It's Thursday and I'm not a Guitar Hero

It's Thursday and it's raining. This is good. There's even been a little thunder -- nothing severe, just enough to feel like spring. I've just got some random thoughts today.

I've got a new favorite game. My son Tim got this game for PS2 called Guitar Heroes 2. It has a cool controller shaped like a guitar, with buttons on the fret bar and a strum bar on the body. The idea is to play the notes (color coded to match the buttons) as they scroll along the screen. And what you're playing are rock songs. This is harder than it looks. Even on Easy. So far, I can blunder my way through Girlfriend, Carry on My Wayward Son, Message in a Bottle, You Really Got Me and Sweet Child 'o' Mine. And blunder is the operative word. I think the best I've done is get about 89 percent of the notes right. Of course, there are various bells and whistles to go along with the music -- flashing lights and something called star power that makes the notes glow and gives you more points. It's a very fun game and could be seriously addictive.

It's also humbling. I have some musical talent and I have a fairly deep familiarity with rock 'n roll. But this game is hard. You have to hit the buttons at just the right time and the notes scroll along pretty fast. And some of the timing is funkier than you think it is. You can't play this game without practice. A lot of it. I'll never be very good at Guitar Heroes 2 because I'm not going to dedicate significant chunks of time to a video game.

But I do want to be a good writer, a better writer than I am now. That's going to take practice. I'm going to have to dedicate a significant amount of time to sitting my butt in the chair in front of the computer and tapping away at my stories. I wrote a story this week and need to revise it fast if I want to make the April 1 deadline for Coach's Midnight Diner (brought to you by the folks at Relief). So it's butt in chair time. (With occasional short breaks to play Sweet Child 'o' Mine.)