Entry for 26th July, 2008

I have been playing Guitar Hero with the Couch Potato. Two grown men; standing in a middle class living room strumming a plastic guitar. At least he had the modesty to close his blinds before we started.
It was undeniably fun. But I felt a bit guilty afterwards. I felt faintly dirty. I couldn't put my finger on it, until much later. I was lying in bed, still fuzzy brained from the Potato's hospitality, and I realised what it was. It's another of those modern passtimes that rely on instant gratification.
There is no need to learn how to play the guitar any more. You can pick up a plastic controller and within seconds you can have the fun of playing a heavy metal solo. There's no learning. No practice. No struggle. No investment.
Likewise - you can plug in your computer and play golf like Tiger Woods. You can do all your shopping from the internet without even crossing the threshold of the supermarket. You can keep in touch with your friends on Facebook, without ever getting out of the sofa and going to visit them. You can even hit a single button to "poke" them, so you don't need to trouble yourself to write anything original.
Our pleasures are become instant. We push the red button and instantly we can watch the latest movie. We don't need to get out our houses. We don't need to go to the picture house. And god forbid we should actually try and create something ourselves. That would just be too weird.
Don't get me wrong. I like Guitar Hero. It was fun. I rock. Apparently.
But I came home and I dusted off my own guitar. The real one. The wooden one. With real strings that vibrate. I may not rock on it. My fingers may be sore. But it is good to be practising and making hesitant, faulty music.