Nintendo Fail

I dusted off the nintendo to play some mario 3 tonight. Well, I didn’t exactly dust it off as I am not sure I have enough cleaning devices for that currently… but I did pull it out of it’s corner.

I can’t really call it an epic fail considering that I’ve never actually beat a mario game, or any nintendo game for that matter (despite owning one long past it’s prime), but I was really thinking that tonight was the night where everything would change.

Maybe it was a new sense of resolve, or the fact that I had help, but I really thought “this game can’t be that hard”. Well, it beat me again.

I have to admit though, this is the first time I ever played anything higher than world 3. When it comes to video games I have a bit of a attention disorder. I’ve played the first world probably 80,000 times – yet always seem to stop after that… and with out the ability to save I am doomed.

Maybe I will look up some sort of strategy guide online, that seems like cheating though.

I will stick to my plan of playing the first world over and over and see if I ever win.

Olympic Crazy!

Ever since I was a kid I have been a bit of an olympic nut. Every few years for a two week period you can find my holed up with my TV as the world’s elite athlete’s compete.

I am not an athlete (unless you consider hurting one’s self a sport), but that doesn’t stop me from trying to understand the physiology and psychology behind the events. For that two week period I pretend I know what judges are looking for and what is in the minds of the athletes.

I am so proud of all of the Canadian athletes. I can’t imagine what it must be like to train like they do and feel the stress they do. Even the Canadians who come in 30th place… I still think that is amazing. I wish I could say I was the 30th best in the world at anything. OUT OF 6 BILLION PEOPLE. Crazy.

The olympics also bring out my patriotic side. Anyone who knows me really well knows that I get teary-eyed every time I hear the national anthem sung by a crowd. It turns out I all out cry when Canadians win medals. There is something incredibly powerful about sharing a moment with an entire nation.

I am also aware of the dark side of the olympics and have been tuning in to some of the protests going on. Events like this bring increased prostitution (and human trafficing), displaced homeless people, and somewhat irresponsible spending to name a few problems. However, I am a firm believer that it is not the athletes that create these problems, and this is their moment to celebrate and us with them. The dark side of the olympics is a symptom of much deeper systemic issues within our society and government. Protesting the games is like trying to treat symptoms of a disease to cure it. It’s not going to work… let’s celebrate some of our successes instead. The games are here, and happiness is a choice.

Dodgeball is a serious sport

Much to the surprise of many people, there is a dodgeball league here in town. I’ve been playing the last few years, and although I don’t throw strong, I can usually be counted on for a game changing catch.

Until two weeks ago…

We were playing against a fairly agressive team with some great throwers. It was the second game of the night. I wanted to see if I could shake the confidence of one of their top throwers by catching a ball even though we had no teammates off yet (usually the advantage to catching is that the thrower goes out plus you get an out teammate on). I saw my opportunity, I went in for the high speed catch… and…

The ball had a bit of spin to it and although I usually follow it in to my torso the ball went off to the side a bit and I caught it in my fingers. My right hand immediately crumpled and I let the ball fall to the floor. This wasn’t the usual jammed finger, infact although the contact was with my fingers I could feel the pain in my hand.

I sat through the rest of the game, with only a small detour to go stick my hand in a snowbank (this however didn’t happen because we play in a elementary school in the evening and a janitor spotted me clutching my hand and offered me some ice from the teacher’s lounge). I drove myself home after. Then, after some contemplation I decided to go to the hospital, with a stop for a large tea first because I assumed I would be there for a while.

The wait wasn’t as bad as I thought. I was in and out within two hours. I got a kick out of the x-ray guy fast asleep in the x-ray room. Night time healthcare is awesome. The x-rays showed a fracture just below my ring finger knuckle. They splinted me up, told me to come back in 10 days, and sent me on my way.

hand spint = arm splint

The good news is that I have a lot of free time now. No more dodgeball, had to cancel out of my wednesday night fitness class (I am not ready for one-arm pushups yet), no snowboarding for a while, and the worst part… I’ve had to drop out of my band for a while. I am not skilled enough to play the trumpet with 2 fingers. The bad news is that with one hand it’s hard to capitalize on having lots of free time.

I think the worst part is explaining to people that I hurt myself playing dodgeball. One person asked me if I was a teacher. heh.

I am also paranoid now that I haven’t been drinking enough milk.

I went for my 10 day check-up, things are looking good and healing up. Should only be two more weeks in a smaller hand splint. The doctor advised me to try to avoid falling on my hand and punching anyone. Seems like sound advice.

Fresh start

Fresh start, new layout, cleaned up some stuff.

Now lets see what happens!