21 July 2011

The Joys of Life at 35,000 Feet

I'm away for the next week or so, in Upstate New York visiting my parents and my brother's family for a few days before heading south to New York City to see some friends there and tend to some business.

Yes, there's a plane involved--two of them, in fact--and a train (Amtrak between Utica and New York Penn Station, and at least one automobile (my parents will pick me up at the airport tonight, in Syracuse, as usual later tonight). Pictured above: the actual plane that will take me from Chicago to Syracuse later on today.

I also understand that I'm flying into what appears to be a sinister, world-class heat wave. If you happen to see a man sweating--and I mean dripping-from-the-tip-of-his-nose sweating--in an airport or train station over the next few days, chances are good that it's me. The heat and I are old enemies.

Packing this morning, as usual, I realize that I'm carrying an absurd amount of game machines. Here's what will pass through customs with me this morning: x1 3DS, x1 second generation DS (I can't live without the GBA cartridge slot), x1 PSP go (Pixeljunk Monsters: you are coming with me), x1 iPhone, and x1 iPad. No one, and I mean no one travels with more gaming opportunities on his person at any given moment that I do. (Except for maybe Victor Lucas. He carries around this amount gaming hardware practically every day, not just on travel days.) (Vic: You're weird.) (And I heart you.) (And Vic's also at the airport this morning, only he's enroute to Comic Con in San Diego. Godspeed, my friend.)

I especially love the moment--or rather, The Moment--when the plane finally levels off after its initial ascent, and the rotund fellow in the seat next to me starts to doze, and all my worries, anxieties, qualms, etc. are left behind me, back there, on the ground, and I reach into my duffel for the first time, as excited as an 8 year old on Christmas morning, trying to decide what system and what game to play first.

Man, I'm getting giddy over here just thinking about it.

I have plans to chime in and write while traveling. But the truth is, I'll likely be M.I.A. for a bit. Try not to miss me too much.

Happy Thursday.

6 comments:

  1. I wonder if your gaming consoles will survive the heat wave.

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  2. At least its heat and not snow!

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  3. Oh and have a great vacation!

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  4. Scott, I'm going to take this opportunity (because I hate Facebook and am ambivalent about Twitter and Vic otherwise makes it difficult to otherwise contact RotR) to thank you and Vic for continuing to review DS games, eShop games, etc., on the show. I think it would be a big mistake for Reviews on the Run to devote a larger chunk of its time to iOS reviews. I know there's great stuff on the Apple platforms and I know many serious gamers have iProducts, but the casual games that thus far form the bulk of released and reviewed products aren't necessarily what I think the average Reviews viewer is watching the show for. Maybe I'm wrong, but when the PS3/Xbox/Nintendo reviews dry up, I'm moving on. . .

    By the way, after missing out on the GBA entirely when it was in production, I recently bought a couple old GBAs. How did people put up with those dark screens? I mean, even the DS Phat screen is pretty dark compared the the Lite, but in retrospect, hard to live with that dark screen. Great games though, which is why I've returned to the past and am buying cheap ones off Craigslist.

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  5. Ahh…I just finished a stint of vacation time with both mine and my husbands extended families. It’s so blatantly obviously where all my issues arise…..especially with all that family… the reactions, retaliations, subliminal competiveness, and holy crap the amount of bbcues to attend…I’m sure every single one of us left with slight depression issues after all the “humor”. Anyways catching up on your posts cheered me up. I feel better about my husband hiding from his nephew on Xbox Live. I don’t feel so bad about keeping my own 360 and not giving it to our other nephew -Who asked me why I need my own? Come on, do you give away friends? I don’t feel bad about lending my DS out to my cousin’s son, listing the games I lent, and getting it back…either. Although the kids were the best part of the visiting, I must admit. They’re just happy you watch them do anything, and to have someone interested in how they beat Bowser, or that they discovered some Yeti Zombie is probably going to keep me the cool Aunt for sometime. :)

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  6. well I actually ended up giving my Cousin's kid my DS....they couldn't afford one for him...I caved. Maybe I'm the sucker Aunt.

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