Weekend Report: Christmas is Everywhere!
Once again, Christmas ruled! A lot of stuff happened in the weekend leading up to Our Lord's birthday, so let's get to it.
First, the Christmas spoils:
Line6 Guitar Port--A virtual guitar studio from Mom/Dad that models famous amps/effects, more on that in an upcoming update!
Guitar Bag--A small satchel for carrying effect pedals and cables in one bag, which my dad thought I needed.
New Monster-brand Guitar Cable from Mom/Dad
24 Season 4 from Mom/Dad
Arrested Development Season 2 from Danny
Futurama Vol. 2 from Frances/Myrna/Ronnie
A gamer's t-shirt from Frances/Myrna/Ronnie
Super Troopers from Hellbunny
Eternal Sunhine of the Spotless Mind from Gabe
MetClub Gift Card from Erin
Best Buy Cards from Jeremy and Cousins Amber/Andrew
Money from various uncles/aunts and grandparents
With the Best Buy cards I bought seasons 3 and 4 of The Shield
Friday:
Today I went with Danny, Frances, Myrna, Ronnie, and Benjamin to San Francisco to check out the Wharf, Chinatown, and everywhere in between. We all met at the Manor around 9 AM, where my Aunt Myrna drove us to the BART station in the Yukon XL. After the 30 min BART ride to the Powell Station (Danny insisted it took an hour to get to SF, but my reply was "only if you include the time it took you to get up in the morning"), I bought cable car tickets while everyone else got in line to ride the cable car. The trip to Fisherman's Wharf was a bumpy one, but I think everyone got a kick out of riding a cable car. We then spent a little less than an hour walking around Ghiradelli Square not buying chocolate and perusing the Maritime Museum. There was a huge puddle in front of the museum, and while most of us safely jumped over the puddle, Ronnie jumped into the very center and soaked his shoes, so that was amusing. After checking out the exhibits we all tried to use the binoculars to look at the bay, but there was so much fog you couldn't see 10 feet out from the beach. I got one of the free maps in the Maritime museum on our way out, which would prove useful later on, and we headed to Pier 39.
We stopped for lunch on the way to the pier, and in a move that surprised Cousin Amber, we got clam chowder for lunch at a blues club at Pier 45. Everyone got a bread bowl full of chowder except Myrna, who had a cup of chowder, and we all split some orders of fries. The chowder was exquisite, and I ate almost half of my bread bowl before I felt "too full". After chowder we continued to Pier 39 and walked around, but only Benjamin bought something from the shops. After checking out the sea lions, we began the long walk to Chinatown. With the help of my Tourist Map, I successfully guided my family and houseguest down the many blocks from Pier 39 to Grant St, and from there we walked all the way thru Chinatown. Our only stop was a souveneir shop where Danny and Myrna bought a full set of samurai swords, which they split between the 2 of them.
After leaving Chinatown we walked the couple blocks to Market, and I made a quick stop at Virgin Megastore to get presents for Mom and Dad. From there we went to the Metreon, but everyone was so tired that not much happened there. I bought another X-Mas gift at the PlayStation store, then we went to the arcades to play with whatever money we had left. Frances had a good time playing Donkey Kong and Fifa Soccer, and I kicked ass playing the Ninja Turtles arcade game! Finally, we all took BART back home and ate at our respective houses.
Saturday:
Not much happened this morning. My grandma wrapped my presents for my friends and family. If you want the list, here it is:
Dad: Eric Clapton Unplugged DVD
Mom: Gone with the Wind DVD
Danny: X-Men Legends 2
Gabe: Revenge of the Sith DVD
Jeremy: Batman DVD and PSP T-shirt (note: the DVD had not yet arrived, so neither present was wrapped.)
The other big event before the Big Party was playing Turtles in Time on the old SNES with Danny. I've had that game for 13 years, and I can still beat it, but I was down to my last life when we beat Super Shredder. Danny, on the other hand, had no problem keeping his lives because he always got the Pizzas in the levels, and would only lose the extra lives he earned. Meanwhile I'm getting pummelled in between pizzas and I lose lives by the bundle.
So that's all that happened before the XMas Eve party at the Manor. We Smashed, we played Mario Kart (until I kept winning in Vs. and everyone lost interest), Myrna and I looked for a reindeer in Animal Crossing, but we didn't play games all night. We took a short break during dinner to play Mario Uno using that machine that randomly dispenses cards when you need to draw a card, and I dubbed everyone sitting at the table The Knights of the Round Table in Aunt Myrna's Living Room, which included Benjamin and that one girl who was staying at the Manor visiting my cousins' family. I also talked to my twin uncles Fred and Flavio about hybrid cars, but by midnight I was really tired and ready to go home. It worked out great for me, because my dad agreed to stay until midnight, so I didn't have to beg for 10 more minutes to finish up a Smash fight.
Sunday:
We're using Bullets because I have too little to say:
*Opened presents with my Christmas Garfield beside me. My parents loved their gifts.
*Watched 24 Season 4 Disc 1, and the first half of Disc 2.
*Installed GuitarPort and tried it out on the home comp, and showed my dad what it sounds like to play thru a Led Zeppelin sound
*Grandparents and Twin Uncles came over for dinner. We were watching Mythbusters when the parents said "turn it off and come eat", which sucked cuz it was getting to a good part.
*Everyone sat around the table telling stories in Spanish. Since I need to use 100% processing power to translate Spanish, I did not participate. My dad tried to translate for me, but he eventually stopped cuz I got up to get something to read.
New Year's resolution: learn to play "Master of Puppets" at full speed, and actually learn how to play "Blackened"! Now this is a resolution I can't wait to fulfill!
::disrobes:: MERRY X-MAS, EVERYBODY!!!
First, the Christmas spoils:
Line6 Guitar Port--A virtual guitar studio from Mom/Dad that models famous amps/effects, more on that in an upcoming update!
Guitar Bag--A small satchel for carrying effect pedals and cables in one bag, which my dad thought I needed.
New Monster-brand Guitar Cable from Mom/Dad
24 Season 4 from Mom/Dad
Arrested Development Season 2 from Danny
Futurama Vol. 2 from Frances/Myrna/Ronnie
A gamer's t-shirt from Frances/Myrna/Ronnie
Super Troopers from Hellbunny
Eternal Sunhine of the Spotless Mind from Gabe
MetClub Gift Card from Erin
Best Buy Cards from Jeremy and Cousins Amber/Andrew
Money from various uncles/aunts and grandparents
With the Best Buy cards I bought seasons 3 and 4 of The Shield
Friday:
Today I went with Danny, Frances, Myrna, Ronnie, and Benjamin to San Francisco to check out the Wharf, Chinatown, and everywhere in between. We all met at the Manor around 9 AM, where my Aunt Myrna drove us to the BART station in the Yukon XL. After the 30 min BART ride to the Powell Station (Danny insisted it took an hour to get to SF, but my reply was "only if you include the time it took you to get up in the morning"), I bought cable car tickets while everyone else got in line to ride the cable car. The trip to Fisherman's Wharf was a bumpy one, but I think everyone got a kick out of riding a cable car. We then spent a little less than an hour walking around Ghiradelli Square not buying chocolate and perusing the Maritime Museum. There was a huge puddle in front of the museum, and while most of us safely jumped over the puddle, Ronnie jumped into the very center and soaked his shoes, so that was amusing. After checking out the exhibits we all tried to use the binoculars to look at the bay, but there was so much fog you couldn't see 10 feet out from the beach. I got one of the free maps in the Maritime museum on our way out, which would prove useful later on, and we headed to Pier 39.
We stopped for lunch on the way to the pier, and in a move that surprised Cousin Amber, we got clam chowder for lunch at a blues club at Pier 45. Everyone got a bread bowl full of chowder except Myrna, who had a cup of chowder, and we all split some orders of fries. The chowder was exquisite, and I ate almost half of my bread bowl before I felt "too full". After chowder we continued to Pier 39 and walked around, but only Benjamin bought something from the shops. After checking out the sea lions, we began the long walk to Chinatown. With the help of my Tourist Map, I successfully guided my family and houseguest down the many blocks from Pier 39 to Grant St, and from there we walked all the way thru Chinatown. Our only stop was a souveneir shop where Danny and Myrna bought a full set of samurai swords, which they split between the 2 of them.
After leaving Chinatown we walked the couple blocks to Market, and I made a quick stop at Virgin Megastore to get presents for Mom and Dad. From there we went to the Metreon, but everyone was so tired that not much happened there. I bought another X-Mas gift at the PlayStation store, then we went to the arcades to play with whatever money we had left. Frances had a good time playing Donkey Kong and Fifa Soccer, and I kicked ass playing the Ninja Turtles arcade game! Finally, we all took BART back home and ate at our respective houses.
Saturday:
Not much happened this morning. My grandma wrapped my presents for my friends and family. If you want the list, here it is:
Dad: Eric Clapton Unplugged DVD
Mom: Gone with the Wind DVD
Danny: X-Men Legends 2
Gabe: Revenge of the Sith DVD
Jeremy: Batman DVD and PSP T-shirt (note: the DVD had not yet arrived, so neither present was wrapped.)
The other big event before the Big Party was playing Turtles in Time on the old SNES with Danny. I've had that game for 13 years, and I can still beat it, but I was down to my last life when we beat Super Shredder. Danny, on the other hand, had no problem keeping his lives because he always got the Pizzas in the levels, and would only lose the extra lives he earned. Meanwhile I'm getting pummelled in between pizzas and I lose lives by the bundle.
So that's all that happened before the XMas Eve party at the Manor. We Smashed, we played Mario Kart (until I kept winning in Vs. and everyone lost interest), Myrna and I looked for a reindeer in Animal Crossing, but we didn't play games all night. We took a short break during dinner to play Mario Uno using that machine that randomly dispenses cards when you need to draw a card, and I dubbed everyone sitting at the table The Knights of the Round Table in Aunt Myrna's Living Room, which included Benjamin and that one girl who was staying at the Manor visiting my cousins' family. I also talked to my twin uncles Fred and Flavio about hybrid cars, but by midnight I was really tired and ready to go home. It worked out great for me, because my dad agreed to stay until midnight, so I didn't have to beg for 10 more minutes to finish up a Smash fight.
Sunday:
We're using Bullets because I have too little to say:
*Opened presents with my Christmas Garfield beside me. My parents loved their gifts.
*Watched 24 Season 4 Disc 1, and the first half of Disc 2.
*Installed GuitarPort and tried it out on the home comp, and showed my dad what it sounds like to play thru a Led Zeppelin sound
*Grandparents and Twin Uncles came over for dinner. We were watching Mythbusters when the parents said "turn it off and come eat", which sucked cuz it was getting to a good part.
*Everyone sat around the table telling stories in Spanish. Since I need to use 100% processing power to translate Spanish, I did not participate. My dad tried to translate for me, but he eventually stopped cuz I got up to get something to read.
New Year's resolution: learn to play "Master of Puppets" at full speed, and actually learn how to play "Blackened"! Now this is a resolution I can't wait to fulfill!
::disrobes:: MERRY X-MAS, EVERYBODY!!!