Brain Age : 92

Let me clarify from the git-go that I'm not necessarily handy with electronic devices; however, my daughter, son, and g'son enjoy playing with various gaming devices, so I thought I'd get my own, practice, and then join in during our summer trip. The salesman at Wal-Mart talked me into purchasing the newest iteration of Nintendo DS, the i, as it has both a camera and a wi-fi option. Now, we all know about my endless issues with wi-fi, but this newest game device was "only" $20 more than the older version, so ... . I also bought the extended warranty protection, the zippered case, and both Brain Age and Brain Age 2 for practice. I was so ready to figure this out and let the summer sharing begin.

What a great idea; what utterly devastating execution.

I am good at reading and following directions -- when I know what I'm doing. The first few times I tried to say the words aloud to establish my base brain age, even though I SAID the word correctly, the microphone didn't hear me until I had repeated my response several times. Hence, the basic brain age of 92. I practiced doing this feature several times, making sure I was sitting far enough away and at the correct angle for the device to pick up my voice and record my response, but, alas, according to my baseline brain age, I'm bordering on brain dead.

Now, I don't do numbers. Period. The gamer's favorite, Battleship, that allegedly can be logically figured out and won, eludes me. I randomly select squares and sink the fleet in fewer than 5 choices almost every time. Thus, I don't play chess as I lack the vision necessary to see the plays, plan the strategy, and even understand the basic premise of the game. Soduko is out of the question: my new Nintendo could give me months to figure out a single square and I would NOT get it: ever. I don't understand that game; it has numbers; so let's move on. If my brain age depends on my completing a Soduko game, I'll take the damned thing into class and have my student from China do that part! Come to think of it, he could shoot my score to the stratosphere because he's one of the most intelligent students I've ever had in a classroom.

Not bad thinking, huh? Who says my brain isn't working to capacity?

When I came to the lists of words to memorize and then write, I was ready: I'm a wordsmith, so I was going to get back some brain years on this one. Which I probably could have if my new game toy would have read my writing!!!!! My capital L was seen as a C; my T became an F; my W registered as a U; and on and on it went. When the little circle appeared for the A-1, B-2 maze challenge, I accidentally hit the D and then several other closely-packed letters and numbers on my way to the A and the 1, which started the game with a negative score. By the time I had finished matching the alpha letters with corresponding numbers, I was ready to return the damned game and both levels of Brain Age to the store and be done with this!

My Norwegian has kicked in, however, and I'm going to continue with the quest to at least return my brain age to my chronological age, which is, in itself, quite a high number, as I don't like the feeling that my brain is doddering on done.