Our guilty pleasures

Everyone should have at least one small vice in life. Mine are coffee, smoking a pipe ( not a Richard Thomas allusion) and of course, video games.

Swank just wrote about reprimanding a friend of his nephew who lipped off to him during a BTB. Though clearly in the right, I would have loved to heard the conversation if he did indeed call the kid's father.

"Yeah, I was in big team battle, you know Containment by the teleporter, when your son swore at me for stealing his kill, not to mention my own nephew betrayed me three times, before I booted him...."

You can feel the parental gravitas ebbing away by the second.

Years ago, I was in Walmart talking to the father of one my friend's, when four young dudes who knew I gamed, asked me how to get past a level in Perfect Dark. I went from lamenting the price of crude, to demonstrating how you off goons with a RCP-120 and secondary cloaking feature, physically acting out the movements until I caught the quizzical look he gave me.

Another time, I was in an EB, and there was another closet gamer perusing the stacks, when his cell phone rang.

In an instant, he adopted his professional voice, and with a tinge of hesitation said, "Uh, I'm out of the office right now, but I'll have my assistant get those reports to you."

I immediately mock the guy, taking out my imaginary cell phone and say "Yeah, uh, I'd like to help with you with that, but, uh, I'm at EB games right now, and am heading over to the mall to get a slushy."

We both laughed, cause we have all been there. It could be worse. Instead of gaming, it could be crack, adultery, or even golf.

We all need at least one vice in life. Choose well.