Yoga Flame

Dhalsim artwork by Jared Fiorino

If you have ever played Street Fighter II, you probably recognize Dhalsim, the Yoga master from India. For me--and, I suspect, for many men around my age--this video game character was my first exposure to the concept of Yoga. What we learned about Dhalsim (and, by association, about Yoga) is that he can levitate, teleport, and breathe fire. He can also stretch his arms and legs to ridiculous lengths.

Those who paid attention to the story know that Dhalsim is a pacifist, who only fights for money to help the poor. Moral of the story: Yoga gives you superhuman powers, but it should only be used for personal growth, not to beat people up (except for a good cause). Does that mean that "Yoga championship" is an oxymoron? Nope, it's real, and these contenders will kick your ass at Yoga.

So if Yoga can be a competitive sport, then maybe the idea of a street-fighting yogi isn't so far fetched, after all. Who knows? Maybe there is a real-life Dhalsim out there, training in secret, biding his time until the inevitable Yoga Martial Arts Tournament.

Puzzle

interlocking, originally uploaded by paul goyette

They say real men don't read instructions, but I have always been a dutiful instructions-reader. I used to pore over manuals as a young PC gamer, devouring every page before even inserting the 5 1/2" floppy disk into my Commodore 64. When cooking, I always follow the directions very carefully, and make sure to use exactly the right proportions of ingredients.

This weekend I bought a bookcase at Target. It was on sale and it matched the crib. I hauled the box home, dumped out all the parts, and sorted the Styrofoam from the useful bits. Then I l sorted everything again. At which point it became clear that I had everything I needed to build a bookcase except--surprise!--the instructions. I couldn't find instructions online either, but I did find product reviews full of complaints about how difficult it was to assemble.

What I did have was a photo of the finished product from the box, and a few years of furniture-assembly experience. Ultimately, I was too lazy to return it to the store, and so I made a game of it. Like one of those jigsaw puzzles with no border and extra pieces that don't fit anywhere. In the end it only took me a couple of hours to build a very nice-looking bookcase. It turns out that real men really don't need instructions after all.

Penny Arcade: incidental dad talk in the PA podcast

Penny Arcade, originally uploaded by mjp3000

Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (a.k.a. Tycho and Gabe) are probably best known for making the online comic Penny Arcade. What doesn't get much press is that the two men are also parents, both having fathered a child with their respective wives in the past few years.

Obviously there's a reason they don't talk about it much--their comics are mostly about video games, not parenthood--but sometimes their sons come up in conversation. As you might expect from guys who make a living by finding humor in every occasion, they usually say something interesting. On a recent podcast, Jerry recounted the following conversation with his son Eliot:

He began to move his hand in a way as though he had a sword in it, and he said, "daddy," and I said, "yes Eliot," and he said, "what is a weapon?" ... all the while slicing the air with this imaginary blade...

I said, "Eliot, a weapon is a tool, that you can use to hurt someone." Accurate, no information--you know what I'm saying--no contextualization, but that's what it is. "What is a weapon?" Where the fuck did that come from?

Jerry reliably dishes out abstrusity in his blog posts, so it is to be expected that he would have such profound discussions in his daily life as well. On the funny side, Mike wrote this great rant on Lego fruit snacks (scroll down a bit). "I just spent the first three years of my sons life trying to get him not to eat blocks," he says, "and now you're telling him they taste like fucking strawberries. Thanks a lot assholes."

It would be great if these guys could do a great podcast that's just about fatherhood. I might be the only one to listen to it, but I bet it would be awesome.

The Grind

:D, originally uploaded by The Fuzzy Squid

One of our friends had a baby a couple of years ago. Soon afterward, he started playing the massively addictive online role-playing game World of Warcraft. I was childless at the time, and this seemed to me counter-productive to his responsibilities as a parent. He assured me that these activities were not mutually exclusive. I was doubtful. Then we brought our own baby home, and I understood exactly what he was talking about.

While taking care of our newborn daughter, I often find myself with one arm occupied and the other arm free. This limits my range of motion, but it still allows me to play video games! With one hand I can feed her a bottle or jiggle her to sleep, and with my DS-wielding hand I can send my party of imaginary explorers on a magical dungeon journey.

My baby's needs are very simple, but she needs things all the time. The portable system is perfect because I can pick it up or put it down as needed. And since my brain is occupied with other things (mustn't drop the baby), it's the perfect time to play an RPG where I can mindlessly grind low-level monsters into a fine paste.

So it turns out I can be a dad and have fun at the same time. I think I just leveled up in my Parenting skill!

Spore

Eastern Red Cedar, originally uploaded by wcm777

I have been a Will Wright fan since 1989, when I first played SimCity on my Commodore 64. That dude makes some seriously good games. As a young kid, I learned a lot from them, and they encouraged curiousity about things like cities and insects and sociology.

His new creation, Spore, is set to be released this fall. It's basically a simulation of everything: encompassing the origin of life, evolution of species, the rise of civilization, planetary ecology, and galactic exploration.

It's kind of a big deal, and I feel obligated to share this genius with my little geeklet at the youngest possible age. Of course, by the time she's in high school they will have moved on from dissecting frogs to prodding embryonic stem cells, but for now this is the closest we can get to playing God.

Hobbies

Duck Hunt (NES), originally uploaded by skinny coder

My whole life is about to be turned upside-down. Does that include giving up video games?

In a GameSetWatch article, Mr. Raroo examines the topic of continuing hobbies after the baby arrives. The conclusion? Be prepared to take a hiatus for the first month or two. After that, it's game on... with a few caveats. Your habits may change, but if there's a hobby you truly enjoy, then eventually you'll pick it up again.

It's a good read, whether your treasured pastime is playing games or something else. As it is, although I enjoy video games very much, they are less a priority now than when I was young and single. On the other hand, he did get me thinking about how nice it would be to play DS (or read a book) while I take the bus to work.

I've done that in the past and it worked out swimmingly. It's too bad that taking public transit to my current job would jack my commute up to four hours a day. Looks like I'll be plugging in some headphones and quietly rocking to Guitar Hero during nap time.