I am a people watcher. Sometimes I wish I was a Sociology major in college (afterall, it couldn't be any more useless than a Government and Politics degree) because I love to study how people react to the environment in which they live and how they act.

Next week will mark the one month mark for my girlfriend and I living together. We both went from our regualr single lives and have become this odd mismash of a unit. Before we moved in together her living room consisted of an old TV with rabbit ears and now with my arrival the living room now has an HD TV, digital cable, a hardcore PC, an Xbox 360 and more plastic musical instruments than are probably healthy for people in their 30's (at least one of us is 30... I still have 4 months until I hit the big 3-0).

Needless to say her "gamer quotient" has grown exponentially since my arrival. We spend our nights playing Rock Band mostly but its more gaming than she's probably done in her life prior to my arrival. She seems to have taken to it well. I'm the opposite. Before I moved in with her I'd spend most of my gaming time playing WoW or some "hardcore" games.

I realize that in order for our co-habitation to get off on the right foot my "hardcore" gaming tendencies were going to have to take a backseat for a while. No more spending hours playing WoW and tuning out the rest of existence and no more 3am gaming nights. Girlfriends don't like to be ignored while they're in the room nor do they like to go to sleep alone every single night and understandably so.

The one thing that I thought would happen to me while I was temporarily moving into the more "casual" gaming realm was that I was going to have this huge hole in my life. What is going on with my guild in WoW? Should I get back to those missions I never finished in GTAIV? Would I be missing new games that were going to be released because I was too busy building the foundation to a long and happy relationship?

The answer is a huge, resounding "NO". At the same time my girlfriend is taking interest in the gaming lifestyle and culture I seem to be turning quite apathetic. I've only played about 4 hours of WoW in a month, mostly before she gets home from work and spending the majority of my time gaming has been spent playing Rock Band with her. She kind of enjoys X-Play while I mostly fast forward through just about anything that's not industry news related or a review of a game that I was interested it.

A lot of people might call me a sell-out and that I was letting a woman change me and the whole "if she really loved you she would understand your hobbies" and all that crap. What I'm saying is that while initially I kind of tuned out just to get us right it now seems like I might not ever go back to being the "hardcore" gamer that I was.

With the holiday season coming we have something of a decision to make. Do we get a Wii for the more casual gaming aspect or do we get a PS3 so we can have a Blu-Ray player? Both of them would be mad useful but the Wii seems to be clear winner. WE would have more fun flailing about in our living room than we would playing Little Big Planet (the big draw for us getting a PS3).

When the whole "casual vs hardcore" thing got started this console generation I always respected the Wii and the rise of the casual game but never thought I would become right smack in the middle of the casual gamer demographic. Don't get me wrong, I still love the idea of great games like Mass Effect and MGS4 but "harcore" games like that seem to be a dying breed. Now it seems like everything has to be a FPS and more often than a not a really horrendous one at that while the "casual" games seem to be where the real innovation and fun is to be had.

Maybe this whole shift of feeling on my part is a temporary thing, or a perfect storm of situations with me moving in with my non-gamer girlfriend combined with me getting older but perhaps at the same time I'm getting my girlfriend transformed from non-gamer to gamer I'm going in the opposite direction and turning from "hardcore" gamer into the poster child for "casual" gaming.

Of course, when we were watching X-Play the other day and they mentioned something about the God of War movie, my girlfriend blurted out, "I swear to God, they better not screw that movie up!" Perhaps it's not about finding a balance but her surpassing me into the realm of a gamer while I just fade.

Either way, her screaming at the TV just shows how awesome my girlfriend is.

Laughlyn

(Editorial Note: Most of you know that at one time in my life I had a serious drug addiction problem. I was addicted to just about anything that I shouldn't take whether it was bad for me or not. Drug addiction is a serious, serious medical condition and one that shouldn't be laughed about. I WILL NOT use this as an opportunity to laugh about drug addiction but instead use my experience with drugs to make a point, albeit a light hearted one. Sorry in advance if anyone thinks that I'm being flippant about this.)

I consider myself something of a worldly person. I come from a multi-cultural background, I speak 3 languages, have traveled to more than a few foreign countries and have a huge respect for other peoples' culture and more importantly their dining customs.

This past weekend was weekend number three of me living in the beautiful city of Charleston, South Carolina. Not knowing a whole lot of the dining customs in this area I have made it a goal of mine within the first year to get a better grasp of eating in and around the Charleston area.

One of the things that struck me as odd when I first got here was the prevalence of taco trucks parked all along the major roads in the area. These trucks, as best I can tell, are just a family operation where they buy an old lunch truck (like the kind you see at construction sites), park them in an unused lot and sell their wares to the local hispanic population. Near our house there are two taco trucks within three blocks. They are in fact parked right across the street from each other, each catering to the traffic going in opposite directions.

Between my girlfriend and I we love Mexican/Hispanic cooking so we've been dying to actually go out and try one of the local taco trucks. Sunday afternoon, before the Redskins game was to be on TV we decided to head to the taco truck that was closest to our house, the one on OUR side of the street.

We got there, ordered and while we were waiting for our order this drunk El Salvadorian started telling me a story in Spanish. The crux of his story was that he had gotten hammered and decided he needed some tacos from this truck. As he was riding his bike to the taco truck (keep in mind this guy is smashed) he crashed into a parked car, went over the handlebars of his bike and did a firm face plant in the street. His bleeding chin was proof that his story might have some merit. His bike was wrecked so he decided to leave it and continue on foot to the taco truck.

My girlfriend and I laughed thinking that the desires of drunk people cannot and will not ever make sense to sober people. How else can you explain the popularity of Denny's and the Waffle House after 2am? Booze, plain and simple.

We got our food and drove back to the house since there was no place at the picnic table in front of the truck to eat. The food from the taco truck can only be described with sounds of pleasure and in no way can actual written language do this food justice but to call their fare "orgasmic" doesn't quite do it justice but its the best I can come up with.

By the time that we were done eating it was 4pm which was the starting time for the one thing I had been looking forward to all week... the ability to watch the Redskins game on my own couch, in my own house instead of having to go to a bar. I had an unopened bottle of Scotch sitting on top of my fridge just waiting to be opened and enjoyed during the game, but...

I missed the entire game and so did my girlfriend. Within 10 minutes of us finishing our taco truck meal we were completely asleep. I don't mean we just kind of dozed off... we completely passed out.

Have you ever had surgery? You remember the part where one second you're awake and alert and then the next thing you know the whole surgery is over? That's what happened to BOTH of us.

Think how everyone takes a nap after Thanksgiving dinner but just imagine one second your whole family is sitting on the couch watching the Lions' game and then the next thing you know everyone looks dead. That's what happened to BOTH of us.

Like I said at the top of this column, I have a lot of experience mixing various barbituites and depressants and never once can I remember a reaction like this. Xanax and beer? Vicodin and whiskey? Percoset and vodka? All those combinations have nothing on what those tacos did to me and my girlfriend.

When we both woke up four hours after we finished we both sat around a laughed. Were we drugged? Did these tacos do that to everyone? Is that why the drunk guy splatted on the pavement and still continued to the taco truck on foot? Was he out of beer and this was the knockout punch he needed?

I hate that my cigarettes come with a warning label. I'm inhaling all kinds of toxins and chunks of fiberglass... I know its bad for me, you don't need to put a label on ths side to tell me this, I'm not an idiot. Reckless maybe, but not stupid.

Most things that are bad for you are pretty common sense. Shoe polish? Don't huff it. Paint thinner? Don't get it in your eyes... common sense but these tacos need a warning label. Something along the lines of.

WARNING: Do not operate heavy machinery. Do no make any plans for after dinner. Lock your doors in case someone at the taco stand follows you home and waits for you to pass out so they can rob you. If you are involved in a traffic accident on your way to the taco stand seek professional addiction counseling immediately. Do not drink alcohol before or after your meal as alcohol amplifies the affects of the tacos.

Sadly, because of my addictive personality, I'm afraid that if this is what happens to me every time I eat these tacos I may become addicted. They're a whole lot cheaper than booze and prescription drugs and there's no hang over. It's basically like a self-inflicted coma and just the idea of that scares me. What if I OD? What if I just blow off work and get smashed off of tacos all day? How will I pay the mortgage? How long until my girlfriend leaves me? Will I lose all my teeth like a meth addict? Will I lose weight like a heroin addict? Will I sell my worldly posessions like a crack head? Will I lose my keys all the time like a pot head?

Damn you, taco truck! Damn you to hell!

Laughlyn

Don't let anyone ever claim that I don't carry through with what I promise... at least until the next time it happens. After almost a year of being "in the works" I have finally moved to Charleston, South Carolina.

I'm not quite sure how to go about this blog so I'm going to just throw it together with a series of thoughts and stories about things that I've been up to since I got here.

The Rock Band Phenomenon

My girlfriend and I are currently in the process of saving to buy a house so we decided the best way to save money is to stay home as much possible. In order to achieve this goal and keep us from going out all the time drinking we've decided to fill our place with as much fun stuff to do as possible. I know that spending money in order to save money seems a little counter-productive but in the end the investments will work out in the long run.

The first thing that we did in order to keep us home was to buy Rock Band. My girlfriend and I are both hardcore music people (not the kind that only love one genre but all kinds of music) and have been having a blast playing it.

We bought the game two weeks ago and until last night we had a fairly typical routine where she played the guitar and I played the drums. Last night, on the way to the grocery store she asked if we could play Rock Band after dinner. Me, being the dealmaker that I am said we could but under two conditions... 1) that we finally watched the season premiere of Heroes (since she had fallen asleep the last two nights that we tried) and 2) that we would finally sing on some tracks.

After a few warmup songs with our usual setup we finally got up the courage to sing in front of each other. It turned out to be a lot more fun than we both expected and we sang songs on Rock Band until 11:30 last night. We both managed to get 100% on the songs that we felt that we both knew the best. Her on "Maps" by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah's and me on "Creep" by Radiohead. Needless to say, she sounds a lot better when singing than I do but the difference is that I have a lot higher of a threshold for shame so my inability to sound anywhere near a singer does not keep me from flailing about while belting out the words.

I just feel bad for our neighbor... she has to listen to us.

The Force Unleashed

After work on Sept 16 I went out and bought one of the 4 games that I was looking forward to for the entire year, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Before it was released, I had read that the reviews were going to be underwhelming at best. Usually, I don't like buying a game unless I can find at least a few really glowing reviews but this time I didn't care. I was getting this game even if it meant and influenza outbreak in some remote part of the world.

Let's put it this way... I played it for a few hours on that Tuesday and have honestly only played it for about an hour or two since. The game has been a complete letdown. What good is having the full power of the force at your disposable if the game controls like a shopping cart with three wheels?

If I'm not working, watching TV, losing the dog, eating, sleeping, playing WoW (yes, I'm still a hardcore WoW player) or Rockband with my girlfriend then I might contemplate playing SW:TFU but with more options I fear that game might just gather dust... really sad.

Adjustments to Living in the South

I grew up in the liberal, elitist Northeast. With the exception of the three years I lived in Florida (which does not count as "the south" as its more like its own country) I lived my entire life in suburban Washington DC.

As a person of an ethnic minority I was aware of the South's reputation for intollerance. Being part of an inter-racial relationship was not something that was going to help my cause either but I must say I've been here more than 3 weeks and we have yet to have a single cross burning in my front yard which has to be some kind of record here in South Carolina! Good for us!

Some of the things that I have really enjoyed living with down here are:

- Cigarettes are dirt cheap. They are literally half the cost that they were in Maryland.

- Traffic is non-existent. Listening to people complain about traffic down here is hilarious. Even at "rush hour" my girlfriend and I can make it to downtown Chucktown which is about 15 miles in about 25 minutes. Getting 15 miles on the highway in the Washington DC metro area would take around an hour.

- People DO go about their business slower around here. In DC driving on the highway is like playing a game of Red Rover at 90 mph. People switch lanes and go as fast as their cars will allow them. Here, in the fast lane, if you're doing 75 mph you are flying. People just don't seem to be in a hurry which is cool... at least to me.

- A lot of cars here look like they just came out of a rap video. Everyone has 22" chrome rims on their car no matter what kind of car it is. 95 Hyundai? Throw some rims on it! 86 Cavalier? Rims! Scooter? You guessed it... rims!

Not Living in my Football Team's Home Television Market

When you live in an area for most of your life one of the things that you take for granted is that your favorite local football team will always be on television. Here its a bit of struggle. Last week, my girlfriend and I had to travel to the local sports bar so that I could watch the Redskins game. At least this week, they're the national game at 4pm so I'll be able to watch it from the comfort of our own home, on our couch.

Not living in the Redskins television market wouldn't be so bad if I was in the local market for a REAL football team. For some reason Charleston is in the television market for the Carolina Panthers. It's not that I have anything against the Carolina Panthers franchise its just that I have an issue with their fans.

There's something very annoying about people who treat their brand new franchise like its a well entrenched part of NFL history. I got news for you Panthers fans... your team is new. The term upstart still applies. I have shoes older than your team, stop talking about them as being part of NFL history. You have been to one Super Bowl, which you lost, and discussing their impact on the league and its history is the same as discussing my personal impact on world history just because I've been alive. Until you've done something truely noteworthy just accept that your team is new. Before they existed you either weren't a football fan or you were a fan of some other team. Just because the NFL decided to give two crappy cities (Jacksonville and Charlotte) football teams does not mean you are a real city or team... get over it!

Enough rambling... I'm glad to be back and will see everyone soon. Take care!

Laughlyn