December in the Lone Star State
I had struggled with the issue of whether to chance it with public transportation (walk to BART, take AirBART, just barely make it 30 minutes before departure: $5) or pay for a shuttle to take me to the airport (get picked up, make it at least an hour before departure: $25 + tip) for my 6:00 A.M. flight on Friday, and I chose the latter. I also wondered whether I should be picked up at 3:45 or 4:15. I chose the latter. Both these decisions were proved sound Friday morning because when I woke up it was A) raining and B) 4:06.
I had a breakfast burrito (sadly, not reimbursed) by the gate and sat, waiting. As they began boarding, I saw someone who looked like..."Robin?"
It was, indeed, iridium. The hell? She was two rows behind me. We were on the same flight to Denver, though she would be continuing on to New Orleans while I went to Arlington. Our connecting flights were around the same time and not too far from each other, so we hung out a bit in the Denver airport. Running into people is like a hobby of mine.
My brother picked me up from DFW, and at home, the first order of business, of course, was to start playing Xbox. Friday's game was Mirror's Edge, which I beat around 4:00 A.M. It's pretty fun. You free run around and in the city, and the cutscenes make you feel like you're in an Esurance commercial. I feel like it could have been cooler than it was, though. There are a few good chase scenes, but mostly, you're doing the same sort of thing over and over. That thing is fun, though, so it's still enjoyable. The button layout is rather unusual: you spend almost the entire game using the top four buttons. LB (jump) gets more of a workout than it ever has, I think.
It was also the night of my little sister's birthday party, so when I arrived, there were all these random teenage girls in the house. When all but one left, we watched Baby Mama. Or rather, we tried to watch Baby Mama, but the burned DVD we got from our uncle quit half an hour in, so we drove to Walgreen's to rent it from Redbox to continue watching. It wasn't really worth the trouble, because it is not funny. Or good. I checked IMDb just now, and I seriously said out loud, "THANK GOD," when I confirmed that Tina Fey didn't write it because I was about to begin doubting her abilities.
Saturday was my little sister's birthday, and we spent it Marshalling it up at Sam's, gorging ourselves on samples, and getting a family picture taken at Wal-Mart. Then we three siblings headed off to the mall so my sister could return some of her gifts. My brother and I mercilessly mocked her for returning something and then, five minutes later, telling her friend how AMAZING it was and WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE how great it was and SHE WILL TREASURE IT FOR THE REST OF HER DAYS or whatever. On the way back, because my brother had proclaimed his love for chicken McNuggets, we stopped at McDonald's and got some. I hadn't had those things in years. And, man, they are still good. Especially with hot mustard and sweet and sour sauce.
That night, we started watching an anime together, and then I began my next game: Dead Space. Which is AWESOME. Seriously, WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE how great it is. It's genuinely scary! You're walking around a spaceship dismembering alien monsters who often decline the offer to have freaky music announce their presence, so suddenly you're just being attacked and aaaaahhhh. And the gameplay keeps evolving so it doesn't get stale. And of course, you encounter new beasties as you go along. There's no HUD (instead, there are a lot of holograms), which lends an air of realism; also, the sound design is awesome. I'm only on Chapter 7 (of 10, I believe), but I'm excited about what crazy shit awaits me. I feel like I should post more about this game later, but I don't know how many people care.
Sunday was generally uneventful. My sister left for a four-day ski trip in New Mexico. I woke up at 1:30, having stayed up till almost 5 killing Necromorphs. We made a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up our photos, and I played some Rock Band. Amusingly, some black dude in a motorized wheelchair was entranced; he was the one guy who had never heard of Rock Band. He explained to his toddler daughter that you hit the colors to play the song. It was such a bizarre experience to encounter someone with no familiarity with the game, given how much of a Thing it is with my friends.
Now, it is Monday, and I just picked my mom up from physical therapy. She's walking with a cane now, but she's still trying to rest as much as possible. I do not know what the day will bring. Except cold: it's almost thirty degrees outside. What the hell, Texas?
I had a breakfast burrito (sadly, not reimbursed) by the gate and sat, waiting. As they began boarding, I saw someone who looked like..."Robin?"
It was, indeed, iridium. The hell? She was two rows behind me. We were on the same flight to Denver, though she would be continuing on to New Orleans while I went to Arlington. Our connecting flights were around the same time and not too far from each other, so we hung out a bit in the Denver airport. Running into people is like a hobby of mine.
My brother picked me up from DFW, and at home, the first order of business, of course, was to start playing Xbox. Friday's game was Mirror's Edge, which I beat around 4:00 A.M. It's pretty fun. You free run around and in the city, and the cutscenes make you feel like you're in an Esurance commercial. I feel like it could have been cooler than it was, though. There are a few good chase scenes, but mostly, you're doing the same sort of thing over and over. That thing is fun, though, so it's still enjoyable. The button layout is rather unusual: you spend almost the entire game using the top four buttons. LB (jump) gets more of a workout than it ever has, I think.
It was also the night of my little sister's birthday party, so when I arrived, there were all these random teenage girls in the house. When all but one left, we watched Baby Mama. Or rather, we tried to watch Baby Mama, but the burned DVD we got from our uncle quit half an hour in, so we drove to Walgreen's to rent it from Redbox to continue watching. It wasn't really worth the trouble, because it is not funny. Or good. I checked IMDb just now, and I seriously said out loud, "THANK GOD," when I confirmed that Tina Fey didn't write it because I was about to begin doubting her abilities.
Saturday was my little sister's birthday, and we spent it Marshalling it up at Sam's, gorging ourselves on samples, and getting a family picture taken at Wal-Mart. Then we three siblings headed off to the mall so my sister could return some of her gifts. My brother and I mercilessly mocked her for returning something and then, five minutes later, telling her friend how AMAZING it was and WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE how great it was and SHE WILL TREASURE IT FOR THE REST OF HER DAYS or whatever. On the way back, because my brother had proclaimed his love for chicken McNuggets, we stopped at McDonald's and got some. I hadn't had those things in years. And, man, they are still good. Especially with hot mustard and sweet and sour sauce.
That night, we started watching an anime together, and then I began my next game: Dead Space. Which is AWESOME. Seriously, WORDS CANNOT DESCRIBE how great it is. It's genuinely scary! You're walking around a spaceship dismembering alien monsters who often decline the offer to have freaky music announce their presence, so suddenly you're just being attacked and aaaaahhhh. And the gameplay keeps evolving so it doesn't get stale. And of course, you encounter new beasties as you go along. There's no HUD (instead, there are a lot of holograms), which lends an air of realism; also, the sound design is awesome. I'm only on Chapter 7 (of 10, I believe), but I'm excited about what crazy shit awaits me. I feel like I should post more about this game later, but I don't know how many people care.
Sunday was generally uneventful. My sister left for a four-day ski trip in New Mexico. I woke up at 1:30, having stayed up till almost 5 killing Necromorphs. We made a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up our photos, and I played some Rock Band. Amusingly, some black dude in a motorized wheelchair was entranced; he was the one guy who had never heard of Rock Band. He explained to his toddler daughter that you hit the colors to play the song. It was such a bizarre experience to encounter someone with no familiarity with the game, given how much of a Thing it is with my friends.
Now, it is Monday, and I just picked my mom up from physical therapy. She's walking with a cane now, but she's still trying to rest as much as possible. I do not know what the day will bring. Except cold: it's almost thirty degrees outside. What the hell, Texas?