A new toy?

Saturday evening I called my cousin - who is only seventeen days older than I - a belated happy birthday because she had just turned thirty.

I wish we lived closer together because she is always a great deal of fun to be with.

As we talked, I mentioned my latest health fun with my blood pressure. At the same time she mentioned she just bought a new video game that sounded really fun (I received my first job in high school because I played video games).

I still love to play video games, mostly role-playing or medieval strategy games, but don't very often because I can play from 7:00 a.m. to Midnight without really stopping and not really notice how long I've played. Honestly, I haven't played one in about a year. Maybe even more.

I mentioned I'd been using an eliptical machine at the local gym, where I also swim, (I haven't been this week because of the mission) and that I read a book at the same time (right now it's Saint Thomas More's A Man Born Again). She suggested I get a Nintendo DS, that way I can play a video game while I exercise. A stroke of genius!

One of my students saw me reading on the eliptical machine last week and can't quite fathom how I can read and "run" at the same time. I can't fathom how he can't. Playing a video game and running at the same time ought to really baffle him.

I like her suggestion both because it would limit the time I could play each day and would be very enjoyable at the same time. It wouldn't surprise me if a bit of gaming each day would help lower my blood pressure.

And so I have this question: do any of you - or your children - have a Nintendo DS? If so, what do you think of it?

Now that I think about it, my blood pressure wasn't this high when I was playing video games...