Reggie Blogged

It's been nearly a year since I moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia. My father asked me some time ago, if it really sank in that I lived in VA Beach. At the time, I told him no and he responded by telling me that it could take a while before I fully adjust to living here. Even after being here for almost a year, I'm a little surprised that I'm still not 100% used to where I live. The first time I moved I was too young to really remember. I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and my family moved to Dayton, Ohio a year or so after I was born. So despite being born in Cleveland, Dayton has always felt like my true home. I really like VA Beach, but since this was my second out of state move and with me now being much older for it to impact me, I'm not completely sure how to deal with some of these feelings. When I'm not busy working, I get plenty of time to stop and think and it often hits me "Wow, I'm really living my life somewhere other than Dayton." I've...

It's been nearly 3 months since I made a post on this blog. Part of the reason for not writing anything here is that I've been busy writing on my gaming blog. The other reason is that I've been struggling with what I should write here. When I started this blog back in March of 2008, it was primarily a comic-based blog, but since my interest in the medium had decreased so much, there hasn't been a great deal for me to talk about on that front. For a while, the blog did see a lot of activity regarding non-comic based posts before I made my move to Virginia Beach. But  now, well, as I said, it's been a sizable gap since the last post. I'm not entirely sure what I should dedicate this blog to.  I think my father and sister have far more interesting things to blog about in their lives than I do. That's not to say I think my life is dull. Far from it. I guess it's just easier to write about gaming because I'm so passionate about it. I do still keep ...

I don't usually like to make a big deal of my birthday but people tend to make some birthdays more special than others. 13 is a magic number but 16 is seemingly even more important, but not as much as 18, which marks you as an adult while 21 let's (legally) you drink and partake of the wonderful joys of hangovers (never been one to do that). So what does 30 get you? Well I really don't know, but lots of folks view it as a sign of  that you're really getting old. But from everything I've seen and heard, 30 is the new 16. I mean, I don't particularly look or even feel that much older. Most people are surprised when I tell them my age. While I don't mind getting older (too much) it does serve as a reminder that our time on this Earth is limited. That makes me stop and think about what I've done with my life. I don't have any major, grand scale achievements to my resume, but when I think back on my 20s, I did do two pretty important things. One was m...

Like most people, I've always been a fan of Mickey Mouse. He's one of the few cartoon characters that's achieved the same iconic status as Bugs Bunny. I'm most familiar with Mickey's animated exploits, having never read any of the Mickey Mouse comics. When I saw Mickey Mouse: Race to Death Valley, I just knew it would be something I'd want to pick up.  Despite the title, Race to Death Valley packs numerous Mickey Mouse comic strip stories from the early 1930s. There's also some nifty bonus content including some very kind, lengthy words from Mickey fanatic Warren Spector of Epic Mickey fame. I've only thumbed through it so far, but this is looking like one very impressive book. This book marks the first time Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse strips have ever really been collected. With nearly 300 pages it may take me a while to read through this hardcover. The side of this one actually says "Volume 1." If that's an indication that there...

Yeah, I'm still buying DVDs when Blu-Ray is all the rage. You wanna make something of it? I digress. While I usually stick to games for my entertainment, like anyone else, I enjoy a good flick or animated series. As I've said before, my interest in comics has waned considerably and continues to do so. Amazing Spider-Man continues to be an unfunny Joke, the changes and constant renumbering/relaunching of Ultimate Spider-Man are aggravating, and with DC's we're-not-calling-it-a-reboot-but-it-really-is-a-reboot-of-nearly-the-whole-DC-comics-brand announcement last week , it's that much easier to stick to animation when I want to get my super hero fix. I was a huge fan of Grant Morrison's 12 issue run of All-Star Superman. The blend of retro elements from past Superman stories with more modern material made for one of my favorite stories I've ever read about big blue. The animated film version was written by Dwayne McDuffie, a huge contributor to the DCAU...

It was one of those rare instances where nearly everyone in the family had Saturday off (Charles unfortunately had to work). I had originally planned to stay home and game all day but changes my plans because hey, who knows when we'll all be fortunate enough to have the same day off work. Instead of going to the main Virginia Beach, we went to a beach that was about 15 minutes away from the house. It was my first time being to this particular beach and the first time I'd been to a beach that had way more than a handful of people. Kids and adults were having fun in the water, people were fishing, riding jet skis, ya you know, all the good fun activities you can do when you're that close to the ocean. As always, the beach, no matter which one it is always impresses me. The view was phenomenal, the ocean crashing against the shore, the sound of the waves, the smell of the water, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I watched my nieces and nephew play around i...

On Tuesday, May 24th, we had a brief but nasty thunderstorm here in VA Beach a little bit after 4 PM. The winds were so strong that I feared rocks or even tree branches might have flown through the windows. My mom was on her way home in the middle of the mess but she made hit back safely, save for being drenched. My sister was out with her kids and she made unscathed. Same with my father. I was getting ready for work when the storm came. The power kept flicking on and off when around 4:30, it was finally knocked out for a good, long while. It wasn't just my neighborhood that was without power. A good chunk of VA Beach was without electricity. There wasn't much to do at my job because the back up lights don't give you much to see and there's only so much you can do when your power is down. I was at work for about 2 hours then was sent home. The power gradually came back in different places. Streets lights were also off in certain intersections. Combine that with many...