Back from California

Here's one of the last pictures I took as I flew back from California. After the bonfire Christmas Eve, we headed back into Timmy's apartment. The next morning, we opened our Christmas presents. Cosmo and Wanda had to fly back that afternoon, but Clark, Diana, Gwen, and I had one more day. During our layover in Minneapolis, I tried fried macaroni and cheese at TGI Friday's at the airport. It was different, but pretty good. I finally got back in town around midnight on Thursday morning. I only got about 3 and 1/2 hours sleep before I got up for work on Thursday....

This past weekend has been a busy one for me. Friday night, I started watching my DVD copy of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I did some ironing. On Saturday, I did a bunch of laundry and jotted down ideas for Diana's website. I managed to squeeze in some reading and a trip to the bank. Today, I had to do some grocery shopping and buy a late Christmas gift for Harry. I had to write a few checks and thank-you notes this weekend as well. Tomorrow, I hope to get a thank-you note written for Harry and Liz after I get back from work.

Great Time in California.

I am having a great time in California with Cosmo, Wanda, Clark, Diana, Timmy, Trixie, and Gwen. Clark and I have been sleeping on separate arms of Timmy's L-shaped couch. I have been hitting the softball at a few places with Cosmo, Timmy, Diana, and Gwen (though Diana has abstained from hitting the ball, opting to be a catcher instead). Yesterday, I saw a hot, well-endowed blonde woman in a red dress a few times at the church Timmy and Trixie attend. I'm definitely in southern California. Also yesterday, Clark, Diana, Trixie, and I went to see Charlie Wilson's War while Cosmo, Wanda, and Gwen were out meeting Gwen's former roommate.

Other stuff: I've had ice cream from Baskin Robbins and Cold Stone (not on the same day). I think I prefer the latter location, though the price is a bit higher than I would like. I have been to the pier near Timmy's a few times and taken some cool pictures. We have spent a lot of time walking around the neighborhood the past few days. I bought a T-shirt for a mere $8 over the weekend. We had our holiday dinner for lunch today since Cosmo and Wanda have to fly back tomorrow night. We are planning to do a bonfire at the beach tonight and open Christmas presents tomorrow morning......

Back to the Birthland.

After a 20+ year absence, I have returned to the land of the my birth--California. Diana, Gwen, and I took two planes to get here, but we arrived around 5:30pm Pacific Time. Presently, we are visiting with Timmy and Trixie. Cosmo, Wanda, and Clark are with us as well. Trixie isn't feeling as well as she would like, so we'll be staying at a motel with Cosmo, Wanda, and Clark for a couple of days.

I have missed this place. The last time I was here, I was on a road trip with Cosmo, Wanda, and company. I vaguely remember visiting Disneyland and spending some time at the beach. I hope to take lots of pictures (I brought my digital camera) and post at least one of them in the next few weeks....

Legend-ary weekend.

This was a pretty good weekend. I have been watching my DVD of The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers. I visited some of Cosmo's relatives on Saturday and was on a team with Wanda that won five straight games of "Sequence." Saturday night, I got together with Harry and Liz and saw I am Legend (hence the title of this entry). I sent several e-cards today to friends and relatives. I have also been getting my stuff ready for my Christmas vacation in the land of my birth--California......

A good weekend.

It was a good weekend. I got together with Harry and Liz on Saturday. We spent some time at some relatives of Liz's, and I was impressed with their salt water aquarium. They had some interesting shrimp and some colorful salt water hermit crabs. Later, we saw The Golden Compass movie. The scenery and fight scenes in the movie were amazing. We had dinner afterwards at the local Chili's.

I understood why some people felt The Golden Compass movie was a subtle stab at the church (or at least the Catholic Church): the mysterious Magisterium (not sure I spelled that right) did had a church-like base of operations and wore outfits similar to robes you would expect Catholic priests to wear. Certainly, their use of the word "heresy" invoked thoughts of the Crusades.

Other stuff: Friday night, I watched about half of Bewitched (the Kidmann movie). I did some ironing and read the rest of one of my "Star Trek: the Next Generation" books. Saturday night, I taped most of an episode of "Chuck." I tested out a wireless controller I got from Harry a week ago for my PS2 today. I also watched an hour of The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring today.

The weekend.

It was a pretty average weekend. I did a lot of reading. I ironed some shirts and watched TV. I went over to Harry's on Saturday and watched Shooter (the movie I got him for his birthday) with him.

Harry and I played more of "Dark Kingdom" and made it out of the caves, through the library, and into the sewers. My mage character (Gandolf) got some new gear and some added skills: a freezing attack and a gravity-altering attack, both of which don't require me to aim at a specific villain like my fireball attack. Harry's warrior character (Maximus) got some new gear and acquired a cool attack that creates a small black hole and pulls all the bad guys into it so you can pound on them.

Tonight, I'm getting together with Harry and Liz to watch the first part of "Tin Man," a miniseries with a modern take on the classic Wizard of Oz. I have read some stuff about it in the newspaper, and I think it should be interesting to see......

Thanksgiving and the last few days.

Well, Thanksgiving was a good time. Clark and Gwen were in town, and we all went to see my grandma in Northern Iowa. While there, we watched the Packers vs. Lions game, ate turkey, and pie, and relaxed. Clark stayed overnight at the townhouse when we got back before flying home on Friday.

Friday wasn't too bad. I had to work a full day and take a very short lunch (less than twenty minutes) to make up for my early departure on Wednesday. I vacuumed, iron, and read a lot.

Saturday, I spent the whole day with Harry. We went to see Hitman, then ate at Valentino's for lunch. We played a new game of "Dark Kingdom," with Harry as Maximus (a warrior like his Fang character in "Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows") and me as Galdolf, a wizard/mage character. I helped us get past a part Harry and Liz had gotten stuck on, and we saved our game on a level that appeared to be an underground maze of stone and skeletons. We met up with Liz and her sister and went to see Enchanted, which was a charming and funny film. Later, we ate lasagne made by Liz and watched Live Free or Die Hard on DVD.

Today, I did the usual Sunday stuff (church and groceries). I also started watching my DVD of Looney Tunes: Back in Action. I finished my laundry. I took a long nap (I didn't get to bed until early this morning after my time with Harry and Liz), then ironed some shirts. I still have a bunch of reading yet to do....

What a weekend!

This was quite a weekend for me. I watched my tape of Underworld. I went to see Beowulf with Harry and Liz. Harry, Liz, and I spent most of Sunday doing Christmas shopping. I played my "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" game for PS2 and completed another chapter on Saturday.

Speaking of Harry, Liz, and PS2, Harry and I wrapped up our game of "Gauntlet: the Seven Sorrows." We finished off the 6th Sorrow (a giant Troll), which took us a few tries to do, then Liz jumped in to play alongside us in the final chapter. We went up against the final Sorrow, a large, fiery creature similar to the Bal-Rog (not sure if I spelled that right) from The Lord of the Rings (but without wings or a whip). It got kind of hairy at the end, as trolls and various other evil creatures swarmed on us while we ran around trying to fire a huge crossbow to take down the giant. When the fire subsided, we were all still alive......

The last couple of days.

Well, I was glad to see my friends (Harry and Liz) after they've been out of town for the past few weeks. We went to see Fred Claus on Saturday and to run a few errands (their errands, not mine) after that. On Sunday evening, I ate Runza take-out with them and watched Zoom on DVD. I hadn't seen it before, and I really enjoyed it. Afterwards, Harry and I played "Gauntlet" on Playstation 3 and made some more progress.

Besides the time I spent with my friends, I did other things over the past few days. I did some ironing and vacuuming on Friday night. I taped "Heroes" last night. I played "LEGO Star Wars II" and got some more minikits. I did laundry on Saturday. I did a lot of reading as well.

Halloween, the weekend.

Halloween went pretty well for me. I took the day off so I could watch horror movies. I watched Alien Resurrection on Tuesday night and Alien vs. Predator on Wednesday. I did some reading. I took some pictures of myself in my Spider-Man costume. I even got a couple of trick-or-treaters. It was nice to have the time off to relax in the middle of the week.

This weekend, I finished reading Piercing the Darkness (by Frank Peretti). I did laundry, got some fast food for lunch (both on Saturday and today), and did some ironing. I've been watching Scary Movie 3 on video the past few days (not the whole movie more than once, just chunks of it during meals). I also made progress with "LEGO Star Wars II":

First, I did two more Bounty Hunter Missions. I got Lando using Boba Fett and IG-88. I got Luke using Boba Fett. Second, I finally got the rest of the minikits in the "Rebel Attack" chapter in the "New Hope" section using a TIE Interceptor. Finally, I picked up some minikits in a few other chapters using Boba Fett, a Stormtrooper, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, and a few other characters. I'm still having trouble getting the last minikits and True Jedi status in the "Battle of Hoth" chapter in "The Empire Strikes Back" section, though.

Lonely weekend.

It has been a busy, but lonely, weekend. Friday night, I vacuumed and did some ironing. I did a lot of reading.

On Saturday, Harry and Liz were busy, so I didn't get together with them. I ran a few errands and did some more vacuuming. I played "LEGO Star Wars II" for a few hours. I completed two more Bounty Hunter Missions, getting Yoda as Boba Fett and C3-PO as IG-88 (which took me two tries since I got lost on the first try). I also got more minikits and enough Gold Bricks to open the gate to LEGO City. I ran, rode, drove, and flew around the city, mostly as my custom character (Black Hooded Dave Skywalker). In less than 40 minutes, I got 1 million studs by using the Force, blowing stuff up, and running over stuff. Later, I taped Underworld off of cable TV (the unedited version has too much swearing for my liking), cutting out most of the commercials. Finally, I printed off a pattern to use in carving my jack-o'lantern.

On Sunday, I listened to church on the radio (my usual ride was out of town). I ate out at the local McDonalds for lunch. I watched most of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman (I started it on Saturday, then finished it today). I carved my jack-o'lantern after modifying the pattern I printed off a bit. I did some more ironing and reading.

The last few days.

Well, the last few days have been interesting. On Friday, I had the day off for a housewarming party. Diana hosted the party, and I did the tours of the townhome. The party started just before 5 pm and wasn't over until after 10 pm.

On Saturday, I got together with Harry and spend most of the day with him (and some of it with Liz as well). He took me to see the place he's moving to next March. We had lunch and played some video games, including the demo for "Spider-Man: Friend or Foe" and a saved game we had for "Gauntlet." I went with him and Liz to look at some furniture they planned to get for the new place. We went back to his place and had some take-out for dinner while watching Transformers on DVD.

On Sunday, I made more progress with "LEGO Star Wars II." I got True Jedi status on a level or two. I completed two Bounty Hunter missions on the first try: Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar. Of course, it helped that I looked at the walk-through before attempting them. I'm only a few (less than 10) gold bricks away from accessing LEGO City.

On Monday, I was tired from staying up later than I should have on Sunday. I got a Mountain Dew at work in the morning to perk up, but I accidently got a Dr. Pepper (instead of Dew) in the afternoon. Fortunately, I managed to keep my eyes open the rest of the day.

Today, I stuck out the morning at work (still feeling tired) without buying a Dew. Later, I was so tired than I tried to get a Mountain Dew less than an hour after I got back from lunch. To my frustration and disappointment, the pop machine gave me a Dr. Pepper instead of a Dew, even though I made sure I pressed the button for Mountain Dew this time. I plan to use a different pop machine tomorrow so I don't end up with the wrong pop for the third afternoon in a row.....

Okay weekend.

I watched Catch Me if You Can again over the weekend. I was intrigued by how Frank was able to con so many people into thinking he was a pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer. It was also interesting to notice how quickly he recognized other fake checks.

I didn't spend any time with Harry this past weekend, but I still kept busy. I did the vacuuming, the laundry, and swept the laundry room. I also finished a project I started earlier in the week: a crude model of the Solar System. I drew and colored the planets (not their moons) and some smaller bodies like Pluto, Eris, and Ceres. I attached the drawings to poster paper, then used a map I had printed off a website to position my 2-dimensional "planets" around one of the lights on my bedroom ceiling. Some of the planets wouldn't stay taped to the ceiling, so I used tacks to hold the ones that fell down into place. Over all, I'm pleased with the results.

Typical weekend.

Well, it was a typical weekend for the most part. I played "LEGO Star Wars II" on Friday night after watching "Doctor Who" on Sci Fi. I did laundry, ironed some clothes, and finished reading a "Star Trek: the Next Generation" book. I went out with Harry and Liz and helped them paint the chimney of Harry's dad's house. After that, we went to see The Seeker and had lunch. I read some digital comics online and watched a DVD a coworker loaned me: Catch Me if You Can, starring Leonardo DiCapprio (not sure I spelled that right) and Tom Hanks. My company had the guy the movie was based on at their national conference a year or two ago....

Three-day Weekend.

Well, it was another three-day weekend for me. I played "LEGO Star Wars II" in Free Play and got some mini-kits and True Jedi Status on another level. I vacuumed, ironed, and did laundry. Harry, Liz, and I went out on Sunday night and saw Game Plan, which starred Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson. It was a lot better than I expected it to be. I also watched a friend's DVD copy of Batman (Michael Keaton version).

Today, I took the day off of work because I had a dentist appointment. It went well, though there was a lot of scraping (ouch!) before I actually saw the dentist. I did some reading and hung around the apartment.

Stuff on the weekend.

Well, I spent a fair amount of time this weekend seeing stuff I hadn't seen before. Friday night, I watched a new episode of "Doctor Who" and saw a character I was unfamiliar with--the Master. On Saturday, I went to see Resident Evil: Extinction with Harry and Liz. It was pretty exciting, though I did cover my eyes during some of the gorier parts. Harry also loaned me a DVD movie called Superman Doomsday.

Superman Doomsday is a simplified version of the comic book storyline where Superman faces off with a huge, gray-skinned monster called Doomsday and dies in the battle to stop it. Unlike the comic book version, there doesn't appear to be any other super heroes in the world (none of them come to his funeral in their costumes, at least). It was pretty good, but Superman's face looked wrong to me and some of the stuff (Superman's secret affair with Lois Lane in the Fortress of Solitude) didn't make sense to me. Anyway, I watched part of it last night and the rest of it today. The fights were good, but some of the stuff between the fights was questionable. Example--how can Superman use his X-ray vision on himself by using a mirror? Wouldn't his X-ray vision just show him what was behind the mirror?

The weekend.

Well, I finished watching The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring on Saturday. Saturday afternoon, Harry, Liz, and I went to see Dragon Wars. We all thought it was better than Godzilla (the Matthew B. version, not the original), even though the beginning of the movie was a bit weak, and the ending had us scratching our heads a little. I spent some time at Harry's, and we watched Liz play "Heavenly Sword." She got a great deal on it by trading in some games and getting it off the "used" rack. I was impressed about how well she did in the fighting sequences, given that the game was throwing three to six guys at her at once. Later, we had dinner at an Italian restaurant across town and stopped at a Wal-Mart to do a little shopping. I got myself a new headphone set to use at work.

Today, I did my grocery shopping, vacuumed my room, put up some posters, and finished reading a "Star Trek: the Next Generation" book I started last week. I also started watching a tape I have with the movie Last Action Hero (something I taped off of cable awhile back). The thing I really like about this movie is how similar it is to my personal fantasy life--the idea that movies are images of alternate worlds where the fictional of our world is reality in theirs. Of course, I don't use a "magic ticket" in my fantasies......*steps into a phone booth, closes the door, picks up the phone, dials a number, and hangs up. A square of light appears under the phone booth, and the booth drops down into the light. The light shrinks into a dot and disappears*

Another full weekend.

This wasn't a three-day weekend like last weekend, but it was a full one for me. I played "LEGO Star Wars II" on Friday night, getting True Jedi Status in a few more chapters using Free Play, including the last chapter of Return of the Jedi where you fly into the superstructure of the Death Star and blow it up.

On Saturday, I hung out with Harry all day. First, I helped him move a heavy box out of his apartment (and got a hug from Liz for it). Second, we watched some short movies (one on computer and one on DVD) at his place. Third, we met up with Liz and a relative of hers and saw "Shoot 'em Up." Fourth, we went back to Harry's and played "Gauntlet" for PS3. I played an elf and called my character "Legolas." Finally, we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant with Liz, another of her relatives, and the significant other of that relative.

Today, I did the usual Sunday stuff and some different stuff. The main different thing was that I went minigolfing with a friend of Diana's and his kids. I wasn't the best player in the group (but I was a bit rusty, so I had an excuse). I did get two hole-in-one's, and I even used the putter I bought a few years ago. I also spent a lot of time reading and managed to catch up on the laundry that I didn't get done while I was with Harry yesterday. Finally, I started watching a DVD I recently got for my collection--The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.

The three-day weekend (so far).

Well, I have Monday off of work, so it's a three-day weekend. On Friday and Saturday, I watched most of a DVD (Garfield: the Movie) I borrowed from a friend of Diana's. I got together with Harry and Saturday morning and finally saw The Simpsons Movie. We met up with Liz and had lunch. I also spent a lot of time playing my "LEGO Star Wars II" game this weekend:

On Friday night, I finished the story. I got to fly the Millenium Falcon, blasting away at Star Destroyers and then flying into the heart of the new, mostly finished Death Star. I got hit a lot, mostly by TIE fighters and several times by these lightning-zapper guns in the Death Star's core. The zappers disabled my ship briefly, enabling the TIEs to hit me with ease. After completing the story mode, I completed my collection of bounty hunters and tried a bounty hunter mission. It took me two tries, but I was able to catch R2-D2 as Boba Fett. My next target: Obi-Wan Kenobi.

On Saturday and Sunday, I spent a lot of time doing Free Play on "LEGO Star Wars II," using Boba Fett, my custom character (Black Hooded Dave Skywalker, a Jedi with a black-hooded cape, black clothing and gloves, and a blue lightsaber), and even a Stormtrooper I bought over the weekend. I got True Jedi Status on some levels and raked up enough studs to get the extra "Invincibility," allowing me to take hits without dying and without losing significant amounts of studs. I also bought the extras "Super Blasters" and "Super Lightsabers," though I'm not too impressed with the latter extra. It makes the lightsabers look a bit on the pink side....

Picnic at the zoo, game update.

This weekend, I went to the company's annual picnic at the zoo. I went with Harry (he was my guest), and we had a pretty good time. We checked out an IMAX movie called "Dinosaurs Alive! 3-D," but the title was a bit misleading. Most of the movie seemed to be about various expeditions to dig up fossils. There was some cool 3-D stuff, and a few computer animations of dinosaurs. We also visited the zoo's aquarium (where I took the shark picture at the beginning of this entry), the jungle exhibit, the nocturnal animals exhibit, and a few other places.

I was bummed that they preached the "birds-evolved-from-dinosaurs" myth in the film. They even had animations of raptors with feathers, which they claimed were based on fossil imprints in volcanic rock that showed these dinosaurs had feathers. Personally, I think they might have been stretching things a bit. Even if some dinosaurs had feathers, then it wouldn't necessarily mean that modern birds evolved from dinos. After all, the duck-billed platypus has a beak and lays eggs, but I don't hear anyone claiming that it evolved from a bird. Alligators and crocodiles are large lizards, but no one claims they evolved from dinosaurs. Just because one animal looks similiar to another animal, that doesn't mean they have common ancestors.

I made more progress in my "LEGO Star Wars II" game yesterday. I got to face off with the Emperor in the nearly completed Death Star as both Luke and Darth Vader. What was really cool was that I (as Vader) could levitate people and choke them to pieces using the Force. Unlike the movie, the Emperor used his lightsaber as well as Force lightning to attack me. I had to switch back and forth between Luke and Vader whenever he would blast me with the lightning so I could attack him and free my other character. In the cut scene following game play, Darth Vader threw the Emperor down the shaft, then Luke dragged Vader to a shuttle and took off his helmet. It was still a touching scene, even with LEGO people and without the dialog.

Other stuff on the weekend: after the picnic, Harry and I met up with Liz and went to see War (with Jet Li). Last night, I started watching the DVD they gave me of Spider-Man (2-disc Special Edition) for my birthday. I put another cellar spider in Peter's jar, but I haven't seen Peter try to catch it yet. Both of the cellar spiders I have put in his jar this past week have been spiders I encountered in my portion of the townhouse. The second one is larger than the first, and both are smaller than Peter.

Movies and game update.

Well, it was a movie weekend for me. First, I went to see Stardust with Harry and Liz on Saturday morning. It was a great movie, and I am eager to get it on DVD. Second, I went with Harry to see The Last Legion later on Saturday. It was also good, but not as good as Stardust was. Finally, I have been watching my latest DVD, Starman (the old Jeff Bridges' science fiction movie with Karen Allen). I'm about 75% of the way through it (I have been watching it in 30-minute chunks).

Today, I made more progress with "LEGO Star Wars II:" I played as Han (and occasionally Wicket) and, with the help of Leia, Chewie, Artoo, and Threepio, was able to destroy the shield generator for the Death Star on Endor. I got to drive a AT-ST again, even stomped on some Stormtroopers (and a few of my teammates by accident). According to a walk-through I have been using, the next chapter will have me on the Death Star as Darth Vader (and probably Luke as well).....

Game update, the weekend.

Well, I've made more progress with "LEGO Star Wars II." I got through the Pit of Carkoon level, running around on the skiffs and Sail Barge as Luke (and occasionally Lando or Han). Leia and the droids escaped from Jabba, and we blew up the Sail Barge. In the next chapter, I took turns playing as Luke or Leia on Endor. I rode around on a speeder bike, got to use an AT-ST to stomp or blast Stormtroopers, and even used an AT-AT to help destroy the shield generator for the Death Star. I can hardly wait to fly the Falcon into the new Death Star to blow it up.....

Besides playing my PS2, I've been doing other stuff this weekend. I went to see Rush Hour 3 with Harry, Liz, and one of Liz's brothers. I hung up several posters in my room. I've been reading a lot of Paradise Lost (the classic poem by John Milton). I watched an episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" that I taped several years ago--The Horror of Spider Island. Cosmo was over today and helped me make some improvements in my bathroom.

The weekend, LEGO Star Wars II Update.

Well, I had a pretty good weekend. I got together with Harry and Liz and saw The Bourne Ultimatum. It was pretty exciting, and we finally learned who Jason used to be and how he was turned into an assassin. I also played my "LEGO Star Wars II" game, something I hadn't done since moving to the townhouse:

I finished the final chapter of "The Empire Strikes Back." I got to be Chewbacca and Lando as they made their escape from Cloud City after Han Solo was frozen by Vader. Lando apparently likes to kick people in the hand-to-hand combat mode of fighting, and I got to rip off some arms as Chewie as well. In the cutscene, we picked up Luke and headed back to the Alliance fleet. Luke got his artificial hand, which popped off at one point and started jumping around in a humorous fashion.....

I also started "Return of the Jedi." In the first chapter, I alternated between Leia (dressed as a bounty hunter) and Luke (dressed in his black outfit). We entered Jabba's Palace and thawed Han Solo. Jabba caught us, and Han, Chewie, the droids, and myself (as Luke) got dumped into the Rancor Pit. It took some doing to kill the Rancor (and a number of Gamorrean guards got eaten), but I figured it out using an online walk-through. The next chapter is the Pit of Carkoon (not sure if I spelled that right)....

Reunion details, strange dream.

Okay, I saw a lot of relatives at the reunion this weekend, many of whom I didn't know. Besides that, I spent a lot of time near or on the water. There was a river/creek down a steep ledge near my parents' camper. I went down there numerous times over the weekend. It was very relaxing down there, and I took some (I hope) great scenery shots with my regular camera. I also took some photos with my cell phone camera. Besides that, there was a small lake near where the reunion itself was being held. Someone from our group had a red canoe there, so I borrowed it a few times and paddled around the lake. I even gave Timmy and one of my distant relatives (separately) a ride in it. The last day we were there (Sunday), Cosmo got this inflatable raft filled up and took it over to the lake. I went with Timmy in it, then tried it alone. I felt like I handled it better when I was in it by myself (it was wider than the canoe), and it was much more stable than the canoe.

I had this strange dream last night (or early this morning): I was at some place like Jurassic Park, and it was night. I came upon a loose T-Rex munching on some animal it killed. It spotted me, and I retreated to this concrete structure that reminded me of library book shelves. I hid on one side of the shelves, then ducked around it when I saw the T-Rex coming around. It still saw me in the structure, and I managed to shoot fire from my hands to ward it off (I knew it was a dream at this point). I got out of the structure, and the T-Rex turned and came after me again. I flung a grenade (that I produced out of nowhere) and took cover while it blasted the creature to bits.....

Ruffing it at the Reunion (sort of).

Well, I am currently in Northern Iowa for a family reunion on my mother's side. My parents, Timmy, and Trixie are camping out in my folks' camper. I'm sharing a motel room with my older sister. Things are pretty nice here, much quieter than in the big city I normally live in.

Yesterday morning, I beat Timmy in a game of "Strike Force Bowling" (PS2) at my apartment. To be fair, he had never played this game before, and I had gotten pretty good at it. I played my "Transformers" game a little bit (the one Harry and Liz gave me), but I was unable to get past chapter 2 (where you chase down and beat up Decepticons before they can reach Sam). My driving as Bumblebee is getting better, but my navigation using the minimap still needs work.

Anyway, we're about to go out to the campsite to see my folks. I'm sure I'll have more to say next week about this adventure.

Things thus far.

Well, I got moved into the new place on the 20th. Cosmo, Wanda, Diana, Harry, and Liz all helped, thought Harry and Liz had to leave before we finished to go to work. My new bedroom is huge compared to the old bedroom. I have my TV and VCR set up, my bed and dressers in place and my bathroom at least partially arranged. I have my pet spider (Peter) in the corner over the sink.

Saturday night, I got together with Harry and Liz (my new place is closer to their apartment than my old place). Liz made lasange (it was great, especially given the fact it was her first time making it). After dinner, Harry and I played "Dark Kingdom" for PS3. I was a mage, and I got to hit a lot of monsters and bad guys with fireballs.

Sunday, I got a memory card for my PS2. Harry and Liz gave me "Transformers" for PS2, and I'm hoping to start playing it soon. I made myself mac'n cheese for dinner.

Tonight, I ate half of my leftover mac'n cheese and more of my leftover birthday cake. I also started watching my DVD of the 2006 (or was it 2005?) version of King Kong (featuring Naomi Watts and Jack Black). Now, I hope to get some time in on my new PS2 game.....

My birthday.

Well, today has been a long, busy, and interesting day. I spent most of it packing for the big move tomorrow. Cosmo and Wanda came by and took me to a restaurant/arcade near my apartment for lunch. Afterwards, we drove around trying to find the place I needed to go to get my ID renewed. The location had moved since the last time I was there, and I was feeling groggy when I was trying to get my new ID card. The picture wasn't that great, but I don't use it that often anyway. We ran some errands after that and joined Diana for cake and ice cream at the apartment.

Hopefully, I will get caught up on my reading tomorrow after the move. Cosmo, Wanda, Diana, Harry, a friend of Diana's, and possibly Liz will be helping with the move. I better get back to packing.....

The weekend, final countdowns.

Well, I had a pretty good weekend, other than being really busy preparing to move. On Friday night, I taped a new episode of "Doctor Who" off of Sci Fi. On Saturday, I did laundry, then spent time with Harry at his place. I watched him play a new game he got called "Overlord," then we played "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" for awhile. I played as Reed and a little as the Human Torch, while Harry was the Thing most of the time. I think we did alright given neither of us had played this game before. Liz came over, and we had some ice cream cake to celebrate my birthday (even though it was still five days away at the time). I also got some presents, including some Spider-Man 3 boxers (which I'll wear like shorts with briefs underneath) and a "Transformers" game for my PS2. I haven't gotten a chance to play the game yet, since I've been busy throwing stuff out in preparation of moving.

Basically, I have two countdowns going: one for my birthday, and one for moving day. They are easy to keep track of since both are fairly soon and next to each other on the calendar. Part of me wishes we could move on Saturday instead of Friday. I would be able to relax more on my birthday, and Harry (who I recruited to help since I have helped him move more than once in the past) would be able to stick around to help longer.

The Fourth of July and the weekend.

I had a pretty good Fourth of July. I had the day off of work, so I did some cleaning and re-arranging in my apartment. I visited Cosmo and Wanda with Diana. Some family friends were over for dinner, and one of them helped me light fireworks while the others watched. An interesting thing happened while we were there--a skunk showed up. According to Cosmo, this skunk has been seen digging around near a metal building with a light that attracts hundreds of bugs at night. Their cats leave the skunk alone, and we suspect the skunk has been visiting on a regular basis for some time. The evidence--several small pits too small to have been dug by the dog.....

Well, I got a fair amount of stuff done this past weekend. I did stuff around the apartment: laundry, vacuumed, ironed some of my shirts, boxed up some stuff, and threw out a bunch of garbage that had been accumulating in my closets. I went to see Transformers with Harry and Liz on Saturday morning. I got my hair cut on Saturday afternoon.

Pretty good weekend.

I had a pretty good weekend this past weekend. I watched my tape of Spider-Man 2.1 (which I taped from fX on Thursday, since I wasn't about to spend money on another DVD of a movie I already had most of on DVD). It was good with the added stuff, though it was kinda creepy to see Jonah in the Spider-Man costume (which I don't think should have fit him since he and Peter don't have the same build) jumping around in his office with his cigar still in his mouth. The scene where Jake G.'s character is talking to Spidey in the elevator is different from the theatrical version, but this version's scene is funnier. After the extended fight on the train, the movie is pretty much the same as it was on my DVD of Spider-Man 2.

Besides that, I went over to Harry's on Saturday afternoon and had take-out KFC with him. I watched him play "God of War" and was impressed by the progress he made. He had told me he was stuck on this one part, but as I watched, he made it past that part (a fight with Gorgons, followed by challenging climb and a fight with some Wraiths on the rooftop). He and Liz had a dinner appointment with Liz's folks, so I went back to my place. I went out with Diana and got some fireworks for the 4th at Cosmo and Wanda's farm. Later, I got together with Harry and Liz, and we saw Live Free or Die Hard with some friends of Liz's. We were late, and the theater was packed. We ended up seeing the movie from the floor seats, but I didn't have to crane my neck to see the screen (which was good).

On Sunday, I worked on my room. I found more stuff to throw out, thus diminishing the amount of stuff I'll have to take with me when I move in a few weeks. Well, I guess I better get offline now and see about boxing some stuff up....

Just another weekend.

Well, it was just another weekend for me. I did some vacuuming, ironing, and did some more packing for the move. I went to see Evan Almighty with Harry and Liz on Saturday. This afternoon, I spent time playing "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" on my PS2. I watched a rerun of "Doctor Who" tonight.

In case I hadn't mentioned it before, my roommate and I are looking to move. Our apartment complex keeps raising our rent. We're looking to get some equity. I certainly wouldn't mind getting a bigger bedroom.

Game update, movie, etc.

Well, I played more "LEGO Star Wars II" on Friday night. I got to be Luke as he flies to Bespin and faces off with some Stormtroopers and Darth Vader. I was impressed by how close it was to the actual The Empire Strikes Back movie, even depicting Vader cutting off Luke's hand in the cutscene, then Luke dropping off the machinery to escape Vader after Vader tells Luke that he's Luke's father.....

On Saturday, I went out with Harry and Liz and saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It had some surprises (I had thought Doom would only make a brief appearance in the film, but he was a key part of the story), and a lot of great special effects. Later that day, Diana and I paid a visit to my folks to celebrate Father's Day a little early since they were planning to do some travelling on Sunday.

On Sunday, I napped for awhile. Later, I watched the second part of the season finale of the first season of the new "Doctor Who." I found it very touching, and nearly shed some tears on a few occasions. There's something to be said for a man who willingly risks his life to save others, even taking extraordinary measures to keep those he loves from dying with him. And one can't ignore a young woman so changed by her time with an extraordinary man that she risks her own life and says "no" to an ordinary existance to try to save that man from death.

The weekend, game updates.

Well, this was a pretty good weekend. I went to see Ocean's 13 with my friend Harry. I also made some progress with a few of my video games:

I finally finished "Kingdom Hearts II" yesterday evening. My group went through the door to face off with Xemnas. We worked our way through a city, then Riku and I fought some enemies similar to ones I had seen in Gummi Ship missions. We attacked a generator of some kind, then faced off with an armored foe (Xemnas in disquise?). After we beat him (or so we thought), a black portal opened. Most of my group went through it, but Riku and I were left behind when it closed unexpectedly. We got on a ship and faced off with a giant, dragon-like spaceship. We shot at it and the various robotic enemies that came at us. During and between attacks, I charged up a Megalaser. Using the laser, we were able to damage the spaceship and eventually board it. We saw the armored guy again and attacked. I got knocked back a few times, but I kept attacking. At one point, Xemnas whisked us away to some strange in-between place. He grabbed me (as Sora), and I had to fight him as Riku to free Sora. We pressed our attack (I died a few times) until we finally beat him. After that, we wandered into a dark and desolate world. We hung out there for awhile, then I found a note in a bottle from Kairi. A door of light opened, and we went into it. We wound up back at the island from the first "Kingdom Hearts" game, and everyone (Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy) welcomed us home. And that was the end of the game, though there was a cutscene after the credits were Sora finds another message in a bottle from King Mickey.....

Today, I played another chapter of "LEGO Star Wars II." The chapter was set in Dagobah, and I got to shoot (and later saber) bats and a few giant snakes as Luke. I also met up with Yoda and "learned" how to use the Force to lift (and occasionally blow up) stuff. I got to face off with a phantom of Darth Vader, then played as Yoda to lift my X-Wing out of the swamp.....

Weekend stuff.

Well, I had a pretty good weekend. I played more of my new game, "LEGO Star Wars II." I had started The Empire Strikes Back chapters on Thursday, taking on AT-STs (Chicken Walkers) and AT-ATs (Elephant Walkers) using a snow speeder. On Friday night, I got to run around Echo Base, shooting Stormtroopers and Snowtroopers as Han Solo. In the next chapter, I got to fly around in the Falcon and shoot at TIE fighters and asteriods while fleeing the Hoth System. I even got to fly in and out of the Space Slug a few times.....

Another game I played this weekend (earlier today) was "Kingdom Hearts II." I got to fight with another member of Organization XIII named Saixx. I beat him with help from Donald and Goofy using the joint attacks. We made our way further up the Castle's outer stairways and saw Ansem's heart-stealing devise overload. The hearts rained down on the World that Never Was, and Riku changed back to his original self (he had looked like someone from Organization XIII). We went back inside the castle and discovered the main corridor was open. We made our way through a huge, strange inner chamber, fighting Nobodies as we climbed higher and higher. Hundreds of Heartless appeared in the lower part of the chamber, and they started heading up toward us. Pete and Malificent appeared, the latter telling us they would take care of the Heartless so we could go after Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. Her motivation wasn't entirely pure: she intended to claim the castle as her own when the battle was over. We launched ourselves at Xemnas, but he did some kind of magic thing that whisked himself and myself away. We appeared in front of Memory Skyscraper, and the battle was on. I fought him using various Reaction and combo attacks. I was triumphant, but he wasn't out yet. I found myself back in the castle, and he was calling for hearts to come to his aid. A huge gate appeared, and Riku told us we just had to enter the gate to start the final battle with Xemnas. I decided to pop around to a few worlds first, seeing if I could get the Moggles (those floating chicken things) to synthesize anything powerful I could use. I got some items, then went back and saved the game. Next weekend, I hope to defeat Xemnas and finish the game......

Besides playing video games, I did some other stuff. I got my hair cut. I spend most of Saturday with Harry and Liz. We had a big lunch at Valentino's (my favorite buffet), then went to rent some movies. We ended up getting Beowulf (1999 version) and The Crow: Salvation. Both had some graphic elements we hadn't expected, and we didn't enjoy the movies as much as we had hoped to. Harry and I decided that The Crow: Salvation was the best of the pair, since the plot was easier to follow. They were also kind enough to let me eat grilled hot dogs with them for dinner. All in all, a pretty good weekend......

I finally got it!

After months of waiting, I finally got it--"LEGO Star Wars II: the Original Trilogy" (PS2 version). The price dropped to about $19.99 recently, and I saw it in the nearby mall's Gamespot store (or is Gamestop?). I was so excited about the game that I played all the way through Episode IV (A New Hope) today. I got to play as General Antilles (from Leia's ship), Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and as the droids a couple of times. I even got to fly Luke's X-Wing in the Battle of Yavin and drop a torpedo into the Death's Star's reactor. And the game's cut scene films were great. It was just like the original movie, only funnier. For instance, when Leia is giving Artoo the plans to the Death Star, he/it shakes his head like "I'm not taking that." So she just pops open his head like the lid of a garbage can and drops the plans in. Funny stuff. Plus, you can build vehicles as you go and ride around in them. For example, there was a chapter about mid-way through Episode IV where you're running around Mos Eisley as Luke and Obi-Wan. As Obi-Wan, you could use the Force to assemble the parts to a Chicken Walker (AT-ST), then drive it around. Pretty cool stuff. I'm eager for the chance to fly around in the Millennium Falcon (probably in Episode V and/or Episode VI).

The weekend thus far, game update.

Well, I'm most of the way through the second day of a three-day vacation from work (due to Memorial Day). On Saturday, I did laundry and went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End with Harry and Liz. On Sunday, I did my grocery shopping, some ironing, and played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" and "Kingdom Hearts II."

Speaking of "Kingdom Hearts II," I've made more progress. In the alternate Twilight Town, we found the entrance to the "Darkness." Inside the entrance, we found ourselves in a space between worlds. Nobodies attacked, but I got some help from Axel. He used himself up in the process, but he told me where Kairi was. We entered "The World that Never Was" (which has a heart-shaped Moon) and looked for a way to the castle Axel said Kairi was in. Heartless repeatedly attacked us, and I ran into a mysterious figure dressed like someone from Organization XIII wielding Keyblades. It turned out it was Roxas, but Goofy and Donald didn't see him. When we got to the castle, we found ourselves up against more Heartless and Nobodies. After fighting those, I ran into another member of Organization XIII, Xigbar, after we spotted Kairi on a different level of a huge inner chamber. After beating him, we made our way to Kairi. She was with Xehanort's Nobody (who had been calling himself Ansem in the other game). We were shocked to learn it was Riku, who had altered his appearance somehow to infiltrate the Organization. We made our way up the outer walkway's of the castle, only to get ambushed by another member of Organization XIII, Luxord (or was is Luxard?). He trapped the others, and I fought him solo. I won, and my group was freed. If I'm not mistaken, then I'm getting pretty close to the end of the game......

Just my average weekend.

Well, it was pretty much my average weekend. I spent some time with Diana, Gwen, Cosmo, and Wanda on Saturday. Later, I went out with Harry and Liz to see Shrek the Third. It was a lot more upbeat than Spider-Man 3. We ate out at the mall afterwards.

Today, I played games on my new PS2 (the old one was having trouble reading some of my game disks). I played more "Kingdom Hearts II": after completing a Gummi Mission ("Assault of the Dreadnought"?), I paid a visit to Twilight Town with Donald and Goofy. We fought a lot of Nobodies, then headed for the old mansion. We ran into Roxas' friends outside, and they said they believed the mansion had a gateway to an alternate version of Twilight Town. Mickey joined us, and we headed inside. We fought more Nobodies, then found a device that opened the gateway (similar to a "Star Trek" transporter) to the other Twilight Town. Mickey went with us as we headed to the other Twilight Town.

I kinda messed around a little with "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance." I tried a new team: Spider-Man, the Human Torch, Thor, and Spider-Woman, all classic versions. I went through the Helicarrier and Omega Base levels, then quit.

Life in general.

Well, I spent a lot of time with Harry and Liz on Saturday. We went to see The Invisible, which is kind of a dark movie, but has an important lesson. The lesson? I think the lesson was that people can do bizarre or dangerous things when they feel ignored and neglected by those around them ("invisible," if you will).

After the movie, I went grocery shopping with Harry and Liz. Back at Harry's place, Harry and I played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" (XBox 360 version). I got to try out some characters not available to me on my version (PS2) of the game--Venom and Colossus. It was kind of weird playing as Venom, since I normally play the game as Spider-Man. Harry played as Dr. Doom and the Hulk (the Planet Hulk version?) We had frozen pizza for dinner and watched The Fantastic Four.

My pet spider (Peter) is still alive. I've had him for about a year now, and I've been able to keep him alive by providing him with water and live prey (mostly ants and a few small spiders I've caught in my apartment). I was a little scared a few months ago when it was really cold out and live bugs were scarce, but he survived it. I will interested in seeing if he lives longer than the hermit crab I had a few years ago....

Spider-Man weekend.

Well, this was a Spider-Man weekend. I watched part of Spider-Man 2 on cable TV on Friday and Saturday nights. I saw Spider-Man 3 on Saturday with Harry and Liz. It was as good as Spider-Man 2, though parts of it didn't appeal much to me. I also picked up a free Spider-Man comic book (it was being offered as part of Free Comic Book Day) on Saturday.

Today, I got a few more Spider-Man themed books. First, I got the Spider-Man 3 movie novelization by Peter David (an excellent writer of Spider-Man stuff, and I'm not just saying that because his last name is the same as my first name). Second, I got a book I didn't even know existed (before today) called The Spider-Man Handbook: the Ultimate Training Manual, by Seth Grahame-Smith. It has a lot of interesting stuff in it about fighting bad guys, building things, etc. It even has brief profiles on various Spidey foes, including Dr. Octopus, Electro, and Venom.

The weekend, time with Harry.

Well, this weekend was okay. I finished watching my Spider-Man movie video on Friday night, then started watching my Spider-Man 2 DVD on Sunday (to prepare myself for Spider-Man 3 next weekend). Between those, I watched about half of a movie I just got recently on DVD, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl. I had intended to try to watch the whole movie on Saturday, but I had a wedding to go to on Saturday afternoon and didn't get back until later that evening.

The wedding on Saturday was pretty quick, but the reception wasn't. After arriving in time for dinner, I ate dinner and hung out while Cosmo, Wanda, and Diana talked to various relatives. I missed the garter toss (I was in the men's room), but I didn't really care. There was some dancing: the groom and bride, the bride and her father, the groom and his mother, then couples. I wasn't in any of those categories, so I just stayed in my seat and munched on M&M's (the party favors were jars filled with plain M&M's).

On Sunday, I got together with Harry and Liz. We had planned to visit the local zoo to watch an IMAX movie, but the zoo was packed, and we couldn't find a place to park. We visited a few places so I could see if I could find a PS2 on sale (mine is running down), but no such luck. We went back to Harry's and played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" for XBox 360. I played as Spider-Man (my favorite comic book character), and Harry played as Thor. Liz played as well, first as Wolverine, then as Storm when we got to a Save point and could change our characters. They had a deal going on at dinner time, so we saved the game, and they took me back to my place.

Stuff on the weekend.

I kept myself busy this weekend. I went to see Ghost Rider at the cheap theater with my friend Harry. I also watched a movie on DVD he loaned me called The Marine. I played some games on my PS2, including "Spider-Man 2," "LEGO Star Wars," and "Kingdom Hearts II."

Speaking of "Kingdom Hearts II," here's an update on my progress in the game: at Leon's request, we (Goofy, Donald, and I) paid a visit to Space Paranoids to contact Tron. We fought some Heartless and told Tron that we had to go to the I/O Tower to download a special MCP-Eradicator program from Leon. Using joint attacks with Goofy and with Tron, I was able to get past the Heartless so we could get the program. Tron said it had info on Solar Sailers as well. We went to the simulation area and took a Sailer to the MCP. We were boarded by Heartless on the way, but we beat them. At the MCP, we ran into Sark and fought him. Tron struck the killing blow, but the MCP revived Sark and turned him into a giant:

We fought the giant Sark, bringing him down a few times using the joint attack with Tron. During the times Sark was down, I opened up the defense barrier around the MCP so Tron could use the Eradicator on it. Once the MCP was down, Sark disappeared. We said our goodbyes to Tron, and he leapt into the well where the MCP had been. Back in Hollow Bastion, we learned the town was back to normal: the strange Paranoids Heartless were gone, and the town's defense system was working again. Tron spoke to us through the computer in Ansem's Study, and we got a glimpse of what Hollow Bastion used to look like--when it was known as Radiant Garden.....

Last weekend.

I had a pretty good time last weekend with Harry and Liz. On Saturday, we went to see Pathfinder. In certain ways, it was like 300: a man up against incredible odds, a viscious foreign power bent on destroying anyone in their path, gory fight scenes. Unlike that movie, however, there wasn't any gratuitus nudity.

On Sunday, we went to the local zoo. I took pictures of the animals I didn't see the during the company picnic last August. We had more fun this time around, even though many of the animals were indoors for the winter....

Game update, my weekend.

Well, I played more "Kingdom Hearts II" on Friday night: we (Donald, Goofy, and I) paid a visit to the Pride Land. The hyenas were acting funny, and we saw Scar's ghost. We went to see Simba, and he seemed bummed out. He was having doubts about his ability to be a king like his father. We went to see Rifiki (not sure if I spelled that right), and he said Simba had to get over his hesitancy in order to drive away Scar's ghost. He also said the hyenas might know more about Scar's ghost. We went to see the hyenas, but they just laughed and ran around. We took them down, but they didn't really know anything. Simba went to the Oasis, and we fought some Heartless on the way to see him. The ghost of Scar showed up there, and we used its appearance to get Simba to come back and act like a king. Back at Pride Rock, there were multiple ghosts of Scar making trouble. Simba confronted one of them, then suddenly they merged into a giant Heartless called Groundshaker. I teamed up with Simba, and we fought the bizarre beast. After beating it, I left with Goofy and Donald. We went to Hollow Bastion and saw Heartless like the ones from Space Paranoids. We fought some of them, then went to see Leon at Merlin's house. Apparently, the MCP found a way to create Heartless out of Ansem's study and unleash them on Hollow Bastion. The MCP also managed to screw up the city's automated defense system. Leon and the others tried to contact Tron, but they couldn't get through.....

I went to a Good Friday evening service. I was very moved by a re-enactment of Jesus being led to the cross and hung on it by some young people I didn't know. Even though the actors wore jeans instead of togas or robes, they managed to make it seem very real. I had an isle seat near the door where the actors entered the room, so I nearly jumped out of my seat when they came in shouting at and shoving the actor portraying Jesus around. The actor had a red substance that looked a lot like blood smeared on his torso and face. Some of it got on the floor (protected by a clear plastic tarp) near where I was sitting. I found myself looking at it repeatedly, even after the service was over. After they took the actor off of the cross, they (the people playing Jesus' disciples and female friends) carried him out the door near where I was sitting......

As is my tradition on Easter weekend, I spent a lot of time reading the Bible and reflecting on Jesus' death and resurrection. I found myself feeling a bit testy when I remembered the documentary I had watched a month or so ago that seemed to cast doubt on the bodily nature of Jesus' resurrection. The show was on a channel I normally have more respect for, and their "evidence" was based on questionable statistics and crazy theories. Ultimately, it seemed like the show was intended more to tick people off or get people talking than to convey or discover any measure of truth. I know Jesus is alive, and no movie director or fellow sinner will ever convince me otherwise......

Not much happening.

I don't have a lot to report on this weekend. I went to see Meet the Robinsons with Harry and Liz today. I hope to finish "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" tonight. I need to start packing stuff up in anticipation of moving to another part of the city. It has been raining most of today, and there was a thunderstorm in progress when Harry, Liz, and I were heading for the theater. I also ironed a few shirts, did some reading, vacuumed, did laundry, visited the bank, wrote up my grocery list, mailed some checks, washed dishes, and watched TV this weekend.

Something I think is interesting is happening tomorrow: an odd convergence of holidays. Tomorrow (4/01/2007) is both April Fool's Day and Palm Sunday. A day of comedy blended with a day of preparation for what many Christians consider the holiest part of the year. I personally hope I don't fall victim to any pranks, even though most of the people I hang out with don't usually try to trick or to tease me.....

Game Update.

I played "Kingdom Hearts II" last night: I headed over to Halloween Town to see what was up there. Jack Skellington was in his Santa suit picking up presents. We paid Santa a visit in Christmas Town, and he told us someone had stolen some presents. We looked around the factory and found Lock, Shock, and Barrel. After capturing them, we learned they weren't the present thieves. We heard of Heartless causing trouble in Halloween Town, so we headed over there. After taking them out, we got a visit from Sally's father (that wheelchair guy with the large head). He said someone had stolen his latest experiment. Jack had an idea on how to catch the thief: create decoy presents to lure the thief out into the open. We hid inside one of the gifts and waited. The thief showed up, and it was the missing experiment--a large, robotic figure with some kind of vacuum attachment. Using the joint attack with Goofy and the Valor Form, I was able to beat the Dangerous Experiment. Apparently, the Experiment was stealing presents because it was looking for a heart. I got the Decisive Pumpkin Keyblade (and switched out the Guardian Soul Keyblade for it), then left Halloween Town.

The weekend.

Okay, I couldn't think of a clever title for this entry. Basically, it was the usual weekend: movie with Harry, TV, and playing my PS2. I haven't played "Kingdom Hearts II" yet this weekend, but I plan to get to it sometime this week.

Harry and I went to see TMNT. I was a fan of the cartoon when I was younger, and I really enjoyed this movie. I was particularly intrigued by the "Night Watcher" character. He had a Batman-vibe about him, a "take-'em-down-and-freak-'em-out" thing. His costume was a leather-metal armor combo. I also liked his use of a motorcycle, reminding me of another movie I saw recently: Ghost Rider.

I played more of "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance." I'm near the end of the game, and I'm thinking I may start playing it again at a higher difficulty level after I finish "Kingdom Hearts II." I have been pondering various teams I could play with: the New Fantastic Four (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and Luke Cage [it should be the Hulk, but he isn't a playable character in this game]) or Spider-Man with Daredevil, Iceman, and the Human Torch.

Game Update, the past few days.

Played "Kingdom Hearts II" on Sunday and finished out Merlin's Book (100 Acre Woods World): first, I went to see Pooh at Rabbit's place. Piglet was there, and he suggested Pooh might remember more if he ate some honey. We found some in jars around the side of the tree-hole where Rabbit lives. Pooh ate all the honey, then Rabbit showed up. Pooh didn't recognize Rabbit, so we (Pooh and I) went on this race/journey to get more honey. I had to do the race twice because I let Pooh get knocked off the honey pot too many times in the first attempt. He remembered Rabbit after that. Second, I went to Kanga's and she suggested giving Pooh this medicine she had. Tigger showed up and thought the medicine was a gift for him. After we explained that it wasn't, Tigger realized that Pooh didn't remember him. We did some bouncing on a trampoline and popped balloons. Pooh finally remembered who Tigger was, but still didn't know who I was. Third, I went to the "Spooky Cave" and met the others (Kanga, Roo, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore [spelling?], Owl, and Rabbit). Pooh was lost in the cave, and the others were worried about him. I went with them to look for Pooh, dodging falling rocks and killing bees with my Keyblade (Guardian Soul). On the second try (there was a time limit on finding Pooh), I found Pooh, and he finally remembered who I was. I got the Sweet Memories Keyblade. Finally, I visited Pooh at a tree on "Starry Hill" or some place like that. He had his head stuck in a honey pot, but I got him out. The others showed up, and we said our goodbyes. I did some exploring in Hollow Bastion with Donald and Goofy. We fought a bunch of Heartless. I went over to Twilight Town thinking I could try to face off with the Gambling Nobodies, but I couldn't get into the Mansion yet....

Things have been okay these past few days. Harry and I didn't get together this weekend (Liz wasn't doing well, and they had some other stuff to do). Besides playing video games (I also played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance") this weekend, I headed over to the nearby mall on St. Patrick's Day. I ate lunch, got a new electric razor (my old one was giving me nasty blotches on my neck), and visited a few other stores in the mall. On Sunday, I did my grocery shopping. Today, I went to work and had dinner (subs) afterwards with Cosmo, Wanda, Diana, and Gwen.

Correction for Yesterday's Post.

I was looking at an article today about the movie 300 and realized that I said Xerxes was the "Assyrian" king in my entry yesterday when he was the Persians' king. I don't know why I was thinking they were Assyrians since, when I saw the movie, they were constantly being called Persians. My birthday is in less than 150 days from now, so I must have been having a "senior moment" when I was working on this blog yesterday. Sorry about that!

Game update, time with Harry and Liz.

Played more "Kingdom Hearts II" on Friday: we fought Heartless (mostly the fire-breathing fat guys) on our way out of Agrabah. There was a sandstorm, but Genie cleared it out for us. At the ruins, I got to ride around on Carpet (the flying carpet from the movies). I chased Jafar's shadow (it looked like a water version of him) and fought some bird-Heartless. Iago admitted that Jafar told him to lead us out there and that Jafar was really attacking the palace. Back at the palace, Jafar changed into his giant red genie-form and flung stuff at me. I flew around him on Carpet and attacked his giant head whenever I got close to it with my Hero's Crest Keyblade. After beating him, I decided we should head back to Merlin's house in Hollow Bastion since I got the last of the Torn Pages in Agrabah. I jumped into Merlin's Book (about Winnie the Pooh). I ran into Pooh and Piglet, but Pooh still didn't recognize me. It was a really windy day (Pooh called it "Windsday"), and Piglet nearly blew away. Pooh and I went after him and managed to save him. After that, I left the book.....

I spent a fair amount of time with Harry and Liz this weekend. We went to see 300 on Saturday afternoon. It has a lot of gore and a fair amount of female nudity (mostly breasts). There were some really hideous looking characters, like the hunchback who betrays Sparta's king after Leonidas refuses to let him fight with the group of 300. The Assyrian king, Xerxes, was huge and had a disturbing manner about him. The fight scenes were amazing and rather gory at times. It occured to me today when I was thinking about the movie that a similar conflict takes place in the Bible between Gideon's army of 300 and thousands of Midianites. The difference is that, in the Bible, the Midianites are tricked by God and Gideon's army into killing large numbers of their own forces at night. In the movie, the 300 Spartans kill large numbers of the the enemy forces over the course of three days, but are still overwhelmed and defeated.

Today, Harry called me up and invited me to go walking with him and Liz at a park near my apartment. We walked around part of a lake there, dodging dogs, bikers, and various muddy areas left over from all the snow we had over a week ago. Afterwards, we ate at Chili's and they took me back to my apartment.

Gaming Weekend.

Well, there were no new movies in the theater I was interested in seeing, so I spent a lot of time playing games on my PS2. On Saturday, Harry came over, and we played a game of his called "Justice League Heroes." We each got to play as different characters at different stages of the game: Harry played as Superman, the Martian Manhunter, and Flash. I played as Batman (my second favorite comic book crime-fighter), Zatanna, and Green Lantern (John Stewart). It was pretty neat, other than some technical issues we had with my PS2 console. I did my best work as Zatanna, especially after we used cheat codes to beef up our characters' powers. Harry was his best as Superman, using the heat-vision and various objects he picked up to take down the robots that attacked us.

Today, I played more "Kingdom Hearts II": I paid a visit to the Underworld and discovered Hades was up to no good. He had Hercules fighting in his new Underdrome Coliseum, and my group spotted Auron as well. I went a few rounds in the Hades Cup, winning them using my joint attack with Goofy. After making it to the finals, we decided to see what was going on with Auron. It turned out Hades was using a little statue of Auron to control him. While Auron and Hercules were fighting to distract Hades, we found the statue and brought it back to Auron. Hades was furious, but Hercules, Goofy, and I took him down using some joint attacks. We (Goofy, Donald, and I) moved on to Agrabah. We learned that the Peddler was doing quite well for himself, and Aladdin told us the Peddler has freed Jafar from his lamp.....

More game updates.

Well, I played "Kingdom Hearts II" on Friday night: at Beast's Castle, the Beast was throwing a party. He got some uninvited guests: besides Goofy, Donald, and I, a member of Organization XIII (Xaldin), Nobodies, and some Heartless showed up. My group took out the Nobodies, then Beast discovered his rose was missing. He wanted Belle and my group to leave, but I talked him into letting us help him find the rose. Xaldin showed up again, grabbing the rose and Belle. Belle broke free of his grip and ran off with the rose. My group took on Xaldin, who has some tough wind and spear attacks. It was a difficult battle, but we won.

I also played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" this weekend. As Iron Man, I led our group to the Bifrost Bridge, beating the stuffing out of various Viking warriors who attacked us. At the end of the bridge, we met the Wrecking Crew. Their enchanted tools were no match for us, and we beat them soundly. I switched Iron Man out for Thor and went on to Asgard to free Tyr, Heimdall, and Balder. Using the lightning attack (Thor's Wrath), I dropped dozens of enemies. I was surprised at how many of Spider-Man's enemies we ran into: the Lizard, the Scorpion (who I thought we had taken out back at the Helicarrier), the Rhino, and Shocker. We beat them all, then faced off with the Enchantress and the Executioner. This pair was tough to beat, especially with the Enchantress healing the Executioner. We took them down, then headed back to the Hall of Warriors. After that, we had to go to Niffleheim to search for Odin. We ran into Volla (some kind of prophetess) and tracked down her ring for her. We faced off with Kurse and Ulik. It took a lot of hits to drop them. After fighting a lot of dark elven warriors, we faced off with Ymir, a really big frost giant. He was really tough to beat, but the secret was to grab one of his warriors' spears (after beating them down) and climb onto him. Using the spear, it was just a matter of beating him down and draining out his cold energy. To my relief, this battle didn't cost me any of my team.

Kingdom Hearts II gaming update.

Well, I played more "Kingdom Hearts II" on Monday (I took the day off of work). At Port Royal, I faced off with the Heartless Monster (the Reaper) with Jack and Goofy backing me. I used the joint attacks with Jack a lot ("Bluff" and "Final Trap"), as well as the Reaction commands. After a long battle, the Reaper was defeated, and the cursed gold was sent to a watery grave. I moved on to the Land of Dragons and spotted a member of Organization XIII there. Mulan was chasing him, and we caught up to him and an army of Heartless birds on the summit of the mountain. I managed to beat him solo, and he ran off. Mulan and the others joined me, and we saw a huge Heartless Monster (the Stormrider) fly towards the city. We ran into another man in black (another member of Organization XIII), some Nobodies, and some Heartless on the way to the palace to warn the Emperor. We spoke with the Emperor, then went outside and fought the Stormrider. Like the Reaper, he was a tough foe. I used Mulan and Goofy's join attacks, then used the Chicken Little Summons. After beating the Stormrider, I moved on to the Beast's Castle.

Game updates, Ghost Rider weekend.

Well, I made more progress in "Kingdom Hearts II" : ran into cursed pirates and Jack Sparrow in Port Royal. We learned from Elizabeth that Will had gone to Isla De Muerta to see if something happened with the chest of Aztec gold. We went to see what was up and ran into Will on the Interceptor. A member of Organization XIII had stolen the chest. That same member showed up on our ship with the chest and a monster Heartless. After beating the monster, we confronted the hooded man. He said, "parley" and stole some of the gold pieces. The Interceptor got attacked and sunk by the Organization's ship. We wound up on an island, but Elizabeth came to our rescue with the Black Pearl. Jack joined my group (Goofy and myself), and we chased down Nobodies to recover the 4 pieces of stolen Aztec gold. All that remains is to confront Organization XIII back at Port Royal.....

You could say this was a Ghost Rider weekend for me. I went to see Ghost Rider (the movie) with Harry and Liz on Saturday. On Sunday, I was playing my "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" game and (after unlocking the character) played as Ghost Rider in Mephisto's Realm. I even ran the Ghost Rider simulation in Valhalla and barely managed to beat Baron Mordo in Mephisto's Realm. I used the projectile attack a lot, and I learned that Mordo could be injured by my fire attacks. I decided to switch out the Thing on my team's roster for Ghost Rider. If I ever unlock the remaining slots, then I may put Thing back in. Currently, my four heroes on the field are Captain America (classic), Spider-Man (classic), Iron Man (classic), and Spider-Woman (Secret Wars). My three standby's are now Human Torch, Iceman, and Ghost Rider. What do these characters all have in common? They all have range attacks.

Game update and some other stuff.

Played more "Kingdom Hearts II" on Friday night: I faced off with Nobodies at the Postern. After beating them, we (Goofy, Donald, and me as Sora) ran into Mickey at the Bailey on our way to join the fighting at Hollow Bastion between the Heartless and various Final Fantasy-esque characters. He wanted me to go look for Riku and Kairi, but I refused, and the others went with me. We ran into Demyx (the Organization XIII guy I encountered in the Underworld while looking for the Olympus Stone) and fought him. On my second attempt, I beat him (thanks largely to the joint attack with Goofy "Knocksmash" and the reaction command "Wild Dance"). During the next film clip, Goofy spotted someone hurling a large crystal at Mickey. He pushed Mickey out of the way and got stunned by the crystal. We thought he was finished, so we made our way to the Crystal Fissure. I teamed up with Leon and the woman in black from Ansem's study to fight various Heartless I encountered while running through the fissure. At the far end, Goofy rejoined us, to our delight. I fought dozens of Heartless in a ravine at the other end of the fissure. I used the reaction command a lot, seizing a floating robotic Heartless and using it like a ray gun to blast the Heartless warriors around me. After that, I encountered Axel. He explained that the Keyblade was unleashing Hearts every time I struck down a Heartless. The Hearts would drift in darkness until they linked with each other to form Kingdom Hearts. The leader of Organization XIII (Xemas) showed up and sent Axel away. Maleficient showed up, and there was a fight between her and some Nobodies. Somehow, Donald, Goofy, and I ended up on our Gummi Ship. I flew around and set us down in Port Royal where another adventure awaits.....

Other stuff: Harry came over on Saturday, and we watched The Emperor's New Groove on DVD. I had never seen it before, but Harry had and thought it was really funny. It was, and then we played "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance." I had a new memory card to use for the game, so we formed the team I wanted to play with (Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Woman II) at the first checkpoint in the game. We played our way from the Helicarrier to about two-thirds of the way through Atlantis. Today, I played alone as Iron Man and finished Atlantis, then gave Spider-Woman II a go and played through the Valley of Spirits. Harry loaned me a few movies on DVD, and I watched one of them today: Mosaic, an animated tale by Stan Lee about a teenage gal who gets super powers when lightning strikes an ancient artifact near her and goes on a quest to save her Interpol agent father from an ancient race of shapeshifting humanoids......

Another game update, movie with Harry.

I made more progress in "Kingdom Hearts II": a week ago today, I paid a visit to the Pride Land. My character (Sora) changed into a lion cub, Goofy turned into a turtle again, and Donald turned into some kind of parrot/cockatoo bird. I got to fight some weird Heartless that looked like bony animals. We encountered the hyennas, then got saved by a lioness. She said her pride was ruled by Scar, the brother of their former king, Mufasa. The land had suffered under Scar's rule, but the lioness didn't want our help dethroning Scar. We left the Pride Land, and I went to Atlantica. After a few tries, I finally got through the second musical number ("Part of Your World"). After that, it was back to Space Paranoids to give Tron the password (which turned out to be the names of the Disney Princesses). The MCP caught us, and we got sent to the game grid. I played the Light Cycle game and made it out after one of the tanks blew a hole in the wall. We got back to the Pit Cell and got the password to Tron. The MCP tried to take over, but Tron changed the password. We (Tron, Goofy, and I) headed to an I/O Tower, fighting Heartless on the way. I recently enabled Goofy and Sora's joint attack (knocksmash), so I got to use that a lot. At the Tower, we encountered and beat the Dangerous Program using the joint attack. Tron fixed the system, changing the password to Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I got the Photon Debugger Keyblade. After returning to the Ansem's study, we were asked by Leon to access the DTD database and download its data. That was everything from last Sunday.

This Friday (2/02), I was looking at a walk-through for the game and realized I wasn't done with the Pride Land. When I turned the game back on, I made a trip to the Pride Land. At Pride Rock, I wandered around and had a confrontation with Scar. Things started to look bad for us (especially when Pete showed up looking like a lion), but a lioness distracted Scar long enough for us to escape. We fought Heartless as we travelled across the land to the Oasis. While there, we met Simba (all grown up at this point). Nala (Simba's childhood friend) showed up, and we (including Simba) decided to go back to Pride Rock. During Simba's confrontation with Scar, Scar admitted to killing Mufasa. One of Simba's friends from the Oasis (Pumba?) had some troubles with the hyenas, but I was able to bail him out. We went to the top of the rock and watched Scar and Simba fight. For a minute, it looked like Scar was finished, but Pete showed up. Scar returned with new powers, and Goofy and I came to Simba's aid. Using the joint attack with Simba, we defeated Scar. I got the Circle of Life Keyblade. I returned to the Postern in Hollow Bastion and tried to access the DTD. The computer kept giving me errors, then a picture of Ansem the Wise appeared. Mickey showed up and explained the Ansem from the first Kingdom Hearts game was actually a Heartless version of the real Ansem. There was an explosion outside, and we went to investigate. There were Heartless and Nobodies fighting, but then they stopped fighting each other and went after me and my group. We beat them, and that's where I stopped for the weekend.

Today, Harry and I finally went to see Epic Movie. Aside from some gross stuff, it was a very funny movie. They parodied a lot of movies: The DaVinci Code, X-Men, the Harry Potter movies, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Nacho Libre, Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Snakes on a Plane, Superman Returns, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They also poked fun at Paris Hilton and MTV's "Cribs"

Game update, movies with Harry.

I made more progress in my "Kingdom Hearts II" game: with help from Jack Skellington, I was able to free Santa and beat Oogie Boogie. Beating Oogie Boogie involved running on conveyor belts in Santa's workshop, hitting presents like golf balls (using the keyblade like a club) into a control box Oogie was using, and attacking Oogie whenever he fell out of his box. I had to do this twice because my PS2 locked up after the first time I beat him before I could save the game, but I did it faster the second time around 'cause I knew exactly what to do. After that, I tried to move the statue for Ariel (since I got the magnet magic after the Halloween Town adventure), but I couldn't get past this musical thing I was supposed to do. I decided to check out Twilight Town (it was open again) and ran into Heartless, including one that looked like a robot hockey player. I beat him (even used the Valor form), then found out that Kairi was there. I found out from Roxas' friends that she got abducted by an Organization XIII guy. I headed over to Hollow Bastion and learned that they had found Ansem's computer in the Postern. On the way to the Postern, I had to fight more Heartless. After a chat with Leon and some chick in black, I got to see the computer. Stitch showed up, then Donald flipped out. In the process, the computer zapped us (Donald, Goofy, and I) with some kinda laser that sent us inside the computer's inner world (Space Paranoids). We got captured by Sark and some weird henchmen he had and put in a pit cell. Tron was in there, and we helped him escape. Working together, we got a computer/terminal thing up and running. Tron asked us to find a password in the "User's World" so he could reload his original program and free the system from the MCP (Master Control Program). Using the terminal, we got back to Hollow Bastion. After telling the story to Leon, we found out Mickey was there. Chatted with Mickey, then found the password. I also picked up the Master Form and the summons for Stitch (Ukulele Charm). I'm thinking I might pay a visit to the Pride Lands (The Lion King) and try the musical in Atlantica (The Little Mermaid) again before returning to Space Paranoids. As much as I want to continue with the Space Paranoids stuff, the walk-throughs I've looked at all describe the stuff you do in the Pridelands before the Space Paranoids missions. That, and I get the impression that I might be duking it out with a really tough boss soon, which makes me want to get more practice fighting in before then.

Today, I saw some movies with Harry. First, he came over to my apartment and brought the new animated Iron Man movie for us to see (he had seen it already, but he knew I wanted to see it, too). After that, we got together with Liz and went to see Pan's Labyrinth. The movie was better than a review I read a few weeks ago led me to believe, but it was pretty dark and gruesome at times. Hopefully, we will check out Epic Movie next weekend. Originally, we were going to see it this weekend, but Harry and Liz wanted to see Pan's Labyrinth and suggested that Harry and I could see the other movie next weekend while Liz is at work.

New kit, game update.

Well, I finally completed my collection of Spider-Man Mega Bloks Super Tech Heroes kits. Yesterday, I got the Symbiote Spider-Man. I was kinda disappointed to discover his weapon is this sticky, gummy whip thing. I was hoping it was just rubber or maybe rubber over wire. Other than that, the kit is pretty cool. The other two Spider-Man kits I have are the red/classic Spider-Man (the disk-launcher one, not the one with the grapple web) and the Silver Spider-Man. I find it interesting that the Silver Spider-Man has red eyes, while the Red and Symbiote Spider-Men have green eyes. I would have thought that maybe the Symbiote Spider-Man would have had blue eyes. Also, the Symbiote Spider-Man has a black robotic skull under his mask instead of a silver/gray one like the other two I have.....

As for "Kingdom Hearts II," I paid a visit to Halloween Town after clearing the Gummi Ship Mission, Broken Highway. I was amused by the fact that Sora, Goofy, and Donald were all in Halloween costumes: Sora reminded me of Prince (the singer, not the rapper), and Donald had some kind of cross between the Mummy and the Invisible Man going on. As for Goofy, he had some weird costume on with a tiny jack-o'lantern on his nose and a screw that looked like it was embedded in the top of his skull. Anyway, we met up with Jack Skellington (Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas) and spent a lot of time fighting with mummy-like Heartless and some jack-in-the-box Heartless. Goofy, Jack, and I took on this Prison Keeper thing with the three evil kids (Lock, Shock, and Barrel) inside it. I used the Valor form (the first time I'd used it since I got the Chicken Little Summons) and spend a lot of time ducking behind a curly hill. I managed to beat the Keeper, probably in large part to me upping my party's ability points (APs) and giving Goofy some party healing ability. Next stop: Santa's workshop to free Santa from Oogie Boogie (some huge sack shaped like a person with lots of bugs inside it).....

Game update, other stuff.

Well, I've made a lot of progress in my game since my last entry. At Timeless River, I fought various Heartless creatures and two versions of Pete: past and present. I used the Chicken Little summons to freeze some of the Heartless I was up against. Little would bring my enemies closer, then freeze them for me briefly. Pete stole the cornerstone in the past, but Donald, Goofy, and I got it back from him. After that, we moved on to Port Royal (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl) and teamed up with Jack Sparrow. I got to fight Heartless and cursed skeletal pirates. I even got to face off with Captain Barbosa himself. It took me two tries, but I beat him with a lot of help from Jack and Goofy. After that, I paid a visit to Atlantica (The Little Mermaid) and participated in a musical with Ariel and various sea creatures. The next world I visited was Agrabah (Aladdin). Met up with Iago, then Princess Jasmine. Teamed up with Aladdin, fought Heartless, and went to the Cave of Wonders. Fought more Heartless, negotiated some traps/challenges, and got some treasure. Back at the city, we saw Pete trying to steal Jafar's lamp from a peddler. Genie returned during the fight, then I got to duke it out with the Fire and Ice Lords (two bulbous creatures that took turns trying to roast or freeze me and my party). After a long battle, I was able to beat them and got the Genie Summons. I decided to switch up my Keyblade from the default keyblade to the Follow the Wind Keyblade I got at the end of the Port Royal adventure (it draws orbs to you during fights).

Other stuff: I went with Harry and Liz to see Arthur and the Invisibles. It was even better than I expected. We've been getting snow here this weekend. I bought Harry's PS2 copy of Marvel: Ultimate Alliance since he and Liz got a X-Box 360 and later the X-Box version of the game. I spent a few hours today playing it. Since I don't have a memory card for it yet, I just played through the Helicarrier, Omega Base, and Atlantis missions. I expect that Harry will probably come over every once and awhile so we can finish our game on it. I've also been watching Superman Returns on DVD.

Time with Harry and Liz, game update.

Well, I've spent a lot of time with Harry and Liz so far this year. We went to a party on New Year's Eve, then I spent the night/early morning at the house they were watching for some relatives (the power was out at my apartment when we got back from the party). New Year's Day, we ran some errands and played some games on PS2 (I watched Liz play "Spiro" and helped her make some progress with "Kingdom Hearts"). That afternoon, we went to see Night at the Museum. That evening, they dropped me off at my apartment.

I also got together with Harry and Liz today. We ate dinner at a fast food place and visited Wal-Mart. I offered to buy their PS2 game "Marvel: Ultimate Alliance" since they were looking to buy the XBox 360 version of the game for their new system. Hopefully, I'll get it from them next weekend. After Wal-Mart, we went to see Happily N'Ever After. I thought the evil stepmother (voiced by Sigorney Weaver) was hot, and I liked the dishwasher character (voiced by Freddy Prince, Jr.) who loved a girl (Ella AKA Cinderella) who only saw him as a friend and was ga-ga over the shallow, not-terribly-bright prince the dishwasher worked for.

As for my "Kingdom Hearts II" game, I have made progress. I visited the Olympus Coliseum world after blasting my way through the Phantom Storm Gummi mission. I was bummed that the Drive Form option was disabled while I was in the Underworld, but I still held my own against the Heartless in the caves. I teamed up with Auron, who helped me escape Hades, fight through the Heartless, and put Cerberus down long enough to get out the main gate. I met up with Hercules and did some training with Phil. After that, I went back into the Underworld to find the Olympus Stone (it was snatched by a member of Organization XIII--Demyx) and rescue Megara (spelling?). Demyx kept saying "Roxas," then I had to take out 100 or so ghostly forms he unleashed against me. I used the Reaction command a lot, which was some "Wild Dance" thing that let me take out several forms at a time. I got the Stone, then looked for Meg. I found her with Hades, Pete, and some bat-like Heartless. I was able to free her, and Hercules came along. We fought with Pete, then left after Hades said something about the Hydra in the Coliseum. We got up there and fought with the Hydra. It was a two-part battle: the first part, I would climb on the Hydra's back and smash jars tossed by Phil on the monster. This would stun the Hydra's two heads (protruding from holes in the ground) so I could run over and attack them. The second part had the Hydra with at least seven heads. It would hit me with fire and tear up the ground. I kept hitching rides on Pegasus and swinging my Keyblade at the heads as I flew by them. I also discovered Meg would throw health and magic boosting orbs my way if I went over to her. After a long battle, the Hydra was defeated. We got a message from Queen Minnie and headed over to Disney Castle. I fought through some Heartless and joined Minnie. Donald and Goofy split up from us, leaving Minnie and I to fight to the audiance chamber. There was a hidden room beneath it leading to the Cornerstone Chamber. There were thorns around the cornerstone, and we learned Malificent (spelling?) was trying to take over the castle. Goofy, Donald, and I went to see Merlin back at Hollow Bastion. He brought us back to the Chamber and made a door appear. We (Donald, Goofy, and I) went through the door to the Timeless River, a black-and-white world resembling an old Disney cartoon.