No, Really, YOU Go First

It gives me a headache.

I've been thinking about my last post, which was like a hundred years ago, in which I discussed the chaos that occurred when I tried to play a simple (but in reality, not so simple) game of Sorry! with my kids and they fought over who was going to be red, or maybe it was blue, or whatever.

I forgot to add this tidbit: once we're able sort out which color each player is going to be and repair the broken furniture, a new battle begins over who goes first. As I type this, I realize I could possibly achieve harmony if, for instance, Son chose the color and Daughter got to go first, like how they decide who gets the ball and which side of the field to start a football game.

It's a solution worthy of the wisdom of King Solomon! But I also know that both children will want to pick the color, or vice versa, and like King Solomon, I'll want to pull out a sword and just split the game in two.

The point of this story, to paraphrase the tagline to Alien vs. Predator: whoever wins, I lose.

IS "UIUXEJ" A WORD?

One Emma Smart made these. I hope she also makes an "H."

It's been a long time since I'd played a board game outside of Scrabble. That is, except for those times I was dragged by Mrs. The Anthony Show to a party with her co-workers that featured one of those adult group games -- and by "adult group games" I'm not talking about an orgy (if you saw her co-workers, you wouldn't be disappointed) but rather amusements like Pictionary or Cranium or entertainments with cutesy names like Skribbledapolous: anything that makes a party more than just a bunch of grownups sitting around a bowl of Fritos getting drunk or having an orgy.

So, I'd forgotten how much I used to care about things like going first or being red or even winning the damn game.

Indeed, I'm still moderately competitive and do get angry when Mrs. The Anthony Show somehow throws down yet another Scrabble bingo while I'm struggling with a tile set that includes four I's, two O's, and a U. But I'm not going to storm away from the game and wail like Job on his worst day.

OTHER OBSERVATIONS
A feature that I may include in future posts is a quick list of trivial things I learned (or already knew, or simply observed) while doing the limited research for links or images or other brainstorming for the post. Here's a few, related to this post:

• While grabbing the IMDB link for Alien vs. Predator, I noticed that there was a cheesy 1987 (I know: "cheesy 1987" is redundant) movie called Alien Predator (the alien is the predator is the alien) which might be of interest if you're into crappy horror films. (One review deems the film "a mess.")
  
  The trailer and VHS box called the film Alien Predators (plural). I didn't actually watch the film, so I can't tell you whether more than one alien predator appears. The Predator film that most people have heard of came out that same year, and Aliens showed up in '86, but I don't know whether Alien Predator was trying to capitalize on it. According to IMDB, the screenplay's original title was Massacre at R.V. Park, so there may be a hint there.
• Some guy on Facebook found a way to play on its version of Scrabble the word that generates the most points: oxyphenbutazone, which I think means "I am an asshole."