The Downtown Arcade 7 - Get Dancin' Edition
A few months ago I went to see a neurologist about the headaches I've had since ... well, for as long as I can remember. I recall being a little child and complaining about the headaches on my face.
Turns out the headaches on my face are migraines. I left with a prescription for sumatriptin, a miraculous drug. But that's not the point.
The point is that my doctor was pleased with my exercise routine, which he said could be one reason I (knock wood) don't get migraines more often.
What's my workout, he'd asked. Answer: I cycle when I can, and when I can't, I dance. More precisely, I play Dance Dance Revolution.
The doctor grinned when I mentioned the game. I take him to be a member of Generation Y, and I could definitely see him playing some DDR in about 2003.
I love Dance Dance Revolution.
Dance Dance Revolution is a Japanese videogame wherein a bouncy song plays (such as my beloved "Private Eye"), arrows scroll up the screen and the player jumps around on a pad, stepping on arrows that correspond to the ones on the screen.
In general I'm not much of a gamer, but I have a Wii console my stepmother gave me for Christmas years ago. I tried various Wii games over the years, and in 2016 I bought a DDR title and a dance pad. I played for a few days, but I found the game confusing and opaque and soon gave up. I put away DDR.
Flash forward to the pandemic. I'd been going to the gym a few times a week, but when the gyms closed, I turned to cycling as my primary workout. Fantastic, love cycling, but rainy days were a problem. I needed an indoor cardio option.
I thought of DDR. I dug out the game and pad and really concentrated. And ...
I'm obsessed. This game hits all my buttons. I love home theater, and DDR is a powerful home theater experience, thanks to the surround-sound music and the delightful, at times wild visuals. True, 2010-era Wii graphics don't look their awesomest on a big 4K TV, haha. Throw in intense body movement and I'm captivated. I completely lose myself in this game. Certain songs are like out-of-body experiences. Sometimes they even make me cry, the way music-plus-endorphins could make me cry in my running days.
So I tracked down all the DDR titles for the Wii and I'm swimming in content. The variety of songs is, for now, endless. I really like this music, this frothy J-pop! I bought another pad and Ereck and I have been known to dance together, cute.
At first, so great was my enthusiasm that I exercised with DDR exclusively, but I found I wasn't getting some of the benefits I get from cycling. So I got back on the bike, but DDR is a mainstay in my workout mix.
It's so fun it doesn't feel like exercise. A++++++++++++++++++
Good word
"I still can’t believe that we as a species haven’t evolved past bachelorette commitments with enormous and unpredictable costs."