Weekend of Games

It was Australia day yesterday which meant that we had a full three days to do typical Australian things. BBQs, trips to the beach, fishing or perhaps a game of backyard cricket would all have been blokey ways to pass the time. I on the other hand decided to amp up the geek meter this year and dedicate the long weekend to serious gaming.

Saturday kicked off with a little house party that I've been looking forward to for a while now. It started off innocently enough as a simple way to get some of the guys from work that live around the area together for a little out-of-the-office get together. The nature of the activity, which turned out to be Rock Band at our place, soon attracted other would be plastic rock virtuosos and the selected invite list eventually doubled in size. Not that that's a problem as we finally have a house that's capable of hosting three people without drastic furniture rearrangement.



We rocked out pretty much non-stop from 3PM to 10PM with a short but necessary intermission for pizza. I think I've created a bit of a monster as most of the guys are planning on getting Guitar Hero to practice at home before the next meet up. I'd say the most disturbing thing was Chris' persistent selection of No Doubt when it was his turn to sing. No one should have to witness a 6 foot man sing "Just a Girl" without imbibing a debilitating amount of alcohol first.



Sunday was our first chance to see the Game On exhibition that has been at the State Library since November. It's supposed to be a historical view of video games with plenty of interactive displays. I must say that I was really psyched to go see it, and in truth probably built up my expectation a little high. Not surprisingly, the show didn't quite deliver and we both walked away feeling that it could have been something more.

It shouldn't come as a shock that the Sunday of a long weekend right at the end of school holidays would be a popular time for families to take their children to an exhibition about video games. The show was split into two rooms at the library and the organisers had imposed a maximum number allowed in at any time to ease traffic and waiting time for the games. Even so, the rooms were absolutely jam packed with kids that had no qualms about hogging the popular displays in defiance of an unenforced five minute time limit. Struggling air-conditioning and teenage hygiene weren't a great combination either for the enclosed space.

I was hoping for a lot more text and information about the different genres and culture of games over the years. While there were a few displays on old video game consoles and Japanese niche games (train simulators, dating simulators and pachinko), on a whole I didn't feel like I learned anything I didn't already know. The floor was basically packed with a bunch of emulators with arbitrary games from various eras and genres, with no real theme around their placement. To make matters worse, quite a few of the game displays were non-responsive or plagued by poor instructions. I'm being particularly harsh I realise on what was obviously designed to be an event for the "common people" rather than obsessed geeks. I can't help but feel however that there was a lot more interesting information that could have been on display.

The thing wasn't all bad though, I got to see and play quite a few games that I'd only read about up till now. Steel Battalion was a highlight for me as the game never arrived on Australian shores due to lack of public interest. You actually had to flick six toggle switches and press three buttons to get the "mech" powered up when you start playing! Talk about geektastic!



Other highlights included being able to play Spacewar! on what I'd assume would be an approximation of the PDP-1, checking out concept art for Monkey Island, playing Densha de Go with a real train controller and seeing first hand how bad the Atari Jaguar's controller really was. There was also a pretty nifty Pong exhibit.



Australia day itself was a veg day on the couch for Alison and me. We whittled our national day away with episodes of Studio 60 and various games on the 360. Still struggling to make our way through Gears of War 2 as we've sorta lost our mojo since playing the first game. Once we grew tired of dying in next generation glory we downloaded Bionic Commando: Rearmed so we could cark it retro style instead. All good fun.

I may not have an aussie tan today like most of my co-workers but colour me a happy gamer.

Timber!

Yesterday I got to work from home for the first time since joining Flight Centre and boy have I missed it. Amazing how much more work you can get done without meetings and casual conversations to distract you. Coding away in comfy shorts and a t-shirt was an added bonus too.

The main reason why I'd decided to telecommute though was in order to oversee the removal of some trees around the house. Alsie and I did what we could with the smaller plants but these mammoth phototarians were far beyond even our abilities.


Which is exactly why you get professionals to come in and do the job for you.



The chain saws and stump grinders were pretty loud, but music and some earphones soon sorted that out. A new pair of Apple In-Ear ones no less, which are absolutely fantastic! I didn't have to put up with the racket for long as the boys took down that Mango and the other two trees in record time. Certainly put our previous efforts to shame.


Als and I are shocked at what a difference this has made to the light and look of the house. Feels like there's going to be a heck of a lot more yard to mow as well on weekends, at least until the next stage of our renovations get going.

The other appointment for the day was with the TV antenna man to fix our pathetic terrestrial reception. The cause for the shite telly picture was fairly obvious after cursory examination. To paraphrase, as Alison is so fond of doing, I plugged the TV cable into the wrong hole...

That's an over simplification in my defence, the only port available to us in the living room just turned out to be Foxtel cable. The cosmetic, certainly not in the aesthetic sense of the word, antenna on our roof wasn't actually connected up to anything. No matter, a quick guffaw later and the bloke had a shiny new aerial installed. At least we won't have to pay setup fees if we ever decide to get Foxtel.

Birthday Girl

Alison and I usually try to take the day off for birthdays to enjoy them together, and I'd like to think we make full use of the day if we can. This year however we let things slide a little for Alsie's special day, on account of the extended Christmas break we had and my anaemic annual leave balance. The morning began with the unceremonious tearing of wrapping paper and reading birthday wishes.



Though I couldn't think of anything worse, Alison swears that she had a great day at work on her birthday. I personally prefer to have the work celebrations deferred as it almost feels like you get two days for the price of one. Then again I'm probably just spoilt rotten by those around me.

The evening saw us dining at Garuva's where we enjoyed an elaborate spread of dishes. It was mum's shout as a present so Alison even indulged in a cocktail on the night.



Very quiet but great to spend the day with those we love. Personally I think we'll revert back to grand plans and days chock full of activities next year. I know I certainly have high expectations for May...



Happy Birthday darling!

Road Trippin'

We had to drag ourselves back into work today, deeply disappointed that our short holiday has come to an end. Reckon we did quite well for ourselves though as we crammed in two more road trips into what little time we had left.

New Year's Eve this year was a pretty tame one with Alison nodding off at two chimes off midnight. Mum and I blinked on till the fireworks were set off on TV to welcome 2009 before succumbing to slumber siren calls ourselves. It's not like Alsie and I are usually party animals but I think our annus novus efforts are beginning to border dangerously on the frail side of geriatric.

Our first day trip took us a little way up north to Redcliffe for a relaxing afternoon by the water. I thought I ordered a fisherman's basket, but our packs were filled with unidentifiable appendages from mutated sea creatures. Rubbery, but tasty enough with an unhealthy sprinkling of chicken salt.



The weather was superb and we got to lounge on camping chairs by the water. Mum even managed to have a short snooze on her bag which earned her a fetching face imprint. The only real let down of the trip was our inability to find a decent ice cream store. The best we could come up with was a Golden Gaytime from a service station that offered irresistibly cheap fuel.

The downside of visiting a place like Redcliffe is you never know when you'll run into a pair of fashion victims. We'd recommend ignoring this couple if you ever see them strolling on the beach. Wussaaaaap!



Our next trip was a scenic route from Brissie to Toowoomba, passing through Woodford, Dayboro and Esk along the way. Our luck with the weather on the beach didn't hold out unfortunately, and we were plagued by intermittent showers which limited our visibility and camera stops. We eventually decided to take shelter from the elements at the Woodford pub. There was a smorgasbord of succulent bovine beauty on offer so we ordered up a few plates to tuck into while we waited for the rain to pass.



Timing our departure between two heavy downpours, we drove on through Dayboro and stopped by the spillway at Somerset Dam. I thought we'd have access to the walkway in truth so I didn't take any snaps of the water that Brisbane's been lucky enough to get over the last few weeks. Would love to visit Wivenhoe next time as I hear you can actually drive over that.



Our trip from Esk to Crow's Nest was decidedly bumpier than it should have been thanks to some suspect navigation on my part. Trust me to provide dodgy directions even with the help of a GPS, an Australian road map and access to Google Maps. Instead of travelling on a major road between Esk and Hampton, we went off on gravel roads often shouldered by livestock staring accusingly at us in repayment for the beefy feast we just consumed. We got there eventually though I copped an earful for being cartographically challenged.

Mum's back was feeling pretty darn sore from a long car ride and crap roads but I think she had a nice time seeing the countryside.