One of the Netflix shows we watched with Marcus recently was High Score. The show features the history of gaming, though selective platforms only, from the early days of the then almighty NES and Atari.
High Score is only one season. It only highlights the classic games like Mario, Donkey Kong, and Doom. Show also mentions about arcade games as well famous block game, Tetris. And this posed a challenge to Marcus who tried his hand-eye coordination on the spin-off of this iconic game and he didn’t fail. Last night he recorded the highest in our province in the game Block Out.
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Hand movements
In the recent days I noticed that Marcus prefers me brushing his teeth instead of him doing it. He’s been using an electric toothbrush which requires less hand motion but the downside is that it’s heavier than its manual counterparts. So last night I was so elated to realize that Marcus can still clap his hands while we were watching TV. Hope his strength stays longer.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Had Starbucks America after a long while.)
Early this year Marcus picked up on the ongoing Fornite Battle Royale craze. It’s a co-op sandbox game almost close to Minecraft so he didn’t do much adjustments before he mastered the moves using his Xbox one console. Graphics, animations, and game rules differ a whole lot from the boxy Minecraft though. Fortnite game is played in three modes: solo, squad, or 50 vs. 50.
Either game starts with all the players jumping out of a floating bus and skydiving (first hint why I love this game) towards their preferred locations in a fixed map. The players then must find and collect stuffs hidden in vaults that are randomly placed in houses, barns, bars, or other structures. Some stuffs come thru a supply drop.
The goal is to survive–as always in most games–which means some form of violence in the form of smashing, whacking, and shooting are involved but thankfully it’s not gory like in COD games. Fortnite designed the game with players dying sans the bloodbath.
The game’s initial weapon is a pick axe that may be changed depending on player’s skill level and credits. Anyone could upgrade as their game level progresses. Watch out for the boogie bomb which happens to be my favorite weapon.
What sets Fortnite Battle Royale apart from other video games is the storm. Besides keeping an eye on their enemies, players need to pay attention to the shrinking storm and should stay within the eye as it shrinks at a preset time and anyone left outside the circle dies. Victory is claimed by a player or group eliminating the last standing opponent before the storm closes in on everyone.
Fortnite Dance Emotes app available on Google Play.
Fortnite has something more up its sleeves. The players have emotes or dance moves. And this is where I come in, or forced to. Some of the moves are actually fun and simple to do that I would oblige when Marcus asks me to do it for him. He himself can do some like the Disco Fever while seated or lying in bed and he moves with grace better than I could.
This afternoon wifey discovered that she could download on her iOS the Fortnite game. I was expecting I could do so too but Android doesn’t have it yet. I found something interesting though. It’s the Fortnite Dance Emotes app that shows all the dance moves of the game. Guess this means I could improve on my awkward Floss dance soon.
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Back in April we showed a carabao my best mates dance moves.
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My Minecraft tattoo seems lonely so my next one is likely something out of Fortnite.
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Mood: 3/10 Honks! (Under the weather so I’m taking this chance to rest my cracked fingers from the pull-up bar.)
We are not done talking about dreams yet. There is probably no other place where Marcus would like to be and it’s not where most would go to. At the same age, kids in general would say Disneyland, some Universal Studio, some Legoland. But none of these are Marcus’ choice. Where then? London. Yes, London. If he had a bucket list this would be among his things to do, we bet it could be his topmost even. His obsession with this place amuses us.
Firstly, he wants to meet one of his YouTube idols, DanTDM. Given his own free will, he plans to see him and his pugs. Just like that. For Marcus, things were as simple as just dropping by to say hello, like how he now does with this cousins wherein he visits them almost every day since we transferred. He spends so much time on YouTube channel of DanTDM that he feels his favorite YouTuber is no celebrity but rather someone ordinary who he has access to in short notice. Oh by the way, our son’s such a big fan that he wants to color his hair blue just like Dan did. I told him he can when he turns ten. (Two years to go and I hope he forgets.)
Then what’s a visit to London if you haven’t seen the Queen? So this one too is part of Marcus’ agenda. He once asked if he would be allowed to enter the palace to see the Queen. We told him it isn’t easy to get past the guards but he was insistent and it seems like he already has a plan. “I will sing We Will Rock You, that’s by the Queen,” he stressed. Well, he’s got a different Queen in mind, Freddy Mercury would be proud.
Besides singing his way in to the palace, he has other tests for the famous Buckingham Palace guards. Having seen it once on Mr. Bean’s cartoon show, he would like to prove if they do stay still while on duty despite being surrounded by annoying tourists. This reminds me of one of his classmates who once said she remembers Marcus whenever she watches Mr. Bean. Yup, he could be as animated and funny at times. When not being stubborn, he’s a natural comedian.
There was also a day when while undergoing his session with a local reflexology therapist or manghihilot, he saw on Pinoy Abroad, a local TV network afternoon series, the familiar London underground sign that he sees a lot in Modern Warfare 3. He said he wants to see the actual place to check if it does look like the one in his Call of Duty game. Yup, I know, the game’s rated M so sue me.
So how do we get him to London? We can’t for now but Marcus is keeping his fingers crossed that I win the lotto. Far-fetched but sounds like the only plan.
For now we are close to visiting that flag in the background. (Taken in MOA by the Bay on the day wifey and I renewed our passports.)
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Our son seems to be bent on getting his travel funds. Last night he asked his mommy if he can help finish her freelance job. Hmm.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Today we are committed to fight the summer heat. Home-made halu-halo coming.)
The weekend is once again almost over but it’s one of those days when Marcus has impressed me a lot. Last night I discovered that he can already comprehend how Magnet Adventure works. It is a puzzle game I downloaded several months back but back then all he did was just watch and annoy me while I spend time thinking how to deal each of the cases. This time, with some advice, he manages to complete some of the basics.
Marcus has also showed great improvement in PC car racing. I still have the old Need For Speed software (from our ex-company’s home PC program) and tonight he played its hot pursuit game and was able to catch 6 out of 6 bad guys. In another PC game, he has reached the tracks’ finish line although he complains that he ends up with no rank.
And now, I watch him wrap up this weekend as he plays his most-loved game — Lego. Awhile ago he finished a Ninjago cobra structure without looking at the manual and now he’s building a Lego City police car while referring to the instructions in the book that came along with the kit. I’m impressed Marcus, I’m impressed.
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Today also marks our return to La Salette. For several months we stopped attending mass there as Marcus’ frequent misdemeanor made me leave church more of a devil than a refreshed Catholic. This afternoon he showed some signs of stubbornness but not as much as before. (I laughed when my wife told me on our way to the mall that she was actually praying for me: “Dear lord, don’t make my husband snap.”)
I am just your boy next door in a typical neighborhood. The place where I live is an ideal place just like in most Western movies — it has almost everything a bachelor needs to have. In fact, my own home is furnished with stuffs I need access to at any time of the day: a full fridge, a comfy sofa and a TV (though CRT), and my own bedroom has an equally cozy bed. In the toilet, decent fixtures are installed.
My proximity to the essential places is also something that most people might be envy of. From my house, the municipal hall is just across the street; to give me the things I need for my interests is an adjacent hobby shop; few more walks, along well-paved sidewalks, is a grocery store, and a couple of meters more is a bistro just in case I feel like dining in. Finding a job isn’t that hard too. At the very least, wherever I choose work, I get paid a hundred dollars at the end of the day – more than enough to sustain my daily needs.
Remarkably, social life couldn’t be any better. Just nearby are houses of several people. I can name a few acquaintances – there’s Nina, Luke, Marcell, and Kia. Most of them are friendly as long as chatting with them remains constant and relevant. I have yet to meet the others however I am quite sure that it is just a matter of time when it will be fulfilled.
But just like anyone else, I feel that I need more. There are days when I wish to woohoo. Yes, woohoo. It doesn’t sound like a familiar word for any four-year old but it is something carnal. This item is already on queue among my other wishes like wanting to repair, to get promoted, and to plant a corn. Woohoo kid. I know you can see it. Make me woohoo.
That’s my life. I am a Sims 3 character under the control of a kid with an iPad. I don’t know when he will make me woohoo but sooner or later I know he will see figure out. Sooner or later before he turns five.
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And this is the reason, Marcus, why you won’t see the Sims 3 icon on my iPad anymore. I have deleted it. I know you enjoyed it but after seeing that ‘wish to woohoo’ I just knew that it’s a bad game son, bad game. Go play Angry Birds for now.
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Mood: 2/10 Honks! (Lunch was good. Thanks, wifey.)
I couldn’t agree more when DJ Mo Twister asked the question on radio if golfers should be considered athletes. I hate the game just the same. Who in his right mind would hit a small white ball to make it fly so far away and just to follow it where it falls right after and to repeat the whole process over and over again. Yes, golfers alone.
I’d like to make a point with a list why I dislike this game.
Golf for me is just a rich man’s pastime. The equipment set can be a minimum wage earner’s one month pay.
I agree that golf courses are an environmental wreck. Don’t be fooled by the greenery and lakes around it. As far as I know, it takes more water just to maintain the grasses.
I have this prejudice that most golfers are snobs.
I find it boring.
But tonight I caught myself staring at the ongoing PGA tour. If it’s a rerun, I don’t care. It now appears once again that never generalize still proves to be right.
Just outside the badminton court where we frequent recently is a golf driving range. So while cooling down right after an intense racket game the whacking sound of the iron hitting the balls got my attention. I looked closer at what was happening and for some reason it was somewhat hypnotic.
What fascinated me firstly was how the white dimpled balls can go and accelerate higher as if something was pulling it upwards and drop it as far as 200 meters. The form likewise looks intriguing as the instructor keeps on telling his student to always do a follow through right after every hit.
I’ve seen golf games on TV before but this time I discovered it more technical. The way a player swings the iron; the design and technology behind the equipment; the way each golf club affects the flight and range of the ball; and of course the design of each golf course. Now I wonder if the day would come when I’d be able to whack at least one golf ball in the driving range. Remember? Rich man’s game. Wake up.
By the way, I was drinking brandy while watching the tour on TV. So I don’t know if it must be the alcohol or the idea of whacking something that got me to appreciate the game in the first place. Whatever it is, I’m starting to love this game.
I hate to admit it, but I hate numbers. Ever since I started going to school, I despised any activity that has something to do with it. That goes on without saying that I hate math. As a graduate of a course related to electronics engineering (and just last year, as a computer engineer) I had to bear with the fact that I can’t escape the reality that I have to face and deal with problems involving calculations and computations on a regular basis. Thankfully, I didn’t fail any of those “numbers-related” subjects (That doesn’t include my previous Mechanical Engineering course which was spent learning BMX freestyles in- stead. Come to think of it, it deals with some Physics anyhow). But I didn’t excel in it either. So until now I’m still amused every time I remember a classmate mentioning that he’s been peeking at my Calculus test papers for “clues” and was able to pass the exams because of it. How I pulled it off, I don’t know.
By the start of this year, my wife bought this weird puzzle booklet from the supermarket and upon seeing that it was about matching several numbers, I avoided it right away. Had it been a crossword puzzle, I would have been her rival in an instant.
Sudoku.
Since that time, I would regularly see her with this booklet and a pencil. I would wonder every now and then if what makes her attracted to play Sudoku puzzles and if it is really worth the time. It went on even during our trip to Malaysia. She also convinced her brother and he got hooked just like her or even worse.
A couple of weeks after we arrived from that vacation (which was a wonderful one, despite the Sudoku distractions), I eagerly asked for the weird puzzle and tried my hands and brain on it. Just like a car’s engine left idle for a long time, my brain’s number sector hesitated for a couple of minutes before engaging on the problem at hand – i.e., solve the puzzle rated as one-shuriken. In Sudoku speak, it is the easiest. Time went by and after several mind-boggling hours, and after our floor (and bed sheet) collected mounds of eraser shavings, I realized that I was hooked on this numbers game. I timed my puzzle-solving and clocked 5 minutes or less on some one-shuriken problems. My wife said she has done better. I don’t care. She’s not my competition. My rival is myself. I have likewise solved two- to four-shuriken problems. For how long? Don’t ask. What matters most is that I solved it anyway.
Last night we bought our third booklet. It is rated intermediate. The first page starts with four-shuriken problems and I peeked at the last ones, most of it has diagonal-odd puzzles. In plain words, It can make one crazy. Hehe- hehe. Hahahahahaha. Huhuhuhu. Am I drooling yet?
Marcus Can Blog 