The Love of Knowledge

When it comes to video games, I'm a pro. Some games I'm a pro at because I've been playing them forever, and other games I'm a pro at because I've read the books that are created to tell you every little detail of the game. I love gaming manuals and for a long time in my life, I refused to play any game without the manual to go along with it. The game that started my love for this was a game I'm am still incredibly obsessed with.

Zelda. Easily one of the best games ever created. On my own list of favorite games, it can be matched only with my love of Super Mario and Donkey Kong. It's one of those games where you have free range and although there is a set path you must complete to beat the game, you can do it in any order you would like.

I've been playing different Zelda games since I was about 12 years old, the first one being Zelda and the Ocarina of Time. When my sister first bought the game for the Nintendo 64, I was fascinated with it, but since I strictly played classic games like Mario where you can only run in one direction, the free range game play threw me off and I settled for watching her play.

About a month after having the game and not being able to make it past the first level without an intense amount of difficulty, my sister decided to buy the game play book, the manual that tells you every secret of the game and exactly how to beat each section of the game with ease. This began my ultimate love for Zelda as I became what my sister deemed as "the reader".

As "the reader", I would sit and watch my sister play for hours, reading the book to her as she went so she would no longer have to question what she was doing in the game. Some say it's cheating, but I don't care. Reading all about the games inner-workings and the little intricacies of each level was incredible to me. Due to my photographic memory, I began to memorize everything about the book. I would read ahead when she wasn't playing and find out what the future held for my sister.

The only thing was, I wouldn't play the game. I didn't want to. It would take me away from reading the book. But as my sister grew older, she stopped playing as much and to me, reading the book began to seem useless. I had already memorized everything it had to say, so perhaps it was finally time for me to start playing the game. The first time I played the game, I was probably about 15 years old. I had the book sitting next to me, but I can remember never having to open the book because I never ran into a single area in which I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing.

I fell in love with the game because I was so perfect at it. I knew the game better than my sister did because I had read the book. At this point, I felt my brain was the book. I knew everything it had to say and I didn't need it anymore.

And this was what started my love for gaming books. I wouldn't play a game after that without having read the book for it first. The following Zelda games that were created, were bought with the books specifically because my parent's could tell how much I loved the books. My father would constantly call me a cheater, but I didn't want the books to help me with the game, I wanted it for the extra information, the pictures, the stories and character descriptions that you couldn't get specifically from playing the game. I'm a girl that loves details and that's exactly what the books provided me with.

Goodbye Friend...

Well, it's a sad day in Scales, Room 108. The Wii is officially gone...

Jaclyn was the owner of the Wii and in order to provide for her brand new pitbull/boxer mix puppy, Bailey, she made the difficult decision to sell her Wii, her games, and all the accessories along with it.

We should have had a going away party; one last group Mario Party party to say goodbye to our dear friend, but we didn't. That Wii has supplied Room 108 with so many hours of entertainment and laughter over the past two years, it just feels wrong that we weren't able to give it a proper goodbye.

It seems empty in the room. The sounds of dying cats and shrieking birds have disappeared with the loss of the Wii. There is no more Glee Karaoke or Disney Sing-it to be heard through the hallways.

I've lost the power to soar through the universe since I can no longer play Mario Galaxy, and we can no longer have the power to throw our gaming partners off of cliffs since the New Super Mario game was sold as well.

I suppose we'll get over it in time, but it will be tough to fill the void that the loss of our Wii has left deep inside. I love my GameCube and my Super Nintendo, but it's just not the same, not nearly as interactive and fun for the whole group as the Wii was.

You will be missed, Wii, I can promise you that.

Happy Birthday Jaclyn...

In my group of friends, March is one of the months that we look forward to the most. The reason? Several of us have birthdays in March. Jaclyn's is on the 7th, Bre's on the 12th, Caroline's on the 20th, and George's on the 31st. This means that during the month of March, there are a lot of birthday celebrations. Since Jaclyn's birthday was on Monday, we went to Cheap Seats Sunday night for a few drinks. I drove so, like always, I was the sober one.

We all had a good time playing pool and talking, and by the time we left, several of the girls were drunk; including Jaclyn and Anne. By the time we got back to the dorms, it was only 11:00. None of us wanted to go to sleep so Anne followed me and Jaclyn into our room and set up the Super Nintendo.

First, my two drunk friends had to figure out what game to play.

"Let's play Aladdin," Jaclyn yelled, slurring her words.

"No. That...is a one player game. And I...want to play a two player game." Anne spoke with great emphasis so that Jaclyn would understand exactly what she was trying to say.

"Aladdin is better."

"Noparooni. We are playing whatever game is already in the system."

"But I don't want to play that."

"Do you even know what it is?"

"Do you know what your face is?"

Jaclyn was silent.

"Exactly." Anne had proved her point. "Check the game."

"Nooooo." Jaclyn was in no condition to be getting up.

Anne, who was sitting in our green fold out chair, pointed at the Super Nintendo and then put her finger to her nose. This symbolized that she was not going to be the one to get up and turn the game on. Jaclyn, who was sitting in her bed, put her finger on her nose and both girls turned to look at me.

"Screw that." I knew what they wanted me to do and it was not going to happen.

"But you don't have your finger on your nose." Jaclyn said, her finger still pressed to her nose.

"I don't care. I'm not playing. Why the hell would I get up and turn the game on?"

"She has a point," Anne said. "You do it."

"Why me?"

"Because I touched my nose first."

"Awww. Fuck."

Jaclyn was not happy. She agreed to do it, but knowing Jaclyn, she would do it without leaving her bed. She adjusted on the bed and laid down on her side. She reached over the side of the bed and using the controller that was closest to her, she pulled the game system to her. Normally, this wouldn't be a difficult task, but tonight, Jaclyn was drunk.

Anne and I laughed as she pulled system to her. She pulled too hard and almost lost her balance. She started sliding off the bed and screaming along with it. Anne and I didn't move as my drunken roommate hit the floor with a loud thud. Anne started laughing even harder, so hard she was snorting. This made me laugh more as we watched Jaclyn struggle to get back up. She was having a great birthday night.

She pulled her self to her feet using her bed post and started yelling at us. "You guys suck!"

We continued laughing as she stood there, beat red and trying not to laugh at herself.

"I'm not even playing anymore." She kicked the system and stomped out of the room.

"Well, I suppose that's it for the night." Anne stood from her chair, said goodnight, and left the room.

I was still laughing when Jaclyn came back in. She ignored me for the night and went to sleep. It just proves that drinking and playing video games don't go well together, especially if you can't even turn the game on.

"Wii" Are Family

I live in a very closely knit family, but these days we're all very busy and often times don't have time to just sit and talk about our days with each other like we used to. I live in Oswego for about seven or eight months out of the year. My sister works two jobs, and although she still lives at home, she is never there. My brother is 16 and lives at home, but between friends, sports, and school functions, he isn't home nearly as much as he used to be. Often times it's difficult to get the five of us together in one room, but when we do, it's for the same reasons that it used to be; a video game night.

These days we don't play the Super Nintendo together anymore though. We play the Nintendo Wii. Since the Nintendo Wii is an interactive gaming system, my parents felt it necessary to get one for the family. It seemed only right. We have two Super Nintendos, a Nintendo64, three Nintendo Game Cubes, two Play Station 2s, and an XBox 360. Why not add a Nintendo Wii to the mix?

With the interactive bowling and tennis, my parents started arranging little family tournaments. I win the tennis tournament every time, but the bowling champion changes with every tournament. Besides the sports games that come with the system, we have Just Dance 2, an interactive dancing game where you follow the onscreen choreography. My parents enjoy watching me and my brother dance together. Due to my horrible coordination, I'm not specifically good at the dancing game, but I do my best to supply my parents with hours of entertainment.

Other Nintendo Wii games that I enjoy are Disney Sing-it and Glee Karaoke, two games that come with microphones and act as karaoke games. I play these with family and with friends. Now I'm not the best singer in the world, but I try my best to win points and unlock awards by singing songs decently and slightly on pitch.

My friends though, don't care about those things. When Anne sings "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", a classic song from The Lion King, I swear a cat is dying somewhere. She sings as loud and off pitch as she possibly can. It's not a problem since I don't play for points with the girls, but wow, it can definitely be painful sometimes.

The only song on my Disney Sing-it that Anne will take seriously is "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, and she will only take it seriously if she's singing Aladdin's part of the duet. She's something else that girl, but she has a way of making everyone laugh, no matter the game she's playing.

I feel like the Nintendo Wii has become an all too important part of my life, but only because it's been a great way to bring my family back together. It's helping me and my family become more active and giving us a way to connect that had been lost on us for many years.

It has also given me and my friends just one more way to entertain ourselves during the below zero nights in this bitter cold city of Oswego.