Looking outside at the first winter blitzkrieg has me excited. It means a completely excused day to work on the structures Devo and I have been working on lately in Minecraft.

Hi, my name is Lally, I’m going to be 35 in March, and I play video games.

(Hello Lally)

My name’s not actually Lally, but that’s what they call me in my other life as a part time GM for a small, older RPG I’ve been playing behind the backs of most everyone I know for ages now. It’s not intentional, it’s just not something I’d talk about with a large number of my friends. Occasionally I’ve dropped a tidbit or two before suddenly realizing it’s about as much fun hearing me wax nerdlinger as it is when I hear about sports scores or the rainbow spectrum of baby vomit.

It’s how we met, after all. Devo and I.

I’m not sure how many different dumbed down variations of “how we met” I’ve told how many people. It’s so much easier to say “We met on the internet” than to say “Well, his faction kidnapped my bard and forced her to sing pirate songs.” Especially when most of your friends that met on the internet did so on more respectable and accepted websites. Yahoo personals, Match.com, etc. There’s still a modicum of mortification when legitimate means of net dating are harnessed and won. Imagine how hard it was to explain to my family and friends that this dude in Texas is literally the coolest person I know on the whole intarwebs.

But he is, man.

I’ve always sort of done things at my own pace, anyway. A lot of my friends are married with children now. Not because they’re supposed to be, because that’s how shit turned out. As much as I love them, I’ve heard laments about my unmarried status, my unbaby status and just how bummed everyone is that I’m not keeping up with the Jones’s in that respect. It used to really annoy me until I realized they were just…happy. They were digging it and wanted me to feel it too. That’s cool, I get that. It’s just not where I am. Maybe that’s why I omitted the gaming for such a long time but with a precious few. It was another spike in the ground keeping me from the life people my age should be leading. Or whatever. That was probably 100% my problem because my crew isn’t petty like that.

It’s what I like, though. It’s one of the many things we have in common. Something we can do together, or apart. Gaming’s been great for us. It’s been a tool for me to relax and do what I want at home, it’s been an absolutely wonderful way for Devo to keep in touch with his friends back in Texas. We’re not big TV watchers, so it’s been a fabulous rainy day time suck. (Minecraft, Skyrim. Oh yes.)

So I’m alright for now, thanks. I like gaming, and I’m ok with how my life is and how I met the person I’m planning on spending it with. I do have many other vast interests, but none with such an interesting stigma. I’m also highly unopposed to changes, as long as they’re on our terms.

But damn it, killing dragons and shit is fun.

So one day when we’re good and ready, we’ll sit down and tell our kid(s) how Daddy and his band of menacing pirates whisked mommy away into a deep, dark, abandoned theater. They surrounded mommy with knives and swords and forced her to sing songs about their evil ways! Mommy was a brave and professional bard and did exactly that, her extraordinary talent may have very well saved her life that night.

Then suddenly out of the darkness of the moonlit street they finally allowed her to once again tread on, someone said to mommy…

“That was awesome.”