Dad,

I live in a duplex, upper and lower, and my downstairs neighbor is a video gamer. Some people play their music loud, he plays his x-box. Sometimes he will have a success and blow something up and my daughter will run to the window to see the storm, thinking that she is hearing thunder. I like him, and we have nice, short driveway chats. I would like to connect with him, invite him over, but our television is 19 inches and only connected to our VCR. We don’t keep snack food or anything around the house, and he is on probation for drinking and driving, so i can’t offer him a beer. A few days ago, the new video game, Halo 3, was released, and he was excited to pick it up at midnight. He offered to have me over for a look at the new game and to play a bit with him. I have mixed feelings, because I am not interested in getting wrapped up in the video game industry, but I would like to hang out with my neighbor. I am weighing my values and trying to decide where the best investment of my time might be.

How far do I go to be a friend to my neighbor?

Bryan