Top Ten Video Games

These are my top ten most enjoyed video games over the course of my life. It's not the what I think the top ten best games are or the top 10 games that I would like to be stuck on a desert island with. They are the top 10 games that I have played the most and given me the most enjoyment. They are not ranked.

Ninja Gaiden Black (Xbox)

I played this game years after it first came out (a year after Xbox 360 came out actually). It was mind blowingly good. I don't know how to describe it other than saying when you get good, you really feel like a ninja... jumping around and doing crazy ass moves and stuff. The gameplay (combat and movement) is just amazing.

Soulcalibur (Dreamcast)

My friends and I logged thousands of hours playing this in college. We would fill our room with people and round robin all day and night. First 3D fighting game with near perfect hit detection, amazing graphics, deep and fulfilling combat system... it was perfection.

Quake 2 (PC)

Another game which I logged a ridiculous amount of hours with. First networked FPS with near perfect hit detection. This is the game that got me serious about modern first person shooters.

Super Metroid (SNES)

Great swan song for classic side scrollers. I think this game still holds up today.

Resident Evil 4 (Gamecube)

This game is a masterpiece. Everything about it is fantastic: graphics, level design, character design, pacing, gameplay, sound, atmosphere.

Final Fantasy IV / II (SNES)

First game that really introduced me to video games as a medium for storytelling. It's like reading a book... you get attached to characters and there is a level of emotional investment. It's sad when it's over... like your adventure with close friends has come to an end.

Final Fantasy VI / III (SNES)

Like Final Fantasy IV / II except bigger and better. I'd say this is the greatest sprite based RPG ever.

Final Fantasy VII (Playstation)

Like Final Fantasy VI / III except even bigger. Spent upwards of 70 hours fully exploring this game. So much to do, so much to see.

Street Fighter 2 (arcade/SNES)

What can you say about the game that started it all?

Final Fantasy XI (PC)

I had to list at least one MMORPG. This was my favorite. It had a unique and fun combat system (chaining special and magic attacks with other players). MMOs are weird. It's so weird having a second life online complete with friends, a job, etc...

Lead climbed a 5-9

That's not me, it's Tom Slider

I went rock climbing outside for the first time this Saturday. We did a 5-8, two 5-9's and a 5-10 (which I couldn't do, ugh).

I'm am a total newb. The most I've done before this was go through a belaying course at the gym. AJ and his friend Jason basically taught me everything right there on the rock.

At the end if the day, on our last route, they asked if I wanted to lead it. I said, "Heh, I don't think that's a good idea," but they persisted. So tried it.

Lead climbing is a lot more intense (read scary) because you can actually fall a distance instead of the few inches you "fall" when you're top roping. Clipping in is particularly nerve racking because you only have one hand on the rock and it's also the point when you fall the farthest.

They said I had the Elvis leg going a few times.

I did end up falling (just 5 feet or so) and got nasty bruise on my bicep where I hit the rope and a scrape on my shoulder from hitting the rock.

I'm pretty sure I'm scared of heights.

Lost $100 in a pool shot bet

I hung out with AJ last night and we went to play pool. Pretty early on in the night, he jokingly asked if I'd give him $100 if he made this ridiculous shot.

The shot was pretty outrageous for casual pool player. It was a bank shot that had to barely kiss the ball to fall into the side pocket. Both our jaws dropped when he did it.

I paid him the money because I was serious when we made the bet. I was so sure he wasn't going to make, there wasn't a doubt in my mind.

He kept trying to give the money back, but I said it's cool if he used it to pay for drinks and food all night, which he did... and spent he all 100 of it by the end of the night.

Killer Spin Class

According to my Polar heart rate monitor, my average heart rate was 101% over the course of a 45 min spin class. The max was 106%. Thats 193 bpm avg, 204 bpm max. That's really good for me, who's a self proclaimed cardio wimp.

The spin class was great. It was an instructor that was new to me and she challenged me just hard enough to where I was constantly giving full effort. Sometimes if the instructor is too hard, I just give up, ya know?

"This isn't news!"

Haha, I found this pretty amusing. The guy who plays the "this isn't news" guy does a great job at portraying "internet nerd"... the voice, the hair, the over excitability.

Sunbathing

This is just too damn cute. Coco likes to sunbathe.

Edge Driving Part VI

Ehh, the video is a bit boring. You really can't get a feel for the speed and violence when watching from afar. Even in-car cameras can't capture that well. It's something you have to experience for yourself. It's like skydiving. You just really can't describe it to someone who hasn't been. I can tell you though that in many parts of that video, I was going well over 100 mph.

At 1:47, you can see me slide around Horseshoe (the downhill right hander). I was driving really sloppy because in the previous session, my amazing instructor was showing me how he can drift around every corner and still be faster than everyone on the track, so I was trying to (somewhat) emulate him. I think the message was "if you can safely control your car over the edge, then you won't be afraid to skate the edge." Easier said then done.

Despite slip-sliding all over the track, I think I was making ok times. The grey Subaru said he shaved a whole second off his lap time by following me. He said we did 1:27 one time. I think if I really concentrate on driving well, and not roast my tires by trying to slide/drift, I can probably squeeze out a 1:26 or maybe less?

I got one of the two most advanced instructors this time around. He is professional, as in he makes his living by instructing people who are serious about going fast ($700 per day!), and he's also trying to get into professional racing. Crazy what that mofo can do with a car, just ask my friend Troy who got a few rides with him (in my car, hehe).

Anyway, I'm "very" solo approved in yellow now. :) Next event, I'll get the solo discount, get the solo wristband, and not have an instructor at all... scary! I'm definitely going to ask for one to come along for a few laps... I usually need to be cleaned up since I forget in the time between events.

The damage:

• new (more or less) Z51 brake pads completely obliterated in 2 days, not just worn away, but burnt to a crisp also
• boiled brake fluid in 1 day, requiring a complete flush
• front r-compound tires debatably finished