Branching out in Nerd.

Over Winter break two months ago, I spoke to my mother about how I never had video games. She revealed to me that when I was in first grade she asked me if I wanted a video game console and I said "no." This floored me. I always thought that she was just cheap and/or being mean to me. Really, who takes a six year old so seriously?

I recently came into a reasonable sum of money and experienced a lot of stress. Since stress is the result of a change, the change to being able to afford something I want was freaking me out. I knew that I wanted a system, but it isn't like me to spend money like that. I worried about how long I would get to keep it, if I would need to sell it in a year once I'm out of college and not safe anymore. I don't feel justified in buying something nice like that. I always got the next best thing when I was a kid, so having my first choice is mind-blowing.

Another problem is that my TV is not going to be compatible with anything more complicated than cable or a DVD player. I'd need a new TV for it to work, but it would have to be all-or-nothing. I've found a TV at Target that's cheap but they don't have it in stock and may not be getting it back. I've seen XBOX-360s on craigslist and ebay but I'm skeptical of their condition. I don't want to buy something and have it break in a month; then I'll really feel wasteful.

I've gone into Gamestop a few times to get the lay of the land. I always feel uncomfortable in there because I think they know that I didn't grow up with this stuff. I don't want to ask any questions because I feel like a child would know the answers. So I'm left with a series of google searches to tell me about these consoles, games, controllers, guitars, hard drives, memberships, etc.

It's disheartening to get into this so late. It's not cool to start being a video game geek in your 20s (and when did that phrase become applicable?), and I don't know how I'll handle being so behind the times, and watching my miraculous new system be replaced by a newer version in a year or so.

The short of it is: I want a 360. I want to play games and make up for lost time. I, however, don't have anyone to help me figure out how to go about it. I don't have any video gamer friends, I don't have much knowledge, but I want this and I'm going for it.