As you now know, I was out of power for 13 days with no power. During the day, when there was ample light for board games, reading, etc. Being that I have three siblings, it still wasn’t terribly boring. But I am the oldest, and consequently the smartest. So none of my siblings, whose names (in age order) are Arianna, Tom, and John, really gave me a challenge with the games that we played. I happen to think chess is a fun game so none of my siblings were able to beat me at it. I am probably not ‘good’ by any standards but I can hold my own in a friendly game. All three of my siblings wanted to play me for some reason; I figured it was for bragging rights. “Haha, I beat Joey” would have been ringing in my ears for a few hours but I wouldn’t really have minded. If they can beat me then good for them.
However, none of them could. But that’s when we found a bunch of old checkers pieces. Instead of chess, we decided to fire up a game of checkers. It is important to note that I’ve always hated checkers for some reason. I was never really good at it, even though it is much simpler than checkers and I never understood that. So I had to be reminded of the rules and how to set the board up. When the board was set up, I played each of my siblings. Arianna was first; I shut her down pretty quickly. Then was Tom, where the same thing happened.
But then I played John.
The kid smoked me. He’s only a freshman in high school. Needless to say, I was surprised but happy for him. Apparently he has some Checkers app on his iPod and if he can’t fall asleep then he loads up the app and plays until he falls asleep. He must have had a few restless nights and figured the strategy out. It solidifies the idea that “practice makes perfect,” even if it’s unintentional. Before he got too much of a big head, I downloaded the app on my phone.
Now the poor kid can’t beat me anymore (but I still let him win occasionally… He really loves to win.)
During Hurricane Sandy, I had a similar experience with playing board games nonstop, only my board game of choice is Monopoly. Very rarely do I lose a game of monopoly, but when I do it’s usually to my father. Like you, I also have a little brother who I can’t stand losing to in games, well because he’s 13. During the days of the blackout, we played countless games of monopoly with both friends and family. On the final day without power, my brother pulled the upset and finally beat me. Although it was hard to accept, I saw the look of excitement on his face as he had finally outdone his older, and consequently, wiser brother.
I usually have to play board games with my younger cousins in order to keep them occupied. However, the best is when we play video games, as I love playing my youngest cousin in NBA Live 2003. He has beat me once though, and boy I haven’t been able to live it down. He talks about it every time I see him. Even though it gets annoying, it’s worth it to see him smile as if he’s actually accomplished something great.