"Super Bowl 40" Weekend Writeup
For the first time since Thanksgiving 2004, Aaron and I had a Katamari-free visit. Which would be saddening if not for the fact that we more than made up for it by playing lots and lots of Metal Gear Solid. TOGETHER OMG. For over a year, Katamari was our new FFT, and these days, MGS is our new Katamari. It's the circle of life!
Speaking of lovable dorks, if you don't read anything else in this entry, read the part under Thursday about our Valentine's Day presents.
Thursday - To the Falc Cave!
Went in to work, finished up the bulletins and other end-of-week chores, then came home and departed for Indiana at 12:40. Called him from a rest area bout three hours later - it had started raining about five minutes before I called, and didn't stop until late that evening. Arrived just before 7 p.m.
About ten minutes into the visit, after I'd called my parents, and Aaron and I had unloaded my luggage and done a little flirting, we decided to go ahead and exchange Valentine's Day gifts.
We are complete and total dorks, and here is why:
From me to him:
- humorous greeting card that is totally spot-on
- Chun-Li figurine
- Sonic Heroes
- FF Crystal Chronicles (for the both of us, actually, but anyway)
From him to me:
- Meryl Silverburgh action figure
- Sniper Wolf action figure
- Saiyuki: Journey West (later in the weekend)
WE GIVE EACH OTHER ACTION FIGURES AND VIDEO GAMES FOR VALENTINE'S DAY
WE ARE BEYOND AWESOME HAHA
This tops even the year he bought me an FF9 wall scroll with Freya on it for Valentine's Day. AND he presented them underneath a cardboard box, and if I had been thinking, I would've cocked my head, kicked the box gently, said "It's just a box," and turned and walked away. It would've rocked.
The somewhat scary part is that, unbeknownst to him, I'd had those two action figures on my list of "stuff to look for at ACen," but was worried the boy might think I was a little strange. Better yet, I might go ahead and buy them at ACen anyway, because that way I can have one to play with and one to keep in its packaging. *dork*
Uh, we watched an episode of Dilbert with dinner, then we watched the bad ending of MGS: Twin Snakes together, and I showed him tuxedo-Snake and might've shown off in Boss Rush for him.
Friday - "It's from The Three Musketeers - the book, not the candy bar."
Up at the crack of dawn, sock-footed on wet pavement, to move my truck so he could get out of the garage, and greeted him by playing something on the DS. ^_^ I played with the VR training in the PSX version of MGS1 while he was at work (and discovered that, for that version, Meryl's frequency is also IN THE MANUAL).
When he got back, I kid you NOT, within moments of him pulling in the garage, the sun began to shine and the birds began to sing, I KID YOU NOT. *_*
I forget what we did then, but it wasn't long before we headed over to Panera for lunch with his mother.
The food was pretty good and the actual time together was relatively stress-free, but when we finally got back in the truck two hours after arrival, and after she'd gone back to her van, I began what was the start of about a full half hour of angry, frustrated, desperate sobbing. I don't want to talk about it.
Once that was past, Aaron and I headed out shopping - the used bookstore in Franklin, Wal-Mart (for groceries), Gamestop, and a quick stop at Aldi. Dinner was extremely tasty tuna pasta, from one of the cookbooks I gave him for Christmas 2004. As he was preparing it, my brother Jeff called, as is his custom, and chatted with us for a while. In this conversation was the revelation that the jacket I'd ordered for my Sniper Wolf costume had arrived already; now I wish I'd had it shipped to Falc's house so I could've tried the whole thing on at once. Could've done a snowfield photoshoot!
At some point - I believe it was before dinner, as I'm thinking I mentioned it to Jeff on the phone - we watched UHF, which was cracked out and exactly what we both needed. Hee.
As for the rest of the evening, I did a Twin Snakes boss rush, and then he played Twin Snakes while I started MGS2, each of us pausing when the other got to important cutscenes. I got far enough in MGS2 to say, "Okay, I have a couple of questions, starting with 'WTF???'" That should pretty much tell you where I got that day. :P
SO MUCH LOVE for Otacon. I have a desperate need to turn that line into an icon (and in fact have already started). [Edit: icon is now finished and can be found here.]
Saturday - "I don't know; do American attack brains count?"
Snow!
Came up with a few nifty ideas for our MGS1 cosplay - in addition to my little wolf plushie, I'm also going to carry a pack of Tic-Tacs or something as a stand-in for Pentazemin/Diazepam (even if no one else ever sees or gets it, the boy and I will know, so that's cool) - and Otacon-Falc is gonna carry Sniper Wolf's handkerchief so he does not get mauled.
More of our side-by-side MGS dorkage, and quesadillas for lunch. In the evening, we went shopping again - but on our way out the door, we were very aware that we'd had a lot of good quotes from the weekend we wanted to remember, so I stuffed an empty envelope in my purse and we were off.
I bought a pair of sweatpants at Goodwill, to butcher for my Sniper Wolf costume, and I measured them with a ten-dollar bill (American paper money is 6 1/4 inches wide). On the way to the checkout:
falcon815: Do you have money on you?
aquahaute: Yep, remember? I just measured the pants.
falcon815: ...That is so going on the quote-sheet.
A stop at Best Buy, where I didn't use the gift card I'd gotten for Christmas, then Gamestop, where he bought Saiyuki for me, and half-price bookstore, where notes left in books are funny (see his entry for details). We'd never have found that Shakespeare one if I hadn't said "Ooh, The Riverside Shakespeare, I have that, lemme show you what it's like," and, of the two copies on the shelf, happened to grab that fateful one.
My copy of the Riverside is nothing like THAT, let me assure you.
Then to Don Pablo's for dinner. We'd worn our Dork sweatshirts for the rest of the outing but wanted to look somewhat civilized for dinner, so we huddled near the truck to pull the sweatshirts off, revealing normal clothes underneath. Then, inside.
While we waited for our food, we starting writing things down on the envelope. The food was very good, but by the time we left, we were messy with the remains of our food - refried beans here, queso sauce there, smudge of guacamole here, dribbles of sopapilla glaze there. And a smudge of guacamole on the envelope, too, which I didn't realize till the next morning. Great amusement.
Sunday - "This moment of shameless pandering is brought to you by Indiana Wesleyan University."
Watched Much Ado About Nothing and ate quesadillas with Liss in the early afternoon, then more MGS, then a trip to the gas station, then pizza for dinner, topped with all the leftover quesadilla toppings from the weekend, which was cool.
Over dinner, and during the Super Bowl, which I ignored completely, we watched Shrek - the first time he'd seen it. That was great fun. And there was more boss rush/MGS2 to be had, yay.
At the beginning of the visit I'd shown him the wolf plushie I bought for my Sniper Wolf cosplay, and that plushie basically spent all weekend getting cuddled and petted and posed in the game room. He took some pictures of it posed on Shinji. It is very sweet.
Around 11:30, Aaron came down with a horrible headache, and watched as I played more of the Raiden part of MGS2. Uhhhh. I am totally awesome at sniping enemies from afar with the M9, but I want to hurt Raiden frequently. Every time I intended to save, I announced it by saying, "I'm going to call my annoying girlfriend on the Codec now." I called it a night after disposing of all six chunks of C4 - basically, I saved a fraction of a second into the 400-second countdown. I'll play it some more next time I see Aaron.
(I laughed so hard when I was in the Strut C dining area, exploring, and wandered into what turned out to be the women's bathroom - I wasn't free to explore the one in Twin Snakes, and when I got to the end of the room and it was nothing but stalls, I LAUGHED, because dude, it's the women's john! Then Stillman chewed me out later for having gone in there already. Victory! ^_^ )
Monday - "I'm okay... it's just that I'm happy. *sadface*"
Skimmed the MGS1 manual for a few minutes, and discovered a translation issue in a screenshot of the Ocelot battle. I mean Ocerot. Exactly.
Didn't leave until 3:30, but got home in exactly six hours - including a side detour into Marion to see Courtney (whom I missed seeing), an extended refueling, several minutes at rest areas, and a stop at McDonald's for a small Coke and a hot fudge sundae.
Upon my return I immediately encountered a dire lack of personal space and the overwhelming desire to escape.
Good times.
---
In addition to all the Gamestops ALREADY within ten miles of home, a new one is going in less than two miles away. :P
Speaking of lovable dorks, if you don't read anything else in this entry, read the part under Thursday about our Valentine's Day presents.
Thursday - To the Falc Cave!
Went in to work, finished up the bulletins and other end-of-week chores, then came home and departed for Indiana at 12:40. Called him from a rest area bout three hours later - it had started raining about five minutes before I called, and didn't stop until late that evening. Arrived just before 7 p.m.
About ten minutes into the visit, after I'd called my parents, and Aaron and I had unloaded my luggage and done a little flirting, we decided to go ahead and exchange Valentine's Day gifts.
We are complete and total dorks, and here is why:
From me to him:
- humorous greeting card that is totally spot-on
- Chun-Li figurine
- Sonic Heroes
- FF Crystal Chronicles (for the both of us, actually, but anyway)
From him to me:
- Meryl Silverburgh action figure
- Sniper Wolf action figure
- Saiyuki: Journey West (later in the weekend)
WE GIVE EACH OTHER ACTION FIGURES AND VIDEO GAMES FOR VALENTINE'S DAY
WE ARE BEYOND AWESOME HAHA
This tops even the year he bought me an FF9 wall scroll with Freya on it for Valentine's Day. AND he presented them underneath a cardboard box, and if I had been thinking, I would've cocked my head, kicked the box gently, said "It's just a box," and turned and walked away. It would've rocked.
The somewhat scary part is that, unbeknownst to him, I'd had those two action figures on my list of "stuff to look for at ACen," but was worried the boy might think I was a little strange. Better yet, I might go ahead and buy them at ACen anyway, because that way I can have one to play with and one to keep in its packaging. *dork*
Uh, we watched an episode of Dilbert with dinner, then we watched the bad ending of MGS: Twin Snakes together, and I showed him tuxedo-Snake and might've shown off in Boss Rush for him.
Friday - "It's from The Three Musketeers - the book, not the candy bar."
Up at the crack of dawn, sock-footed on wet pavement, to move my truck so he could get out of the garage, and greeted him by playing something on the DS. ^_^ I played with the VR training in the PSX version of MGS1 while he was at work (and discovered that, for that version, Meryl's frequency is also IN THE MANUAL).
When he got back, I kid you NOT, within moments of him pulling in the garage, the sun began to shine and the birds began to sing, I KID YOU NOT. *_*
I forget what we did then, but it wasn't long before we headed over to Panera for lunch with his mother.
The food was pretty good and the actual time together was relatively stress-free, but when we finally got back in the truck two hours after arrival, and after she'd gone back to her van, I began what was the start of about a full half hour of angry, frustrated, desperate sobbing. I don't want to talk about it.
Once that was past, Aaron and I headed out shopping - the used bookstore in Franklin, Wal-Mart (for groceries), Gamestop, and a quick stop at Aldi. Dinner was extremely tasty tuna pasta, from one of the cookbooks I gave him for Christmas 2004. As he was preparing it, my brother Jeff called, as is his custom, and chatted with us for a while. In this conversation was the revelation that the jacket I'd ordered for my Sniper Wolf costume had arrived already; now I wish I'd had it shipped to Falc's house so I could've tried the whole thing on at once. Could've done a snowfield photoshoot!
At some point - I believe it was before dinner, as I'm thinking I mentioned it to Jeff on the phone - we watched UHF, which was cracked out and exactly what we both needed. Hee.
As for the rest of the evening, I did a Twin Snakes boss rush, and then he played Twin Snakes while I started MGS2, each of us pausing when the other got to important cutscenes. I got far enough in MGS2 to say, "Okay, I have a couple of questions, starting with 'WTF???'" That should pretty much tell you where I got that day. :P
SO MUCH LOVE for Otacon. I have a desperate need to turn that line into an icon (and in fact have already started). [Edit: icon is now finished and can be found here.]
Saturday - "I don't know; do American attack brains count?"
Snow!
Came up with a few nifty ideas for our MGS1 cosplay - in addition to my little wolf plushie, I'm also going to carry a pack of Tic-Tacs or something as a stand-in for Pentazemin/Diazepam (even if no one else ever sees or gets it, the boy and I will know, so that's cool) - and Otacon-Falc is gonna carry Sniper Wolf's handkerchief so he does not get mauled.
More of our side-by-side MGS dorkage, and quesadillas for lunch. In the evening, we went shopping again - but on our way out the door, we were very aware that we'd had a lot of good quotes from the weekend we wanted to remember, so I stuffed an empty envelope in my purse and we were off.
I bought a pair of sweatpants at Goodwill, to butcher for my Sniper Wolf costume, and I measured them with a ten-dollar bill (American paper money is 6 1/4 inches wide). On the way to the checkout:
falcon815: Do you have money on you?
aquahaute: Yep, remember? I just measured the pants.
falcon815: ...That is so going on the quote-sheet.
A stop at Best Buy, where I didn't use the gift card I'd gotten for Christmas, then Gamestop, where he bought Saiyuki for me, and half-price bookstore, where notes left in books are funny (see his entry for details). We'd never have found that Shakespeare one if I hadn't said "Ooh, The Riverside Shakespeare, I have that, lemme show you what it's like," and, of the two copies on the shelf, happened to grab that fateful one.
My copy of the Riverside is nothing like THAT, let me assure you.
Then to Don Pablo's for dinner. We'd worn our Dork sweatshirts for the rest of the outing but wanted to look somewhat civilized for dinner, so we huddled near the truck to pull the sweatshirts off, revealing normal clothes underneath. Then, inside.
While we waited for our food, we starting writing things down on the envelope. The food was very good, but by the time we left, we were messy with the remains of our food - refried beans here, queso sauce there, smudge of guacamole here, dribbles of sopapilla glaze there. And a smudge of guacamole on the envelope, too, which I didn't realize till the next morning. Great amusement.
Sunday - "This moment of shameless pandering is brought to you by Indiana Wesleyan University."
Watched Much Ado About Nothing and ate quesadillas with Liss in the early afternoon, then more MGS, then a trip to the gas station, then pizza for dinner, topped with all the leftover quesadilla toppings from the weekend, which was cool.
Over dinner, and during the Super Bowl, which I ignored completely, we watched Shrek - the first time he'd seen it. That was great fun. And there was more boss rush/MGS2 to be had, yay.
At the beginning of the visit I'd shown him the wolf plushie I bought for my Sniper Wolf cosplay, and that plushie basically spent all weekend getting cuddled and petted and posed in the game room. He took some pictures of it posed on Shinji. It is very sweet.
Around 11:30, Aaron came down with a horrible headache, and watched as I played more of the Raiden part of MGS2. Uhhhh. I am totally awesome at sniping enemies from afar with the M9, but I want to hurt Raiden frequently. Every time I intended to save, I announced it by saying, "I'm going to call my annoying girlfriend on the Codec now." I called it a night after disposing of all six chunks of C4 - basically, I saved a fraction of a second into the 400-second countdown. I'll play it some more next time I see Aaron.
(I laughed so hard when I was in the Strut C dining area, exploring, and wandered into what turned out to be the women's bathroom - I wasn't free to explore the one in Twin Snakes, and when I got to the end of the room and it was nothing but stalls, I LAUGHED, because dude, it's the women's john! Then Stillman chewed me out later for having gone in there already. Victory! ^_^ )
Monday - "I'm okay... it's just that I'm happy. *sadface*"
Skimmed the MGS1 manual for a few minutes, and discovered a translation issue in a screenshot of the Ocelot battle. I mean Ocerot. Exactly.
Didn't leave until 3:30, but got home in exactly six hours - including a side detour into Marion to see Courtney (whom I missed seeing), an extended refueling, several minutes at rest areas, and a stop at McDonald's for a small Coke and a hot fudge sundae.
Upon my return I immediately encountered a dire lack of personal space and the overwhelming desire to escape.
Good times.
---
In addition to all the Gamestops ALREADY within ten miles of home, a new one is going in less than two miles away. :P