Squad Goals

One of my very closest friends is moving in about a week. There’s a duality of emotion when thinking about him heading down to Dallas. Of course I’m disappointed that I’m losing a workout buddy and one of the only people in Amarillo that I run music and video ideas through. But, Dallas is full of opportunity that isn’t present here and I’m so excited to see him making smart moves and getting the hell out of this town. He will be joining several of my other intelligent friends that have increased their salaries, opportunities and overall happiness by getting further away from Amarillo. Or is it more them getting away from me? Is this a Taylor Swift thing? Am I the problem? I don’t know. 

Regardless, a good portion of my friend group now only see or hear from me on Call of Duty. Almost nightly, after getting my daughter to bed, I don the headset and proceed to set about the motions of getting boots on the ground in some fictional part of the world with 3 or 4 other guys in the revelrous camaraderie of violence. We murder terrorists while discussing everything from politics to girl problems to our latest business moves. So while the distance has perhaps increased, I’ve not really lost those friendships. In fact, I even play with a couple of guys that I only know through computerized warfare. So the group has grown. They’re all badass.

Actual footage of me playing pretend with my friends.

This brings up two things. One, video games are the glue holding together the tenuous link to some of the best people I’ve met and I’m grateful for the tech that makes that possible. And two, I live in a town bereft of a great number of opportunities. So empty are the prospects for high earners that many reach the ceiling and leave not from desire to go elsewhere (though that is a separate part…) but from necessity for growth. 

I deleted roughly 500 words here of negativity and drivel that I’m doing my best to eschew in favor of positivity. Is this a new year’s resolution?

Nah. It’s a subtle shift in the way I view the world. Resolutions are for {redacted for lack of positivity}.

I think part of the reason I get so upset when I hear someone dogging on video games as an art form or even as a medium of entertainment is because of how formative they’ve been. I’m writing about some of my early exposure to games for another blog about my amazing kid and her journey of discovery with the PS4 but it’s foolish and obtuse to look at video games as anything less than amazing benefits to our lives.

Commander Keen in all his pixelated glory

Case in point: I would not have the business I have if not for the endless tinkering and problem solving I did growing up playing games on a PC and eventually a Playstation as a child. Installing the correct drivers for graphics cards and sound blaster audio and using DOS commands to launch Commander Keen taught me how computers work. Playing the games and working out puzzles didn’t just educate me on basic troubleshooting steps, it taught me to think like the creator. Play as though you built the world, now solve for X as the one that first obscured it.

Why is that important? Because all of life (especially anything past 25) is problem solving in which we have to discover the path best fit in a system we did not create. 

I’m ranting, but in short, I’m thankful for what all video games have given me. The thought processes, the career and now, the preservation of friendships I otherwise would be losing. 

I’m stoked for my buddy and if you’re considering leaving me in the near future please consider picking up a copy of Modern Warfare before you go. We still gotta hang.

tl;dr: Video games save lives