Messages

166

Forum Games / Continue the story...

« on: August 22, 2006, 12:48:41 AM »

Well folks, this one isn't Mario related, but I thought I'd post a "continue the story" here since it's late and I feel the need to write!

Ryan, Chris, and Zach were seniors at Franklin High School. The three popular, baseball-playing students were above average students and had been best friends since kindergarten.

Although they were the most popular students in their class, all three were single. Zach seemed to go through girlfriends like there was no tomorrow. Ryan, for being so athletic, choked up around girls way too often. Chris never spoke about girls to anyone, not even Ryan and Zach. They thought he was apathetic about dating and girls in general.

Still, the three did not seem to care about this lack of dating. They went to the gym every day before school and talked mostly about baseball.

As winter became spring, everyone was jockeying for a prom date. Ryan, Chris, and Zach still needed dates the week before tickets went on sale.

"Dude, we're not missing senior prom," said Zach one day in the gym.

"Yeah, as hard of luck as we have, we've got to find someone," replied Ryan.

"You got anyone in mind?" asked Zach.

Ryan put the dumbell he was lifting down. "Actually, I am probably going to ask Marie today."

"Are you serious, bro?" replied Zach. "She's so hott."

"Yeah, I know," said Ryan. "Do you still have the hots for that Jen chick?"

The color drained from Zach's face. He let the tricep machine clunk down hard. "Yeah, and I was just thinking of asking her. How in the world did you know?"

"Nate told me," said Ryan. "He mentioned it yesterday at practice."

Trying to change the subject, Zach turned to Chris.

"How about you, Chris?"

"Um, I don't know," said Chris nervously.

"Dude, you've got to ask someone. This is your freaking senior prom!" said Ryan.

"Yeah, I just can't think of any seniors to ask," he said.

"Ask a junior or something," replied Zach. "Just as long as you don't take a freshman. Freshmen are, well, freshmen."

Ryan laughed. "Yeah, freshman girls are like bleeech."

Chris said nothing. He quietly left the workout without his two buddies.

Walking down the hall, Zach and Ryan speculated their friend.

"Dude, what's up with Chris?" asked Ryan. "He never just leaves workout like that."

"I don't know, it's like we offended him with that freshman remark," added Zach.

Ryan paused. "If he asks a freshman, well, let's just say he's not going in our limo."

"Yeah, he's going to have to find his own ride," Zach said.

"He can drive his Volvo, you know," said Ryan.

Meanwhile, Chris had ventured down to Mrs. Anderson's math room. He didn't have her as a teacher. He had already changed out of his workout clothes.

Standing at the doorway, Chris seemed to be waiting for someone. The sounds of a wheelchair could be heard clearly from there. As they got louder, Chris smiled.

"Good morning, Chris," said a female voice.

"Hello, Valerie," replied the center fielder of the baseball team. "How's your leg today?"

"It's fine," she said. "At least when I'm a sophomore next year it will be completely healed. But I'm not letting anything get in my way."

Chris looked at her in the eyes. "You know, I was wondering, if you'd be up to it," he started.

"Up to what? Joining you in the weight room sometime?" she joked.

"No, not that," said Chris. "I do have a life outside of baseball."

Valerie smiled. "I know that. I think I'm the only one who sees that."

"Yeah, so I was wondering, are you free on May 20?"

"I think so," said Valerie. "Isn't that your prom?"

Chris nodded. "Valerie, would you accompany me to the dance?"

Valerie blushed. "Of course I will. I mean, I can't dance, and I know I'm only a freshman, but I'd love to! Yes, me and you, May 20."

OKAY, THIS IS AS MUCH AS I WILL WRITE. You guys can finish this any way you want.

167

Forum Games / Re: The ^<v Game

« on: August 22, 2006, 12:27:23 AM »

^ Doesn't care one way or the other what she says about Tigger's Honey Hunt
< Will get paid tomorrow
V Will get paid in the next five days

168

The White Mushroom House / Appraisal, Part II

« on: August 21, 2006, 03:47:50 PM »

Again, I'm not planning on selling any of this stuff, but I just want some idea of what it's all worth.

Nintendo 64, original model (not colored) from 1997 with original box and manual plus original gray controller in very good condition (minimal wear around the control stick area from my hand where the plastic is smooth, but the stick works like the day I bought it).

Blue Nintendo 64 controller with original box, same condition as gray controller.

Red Nintendo 64 controller with original box, same condition as gray and blue controllers.

Memory Card with original box.

Cleaning Kit in original box.

The following games, all in original boxes and with manuals: Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Madden 2000, Triple Play 2000, Tetrisphere

I need a price quote for all of the above items.

Set #2 (which I don't think is worth anything yet but here goes)

Nintendo Game Cube, black model from 2001 with original box and controller, controller in almost new condition

Orange Game Cube controller, does not have original package (which was not a box but rather a hard to open plastic thing that I cut open). In almost new condition, maybe a bit less stiff than black controller (this one is my primary controller).

Memory Card "59", package also missing because of scissor mutiliation but stored in one of my game boxes.

The following games, all in cases with original manuals: Mario Kart Double Dash, MVP Baseball 2004, MVP Baseball 2005, Madden 2003, Madden 2005, All Star Baseball 2002, All Star Baseball 2003 (baseball 2003 game box is slightly imperfect due to damage from my dog).

169

General Chat / Re: What you think about while mowing the lawn (or doing some other banal chore)

« on: August 21, 2006, 03:39:17 PM »

I usually think about baseball or my friends. Sometimes I bring the portable radio with me so I can listen to a ballgame with headphones if there's one going on when I mow. (Usually I try to avoid mowing when there's a game on and I'm not out doing something with my friends though).

170

Video Game Chat / Re: "So, all you do is play video games?"

« on: August 21, 2006, 12:47:44 AM »

Chef--thanks for another great read. I had no idea Nintendo made playing cards before getting into the game business, nor did I think they were that old. I'd always just thought it was a video game company and came about in the 1980s!

Now, as for the "M" rating. I'm all for the law being passed prohibiting the purchase of these games. Card the kids like they do when people buy beer.

I personally hate those shooting games and would never buy one for a child of mine. Did they lead to events like Columbine? Maybe. I can still recall the day it happened (April 20, 1999) and I remember hearing the kids played something like Mortal Combat or Doom or something like that on their computers. I also remember they said the kids listened to Maralyn Manson.

Now I wouldn't go and point fingers at games and music first. I'd investigate the mental history of them. Games and music with bad content might trigger something, but you've got to have the problem in the first place.

There was this kid in my economics class in high school who obsesesd about Halo all the time but he probably would never kill anyone as a result. He just didn't have the brain problem to do so. He was a pretty good guy.

This doesn't mean you have to play the games/watch the movies/hear the music to be bad. Adolf Hitler killed people listening to Richard Wagner (a German composer who composed harmless stuff--it's pretty good even if you're not into classical music). And he certainly didn't play Halo.

Conclusion: Can games trigger violent behavior? Yes. Can they cause it? No. That's the job of brain disorders.

171

Video Game Chat / Re: NES troubleshooting

« on: August 21, 2006, 12:26:14 AM »

Thanks for all the responses. He should be fine with the NES and getting it fixed but if not I'll let you guys know. I think it will be worked on tomorrow.

172

Video Game Chat / Re: Most underrated games

« on: August 21, 2006, 12:22:43 AM »

I'm going to have to go with a few oldies from my Macintosh.

-Battle Chess. It's chess, but the pieces fight each other when someone gets taken.

-Shufflepuck Cafe. Bascially air hockey for the computer. You use the mouse to control the paddle and beat opponents ranging from regular men to aliens.

-Klondike. It's Solitaire for Mac. It's called Klondike to set it apart from Canfield, another Solitaire game.

-Cairo Shoot Out. It's like the shooting gallery booth at the county fair and the targets are Egyptian symbols. "Walk Like an Egyptian" by the Bangles is featured in this game.

-3 in Three. One of my all time favorites. This is a puzzle/logic game where you are a number 3 tryirng to escape a prison inside the computer.

-Fool's Errand and At the Carnival. Both are from the same guy who wrote 3 in Three and both are also good puzzle/logic type games.

-WordTris. It's like Tetris but also like Scrabble. Put the letter blocks together to make words, which then get eliminated from the board.

-SimAnt. It's like The Sims but you're an ant colony. You learn a lot about ants too and get to experience every aspect of an ant colony.

-OutNumbered. Yes, it's a math game, but I thought I'd mention it here. You save a TV station from takeover by solving word problems, getting clues from them, and matching them up with clues from the robot, who gives you regular math problems.

All of these games are a bit old (they all came out in the late 1980s-early 1990s). Most won't work right on new Macs. Thankfully someone fixed me up with a program called vMac that lets me run them. Most of them are black and white but a few also play in color (some still work on my OS 9 iBook without vMac and they play in color).

173

Not at the Dinner Table / Re: For or Against?

« on: August 21, 2006, 12:05:43 AM »

You are correct. Lance is from N*Sync.

174

Site Discussion / Ads

« on: August 20, 2006, 04:13:06 PM »

Until a few days ago, I had no problems using this board. Now I get these ads that won't go away all the time. They say "Planet Network" on them and clicking the bypass button won't get rid of them! It took me about ten tries once!

It only happens sometimes, but it's annoying. Any way to get around this?

175

Forum Games / Re: Mario Word Association

« on: August 20, 2006, 04:10:56 PM »

Greece

176

General Chat / Re: Snakes on a Thread

« on: August 18, 2006, 10:45:40 PM »

I got in early tonight so I watched Letterman. A good bit of the beginning segment of the show focused on the movie plus he used it as the basis for the top ten list of the night (which was: things you're most likely to hear outside the theater for the movie).

From what I've heard it's another vulgar Hollywood flick without morals, just like most of the stuff that comes out these days. When the biggest line of a movie has the "F" bomb in it, you know the movie can't be that good.

And to the person who wondered if I'd ever seen Star Wars--I didn't see that new one that came out last year but I have seen the old ones from the 1980s. The plot's a bit complicated for me but I like the special effects.

177

General Chat / Re: Bed Survey

« on: August 18, 2006, 10:39:16 PM »

It depends on what I've been doing, when I get in, and when I will get up the next morning.

99% of the time I am still awake at 1:00 AM. Typically if I have to get up for something that starts around 8:00 AM I will get to sleep at 1:30 AM and wake up around 6:30 AM. I adjust accordingly depending on what time I need to be up by--1:30 AM to 6:30 AM is most common for me.

The only reason I'd get to bed before 1:00 AM is if I have to get up extremely early to leave on a trip. This has happened once in the past two years.

I've always been up late at night. I remember the doctor yelling at me when I was 5 because I'd still be awake at 9:30 PM. The other controversey came in third grade when everyone else got to bed at 8:00 PM and I would get to bed at 10:30 PM. The teacher thought my parents were nuts. Not their fault they gave birth to a guy who works well late at night. Never had any problems as a result of low sleep totals.

178

Mario Chat / Re: Fake new Mario merchandise

« on: August 17, 2006, 11:22:39 PM »

Screech, if they ever make such a thing, let me know. My drains get clogged a lot because I have a bad habit of squeezing the toothpaste into the sink and missing my toothbrush (that happens when you just get out of bed). I use Liquid Plumber now, but that stuff looks like it might be even better.

How about an actual shield like the one the star gives you in Mario Kart? That way you can go through barriers, barrels, signs, orange cones, other cars, buildings, etc.

179

General Chat / Re: Snakes on a Thread

« on: August 17, 2006, 11:17:21 PM »

This has to be the most over-hyped movie since that Star Wars one came out a year ago. Everywhere I go I see the ads, especially on the internet.

It's amazing how big a deal people make out of movies. Star Wars was pretty recent and it seems the media gets into a frenzy about it and so does a percentage of the population--so much that they can't concentrate on anything else. When the Star Wars movie came out last spring, half the school was obsessed with it and some dude came in with a light saber (spelling?) the day it came out. It was quickly confiscated by a teacher.

I didn't see Star Wars and I don't know if I'll see this Snakes movie either. If it's anything like Airplane, though, I might have to consider--Airplane made me laugh like no other movie had in a long time.

180

Forum Games / Re: The ^<v Game

« on: August 17, 2006, 11:08:58 PM »

^ I'd give you the $200, but I am going to use it at Abercrombie & Fitch next week since I need a few new polos and some more shorts, maybe a tee or two for the gym
< Needs to find a few size medium tees on the sale rack for working out
V Is going swimming tomorrow