So tonight Brian was super stoked because I agreed to do something with him that I never, ever do. Something he and many men enjoy so much that the mere mention of it makes them giddy with excitement. He was so excited he'd been talking about it for days. It was the first thing he mentioned when he got home from work tonight. I too had been thinking about it all day, but not with the same excitement. I am not a woman that enjoys this activity. It's never really been my thing, and to be honesty, I think it's kinda weird. But I said I would do it. And if I am nothing else, I am a lady that sticks to her word. So tonight, to please my boyfriend, I agreed to play a zombie role-playing board game.
I knew when I got into this relationship that Brian was a card carrying, WOW playing, D and D participating, geek. And I love him for that. I however, am not any of those things. I have fought for months against participating in any sort of activity that involves me pretending to be an elf, or wizard, or dungeon master princess. There was one incident where he convinced me to allow him to show me for 20 minutes how to play WOW. I must admit-it did not go well. I listened half halfheartedly to his detailed explanations of how the game worked throwing in the occasional "uh-huh. oh. alright. that's cool." Until I got a phone call about 5 minutes in and conveniently disappeared for about 15 minutes. Not my best awesome girlfriend moment, but in my defense the phone call was important, and I would really suck at WOW.
I was first exposed to the aforementioned zombie game last weekend at Brian's birthday party. He explained to me weeks earlier that he would be asking his best geek buddy Ryan to bring several "gateway" games to the party in hopes that I would enjoy them enough to eventually play D and D. At every mention of this I raised my eyebrows, shook my head, and said, "Sure, uh-huh." So during the party, we ate, we drank, we mingled, then came time for the zombies. I was really not excited. I really had no idea how the game was played and my head was filled with images of greasy, pizza faced, nerds sitting in their moms basement around a card table, donning wizard hats and elf ears exclaiming to their mates, "I just attacked you with a level 5 stunning spell! You cannot defeat me!" But despite my fears, there was no way of getting out of playing this game. And play I did. Sort of.
The game is called Last Night on Earth and the premise is heros vs. zombies. You choose a side to be on and play your character through every turn. Rolling die (or so I have learned D6) and drawing cards to determine your fate. The heros try to survive, the zombies try to kill. I was on the heros side. I rolled my die, I drew my cards. Never mind the fact that between turns I reclined on the couch and every time asked, "what am I supposed to do?" I'll have to admit, I wasn't the best sport. But I did it and I thought that was all that mattered.
So earlier this week when Brian asked me if I would play zombies with him again on Friday for date night I responded, "Sure! Of course honey!" All the while thinking, "Do I have to?" But when this evening rolled around I stepped up to the plate and kept my promise. And you know what? It was fun! I really stared to get into it. I was on the heros side again and I found myself being nervous for my characters and really wanting to win. I didn't win. And! I was really disappointed! So much so that I pouted a little!
So I guess what I've learned is even though you may have VERY different interests from your significant other, being a little open minded and trying some of the things they like isn't so bad. Even if it something you think you would never, ever do. You might even enjoy yourself. Now this doesn't mean you are going to catch me on WOW or at a Star Trek convention, but it's a start. Now if I could just get Brian to see the value in investing our time in expanding my wardrobe...
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