Pipe Ponderings: Waxing pathetic

(Author's note: The following has nothing to do with tobacco, save that it was written with a lit pipe within reach.)

As I'm writing, I'm lighting my first bowl ever of Carter Hall. It is, of course, packed in my trusty Kaywoodie Gold. It was billed to me as an over-the-counter burley with a nice Virginia backing. Opening the bag a friend sent me, which arrived just today, I smell plenty of Virginia.
But that's not why I'm writing today. Today I'm writing because of the other package that arrived in the mail today, the one I don't want anyone to tell my wife about.

Ok, so there are a lot of packages we pipe smokers don't want to tell our wives about. It's not that we're trying to hide things from them. We just don't want to explain again why we need more pipes or more tobacco. At least, I don't want to explain it again. I'm sure I'm not the only guy whose wife doesn't understand. I've heard a couple of members of The Ozark Pipe Smokers (who, of course, will remain nameless) say they hope that, after their deaths, their wives don't sell their fishing gear for what they said they paid for it.
So back to me. In my game room, I have a package with a new Wii game waiting for me. Well, it's not really new. I played it before on my Xbox 360 until the second one died and I gave up on the platform. It's a Batman game, which may sound a lot cooler than it is, because it's really Lego Batman.
I played this game with my daughter, who was eight at the time. She's now nine and is playing Lego Star Wars on the Nintendo DS she bought with her Christmas money. But I got hooked on the Batman game when we were playing it together and would even play it at night after she went to bed. Hello, my name is Tom, and I'm addicted to video games.
The Wii was supposed to be a family game, kept in the living room, but that ended because my daughter kept leaving a nearly full can of Sprite on the TV stand above the console, right where the cats always run by. So now it's in the game room — or should I say "my" game room.
I've been looking forward to playing this game all day, so why am I taking the time to tell everyone about it? Well, there's no smoking in the house. I'm in my garage with the big door cracked and a heater keeping me warm. Tobacco first. Games second.
I know my priorities.