Category: Fun & Games

Deals on toys

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I really like going to Half Price Books even though most of the time we leave empty-handed. Not this weekend! Yesterday we came across a drum set for the Xbox 360 for only $14.99. With a 20% off coupon it was even less. I’ve wanted to get the drums ever since my brother brought his Wii set over but wasn’t willing to pay $80. It hadn’t even occurred to me to check for a used set so I’m glad Joe spotted them since the store only had one.

Joe asked about getting a bigger discount since the set was missing a crucial connector but luckily they had one in the back. All we had to buy were drum sticks from Target ($7 for 4) and we were set. I used my 20% off coupon to get Lego Rock Band for $6.80 and we took everything home to test it out. We also tried our most recent Guitar Hero game, and while it works fine, Rock Band seems much more forgiving on the drums which is good news for yours truly since I am not nearly as good on the drums as I am on the guitar. The game even lets you put the foot pedal on auto so you don’t have to worry about touching it during the game. Also good news for the uncoordinated such as myself.

Today we went back to Half Price since we had 50% off coupons and Joe spotted an old PS2 (we prefer the old one because we have a hard drive) for $20 which was only $10 with the coupon. It even came with a controller in addition to all the cables. What a deal! Now we can return my brother’s PS2 to him. He let us take his when ours died a few months ago but he wanted $40 to keep it. We also got the original Rock Band for only $4.30. Buying used is definitely the way to go when it comes to games and equipment when you play as infrequently as we do.

I plan on going back as soon as Half Price sends me more coupons because I want to get a 2012 calendar. They’re 50% cheaper than those calendar stores in the mall so if I can get another 50% off coupon I’ll be able to get a full-size calendar for only $3.50. I liked the jellyfish one I saw there today so I’ll probably get that one.

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Another recent deal – I saw this little Philips portable speaker at Target for $20 and wanted it, but decided to wait awhile (I love putting off purchases for some reason; I think it gives me some weird thrill). We were at Walmart yesterday and I saw it again but for $5 cheaper, so I decided to get it. Even better, it rang up $5 less than the listed price so I only paid $10 for it. Based on the reviews online it should work great (I haven’t opened it yet). I’m looking forward to trying it out on my work from home days when I listen to podcasts on my phone while I work.

Labor Day Weekend

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Labor Day weekend was a blast! I played more video games over the span of three days than I’ve played all year combined. Friday night E and I played Guitar Hero for hours and on Sunday both my brothers came to visit and I played drums on my brother’s copy of Rock Band and Guitar Hero for the Wii. I want to get a set of drums now but they are so expensive! I can’t find anything online under $100.

Sunday morning before the boys came over we went to Target and ended up buying a Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock bundle for the Xbox360 since it was on clearance for only $40 and still sells for $80 elsewhere for the Xbox as well as other platforms. The single reason I got it? To play Fascination Street by The Cure! I had completely forgotten when they announced the game that it contained a Cure song. There are a lot of negative reviews online about this iteration of GH and I’m surprised since I like that you can play all the songs via Quick Play without having to unlock them first. It’s too bad we don’t have an internet adapter for the Xbox, though, because you can download even more songs. I guess I’ll have to add that to my wish list and hope it actually works. The PS3 connects to our router fine but the Wii absolutely refuses to connect unless we open up our network which there’s no way I’m doing. We used to just connect to our neighbor’s unsecured network (naughty, I know, but it was only to do system updates) but then he grew a brain and password-protected it (as he should).

Earlier in the day on Sunday before we played video games we spent some time at a park once we found one where there was some available space; it was super crowded at our preferred place so we had to hunt for an alternative. We had a picnic and played frisbee together, then Brother # 1 and I watched while Joe and Brother # 2 played catch with a football. We also came across this huge creepy moth.

Brother # 2 took that picture. I’ve never seen one of those before but after some Googling I’ve learned it’s a Carolina Sphinx moth.

Games

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Wednesday was BINGO day at work. I had no intention of participating since last year was so disappointing watching the same people win multiple times while I got nothing. I decided to try again, however, and focus on the fun of playing and it paid off: I won a $50 Kohl’s gift card. Woo!

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If you play Hanging with Friends or Words with Friends and would like to start a game with me leave a comment and I’ll email you my username so we can get our game on.

Three (not blind) Mice

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You should see the bruise on my left leg – it’s the biggest bruise I’ve ever had. How did I get it? From playing Whirlyball on Thursday during a work function. It was fun, but man am I sore! I knew right away when I smacked my leg against the control stick that it would be bruised but I never would have guessed how much. After that I sat the rest of the games out, but joined in on two games of Lasertron since I have never played before. It was so much fun, but it’s exhausting being out of shape! It’s too bad I bruise so easily or I’d love to play paintball since it’s like lasertag but outdoors.

Today ended up being quite eventful. It didn’t start out that way, though. I slept in until 10 am and then we made belgian waffles with the waffle maker we bought at Target last weekend. After breakfast we ran some errands which included buying crickets at Petsmart for the toad. Somehow we ended up taking home three little mice! Here’s a quick video of them that I put together.

Aren’t they adorable with those oversized ears? They are teeny tiny too! Smaller than the smallest hamster. They were on sale for $5 and since they can be housed together we decided to buy all three. Joe came up with their names since we’re such Big Bang Theory Fans. They’re living in Oreo’s old 20″ long aquarium and they have her old Wodent Wheel, some tubes, and two houses. It’s nice being able to make use out of all that stuff that was sitting in the garage collecting dust.

After pulling the aquarium out of the garage we found ourselves doing some unplanned cleaning and organizing since it was such a mess. We found more stuff to donate to Goodwill (we already donated a bunch of stuff last weekend) and threw away and rearranged a lot. By the time we were finished it was after 5 pm and we were starving since we had completely missed lunch, so we went to Red Robin for dinner and then did our grocery shopping at SuperTarget.

Tomorrow we’re going to IKEA to find a small stand for the toad – we put the mice on top of our CD stand where the toad’s tank was so we need to create a new space for her.

ROFLMAO

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I’ve been hooked on comedy albums as of late, particularly the genius work of Louis C.K., my new favorite stand-up comedian of all time. I think I have a non-sexual crush on him; no one makes me laugh as much as he does. It doesn’t matter how wicked or vulgar he gets, it’s all gold in my eyes. One of the things I most admire about him is how often his material changes instead of using the same old stuff over and over for decades. It’s a testament to just how funny he is.

Also? Dane Cook totally stole his material! It’s so obvious now. Fuck Dane Cook anyway. I haven’t liked him or Carlos Mencia for awhile now and I take back what I said in this entry because Louis DOES do the material better, *I* just didn’t know any better back then. You have to check out his old HBO series, Lucky Louie, and be sure to tune into his current series, Louie when it returns to FX later this year.

If I had to put together a list of my other favorite comedians right now, they would be:

The late, but great Mitch Hedberg. There won’t be another like this guy. Until Louis came into my life I’d listen to Mitch’s work often. I’m still sad that he died.

Nick Swardson – his half hour show on Comedy Central, Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time, is bizarre but great (who doesn’t love a wheelchair-bound cat addicted to drugs?), and he was so funny on Reno 911 as Terry (the gay guy on rollerskates). I absolutely loved him in Grandma’s Boy which he co-wrote and happens to be one of my favorite movies. He also wrote another favorite of mine – Malibu’s Most Wanted. No wonder Adam Sandler took him under his wing. The guy is hilarious!

Aziz Ansari – Ever since I saw him on the last season of Scrubs (albeit briefly), I was hooked. He’s highly entertaining on Parks & Recreation and his stand-up is engaging.

Russell Peters – His racial comedy never stops me laughing. I love when he does he’s accents, particularly the Indian one. “Someone gonna get a hurt real bad!”

Dave Chapelle – His stand-up can be hit or miss, but I always found the Chappelle Show funny and enjoyed him in Half Baked. It’s too bad he’s dropped off the face of the earth.

Strangely enough, the only one I’ve seen live so far is Aziz but I hope to change that once the other guys make their next circuit.

Interesting how the list only includes male comedians. I think it has to do with the material. Women just can’t pull off talking about diarrhea or how much their kids are assholes and I like that sort of thing. If I had to pick one female I do find amusing, though, it would be without a doubt Wanda Sykes, and she’s a lesbian, so it’s clear I only like comics who like women. ;)