Jam Sessions

For my recently-passed birthday, my recent mother-in-law got me a Nintendo DS.

I love computer games. Oh boy. Oh boy I do. But they are monstrous money and time sinks, and I have to evaluate how I spend my life, and the ROI on electronic games is almost never ever favorable.

Actually, World of Warcraft has gotten me really decent, paying work. So the gazillion hours I've spent playing WoW is justifiable.

Okay, let's not overthink this. The point is, if I start bringing a PS3 and an Xbox 360 and a PSP and a Wii and Deep Blue and WOPR and a pong-playing Univac into my life, then other things have to go away, and those other things are also pretty important.

Also, the insidiousness of things is that once you own them, you are responsible for using them and taking care of them. You're not just buying a thing, you're buying a new focus for your give-a-damn, which is my most precious resource, moreso than money and time.

So I don't play computer games nearly as much as my yearning, child-like heart would wish.

But now I have a DS.

I have one cartridge: Jam Sessions. It's a bare bones guitar sim. You can strum the touch screen like a guitar, and you press the buttons to pick chords.

That's it. Sorry I didn't warn you about spoilers. But that's it. And it's great.

Listen, I don't know if you've ever tried to learn a musical instrument. I've tried to learn a few. It's hard. I don't have the constitution to do a lot of hard things. But this is significantly less hard than actually learning to play guitar. Also, less expensive and less painful.

Another advantage: When I'm done, I can't play Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass on a guitar.

Criminy, why do they still sell guitars?