The Big DumpTruck

I can breath a bit better but my ears are blocked and ouchy, and my head feels stuffy. This is so not how I want to feel today. But I did get a good night’s sleep last night so maybe I’m on the upswing? I just wonder if I should have my doctor peek in my ears. I will just DIE if I have to call in sick my first week at this new job.

Before I forget, I have to brag that Junior ran in the Mass State Police Fun run in the Junior division (kids 4-8) and he ran the WHOLE half mile (!) and said “I’m not even tired!” at the finish line! I’m stunned! This cannot be a child with my DNA. He was running with my BIL and nephew and when they got to where I was standing I didn’t see him. So I thought at the last minute he’d changed his mind about running and stayed with my parents. But turns out he’d sprinted ahead of them and ran like the dickens for the whole race! I didn’t even SEE where he placed because I was so convinced he’d dropped out. Hey, a half mile is quite a distance!

He was so proud of himself. I was bursting I was so proud of ALL the kids! My niece even ran her whole race (I want to say like an 8th of a mile, but I have no idea) and my nephew finished the half mile too! They all got these great medals… Oh, and my BIL finished his race (the five miler) in the first third – I don’t know his exact time, maybe under 45 minutes? It was actually very fun!

I figured enough of you play video games that I can rant here and you’ll at least understand what I’m talking about.

We rented Rugrats Royal Ransom for the Gamecube. I actually really like the game…just challenging enough that I had a ball playing, easy enough for Michael to complete some of the levels. I actually love some of the games – they’re really unique and fun (you drive a buggy on the moon (with moon gravity) trying to find cheese bits, etc.)

Yesterday I was complaining to Mr. Dump about to UI design flaws in the game that really ticked me off because there was NO NEED for the game to be written this way. These are two levels of play – the regular game and the extras, unlocked games that you have to “buy” by collecting funny money on each level. Well Junior learned the hard way that after you buy a game you damned well better save because when you exit out so that you can PLAY the game you just bought, it doesn’t prompt you to save, so you will have lost all your progress to that point…and the game you just bought. WTF? Why not have a save prompt whenever you exit the game? Are they stupid? It’s a game for small kids who don’t always REMEMBER to save. Grrrrr.

You shouldn’t HAVE to exit the game to play the extra levels, either. Oh, and related to that…when you finish a “room” if you hit the start button to try to save, Save isn’t an option unless you step away from the doorway. HUH? I should be able to save WHEREVER I WANT. You can’t even save when you’re IN a room. Oh man, that’s nice.

I got SO ANGRY at that damned game today. You want design flaw? I’ll give you design flaw. We worked all morning to reach the end of the game (in a manner of speaking…the goal is to defeat Angelica to get your toys back, but we still had rooms that we hadn’t even started to complete yet…) As SOON AS we defeated Angelica it runs the credits, etc., and then dumps you back to the main menu….you guessed it…WITHOUT SAVING THE GAME. So all the work we did after our last save was GONE, including defeating Angelica. What is WRONG with these people? And because you can’t save mid-level it’s NEVER going to save the game with all the money you are collecting on that last level (and there’s a LOT of it.)

I am going to write THQ. This is so avoidable, and he was SOOOOO disappointed to lose the three levels we had worked on since our last save.

Yesterday I was talking to my sister and my niece had “her babies” with her. She named them Emily and Peter, and I started to have a song snippet stuck in my head. But I couldn’t figure out what the song was or who did it. Over the course of 30 minutes I realized the song was by Level 42, but I couldn’t remember the name of the song. But I was convinced that the lyrics involved kids named “Peter and Emily. Well after I got home I started mowing the lawn, and the rest of the song came to me, after I realized it’s “Joseph and Emily” not Peter and Emily. Oh well, it was a nice try.

Now I have to try to find this CD so I can listen to the whole song.

“Looking back it’s so bizarre”

(I’m just doing my bit to remind you all about my favorite 80’s bands…)

I got to see Sally at the Button birthday party! I had Junior with me, and there was no way he was going to sit with all those grown-ups eating finger sandwiches and listening to people read poetry. I mean, he’s pretty patient with me, but that would really have pushed it over the edge. But we did say hi, bought three issues of the magazine and admired the cake with the big button on it.

We also picked up two bags of books at the sale, despite the rain. They had the tables out with the boxes of books and big sheets of plastic over everything. So you had to lift the plastic to look at the books…I stupidly did this while a guy was crouched on the other side of the table from me, and the water shooshed down in his direction. He waved off my apology, saying he was getting wet without my help.

So the cool thing about the Lunenburg book sale is that it’s by donation. That always throws me for a loop. I mean, I don’t want them to think I’m horribly cheap, but I am on a budget, at least for a week or two. So I gave her $10, which was more than they would have cost at a yard sale, but less than I would have paid at, say, the Acton book sale. And everyone is happy.