JohnnyBGamer

Revisited – The Onion Layers of Time

I wrote this back in March of 2012. I can tell you that I’ve chilled out a bit since then. No longer do I feel angry or frustrated when I don’t get to play a game in the evening. I’ve gotten to where I might game once a week (IF). I more so now enjoy the time I’m spending with my family. Just needed to grow up and discover a few more layers. Always thankful to Shrek for that analogy. – Bryan

As we advance in years, I believe that we all wish that we would personally be able to grow and mature with time as well. For some, growth and maturity are unattainable due to personal life choices; for others, growing in maturity and stature are a knowingly made decision.

Before I was married, I had all the time in the world to pursue what I wanted to pursue. If I wanted to go out with friends for coffee at 2AM, I could. If I wanted to sit down and play a video game every evening, for hours on end, I could do so as well. I was a free man and time was all mine.

As I dated and was soon married, my time quickly became our time. No longer did I have the freedom to do what I wanted to do. I had to now take my wife into consideration. What did she want to do? What could we do together? There was nothing wrong or bad about this change in the way I spent my time. Like an onion, I had simply discovered a new layer of personal depth; like an onion, my time had also grown thinner in peeling away that new layer.

The birth of our son set into motion the equation of: my time + our time = his time.

Age, growth and maturity force us to constantly evaluate the things that matter to us. Are we spending our free time pursuing the things that we love or the things that we simply like? This got me thinking about video games and my constant struggle to figure out where they place in my life. Do I love them or just like them? Are they keeping me from pursuing the things that I love?

What about you?

From Across the Net – “The Cost of Surrounding Yourself with Negative People”

In our culture of “unfriending” and “muting” others, I found this piece by Tim Challies titled “The Cost of Surrounding Yourself with Negative People” refreshing.

It turns out that there is something far more costly than being with negative people: The cost of avoiding negative people, and thus, avoiding the kind of life that Jesus calls us to.

You can read more here.

Internet of Buttholes

I wasn’t allowed to say the word butthole growing up.

Butthole

Slinging that word at a sibling was considered a no-no and led, at least for awhile, to getting my mouth washed out with soap.

The Internet is full of buttholes. Those people we normally wouldn’t allow within 5 feet of us who are now snuggled up to our screens. Writing comments on our blogs and saying things on our social media pages that they would never say to our faces… or maybe they would say those things?

I’m tired of the buttholes ruining the Internet. I’m tired of:

The Josh Groban fan who got mad at my not liking Josh Groban’s CHARACTER in his latest show.
That person who doesn’t like me blogging and yet calls me a friend.
Those on twitter who have made it a hellish cesspool of negativity versus allowing it to be the amazing news tool it originally was.
Those on Facebook who think that it’s the best place ever to hash out politics and deep theological debates. (Add twitter to this comment too.)

Today I declare war on the buttholes. Go away! Your words are like poison to the soul.

My shields are up. I’m not going to let some random internet person ruin my day NOR be the cause of me getting my mouth washed out with soap for calling them…

A butthole.

(Not that that would happen. I’m an adult now. I can say adult things. I think.)

From Across the Net – “Vancouver Canucks Ban Video Games While On The Road”

This made me smile. There is something humorous about a big boy hockey team being told video games are a no-no.

As reported by The Province, Canucks’ center and alternate captain Bo Horvat explains that video games are presenting a distraction from players interacting with each other, as they’re just playing a lot of Fortnite instead.

“Yeah, that’s definitely a no-go on the road,” Horvat said. “No more Fortnite. No more bringing video games on the road. It’s strictly team meals, team dinners and hanging out with the guys. So we put an end to that.”

You can read more here

From Across the Net – “School-Year Screen-Time Rules from a Teacher”

I enjoyed this piece, “School-Year Screen-Time Rules from a Teacher“, by Rebecca Young over at Common Sense Media.

Last year Fortnite invaded my middle school classroom — as I believe it did to middle school classrooms across the country. Students who were usually on task and high-performing were nodding off and “forgetting” to do their homework. The morning conversations about how late they stayed up or who was the last man standing became part of our early morning check-ins. Then the phone calls with parents started: Over several months, I had numerous telephone and after-school meetings with parents concerned about their kids’ performance. When I brought up screen time, there were a range of reactions. Some parents seemed oblivious as to what their children were doing after hours, some didn’t know how to rein in screen time, and some thought they had it all under control — but clearly did not.

You can read more here.