It’s been hotter recently than it is right now, and yet I am feeling extra warm. Could be the humidity, I guess.
Who knows.
As I said over on Spoutible, I’m having a real “what’s the point?” kind of day. Maybe my cynicism has reached a tipping point; maybe it’s the endless nature of it all, but it is definitely a day I’d like to forget all the requirements and just do…fun. Unstructured fun.
Does that even exist anymore?
I watch a lot of travel videos on YouTube, there is something about regular people showing bits of their corners of the world. I think I watch those more than people off on travel to other parts of the world, but it’s definitely a mix.
So YouTube decided I might like Angel & Cris, a young, exuberant couple who, from what I can tell, play those various games where you win prizes in Japan. I had recently read that Australia had concerns that the “capsule games” were training kids to gamble, and I thought, what, like those ones we used to have at the front of every store?
You put in an unspecified bit of change and out pops a tiny sticker, or toy or something you’re not quite sure of what it actually is but since you got it, you keep it anyway? Lighten up, Australia!
Turns out, no, they did not mean those machines.
Instead, there are these rooms full of lockers with clear doors, for a game very appropriately named “Gacha.” You put money in the machine–bills, not coins–and get a key for a locker. You win what is in the locker.
It is, at its very base, a game of chance.
I can see Australia’s point.
So I have taken to watching these two run around these arcades like excited puppies, turning keys and explaining the contents to the camera. It’s like visual candy with bubblegum inside.
I can’t explain the draw, I don’t want to play the game, I don’t have use for most of the prizes, which lean anime heavy (not a fan of anime), and I don’t think, if we were, for reasons unknown, sitting across from one another at a table, Angel and Cris and I would have much to discuss.
And yet I’ve let them play on, video after video, punctuated with claw machines between the lockers. They are not challenging in any way; it’s utterly passive. I don’t even have to open an capsule.
Then YouTube showed them playing slot machines and for me, a little of the shine wore off.
Like I said, you have a point, Australia.
But I couldn’t help but think what a life they’ve created for themselves, making a living out of playing, essentially.
However, I was just about done writing when I discovered the upright freezer had died with everything in it, which definitely has put a damper on the whimsy of this post, I think you could say literally as well. So I will wrap it up here to get something up, and I hope you have a less soggy Tuesday than I’m having.
A Bit to Read 
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