Nintendo Wii, you've done it again...

As a teacher, I've discovered that I need significant periods of down time when, basically, I don't have to use my brain.  Being on a literal stage in front of a live student audience every day becomes taxing on the mind, and sometimes I just want to come home and NOT.THINK.

Luckily, Nintendo Wii has my back yet again.  This time: Archery.

I hadn't ever tried the Archery function on the Sports Resort game because I'd been way too fixated on the 3-point contest. Who would ever need more?

After a brief stint in Archery with a friend over Christmas break, I came back to Pulaski in January with the idea that I wanted to try this one out a little more. About 20 hours later, I can honestly say I've become a bit obsessed.

I at least hope it's a healthy obsession. It allows me to focus on something other than academics and teenagers, and presents a challenge with paying close attention to detail. How I love details.

My best score is a 117 out of 120 (in the beginner's level), which means that I nailed all bull's eyes except for 3 arrows, which still hit the "9" portion of the target. Not bad. The intermediate level adds moving targets to the equation; I'm still struggling with breaking 100, but I'll be there soon enough.

After a 4-hour stint of Archery last Saturday, I started to think, "Hey, I should really take this up. It'd definitely be fun." But, then I remembered that the Wii is a gateway to thinking you can do things that you really can't do in real life. (See:  Guitar Hero and playing guitar, 3-point contest and shooting basketballs, Bowling, and to a lesser extent, DJ Hero and DJing.)

Oh well. I still think it's awesome and the sound effects are pretty realistic. At least with the Wii, I'm not in danger of shooting my eye out.