Writer's Block: Gamer's Choice

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Ah, takes me back, to when I was living in my first one bedroom apartment with Beth. A few months after we moved in, her brother got a divorce, and being one of those guys who's never lived on his own ever, moved in with us. Beth and I shared the bedroom, Logan slept on the couch in the living room. We all got along fairly well, despite being so cramped. On Fridays, Logan would come home from work, stand in the doorway with a balled up paper in his hand and yell, "$20 bucks worth of video games if I miss!" and shoot for a basket to the trashcan in the kitchen. A distance of maybe 20 feet, but miss he usually did (maybe on purpose? ;) ), and off we'd head to the arcade at the miniature golf center in Fountain Valley, where he'd treat us all to tokens and we'd spend the evening playing games.

My favorites seemed to be spaceship games that involved flying around in a circle, often with enemies coming out from the center; the controls were often a spinning dial rather than a joystick. I loved Gyrus because the soundtrack started with Beethoven. Tempest was another favorite, although it was mostly black screen with brightly colored lines and moving shapes attached to them. Burgertime was ridiculous and fun, as was Dig-Dug (which I saw an ancient machine of the other day - maybe at the skating rink?). Beth was a Mistress of Frogger. She usually quit because she got bored; she could otherwise make one quarter last for hours, if she wanted. She was also the only person I ever saw get Dirk the Daring to the end of Dragon's Lair.

A late favorite of mine, probably discovered shortly before Logan discovered his new wife (I think he asked her to marry him on the second date), and therefore ending our arcade trips, was Sinistar. I loved it, but dreaded of hearing "Beware, I LIVE!" - it meant I wouldn't be playing too much longer.

When runsamuck and I got married, one of our wedding gifts from a friend of his was a Super Nintendo. Much used, but I would get irritated because he'd take it over to his friend Jerry's, where they'd play Dr. Mario for money and he'd wind up leaving it there. Unfortunately, we could never really justify upgrading it; and most games we have now are on the computer. I bought Final Fantasy (11? 12?) years ago and never installed it. I have too much music and photos and the hard drive just gets full too fast. Maybe when we next need to upgrade the DVD player, we'll get a combo gaming system.

Then again, we have too many distractions as it is. But I'd love to play Bioshock sometime, before it disappears - that one looks pretty cool.

Edit: How could I have forgotten? The game that got me thinking about this - triggered by an icon in a friend's journal (done in crossstitch and animated, no less)- Joust! I loved flapping those birds around. Those Gametap commercials I've been seeing lately make me nostalgic.

Writer's Block: Gamer's Choice

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Ah, takes me back, to when I was living in my first one bedroom apartment with Beth. A few months after we moved in, her brother got a divorce, and being one of those guys who's never lived on his own ever, moved in with us. Beth and I shared the bedroom, Logan slept on the couch in the living room. We all got along fairly well, despite being so cramped. On Fridays, Logan would come home from work, stand in the doorway with a balled up paper in his hand and yell, "$20 bucks worth of video games if I miss!" and shoot for a basket to the trashcan in the kitchen. A distance of maybe 20 feet, but miss he usually did (maybe on purpose? ;) ), and off we'd head to the arcade at the miniature golf center in Fountain Valley, where he'd treat us all to tokens and we'd spend the evening playing games.

My favorites seemed to be spaceship games that involved flying around in a circle, often with enemies coming out from the center; the controls were often a spinning dial rather than a joystick. I loved Gyrus because the soundtrack started with Beethoven. Tempest was another favorite, although it was mostly black screen with brightly colored lines and moving shapes attached to them. Burgertime was ridiculous and fun, as was Dig-Dug (which I saw an ancient machine of the other day - maybe at the skating rink?). Beth was a Mistress of Frogger. She usually quit because she got bored; she could otherwise make one quarter last for hours, if she wanted. She was also the only person I ever saw get Dirk the Daring to the end of Dragon's Lair.

A late favorite of mine, probably discovered shortly before Logan discovered his new wife (I think he asked her to marry him on the second date), and therefore ending our arcade trips, was Sinistar. I loved it, but dreaded of hearing "Beware, I LIVE!" - it meant I wouldn't be playing too much longer.

When runsamuck and I got married, one of our wedding gifts from a friend of his was a Super Nintendo. Much used, but I would get irritated because he'd take it over to his friend Jerry's, where they'd play Dr. Mario for money and he'd wind up leaving it there. Unfortunately, we could never really justify upgrading it; and most games we have now are on the computer. I bought Final Fantasy (11? 12?) years ago and never installed it. I have too much music and photos and the hard drive just gets full too fast. Maybe when we next need to upgrade the DVD player, we'll get a combo gaming system.

Then again, we have too many distractions as it is. But I'd love to play Bioshock sometime, before it disappears - that one looks pretty cool.

Edit: How could I have forgotten? The game that got me thinking about this - triggered by an icon in a friend's journal (done in crossstitch and animated, no less)- Joust! I loved flapping those birds around. Those Gametap commercials I've been seeing lately make me nostalgic.

(no subject)

Plum blossom
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
13 April 2009

( Last days for another tree... )

(no subject)

Plum blossom
Huntington Beach CA
Canon EOS 1000D
13 April 2009

( Last days for another tree... )

(no subject)

Tired. Seems like I've had one deadline after another lately. Not getting enough sleep. And it's my own fault. I read someone's feelings about procrastination recently (scroll down to Procrastination, or The Mobility Impaired Brain), which I really identified with - actually, I'd read it quite a while ago and only recently found it again. And I was probably continuing to procrastinate reading the damn thing. Anyway...

Sitting in the airport in San Francisco. My plane was supposed to leave in 20 minutes ago and has been delayed for another 40 - I'm going to LAX and a plane going to Dallas is still parked at the gate. I drank two $8 glasses of Merlot in an airport seafood place to celebrate being done with my bit of the Council meeting; I noticed on the menu there, the swordfish was going for the same price as a chicken breast was in the hotel. GODS, was that place pricey. I bought my breakfast in the gift shop (which was about a third the size of my bedroom), and at least the coffee in my room was decent.

I always wonder in airports. There's a family of five travelling somewhere, with their pile of carryons, and each kid seems to have their own Nintendo DS. My family could never afford to fly anywhere, and still, I really only travel by air for work. We've still never visited John's relatives in Michigan - although a large part of that is that, not only could we not afford without saving for a long while, John really doesn't have any desire to, not having been back there since leaving at 15.

............

Blah. I've been trying to get back to this post for a week; despite having several days off, I never accomplished anything more on it. Batteries on laptop went out and it was time to board the plane, finally. Somehow, I scored a first class seat, which was nice although not that much different. I got to drink my cranberry juice out of a glass cup instead of plastic, and my tray table was actually smaller. I suppose it would make more of a difference on a longer flight. Gareth was a little disappointed I didn't bring back pictures from the air, but I didn't have a window seat.

I was hoping I could get together with my old college roomie while at this meeting, but sadly, 'twas not to be. Ah well, maybe another time. The Council meets in Foster City, also in the Bay Area, in September, I think. She left me the best phone message, though. I'll have to save that one! Yes, I should return it.

(no subject)

Tired. Seems like I've had one deadline after another lately. Not getting enough sleep. And it's my own fault. I read someone's feelings about procrastination recently (scroll down to Procrastination, or The Mobility Impaired Brain), which I really identified with - actually, I'd read it quite a while ago and only recently found it again. And I was probably continuing to procrastinate reading the damn thing. Anyway...

Sitting in the airport in San Francisco. My plane was supposed to leave in 20 minutes ago and has been delayed for another 40 - I'm going to LAX and a plane going to Dallas is still parked at the gate. I drank two $8 glasses of Merlot in an airport seafood place to celebrate being done with my bit of the Council meeting; I noticed on the menu there, the swordfish was going for the same price as a chicken breast was in the hotel. GODS, was that place pricey. I bought my breakfast in the gift shop (which was about a third the size of my bedroom), and at least the coffee in my room was decent.

I always wonder in airports. There's a family of five travelling somewhere, with their pile of carryons, and each kid seems to have their own Nintendo DS. My family could never afford to fly anywhere, and still, I really only travel by air for work. We've still never visited John's relatives in Michigan - although a large part of that is that, not only could we not afford without saving for a long while, John really doesn't have any desire to, not having been back there since leaving at 15.

............

Blah. I've been trying to get back to this post for a week; despite having several days off, I never accomplished anything more on it. Batteries on laptop went out and it was time to board the plane, finally. Somehow, I scored a first class seat, which was nice although not that much different. I got to drink my cranberry juice out of a glass cup instead of plastic, and my tray table was actually smaller. I suppose it would make more of a difference on a longer flight. Gareth was a little disappointed I didn't bring back pictures from the air, but I didn't have a window seat.

I was hoping I could get together with my old college roomie while at this meeting, but sadly, 'twas not to be. Ah well, maybe another time. The Council meets in Foster City, also in the Bay Area, in September, I think. She left me the best phone message, though. I'll have to save that one! Yes, I should return it.