Tagging Along

I’ve been tagged to answer some questions. Since I never get tired of talking about myself, I decided to give it a go. I was tagged by A Gripping Life and Adair. AGL tagged me first, so I’m going to answer her questions. Sars Adair.

I’m tagging:

Adamsdaughter

Chez Sasha

Dribbling Pensioner

Conchsaladesque

Very Normal

Is It Possible To See It All

And anyone else who wants to do it!

Everyone else I know has already been tagged. Feel free to decline. You don’t have to do it, just thought it would be fun. But if you don’t do it, I’ll hate you forever.

Rules

1. You must post the rules.

2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and the create 11 new questions to ask the people you’ve tagged.

3. Tag 11 people and link them on your post.

4. Let them know you’ve tagged them!

Here are the 11 questions that A Gripping Life asked me:

1. If deserted on an island, what is the one book, one film, and one album/CD you would request? Pillars of the Earth because it’s the longest book I’ve ever read. “Singin’ in the Rain” because it’s one of my faves. Plus it has good songs and dancing! And one album would be The Best of Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Too hard to choose. Maybe The Beatles, Rubber Soul?

2. In Heaven I hope there is an unlimited supply of pizza. Jk. But seriously. Sunshine. I can’t picture Heaven being cloudy, but you never know. I just want it to be sunny and warm all the time.

3. If I could change one body part it would be my feet! I hate having big feet 😦

4. My favorite day of the week is Friday because it’s the start of the freakin’ weekend!

5. The person/people who makes me laugh the most is my family. So many inside jokes. Also, my friend Natalie. And my friend Matt. Also Paul. They just get me. (I would have said that I make myself laugh the most, but I feel like that doesn’t count.)

6. My dream occupation would be working with animals in their natural habitat. One of my ultimate dreams is to hug a lion. I know I could do it.

7. My favorite dream car is uhmhm I don’t know.  A nice one? I don’t really know about cars.

8. My most hated teacher was Mrs. Tobison. My worst class was any math class. Oh and English Civil War.

9. Would you rather be eaten by sharks or eaten by lions or live in a world of mud? I can’t even think about a world of mud without laughing. It makes absolutely no sense. Sooo world of mud it is.

10. My favorite smells are summery smells. Lily of the Valley, sunscreen, Ralph Lauren Romance and the smell of the lobby of my favorite hotel. And Burberry Brit for the winter.

11. If I had to change my first name it would be either Layla or Beatrice (Bea for short). But I really love my name.

Here are the 11 questions for my tagees to answer:

1. If you could live in a different country for a year, where would you live?

2. What would you do if you were the opposite sex?

3. If there was a fire in your house and you could only save 3 things, what would they be? (Family and pets would be safe!)

4. What is your favorite sport and why?

5. What is a TV show that you hate to miss?

6. If you could be fluent in another language, which would you choose?

7. Which actor or actress makes you mad?

8. What is your favorite vacation spot?

9. What is the first thing you would do if you were president, prime minister, etc?

10. Favorite thing to drink?

11. Do you prefer baths or showers? Why?

Gaming

This. Is. Everything.

I don’t know if you guys know this, but I’m a gamer. Well, not a gamer in the sense that I play Halo, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft or anything like that. Games have been a big part of my life though. I love video games, computer games, stupid iPad apps, etc. I get addicted to finding every coin, getting the best score, completing missions–everything!

Nowadays games are so high tech. I mean, they seem cool, but they just go way over my head. I have this game on my iPad called Temple Run (it’s so addictive) and the objective is to run as far away from these monkeys that chase you through the jungle. The graphics are better than anything that’s on my N64. It really amazes me.

Computer games really started me off early as a gamer. And I know these games are totally lame, but I still pop them in every once and a while for a walk down memory lane. They all had cheesy names like Pajama Sam, Spy Fox, Feddie Fish, and Putt-Putt. My brother and I still make references to these games. I remember kicking each other off of the computer because we each had our own game going. Perhaps one of the biggest shocks of our lives was when we found out that Freddie Fish was a girl. WHAT?! Still doesn’t make sense.

I was probably around 9 or 10 when Rollercoaster Tycoon came out. I would literally sit for hours playing that game. During 6th grade in Tech Lab, there were different areas where you could, I don’t know, do tech-y stuff. In one of the sections they had a computer set up with Rollercoaster Tycoon. I guess building virtual Rollercoasters is considered lab work. I stayed at that computer for the entire class. The next morning, someone went on my saved game and ruined the park that I had built so carefully. They were clearly jealous of my amazing skills.

Once Nintendo 64 rolled around, there was no turning back. I had no time for Rollecoaster Coaster Tycoon. Super Mario 64 was a family affair in my house. My parents played it just as much as we did. Such good memories.

After that, gaming systems were being launched every other year–Sega Dreamcast, Playstation, GameCube, X-Box, X-Box 360, etc. They all offered some great games. Crazy Taxi was one of my absolute favorites.

Last night on the Daily Show, they compared the Florida Debates to Mortal Kombat and called it “Floridal Kombat”. They depicted Mitt Romney K.O.ing Newt Gingrich. It was pretty funny. Paul leaned over and said, “Do you even know what Mortal Kombat is?” I looked at him, narrowed my eyes, and said “Do you even know who I am?”

Canadian Monopoly

Blasphemy.

Last night I went over to my friend’s house (I’m making friends!) and we sat around thinking of things to do. We tossed around a couple ideas but we eventually settled on Monopoly. Is there really anything better to do on Friday nights? Only yes.

I’ve always liked the game of Monopoly. In my junior year of college we taught my brother to play Monopoly (who goes through life not knowing the beauty of Monops?). We probably played around 50 times that semester. More often then not I would quit playing because my brother would make deals with everyone else except me. Rude. I’m not sure if most people make deals when they play, but I’m pretty sure its considered cheating. For example, he would say, “I’ll give you Vermont Avenue if you let me stay on your property for free and give me St. James Place.”

The Monopoly game that my friend had was a Canadian version. It was so scary. First of all, it came with fake credit cards, most likely to prevent cheating, which sucks because cheating is awesome. But it also prevents math, which I applaud. You just type everything into an electronic box-no messing around with Monopoly money/Canadian money. However, the use of credit cards means that the amount of money used is realistic. You start off with 6 million! It just gets depressing after that.

All of the spots were places in Canada. Some were normal, like Toronto. Some were not, like Medicine Hat. They should re-name that city “Kill Me Now.”

The community chest cards were the best though. One of them said, “You won a contest by making the best maple syrup! Collect 500 k.” If there’s a real contest that gives out 500,000 for making the best maple syrup, I know what my new life goal is. Brb making syrup.

Bored Games

This makes me want to vom.

Do you see what I did with the title? I’m so smart and clever. My family has been playing lots of board games since we’ve all been home. And by lots of board games, I mean we’ve exclusively been playing a Jeopardy game that’s from 1992. You know how Alex Trebek always seems so snide when he reads the answer after a contestant makes a wrong guess? Maybe snide isn’t the right word. I’m too lazy to look up words that describe Alex Trebek. Just trust me when I say that Alex is annoying when he reads the answers. He acts as if every answer is so obvious. And he reads all foreign words in the proper accent which never ceases to make me cringe.

Trebek is originally from Canada. Sudbury, Ontario to be exact. He renounced his citizenship and became American. Which is weird. I would never give up my citizenship! I mean, he’s had a stable job since 1984 so I guess its understandable that he would just become a US citizen. Our country would clearly be lost without him.

There are so many games and game shows available to us nowadays it’s amazing that we don’t play a game every day. I feel like I don’t play enough card games. Card games are always so strategic. I appreciate a game that gives you props to use in either circumstance of winning or losing. You can throw down your cards after you win and say “IN YOUR FACE!” And you can also throw down your cards when you lose and say you don’t feel like playing anymore.

Card games are definitely the most satisfying of all the game types to win. I’ve tried to teach myself to play poker through facebook’s poker game. I’m almost decent. There’s a little chat section in the game where the other people playing can talk to you. Every once in a while people would say to me “nh” which freaked me out. Eventually I realized it stood for “nice hand.” As if I had any control over what hand I was dealt. Pshh. After a while I just pretended that they thought my hands were nice and pretty so I would respond “ty” (thank you).

Tonight I hung out in a friends basement and we played a game called Apples to Apples which was kind of fun. I had heard a lot of good things about it, but after playing it for a while, it was pretty boring. It takes absolutely no skill to play. I wouldn’t recommend it. I also brought my Jeopardy game. It wasn’t well received at first, but I think everyone enjoyed it. Let me clear up any confusion: Yes, I am 24 and still hang out in people’s basements and play board games. Not much has changed since I was 13.