Sungka

Game On

Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life. - Albert Einstein

Second Grandddaughter and I sat, looking expectantly at each other. Horizontally in front of us was a sungka board.

Sungka, pronounced as soong-kah, is a two-player game played with seashells on a wooden, boat-like board.

Players pick up shells from a chosen hole, move them clockwise around the board, dropping a shell in each hole that's passed over and in the player's designated home base.

The object is to obtain as many shells in one's home, I chattered on brightly.

The rules set, I said. You start. My voice was soothing.

                                              

                                        Internet pic only

Second Granddaughter nodded coyly. Perusing her choice, she daintily picked from the hole from her farthest right and started distributing the shells.

She barked out a laugh, a wild one. I'm winning, G. Her tone and expression were teasing.

We shall see, I spoke calmly and took a turn. I barely paused to take a breath. I'd found my rhythm. Until... I "died" (meaning I ended in an empty hole and had lost my turn).

I could see in the course of the game that First Granddaughter was filling her house.

Ah, beginner's luck. I mocked her gently.

She continued to drop the shells one by one. Looking at my scantily-filled home base, she predicted with a smile at the corner of her lips, You'll end up with burnt houses, G (meaning I wouldn't have enough shells to fill my holes when we begin the next round of play).

As my turn came, I picked up a bunch from a hole, breathed slowly, and took a chance. I could win this. I thought that I had guessed with dead-on accuracy, but as a lonely shell dropped in an empty hole, I knew that I had lost.

Sigh... Just once, I'd like something to go as planned, ya know?

I let out a hooting laugh as dramatically, I clutched at my heart.

Second Granddaughter stifled a giggle, trying to convey a touch of sympathy.

I shooed her away in mock disappointment, but in my heart, I knew that winning wasn't really my biggest thrill. There were more important things.

Like seeing a smile stretched wide across a youthful face.

Hearing a good rich smile.

The sensation of finding mooring in family.

 

 

Centipede

Game On 

In the virtual realm, your potential knows no bounds. - Anonymous

Can you think of anything better than Atari's Centipede game?

I LOVE, LOVE Centipede. 

I used to play it in the early 80's in our home Atari system. I thought its  color graphics was impressive and the premise, exciting. 

That morning, I remember sitting up straight on the floor. My mission: to shoot the segments of a centipede as it wound down the playing field through a field of mushrooms.

Sun Tzu once said that strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory, but that tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. I rubbed my palms on my thighs to get ready. I was ready to battle.

My thought, I can score victory with clever moves from my joystick.

Centipede had started its onslaught. All its segments were attached. For now. It was beckoning irritatingly at me. 

Oh-oh, I shouldn't let it hit the bottom of the screen. It's developing new segments! Oops, it just reversed direction. 

I felt my hopes go down, but I tried to ignore the panic flaring inside me.

Whew! That was close. I grunted in relief. 

My heart picked up a beat. If only I could win over other enemies.

A bouncing spider!

Dodge that flea dropping from the top of the screen!

It streaked across the screen changing any mushrooms it hit into poisonous ones. I was so panicked that I felt like I needed to pull back.

Hah! I'd lost my lives, I conceded in a soft tone, shrugging my shoulders.

Anyway, it was time for a break. 

Tomorrow is another day. Just another chance to restart stronger, I mumbled somberly.

Pac-Man

 Game On

The 2024 Summer Olympics is officially underway, taking place in Paris from July 26 to August 11.

It brings a sense of togetherness and motivation that no other sporting event can. It inspires us to look to the best of the best to find a piece of ourselves, something we can relate to, a dose of ferocity and grit that we can apply in our own lives.

It is in this spirit that I'm highlighting in this series MY take on competitive gaming.

Enjoy!

*****

Learn to get excited like a child. There is nothing that has more magic than childish excitement. - Jim Rohn

I loved playing Pac-Man. I relished hearing its sound chomping on pellets.

I was starry-eyed about the idea of eating dots inside an enclosed maze.

You might say, slightly possessed.

Underneath my fierce look was mirth as I kept glaring at the dots.

I remember how with gusto, I would strategize on how to avoid four colored ghosts who were threatening me with the Death Stare.

The pink ghost was so pink it was almost throbbing. You're not getting me, I vowed with my jaw set.

The ghosts are turning blue! What the??!

I realized with a sudden thrill that large flashing dots called power pellets were causing the transformation. But a handout for me. Pac-Man could eat them for bonus points.

I held up my hands and waggled my fingers in a gesture that said, Gimme. More. Cough it up.

Needless to say, every minute of the game was rousing as well as scary. At times, I actually pounded the console with both fists like a toddler in a fit.

As the game progressed, I couldn't keep calm because I was so freaking excited, especially when the stakes increased in difficulty. The ghosts became faster, but I stood my ground, amused. My enthusiasm was undefeated even as the energizers' effect decreased, eventually disappearing entirely.

Alas, I was caught by a ghost. I'd lost all my lives.

Game Over.

I nodded earnestly. 

That was fun.

Still A Pac-Man Fan! Second Daughter contributes this foto taken New Year's Eve, 2023 at Pins. She claims that I would barely let [VEV] play.

Family Faces

Faces 

Families are like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts. - Anonymous

I've saved the best for last - my pick of memorable family faces. Remember, as far as anyone knows, we're a nice, normal family.

Senior One: Me when cleaning my ears turns into something magical

Mhe: When my face hurts from too much scowling

Guapo and First Daughter:

When we don't care

 what you think about us

First Grandson: When U peed your pants. You try to hide it... but you just can't!

First Granddaughter: Shouting a word you've always needed but never realized existed

Comment from Second Granddaughter: RDH was saying, Ahhhh! IAH was saying, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I would have said same as IAH (lol) and sounded like an eagle.

Lexi:

When someone sneezes 

right in your face

Second Granddaughter: Me listening to my Dad's playlist

Second Daughter: When I didn't get enough sleep and people are trying to talk to me

Beau Bean: When I've just pooped on my wheel

Clockwise from top left: 

Minnie: When I look at an Instagram post

Priscilla: When I is missing you

Madeline: My face every time you cross my mind

Family forever, for always, no matter what their faces.

Smile

Faces 

 Smile! Happiness looks gorgeous on you. - Anonymous

Does your face tell a story and it's a story about your drive to the doctor's office?

Do you suffer from that syndrome where your neutral expression makes you look like an angry serial killer?

Try to SMILE!

Good things are coming down the road. Just don't stop walking.

As you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

Find a reason to smile every day.

Life is too short to be serious all the time, so if you can't laugh at yourself, call me.

I'll laugh at you. 

Adorable Pug

  Faces 

I'm in the process of becoming the best version of myself. - Anonymous

Need I say more?

Funny Face

 Faces 

Someone said that if the mouth doesn't say it, the face definitely will.

I agree.

The most important thing you wear is the expression on your face.

For starters, consider Audrey Hepburn's so-called funny face.

I find her impishly refreshing and beautiful face in the film Funny Face so adorable. She looks light-years more beautiful as the proverbial used-book-store Plain Jane than any Paris fashion model, then or now.

Is there a story here worthy of a blog?

Well, a Greenwich Village girl wearing black clothes and no make-up dreams of going to Paris. 

There's also Fred Astaire and Gershwin songs.

With all that, who needs a plot?

Just look at that face!