What I Learned from Playing Pacman

When I play Pacman I never do well. Sometimes I get to the third screen. Sometimes. But I had an epiphany tonight. I always lose early and fast because I'm too busy looking at me and trying to get stuff, and I never see the ghosts coming until it's too late. Perhaps, I thought to myself, this is symbolic of life. We've got to focus on what's going on around us more and less on what we can get.

Or it could just be a sign that I don't pay attention. In junior high school there was this guy, Dave, who would "sneak" up on me at the same place in the hallways between the same two classes, and grab me around the waste from behind and tickle me and make me scream. This was a daily ritual. I never saw it coming. I never saw him until then.

Then in college, apparently it was common for me to be walking across campus, and I would pass right by roommates or friends, and they were yelling my name and waving as they passed right by me, and I didn't hear them. Because I was in the zone. I was very focused on getting to class.

Or it could just mean that I'm craving more fruit in my diet. You know, cherries and oranges and strawberries. There may be another fruit involved in the game somewhere but I never get past the third screen so I don't know what it is.

Or it could just be a sign I suck at computer games, or video games of any sort, really.

What I DO know for sure about Pacman, is that you gotta make sure to turn the volume down before you start the game. Especially when you're hanging out with your roommate, making some intelligent-sounding statement about the political climate. Because if you're interupted by the blast of the Pacman theme song, you may never live it down.