This probably started back in high school. For instance, I used to play Call of Duty. Every time I play the damn game, my mom is always asking if I finished my homework. I finished my homework. I need some time to blow off steam and take a break. They tell me I can't play and go review some more. It is the weekend and there is nothing else to do so I try to play again. Again my parents deny my request to play some video games. There are always more and more excuses as to why I cannot play.
Some odd years later and here I am, summer of 2013, a college student. Bored at night after a hard day's work. I play some League of Legends and sure enough, my mom barges into my room telling me to go to sleep and saying really nasty things. She says my dad is unhappy. Sometimes my dad complains and says I'm being too loud. My parents constantly bother me when I play league at night. Well based on my observations about 80% of my league buddies play between the hours of 10 pm -3 am. My room is in the basement so typically I'm not disturbing anyone. However they choose not to sleep in their bedroom which is on the second floor and come to the basement. Given that my only room in the house is in the basement, it is rather impossible for me to be anymore quiet. I LIVE IN THEIR HOUSE. IM 21 and should have been kicked out. I guess it's their kindness that they let me live with them still. After all I'm just another useless person in society with Muscular dystrophy and have no bright future at all... But why sleep in the basement when your master bedroom is on the second floor? Why come down when you know your son is a 21 year old male and therefore almost certainly going to be blasting music or gaming at night, among other unmentionable activities?!
And they keep telling me staying up late is bad for me and it is slow suicide and that I'm going to die an early death blah blah blah..... until God puts me in the dirt, I aint dying. i mean we die eventually anyway. So I tell my mom just after this game i will go to sleep. She talks for another 10 minutes telling me really mean things. Not only does this distracts me from my game which requires lots of focus and teamwork, it makes me extremely irate because this is like the 1000th time she's done this to me. And then it makes me very unhappy. My good day has been ruined. Thanks Mom. You are quite good at ruining my mood before I get a good night's rest.
So why the need to threaten to kick me out of the house? The threat to make me pay for my tuition on my own? Just because I played some League of Legends with my close friends around midnight? What have I ever done wrong to deserve this kind of treatment? I know I have certain health issues and that my step dad recently got cancer. I know they are trying to watch out for me but who knows their health better than themselves? I certainly don't have a gaming addiction. Its summer time so there really is nothing to study for. I have a summer job in which I still get up for and arrive 30 minutes early. Is sleeping around midnight or 1 or 2 am really that bad for one's health? Am I really throwing my life away? Are humans not able to adapt to the times and situation? My parents keep thinking I'm so fragile at sleeping 1 hour later or less is going to kill me at any moment. And then more excuses come flooding in... but look at it this way: How many college students are there in the United States? Now how many of them play video games? More specifically around midnight....how many more are around my age? How many sleeps around 12 am - 1 am.... and wake up around 8:30? Are all of those people going to get some kind of incurable disease in the future and die an early death? My parents keep telling me its slow suicide and keep telling me "studies have shown..." Studies my ass. They can't even find a report on the number of college students in American that play League of Legends around midnight who get 7 hours of sleep or less. Their excuses aren't exactly compelling given all of the statistics they can't prove.
They way I see it, perhaps my parents think gaming is some kind of evil, some kind of vice so deadly it might kill them if they tired just a bit of it. On top of that, my parents are straight from the mainland (China), immigrants but well educated. Their background was rough and "games" probably never existed during their childhood. I understand that but why must they take away our happiness? Do they not understand this is the 21st century? 90's children were practically born with video games as a part of our mass consumer culture. Many games are now considered national sports and people actually make a living from them. I'm just trying to play causally as a means to connect with my friends that I cant always be with. I'm trying to build bonds with peers that weren't as strong before because we've had no similar interests and finally we found something we all have a common interest in. So many positives can come from gaming when you have your priorities in place but my parents remain stubbornly blind to that fact.
I go to work and church when I'm supposed to, I read the Bible at night, I try my best to be a decent person and just live a normal quite life but my parents always find something at fault with me. If it's not sleeping too late it's that I'm wasting my life on games.
I guess God really is testing my patience too. I try really hard not to be a bad son, and not to disrespect my parents behind their backs but I get extremely angry when they disturb me during a gaming session for no good reason other than to tell me I need to go to bed. I just hope my parents understand one day that I'll be okay with 6-7 hours of sleep during the summer days.
Some odd years later and here I am, summer of 2013, a college student. Bored at night after a hard day's work. I play some League of Legends and sure enough, my mom barges into my room telling me to go to sleep and saying really nasty things. She says my dad is unhappy. Sometimes my dad complains and says I'm being too loud. My parents constantly bother me when I play league at night. Well based on my observations about 80% of my league buddies play between the hours of 10 pm -3 am. My room is in the basement so typically I'm not disturbing anyone. However they choose not to sleep in their bedroom which is on the second floor and come to the basement. Given that my only room in the house is in the basement, it is rather impossible for me to be anymore quiet. I LIVE IN THEIR HOUSE. IM 21 and should have been kicked out. I guess it's their kindness that they let me live with them still. After all I'm just another useless person in society with Muscular dystrophy and have no bright future at all... But why sleep in the basement when your master bedroom is on the second floor? Why come down when you know your son is a 21 year old male and therefore almost certainly going to be blasting music or gaming at night, among other unmentionable activities?!
And they keep telling me staying up late is bad for me and it is slow suicide and that I'm going to die an early death blah blah blah..... until God puts me in the dirt, I aint dying. i mean we die eventually anyway. So I tell my mom just after this game i will go to sleep. She talks for another 10 minutes telling me really mean things. Not only does this distracts me from my game which requires lots of focus and teamwork, it makes me extremely irate because this is like the 1000th time she's done this to me. And then it makes me very unhappy. My good day has been ruined. Thanks Mom. You are quite good at ruining my mood before I get a good night's rest.
So why the need to threaten to kick me out of the house? The threat to make me pay for my tuition on my own? Just because I played some League of Legends with my close friends around midnight? What have I ever done wrong to deserve this kind of treatment? I know I have certain health issues and that my step dad recently got cancer. I know they are trying to watch out for me but who knows their health better than themselves? I certainly don't have a gaming addiction. Its summer time so there really is nothing to study for. I have a summer job in which I still get up for and arrive 30 minutes early. Is sleeping around midnight or 1 or 2 am really that bad for one's health? Am I really throwing my life away? Are humans not able to adapt to the times and situation? My parents keep thinking I'm so fragile at sleeping 1 hour later or less is going to kill me at any moment. And then more excuses come flooding in... but look at it this way: How many college students are there in the United States? Now how many of them play video games? More specifically around midnight....how many more are around my age? How many sleeps around 12 am - 1 am.... and wake up around 8:30? Are all of those people going to get some kind of incurable disease in the future and die an early death? My parents keep telling me its slow suicide and keep telling me "studies have shown..." Studies my ass. They can't even find a report on the number of college students in American that play League of Legends around midnight who get 7 hours of sleep or less. Their excuses aren't exactly compelling given all of the statistics they can't prove.
They way I see it, perhaps my parents think gaming is some kind of evil, some kind of vice so deadly it might kill them if they tired just a bit of it. On top of that, my parents are straight from the mainland (China), immigrants but well educated. Their background was rough and "games" probably never existed during their childhood. I understand that but why must they take away our happiness? Do they not understand this is the 21st century? 90's children were practically born with video games as a part of our mass consumer culture. Many games are now considered national sports and people actually make a living from them. I'm just trying to play causally as a means to connect with my friends that I cant always be with. I'm trying to build bonds with peers that weren't as strong before because we've had no similar interests and finally we found something we all have a common interest in. So many positives can come from gaming when you have your priorities in place but my parents remain stubbornly blind to that fact.
I go to work and church when I'm supposed to, I read the Bible at night, I try my best to be a decent person and just live a normal quite life but my parents always find something at fault with me. If it's not sleeping too late it's that I'm wasting my life on games.
I guess God really is testing my patience too. I try really hard not to be a bad son, and not to disrespect my parents behind their backs but I get extremely angry when they disturb me during a gaming session for no good reason other than to tell me I need to go to bed. I just hope my parents understand one day that I'll be okay with 6-7 hours of sleep during the summer days.
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