Oui!

When I was maybe 14 or 15, my interest in video games ended abruptly. I can't say what caused it exactly, but it seemed that overnight I lost all interest. The dozens and dozens of Atari cartridges and the Atari 2600 machine went into a box that, to this day, I think remains in my parents' attic.

Funny enough, my interest came back as suddenly as it went away, but what's more profound this time is that Paul became as interested as I. The only difference is, he never went through a video game phase while growing up, because South Africa didn't really have such things. (Hell, they didn't even have regular TV until 1976!)

You see, it all changed for us one evening this past winter, when we'd spent an evening at the home of our friends Rob and Dawn. After a fondue meal and lots of drinks, they broke out their Wii. It was a foreign thing for us.

Just two or three frames into the bowling game of Wii Sports, Paul turned to me and said, "We need one of these."

So, when my birthday rolled around last week, it was one of the gifts. Paul admitted as I opened it, "This is really a gift for both of us."

This evening I hooked the system up, and I'm just figuring out what it actually can do, beyond playing Wii Sports. A neighbor stopped by and we did some bowling, followed by a couple of things on Wii Play, but neither of us was exactly sure we got the hang of the latter. In due time, I suppose.

Paul also generously bought me a Wii Fit but I haven't removed it from the box yet. From what I hear, if the system deems you overweight, it makes your Mii character expand into fatness. I don't know if I'm quite ready for that!