Left Coast Mama » wii

I love Guitar Hero (Reprise)

Gwen — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 07:43:28 +0000

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Guitar Hero any more we got the second bundle from Futureshop in the mail. We had been thinking that we would just take it back to the store since it was unopened and we had a copy. Then we thought about getting a second guitar so we could play together. After a bunch of hemming an hawing we open the second guitar and spent the last three hours playing. Just so there is no confusion we can’t get a second guitar for the Wii without getting another copy of Guitar Hero. If we could we would have sent the set back to the store in a flash to get another controller.

I think that as fun as having my husband and son telling me that I rock, playing with Anthony is even more fun. I am also finding that I love playing the bass parts. A lot of them are much harder than you would think and I am not so bad. The only problem is almost forgetting to blog and the little fact that I need to be up and out of the house by 8:30 am tomorrow.

Oh, well the post is in and I am off to bed. Expect a Remembrance Day post tomorrow. (I will also bug Anthony to post about Aidan and Daddy’s Big Adventure today.)

Practice Hurts

Gwen — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:22:15 +0000

I have just realized that if I actually put that much practice into real guitar or my flute I would be a damn good player. Why is it more fun to play with the Wii guitar? Any answers? Sigh, makes me feel guilty. On the other hand we didn’t waste money on the game.

You Rock!

Gwen — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 21:20:53 +0000

That I do.

Don’t be shocked, I am not tooting my own horn too much but playing a lot of Guitar Hero III for the Wii. In spite of a rocky start (Story of My life is not the song to start on even if it is one you like,) I got the hang of this rhythm game. I think I did really well because a lot of the time I had a boy tugging on my arm saying “Whatcha doing Mommy?”

I am absolutely going to record Aidan playing and singing the Social Distortion song for his uncles. I am sure they will think it is as appropriate as I do. All we need is for him to say “Freaking Awesome”with the rock n’ roll sign as well.

I didn’t think I was going to get into this game as much as I have. I am not really a fan of heavy rock/metal and my first experience wasn’t the greatest. Once I had some time to myself with the game though I was hooked. It is another of those just one more turn games, except you keep saying to yourself just one more song. I like that the guitar feels really sturdy and despite being small neither Anthony or I have trouble using it. The guitar strap changes length fairly easily which is good considering the difference in our arm lengths.

We haven’t had a chance to try the co-op career yet because we only have the one guitar but I think that will change soon. Just so you know, I wasn’t paid in anyway or given a review copy of this game. (Nintendo, feel free to send games this way to be reviewed though.) I just was so surprised at my love for the game that I had to share.

In the same token, I just got the new Spyro and it is a big disappointment. I remember the Spyro of the PS1 time and I liked the graphics and gameplay much better then. This new Spyro is a little on the difficult side to use with the Wii controllers. I mean really, you should be able to get through the tutorial with out dying a dozen times. Ok, this could just be saying something about my abilities as a gamer, but if you want more Moms to become gamers at least make the games you gear towards them something that they can pick up and put down at a moments notice. I am sorry that this is a game I didn’t rent first. I will try it again this weekend but if I don’t at least get a little farther I will be relegating this one to sell to EB. Am I the only one that misses the cute Dragon that chased the bunnies all over the place?

The other game we got recently that I am enjoying is the new Crash Bandicoot, Crash of the Titans. I am still a little nostalgic for the old one but this one is more like I expected. You can also play as a team which is kinda nice. Anthony and I have different strengths when it comes to gameplay and we can let the other do the things we cannot do as well ourselves and have a chance to help each other with the boss levels. As long as we don’t both die at the same time all is great. We haven’t gotten too far along with this one but it will be a favourite during the rainy season I am sure. It is also something that we can (for the most part) play in front of the boy. A plus in our gaming family.

Wow, where was I?

Gwen — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:52:49 +0000

I am just noticing that it has been a long while since I have posted. You would think that when Anthony was home I would have more time to post. I actually did some posting from Left Coast Floyds though Anthony did most of the posting for the holiday. So I guess that for those that don’t read my other blog (though I don’t know who that would be) I should give an update of my holidays.I was pretty busy with decorating, beading and singing and oh what else, ah, taking care of Aidan while doing a little bit of shopping and baking on the side. I also did get a lot of freer time with Anthony home the week between Christmas and New Years. It was really nice to be able to sleep in a bit.

So the weekend of the 12 we got the tree out of the storage locker (my what were we thinking when we put it in that spot) and put it up. I just wanted the plain tree to be there for a bit so that Aidan would get used to it and maybe we would have less problems with him playing with the decorated tree. The next weekend I got the lights on the tree because Anthony didn’t really want to and his back is still not totally healed. I say this because I got a bit of flack for how many lights are on the tree. I think it looked beautiful, but that being said we needed to buy two more sets of 100 lights to finish the tree. (Oddly enough, two years ago when I lit the tree I needed to buy a new set of lights then.) You can judge for yourself. I like it.

That weekend we also went to see Charlotte Diamond at a free concert at City Square. This was in the very small mall’s very small food court. Aidan was good but got fairly restless and since we didn’t want him to pull out any wires from the stage we kept a fairly tight reign on him after the first 15 minutes. If there was more room I think that he would have happily danced with the other toddlers for a while. It was a nice concert and it was free.

Things slowed down for a few minutes for Tammy so Aidan and I actually got chance to spend a bit of time with her before Christmas and she and Chris actually got here for our it is not Christmas yet poker night. It was nice and she and I have decided that at least once a month we need to have a crafting night. We may not actually get any crafting done, but it will be nice to visit.

Advent flew by and I sang at 2 Advent Carol services and got to sing a few of my favourite solos. The first one was a special service on the first Sunday in Advent and I sang “O Come O Come Emmanuel.” It is adapted and sung with a Bach Prelude for accompaniment. I also almost killed myself to play the prelude with “Zion Hears the Watchmen’s Voices” by Bach. It was well received, but I am sure that the choir had some second thoughts the first few times I played it for them. The second one was the combined service on the third Sunday in Advent and I sang “He Shall Feed His Flock” from Handel’s Messiah and the first verse of “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Harold Dark. Anthony and Aidan were at the first advent service but ended up staying in the cuddle room playing most of the time. It is too bad, but Aidan was doing some singing of his own and was a little loud. (What can I say,I liked it, but it is always hard to tell if the congregation feels the same way.) After the Service on the 17th we went on the church’s Carol ride through Stanley Park. Now you may have heard about all the trees and devastation in Stanley Park. We were the first group back in the park and it was very eerie. All the parts of the park we could see had significant damage, and the parking lot attached to the stables was being stacked with tree bits that had been on the roads. It was amazing to see.

On the 23 December Anthony, Aidan and I went to the VanDusen Gardens Festival of Lights . Our luck was holding out because we discussed getting tickets beforehand, but we didn’t. This was good because Starbucks was paying for the admission. Cool hun? Anyway, we don’t have too many good pictures (no tripod and my small camera) but we do have a few. I loved the lights (yes I think my tree would have fit in nicely) and Aidan and Anthony really enjoyed it too. We had Aidan out of the stroller for a while and he found every small puddle and had to splash. He is such a little boy.

In case you are wondering that is not a ghost but Anthony’s breath. Cool effect isn’t it?
Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve Anthony and Aidan came to church with me in the morning because we knew that Aidan wouldn’t be very happy to be at the midnight service. I know that it wasn’t a Christmas service and only an Advent but it was better than not going at all. We had a pretty easy day and got Aidan ready for bed in his Christmas pajamas. Isn’t he cute?

After Aidan was in bed Anthony and I were inducted into the put it together the night before Christmas while the kids are sleeping club. We put together his train table and set up the track. I am glad that it wasn’t something to difficult to put together. Next year will be different because we won’t be able to shop for things with Aidan in tow. We are going to have to find some babysitter so that Anthony and I can find some time to shop without him. Anyway I think we did ok for our first putting together Christmas.

Christmas Day

Aidan loved his train table and was a little overwhelmed by all the presents. We were web camming back with the Grandparents east and it was hard for Aidan to get a toy and not be able to play with it right away. Next year we will do things a little differently. Aidan can open things when he wants. We will have 1 or 2 presents from back east to open in front of the grandparents and then he can play with or open as he likes. I think it will go better. I also plan to take all the presents out from the ties before wrapping them. I will suggest the same to all sending him toys with the tortuous twist ties. Aidan was tired and took an early nap. We went to dinner at Tammy and Chris’s place. Aidan was very well behaved in the not childproofed apartment with a kitten and a cat and a dog. We tried to get him to sleep there but it was too exciting. When we got home at 8:30 he practically dived into the crib to sleep.

Boxing Day

This was the day that I had the big turkey dinner. Ali, Tammy and Chris came over. We had a lovely dinner and Aidan had an early night. We played a lovely game of Monopoly and Tammy beat us all soundly. It was a nice and relaxing day. I am very glad we decided not to have the dinner on Christmas Day. It would have been just way too much. On the 27th we did the boxing day sales thing and then we happened to be in an EB when they got some Wiis in. We got that and a few games and that was all we did for the next few days.

New Year’s Eve was also quiet and since there is absolutely nothing happening in Vancouver. No first night celebrations here. Boring. So we watched a few comedy specials on Cbc and went to bed at 10:30. Happy New year.

So that was our holiday. I am sorry the post was so long, but those of you who are reading might actually be interested. If not I am sure that you skipped to the end.

Here’s to a new year.

Wii and a haircut

Gwen — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 01:00:29 +0000

This weekend I was working in the kitchen at our church’s annual Christmas Bazaar so Anthony had Aidan for most of Saturday. Aidan continued his no napping streak and I got a call about 2:20 pm letting me know that the boys would be coming to walk me home at 3. On the walk home we decided that we would try to go and get Anthony and Aidan’s hair cut if the barber was still open.Well, the barber was still open and we thought it would be a good idea to get Aidan’s haircut first. He really needed it and his bangs were very long. Wow. I am not sure quite how to express how upset he got. Howling and shaking. We had him on Anthony’s lap and we got hair everywhere. I was holding his head and J. was working as fast as he could. I felt very sorry for him, but I know that he is a good barber and has kids himself so I wasn’t worried. I had heard that some kids hate having their hair cut, but I didn’t think it would be a problem with Aidan. After the haircut trauma he cuddled into me and almost fell asleep on my shoulder.

We decided to push things and went to the Stupid store for groceries and Anthony asked about the Wii. For those of you that don’t know the Wii is the newest Nintendo game system. We have been drooling over it and waiting for it to come out for months. As a result we have also been doing the should we or shouldn’t we dance. If any place had been taking pre-orders I am sure we would have made up our minds sooner and had one for today. Instead we got up early this morning got the boy out of bed and went down to Best Buy at 8:00 am this morning where they were sold out. Anthony had decided to take one of my lines and decided that we were going to work with our Wii karma. If we got to a few stores around us (Best Buy, London Drugs and Toysrus) and they had any left we would get one. If we got to those stores and they were sold out we wouldn’t. Well I guess our Wii karma was bad and none of the places we went had any left. However, Anthony thinks that he was able to order it online at Sears. We are not really sure because we don’t have confirmation yet but we are expecting an email letting us know when we can expect delivery. This won’t take the place of the xbox but I think that it will be a better game machine for the kind of games Aidan will play soon. Besides it is cool looking and hand motions will actually be a part of the controller. I can’t wait to try it. So I guess some Nintendo games will be on our Christmas gift lists. Well they will as soon as we get confirmation that the Wii is coming.

So Wii and a haircut were the bulk of our weekend though Kindermusik and the Grey Cup also are taking up a significant portion. Hmm, who said weekends were for relaxing? Whatever is left of yours, take some time to chill out.