Introduction
This week, for a change, I didn't have to beg Miles for a game of Yahtzee. He actually sought ME out! This was even more confounding as he was an absolute misery for the entire time. He was acting like Eeyore that had just caught his wife cheating on him and had just about finished a five day bender! So yeah, pretty moody. But I'm never gonna say no to game of Yahtzee, so I took him up on his very gracious offer and we had ourselves a little match. But more about that later...
I wish I could tell you what was wrong with the little blighter, but he never let on. His shoulders were slumped, his speech was a grunt and a smile was a pipe dream. Now, to those that know him, this might sound like classic, everyday Miles. But this night was different. He seemed to carry around with him an aura of intense black smog which certainly affected the jovial atmosphere I was carrying around with me. So much so that I was actually getting concerned. I kept asking him what was wrong, but he kept saying nothing. So what else could I do other than batter him at Yahtzee? If we were doing/playing anything else I might have given him a break to cheer him up... But this is Yahtzee, and I play to DESTROY!!! But winning is also acceptable. It turns out that his mood did not improve for the following four hours, so giving him a fighting chance wouldn't have helped anyway.
This week, a few days before the match Miles actually surprised me by telling me something I never thought would come from his mouth. He told me that he wants to go to university. I have to say, that is flipping music to my ears! He is capable of so much, he's proved that with the guitar. Fair enough, he's given up on it now, but the speed at which he picked up the basics was extraordinary. I did warn him that in order to have a career in university, you tend to need to have had one in school also. He knows that, but hopefully his commitment to uni will give him a nudge in the right direction and he'll sort out his attendance at school. This is not easy, I know. Miles is not just a truant. He's dealing with some shizz, and I can certainly sympathise with that! He tells me that he either wants to study Zoology, Art or Geology. Bloody good for him. I love science, I love animals and I definitely love art, so 100% approve! Not that I would force him to change his mind if he chose to pursue other subjects, but it's nice to know that despite everything, Miles and I are actually two peas in a pod. I wish I'd have taken my education a lot more seriously when I was young, so to hear that Miles is at least considering it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling that dads SHOULD have. Here's to you Miles!
But for every positive there is usually a negative, and that negative this week is... TikTok... especially the brain rot that comes with it. You see, Miles has a bad habit; he will scroll and scroll and scroll on TikTok, even when he's not interested in what he's watching. This seems to be a bit of a depressing phenomenon amongst children of Miles's age. What he doesn't understand though, is that if you're not even paying attention to "ShitTok", the shady people that upload on there still manage to infiltrate their tiny minds. And no, I am not a conspiracy theorist, this is a fact. Let me tell you a story...
Miles usually spends about 5% of his day watching TikTok, the other 95% is spent looking at his phone screen while TikTok plays. The trouble is, for some reason TikTok still manages to get it's greasy claws into your brain, even when you're supposedly not listening. As a result, he's picked up a few toxic traits. Don't get me wrong, he's in absolutely no danger of becoming the next Andrew Tate, no, he's a bit more innocuous with his views, but still, if it carries on, he could become the latest in a long line of dictators with a bit of an erection for communist ideologies. And we wouldnt want that! And I do have a bit of a "for instance".
I will say right now that TikTok and I are strangers. I have no idea how it works, and in all honesty, I don't want to either. But I do know a few things about it. Firstly everyone and their dog just seems to lip sync everything, which seems pointless to me. Secondly, it gives absolute menaces to society a platform to be heard, apparently without reprimand. Finally, there seems to be no moderation on TikTok. You are either a toxic male, toxic female, vegan with a murderous grudge, far, FAR left politically, far, FAR right politically or a youngster with a brain like a sponge, just ready to mop up the TikTok tsunami of bullshit posted by the uneducated that happen to have a voice now because some crap app just happens to exist. This is where miles comes in! I mean he's got a brain like a sponge, not that he's an idiot... well... nah, I'm joking, he's a smart kid.
It was a normal evening, me and miles were just jibber jabbering about any old nonesense, then the subject of his likes and dislikes cropped up. They were just the usual things you might expect from a teenager. But then, he dropped a bomb. He lets me know that he hates, not just dislikes, but HATES with every fiber of his young being... yacht owners... yep you heard me right, yacht owners. I didn't think I'D heard him right at first, but yep........... yacht owners. Of all the things in this beautiful, but often miserable world that we live in to get furious about, yacht owners wouldn't even make my long list! So I asked for a bit of clarification. Then the penny dropped. TikTok! That stupid app is where Miles gets the majority of his information about the world. The problem with that is that TikTok is full of morons doing moronic shit. The yacht owners that Miles is referring to are the wannabe rappers that show off their huge wads of cash (more likely prop money) talk about themselves like they are God incarnate and swan about on said yacht as if they've owned it for years, while the truth is that they've probably rented it just for the day! So, I felt it was my duty to have a word with the lad. I told him that it's not always a great idea to believe everything you see and more importantly to think critically about the things you do see. I also informed him that not EVERY yacht owner is a massive douche and some people are just fortunate enough to afford one. Yes, there are even yacht owners that don't even know what TikTok is that wouldn't even look twice at peasants like us, but by the law of averages there must be a few decent fellas among the lucky yacht owning gits. This little talk fell on somewhat deaf ears, however, he just gave me a cock eyed glance and told me I was an old man and I had no idea what I was on about! Charming. So I gave up on my little life lesson, figuring that he'd learn on his own soon enough... probably... hopefully!
Match Results
1. Chris - 201
2. Miles- 178
Summary
The match was not a particularly interesting one, it went back and forth a bit, but I pretty much had victory in the bag for a good amount of time (hence the reason for the bloated intro). I say this not to inflate my own ego, but in the hopes that Miles reads this and finally learns that when it's game time, it's GAME ON! Much of his dreary scores come as a result of constant waffling, scrolling or moaning. I have no such excuse, and looking at the scores, if he could have just paid more attention in the match, he could have easily come away with the win. But not this time.
Standings
Chris 5 - 4 Miles
Final Thoughts
I am once again in the lead. This competition is going at an absolute snail's pace. This is not what I envisioned when we started out on this journey. If I'm honest, I thought I'd be well in the lead by now. But nope. Miles is certainly keeping up with the pace and could himself have stormed the competition, but as it stands, it's still neck and neck and there's still everything to play for. This could take a while...
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