Mad Libs + Friends + Filthy Minds = Old School Hilarity

Almost a month ago, I sent my Guitar Hero III disc away for replacement. Today, I got a package from Activision delivered to my door, with the following note:

"Dear Valued Customer.... You recently received a Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock Wii replacement disc... To show our appreciation for your patience... enclosed is a complementary Guitar Hero faceplate..."

You will note, of course, that I have not, in fact, received said disc.

I have already had four packages sent across the border to my home lost somewhere en route by one or both of North America's very poor postal systems. I really hope this isn't the fifth.

Last night, as people shut down their lights to participate in Earth Hour, Torontonians saved about 434 megawatts of power. That is a significant statement toward our concern about climate change. Of course, the event could not go by without debate. There tends to be three camps with respect to opinion on Earth Hour.

The first camp is full of participants that shut off their lights as a sign of concern and unity. A strong statement from a huge collective of people that together voiced their concern over the damage to the planet that we have been wreaking for the past 200 years or so. It is a message to all that can hear: "I care, and I'm willing to act on it."

The second camp of folk are the ones that shut off their lights for an hour, then pat themselves on the back for a job well done and continue with business as usual. They have missed the point of the exercise. One hour with the lights out changes very little. The idea is to show that it can be done, and to encourage you to act everyday. Addressing this problem doesn't mean a change for an hour; it means a change for life.

The third group of people are the ones that chose not to participate. Some of them are in denial about climate change, refusing to accept the tremendous amount of evidence before them. Others look at the second group above, and think that an hour won't change a thing, so there's no point in trying. To those, I say your are dreadfully wrong. It is always worth the effort, always worth the attempt, and always worth the concern. One hour doesn't solve the crisis, but it can be a catalyst to something that does. When that many speak up together, when that mass of people declare in one voice "I care", others will listen. When that voice grows, even more will listen. Business leaders, political leaders, and people leaders; they all will start to listen. And if that voice is followed by action, then listeners will act as well.

434 megawatts won't save the world. But 434 megawatts in every city on every night? That will.

Readers will be well-aware of my Guitar Hero addiction. Those following the game will also be aware of a bug in the Wii version that prevents proper Dolby Surround audio. Activision now provides replacement discs fixing this problem, bu they have decided to implement the exchange in a very assy way. Rather than, say, paying a deposit to have them send you a new disc and refunding the deposit when you send the old one back, they instead require you to send them the old disc and then wait a few weeks until they send you a replacement.

I sent mine off yesterday. This means I will be without my Guitar Hero for what may be a few weeks. I don't know how I'll survive. I suppose I could use this opportunity to dust off the real guitar, but I'm quite awful at it. The video game does a far better job at stroking the ego.

A Merry Davidmas to you and yours, and may all your Davidmas wishes come true!

As long as those wishes involve me somehow becoming younger.

Tomorrow, I become old. 30 years old. Wow.

To celebrate my newly-acquired senility, I held the second Febtoberfest party, milking on the success of the last one at my house-warming two years ago. This one was Febtoberfest XXX, and was full of much glee. My friends and I went out to a Portuguese restaurant, where they amused me with their attempts to pronounce "bacalhau a bras", and then proceeded to my home for some Guitar Hero, Pop-a-matic Trouble, and the traditional Febtoberfest Twister. Much fun was had, and many blackmail-worthy photos were produced.

I would have done better at Twister if these old bones weren't so creaky.

I should write down what I ate today and try to replicate it. Somehow, and who knows why, but I went on an absolute tear on Guitar Hero. Prompted by a friend's perfect execution of "When You Were Young" on Medium on my machine, I had gone and perfected all the songs in Set 1 earlier this week. Today, curious as to how far I could go, I managed to perfect every song in sets 2 through 4, many of them on the first try. I was in a groove. I got rhythm. If I could play a real guitar even a tenth as well, I'd be rockin'.

Last night I went out to Dagmar resort, up north of Ajax, to continue my snowboard education. It was one of my more productive trips, because I went alone (which meant I didn't have to wait for anyone) and because it was bloody cold (which meant there was nobody else there). I essentially had the hills all to myself much of the time, and was able to tackle all the blue runs entirely using proper S-turns - no "falling leaf" cheats, which essentially involves braking the entire way down. This is big for me. I still have to cheat on black diamond runs, and there's no way I'm trying the terrain park, but I am pleased with my progress.

This past weekend we went out to a friend's cottage in Penatang for some skiing, some Guitar Hero, and a lot of drink. We actually got our previously-injured friend to try out skiing again for the first time since his unfortunate tibia incident a couple of years ago, and this event was far more pleasant. I'm improving noticably on the board, and am hoping that by the time the next season starts, I'll be able to handle any of the slopes my friends tend to enjoy.

Our friend's brother was there at the cottage as well, and he let us all try out his snowmobile just before we made the drive back to T.O. We took it a lap or two around the house in turn, enjoying speeding around the house in a circuit. I was the last to go, and being the cautious type - not wanting to crash the vehicle into a tree, or a car, or the house - the onlookers saw me carefully throttle up and slowly make my way across the front lawn and carefully turning round to the back of the house. Then, to everyone's surprise - inlcuding my own - the next thing they saw was me and snowmobile emerge from the other side of the house flying through the air, with me yelling "woo hoo!!". While everyone else had sensibly gone around the ramp, I decided to take it head on and at full throttle.

I then slowly and carefully returned to the front and shut it down. I had my moment.

It's the first Family Day today, and I spent the entire day doing things non-family oriented. I think this holiday is mis-named.