joe randel's art dump

So what makes people hardcore gamers?  Being up on all the latest game news?  Playing all the latest releases?  Having a game collection that you could retire on?  Maybe some of those things but I think that one that is usually over looked is that a good gamer should not be afraid to play games out side of their comfort zone.  They should play all sorts of games because it will round them out as a great game player and they will expand more in the world of games.

Why am I bringing this up?  Well because when I was on “vacation” I stumbled across Cooking Mama 2 for DS and I quickly snatched it up.  See, when the first Cooking Mama came out I was so excited about the theme of the game that I was totally going to import this game.  But it got picked by a publisher and the later got picked up by me ^_^  I loved it.  I thought the game was fun although a bit easy, but still fun.  Just nice to pick up and play for a quick round or two and totally unlike anything that I owned at all.

So what do I think of the second one?  It’s pretty much the same as the first but to me that works.  They’ve expanded the recipes so they cover the globe more and not just Japanese delights.  They’ve tweaked the things that you had to do in the first one so they’re more fun to do or just to mix it up a bit for players from the first one.  New additions are the ability to cook your recipes for Mama or one of several other characters and then they grade you on your cooking ability.  It’s fun but does seemed to be similar to the regular cooking aspect of the game.  You can also unlock new outfits for Mama stickers for the pictures of your meals and even choose the colours for the kitchen and utensils you’ll be using.  Which doesn’t effect game play but it’s fun to do and my daughter loves it.  Although I think they could have toned down all the rainbows, flowers and hearts in the title. ^_^

Cooking Mama 2 is just too much fun for me.  Even though it might seem as an expansion for the first one, I really like it.  The game just screams cute and is full of colour.  I really want to try the multiplayer too, I bet it’s fun.  It’s probably the closest to an Iron Chef game that I’ll get.

So I’m back after my “vacation” from Moncton New Brunswick.  I say “vacation because it rained every singe day we where there and was pretty cool for this time of year.  Oh sure there was some clear breaks, but really… it rained every day.  Suck.  We stayed with friends, which was fun, but by the end got a little old for both sides I think.  It wasn’t horrible by any stretch, but we where happy to be going home by the end of it all.  Home, where we don’t feel out of place and where we can be ourselves again.

I don’t feel like we really got to see Moncton or NB really due to weather.  We had pizza from Pizza Shack and fish and chips at some place called Deluxe Fries (I think it was called).  We saw Magnetic Hill for $5 bucks!!  It was neat but not worth five of my hard earned dollars.  We all so saw the saddest zoo I’ve ever been to.      In it we saw gold fish, ducks, bears, goats and raccoons.  o_O  I have gold fish at home and raccoons in my back yard.  I didn’t fly to the far edge of Canada to see gold fish… frig.  I was a little early for the zoo to be open as it was still a bit cold for most of the animals, but if some one told us this before we decided to come down in May we might have changed our minds and came in July.  My daughter seemed to like it though.  There where lions and some other exotic animals… but not many.

The flights where okay.  My first time flying and all and I wasn’t scared.  I was more nervous about going though security or not having my luggage arrive or something like that.  But it was all super smooth.  The pressure in my ears was a bit uncomfortable but nothing horrible.

Over all… I’d say it was a “meh” vacation at best.  Wife thinks the same.  Both feel kind of bummed about the whole deal really.

Suck

Maybe next time I guess.

Do you have a stupid wish or talent?  Wish you could have one time to try it out and see if you’d be any good?  I know I do…

Some times I…  When no one is around I…  practice being a human beat box.  There… I said it.  It’s true.  Ever since I was in public school I’ve been amazed by professional beat boxers.  The sounds and beats that they can do are crazy sometimes and I’ve always wanted to do that too.  I actually practice sometimes in the shower or when all alone.  Sad but true.  When I was little my Mom got me a book called Mouth Sounds.  I saw it on Reading Rainbow once and I was hooked on making all kinds sound with my mouth.  What’s really odd is that I don’t listen to hip hop or anything.  I just like the ability to break out and do a beat box on the fly.  I usually practice with video game tunes. ^_^

Another one is voice acting.  If I couldn’t draw, I’d like to get in to voice acting.  It another thing I practice by myself.  Usually in the car which, I’m sure, makes me look crazy @_@  I was in awe of Mel Blanc during my childhood and now it’s Billy West, Frank Welker and… heck… just about everyone from the Futurama cast to my list of voice acting talent.

So now you know my stupid wish/talent that I practice when no one’s looking.  Do you have anything like this?

Man… I really need to get more sleep.

I usually go to bed around 11:30 and then get up around 6:30… that’s only about 7 hours of sleep… and that’s if the baby doesn’t wake up… or my daughter doesn’t wake up… or if the dog doesn’t decide he wants food 1 hour earlier then normal.

So yeah… I’m tired most of the day.  I can honestly say that I don’t know what it’s like to feel fully rested.  So every evening I think to myself, self… I should go to bed early tonight and actually get a decent amount of sleep, and yet I always stay up later drawing, watching tv, surfing the tubes and/or playing games.  It’s hard when the only “me time” you get is the last few hours of the day.  You really don’t realize how much time you have to do your own thing until you have kids and that time goes out the window.  Then you want to squeeze all the moments you can get out of the time you do get just so you can do what you want.  Sleep might even be a sacrifice.  It has for me.  But man… some times I really should just bite the bullet some nights and just go to sleep.

My Mom says I’ll get all that sleep back when my kids are teenagers ^_^