It's good that this had a point. I was so sure it wouldn't.
So, I'm listening to Riverdance right now. Celtic fiddles, mournful as ravens, but preparing to break into a tone of hope, as the titular sun rises, and from hope into the swift-running, playful tempo of life, and have I mentioned how much I am in love with Celtic* music, as well as anything which doesn't have lyrics to distract it from rhythmic and tonal purity?
*Which is a soft C, as I must remind myself every time I speak the word aloud
In the background, through the headphones, though? I can hear Zoë, my eleven-year-old sister, wielding a sniper-rifle and doing battle with the agents of H.A.R.M. across the room. And it seems right, and wrong, at the same time. Not just the interplay of first person shooting and most excellent dancing tunes, but that Zoë is currently raking up a fictitious bodycount on par with small-scale battles. This isn't one of those "What are we allowing video games to do to our children?" sentiments, because anyone who has fought their way into Area 51, through Black Mesa, and out of Castle Wolfenstein probably isn't likely to begrudge others the right to do the same, so much as a "My little sister is growing up" thing.
As the over-protective Big Brother, I have a lot of those.
She's not as adult as one might fear; I remember, a year ago, when she was playing (to a limited degree) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas; mostly, she'd hijack a car and try to obey traffic laws that the AI didn't heed, and I'm not sure she ever fully embraced the nature of the game, as defined by those who use it as a whipping boy, rather than those who actually designed it as a "do what you like" game. More recently, my younger brother, Calvin bought an X-Box 360 (because he is good with taking money in and perhaps not-so-good at keeping it from going out) and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (because he enjoyed Morrowind a great deal; I did too, although I didn't get very far before I got Something Shiny'd) and she's been playing through that. Mostly, she just breaks into houses and steals anything that is worth nailing down, but wasn't.
I know that I should be glad she isn't going through whatever the towns are called and committing genocide at the whim of a hat, but there's a part of me that wishes she was still playing the games with a little less... well, M-Rated. On the other hand, when she plays the Sims 2, I'd constantly complain (in my mind, at least) that by cheating them fifty thousand Simoleans and keeping them unemployed, she's denying them a work ethic and thereby screwing them up. So, what I'm trying to say is that I am impossible to please.
At least, for Zoë. Bill Whelan et all do not seem to be having difficulty on that score.
I need more Celtic music. Also, American Folk music. Putumayo and the Prairie Home Companion only increase the longing for more.