The Game of Life

For Family Home Evening yesterday, Niklas and I borrowed The Game of Life from some of our friends after treating ourselves to pie at Frontier Pies (a la mode, even). Here's a rundown of what happened in each of our lives during our game:

Niklas decided college wasn't for him (he becoming sheepish after my disapproving look) and went straight for a career...as an artist, making $60,000 per payday (not bad for an artist). I decided college was well worth it and took the plunge, incurring $40,000 of debt to become a teacher who made $100,000 every payday. I was pretty happy about this, since I was able to immediately pay off my student loans.

Niklas and I each got married to a peg person (oh, sorry...a peg people per the game instructions...), having one girl and twin boys in each of our families (no joke!). I owned a large farm house while Niklas owned a beach hut, and I was pretty much in the lead for this whole Life game thus far, making more money and higher movement spins than Niklas. Niklas couldn't afford homeowner's insurance but was getting by okay. As life went on, he decided that not going to college initially had been a foolish mistake---so he signed up for night classes that I taught. He paid me $20,000 for his education (he got off easy, if you ask me) and ended up increasing his artist's salary to $90,000 per payday. Not bad at all!

About halfway through my life, I bought an expensive home gym so my family and I could stay in shape. Unfortunately, all the exercise went to my head. Next thing I knew, I was having a mid-life crisis--literally. I "decided" that teaching was not making me happy, so I left the university and became a professional athlete making $20,000 per payday. And Niklas, my pupil that I had helped along the way to greatness, did nothing but glory in my somewhat downfall. Ungrateful little twerp...

Because of this drastic career change, I lost the game by a mere $325,000 or so. I mean, I did do amazing things in my life---like climb Mt. Everest, create a new ice cream flavor and sport, etc. But that jerk-of-an-artist who came out on top did nothing but rub in my face that he had ended up richer than me---even until I went down to my grave. Not once did he acknowledge that I had helped him on his way to financial success...

I had a lot of fun! :D

But here's a couple of problems I had with this new version of Life....

1. What is up with no longer getting presents when you get married or have children??



2. Why do children offer no benefit whatsoever by the end of the game like they used to? What is Hasbro/Milton Bradley trying to say about the value (or lack thereof?) of children? And...if nothing else (because we know that children have massive nonmonetary worth), why couldn't any children we had at least lower our tax payments like in REAL life? (IRS dependents benefit people! "Only an accountant would think about that..." said Niklas.)

Oh well. I still enjoyed myself despite this lack of realism. ;)

In other news, I am trying to study for the Financial Accounting and Reporting section of the CPA exam and I'm already bracing myself for failure. There is SO much information to cram into your brain and remember for this test---I'll be lucky if I remember half of it. Taking the test October 14th in Pocatello and hope I can get through all of the study material I need to before then.

Niklas is still on break from college and enjoying the time off. He has been painting more of his miniatures and starting lots of different books at once. He only has one semester to go! We're planning on him graduating this December. With a new baby coming in November, I'm sure it will be...an adventure while he's still got a month of school left. But hey, we're not the first couple to go through this scenario, and we won't be the last. I know Niklas will make it through all right with lots of hardwork (and me being the primary baby-watcher, of course).

Clara is still baking away, and has about 2.5 months left until she's ready. She's still just hanging out and starting to enjoy resting some part of herself on the left side of my belly button---making for a slightly lopsided mommy belly on the outside.

Life is good (the real thing and the boardgame)!