Intensity

Don'tbuguswe'replaying.

GH us

It has taken months and months of watching me play (and also the addition of drums) but Anna is totally sold on Guitar Hero right now. There's a two hour late start for school this morning and instead of watching PBS Kids or the Netflix box, I hear her in there playing Guitar Hero ("Barracuda" to be precise.)

One of the new features of Guitar Hero: World Tour is the ability to make your own rocker. This was too tempting to resist. Both Anna and I have made reasonable approximations of ourselves - or rather, what we would want to look like as rockers.

Here's Anna - looking kind of like a Barbie if you ask me.


And here's me, if I were actually a rocker with bulky muscles and abs of steel. You can't really tell, but the guy is actually wearing glasses. He's a pretty cool dude, even though I have a mermaid tattoo (Anna's request.)

Yes, the picture quality is terrible. You try taking a picture of the TV screen and see how well it comes out.

Consolation prize

Last night when I was having my nightly bowl of cereal, this little wonder was at the top of the Raisin Bran box.

It plays three little tinny guitar tunes that really rock out when you hit the whammy bar. What it does not do is replicate the Guitar Hero experience.

It got me to thinking...perhaps that will be the Guitar Hero that some kids get this year! Kind of like the kids who got these instead of fancy Atari 2600s when I was a kid.

Truth be told, that port of Donkey Kong was probably on par with the Atari 2600 port, so maybe the kids that were recipients of the Donkey Kong tabletop were ultimately the winners!

Practice makes perfect

a/k/a I think we're going to need to get another guitar.



Not bad for someone who a few months ago wouldn't even pick up the guitar. Wait for it at ~1:02. That's the moment.

Birthday recap

It's 12:33 AM and we're under yet ANOTHER severe thunderstorm watch. The street outside is a river (only a slight exaggeration) but the basement is dry (for the moment.) Iowa City, which was my home for the largest chunk of my life outside my hometown is threatened with record flooding thanks to all this excessive rain. I'm not going to bed until this passes. Good thing I don't work till 10 tomorrow.

Anyway, the birthday was good. Thanks to all those wishing me well as I embark on this portion of my 30s. I truly didn't know so many people gave a shit! My folks came over today and with them, they brought my present which was Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock for the Wii. Really, it's all Matt's fault that I am even interested in Guitar Hero at all! Perhaps my biggest surprise was to find "Ruby" by the Kaiser Chiefs on there as a song you can "buy" with the money you make in career mode. I love that song, and I think I have Paul to thank for that one!

Anyway, here I am, rocking out.


We had a nice dinner and the weather, amazingly enough was fantastic. That was followed by the traditional singing and cake and what not, which was all good. Here's a couple shots from that - one of Heidi and me, and the other of Anna and me.


In addition to all this fun, I also helped fix a toilet! I learned so much that should I ever have to do that again (chances are high, there are two other toilets in the house), I could likely do it all by myself.

Anna was especially precious today because she bought me a second wheel for the Wii so that we can play Mario Kart in tandem. She even spent her very own money on it, made the card herself and also designed the wrapping paper. I think that Jeff would be proud of her!

So now, the storm has passed and I'm off to bed. Heidi bought me a new alarm clock which is on the bedside table next to me. It looks like a Dalek, I must say. It's one of those progressive alarm clocks that wakes you up either with light or sound or smell or some combination of the three. I am forever complaining that my alarm clock is the most annoying one on the planet, so hopefully this will remedy that situation. I hate that fucking old alarm clock.

Oh, and my monthly goal of meditating daily? Going well. I have missed only a couple days and I'm amazed at how much difference it makes for me.