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Rant #6 and Steven's Graduation
Jun. 1st, 2008 07:48 amRant #6: It also sucks that Wonder Project J2 never was released outside Japan. It's a good thing though, that unlike all the SNES games listed in the former FCoASG thread, Nintendo Power actually had the courtesy to acknowledge this game's existence in its Epic Center section during Feb-May 1997.
Anyway, it has been ten years since the last time we visited Aunt Allison and her sons Dennis and Steven, and there's a lot to say about the past couple of days. First, Marie had to go to school for the first several hours of Friday, but me and Brian were allowed to sleep until we naturally woke up. Grandma Ella came over, and Mom picked Marie up from school before we headed to Pennsylvania.
I brought my Nintendo DS with me, along with Contra IV and Ontamarama. I only played the former, though, and on the way to Pennsylvania, only twice. Even though these games seem like a good timekiller, it kinda sucks to to be bumping up and down in the car while I'm playing. It's a good thing that at least Contra IV doesn't make any use of the stylus; just think how badly impaired my performance would be if I was playing Ontamarama.
The first thing we saw when we got to the house was a swimming pool. Did they always have that pool? I never did use it, if they even had it before. Due to lack of anticipation, though, we didn't bring our bathing suits, but that was okay because the water was too dirty to swim in anyway.
Upon entering the house, we were greeted by several dogs, along Aunt Allison and co. They never had those dogs before... or that dark gray cat, either. Pets aside, though, there were other visitors who came to the house as well, mostly friends of Aunt Allison, Grandpa Bob, etc. Most notably, though, was Steven's girlfriend Tricia, who already graduated last year. Cousin Dennis, however, was unable to visit, since he's in the marines. Understandable. If they let someone have off for that reason, everyone would be using it as an excuse.
After greeting everyone, I went upstairs to drop my stuff off... only to find that the rooms were rearranged. What used to be Dennis and Steven's room is now Aunt Allison's room, what used to be Aunt Allison's room is now a storage room, and Steven's new room is... on a third floor, which may have previously been an attic to which I never noticed the door to.
That trip coming to the house made me rather tired, and I slept for a rather long time in Steven's bed after putting my stuff somewhere. Normally, I shouldn't mention this, but I kinda want to: ( Read more... )
Upon waking up, I came downstairs and out the back door, and Brian was talking to Uncle Robby and someone else. I overheard them talk about how schools work in Asia, and according to an episode of 60 Minutes that Uncle Robby watched, children in Japan are overloaded with homework so that they're up until 10:00 PM, plus they can't get extra help like we American students can. Okay, I've known all along that schools in Asia are much more intensive than in America, but one would wonder how children and teens in anime get seemingly more free time than a Japanese child in reality would get. For example, Mondo and Rockna from Mon Colle Knights... they've spent the beginnings of certain episodes doing things such as sketching a horse, looking at a photo album, and going to a carnival. Do the authors of such anime and manga study American childhood before working on these shows? Kinda ironic, isn't it? But then again, even colleges in America are designed to be exhausting, and yet college students manage to fit all kinds of personal and social activities into their schedule. I'm not quite capable of this, but Brian is a fine example of someone who is.
The graduation ceremony took place at around 7 or 8 PM, and needless to say, it was rather dark by then. I brought my backpack with me to the bleachers in case I got bored, but I never did take anything out of it. However, I did get up to walk around. When it was over, we took quite a few minutes to regroup, and from what Mom told me, a helicopter crashed somewhere in the vicinity of all the cars. Traffic had to be redirected away from it, but while we were waiting, Aunt Allison's ex-husband Dennis, Sr. did find us. He was talking to Uncle Robby, and I came to greet him when Mom told me where Robby was.
We had three cakes when we got back to the house. One of them was an ice cream cake, which Grandma Ella had a hard time cutting. One of us had to fetch a glass of warm water to stick the knife in, in order for her to cut the cake easier.
The next morning, Mom woke me, Brian, and Marie up to get ready to leave. Grandma Ella stayed at the house because she had multiple stops to make across the country before returning home. Not much happened for most of the way home, but when we were back on Long Island, we stopped at the Smithhaven Mall. On our way in, Mom asked Marie if she remembers meeting Scott here. That's interesting to know, that my sister met her current boyfriend at a shopping mall, instead of at school. Anyway, I spent most of the time at the bookstore, looking at manga. At first, I tried looking for something that I wasn't yet familiar with. I read the summaries of some stuff, but they didn't interest me, so I instead read half of volume 5 of Sgt. Frog. Eventually, I got bored and called Mom and Marie on Mom's cell phone. The two of them came to get me, and Mom asked me if I wanted ice cream, but I told her that I hadn't eaten a proper lunch yet. She gave me some money and let me go to the food court, and I got some Indian food. There were no empty tables, so I had no choice but to ask two other people if they would share their table with me.
I called Mom and Marie again after I finished eating, and we left the mall shortly after they came back. But then, Mom took Brian to some clothing outlet. Quite by coincidence, we saw Scott and one of his friends while driving through some other parking lot, and Mom let Marie go into his car before we went to the clothes store. Mom told me that there was a Barnes & Nobles across the parking lot, but I was tired and chose instead to sleep in the way back of the car.
We came back home at around 4 or 5 PM yesterday. Not much to say about the rest of yesterday.
Anyway, it has been ten years since the last time we visited Aunt Allison and her sons Dennis and Steven, and there's a lot to say about the past couple of days. First, Marie had to go to school for the first several hours of Friday, but me and Brian were allowed to sleep until we naturally woke up. Grandma Ella came over, and Mom picked Marie up from school before we headed to Pennsylvania.
I brought my Nintendo DS with me, along with Contra IV and Ontamarama. I only played the former, though, and on the way to Pennsylvania, only twice. Even though these games seem like a good timekiller, it kinda sucks to to be bumping up and down in the car while I'm playing. It's a good thing that at least Contra IV doesn't make any use of the stylus; just think how badly impaired my performance would be if I was playing Ontamarama.
The first thing we saw when we got to the house was a swimming pool. Did they always have that pool? I never did use it, if they even had it before. Due to lack of anticipation, though, we didn't bring our bathing suits, but that was okay because the water was too dirty to swim in anyway.
Upon entering the house, we were greeted by several dogs, along Aunt Allison and co. They never had those dogs before... or that dark gray cat, either. Pets aside, though, there were other visitors who came to the house as well, mostly friends of Aunt Allison, Grandpa Bob, etc. Most notably, though, was Steven's girlfriend Tricia, who already graduated last year. Cousin Dennis, however, was unable to visit, since he's in the marines. Understandable. If they let someone have off for that reason, everyone would be using it as an excuse.
After greeting everyone, I went upstairs to drop my stuff off... only to find that the rooms were rearranged. What used to be Dennis and Steven's room is now Aunt Allison's room, what used to be Aunt Allison's room is now a storage room, and Steven's new room is... on a third floor, which may have previously been an attic to which I never noticed the door to.
That trip coming to the house made me rather tired, and I slept for a rather long time in Steven's bed after putting my stuff somewhere. Normally, I shouldn't mention this, but I kinda want to: ( Read more... )
Upon waking up, I came downstairs and out the back door, and Brian was talking to Uncle Robby and someone else. I overheard them talk about how schools work in Asia, and according to an episode of 60 Minutes that Uncle Robby watched, children in Japan are overloaded with homework so that they're up until 10:00 PM, plus they can't get extra help like we American students can. Okay, I've known all along that schools in Asia are much more intensive than in America, but one would wonder how children and teens in anime get seemingly more free time than a Japanese child in reality would get. For example, Mondo and Rockna from Mon Colle Knights... they've spent the beginnings of certain episodes doing things such as sketching a horse, looking at a photo album, and going to a carnival. Do the authors of such anime and manga study American childhood before working on these shows? Kinda ironic, isn't it? But then again, even colleges in America are designed to be exhausting, and yet college students manage to fit all kinds of personal and social activities into their schedule. I'm not quite capable of this, but Brian is a fine example of someone who is.
The graduation ceremony took place at around 7 or 8 PM, and needless to say, it was rather dark by then. I brought my backpack with me to the bleachers in case I got bored, but I never did take anything out of it. However, I did get up to walk around. When it was over, we took quite a few minutes to regroup, and from what Mom told me, a helicopter crashed somewhere in the vicinity of all the cars. Traffic had to be redirected away from it, but while we were waiting, Aunt Allison's ex-husband Dennis, Sr. did find us. He was talking to Uncle Robby, and I came to greet him when Mom told me where Robby was.
We had three cakes when we got back to the house. One of them was an ice cream cake, which Grandma Ella had a hard time cutting. One of us had to fetch a glass of warm water to stick the knife in, in order for her to cut the cake easier.
The next morning, Mom woke me, Brian, and Marie up to get ready to leave. Grandma Ella stayed at the house because she had multiple stops to make across the country before returning home. Not much happened for most of the way home, but when we were back on Long Island, we stopped at the Smithhaven Mall. On our way in, Mom asked Marie if she remembers meeting Scott here. That's interesting to know, that my sister met her current boyfriend at a shopping mall, instead of at school. Anyway, I spent most of the time at the bookstore, looking at manga. At first, I tried looking for something that I wasn't yet familiar with. I read the summaries of some stuff, but they didn't interest me, so I instead read half of volume 5 of Sgt. Frog. Eventually, I got bored and called Mom and Marie on Mom's cell phone. The two of them came to get me, and Mom asked me if I wanted ice cream, but I told her that I hadn't eaten a proper lunch yet. She gave me some money and let me go to the food court, and I got some Indian food. There were no empty tables, so I had no choice but to ask two other people if they would share their table with me.
I called Mom and Marie again after I finished eating, and we left the mall shortly after they came back. But then, Mom took Brian to some clothing outlet. Quite by coincidence, we saw Scott and one of his friends while driving through some other parking lot, and Mom let Marie go into his car before we went to the clothes store. Mom told me that there was a Barnes & Nobles across the parking lot, but I was tired and chose instead to sleep in the way back of the car.
We came back home at around 4 or 5 PM yesterday. Not much to say about the rest of yesterday.