Pokemon and Nature

To be perfectly honest, I had not heard about the newest app to take this country by storm until a week after it was already out.  I think at this point it has been out for just a little over two weeks.   That app, Pokemon Go, is based on the game from the 1990's.  I never got into the game then and I pretty much guarantee that I will not be getting into this latest game.  There is both a positive and negative side to this new game in my mind.  Let's start with the positive.   The game is designed to get you outdoors, walking around, and searching for different landmarks that correspond to ones in the game.  It is considered Augmented Reality.   The idea is that as you hold your phone up in areas that are designated as "Gyms" or other areas, you can find the Pokemon.  From there on out, I am lost on the concept.  But back to the positive of the game.  It gets people outside and walking.  Most video games inspire a more sedentary lifestyle, locking oneself indoors reclined on a couch and staring at a TV screen for hours on end.  The exception previous to this app had to be Nintendo Wii.  So people are outside, meeting other Pokemon gamers and engaging with the real world, albeit via a smartphone that they are still somewhat glued to as they play the game.  What can be better for a gamer?  Playing a game and getting outdoors.  Yet, as someone who has never been a "gamer", I still don't understand the draw and will inevitably find problems with a game.  

My problem, is that while people are getting outdoors, they are still not dealing with "reality".  People must travel outdoors to arrive at certain areas that correspond to ones in the game, but once there, it is back to staring at a smartphone to play.  There is a brief period where, hopefully, they are not staring at their phones while traveling to their destination and as such can take in their surroundings, enjoy the scenery, and get some exercise.  Yet, I feel this is all negated by the fact that once they arrive at their destination to find their "Pokemon", they return to staring at their phone and engaging with their augmented reality.  Yes, this game can expose people to landmarks that they might not otherwise visit, but if their sole purpose of visiting is to collect Pokemon, are they really seeing what is around them?  A few might, but I think for the most part, people will forget a given landmark soon after their mission in the game is done.   On top of that, once a mission is completed,  people invested in the game will quickly move on, not bothering to enjoy the space they are in, the beauty of their surroundings, or the historical significance of any "gym" they might come across.   I think what bothers me the most about this is the augmented reality part.  When we live in a world where reality must be augmented to draw more people outside, I get worried.  Even two weeks in, some people playing the game have walked off the edge of cliffs, strayed into streets while staring a their phones, and have begun to create a disturbance by calling 911 to see if they can get access to fire stations.  Reality should be fascinating enough as it is, yet sadly, for many these days it is not.

Staring at a phone to find Pokemon, one will miss the small beauties in nature.  The white bellied hawk, speckled with gray and brown that glides over head.  Or the pink and purple painted clouds drifting slowly in a darkening sky.  Or the subtle variations in the flowers of summer.  Is it good that more people are getting outside, absorbing more vitamin D, and breathing the fresh summer air?  Absolutely, I just happen to think that it is for the wrong reason and once this app has run its course, unless their is a fantastic new replacement, people will retreat to their homes and disregard the outdoors as they did before the game came out.  For me, I will not be downloading the game for when I go outside, I want to interact personally with the world around me and not stare through a screen to see it.  I want to focus intimately with the sounds, smells, and sights that abound in nature.  I will take me true reality any day over a game's augmented reality.  Let's talk in a month and see where this fad of Pokemon Go is.  I'll read about the dumbasses in the news I am sure.  

Late Night Habit

A little over a month ago, my wife returned to school to get an extra certification as a teacher.  This certification, called an O-92 (or something like that), would allow her to hold an administrative position in her or any school.  To start the program, she began with one night class a week running until the end of July.   This one night class has proven to be a sticking point with our son.  Every time she leaves to go to class, this happens to be every Wednesday night, our son can't bear to see her go, shedding crocodile tears and begging her to stay.  As soon as she leaves, he returns to normal and he, along with his sister and myself, commence our evening activities.  Normally these include playing outside, eating dinner, and getting everyone settled and into bed.  There have never been any issues, they cooperate fantastically (95% of the time), and in my mind the evening goes well.   Aside from the he fact that our son never wants a to see his mommy leave, there is one other ritual that seems to have become a mainstay on Wednesday nights when my wife is at class.   Despite the fact that he seems exhausted when I put him to bed, it takes him forever to actually fall asleep.   Every Wednesday that my wife has been at class, I have caught him leaving his room and running around the upstairs of our house.  A few times, I have been sitting outside by the fire or talking with friends and I'll look up and see him staring down at me.  There was one time he actually started cleaning my wife's studio probably because he was exhausted and playing would have been too much for him.   While I find it cute to be sitting outside around the fire pit and look up to see an adorable face in the window, it is always way past his bedtime and he is always cranky the next day.  

So his little habit continued last night as well.  He didn't shed as many crocodile tears as normal when my wife left last night and I was able to quickly take his mind off of it by showing both him and his sister a chair I had built the night before.  We had a great evening after that.  We all had nice dinner together, played for a while before and after that, and putting both of them to bed went without a hitch, or so I thought.  They both looked tired from dealing with the heat and humidity of the day, their eyes were rubbed extra it seemed, and the yawns were perpetual.  So after both of them were down, I began getting things ready for work the next day, cleaning up the house, and getting settled.  My wife got home a little over an hour after our son went to bed and as is normal for her, she went up to give them both a kiss.  Apparently, our son was not asleep.  Rather, he was wired.  Thinking nothing of it, she came back down and we sat in our living room and talked.  Right around ten o'clock, we hear the pitter patter of feet in our kids bedroom (they both sleep in beds in the same room now).  Normally, that wouldn't be a big deal as our son sometimes gets up and runs around and usually goes back to bed.  Well, last night he decided to wake up his sister.  That we were not happy with.  She is almost 2.5 years old and she shouldn't be up at 10 o'clock.   So my wife tried going up there and talking to them.  Nothing came of that.  Not having anticipated our son waking up his sister, we never put any reprecussions in place should he decide to do so.  The most we could do was to limit them to their room.  It worked, but after about an hour, I wanted to go to bed and didn't want to have them running around while we were sleeping.  So it was my turn.

I walked into their room and saw them both playing and talking on one bed.  My tactic was as follows: "I'm going to take a shower.  If the two of you aren't in bed by the time I get out, I'm closing the door.  I won't be upset, but I'm closing the door so I can go to bed."   (Note: their bedroom door has a child proof handle over the knob so they can't get out if it is closed, simply for their protection). Well, as it turns out, I get in the shower and hear their door get slammed in the middle of my shower. Works for me, I thought to myself.  I dry off, get out, and standing on the other side of their door, I hear them trying to figure out how to break out of their room.  "Hold this hear and I can get the door open," says our son.  "Do it this way, do it this way," responds out daughter.   I chuckle to myself and think that it is only a matter of time before the two of them break out.  I took about 15 minutes.  At that point, I don't know what happened because my head had already hit the pillow and I was on my way out to dreamland.  They eventually fell asleep.  I don't know when or how they did it, but when I came downstairs this morning, their door was closed again.  I am not sure what the lesson here is yet, but I do know that our doorknob child locks are now useless.    Awesome.  Cheers to having creative children who are problem solvers extraordinaire.  

Fireflies

For the Fourth of July weekend, my family and I traveled up to Vermont to do a little camping on our property up there.  It was only for three nights, but those three nights were a nice little reprieve from the status quo at home.   Besides Friday night (which we spent in the car due to frequent cloud to ground lighting strikes), the weather was perfect.  It was cool with temperatures peaking in the mid 70's and there was a slight breeze constantly blowing and rustling through the tree tops.  Before heading up to Vermont, we bought a small box of assorted fireworks.  These were of the legal sort, only "emitting showers of sparks", but to our 4.5 and 2 year old, they were the best thing beside the s'mores they craved all weekend.  Each night we set off a few of them and each night there was the request to set off more.  The look on our son's face (4.5) was one of pure joy.   Our daughter on the other hand, while enthralled by the light show, wanted nothing to do with the noise of them.  So as I set them off, our daughter sat in my wife's lap with her ears covered staring intently at the light show.  It was adorable to say the least.   

Sunday night, our last night in Vermont, was our best night there.  After we finished the fireworks and were sitting around the fire waiting for the perfect moment for all of us to pack it in for the night, the second light show commenced.  It was right at dusk when they started coming out, fireflies by the dozens.  (I vacillate here between fireflies and lighting bugs.  I guess it all depends on where you grew up and what your family called them).   For the next 20 minutes or so, we sat there and pointed like madmen into the trees.  "See those over there!"  "Look at those!"  "Wait, there's more over there!"  I was getting just as excited as our kids were.   To see little flashing yellow lights completely surrounding us was amazing.  To see it with our kids was an even bigger bonus.  I honestly don't remember a time since I was a little kid when I had seen so many fireflies at once.  There were the fast fireflies, on a mission at night, and the meandering ones enjoying their evening stroll through the air.  Once my wife and kids went to bed, I stayed out for a few extra minutes to watch the show and take in all I could.  I hope that the moment with the fireflies we shared as a family lasts a long time with our kids.  Nature can amaze even the most skeptical adult, all we have to do is put down our phones and look out into the night sky.