Eat, Sleep and Play Nintendo...Now, Skyrim, It's Your Turn!

Salve Omni!

I fear the worst!!! Well, it's not that bad, but bad in the sense that I bet it will become a brand-new distraction in my geek world. Last night, my husband, who is most often found playing Skyrim on one of our PCs, convinced me to give the game a try. And so, I did. I didn't mind, at all. I will often watch my husband play Skyrim, while I sit, marveling at the beauty of the landscapes and music. Despite my usual affinity for first person shooter video games and games that don't take me a series of days to conquer (very short attention span), I'll admit that I like the fact that Skyrim allows you to run around and explore its worlds, with a vast majority of options and adventures available.

I spent about forty minutes solely working on my character's facial features. I know, I know, forty minutes may be quite a long time to spend on this, but there are two things one must understand about me: 1) I work on things obsessively until I feel they are as perfect as possible (in other words, everything gets my 150%), 2) I like to look good! I admit it, I rarely leave the house without wearing makeup, and I get my hair professionally done at least monthly, so it's only natural that my Skyrim character is going to look good too! Does this make me any less of a geek girl? Heck No! If I am going to invest many hours of adventures in the lands of Skyrim, you bet I am going to create a character that I won't tire of quickly!

So, after forty minutes of "serious deliberation", and countless robotic, "that looks fine!", responses from my husband regarding what he thought of my eyeshadow and eyeliner choices for my character, my character was finally finished! I made her a Redguard (all my Redguards represent!), and yes, she is a badass warrior! Didn't get too far with the game play last night (okay, really it was 3 am), but tonight should be fun! I can see this game becoming really addictive, real soon!

For some strange reason, while scrolling through the many facial feature options and hairstyle and color choices, I kept humming a familiar, and extremely-unrelated tune:

"Da-da, da-da, da-da...da-da, da-da, da-da"

You are probably wondering what in the world I am referring to. No, I haven't been drinking! I am humming, my friends, the beginning of the underground music from the beloved Super Mario Bros. video games. Now, you can argue with me all you like, but this is intended to be my visual interpretation of the song! Not convinced? Let me provide you with some more visuals to set the scene: There is Mario, he jumps up on a pipe. There he goes, down the pipe, and goes underground! And then, the music starts:

"Da-da, da-da, da-da...da-da, da-da, da-da..."

Ah, it all becomes clearer now...doesn't it? I don't know why I started humming this very tune, as I haven't played any Super Mario Bros. video games in months...but I do know one thing - I was hungry...and I wanted cereal...and then, I started humming...and thinking...of a time long ago. (Harp music plays to indicate time travel)

Does anyone remember the Nintendo Cereal System? I do! I remember seeing the commercial for the breakfast cereal, which began with that familiar 8-bit tune I was just humming, and then running into the other room to make sure that my mom had that box of geeky goodness added to her next grocery list. One half of the cereal box contained shapes and characters from Super Mario Bros., while the other half of the box contained shapes and characters from The Legend of Zelda. Both video games were created for the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System). So awesome!!! Here I was, an avid NES gamer, and now, here was this cereal for fans of this gaming system! As a young girl, growing up, I was not considered very "cool" at all by my peers (although I thought I was). All of the gamers I knew at the time were boys. If a girl did play a little, it was because her brother owned a gaming system. Boys that I would play against often had the perception that I could and would easily lose because I was a girl and therefore could not be taken seriously. I just knew that I would be beyond "cool" and taken seriously if I ate that cereal!




I went with my mom to the store, and picked up a box. Now, back at home, I couldn't wait for breakfast the next morning...I just had to eat it!!! So, I did what any other 7-8 year-old would do...I opened the box and ate some anyway. The anticipation was like unwrapping a great Christmas present; you unwrap part of the wrapping paper to see the shape and can roughly guess what is inside, knowing that it is going to be incredibly awesome. And that is how I felt...by merely possessing that box, I felt as if I had truly validated my position as a NES gamer, and by eating the cereal, I would be associated with the other "cool" kids who enjoyed this very thing too.

From the time I unwrapped my NES one Christmas morning, I lived, breathed, and even dreamed Nintendo. I played every waking hour that I could, and even slept on Super Mario Bros. bedsheets! And there I was, holding the inaugural pieces of my new breakfast identity, in-hand. I lifted the cereal to my mouth, and, crunch! Okay, I can now admit that the Super Mario Bros. cereal didn't taste that great, but I will never forget this moment in the history of Trijan Maddux, either. My mom made me eat the rest of the cereal, despite my protests, before she would buy me something different, but by then, Dear Reader, I had learned a valuable lesson.

No matter how cool you think you are, you are nothing until your geeky passion has been immortalized in a breakfast cereal...and you can truly say that you eat it gladly...no matter how bad it tastes!!!

Now, if only they would develop a Skyrim cereal...which should only be eaten from a cast-iron pot!


　

　

 

Had a Rather Crappy Day? Here's a Couple of Stress Relievers that I Highly-Recommend!

Salve Omni!

I don't know about the rest of you, but lately, stress has been a permanent part of my daily routine. I have a motto..."When in doubt, consult your favorite things." Unless some of your "favorite things" include serial killing and maiming small neighborhood animals. NOT GOOD!

Most of the time, I will pop in a Britcom, sitcom or movie to lift my spirits, but there are those days when TV shows just won't do. In these extreme cases, I recommend, Ladies and Gentlemen, that you break out your gaming devices!!!!

Though I love my modern gaming systems, I also find it necessary to keep it old-school. Through childhood, and semi-adulthood, I have managed to hold on to my beloved Nintendo Entertainment System, which I still play regularly. One of my favorite forms of stress relief, is the game, Super Dodge Ball. Created by CSG Imagesoft, Inc. in 1989, and licensed by Nintendo of America, this old-school, 8-bit bundle-of-fun is awesome!

The object of the game -- you have a team and you select your players. You can play the following as a single player: world cup play (I highly recommend this one!!!) or bean ball. Or, you can play the following with two players: versus play, or bean ball (a free-for-all type of game). As you can tell from the bolded letters, the world cup play is the best option for stress relief. Your team plays dodge ball against eight rival teams from around the world. When you win a match, you travel to the next country to play the rival team on their turf, and so on, without losing a match, until you win the game. It's pretty cool to hear the 8-bit music and see the scenery change as you move from country to country (I will admit, some of the foreign team member's names do seem a little stereotypical). Oh, and when you, your teammate(s), and your opponent(s) run out of "life" (which is gauged by bars) from being hit too many times with the ball...you die!!! The first team to eliminate all of their rival teammates wins the match! It can be a bit frustrating, though; if you lose a match, there is no save function, so you have to start the entire game over from the very beginning. However, the game is straightforward and fairly easy to play, and it gives you a chance to really release your pent-up aggressions while feeling like a badass when you've killed everyone on the rival teams and won the world cup.






One suggestion...play the game, Super Dodge Ball while listening to tracks from the album, Super Dodge Ball: Around the World, which was written as a project by a group of OC Remix artists. I tend to mute out the original 8-bit music while playing through the world cup play, kicking butt while listening to tracks from this album. You can check it out at http://atw.ocremix.org/bios.php.

There is yet another gem that I play on my Xbox 360 (OK, it's technically my husband's Xbox 360, but what's his is mine!) I am referring to the 2011 Mortal Kombat videogame. This is the go-
to videogame for us here at home to play together. It is best to play the two-player versus, because you and your opponent get to choose a character (or the same character, if you're bold), and fight to the death. I usually rock at playing as my favorite character Jade (why, oh why was Tanya left out of this one?), but lately, I've been mixing it up a bit to keep it fresh...and hilarious! In my last post, I mentioned that robots give me the creeps. Well, they do! But for some strange reason, I find it funny, and creepy to play as the robot characters. My favorite robot character is Sektor. He is made of red metal, with little wire dreadlocks growing out of the back of his robot cranium. I think the creep factor is lessened here by the hilarity of his character. The way he talks and moves, especially his kicking style, is too funny. You will just have to play the game as Sektor to see what I am talking about. And make sure you've had a few glasses of wine too. I won't spoil the game for you, but this is a must-have in your gaming collection for stress relief! What is not awesome about this game? You get to fight others in a very gory and bloody survival of the fittest (or whoever's best at memorizing all of the different fight codes and fatalities). Once these are mastered, the possibilities are endless...depending on your choice of character, you can bite, stomp, rip the head off of your opponent, stab, throw fireballs, freeze...you name it! And it's all bloody good fun!

There are many more videogames that I like to play, but Super Dodge Ball and Mortal Kombat are what I recommend to get you through the worst of times. Both games take about 15 minutes maximum to complete a game or match, which make them both ideal to get in a "quick game" before or after work, or before going to that annoying social gathering where you know the lovely individuals who tend to get under your skin will be present.

My advice...for extreme cases of stress, play two rounds or more.