Game Night!

I’ve never really like the sociality definition of a social life that consists of Friday nights being the night to go out and socialize.

For me, growing up, Friday night wasn’t much more than a night that I could stay up “past bedtime” simply because there wasn’t school or church the next night. I wasn’t the “typical teenager” who would go out to the mall or to the movies or to friends houses every Friday night, simply because it was Friday night.

Or during my undergraduate years in college for that matter, Friday night never really had a ton of significance in that it was all that special (I mean, what made Friday night a better night to prank rather than Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday night?). Even today, I have NO problem admitting I don’t mind staying home on Friday nights and blogging or just chilling at the house.

And actually, in this day in age, a social life, by my definition, is just as capable of existing without face-to-face interaction anyways—cell phones, instant messenger, etc. We can socialize in many ways other than having to “go” somewhere.

But whatever the case, the societal definition of “a social life” has taken over my life in full force for the past 6 weekends in a row. It’s become a little something we’ve called “Game night!”

If you can count back that far, 6 weekends ago put us at the weekend of August 21st. That days happens to be the birthday of my friend Holly. So, for her birthday, I wanted to get some friends in the area together to celebrate her birthday with her. And being the selfish person I am…HA…I’d had this craving around that time to play games. I’m talking board games…HA! So when I made the suggestion to Holly, she was “game” and said for me to gather some folks and come to her apartment complex and we could hang there and play games and even his her complex’ recreation facility and play some pool, ping pong, and racquetball. So of course, I obliged (since it WAS her birthday and all…HA!)

So after a few phone calls, I had myself, Holly and three other friends (Laura, Makiyo, and Misty) at her apartment complex playing “games.” After some good ping pong tournaments and pretend racquet ball with a tennis ball…HA! I introduced the others to a game I LOVED playing with my family growing up, but hadn’t played in YEARS, till I bought it recently on the internet. It is called “Pit.”

I’m assuming most of you have never heard of or played this game, since the only other person I’ve found so far that has is Misty, so let me tell you this much: this game is an immediate love I’ve found as well as addicting! It is played with cards (though not a normal deck of cards; the special cards that come with the game) and a bell; however the newer versions don’t have the bell, but the bell is what MAKES the game in my opinion…HA! All I will tell you about it is this…it is a VERY fast paced game and it gets EXTREMELY loud, but it is a BLAST! And the more people the more fun!

So in between hands of Pit, I was like, “Guys, I’ll be honest, I’ve been thinking and I’d really like to set up a game night thing with friends like once a month, if y’all would want too.” Well low-and-behold the response was GREAT! They actually said, “I’m game for twice a month!” HA!

So we decided it was official! Game nights would be the 2nd and 4th Friday’s of the month! And can I tell you how excited we all were when we realized that next Friday was the 4th Friday of the month—GAME NIGHT!!

So the next weekend I hosted:

Friday, August 26: Kimberly’s house— Catch Phrase, Taboo, Pit, popcorn, and more Pit. Those in attendance: Kimberly, Holly, Makiyo, Laura, and my cousins Brandon and Preston. Way fun time!

So when Friday, September 2nd crawled around, the Pit vibes were on again. Granted, it wasn’t a 2nd or 4th Friday, but something was in the air (or maybe we all just didn’t want to do homework/grading papers/and such!). We gave in and got together again! Once again at Holly’s complex. This was a reunion of the original “Game Night” crew: Holly, Laura, Makiyo, Misty, and myself. It was more Pit, pool, racquetball, ping pong, and music!

So then it was Friday, September 9th, which was the 2nd Friday of the month—OFFICIAL game night! This night, Makiyo’s mom was in town from Japan, so we were scheduled to get to meet her mom at dinner and then when Makiyo and her mom left to go have mother daughter time, the rest of us were going to go to a movie. Well, it turned out we didn’t get to meet her mom, because she ended up sick and didn’t come to eat with us at Chili’s, but that’s okay, because I still made a colored picture while we were there to hang on the Chili’s wall (it was a give a donation and color a picture to go up on the wall thingy) that had the Japanese flag + the American flag = friends! HA HA! I’m sure besides us, everyone else that sees that picture there will be like… “What?!?!” WWII?!?! Oh well… So after dinner, Holly, Laura, and I went and saw “The Exorcism of Emily Rose;” a good movie!

Okay, so now we have officially had “Game Night” 4 weekends in a row…you KNOW my study habits are slacking, so I was DETERMINED I wasn’t going to give in for game night on September 16th (or was I). Though I originally said I wouldn’t, I found out that that day was Makiyo’s birthday (why she hadn’t told us BEFORE the night before is beyond me…HA!) So I gave in…HA!

September 16th: Holly’s complex. We baked a red velvet cake and wrote in powered sugar a bad word in Japanese on it…HA! We made homemade guacamole…HECK YES! And we had chicken casserole! YUM! After eating then we hit the recreation center in the complex and played none other than—PIT! We even had a random guy we didn’t know from the complex there join us and play with us! HA! It was Holly, Laura, Makiyo, Janet, David, Ray (boy from the complex) and me. Like I said, the more people for Pit the more fun!

So then it was this past weekend. And though I’m determined to get disciplined and limit game nights to twice a month, it required us having one this past weekend, which was the 4th Friday of the month. So, once again, we hit Holly’s complex. This time we decided not to do games, but made a big nice dinner and then hit the movies. We had lasagna, salad, and French bread, with brownies for dessert! Then we went and saw Flightplan.

So whether it truly is a night of “game” playing or not, I can honestly tell you I can’t think of a night where anyone involved didn’t have a GREAT time!

There’s something about being around people you love and have fun with that it doesn’t matter how much money you spend or how tired you are from the previous week, you still leave anticipating the next time you’ll get to be together again.

And one more thing that I’ve really enjoyed about our game nights is the fact that we have been able to bring together different “groups” of people and still have a blast. Isn’t it funny how we try not to cross our groups of friends, like our church friends with our school friends. Or our club friends with our non-club friends. Or our ACU friends with our UTA friends. Well, we’ve not let that stop us with these game nights. Makiyo is what I would call a “UTA friend,” while Laura and Misty are both “ACU friends,” but I can tell you now that Laura and Makiyo converse as if they have known each other as long as Makiyo and I have known one another.

Don’t be afraid to join different groups. In a club, don’t be afraid to invite one “clique” as well as another “clique” to a get-together. People are people and we all should just spend time together, forget our “groups!”

P.S....if anyone is interested in joining us for a Game Night, just let one of us know! We are SOOO "game!" Yes, that includes out-of-towners...come on in for a weekend, we'll treat you right! ;)

Note: So, if you know my screenname, you can visit my “pics” which are found on my AIM screenname profile and see pictures from our “Game Nights” posted there!