Dance!
2004-09-12 at 10:09 p.m.
I make a big deal about Owning My Geekitude. I want Geek to be a compliment. I want trivial knowledge celebrated, I want bad dressers and people who can't put on makeup and don't protest things to enjoy and revel in their non-conformity. But now even I am embarassed at the heights--depths?--I've acheived in the Land of the Geek.We just bought an Xbox so that I could play Dance Dance Revolution.
And there's probably nothing sadder than to see me marching dutifully to the club-kid bad-techno, tongue clenched between my teeth as my eyes stare glassily at the TV screen trying desperately not to miss a scrolling arrow. But oh how sweetly joyful it is.
My first exposure to Dance Dance Revolution was with some of Andrew's college friends. We went to this ginourmous suburban arcade. Normally I hate arcades, but this one... there was this magic game! With dancing! And techno! And then Steve, out of nowhere, it seemed, this unprepossessing Asian guy with a quiet sense of humor, just freaking LETS LOOSE and he's everywhere! He's unstoppable! It was amazing!
It was the hardest thing I'd ever done!
I tried it, and I couldn't believe how effortless Steve had made it look. This shit was... it was... Jesus, it was like something from another planet. It tried to use parts of my brain where there weren't any synapses!
And then some fifteen year old skater rat gets up and it was another revelation. He did flips, he was doing handstands and twirls and good GOD. I resolved I wasn't doing it in public ever again.
But this weekend in Seattle, I found that there was a God, and God had made DDR (as fans call it, apparently) in a home version for both Playstation 2 and Xbox. Thank you Mastercard, for making one small dream come true.
So I've just finished putting in a good, oh, three hours on my brand new DDR Xbox game. This shit is still hard, but at least I can do it behind closed curtains now. I don't really care that there are twelve year olds out there that are better at it than me--I really enjoy it, whatever level I am. I'm just glad they don't have to see me doing it.