I've got to admit to a love hate relationship with them.
My cousin Xavier pretty much lives on his xbox360 when he's not after
school for track or with his girl friend ( who woulda thunk it, a 13
year old boy who barely leaves his mancave somehow snags a good
one ;p ). Between watching him play and just listening when I'm in the
next room over I've heard words I never would have dreamed of hearing
from him, at least for a few years. The kid has gone through 3 mics in
like 6 months and honestly I have no idea how all but his thum muscles
haven't just melted.
I do have to say though, however much it might sometimes get
annoying, I've learned a lot about him through just being around him
while he's playing. It's opened entire lines of conversation and sort
of helped us reconnect.
We used to be über tight.
He's around 6-7 years younger than me and my sister is only 18 months
younger so because he's always lived with us he was the puerto rican
little brother I never had. Those first few years I was so involved in
raising him.
I remember one moment so intensely, he was just getting to the age
where he was learning his own name and responding to it. The thing
was, I'd always called him baby bear, and eventually his mom and my
grandmother had to pull me aside to tell me I had to stop for a while
till he could understant it was a term of endearment not his name.
A few years after that he started/I started seeing his additide/
behavior problems.
Now that I'm older and have been diagnosed with ADHD myself it's
obvious he was showing symptoms but back then it just seemed like he
was evil and after his sister was born we really grew apart; which
really would explain a lot of his jealousy issues with her because I
wasn't really the only one, my mother and sister were already calling hi
the spawn of satan by his 3rd birthday.
Now with my casual interest in gaming and what with it being his big
hobby we've reconnected in a big way.
I know now that instead of going to the local high school next year
he's applying to the county technical high school. He's not into
English class, but he likes to write creative stories. His grades
frankly suck but he's starting to realize he's going to have to step
in up as he gets older. And he's also very seriously interested in
using his love of video games, computers, and technology to go into
that feild after school.
From the outside looking in he really seems like a slacker who needs
to step up to the plate and start getting his act together, but now
that I've sort of breached that bubble I've learned he's really got it
together; in his own messy, smelly, 13 year old boy kind of way.
And even though I'm still closer to his sister, and occasionally get
driven insane by his hyper-activity I see now he's a pretty nice worth
while kid, and he's growing into a pretty nice guy.
And to think, the same video games that are "ruining America" and
"making our children fat" (even though I've realized a lot of serious
gamers are underweight from being to into the game) slavaged a
relationship most people would have given up on.
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