Alex Trebek

Alex Trebek, host of Jeopardy! and other Canadian game shows before it, has passed away. 

Cancer sucks. He was 80 years of age.

I grew up watching him on TV. I loved watching him host High Rollers and Pitfall. I then watched Jeopardy! religiously, to the point where I got my parents to watch the show with me. To this day, they both enjoy watching the show.

He always made sure that there was a Canadian question on each Jeopardy! show. I loved that he always had Canada on his mind. 

Such a huge loss. May he rest in peace.

Ball Sort

Recently, I decided to download Ball Sort. No, get your mind out of the gutter! It's like Tetris, except that you are putting like-coloured balls together in beakers or tubes.

I'm on level 209 right now. So addictive!

My first Wild hockey game!

I have booked a trip to the Twin Cities. I am finally going to see a Minnesota Wild game.

I lived in Minnesota for a couple of years. I was there during the hockey team's inaugural year.

I couldn't get tickets during my entire time there. I put down a deposit, hoping to get tickets. Well, it has taken nearly two decades. I have a ten-pack of tickets.

My first game is in a few days. Naturally, I can't go, so I'm selling that ticket.

In October, I'm going down for my first game ever. I am so excited. I spent Saturday booking everything, so I'm ready!

Hockey teaches us to aim high and go in

On Tuesday night, after shovelling roughly 15 cm of snow from my driveway, I decided to unwind by watching hockey on TV.

When I switched cell phone providers a few months ago, I ended up getting NHL GameCentre Live for free. In the past, I used to subscribe to it. I then started cutting down on various expenses, which resulted in terminating this subscription. I must admit that it has been wonderful watching a ton of hockey games at home.

Anyway, I was watching the Columbus Blue Jackets game against the Carolina Hurricanes. It was a pretty fast-paced, high-scoring game.

I then heard the following remark from one of the commentators when a player had missed scoring a goal:

"As the old saying goes, aim high, go in."

Immediately, my mind went into the gutter.

I told my guy about this comment. He simply agreed. I could only picture him grinning with his cell phone glued to his ear. After all, we think alike, especially from the same gutter.

Sunday lounging

I tend to enjoy doing little on Sundays. I literally lounged for most of the day yesterday.

I think that work makes me enjoy my weekends more. I work so much that weekends are reserved for whatever I feel like doing. If I feel like doing nothing, I do just that.

Well, if you consider that I spent the day listening to music and podcasts, I suppose that I did do something. I also spent some time playing Doodle Fruit (yes, I am still addicted to the game) and working out.

My guy doesn't mind when I take a day out for myself. He constantly tells me that I deserve it.

He is here for almost a week before he goes on the road for a couple of weeks. It'll be nice to see him before we resume chatting on Skype.

Doodle Fruit is my latest game addition

A ton of people seem to be playing Pokemon Go these days. I downloaded it a week ago, played it for maybe five minutes, and I haven't played it since.

I don't find it fun.

Yesterday, I learned about Doodle Fruit. I liked Doodle Jump that first came out a few years ago.

I cannot stop playing Doodle Fruit. I was up until 3 am playing it. Yes, I am hooked!

I tend to like Tetris-type games, like Bejewelled and 2048. My guy is the same.

Once I tell him about Doodle Fruit, we may not be talking to each other for a while. We'll be too busy with our game addiction!

Reliving Nintendo handheld gaming systems and never wanting to grow up

When I was in grade 12, just before my December exams, I saved up enough money to buy my first handheld gaming system. I got a Game Boy.

The store that I purchased my monochrome Game Boy was Consumers Distributing. It was essentially a catalogue service. You'd mark the items that you wanted on a piece of paper, and you'd then hand it to staff who would go into the warehouse to find your item. This store has since disappeared, as has the original Game Boy.

Here is a page from a Consumers Distributing flyer that likely caught my eye back then:

Courtesy: Forum Vancouver

By the way, I also purchased the rechargeable AC adapter later months later.

Well over a decade later, I decided to get another Nintendo handheld gaming system. I went with the Game Boy Advance SP. I purchased mine in grey. The screen was colour! You could fold the system in half.

On the weekend, I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to get a few things. I was mainly there to buy a jar of peanut butter. The Nintendo 2DS was on sale for $100. I had $170 worth of points to spend at the store. I decided to ask whether there were any systems left. 

The nice man working there said that he'd check in the warehouse. It reminded me of being at Consumers Distributing as a teenager. He asked me what colours I would like. I said blue. Otherwise, any colour would do just fine.

Five minutes later, he came back with the sea green colour, which is also white. I was pleased. It looked nice. I was sold. There is nothing like a few gaming system.

I am like a little kid sometimes. I went to Best Buy to browse games afterwards. I found a used one that was half price. It was Tetris, which is reminiscent of the first game that came with my Game Boy. I bought it.

Naturally, after my purchase, I went back to my car, opened the Tetris box, took out the cartridge, opened my Nintendo 2DS box, powered the device on (it had a full charge!), placed the Tetris game into the slot, and played the game for an hour. Yes, I played a game in my car on a rainy afternoon.

Although many would say that I am mature for my age, it's nice to not act my age on the weekend. It's nice to relive how I felt about playing an arcade game. It's exciting. It's challenging. It sparks my sense of wonder and fun. It makes me happy.

It will be interesting to tell my guy about my purchase. We are similar when it comes to games. We like puzzle and word games more than anything, but we both love pac-man.

No wonder we get along well.

Spanky Pig

Now and again, I like to search Apple's App Store for any games about spanking. Tonight, I came across Spanky Pig.

I can't exactly give you an in-depth review. I have only played it for ten minutes.

The objective is to spank as many pigs as you can within a given time. The pigs move closer to the hands, so you can slap their backsides.

It's fun and challenging so far, but it would have been nicer to be able to upload a picture of someone you know that needs a good spanking, which would replace each pig's face. This feature would motivate me a lot more.

The hand animation would be a lot better if it were a swinging hand that didn't look so stiff!

Of course, they have to keep this game clean so that it gets approved for downloading in the App Store. Perhaps I should design an adult version. Sadly, I don't have time to learn how to develop applications on iOS. Maybe I can coax my guy to design one for me.

Spanking - an Android game

I am a geeky girl. My guy calls me geeky gadget girl, among other fine nicknames. Personally, I like this one just as much as bad girl.

The other day, I came across an Android game called Spanking. Yep, it's exactly what you think. You can spank a naughty boy or girl right on your Android phone or tablet.

Courtesy: Androidgame365.com

Unfortunately, the graphics aren't stellar and the grammar is atrocious, at times. As an example, one screen states, "I tolerate you for a long time! I will spanking you!"

If my guy ever said that to me, I would burst out laughing, likely right to his face. Then again, if I did that, I would get quite a sound spanking session from him, which would be much better than the virtual version.