When you read the title
of this weeks blog you were a little confused. No, you're eyes aren't
failing you and no, I'm not blogging under the influence. That's a
word in Russian and it's
pronounced as “nenalyublyu”;
when translated into English it means "I
love you but I hate you in this moment."
At least, I think that's
what it means. I'm not 100% sure; I found out about it from watching
Reginald D Hunters stand-up DVD and I later Googled it. And since I
don't have a Russian speaking friend I can't really verify its
accuracy. For all I know it might be a very rude word that I would
use to describe Vladimir Putin.
Anyway, I digress; what I
really wanted to say is that the phrase "I love you but I
hate you in this moment" best describes my relationship
with the board game Monopoly. As a guy who enjoys his fair share of
computer games I still have a soft spot for it. A friend once
described how they would play board games with their University
roommates and I was more than a little jealous.
My love for Monopoly
stems from the fact that I was an only child. That's not strictly
true, I have a older sister but as fate would have it I was to be
born 10 years after her. Which meant that when I was old enough to
appreciate board games my sister was too cool to hang out with her
little brother.
I grew up never really
playing board games with..(cue Akon's “Mr. Lonely”)..anyone.
I did play with my cousins but they weren't really interested; back
then they just wanted to play with the Playstation. I would play
draughts/checkers with my Dad, usually this took place when he was
half-asleep on the couch. I won a lot of matches. Because I'm that
good...(it has nothing too do with the fact that my Dad let me
win so he could get back to napping)..
Last year I bought myself
a Monopoly board game determined to play and I did; with my sister,
her husband and my nephew. This was the point when the “I
hate you in this moment” part set in. As much as I love
Monopoly, it took a really long time to finish a game. Roughly
5 hours.
By the end we were a
little bit cross with one another; usually down to the fact that we
refused to sell or trade a crucial piece of real estate to one
another, giving one player an advantage. Which only made the game
last a lot longer. My poor nephew was caught in the crossfire when he
had to choose between who he would sell his property to. When the
game did finally end we were all pretty glad.
Right now, my Monopoly
board game is in my closet. I still look forward to another game.
Just not any time soon.
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