We Will Rock You

Do you like the rock and roll music? Do you wish that you could pick up a guitar and jam like an old pro, yet never really had the time or fortitude to actually practice? Now you can rock like a hurricane without really knowing the first thing about music.

I picked up Guitar Hero III this weekend and I’ve already had the cops called on me twice. Ok, not really, but this game is so infectious, everybody in my house, from toddler to adult is throwing their fist in the air and banging their head.

The game is awesome. It’s loaded with great songs, most of them by the original bands (from Black Sabbath to Rage Against the Machine, and everywhere in between). It’s fun, we’re still conquering easy mode at the moment but everyone can play and hitting the notes to a great rock and roll song totally immerses you into the game by blurring the line between listening to music and being a part of it.

All of that is wonderful, and as I started writing this post, that’s all I had on my mind, until I looked up at my wife, rocking out with the guitar to “Welcome to the Jungle” and that’s when I realized how truly lucky I am. I’ve been around the block a few times and for the life of me I can’t think of another woman that would not only play a game with me, but pump her fist into the air and high kick as if she were in a Van Halen video. And that to me is simply amazing.

She’s all about flare and showmanship, spinning around and moving her hips to the beat of the music (who cares if she misses a few notes), while I’m biting my lip, almost stiff as a board trying to meticulously nail every strum to the proverbial cross. Ironically we swap roles in real life, she’s the perfect one, always by the book, patiently and persistently accomplishing what must be done, while I’m the party guy, the jokester, that guy embarrassing the lady of his life by grabbing her ass in public.

One of us always picks up where the other leaves off. In my mind we are the perfect team; similar enough to have common goals, different enough to travel different paths to achieve them. And while hearing Barracuda in a video game is incredible, watching the love of your life become a guitar god(des) beside you is just that much better. To coin a much marketed phrase around here, life is good.