Tippy thinks this is helpful while I’m playing video games. It is not.
Friday Funnies
Tag Archives: Video Games
More than meets the eye
I used to be a huge fan of the Olympics. During the summer Olympics I was glued to the television watching women’s gymnastics and during the winter Olympics, figure skating had my attention. At some point over the years, I stopped. Now I just get the highlights, if that. (Although, this year I think I missed a lot by not seeing Snoop Dogg in action. I need to see if someone has done a “best of Snoop Dogg” compilation.)
However, as awesome as Snoop Dogg seemed to be, there were a few memorable moments that won my heart. Kenn got a big kick out of Yusuf Dikec and how his casual shooting stance took over the Olympics. Kenn tends to avoid social media, so I spent a lot of time sending him memes.
The images of Chinese gymnast Zhou Yaqin learning about the medal-biting tradition from Italian gymnasts Alice D’Amato and Manila Esposito is hands-down one of the cutest things ever.
However, in my opinion, the single best thing to come out of the 2024 Summer Olympics is gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik, aka Pommel Horse Guy.
Stephen is the best thing to happen to nerd-dom in forever. Nerds and geeks tend to have a reputation as anti-social guys living in their parents’ basements while doing nothing except playing video games and occasionally foraging for junk food. And, I’m sure there are nerds who fit that stereotype. However, the majority of us don’t. I am a major nerd and I’m not even a dude! I love video games and could talk to you about my favorite games for hours. I’m also a wife, mom, grammie, and writer among other things. (Like Stephen, I can’t see two feet in front of me without my glasses.) Stephen has shown the world that not only can you be an unabashed glasses-wearing nerd who loves video games, rubic cubes, and math, you can also be an athlete. And not just an athlete, but a world-class athlete! (I’ve seen reports that more boys are now signing up for gymnastics lessons.) Thank you, Stephen. You have done more for nerds in general and future nerdy athletes than you will ever know.
If anyone is curious, my favorite video games are The Mass Effect series, Fallout 4, and the Dragon Age franchise.
Do you watch the Olympics? If so, what are your favorite events?
What’s on your phone?
This is one of those weeks where every idea I’ve had for possible posts went… somewhere. So, in a bit of a throwaway post, today’s topic of conversation is cell phones and how they can be personalized. I’ve probably got phones on my mind because Kenn’s phone began malfunctioning a week ago and much drama has ensued. (Even though he denies it, the drama gene is strong in Kenn’s family.) Fortunately, after a trip to the Verizon store, we were able to order a replacement under warranty. Now that the new phone has arrived and is configured, our drama levels have returned to normal.
I’m big on personalizing my stuff, phones included. Kenn has had an impact on my personalizations. Kenn’s home and lock screen have always been family photos whereas mine have been video game themed. I guess you could say that I started feeling a little guilty. Kenn always has a picture of me on his screen. Why did I not have one of him? So, a year or so ago, I changed things up. My lock screen is still video game themed, but my home screen now features Kenn. For a while it was a picture of both of us taken at a wedding, now it’s Kenn and Bear. So, here’s a peek into my world.
The Mass Effect video games are my comfort games; these are the games I go to when my heart hurts, or when I’m missing my virtual friends. (I played a lot of Mass Effect during the eighteen month period in which we lost our remaining three parents.) In Mass Effect, you play as Commander Shepard. I play as a female Shepard, whom I have named Sascha. Sascha’s chosen love interest is Garrus Vakarian. (Garrus is one of the best video game characters ever created in my opinion.) So, my phone’s lock screen is a screen shot of Sascha and Garrus.
The photo on my home screen was taken Christmas day 2024 after our celebrations ended and the kids and grandkids had moved onto other locations. Bear is a fairly social cat and had spent most of the day mingling. I couldn’t help but laugh at him though. Once everyone left, Bear climbed into the chair with Kenn, wedged himself in the corner, and went to sleep. Poor baby Bear was exhausted. Peopling is hard!
Of course, my ringtones are personalized. My default ringtone is my favorite happy, feel-good song: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! Kenn, however, gets his own ringtone: Still the One by Orleans. Text messages go back to a video game theme. Incoming texts are announced by Kelly Chambers from Mass Effect 2 saying “You have unread messages at your private terminal.”
How do you personalize your phone? Do you use family photos, pet photos, or something else? How about your ringtones? Do you choose one of the ones that comes with the phone or something a little more personal to you?
Friday Funnies
I’m currently playing the video game Starfield. This sign is hanging on the wall of my spaceship. It’s perfect!🤣
Cutting the (Keurig) Cord
Recycling is important to me as is reducing my plastic footprint. One of the areas that I’ve had the biggest struggle with is my Keurig. I loved my morning cup of chai latte but I couldn’t continue justifying the continuing daily use of multiple non-recyclable k-cups. So, I did the only thing I could do – I went cold turkey.
I switched to a powdered chocolate chai latte mix and heated water in the microwave. I didn’t enjoy the mix as much as I did the Cafe Express brand k-cup mix I was using, but that turned out to be a moot point because it irritated my acid reflux which made it a no-go. I also tried a couple of different teas with the same result – my acid reflux wasn’t happy. However, I do enjoy a warm cuppa something in the morning to help me wake up. So, what to do? Well, it turns out that I just went back to having a cup of coffee. Years ago, I started having problems with coffee giving me indigestion so I made the switch to my beloved (and still mourned) chai latte. I used the Keurig for my morning fix while Kenn continued using the coffee maker. As the years have passed, we’ve changed brands of coffee and what we’re using now doesn’t give me indigestion. (Yay!) Now we just have to find a travel-friendly coffee maker to replace the Keurig in the travel trailer.
One thing has helped make the transition easier. I always used a travel mug for my chai latte but now that I’ve gone back to coffee I use a regular coffee mug. This means that I now get to use the mug my youngest son’s girlfriend gave me last Christmas; she knows how much I love John Hancock from the Fallout 4 video game. Now I get to spend every morning with him!🥰
So, any recommendations for a travel-friendly coffee maker? Or acid reflux-friendly teas, etc.?
A Cure for the February Blues
February tends to be a rough month for me. In 2010 Kenn and I moved my parents from my childhood home (their home of almost 50 years) to the house right across the street from us. They remained there until my daddy died on February 16, 2016. Daddy had been Mama’s primary caretaker until about 3 months before his death. However, Kenn and I were both still working full-time and in-home care for Mama was prohibitively expensive so she moved to North Carolina to live with my oldest sister and her husband. Daddy’s death was hard enough but Mama’s move immediately afterward felt almost like losing her. We made regular trips to NC to visit but it was obvious that Mama’s health was also failing; she died on February 24, 2017. (My sisters and I would not have been surprised if she had died on the anniversary of Daddy’s death.)
Everyone’s grief journey is different. My experience is that grief lessens over time but it doesn’t completely fade. I also don’t look at the calendar and go “Oh, wow. It’s February. I need to be sad.” Invariably what happens is that I find myself feeling blue and wondering what in the heck is going on and eventually realizing “Oh. It’s February. No wonder my heart is aching.” Kenn is a great support and is always willing to provide hugs as needed. I also turn to Mass Effect, my favorite video game, and spend time saving the galaxy with my virtual friends. (What can I say? Some people have comfort foods or books or movies. I have a comfort video game.)
The picture above is one of my favorites of Mama and Daddy. It was taken at our local Cracker Barrel (their favorite restaurant) in February 2015.
This year, I have something new to ease the February blues. Earlier this month, our oldest son and daughter-in-law welcomed twins. Meeting (and cuddling) these new little ones has definitely brightened my life. I will always miss my parents and the anniversaries of their deaths will always be hard, but having two new lives to celebrate (year round, not just in February) will certainly make things easier going forward.
Until next time, happy trails and… take the time to hug your loved ones and tell them how you feel.
Not Your Average Grammie
I am many things: a woman of faith, a wife, a mom, a Grammie, a writer, a blogger, and much to most people’s surprise, a gamer. The long-awaited remastered version of my favorite video game series, Mass Effect, releases tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED. (For the non-gamers reading this, a remaster basically means that the graphics and game play have been tweaked and improved without making any changes to the plot/storyline.)
I’m not sure why people are always so shocked to find out that I’m a gamer. I’m an avid reader and writer and video games are just interactive stories. My favorite games are role-playing games or RPGs. RPGs give your character (or avatar) a chance to interact with the other characters and make choices relating to the storyline and/or your character’s behavior. (I can’t be mean, even in games.)
The Mass Effect series has been a part of my life since the first game released in 2007. It’s hard to explain what these games mean to me. Only another gamer can understand how I feel about these characters. Are they real? No. Are they my friends? Yes. Just like some people re-read favorite books, and re-watch favorite movies, I find myself going back to these games over and over again simply because I miss the characters.
We all have our own ways of dealing with sadness and grief. When the world is too much for me to bear, I play Mass Effect. My virtual friends and I tackle saving the galaxy together until I can face reality again. Over the course of eighteen months during 2016 and 2017 my husband and I lost our three remaining parents. Mass Effect is the only thing that kept the grief from being overwhelming. I can’t even tell you how many times I played through the series. I knew I was starting to heal when I was ready to play something else.
I can’t wait to replay my favorite games and see the changes/improvements that have been made. In some ways, it will be like playing for the the first time – again. So, if you need me over the next few days, I’ll be in my basement, gaming.
Linda Lou's Life 