Uneventful Monday

Nothing of note happened today. Work was okay. My Lean Cuisine pizza for lunch was disappointing.

We did our third day of the week for C25K at the mall. Neither of us wanted to, but we did it anyway. Like the horrible traffic and the slow pedestrians on their cell phones, the increase in mall activity was a reminder that school is back in session.

I’m glad we got the walk in though. It means all fitness goals have been met this past week.

Made a pit stop at the library and then to get gas before heading home. We were both exhausted, so no geocaching. I killed some zombies when we got home and am trying to get the energy to do 20 minutes of housecleaning. I want to make it a daily habit to combat my laziness. But the heat in our apartment makes most things harder to deal with.

The only other thing of note is that we changed our weekend plans and will not be doing our juice fast. If we did, it would mean more time in this stuffy apartment. Plus, we’d rather go out and do things than fast, so that’s the plan. Not sure what we’re going to do, but we’ll find something.

On that note, maybe it’s time to give the AC another chance.

A.

Goals, Cemeteries, and Zombies

Today was a good day.

We slept in a little bit but were out of the house by 10, which was later than we wanted to be out, but it was still early enough to accomplish something. Our first stop was the Wamego rec field to walk our second day of C25K.  When we’d originally planned to do this, we thought we’d be up before it got too hot. It didn’t work out that way, so this walk was tougher than it might have been had we gone back to the mall.  As hard as it was, we still finished, though the urge to just go home after that was pretty strong.  Right now, we’re just picking up the walking pace. It’s going to be killer if we ever graduate to running.

Along the way, we found one of the geocaches we hadn’t been able to find previously, so that was pretty awesome. While I’m working up to doing the whole 30 minute set without breaking, I’m not quite there yet, so stopping to search was a nice break.

We decided to go ahead and hit some more geocaches in the area before heading into Manhattan. Today was a day for cemeteries, including one called the Vieux Family Cemetery.  The area was interesting and a little creepy, not because of the graveyard, but because of the hidden shelter through the trees.

Go ahead…go in. I dare you.

The graveyard was beautiful but sad.  The history there was amazing, but the graves were mostly for children who didn’t live much past the age of one, if that. There were also several that were marked “unknown.” Not sure if it was that fact or if the place just held a sad energy, but it made me cry, so we didn’t linger too long.

 

A little further up the road, we found another one. It was another one of the tiny ones, which crack me up at how cute they are.

We drove all over the place and got lost in some sketchy back roads, but we found five caches today. In the last cemetery, we even saw some wildlife: a snake and a ginormous rabbit, as well as some lizards running around on the road. The creepiest wildlife we saw, however, was the giant fuzzy caterpillars all over the road.

Later on, we took another video of a cache are we found a few weeks ago. Warning: spoilers.

We finally decided to head into Manhattan to grab a late lunch at Cox Bros BBQ. I was craving a BBQ Brisket sandwich.  While there, we signed up for their customer card and got a free jar of hot sauce and some free mac and cheese. We also got a picture of two raccoons paddling a canoe, which is pretty adorable and only slightly disturbing.

 

After that, we went to Game Hounds to put up another Tengaicon flyer. While there, Jon bought me Dead Island: Riptide. I’ve been talking about renting it, but since we gave up our GameFly account, I would have had to rent it and commit some time to finishing it. This way, we can actually play it at our leisure, and since we bought it used, it was way less than paying full price for a brand new copy.

Our last stop was the gym. This was a double workout day because we set dual fitness goals: the first was to train for a 5K by finishing the Couch to 5K program, and the second was to make it to the gym at least three times a week in order to evaluate if we were going to keep our memberships or not. We ended up taking a couple rest days this week (fyi, our week is from Tuesday to Monday to compensate for the “rest” we took the Monday back from Gen Con), so in order to fit all our goals in, we doubled up today. It wasn’t so bad. We managed to fit in another 20 minutes of cardio, and I started watching The Missing on Netflix.

Once we got home, I played some DI:R, then uploaded pictures and organized things out of my Dropbox. I have yet to shower, so I think that’s next on the list. Then it’ll be either more video games or maybe some reading and an early night to bed. Plans for tomorrow include going to buy new shoes (walking and possibly another pair for hiking), laundry, and the gym to get our third day in for the week.  Since we’ll be in Topeka, we’ll probably hit up some geocaches there.

Maybe bed is needed, because I think I’ve planned another full day for tomorrow.

A.

 

Zombie Gaming

Last weekend we had a zombie themed game day with friends.

We started the afternoon out with a new game our friends picked up.

I’m sure a board game can effectively prepare us for the zombie apocalypse

The game is timed and only goes so many rounds, but there are ways to make it different each time you play, namely by choosing different characters, playing with a different number of people, and flipping the board pieces for different locations.

Setting up the survivors…

…and bringing in the zombies!

 

There are no writing on the cards or characters other than the names. It’s all conveyed with the use of symbols so it can be played across different languages.

Second, we played Zombie Munchkin. Munchkin in general has become a staple of our gaming sessions, but the Zombie one is a little bit different because you play as the zombies trying to fight the humans. I wasn’t completely sold on it at first, but now I love it. 

We finished off the night with some Left 4 Dead on the Xbox, and by “we,” I mean J. Felbs and Tony O. Originally we planned on a four person game, but then we found out that L4D doesn’t allow for four players. Which is all good, because after watching the first few minutes of the game, I realized that it wasn’t a game for me (I’m really slow and not accurate when it comes to first person shooters). But watching was fun, and I chilled with C and played some MtG instead.

Another successful gaming night in the books!

Video Game Rage

Last night, I threw a temper tantrum over a video game.

The only reason I’m admitting to this is because I’ve witnessed other people havethese tantrums, and I always wondered why they got so upset. It’s just a game, right?

Friends, I now know your pain. The power of the game is strong, and as the kids are saying these days, I completely just lost my s***.

For the past week I’ve been playing American McGee’s Alice: Madness Returns, and I’ve really been enjoying it.  It’s been challenging but not so much so that I can’t figure certain things out after a few tries. I like exploratory games but I like combat too, and this game has both. It’s been awesome.

Then I got to the Colossal Ruin, an enemy who proceeded to own my face at least 50 times.*  He shoots things from a cannon, he grabs Alice and chomps on her head (mmm…tasty tasty Alice), and he creates showers of burning things. You have to hit his weird baby faces and all I have to do that with is a Pepper Grinder.** My controls never seem to work, so even when I try to flee/dodge from him, I end up going all over the place and he still grabs me. To be fair, that’s probably on me. I’m not really the best video gamer in the world and my fingers don’t always do what I think they should on the controller.

I’m fine with challenges, I really am. I don’t mind having to take a few tries to defeat harder enemies because I like the learning curve. But in this case, I can’t find the learning curve and it’s frustrating because this one encounter…in Chapter freakin’ 2…feels a hundred times more difficult than anything I’ve done so far.

I should of just stopped playing and waited until I was less tired and less frustrated, but instead I played to the point of being so mad that not only did I cry, but I screamed at my poor husband, I kicked something, and I took the trash out and put laundry away (that’s probably a bonus of a temper tantrum…domestic stuff gets done). I did not vomit pea soup, but I think I may have come close.

While the game itself was frustrating, it wasn’t just the game. It was the reminder that I had just been wasting time when I have things I really need to get done, like packing for our move or cleaning or finishing my knitting projects. And since I hadn’t made any progress in the game, I felt like I pretty much hadn’t made any progress at life either.

I’m still angry at the game, not going to lie, so I’ve laid down some ground rules for myself if and when I decide to try it again.

1. I’ll play when J. Felbs isn’t home so he doesn’t have to deal with my meltdown.

2. I’ll limit myself to a half hour of play time if I’m stuck and an hour if I’m making progress (I realize this is harder than it sounds, but I’ve done it in the past and I can do it again).

3. I will not let my ability to beat a game enemy reflect on my own self worth.

Beyond that, I think I just need to start getting myself together again. I need to get some cleaning done every day, I need to get back to the gym, and I need to start limiting video games and computer time because they are a complete time suck.

I feel dumb for throwing a fit, but I know I’m not the only one to ever have done so, so I’m going to suck it up and move on. Tonight I’m going to read and knit and watch some Supernatural on Netflix. Eventually I’ll be back to normal and ready to keep calm and game on.***

 

 

*That may or may not be an exaggeration. It felt like 50 times but it was probably only 10. That doesn’t lessen the frustration level, though.

**I keep reading about a Teapot Cannon, but I don’t have that weapon. This makes me sad, unless it’s a weapon you get if you play a harder game. I’ll admit it, I’m just sticking to easy mode right now.

***Ha! That’s such a cheap meme shot, but I’m glad I got to use it anyway.

Speaking Out With My Geek Out

Today, I’m proud of being a geek.

I tend to be kind of a random person, but there’s actually a backstory to this post.  Speak Out With Your Geek Out is a week long showing of pride for all the geeks, nerds, gamers, etc. out there. It was in response to an article that put down the premise of geekery and one geek in particular, but it’s also a shout out from geeks all over the world to express why we’re proud to be part of this group.

I’ve been a geek all my life. I started reading at an early age and have a compulsion to have 5 or 6 books with me if I’m going on a trip to make sure I don’t run out of reading material (the e-reader has been the best thing ever since I no longer have to carry actual books with me).  I also started writing when I was young, and throughout grade school I was the “smart girl.”

I took a little time away from my geeky roots during high school and college. Even though I still read and wrote, I gave up good grades for a social life. Was it the right thing to do? Maybe, maybe not. That’s probably a topic for another time. After that phase, I settled down and got into knitting. Knitting itself might not be considered nerdy, but I’ve known quite a few people who’ve lumped it together with general geekery.  I also started online role playing, where I met my husband. He was the one that  brought me into full blown nerdism.

Besides the above mentioned activities, over the past few years I’ve upped my geek cred in the following ways:

1. Started playing Dungeons and Dragons and eventually ran my own game. This led to collecting dice, getting excited over mini figs, and getting emotional over a Bag of Holding from ThinkGeek.com.

2. Played other tabletop RPGs, like Scion, Gamma World, and some other systems that I dabbled in.

3. Got back into videogames after a long hiatus after the days of the original Tetris and Super Mario Bros. My current favorites are anything from the horror genre, the Fable games, and Lego games. I’m not a first person shooter type of person, but if I can explore and break stuff, I’m diggin’ it.

4.  Went to GenCon twice and loved it!

5.  Started playing a bit of Magic: The Gathering with Felberoni. I usually lose, and I’m not ready to join up with any drafts, but it’s fun when we play at home.

6. Have “fan-girled” out on Doctor Who, The Guild, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog.

7. Whenever I watch or listen to the soundtrack to Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, I totally sing along.

Some would argue that enjoying some of these things wouldn’t necessarily make one a “geek,” but I think the combination is enough to qualify. Some might even make it sound like a bad thing, but I embrace my geekiness with pride. It’s fun! I’ve met some great people through these interests and I’ve had a lot of good experiences.  I see no shame in waving the geek flag proudly.

Being a geek isn’t for everyone, but if I’m going to subscribe to a label, I’ll proudly wear this one.

A.

 

No Labor Here

Today, I wasted the day playing Fable III.

Let me start off by saying that I did have options of  BBQs and hang outs and what nots, but Felber was working on homework and I just wasn’t feel social. Part of that was a headache and part of it was the blah feeling I get the day before heading back into the work week.

I had the best intentions of doing stuff at first, like cleaning or overtime, going to the gym, maybe baking something. It never panned out. Turns out that video games will suck time away faster than anything. I started playing Fable III on a whim around 10:30 this morning and didn’t stop until 7:30 this evening.

If you’re not familiar with the Fable games, it’s sort of a choose your own adventure video game in which you can decide to be good or evil. I think the outcome ends up being the same, but you get to the endpoint in different ways. In all three games, I’ve been good for the most part, except for the stealing, but it’s stealing pies from empty houses and selling them later or using them for sustenance while I fight. So completely justified!

I started this game a few months back then got out of it. Recently my BIL was playing it, and interest was renewed. Today just seemed like a good day to play.

I finished the game, at least. Even going the “good” route, you kind of get screwed because come to find out, you should have been evil in order to save more people. It made no sense.  The ending was fairly anticlimactic, and though I tried to go back and find some of the special items (keys, gnomes, treasure chests), it just isn’t the same once the game is over.  So I finally turned it off.

To at least make an effort to accomplish something, I tried to do some overtime work, but there were circumstances that kept me from doing that too. At least that one wasn’t my fault.

My addictive personality is usually kept under control, but once in awhile I let it have free reign. I suppose if there was a day to NOT worry about laboring, it’s Labor Day. And maybe I needed the break, because tomorrow is the first day of the week and I need to be ready to work my tail off again.

A.