I’ve been busy, but my regular blogging resumes now.
After Dad gave us a scare by first landing in the hospital with a lung infection and then checking out of the hospital only to have to be rushed back in a few hours later,
he’s doing fine. He’s been well enough to do all the usual Christmas
things including going to Christmas mass, visiting my sister’s house on
Christmas morning to see his grandkids open their presents and hold
court at Christmas dinner. Once again, thank you all for you prayers
and good thoughts.
Wendy, upon hearing that
Dad was very badly ill, managed to fly in a week earlier than she had
intended to. As a result, this visit marked the longest consecutive
number of days we’ve been together — a whopping sixteen! It may seem a
little odd that I’m marrying someone with whom I’ve spent more time
apart than together, but if you know us personally, you know how well
matched we are. Besides, proximity doesn’t guarantee a good
relationship — I’ve had one or two perfectly rotten girlfriends who’ve
lived a few blocks away. I’ll be extremely happy once Wendy’s here full-time.
If you know me personally, you’d probably think that I’d fit as well in a wedding registry department as Kunta Kinte at a Merle Haggard concert (to borrow a line from the Bloodhound Gang). However, I spent the holdiays registering at not one, but two places: The Hudson Bay Company (a Canadian department store chain) and William Ashley
(a Canadian foo-foo place where you’re supposed to register for china
patterns). The Bay had a little plastic wheel calculator that tells you
the dollar value of the wedding gifts you should receive given then
number of guests; apparently Wendy and I should expect the equivalent
of a reasonably-equipped BMW 3-series.
Ashley gives any couple who registers there a set of champagne flutes
and a handful of chocolate truffles filled with champagne truffle
cream. I never truly understood the motivation behind Jennifer Aniston’s character, “Rachel” in the first episode of Friends (she called off her marriage after she realized that she was more in love with the wedding gifts than her fiance) until now.
Another way I’ve been keeping busy was with the PlayStation 2
that Wendy bought me for Christmas. Videogame consoles are often a
point of contention for couples, typically with the cooler half being
into gaming and the lamer half into lame-o stuff like (you have to
imagine me making “finger quotes” and speaking a deep, saracstic tone)
“snuggling” and “talking about the relationship” (I kid, I kid). I
decided to take the high road and get some games that Wendy would like.
As a result, she’s now into the completly awesome and quirky Katamari Damacy. I tried to get into her into the “realistic” world of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,
but while I was marvelling at the fact that I could beat up crack
dealers, club cops with their own truncheons and soften up rival gang
members by running over them with a stolen ambulance and then finish them off with the
submachine gun, she was wowed by the fact the she got the character to
buy some pop from a machine in the game. If any of you can suggest some
games along the lines of Katamari Damacy that both Wendy and I would enjoy, please let me know in the comments.
(Maybe I can get her hooked on No One Can Stop Mr. Domino if I can dig up a copy…)
That TikTok wellness influencer is so close to getting it.
There’s a good chance you’ve seen this photo by now: Pictured seated from left to…
Here’s a collection of interesting memes, pictures, an cartoons floating around the internet that I…
Tap to see the source. This is yesterday’s daily New Yorker cartoon, created by Brendan…
C’mon, let it not be Asians this time. Last time was pretty bad. Here’s the…
View Comments
Joey. He bought a soda. SODA.
Hehehehe.
Something along the lines of Katamari Damashii?? This is... unheard of. There is simply nothing else that can compare. No one has ever made anything like it before. I know sounds horibbly cheesy, I know, BUT-- B*U*T trust me, do a search for "'game like' katamari damacy" (or damashii) and you'll see what I mean.
There is a second Katamari Damashii in the works right now, but until that one comes out, there's not much else. You could get her the soundtrack for the game, of course, she would probably love it (the music is half the fun of the game!).
But then, you would have to listen to her singing that music all the time. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like the music as well (heck, you might even learn the stuff on the accordion, and that would SO rock).
Me, I feel like I'm learning japanese from all that music! Check it out, hanke da, minna tamatte ore ni tsuikegoi, yeah!
i can't believe you made the kunta kinte reference, that was hillarious.
jay
http://right-brained.blogspot.com
oh yeah, Katamari is awesome. I, too, got a PS2 for Christmas and have been enjoying myself immensely. But this crazy game created, no doubt, by Japanese hippies, is the only one my wife has yet played.