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Showing posts from January, 2011

Watch Your Mouth

I'm not one to spout profanity and those that do, that's perfectly within your first amendment rights. However, I do believe in being careful with what you say around children and this is something I'm always being reminded of by Ava and Nakiah, my two nieces. Again, I don't swear but there have been some words I've had to practice not saying while I'm around them. They haven't given me the full list (yet), but thus far, I've found that no one in the house is allowed to say the following. Kill Dead Death Die Dying Died Crud Yes, as silly as it may sound I'm not allowed to use the word "crud," which is actually one of my favorite words. Every time anyone in the household says the above words, we'll immediately get corrected for it. "You're not allowed to say that," Ava will tell us and we'll apologize. Being a gamer and death being a large part of gaming, I've had to replace my usual words of dyin

I Still Like to Read Books

No matter how far the internet has progress and despite all it has given us, I firmly believe there will always be a place for printed materials. I spend a great deal of time reading articles on my PC and as much as I love it, there's nothing like having a book or magazine in your hands. The feel of the pages, being able to take the book anywhere you want (I don't have a laptop yet), laying on the sofa, reading to your own music, it's all very relaxing. Before the boom of the internet, and even after, one of my favorite things to read were video game magazines. I took them to school, to work, just about everywhere. I think the last time I had a subscription to a game magazine was when I moved into my first apartment. For whatever reason I didn't re-subscribe, but I still picked up magazines off the news stands and flipped through them. It wasn't until a few weeks ago when I saw a copy of Retro Gamer (a magazine I never thought I'd actually hold in my hands) that

They Grow 'em BIG in VA Beach

My father and sister told me up here in Virginia Beach, the bugs can get pretty big. During the month's long time I've been here, I've seen more roaches than I'd like and most of them seemed about the same size as the ones I had seen in Ohio. No big deal, right? That all changed this evening. It wasn't until I was about to go upstairs that I saw just how big the bugs here can get. At first I thought it may have been one of my nieces' toy bugs. However, as I reached my hand towards it, the thing actually moved. The thing was alive and that sucker was HUGE! I'm not exaggerating when I say he was a big as my thumb. I dubbed it the Roach King. Never in my life have I seen a roach, no, a bug so big! I ran for the bug spray and let him have it. I sprayed that sucker multiple times to make sure he died. You know, now that I think about it, the roach could have been a female. Not that it hardly matters. I'm an equally opportunity bug killer. Unless that roach is

Toy Nostalgia

For a while now, I'd been thinking about getting reacquainted with some of the old toys I grew up with. What clinched it was when my brother-in-law Charles brought home a ton of cars for my nieces to play with. I think most of the cars were of the Hot Wheels brand, but there were also some from Matchbox. There isn't a single guy I know that has not played with cars at some point when they were children. As I watched my nieces play and look at the cars, I was reminded of how much fun I had when I was a kid playing with cars. It made me recall the famous Hot Wheels track Criss Cross Crash track. It also got me thinking of another brand of toy car I loved. These weren't as popular as Hot Wheels, but I always thought they were still awesome in their own right. Remember the Turbo Tricksters ? Pull 'em back and watch 'em speed off, or pop a penny in the back and watch 'em do tricks. I even have fond memories of sneaking those things into school to show off to my frie

Movies I Haven't Seen

A few of my friends always respond in visual and verbal shock when I tell them I've never seen a film that practically everyone else living already has . I love movies, but I'll freely admit that I've always leaned more towards animation for my graphical entertainment that doesn't involve me holding a controller. So for no one's amusement but my own, here's a list of movies I've never seen. From old to modern day stuff. *Deep breath* Right Stuff King Kong Casablanca Pulp Fiction Fight Club Troy Sin City Iron Man 2 Scarface The Godfather Trilogy Cliffhanger Gone with the Wind When Harry Met Sally Up Lilo and Stich Full Metal Jacket Bonnie and Clyde Bride of Frankenstein Ferris Bueller's Day Off It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World Reservoir Dogs Citizen Kane Rent Drunken Master II Avatar Braveheart The Fly The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly The Warriors Goodfellas Fantasia Unforgiven Dirty Harry (all the movies) Old Dogs The Blind Side The Great Debaters Seve

Back to My Own PC

Over the last few weeks, I've been accessing the internet through my sister's and father's computers. I'd like to once again thank them both for letting me use them. They've got fine-working PCs. Really, though, there's nothing like having your own computer to use. Kinda like that old saying. How does it go? Oh, yeah. "There's no place like home."

Portobal Music Players FTW

Once again I am late to the party. While just about everyone else I know has had a portable music player in some form or another (iPod, iPhone, etc.) for years, I wasn't able to get in on the act until a few weeks ago. My mom, sweet lady that she is, let me pick out any on-the-go music device of my choosing. Originally, I had my heart set on an iPod. I'd wanted one for a few years now but when I went looking online for prices on how much green a meatier iPod would cost (80-120 GB), I had no intention of having my mom spend $250-$300 on little ol' me. Looking for an alternative, I settled for the Philips GoGear ViBE 4GB MP3 Player. Let me just say that going out walking while I hear the music of my choice is AWESOME! Seriously. I know it may sound like I'm overreacting over a simple thing as an mp3 player, but as a huge music lover, being able to hear what I want, when I want is a Godsend. I don't know how I got by without one of these babies. I can exercise to Yuzo

New Guy In Town

I've been living in Virginia Beach for two weeks now, and yet it still feels a little strange. I suppose it takes some time to fully adjust when you've lived in one place for most of your life and then you move somewhere else. I'm not sweating it too much. I might not look like it, but I'm a fighter so I'll survive. Thankfully, the part of VA Beach that I'm staying in is really nice. The neighborhood is quiet, clean, and a lot of good stores are within walking distance. Speaking of walking, one of the first things I did during my first week here was take a walk around town during the noon/evening hours. I still had a lot going through my head and I wanted to familiarize myself with the town. After a few days at it, I was finally able to get back to my apartment without getting lost. Yaay, me. The weather here is really nice. Yeah, it does get cold but not as cold as Ohio. Also, the spring weather shows up real early here. Today, it got up to near 60, something I