Video game learning shines at aquarium

First off, I am not a parent who bans video games. I have been known to play a few in my 38 years on this earth (starting with kid games on my parent's Atari system). I have read articles touting the positives of kids playing them (hand eye coordination is one) and the negatives (too much screen time, the violence of some games - to name a few). However, last week on vacation I watched my son use his knowledge from a video game in a real life venue, and it amazed me what he has learned.

The game that made a difference: Endless Ocean, Blue World.

For those not familiar with the game, it is a scuba diving based game that has a story line, quests and more. One of the quests is to "collect" fish and other marine life to unlock them in a Marine Encyclopedia and to place them in various tanks at the Aquarium. You can create an avatar the beginning, accept diving requests to take people to see the desired fish or other marine life and take photos of various species to send to publications.

While on vacation, we took a day and visited Newport Aquarium in Kentucky. We had been several times before, but our son was much younger. He has always enjoyed watching fish, sharks, jelly fish, and pretty much anything that swims. (Visits to the Columbus Zoo always meant making a bee line for the aquarium area and spending nearly an hour with the fish, manatees and sting rays). We arrive at Newport and start walking through the exhibits. J was looking at the tanks and started naming off different fish and aquatic life without looking at the pictures and information off to the side. When I asked him about this knowledge, he said it was because of the video game.

Now I know that not all games are going to provide him this level of awareness about a topic, but at this point, I am grateful that he had been able to have fun playing a game that has given him facts about something he is interested in as well.

Rainy day musings

Soon after I posted yesterday, a storm rolled through central Ohio. For those who do not know, I work on the campuses of the Ohio School for the Deaf (OSD) and the Ohio State School for the Blind (OSSB). My office at OSD looks out on a heavily wooded ravine. Here are my thoughts as I looked out at the storm passing through on Monday:

Darkness rolls in turning day into night.

Rain pelts that green leaves, the creek rises beyond its banks.

My phone keeps chiming as the special weather alerts pop up.

Thoughts range from the good the rain will go for plants,

To hoping our scouts are safe at camp.

Extra love will be given to the puppy dog tonight.

Wow, have I been slacking...

So, it has been months (two dozen plus) since I last logged in and posted in this blog of mine. Upon opening it up, I saw I had started drafts on maybe a half dozen or more blog posts that never did get finished or published.

What has changed that made me think about and finally take the time to log in? I recently completed a business writing course with a fantastic instructor named Ann Linquist. I took a few moments to look her up and browse her website (www.annlinquist.com). She posts writing ideas multiple times a week, and I took time to write a poem, more as free writing than anything else.

It amazed me how difficult it can be just to do free-writing or attempt something a little bit creative. However, if there is nothing else that I have learned during my 15 years in the communications workforce is that I need to write, write and write some more. I need just to let the words go, including nonsense and whatever pops in my head. This will allow the needed copy to break through.

So for my first post in many, many months I wanted to share my simple, non-important poem that I created and posted to Ms. Linquist's site for total strangers to see. I hope to get back to my draft blog posts and even others to help build my overall writing skills and maybe, just maybe get a bit of my creative spark back.

Immersed in the words on the computer screen
Work seems neverending.
Email window pops up
With a new project, my boss is sending.
Today is Friday,
With a holiday coming soon.
It is easy to daydream,
Only interrupted by a visit from a raccoon.
Winds rustling the leaves
In the woods outside my office,
Making me remember days of cloud gazing
Lounging on a bed of grassy softness.