I don’t usually discuss politics much, but this snippet was relevant to my interests:
Obama set the tone early on the trip, stepping on a basketball court before a cheering crowd of U.S. troops and calmly nailing a 3-point shot.
“As soon as he hit that 3-pointer, I knew it was going to be a bad week,” Republican consultant Joe Gaylord said.
Wow! That is actually pretty good, considering the amount of pressure he should have been feeling. I don’t even know why this situation came about, but I would like to see more of this from all presidential candidates.
Finally back in town, and had a great Thanksgiving. Here’s the lowdown:
- The travel thing wasn’t too bad. I was surprised how few people were at the airport, and suspect that the outrageous airfares had something to do with it. Barely any traffic on the roads as well.
- Turkey this year was awesome. Free range bird + day of marinating + cheesecloth covering + butter and sauce basting every 30 minutes = juicy and delicious. We somehow ended up with three pies that needed eating, yum.
- Not that many people were out on Black Friday. I got some clothes and grabbed some old PS2 games: Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, NBA Live 2k5, and Soul Caliber 2.
- The NBA game did not live up to expectations. Graphics were not nearly as good as I anticipated, although the voice work was excellent. Gave up after my brother and I got owned as the Houston Rockets against the Atlanta Hawks on Rookie setting. Although I enjoyed throwing it down as Yao Ming (and like a billion blocks, mwahahaha), any game that has Tony Delk exploding for over 30 points is not realistic. What the heck does the triangle button do on offense? It was supposed to be some super move, but all it ever did was cause your player to turn the ball over. The pain was eased by the fact that this game was free.
- Star Ocean seemed ok, but it was falsely advertised as a 1-2 player game. I was really hoping for beautified Tales of Destiny-type game, but the only part of Star Ocean that is 2-player is this unlockable arena. Battle system was too hard to really get into in just a few days. I was tickled that the main character learned to fight by playing video games all the time.
- Soul Caliber 2 was by far the best of the games purchased. I’d never played SC before, but I did play a lot of Tekken Tag Tournament, and I was pleased to find that they were somewhat similar. Discovered that Maxi was the SC equivalent of Eddie Gordo. I ended up practicing with Talim, since her style was the most similar to Ling Xiaoyu in TTT. At first I had some trouble against long-range opponents, but I still got pretty far in the strangely enjoyable Weapon Master Mode. Unlocked Talim’s Kaleido Star costume, woot.
- Played some more Final Fantasy X-2. Haha, that game is so silly. Laid the smackdown on Shinra in Sphere Break. Fear my math skillz, n00b!
- Played some basketball against my brother. He’s close to my height now, but he plays defense like a matador. The jumper felt good, but the basketball was mad worn.
- Went to the driving range. Haven’t hit a golf ball in years, but did alright with the irons. I was too scared to use the drivers, after an incident 3 years ago when I sent the head flying off of the shaft. At some point my dad got really good at driving, because he was hitting some really nice straight shots a very far distance. He was even headshotting trees that he aimed at. I think he must be using some kind of golf hack.
- Missed Grey’s Anatomy. This was the saddest part of the trip. I’m going to have to find the torrent or something now, since Bunky says it was a really good episode. I realized I loved this show when they accidentally set a woman’s heart on fire during surgery. That was hella sweet (don’t worry, she lived through it).
- Had quail for the first time. It sorta tasted like duck.
October was a super lazy month, and while the DC trip and my subsequent illness took me out half the month, I was just unmotivated the rest of the time. I started back on drawing again about a week or two ago, and yesterday I finally got back to the gym. I was planning to shoot a few jumpers then go jog since I wanted to ease back into the routine; unfortunately as soon as I set foot in the gym, I got roped into a 5-on-5 full court pickup game. These opportunities are rare, so against my better judgement I took it. I was super rusty and out of shape, and I think I finished the game 0-3, 2 boards, 2 A, 2 TO (you know, in the beginning of the game when you have no idea who is on your team). After just 30 minutes of suicide sprints, I was sucking wind and my calves were feeling tight, so I called it a night after the first game ended. Pretty pathetic, but I was pleased to get back to the gym. Plus, I didn’t die, which is always a good thing.
Speaking of basketball, the fantasy NBA season has started. My players did decently last night, but assists are going to be harder to come by than even I anticipated. I had dumped Chris Paul for Jason Terry as a backup PG, but in a double overtime game that Dallas ended up winning 111-108, Terry managed only 3 assists in 37 minutes. Darrell Armstrong managed almost twice as many (5) in less than half the time (14 minutes). WTF! Things get even worse when you realize my starting PG (Kirk Hinrich) is really a SG…
Meanwhile, it looks like the Sports Guy is in a celebrity draft. Should be interesting!
Blah, the oven broke down at the cottage (the stovetop thankfully still works), and there is a leak in the bathroom sink! It doesn’t look like it will get fixed any time soon, and I’m amazed at how tough life is without an oven. While I’m out of town for the holidays, Sydney’s going to have a petsitter. I really hope everything goes well with that, since I don’t want to come back to a cottage full of dead plants/fish/cat. I would also be happy if the petsitter didn’t loot the house. I haven’t met the sitter, but Bunky said she was nice and the only thing that Bunky detected that wasn’t good was that the petsitter smoked. Sydney seems to be in good spirits now, but over the weekend he got a slight tear in his scrotum where the incision was =’(. It seems to have healed now.
This week my fantasy NBA team sits atop the league with a 1.5 game lead. To heighten the suspense, I’m taking on Kungfucius’s team in a Sea Slugs! showdown to the DEATH. Actually it probably won’t be that exciting, since neither of us are likely to be in town for much of the week, and I don’t really plan on shuffling my lineup that much. Speaking of fantasy NBA, some poor fellow in the league completed a trade for Ron Artest right on the day that the league announced it was suspending Ron for the year due to his violent venture into the stands. That is some bad luck! Personally I think that the players were wrong for running into the stands, but at least that was understandable. But those Detroit fans… WTF! Buying a ticket does not give you a right to throw things. It’s bad enough some of the verbal garbage they spew, but throwing punches and beer cups is just too much. Fortunately, I don’t have any of the suspended players on my team, so by default I win. BTW, how much you want to bet Ron is secretly glad about this suspension so he can work on his *snicker* music career.
Elsewhere Online | Kabitzin 7/25/2008 | 
Comments (9) 
