Wii Fit age

Last Sunday I had a chance to see the Wii Fit game for the Nintendo Wii game system. I tried out a few things and enjoyed the ski jump. What I enjoyed more though was watching my kids and even my wife play something together. Everyone was laughing and having a good time. This was enough for me to want to buy the game. While the $90 could certainly be spent on other things, how do you put a price tag on fitness and family fun? Last night, while out shopping for Bug's birthday gift, no not the pony with the golden saddle (see "Bug's Birthday Eve" for that story) my wife called to say that by some miracle Toys R Us had the game in stock. So I hopped into the car and went to get it.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Wii and especially the Wii Fit game, it encourages you to excercise and to get into shape. It can even help shed a few pounds. Unlike traditional video games where you sit around simply pressing buttons, this has you on your feet, bending, twisting, and stretching all while balancing on a pad controller. As I write this my daughter is trying to balance her way across a high wire. She has fallen to her doom a few times but at least she is laughing as her Mii (the avitar that you create to represent you) falls into oblivian. I am happy to see that unlike other video games, we do not have to actually see our Mii hit the ground and splatter it's bloody pixels all over the place.

Before you actually begin to play the game you each go through a survey of statistics in order to create your Wii Fit profile. The questions include things like your height, birthday, and the approximate weight of your clothing. For those of you that know me, I am a bit anal about accuracy so having to weigh my clothing did cross my mind. The other option would be to balance naked on the board and not have to figure in the clothing at all. I will give you a minute to stop laughing at the visual now in your mind............... I am happy, as I am sure you are, to say, that I managed to be comfortable with simply entering a guess as to what my clothing weighed. After you enter this information you stand on the control pad and it weighs you. It will not dispaly the weight unless you allow it to. It also helps you discover your center of balance. Once all of this is done, and the game system stops putting you down by saying you are overweight and can not walk without tripping over your own feet, it gives you your Wii Fit age. This is to tell you just how well or bad you have taken care of yourself. This is how we faired:

Bug's Wii age was 25 or +17 years over her actual age.
MyTy's Wii age was 28 or +15 years over his actual age.
Kevin's Wii age was 23 or +6 years over his actual age.
Carleen's Wii age was 51 or +7 years over her actual age.
My Wii age was 43 or -2 years under my actual age. (Read that again! Yes I am younger!)

So, as you can imagine I am sitting here gloating in the fact that, according to the Wii at least, I am in pretty good shape. Still, I plan to make sure I follow some of the excercises and play the games. With any luck at all, I will continue to get younger as my kids grow older. When I have succeded in passing them in the opposite direction, they can get out and get a job and take care of me to pay me back for all the years I have taken care of them.........tm