Some days you just need to kill

Some days or weeks can be bad. Some can be good too. But those ones usually fly by so fast we hardly even know they're there. The bad ones tend to hang around a bit and remind you of their vileness. So what do you do?

Well, if you own a video game console, or have a roll of quarters and an arcade near by, you probably play a video game and kill people. It's all legal of course. That is unless you've modded your system or rigged the arcade game. And it's very therapeutic. And for 99.9% of us gamers we get it out of our system while we play so when we power things off we're back to our more normal, non-violent selves. And that's the way it should be.

I don't think video games cause all the violence that the media claims it does. There's a lot to be said about the psychological make up of the person playing the games in the first place. But when you've had a bad day and feel like punching someone or something (although you know this isn't going to solve the problem) it's nice to have an avenue to vent that pent up emotion into something more productive. And it saves having to repair holes in your walls or pay hospital bills than hitting things.

So when a friends says they'd rather play a game like Gears of War instead of Texas Hold 'Em that's okay. Go out and kill all the locust you need to in order to feel better. I'm sure we'll play together some other day. Believe it or not, there's going to be some days when you DON'T want to kill anything (usually those bright and happy days) and that's okay too. Or you'll have days when you'd rather race a Grand Prix, or swing a sword, or solve a puzzle than do anything else. That's okay too.

For me, when I have a bad day, I like to clean. I take all my frustration out on mildew and soap scum. Expending that energy feels good and I have a clean bathroom when I'm done. Of course, after being on my hands and knees scrubbing the toilets, sinks and showers (oh my!) then I'm really in a bad mood. And THAT'S when I need to kill something. The happier I am, the dirtier my bathroom gets. But at least after I've blown off some steam I've got a bathroom I wouldn't be embarrassed to show my mother AND you won't be seeing me on the evening news.