Rocking Out with the Wii

I have a new addiction!

Wii Rock Band.

Specifically, the drums.

Alright, we don't even own the guitar (yet). The singing is OK. It's essentially the same thing as the American Idol Karaoke I'd bought, but most of the songs are sung by men on Rock Band. It's difficult for it to register my low notes. I've learned to just groan as low as I can into the microphone, and sometimes it gets almost low enough.

I'll still use American Idol for the singing, but I'm all about the drums on Rock Band! I had a learning curve at first. I think I might have rythm up in me, but I didn't know how to express it through drum sticks at first. And stepping on peddles? It was almost too much.

I think I can say I've found my groove though. I played on medium difficulty for the very first time today, and right off the bat, I scored 46,000 on a Weezer song (Say It Ain't So)! It's no five stars, but it beat the pants off of Andrew's 31k score.

When I grow up, I want to be a drummer.

Maybe when Andrew's home, I'll have him take a photo of me on the drums, and I'll add it to this blog.

What about you all? Have you tried Rock Band or Guitar Hero yet?

Ooh, that just reminded me. I should attach that video of Ellen playing Guitar Hero. It's awesome.

Weekend at Mom & Dad's

Andrew spent the weekend camping and canoeing in Moab with his buddies. As of this moment, I'm sitting at my computer, waiting for him to come home (I can't wait! Thirty more minutes...).

While he was in Moab, I spent the weekend with Bailey at my parents' house. I did everything from run with my mom to shop to watching a movie with Aminta (The Strangers, uber creepy!) to playing Wii golf to teaching my dad how to play Mariokart. It was so much fun; the weekend went by in a blur. I can't believe 3 days off can go by so quickly!

My mom and dad bought me a cute little patio set for the balcony, and they also spoiled me by buying me a new pair of shoes, a dress, and a new wallet. So, yes, I was pampered and spoiled for the weekend.

As much fun as I had, I cannot wait for Andrew to get home. I decided to make breakfast burritos for dinner at the suggestion of some coworkers, which I've never had before. I think he'll like them! Only, I realize now, I never did buy salsa or anything. I wonder if that's OK? It'll be fake bacon, scrambled eggs, cheese, and potatoes & onion. Good, yes? And I have Mariokart all set up and waiting. It'll be such a fun night! Mostly, I can't wait for the snuggling and hearing about his trip.

Why isn't it 8 o'clock yet?

American Idol and Digital Receivers

Andrew and I don't have cable; we don't watch all that much TV, so we've been sticking with broadcast and saving a bit of money there. A few months ago, we started hearing about digital receivers and such, so Andrew sent in for our free coupon thing from the government.

Yesterday, we finally hit up Best Buy to get our receiver. While we were there, I picked up a copy of Wii American Idol karaoke.

I might not be a fan of the show, but American Idol for the Wii is too fun. They have a selection of maybe 4 dozen songs or so, everything from that song, "It's Beautiful" (Or is it "You're Beautiful"?) to "Bohemian Rhapsody." You sing along with the song, and the judges from American Idol (Randy, Paula and Simon; see, I know my pop culture trivia!) critique you based on keeping with the rhythm of the song and keeping the right pitch. Based on how well you do, you might bomb out or else go gold or platinum (I have yet to get a diamond). The more platinum songs you get, the more songs you unlock (5 more until I unlock "Somewhere Over the Rainbow!").

Anyway, I wasn't sure what to expect from the game, but it's a lot of fun. Andrew said it's exactly like Rock Band, only it's without all the other instruments. I guess that means I might like Rock Band... or that Rock Band fans might like American Idol!

So far, my best song is "Tiny Dancer." I did surprisingly well on Aerosmith's "Don't Want to Miss a Thing," too. I'm really bad at the low pitch songs; the pitch mic has a hard time recognizing my low notes (no matter how low I go, I can't seem to get low enough for some parts of "Knocking on Heaven's Door").

I'm thinking about bringing the karaoke game over to my parents' house. There's a chance my mom'll get a kick out of it. That or Guitar Hero. I wonder if you can rent that along with the guitar from Blockbuster? Hmm.

Anyway, back to our Best Buy purchases. The digital receiver works *really* well. A few of our channels came in really static-y, but with the receiver, it's just as clear as having a cable connection. Andrew commented, "If I'd known it worked this well, I wo uld have sent for hte coupon a long time ago!" We have a second coupon, so we're planning on picking up another for our other TV. The digital picture is widescreen, too (I didn't know TV shows were filmed in widescreen; did you?). I'm excited to catch "House" tonight!

From Bogey to Eagle and Back

Bath & Body Works hosted a free Spa Event today. It's the third or fourth year in a row I've gone. I just can't pass up free giveaways. Sad, but true.

Aminta and I got up early and met at Starbucks for a quick breakfast. After I polished off my blueberry scone and double soy latte, we headed off for our freebies. Our first station was the makeover station. An older woman was already seated, and the makeup artist was painting away. We stood in line for two, five, ten, fifteen, twenty minutes for our turn. The line next to us was moving at about 4 times the speed. I figured, it's OK, it's free! And I'm going to get quite the free makeover!

Nope. After the woman ahead of us was finally made up right, a boss lady came by and lectured our makeup artist for taking too long. "Vanessa" turned to me and said, "Sorry, but I'm going to have to rush through yours." I got a coat of mascara, some blue eyeshadow, and I was off to the next station.

Aminta met the same fate. She, too, was told, "Sorry, but I have a line. I'm going to have to rush through your makeover." Aminta got some brown eyeshadow and a coat of mascara and was told she was done, too.

OK, so the makeover station was not so fun. The hand station more than made up for it! I have hand problems because I do dishes all day long. When I'm not doing dishes, I'm working with the customers and making drinks and dipping my hands in sanitized water to grab sanitized towels to wipe up from said drink making. As a result, my hands are chapped, and they crack and bleed. Cuts take weeks to heal. It's a bit painful. Hand station lady made my day. She gave me all sorts of lotions and waxes to rub on my hands. In minutes, they felt pain free and felt like butter. Hurray for paraffin lotion! She sent me away with a handful of samples, too. It rocked. As a matter of fact, I was so stoked, I went back and decided to take her up on her "two for $10" deal and got the paraffin lotion and a hand scrub. I'm so excited for my hands!

After we finished our morning of beauty, Aminta, me and our eyeshadows went to Sushi Basho to visit Phuong for lunch. Her brothers were there, so we sat with them and colored a bit with Barbie markers. It was more fun than I care to admit. We filled ourselves with cucumber sushi and sweet potato rolls and polished it all off with some chocolate tempura ice cream. Aminta embarressed herself in front of the customers by accidently shouting out something inappropriate about vibrations, and then, thoroughly humiliated, we left.

Back in the car and in fits of hysteria, I realized I was late for meeting my parents. There house is 20 minutes away from Sushi Basho, and I was already 30 minutes late. I quick called them, and they told me Andrew was already there with Bailey. Ooops.

I said goodbye to Aminta and got to my parents' house an hour late. They were talking and watching Tiger Woods play in the Master's, so I figured it hadn't been too bad of an hour for any of them. Andrew later informed me that "he had so little sleep, he was practically delirious, and that the golf show was the most entertaining thing ever." Good for him...

I sat and watched Tiger work his way up to number 5 in the tournament (tomorrow we'll see if he can widdle away the rest of the leaders). My mom made me some decaf, and we talked and laughed and learned about golf. Good stuff. When Andrew had to leave to see his parents, Tiger finished for the day, and my parents and I decided to play some Wii Golf.

Wii Golf is quite the event at Mom and Dad's. We're ranked by our "pro points" which we earn by finishing under par or landing on the green within a certain amount of strokes. My parents are getting so good, that unless they finish 5-under on a 9-hole course, they lose their precious pro points.

My dad has tried to master the art of the pro-points by keeping tally on how often we land on the green in one shot or two shots, and how often it takes one putt or two putts to sink the ball. I think he's got the general idea of the formula down, and so they get frustrated when they land on "edge of green" as opposed to "on the green." It's really cute.

I played the 9 hole game with my parents. I was winning until the 7th hole, when my mom passed me by a stroke. To pass her for the win, I decided to take a risk on the last hole, but instead, I ended up with a +5 on the hole. My mom was victorious with my dad a stroke behind. I lost by a landslide.

No matter. After all, I was able to get to the store afterwards and buy the toilet paper we were running out of at the apartment. So, see, things are going my way.

I think I'll be back to their house later this week, though, to claim my victory at Wii Golf.

The match is on!