Topdog. Russ Jer Russ!

12.19.2004

While avoiding some of my self imposed household chores over the weekend, I kept dwelling on how Jer had shot down more planes than I while playing Topdog. He was still the Spiritus Champion. It shouldn't bother me, this is a flying game, not a driving game. And it's especially not a wrestling game. But bother me it did. It secretly ate away at my desire to regain the coveted Spiritus championship that I had managed to hold for those precious moments when shooting down 31 bad guys was a feat only I had accomplished, until the magic number of 43 was announced by Jerry.

So with chores at the wayside, I committed myself to beating Jerry's record. I started to take off in my first plane, and it was shot down. I started to take off in my second plane, and it was shot down. Damnable Tumminello Gambit was not working for me! Luckily, I was able to get off the ground with plane #3 and down went the first of the bad guys! And then another. And another. 10 were down. 20 were down. Then 30. After 15 minutes, my personal best of 31 was a thing of the past. 40. 50. 60! I was well on my way to the hall of immortal champions!

In my excitement, I had managed to change my hand position on the laptop ever so slightly. My thumb managed to tap the touchpad, and instead of a screen full of doom, I saw a page of available games from Teagames. I HAD SCROLLED DOWN! My plane! My plane! I scrolled up in time to see I had taken a header into the runway of doom. I had racked up 67 kills. My run was over.

But I've managed to best Jerry and can once again proclaim myself as Spiritus champion!

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Holiday Hosting

12.17.2004

My goal was to finish my holiday shopping by Thanksgiving. My goal was to do most of my holiday shopping online. My goal was to avoid the general populance as much as possible while doing all of this. I've learned I suck at reaching my goals.

At least I have managed to complete a good 90% of my holiday shopping. I say 90% because I think I'm done, but once I stop to think about it for a day or 2, it'll hit me that there's some person I managed to leave off my list. Damnable stragglers!

This year will be a little different from previous holidays in that I'm not going to see Mom (who used to be 7 minutes away), but she is now coming to see me (now that she's moved 2 hours away). For the first time I'm to be a host. It's debatable as to whether that counts with family, but I now have that hurried sense of needing to make sure bathrooms and kitchen are clean.

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Topdog. Russ Jer

12.16.2004

One of my mutant abilities is to find ways to not only waste my time, but that of my valued coworkers as well. A while back I managed to stumble across a Flash games site called Teagames. The games were simple to learn, yet challenging enough to keep you coming back. It started with a golf game, then there came a BMX game. The BMX game served as the start to getting others addicted.

Lately they've released a BiPlane game which is reminiscent of Sopwith 2, one of the early addictive games in the era of CGA graphics. Once you've figured out how to get your plane up in the air without getting shot down, the game can quickly become addictive. In the beginning, we were lucky to shoot down 4 or 5 enemy planes before being shot down. Now that the majority of the office has been sucked into trying out the game, we've gotten strategies! I managed to get my personal and company best of 31 kills, which lasted most of a day before that bastard Jerry decided that he could get 43. I started to go back and beat his new found record, but thought that this once, I would let him enjoy his glory as the newly crowned Spiritus Topdog.

But his days are numbered.

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Raw plus 2 Hours

12.14.2004

So, I come home after Raw and I'm too wired to go to sleep, so I do what everybody does - I make a blog entry.

The first thing I noticed was how close my predictions yesterday were to what actually happened.

• 6:15 -After winding my way around the old parking lots that no longer exist (a lot has changed at the VBC in 2 years evidently), I find a place to park and make my way inside. I notice there are considerably fewer Nascar hats and mullets than I expected. Unfortunately, the hot chicks I see at Nashville and Birmingham wrestling have not made the trip to Huntsville.
• 7:00 - Taping for Heat, the Sunday night show, starts. They show a local Huntsville guy get squashed by some hunky wrestler I've never heard of. This is followed by 2 more matches that will make the Heat show Sunday.
• 7:40 - Guy in ring hypes up the crowd telling everybody how great Huntsville fans are. Cameras sweep over the crowd as a live commercial goes on Spike TV, while unknown to the crowd JR and Lawler hype what will happen tonight. This is followed by a tag team match that I don't think will make Heat or Raw, although it was La Resitance vs Tajiri & Rhino, and was actually pretty good.
• 8:00 - Raw starts. Wrestlers wrestle. Storylines unfold. Fans yip and yay.
• 10:10- Raw goes off the air after Bischoff announces the world title will remain vacant until the Jan. PPV. Everybody to be in the 6 man match comes to the ring and rumbles until Raw goes off the air officially.
• 10:11 - An evidently advertised dark match of HHH vs Randy Orton takes place for the 3/4 of the crowd that hasn't left yet. I took the match time to go spend some quality time with Jason over at the lighting board and catch up on what he's been up to for the past 2 years.
• 10:30 - People start to leave. Chairs on the floor begin to be gathered. The ring crew begins tearing apart the ring so they can go set it up in Nashville for a show tomorrow.

So that was Raw. Pretty much what I expected. I wish I had taken my camera, because I had the perfect seat for pictures - even with the right side turnbuckle on the camera side, which is where most of the guys seem to hit their entrance poses.

Catching up with Jason was the best part (and the real reason I went). He's been busy with WWE, the Nascar Awards Show, and the Dove Awards. After the Smackdown taping Tuesday, he leaves for the Middle East Wednesday for the WWE X-Mas tour. I actually work for the government, but I don't have to wear a flak jacket when I go to work, unlike Jason once he hits Tikrit. Luckily he's back by X-mas to finally have a week off (but he'll end up sneaking in the lighting for some other awards show, I just know it!).

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Raw minus 6 Hours

12.13.2004

Tonight is my first live wrestling event in over 2 years. If I stop to think about it, it seems amazing that it's been that long since I've been to a show. As expected, I seem to be getting more excited as time gets closer. I don't think it's so much because I'm going to see Raw, but because I'll get a chance to see my favorite lighting designer Jason (who I also haven't seen in at least 2 years) for a little bit after the show.

If tonight goes the way most wrestling shows go:

• 6:30 - VBC doors open. Lots of people wearing Nascar hats and/or mullets start to form lines to get beer.
• 7:00 - Taping for Heat, the Sunday night show, starts. They'll tape 2 or 3 matches, with maybe 1 match with a local guy that'll never see tv.
• 7:55 - Guy in ring hypes up the crowd telling everybody how great Huntsville fans are. Cameras sweep over the crowd as a live commercial goes on Spike TV, while unknown to the crowd JR and Lawler hype what will happen tonight.
• 8:00 - Raw starts. Wrestlers wrestle. Storylines unfold. Fans yip and yay.
• 10:05 - Raw ends and goes off the air. Depending on the storyline, the good guy of the evening's main event will continue to celebrate (if he won) or get some small measure of revenge (if he lost)
• 10:10 - People start to leave. Chairs on the floor begin to be gathered. The ring crew begins tearing apart the ring so they can go set it up in Nashville for a show tomorrow.

You would think that knowing what happens would make me less likely to go, especially paying $40 for a ticket to something I can sit at home and watch for free. The thing is, I hardly watch the wrestling when I go to one of these shows. I like watching the people that are there. The hardcore fans. The rednecks. The kids. The people that think it's real. The people that think they can take on the wrestlers. The chicks that think they can win the eye of a wrestler. And then secretly, deep down inside, I laugh. I laugh heartily. Because there but for the grace of god go I.

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