Back in NE and game action.

Well, I got back from AZ late Friday night. On Friday before I got on the plane, I went with Cosmo, Wanda, Clark, and Gwen to see a place called the Mystery Castle. It wasn't a medieval European castle, but it was an interesting house with some fascinating rooms, antiques from the early 20th century, lots of cat-related stuff (like rocks with cat pictures painted on them), and some entertaining tour guides. I took some exterior pictures of the views around the outside and a shot of the castle from the parking lot.

On Saturday, I learned that Harry got a PS2 (he got a slimmer version than mine) and some games, including "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance." He brought that game over with a new memory card and we played it. Most of the time, I played as Spider-Man and he played as Captain America. We fought many enemies together in the game: the Scorpion, A.I.M. agents, Atlanteans, evil Super-Soldier giants (they looked like Bane from the Batman comics), Bullseye, Mysterio, Radioactive Man (not the Simpsons' comic book character), the Crimson Dynamo, and even Fing Fang Foom. Bullseye gave us the most trouble, but that was due to us losing two computer teammates before our first meeting with him. Foom was also a tough foe--a huge fire-breathing dragon with a swipe capable of knocking several people aside. Fortunately, Harry and I figured out how to use a cannon on the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to shoot at the dragon while he was airborne. I also found a spot I could stand on as Wolverine (the character I used whenever Spidey was out of the action) and swipe at Foom when he was sitting on the deck of the carrier without him being able to hit me with his claws or fiery breath. As Spider-Man, I mostly just pounded on enemies with my feet or fists. Occasionally, I was able to web an opponent up in a bag and punch them out. Harry got good at throwing Captain America's shield around rooms to knock out enemies and also used Iron Man to blast some enemies as well. Needless to say, we had a great time....

Three Days in AZ.

Well, today is the third day of my Arizona vacation. The first day started out fine, but I got seriously ill after eating a chili dog for lunch at a drive-in fast-food place. I don't want to give too many details, but it felt like everything inside me was trying to escape using both ends.

The second day, I was in better health, other than some sinus pressure. We went to a huge mall, and Clark and I checked some stuff out. We also did some shopping later on and got some ice cream. I did some reading and took things easy after that.

Today, we went hiking on the Camelback Mountains (?). To my disappointment, most of our group didn't go all the way to the top. Clark and I persevered, and I took about half a dozen pics of the views from the peak we reached an hour after we had started. It only took us about 26 minutes or so to get down to where the rest of our group was waiting. I went through a bottle and a half of bottled water and probably got sunburned on the back of my neck, but it was worth it for the views and pictures I got. I'll try to get one scanned for this blog after I get the film developed. I saw about half to two-thirds of Son of the Mask on a cable station I don't get back home. The movie was better than I thought it would be, but it was a bit disturbing at times. Later, I ate out at a fancy steak place with Cosmo, Wanda, Clark, Clark's roommate, Diana, Timmy, Trixie, and Gwen. I had some chicken strips (I can't eat steak due to my orthodontia), but I was too tired to eat all of them.

What a weekend!

Well, this was quite a weekend. I caught a fly for Peter Saturday morning. It was crawling right outside the door, so I scooped it up and dumped it into Peter's jar. Saturday afternoon, I went out with Harry and saw Casino Royale. To my surprise and delight, they showed the new Spider-Man 3 trailer before the movie. Later that day, Harry, Liz, and I ate at the nearby mall, then we went to see Happy Feet. I didn't enjoy it as much as Casino Royale, but it was more cheerful.

Today, I played my bowling game ("Strike Force Bowling") while waiting to hear from my folks. I played eight games: three in the castle, three on the Moon, one in Japan (or China?), and one in Egypt. The eighth game (the third game on the Moon alley) I played a perfect game. I scored 300--12 strikes in a row. I took several pictures of the score, including this one:

What made this even more amazing was that I only scored 171 in the seventh game (the third game at the castle alley). I left it up on the screen so my folks could see it when they came over today. I also e-mailed a picture I had taked of the score (and the story behind it) to Harry and to Tony.

Stuff in general.

This week was pretty good. I have been reading Star Trek: the Next Generation: Descent this week. It's based on one of the TV episodes. In the episode, the Enterprise-D encounters Borg acting more aggressive than usual. They seem more interested in killing humans than assimulating them and refer to each other using names instead of numbers. When Riker, Data, and Worf encounter these killer Borg on an away mission, Data gets angry and kills a Borg with his bare hands. Picard and the others encounter a strange ship in orbit of the planet, and it escapes with the killer Borg using an energy conduit. When they find the killer Borg days later, the Borg make a run for it in their ship, but the Enterprise manages to follow them through an energy conduit. A pair of Borg beam onto the bridge and attack. The crew subdues them, killing one and severely injuring the other. Meanwhile, the Borg ship flees into another conduit. Data talks to the surviving Borg (Crosis) and finds himself feeling emotions again. He springs Crosis from the brig, and they steal a shuttle and enter the energy conduit. The Enterprise manages to follow, but Data and Crosis are gone by the time they find the shuttle on a nearby planet. The captain and most of the crew beam down to search the planet (since it has a strong EM field that interferes with their scanners), leaving Dr. Crusher in charge of the Enterprise. I won't tell you the ending, but I will say it is one of the most interesting episodes of the series (it was a two-parter).

On Wednesday, I caught some things I could feed to Peter (my pet spider). I caught a tiny spider in the morning, but didn't have time to put it in Peter's jar before work. Later that evening, I caught a cricket on my way back from work. I decided to give the cricket to Peter that evening and spare the tiny spider. The weather has been too cold lately to let the tiny spider free outside, so I may end up giving it to Peter on Monday if it is still alive. I gave it some drops of water to drink and have it in an empty film container. Also on Wednesday, I dropped up a roll of film to be developed at my local grocery store.

On Thursday evening, I was pleasantly surprised to find my film was ready for me to pick up. Even more interesting was the time period covered by the roll--pictures from Christmas 2005, Independence Day 2006, my birthday (in July 2006), and Halloween 2006. I suppose my having a digital camera and a camera phone give me less incentive to take pictures with my regular camera. I also saw and taped the new Spider-Man 3 movie trailer. It had some stuff from the trailer I had seen in theaters, but it also had a lot of new images.

Today, I hung out with my friend Harry. We got some subs to eat from Quiznos. We watched this thing on A&E about Superman and this DVD of Harry's called The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury (animated, supposedly taking place between Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick). We also played four games of my bowling game for PS2 "Strike Force Bowling." I won the first and third games, while Harry won the second and fourth games. My best game was the third game at the castle alley (each game was at a different alley)--I got nine strikes in a row (a record for me) and scored 289. My worst game was at the night ship alley (the fourth game), where I only scored a 93 (though Harry tried to coach me). He felt like his performance overall was like his performance in real life bowling.

Halloween week.

Well, this week was pretty good. On Sunday, I carved my jack o'lantern using a spider pattern I found online. I watched the rest of my DVD copy of The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition). On Monday, I had off of work for an orthodontist appointment. I also bought a fake knife at the mall to use as a prop for my Halloween costume this year. Throughout the day, I watched my DVD copy of Resident Evil (the one I bought at work for $5). On Tuesday, we had a costume contest at work. I dressed up as the "Wasssup?" Scream guy from Scary Movie (see the pic above this paragraph). I was the only person in my area that wore a costume, though a few ladies who used to be in my area wore PJ's for the contest. I didn't win any candy this year (the last time I won--2nd Place--was in 2004). I did have fun walking around wearing the costume outside of my area on Tuesday, though. I even spooked my boss when I pulled out the fake knife.*chuckles* I didn't get any trick-or-treaters this year, but it was really cold out. On Wednesday, I set my jack o'lantern outside of my apartment to rot for a few days (and to give my neighbors a chance to see it before I pitched it). I brought several of the snack-size candy bars I bought for trick-or-treaters to work to share with my coworkers. Thursday was kind of blah. On Friday night, I taped "Doctor Who" and was pleased to see that Mickey was through being a wimpy guy hassling Rose all the time about her travels with the Doctor. Today, I got my hair cut and did laundry. My friend Harry came over, and we ate lunch (subs from a local store) while watching his DVD copy of Resident Evil: Apocalypse. I hadn't seen the movie since we saw it in the theater, which is why I picked it as the movie we would watch. I also pitched the jack o'lantern and messed around with some digital photos I took this week.