Monday, May 31, 2010

To Explore Strange New Worlds

This weekend I visited a strange new world. It was not completely foreign. It was just a shade different from the one I already know. This weekend I chauferred my oldest son to the Regional Pokemon Video Game Championship Tournament. This was a real event. I had no idea it existed. I had no idea so many people took Pokemon so seriously. Several of them were in costume. A few came as "teams".

I waited in a line with Daniel for two hours so that he could register. About half that time we were waiting outside in the heat. Fortunately, it was only in the 80's, still hot enough that we felt quite grateful to be inside. If you are not too shy, it is possible to make a new friend when you stand in line for two hours. Daniel started up a couple of games with a couple of the kids near us. I was impressed. He has mentioned before how hard it is for him to make friends. I suppose if you start with at least one thing in common it is easier to strike up a conversation. After it was all over the girl (she was cute) asked Daniel for his email.

Daniel won the first round he played. He lost the second round. I'm sure he was a little disappointed, but he took it very well. Later he told me that he had fun and that it was all right if he didn't win. There was a guy next to him in the second round that didn't take defeat very well. He started crying. Daniel tried to offer some words of comfort to no avail. On our way out we spotted that guy crumpled in the floor. Daniel's thoughts on that, "You know, I take my Pokemon seriously, but that's a little TOO serious."

My son is so cool. I'm so glad that he could go and fun with this. I'm so glad that he has such a healthy view of it. Meet friends. Play game. Have fun. That's what it was all about. Winning would have been awesome, but it wasn't the most important thing.

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