Good morning friend :)
How are you doing this morning? I stepped outside yesterday morning and felt the cool in the air... although no monsoons..sucks... it made me think of the fall... in another few months it'll be here.
Speaking of outside... about two weeks ago we as a family were out back BS'ing about whatever. I cannot recall how or what prompted a conversation about pushups... but in short, I made an unofficial bet regarding a ridiculous amount of pushups that turned official with Tristan.
Small back story...
Today's video games have what's called "in-game" money.... which is REAL, "I worked my ass off for" kinda greenbacks money... which allows you to buy other stuff within the game. Nowadays someone can easily spend $30-60 on a game, then again over months time, spend ANOTHER $30-60 "within" the game to buy other shit.. This real money is called a number of things.. but for the games the boys have, has been called, COD-points, V-Bucks, DLC's, Shark cards.. it goes on and on.
Sometimes this is an expansion to a game to make it more fun and have spin off stories... OR... and this is the worst... just buy shit to buy shit. Like buy a new avatar, buy new weapons, paint your weapons, get a new tool, or just change your outfit, AKA, "skins"... some of this doesn't make you play any better or give you an edge against competitors...nope! this is nothing more than simply hanging out in the digital/virtual lobby, waiting for the game to get started, walking around like one would at a car show, checking out everyone's skins.. "ooo, that's cool!" kinda stuff...
my old ass just doesn't get it.. at least entirely.
Being fully transparent, I have spent my own money on stupid shit like this.. just cause I wanted to. But nothing more than what a 6 pack of beer would cost... hahaha :)
SO!
Tristan and Avin both have asked that we buy this kinda shit with our hard earned money.. like come on bro! Sometimes we let them spend their own money, up to like a $20 limit or something, or we will kick in like $10 now and again. None of this comes without a battery of parenting, bullshit, probing questions about the wastefulness of this kind of spending. For weeks now Tristan has been asking to buy V-Bucks...and as of late, he's been jobbing us... primarily me.. to buy some.
Now you're caught up.
Back outside, I made some stupid, asshole parent, Dad comment "If you can do 200 pushups I will buy you $100 worth of V-Bucks".. The seriousness on Tristan's face was priceless. This quickly evolved into how and what. Even as far as Uncle Ryan showing how to do a legit pushup, so on and so forth... Now we did not discuss terms of any kind other than 200 pushups would get you $100..
I said I'd like you to do that without stopping. He and everyone were laughing at that. Tristan's like, that's impossible Dad! Not even you could do that.. only like a super bodybuilder could. I said I know!.... if you want me to spend $100 of my dollars, $100 dollars that I worked my ass off for, especially if you want me to "waste" that money on some shit V-Bucks, to earn that $100 is going to suck for you, but be fun for me to watch.
Little did I know... that 10 year old head of his was breaking the how down.
In the coming days he took a little bit of time and broke down how he could pull off 200 pushups. He calculated that if he did 10 pushups then took a 3-5 minute break, he could pull off all 200 in about an hour...
Then.. in order to prove this level of effort... the little shit set up his tablet in his room, positioned it in a way that he could "literally" record every pushup..
He discovered that the video part had a timer associated with it... so after 10, he'd take a break and watch the clock run..
So during these five minute breaks he would have random commentary about the bet, struggle of the bet, thanks and shoutouts.. The simple fact that this turd went through this level of effort astonishes me.
Although gassed and his commentary would minimize, he was staying on point with the clock... his form would start to suffer, but he kept at it. He even went out and grabbed a wet washcloth to cool himself off.
I love the shameless "gud handyman" plug! thanks Tristan! :)
Watching the final moments was neat to see unfold. I don't know if he expected me to support this or not, but moving along to the end you can see the level of effort he put into this commitment.
Although the math on his time didn't shake out 100% and his form wasn't all the way, I had to follow through on my commitment to him. I was so incredibly impressed how he broke down the problem into manageable steps, conveyed in detail how, back checked his math, then vulnerably filmed himself doing this.
As a parent this is a video we will cherish forever. To share some of the joy with you, here is a link to his video if you want to spot check his efforts. It's a real treat. 57:47 Min Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0ne0xjxijiqs372/Tristan_200%20Pushups_072520.mp4?dl=0 I don't expect you to watch the whole bit of course... starting at: 1:40 is where he breaks down the bet and what he's doing.. 8:00 he thanks me, Chas and Uncle Ryan for the support 28:45, he starts complaining about his arms failing and starting to hurt 56:30 he wraps up the last 200.. his form has gone to hell from the first ones.. haha!
he also ends it singing "na, nanana, hey, hey, goodbye.. TO YOUR WALLET! "
It was funny because for 2 days his body hurt... all the way down to his core (especially given the poor form) haha. it was awe Since he started the challenge with a video, I felt it only necessary we close it with a video too. haha! here he is playing away in his Gaming fort we built for him.
1:21 Min Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xq73v86mudbe6i3/Tristan_Dad%20Pays%20up%20for%20200%20Pushups_073120.mp4?dl=0
This was probably the best $100 I've spent in a long time.... I can only imagine what kind of animal we've created here... I just hope it doesn't exceed $100... hahah!
Just had to share the awesomeness of owning a bet. I will be sure to think long and hard before I do something like that again... he just might pull off the impossible. I couldn't think of a better weekly picture than this. A nice quiet morning on the Las Vegas Strip. How strange to see :) Have a grateful weekend! As always, thanks for being awesome!
