Exhaustion, Thrice

Exhaustion, sunburn and an empty wallet - all signs of an incredible and unforgettable weekend.

While last weekend was an experiment of what this summer could be like, this three-day holiday weekend has it written in cement: summer 2011 will be amazing.

This past Saturday was excellent: I ventured off to Maumee Bay State Park for the boardwalk and to Sandusky for food. The trip home was highlighted by a very quick trip to Cheesehaven, although I left nearly empty-handed.

Sunday was quite a day: Cedar Point. I rode damn near everything that was not Millennium Force, Top Thrill, or the Raptor, and still had a blast. I rode Sky Hawk for my first time (it was excellent) and reunited with Magnum - now a must-ride every time I visit Cedar Point.

Memorial Day was spent in Sandusky yet again. Three days of non-stop activity... the point of all this? I do enjoy Sandusky, and I believe I will be spending most of this summer there. Cedar Point again this coming weekend? Yes, please.

Ride on. B3 out.

Announcing: Summer Bash 2011

B3's Summer Bash gets another shot at life: Bash '11 is happening.

I am expanding Bash a bit this year. For one, Bash will be a two-day event, with a casual atmosphere on a Friday night and the main event (read: Mentos geysers) happening on a Saturday afternoon and night.

Bash will also be open to all of my Facebook friends. I am hoping to see a wide variety of people show up, if even for a little bit at a time. There are definitely risks with this: will I have enough food and drinks for everyone that shows? Bash has traditionally been an invitation-only event, so this change will be both welcome and worrisome at the same time. The potential payoff, however, will be well-worth the risks!

Mark your calendars: Bash '11 will be happening this July 15th and July 16th.

B3's Summer Bash 2011

B3 out.

Give Me Some Rope

Remember when I said I was going to kick summer off this weekend? Done.

I know I did it right when I come home Sunday night exhausted and ready for another day off work. Sadly, I will not get another day off work. Monday is Monday.

Saturday was an odd day for me. I woke up with absolutely no idea about what was going to happen. I had plans to canoe with my parents, but those fell through pretty fast due to poor planning. Saturday was up in the air at that point: hike all day at Oak Openings, visit various friends, or do something much more grand? Yeah, I ended up going to Cedar Point.

This was a solo trip - just me, tons of music in my car, and cash in pocket - and it was fantastic. I arrived to Cedar Point around noon and made it into the park shortly thereafter. Despite a few long lines, I managed to ride a few rides, although I definitely spent more time walking around and taking in the warm weather than anything. Cedar Point is now a casual trip for me - a season pass was so worth it. Saturday night was spent out with Colleen and some friends for her "I'm finally leaving Wendy's party." This was certainly loads of fun too (I CAN STILL BOWL!). It was just as much an entertaining night as much as it was a flashback to college.

Today was all over the map. Because I of my busy Saturday, I had to spend today catching up on my usual weekend activities and then some. In rough order: visiting my parents, laundry, paying bills, catching up on my to-do lists and calendar, a trip to Grand Rapids, helping around the house, a little creative fiction, a trip to Finders Records in BG, a trip to the park with Elli, a small treat and finally home.

I am exhausted and ready for another weekend just like this one. One day to myself and one day out with friends? I'll take it.

Hanging By A Moment, Part Deux

Shit is all over the map lately, so here is a hit-list to sum everything up.

• Summer 2011 kicks off this weekend. I usually wait until the first week of June to really get summer underway, but given how crappy this week has been weather-wise, I am looking forward to two things: sunshine and heat. Lots of heat. This weekend has both. Beginning this Saturday and every other weekend for the remainder of warm weather this year, I will be doing something big: canoeing, visiting a myriad of cities (Sandusky, Port Clinton, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati), taking random trips to Cedar Point (season pass!), hosting parties (Bash 2011 will be happening, you heard it here first), writing my creative ass off, and in general, staying busy. I most look forward to my first solo trip to Cedar Point. Single rider lines? Yessum.

• I have restructured my goals for 2011. I chopped off a couple of unnecessary items (Findlay and CRI-specific goals, for example), and added one major goal: find creative inspiration for my writing. While I want to write like mad, my life is also a bit too stale sometimes for proper inspiration and motivation to push me along. I am hoping bullet point number one helps with this issue.

• There is a fantastic, new (well, not technically new) girl friend in my life that I have been hanging out with a lot, and my spirits have been boosted in ways that are simply indescribable with words right now. Part deux indeed.

• I finally did the unthinkable this past week: I put all of my Rock Band / Guitar Hero equipment away and stored the games longterm. The chapter of my life that begun in 2006 (see "The Return of the Gamer" section) is now over. The next instrument I pick up will be made of something more substantial than plastic.

• I bought Katy Perry's second and third albums on Amazon today for $10 total. Amazon, you rock. As for my sudden interest in Katy Perry... well, you can be the judge of awesome on that.

Anywho, tomorrow is Friday, and it will be a great mix of work, relaxing, and hopefully something quite fun out on the town.

B3 out.

The Move Is Over, B3 Has Come Home

I am pretty much tossing my much-maligned B3.0 Initiative from 2009 (or 2010, whenever the hell it was) out the window: I am rocking some fucking awesome memories right now.

So here I am in Perrysburg, Ohio. I have a new job and a new apartment. The moment I have been waiting for has arrived. I am exactly where I want to be in my life: successful, comfortable, yet on the verge of major opportunity in all areas of my life.

First: my new job is fantastic. I get to spend a lot of time working on some pretty neat high-level .NET concepts and plenty of low-level web design projects, which is a great blend. Second, my new apartment is great. It is a fairly large one-bedroom that has felt like home since day one. I was never this immediately comfortable in Sandusky Square. In fact, I was never really this comfortable in all of Findlay. The only two downsides to my apartment thus far? A cheap gas stove (sigh) and my relative proximity to I-75. If you ever visit me, I hope you like the sound of cars and trucks rushing by at 70mph. Oh well, I can learn to live with all this.

Now that I am all settled in, it is time I get down to business: lots of writing, gaming, relaxing, and most importantly, visiting with all my friends now that I live much, much closer than before.

B3 out.

Valve Goes Hollywood: Portal 2 Review

Portal 2 is Valve's best game, which is to say, it is one of the best games on PC.

Sadly, Portal 2 is not perfect, so I will break it down very quickly:

The Good: The voice acting in Portal 2 is flawless. Literally perfect. No other video game ever created has featured such genuine talent, delivery, and to a degree, scripting. The dynamics between Stephen Merchant as Wheatley, J.K. Simmons as Cave Johnson, and Ellen McLain as GLaDOS are flawless from start to finish throughout the game. While the voice acting is top-notch, some of the humor is a bit predictable (we all know GLaDOS' brand of humor by now), and sometimes a bit cheeky (surely Cave Johnson is not serious!). Portal 2 is also excellently paced, ramping up just as the first game did, and clocking in around 5 - 6 hours from start to finish, although I managed to get my second play-through down to just under four hours. The new gels that alter the environment are fun, and the environment itself is awesome: going through Aperture Science's labs over the decades provide a lot of neat insight into the background of the company.

The Bad: Portal 2 is short. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. While it is definitely longer than the first game and much meatier thanks to a fully-fleshed story, a skilled gamer can clear the entire game in 3 to 4 hours. Also less-than-steller: the vast majority of the game is essentially on-rails. Portals can only be placed on particular surfaces, and solving most puzzles simply involve knowing what portals need to be placed where and when. As where Portal had entire rooms that allowed portals to be placed (allowing for multiple solutions to some puzzles), Portal 2 simply forces you onto specific platforms in specific ways - in other words, less imaginative.

I have yet to play the cooperative side of Portal 2, but thus far I have been mostly impressed with the game. The single-player game is a fantastic ride from start to finish, never mind how brief or controlled it may be.

B3 out.

Correctly Quoted: The Scariest Thing I've Ever Done

The second-scariest thing I've ever done was to let go of my past.

The scariest thing I've ever had to do, without a doubt, was to look forward to my future.

B3, circa August 2008