Halo

An Unofficial Revival of Boys Club

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Wyatt wasn’t having the best of days yesterday. A combo of East Texas allergies and a knee injury at homeschool co-op had him snuffling/limping about. Tab ended up going to church alone to teach the kids (normally I tag along and help her). This Wednesday night though, I got to stay home with Wyatt and have a bit of an unofficial Boys Club revival. Two guys. All alone. What are we to do?

First, we kind of geeked out over a Star Wars trailer breakdown:

Second, we watched the Untitled Goose Game Gameplay Trailer. Wyatt just laughed. “We need this, dad.” I love listening to him laugh his deep belly laugh.

And then third, we played some Fortnite. I am still not a huge fan of the game. But recent changes have made the Chapter 2 update revolutionary for me (which means I’ll actually play with Wyatt now). The shooting, which always felt off/not good, feels dialed in now. I can shoot with the best of them and actually rack up a kill streak. Wyatt and I have consistently placed in the top ten playing duos. We even achieved our first Victory Royale over the weekend. Oh yeah!

Victory Royale!

Playing with Wyatt last night, I realized that we haven’t had a lot of one-on-one time lately. As we played Fornite, he talked. I learned about the video games kids at church are playing:

“Dad, so-and-so and so-and-so play Halo, but they aren’t allowed to play Fornite, isn’t Halo more violent?”

I smiled.

There is something about getting to hang out with him, one-on-one, that is super special. Tabitha is probably smiling as she reads this. At one point in my life, when she would leave, I’d put Wyatt to bed as quick as I could so that I could have some “me” time. God and the passage of time have worked to change me.

Was reading an article the other day that got me thinking about setting aside time to just spend with Wyatt. I liked this point:

Taking them out for breakfast. One much-loved tradition in our family is taking my children out for breakfast on Saturday mornings—one of them each week. It’s a tradition I have lost and revived and lost again and revived again. It is a tradition worth maintaining. The $10 or $20 expense and the time it takes pales in comparison to the investment in their lives. I will never regret our breakfast daddy dates.

Daddy dates. Going to think more on this one.

How do you make time to connect with your kids?

How did your parents make time to connect with you as a kid?

Let me know in the comments below.

E3 2019 – Halo Infinite

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The mere mention of Halo immediately brings me back to the first time I discovered Christians gaming together. I will never forget spending an evening with Fuller Theological Seminary students, playing Halo over a network. There is nothing quite like playing games together.

Destiny 2 – Send the Light

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Finished up the original Destiny 2 campaign over the weekend. Bungie managed to tell a somewhat decent story. I loved the bookends, the beginning and the end of the game. But I’m still not sure what happened in the middle… Cayde-6 and I are now friends? Tight gunplay mechanics continue to rule the series. No matter what, Bungie knows how to make a shooting game feel good. Real good. In the end, I wish had some friends to play through Destiny 2 with.

Destiny 2 isn’t perfect, but I enjoyed what I played. The game makes me miss the Master Chief of Bungie’s Halo. The Guardians, the Destiny player characters, lack character. The calm and determined physical presence of the Master Chief would certainly be most welcome.

My Guardian.