What am I doing wrong?
Tina Tarbutton
Draven (my 11 year old son) is currently in a phase where he's doing
nothing but video games, Nerf swords and Netflix. If he isn't playing
video games, he's watching Netflix and playing with his Nerf swords. He
switches back and forth every few hours depending on which of his Xbox live
friends are online at any given time. He eats and sleeps in front of the
TV, not even wanting to turn the TV off for family dinners (something that
he once insisted on having at least a few times a week). He does stop long
enough to pitch in around the house when he sees us going on a cleaning
spree, but doesn't take any initiative to do any cleaning up after himself
on a regular basis. He wears the same clothes for days at a time and I
have to ask him twice a week to take a shower (and where he doesn't fight
me exactly, he does complain about it and it becomes a day full of
reminders about a shower). I still have to remind him to brush his teeth
on a somewhat daily basis and most of the time he doesn't want to.
He no longer goes outside to do anything, and it's not just that it's
winter, we live in Florida so it's still warm out most days. He doesn't
want to go to the homeschool park days anymore because he doesn't get along
with a few of the kids that are there. I've tried setting up get togethers
with the homeschoolers outside of park day and they always fall through.
He's not interested in any of the library programs or anything else that
the homeschoolers in the area do, and we haven't been able to find any
unschoolers. Since he doesn't go outside he hasn't met many neighborhood
kids, and the one he did meet he doesn't get along with. He has no friends
in person, however he has tons of friends online (some of them he also
texts with and calls occasionally but all of them are too far away for
meeting in real life). I think these online friendships are great (I met
my partner online) but I also think real live in person friendships are
important as well.
He's been gaining weight for awhile now and it's bothering him. I know
that weight gain at his age is normal, because most likely he'll hit a
growth spurt any time now. I keep reassuring him that it's okay, but in
the back of my mind (knowing that my sons father, myself and my partner are
all overweight) I do worry at times. I've had to stop almost every one of
my family members mid-sentence as they start to say something about his
weight because he's always been tall and skinny for his age and now he's
not. He used to be a very active kid, always going and doing something,
now he just wants to sit.
We've been radically unschooling for 2 or 3 years now and I thought I had
figured this stuff out. He spends months at a time with his father (in
another state) and that tends to start the deschooling all over again
because his father gets on him and I about "doing real school work" and
"doing something with his life." He's been home for over 3 months now and
this time we're not moving into any other interests.
Normally when he gets back from his dads the first week or two are all
video games all the time, then we start moving into different interests and
expanding on the video games. At one point about a year ago he expressed
an interest in stop motion photography, so I helped him set things up and
we did one video. He loved it, loved showing it to everyone, but never
went back to it. He used to pull out action figures and Mega Blocks Halo
sets and set up elaborate scenes with them, but not anymore.
It's not that I want him to stop the video games. I fully support him
playing. We're constantly buying new and better games whenever we can and
I love the enjoyment he gets out of the games. I love hearing the deep
belly laugh he gets when he and his friends are joking around online. It's
that I feel like there should be more to life then sitting in the same spot
for days in a row. He's using the video games and movies as an escape from
reality I think, but I'm not sure how to make reality more exciting than
(or as exciting as) the video games especially since he doesn't have any
friends except for online.
The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me something's
wrong for a little while now, but now his father and my partner are also
saying something has to change.
How do we move beyond this and into the part where we expand on his
interests? How does someone make friends to hang out with, without leaving
the house?
Thanks,
Tina
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
nothing but video games, Nerf swords and Netflix. If he isn't playing
video games, he's watching Netflix and playing with his Nerf swords. He
switches back and forth every few hours depending on which of his Xbox live
friends are online at any given time. He eats and sleeps in front of the
TV, not even wanting to turn the TV off for family dinners (something that
he once insisted on having at least a few times a week). He does stop long
enough to pitch in around the house when he sees us going on a cleaning
spree, but doesn't take any initiative to do any cleaning up after himself
on a regular basis. He wears the same clothes for days at a time and I
have to ask him twice a week to take a shower (and where he doesn't fight
me exactly, he does complain about it and it becomes a day full of
reminders about a shower). I still have to remind him to brush his teeth
on a somewhat daily basis and most of the time he doesn't want to.
He no longer goes outside to do anything, and it's not just that it's
winter, we live in Florida so it's still warm out most days. He doesn't
want to go to the homeschool park days anymore because he doesn't get along
with a few of the kids that are there. I've tried setting up get togethers
with the homeschoolers outside of park day and they always fall through.
He's not interested in any of the library programs or anything else that
the homeschoolers in the area do, and we haven't been able to find any
unschoolers. Since he doesn't go outside he hasn't met many neighborhood
kids, and the one he did meet he doesn't get along with. He has no friends
in person, however he has tons of friends online (some of them he also
texts with and calls occasionally but all of them are too far away for
meeting in real life). I think these online friendships are great (I met
my partner online) but I also think real live in person friendships are
important as well.
He's been gaining weight for awhile now and it's bothering him. I know
that weight gain at his age is normal, because most likely he'll hit a
growth spurt any time now. I keep reassuring him that it's okay, but in
the back of my mind (knowing that my sons father, myself and my partner are
all overweight) I do worry at times. I've had to stop almost every one of
my family members mid-sentence as they start to say something about his
weight because he's always been tall and skinny for his age and now he's
not. He used to be a very active kid, always going and doing something,
now he just wants to sit.
We've been radically unschooling for 2 or 3 years now and I thought I had
figured this stuff out. He spends months at a time with his father (in
another state) and that tends to start the deschooling all over again
because his father gets on him and I about "doing real school work" and
"doing something with his life." He's been home for over 3 months now and
this time we're not moving into any other interests.
Normally when he gets back from his dads the first week or two are all
video games all the time, then we start moving into different interests and
expanding on the video games. At one point about a year ago he expressed
an interest in stop motion photography, so I helped him set things up and
we did one video. He loved it, loved showing it to everyone, but never
went back to it. He used to pull out action figures and Mega Blocks Halo
sets and set up elaborate scenes with them, but not anymore.
It's not that I want him to stop the video games. I fully support him
playing. We're constantly buying new and better games whenever we can and
I love the enjoyment he gets out of the games. I love hearing the deep
belly laugh he gets when he and his friends are joking around online. It's
that I feel like there should be more to life then sitting in the same spot
for days in a row. He's using the video games and movies as an escape from
reality I think, but I'm not sure how to make reality more exciting than
(or as exciting as) the video games especially since he doesn't have any
friends except for online.
The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me something's
wrong for a little while now, but now his father and my partner are also
saying something has to change.
How do we move beyond this and into the part where we expand on his
interests? How does someone make friends to hang out with, without leaving
the house?
Thanks,
Tina
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
NCMama
I have only a moment to respond, so sorry this won't go into more detail about the specific questions you asked. One question that came up for me while I was reading your post is, What are YOU doing? What are YOUR interests?
Are you excited by life? Do you know what brings your soul alive, and are you doing that?
I've found that as an unschooling mom, I need to be a leader, as well as facilitator and partner. Wait, strike that. I don't "need to be" a leader - by dint of my age, experience, and relative power in the world, I AM a leader in our home.
Do you have a garden outside, or something you love outside that will draw you out, and you can invite him to join you? He might not want to go on a hike with you, but if hiking is your thing, you can walk around the block a couple times without leaving him for too long.
Feed your passion, and invite him in. Are you being the kind of person he wants to be with? Positive, peaceful, loving, present, fun?
I do have some recent experience with being stuck, and moving out of that - I hope to get back to write about that later today.
peace,
Caren
Are you excited by life? Do you know what brings your soul alive, and are you doing that?
I've found that as an unschooling mom, I need to be a leader, as well as facilitator and partner. Wait, strike that. I don't "need to be" a leader - by dint of my age, experience, and relative power in the world, I AM a leader in our home.
Do you have a garden outside, or something you love outside that will draw you out, and you can invite him to join you? He might not want to go on a hike with you, but if hiking is your thing, you can walk around the block a couple times without leaving him for too long.
Feed your passion, and invite him in. Are you being the kind of person he wants to be with? Positive, peaceful, loving, present, fun?
I do have some recent experience with being stuck, and moving out of that - I hope to get back to write about that later today.
peace,
Caren
Sandra Dodd
I don't like the subject line, because then the responses look like they're assuming you're doing something wrong.
-=-At one point about a year ago he expressed
an interest in stop motion photography, so I helped him set things up and
we did one video. He loved it, loved showing it to everyone, but never
went back to it. He used to pull out action figures and Mega Blocks Halo
sets and set up elaborate scenes with them, but not anymore.
-=-It's not that I want him to stop the video games...-=-
But it sounds like you don't want him to get older or to change.
Maybe he will never be interested in setting up scenarios with action figures anymore, and that's okay.
Have YOU used the stop-motion camera to make anything? I'm asking because if it's seen as a kid thing rather than a cool real-life tool, he might have grown past it. Or he might go back to it later and use it to make money. You can't know, but he DID use it and show that he understood, and created something. He will understand that forever.
-=-It's
that I feel like there should be more to life then sitting in the same spot
for days in a row. He's using the video games and movies as an escape from
reality I think, but I'm not sure how to make reality more exciting than
(or as exciting as) the video games especially since he doesn't have any
friends except for online.
-=-
Some people travel to visit the online friends, or invite one over.
If the video game is the most exciting thing in your house, then if you want to get him involved in other things, it probably should be things outside the house. If you can afford to get out and go other places, that might be the way to go. But don't rush it. He's 11.
-=-The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me something's
wrong for a little while now, but now his father and my partner are also
saying something has to change.-=-
"Has to" or what? Has to or they won't be happy with you anymore?
"Has to" or your son is doomed to their imaginary scenarios?
-=-How do we move beyond this and into the part where we expand on his
interests? -=-
"The part" of what?
There might be the disconnect or the confusion. Unschooling isn't a series of same-developments that happen in a certain order. The part where you expand on his interests should have been happening for the past three years. It's not "beyond," it's part of life.
-=-How does someone make friends to hang out with, without leaving the house?-=-
Why did you ask that question? Don't tell us, just think about it. Try to ask questions we can actually consider answers for. :-)
-=- I keep reassuring him that it's okay, but in
the back of my mind (knowing that my sons father, myself and my partner are
all overweight) I do worry at times. I've had to stop almost every one of
my family members mid-sentence as they start to say something about his
weight because he's always been tall and skinny for his age and now he's
not.-=-
Genetics can't be overcome by unschooling.
Genetic coding can't be changed by anything.
If his bio dad, too, is heavy, it would be cruel for anyone to treat him like a bad guy for looking like his parents and grandparents.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
-=-At one point about a year ago he expressed
an interest in stop motion photography, so I helped him set things up and
we did one video. He loved it, loved showing it to everyone, but never
went back to it. He used to pull out action figures and Mega Blocks Halo
sets and set up elaborate scenes with them, but not anymore.
-=-It's not that I want him to stop the video games...-=-
But it sounds like you don't want him to get older or to change.
Maybe he will never be interested in setting up scenarios with action figures anymore, and that's okay.
Have YOU used the stop-motion camera to make anything? I'm asking because if it's seen as a kid thing rather than a cool real-life tool, he might have grown past it. Or he might go back to it later and use it to make money. You can't know, but he DID use it and show that he understood, and created something. He will understand that forever.
-=-It's
that I feel like there should be more to life then sitting in the same spot
for days in a row. He's using the video games and movies as an escape from
reality I think, but I'm not sure how to make reality more exciting than
(or as exciting as) the video games especially since he doesn't have any
friends except for online.
-=-
Some people travel to visit the online friends, or invite one over.
If the video game is the most exciting thing in your house, then if you want to get him involved in other things, it probably should be things outside the house. If you can afford to get out and go other places, that might be the way to go. But don't rush it. He's 11.
-=-The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me something's
wrong for a little while now, but now his father and my partner are also
saying something has to change.-=-
"Has to" or what? Has to or they won't be happy with you anymore?
"Has to" or your son is doomed to their imaginary scenarios?
-=-How do we move beyond this and into the part where we expand on his
interests? -=-
"The part" of what?
There might be the disconnect or the confusion. Unschooling isn't a series of same-developments that happen in a certain order. The part where you expand on his interests should have been happening for the past three years. It's not "beyond," it's part of life.
-=-How does someone make friends to hang out with, without leaving the house?-=-
Why did you ask that question? Don't tell us, just think about it. Try to ask questions we can actually consider answers for. :-)
-=- I keep reassuring him that it's okay, but in
the back of my mind (knowing that my sons father, myself and my partner are
all overweight) I do worry at times. I've had to stop almost every one of
my family members mid-sentence as they start to say something about his
weight because he's always been tall and skinny for his age and now he's
not.-=-
Genetics can't be overcome by unschooling.
Genetic coding can't be changed by anything.
If his bio dad, too, is heavy, it would be cruel for anyone to treat him like a bad guy for looking like his parents and grandparents.
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Deb
I'm still new to unschooling myself but I do have a question about your situation. Do you ever play video games with him? It might be the opening to a reconnection between you, maybe leading to other activities once he feels that connection. What I mean is that if you become a partner in the activity he enjoys, and learn to enjoy it yourself, he may be more open to the possibilities of other activities with you outside the home. Just a thought.
--- In [email protected], Tina Tarbutton <tina.tarbutton@...> wrote:
>
> Draven (my 11 year old son) is currently in a phase where he's doing
> nothing but video games, Nerf swords and Netflix. If he isn't playing
> video games, he's watching Netflix and playing with his Nerf swords. He
> switches back and forth every few hours depending on which of his Xbox live
> friends are online at any given time. He eats and sleeps in front of the
> TV, not even wanting to turn the TV off for family dinners (something that
> he once insisted on having at least a few times a week). He does stop long
> enough to pitch in around the house when he sees us going on a cleaning
> spree, but doesn't take any initiative to do any cleaning up after himself
> on a regular basis. He wears the same clothes for days at a time and I
> have to ask him twice a week to take a shower (and where he doesn't fight
> me exactly, he does complain about it and it becomes a day full of
> reminders about a shower). I still have to remind him to brush his teeth
> on a somewhat daily basis and most of the time he doesn't want to.
>
> He no longer goes outside to do anything, and it's not just that it's
> winter, we live in Florida so it's still warm out most days. He doesn't
> want to go to the homeschool park days anymore because he doesn't get along
> with a few of the kids that are there. I've tried setting up get togethers
> with the homeschoolers outside of park day and they always fall through.
> He's not interested in any of the library programs or anything else that
> the homeschoolers in the area do, and we haven't been able to find any
> unschoolers. Since he doesn't go outside he hasn't met many neighborhood
> kids, and the one he did meet he doesn't get along with. He has no friends
> in person, however he has tons of friends online (some of them he also
> texts with and calls occasionally but all of them are too far away for
> meeting in real life). I think these online friendships are great (I met
> my partner online) but I also think real live in person friendships are
> important as well.
>
> He's been gaining weight for awhile now and it's bothering him. I know
> that weight gain at his age is normal, because most likely he'll hit a
> growth spurt any time now. I keep reassuring him that it's okay, but in
> the back of my mind (knowing that my sons father, myself and my partner are
> all overweight) I do worry at times. I've had to stop almost every one of
> my family members mid-sentence as they start to say something about his
> weight because he's always been tall and skinny for his age and now he's
> not. He used to be a very active kid, always going and doing something,
> now he just wants to sit.
>
> We've been radically unschooling for 2 or 3 years now and I thought I had
> figured this stuff out. He spends months at a time with his father (in
> another state) and that tends to start the deschooling all over again
> because his father gets on him and I about "doing real school work" and
> "doing something with his life." He's been home for over 3 months now and
> this time we're not moving into any other interests.
>
> Normally when he gets back from his dads the first week or two are all
> video games all the time, then we start moving into different interests and
> expanding on the video games. At one point about a year ago he expressed
> an interest in stop motion photography, so I helped him set things up and
> we did one video. He loved it, loved showing it to everyone, but never
> went back to it. He used to pull out action figures and Mega Blocks Halo
> sets and set up elaborate scenes with them, but not anymore.
>
> It's not that I want him to stop the video games. I fully support him
> playing. We're constantly buying new and better games whenever we can and
> I love the enjoyment he gets out of the games. I love hearing the deep
> belly laugh he gets when he and his friends are joking around online. It's
> that I feel like there should be more to life then sitting in the same spot
> for days in a row. He's using the video games and movies as an escape from
> reality I think, but I'm not sure how to make reality more exciting than
> (or as exciting as) the video games especially since he doesn't have any
> friends except for online.
>
> The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me something's
> wrong for a little while now, but now his father and my partner are also
> saying something has to change.
>
> How do we move beyond this and into the part where we expand on his
> interests? How does someone make friends to hang out with, without leaving
> the house?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tina
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
Sandra Dodd
-=-What I mean is that if you become a partner in the activity he enjoys, and learn to enjoy it yourself, he may be more open to the possibilities of other activities with you outside the home. Just a thought.-=-
I think it's a really good thought.
There's one level of being with people that's not very personal or involved. If I'm doing dishes and someone else is in the same room with headphones on, we're physically together, but we're not socially or emotionally or intellectually together.
People don't have to be "together" ALL the time, but it's possible for them to be technically together, geographically, without ever being REALLY together.
http://sandradodd.com/being
http://sandradodd.com/being/with
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I think it's a really good thought.
There's one level of being with people that's not very personal or involved. If I'm doing dishes and someone else is in the same room with headphones on, we're physically together, but we're not socially or emotionally or intellectually together.
People don't have to be "together" ALL the time, but it's possible for them to be technically together, geographically, without ever being REALLY together.
http://sandradodd.com/being
http://sandradodd.com/being/with
Sandra
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sylvia Woodman
If you watch the Netflix with him there is always stuff to talk about
there. My kids 5 & 7 watch a lot of animated shows and we have a lot of
fun trying to identify the voices (hey is that the same actor that does the
voice of Susie Carmichael from Rug Rats? Did you know the voice of Scooby
Doo and Curious George is done by the same guy?) Some times I look up the
voice actors on the internet movie database to see what else they have been
in or to get interesting things about their lives. (Did you know Mark
Hamill from Star Wars does lots and lots of voices for video games?) Some
times when Netflix suggests other movies or shows we look up reviews. Some
times we find related books from the library. Some times we draw pictures
of the characters (My daughter likes to draw the characters from Plants vs
Zombies and the PBS show Arthur - so I found her some how to videos from
youtube.) Sometimes we make food that looks like characters from their
shows or food that was eaten on the show (spaghetti tacos anyone?) We
talked about (but haven't done it yet) making a cake that looks like the
graveyard from Plants vs zombies...
Make some long range plans Alex P. just told me this morning over facebook
that there will be a video games exhibit at the Smithsonian maybe get some
information about it and dream about going....
Worry less about what you think others are thinking and spend more time
connecting with your son.
Warmly,
Sylvia
there. My kids 5 & 7 watch a lot of animated shows and we have a lot of
fun trying to identify the voices (hey is that the same actor that does the
voice of Susie Carmichael from Rug Rats? Did you know the voice of Scooby
Doo and Curious George is done by the same guy?) Some times I look up the
voice actors on the internet movie database to see what else they have been
in or to get interesting things about their lives. (Did you know Mark
Hamill from Star Wars does lots and lots of voices for video games?) Some
times when Netflix suggests other movies or shows we look up reviews. Some
times we find related books from the library. Some times we draw pictures
of the characters (My daughter likes to draw the characters from Plants vs
Zombies and the PBS show Arthur - so I found her some how to videos from
youtube.) Sometimes we make food that looks like characters from their
shows or food that was eaten on the show (spaghetti tacos anyone?) We
talked about (but haven't done it yet) making a cake that looks like the
graveyard from Plants vs zombies...
Make some long range plans Alex P. just told me this morning over facebook
that there will be a video games exhibit at the Smithsonian maybe get some
information about it and dream about going....
Worry less about what you think others are thinking and spend more time
connecting with your son.
Warmly,
Sylvia
On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at9:16 AM, Tina Tarbutton <tina.tarbutton@...>wrote:
> **
>
>
> Draven (my 11 year old son) is currently in a phase where he's doing
> nothing but video games, Nerf swords and Netflix. If he isn't playing
> video games, he's watching Netflix and playing with his Nerf swords. He
> switches back and forth every few hours depending on which of his Xbox live
> friends are online at any given time. He eats and sleeps in front of the
> TV, not even wanting to turn the TV off for family dinners (something that
> he once insisted on having at least a few times a week). He does stop long
> enough to pitch in around the house when he sees us going on a cleaning
> spree, but doesn't take any initiative to do any cleaning up after himself
> on a regular basis. He wears the same clothes for days at a time and I
> have to ask him twice a week to take a shower (and where he doesn't fight
> me exactly, he does complain about it and it becomes a day full of
> reminders about a shower). I still have to remind him to brush his teeth
> on a somewhat daily basis and most of the time he doesn't want to.
>
> He no longer goes outside to do anything, and it's not just that it's
> winter, we live in Florida so it's still warm out most days. He doesn't
> want to go to the homeschool park days anymore because he doesn't get along
> with a few of the kids that are there. I've tried setting up get togethers
> with the homeschoolers outside of park day and they always fall through.
> He's not interested in any of the library programs or anything else that
> the homeschoolers in the area do, and we haven't been able to find any
> unschoolers. Since he doesn't go outside he hasn't met many neighborhood
> kids, and the one he did meet he doesn't get along with. He has no friends
> in person, however he has tons of friends online (some of them he also
> texts with and calls occasionally but all of them are too far away for
> meeting in real life). I think these online friendships are great (I met
> my partner online) but I also think real live in person friendships are
> important as well.
>
> He's been gaining weight for awhile now and it's bothering him. I know
> that weight gain at his age is normal, because most likely he'll hit a
> growth spurt any time now. I keep reassuring him that it's okay, but in
> the back of my mind (knowing that my sons father, myself and my partner are
> all overweight) I do worry at times. I've had to stop almost every one of
> my family members mid-sentence as they start to say something about his
> weight because he's always been tall and skinny for his age and now he's
> not. He used to be a very active kid, always going and doing something,
> now he just wants to sit.
>
> We've been radically unschooling for 2 or 3 years now and I thought I had
> figured this stuff out. He spends months at a time with his father (in
> another state) and that tends to start the deschooling all over again
> because his father gets on him and I about "doing real school work" and
> "doing something with his life." He's been home for over 3 months now and
> this time we're not moving into any other interests.
>
> Normally when he gets back from his dads the first week or two are all
> video games all the time, then we start moving into different interests and
> expanding on the video games. At one point about a year ago he expressed
> an interest in stop motion photography, so I helped him set things up and
> we did one video. He loved it, loved showing it to everyone, but never
> went back to it. He used to pull out action figures and Mega Blocks Halo
> sets and set up elaborate scenes with them, but not anymore.
>
> It's not that I want him to stop the video games. I fully support him
> playing. We're constantly buying new and better games whenever we can and
> I love the enjoyment he gets out of the games. I love hearing the deep
> belly laugh he gets when he and his friends are joking around online. It's
> that I feel like there should be more to life then sitting in the same spot
> for days in a row. He's using the video games and movies as an escape from
> reality I think, but I'm not sure how to make reality more exciting than
> (or as exciting as) the video games especially since he doesn't have any
> friends except for online.
>
> The little voice in the back of my head has been telling me something's
> wrong for a little while now, but now his father and my partner are also
> saying something has to change.
>
> How do we move beyond this and into the part where we expand on his
> interests? How does someone make friends to hang out with, without leaving
> the house?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Tina
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Pam Sorooshian
"The Art of Videogames" will be at the Smithsonian until September 2012 and
after that it will go on a national tour...the tour isn't arranged yet, but
past Smithsonian exhibits have gone to many cities all over the country, so
most of us have a good chance that it will actually be near enough to visit.
The info is here: <
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/#games>
-pam
after that it will go on a national tour...the tour isn't arranged yet, but
past Smithsonian exhibits have gone to many cities all over the country, so
most of us have a good chance that it will actually be near enough to visit.
The info is here: <
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/#games>
-pam
>>>>>>
On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:20 PM, Sylvia Woodman <sylvia057@...> wrote:
> Make some long range plans Alex P. just told me this morning over facebook
> that there will be a video games exhibit at the Smithsonian maybe get some
> information about it and dream about going....
>
>>>>>>>
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