive. Little did we know that we would arrive at Eastern Michigan University today! Yes indeedy, the college was hosting the event. Gamers from all over were there. Kazz, Brise, Vinze and their friend PJ were wide eyed and very, very quiet. They were star struck! As we walked down the hall to get to the auditorium I heard Kazz and PJ's feet slow up. I looked back and they were staring ahead as if they had just seen a ghost. I said,

"What?"

Kazz whispering: "That was Walshy. He just passed us. That was Lil Poison next to him."

Vinze in a high pitched yell, "Little Poison!!! Where!"

Walshy sort of turned to look back a little but kept walking.

I smiled. We stopped by the auditorium door.

Yep, it was held in the Grand Ballroom my friends.

As we stood by the science geek exhibit watching them make ice cream from nitrogen who should walk by again but WALSHY!! Oh My!

PJ got up the nerve to look at him and nod. Walshy nodded and smiled. Kazz stood there as if he were afraid to look in Walshy's direction so he pretended to be interested in what I was saying. LOL

I said, "Who was that?"

PJ in a frantic whisper: "Walshy!"

I started laughing and asked why he didn't say hello. PJ explained that he DID say hello. He nodded and Walshy nodded back. ROFL

Well, they got up the nerve to walk into the ballroom.

Vinze was looking all over to find Little Poison. I was trying to help by looking for an 8 year old walking around but there were a few so I asked what he looked like and Vinze said, "I don't know. I've never seen him." I about lost it. I was chuckling so hard.

Then it happened. The boys saw Walshy getting interviewed by a reporter. They stopped and pretended to be interested in the games that were taking place. They chatted with each other about the games, all the while looking over at Walshy. Well, you know, it had to be done. I walked over to his table and began talking with, who we later found out were, his business partners. They were very sweet. We bought some of Walshy's T-Shirts.

After the interview Walshy stood up, walked over to our boys and began chatting up a storm. He is the sweetest man and all smiles. He was chomping at the bit to play some games but he couldn't because all the tables were full due to so many gamers coming out to support Autism Research. He chatted with the boys and took his own pictures of our boys and him. What a hoot. I took some pictures too.

Well, lo and behold, as we were walking out of the auditorium who should we spy but Little Poison. How do I know that? Kazz halted in his tracks, turned toward the wall and said in a low voice, "That's little poison." ROFL

Who is he? He's the youngest pro gamer in the world. I asked him if he would allow Vinnie to get a picture with him and of course, in the best 8 year old way he said yes and took a cute little 8 year old picture with our cute little almost 8 year old son.

I laughed at my boys most of the day because of how they acted around and/or near their equivalent of Brad Pitt but truth be told, if I had run into Andy Garcia or Oh My Gosh, Bon Jovi do you know what I would have done?

Stopped in my tracks, turned toward the wall and whispered, "Do you know who that was?"