Extra Life 2013 - PlayStation Prize Round 1

It's that time of year again! Extra Life! On November 2nd 2013 gamers all over the world will sit down on their butts to do what they do best to raise money for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. I have taken on a very active role locally in Jacksonville, Florida and am building a team of the most caring, amazing people I have had the pleasure of knowing. Together we will be putting on the biggest, most swag-filled, fun-filled live-streamed marathon that this town has ever seen. (or at least that's our plan...)

So far Team Jax has raised $2,500. Our goal is $5000 and I am determined to do whatever it takes to reach that goal. Even if it means I have to dress up like Batman, or Robin, or put on a Fox suit and recreate this video:



I have no shame :) However in pumping up my teammates and offering them weird ways to torture me if THEY raise money, I seem to be sliding behind. So keep an eye on this blog for some great prizes from PlayStation all weekend long to kick things off.

First prize is a digital download code for one month of PlayStation Plus,. The first person to sponsor me for $1 an hour for the 25 hour marathon ($25) will get the code. You can donate to my page here:
http://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=46563

Extra Life raised over $2 Million dollars last year, and Jacksonville only raised $2,000 of that. Gamers here have raised nearly twice that amount so far, and I know we will do even more. Thanks for your support (it's tax deductible!) in helping us help sick kids here in our town.

You can join Team Jax if you'd like, we'd love it if you wanted to raise money for Wolfson, but we welcome any of you to join our team and support your own local hospital too. We'd love to have you join us.

Robert Workman - Lounge Singer Extraordinaire

Robert Workman is one of my most favorite people in the whole world. However, he does have a habit of taking embarrassing pictures of me and posting them online.   Example A: Robert could have taken a great picture of Kelly @Mrsleftybrown of TheMarriedGamers, Desirai @SickNdehed (my partner in crime at TheMommyGamers) and I enjoying some fun dancing at the Dance Central booth one year at PAX. Instead he chose the exact moment we were all grabbing our girly bits...

Thanks Robert...and I won't even get into a certain picture he took that circulated through the office at Twisted Pixel. Can't people just have fun, without fear of being photographed? Obviously not. So when Robert jumped on stage at the Destructoid hosted party at PAX Prime 2013 I was all over it. Enjoy Robert's singing skills and amazing stage presence :)

This is all in good fun, and I really do love Robert Workman. He's a great guy and an amazing friend. May the photo wars continue. 

Episode 47: JoCo Crazy

Our podcast is still fairly new, with less than 50 episodes under our belt. We try to find fun people in the industry to interview, that are parents, or are involved in something that we feel parents could relate to. It's not always video game related (ex...episode 48 featured a half an hour of Vampire Diaries chat) We have had lots of amazingly entertaining guest hosts. One of my favorites so far was our interview with Jonathan Coulton, who is a Daddy and a gamer...and a musician...and a lot of other things.



You can leave comments on the episode at The Mommy Gamers website if you'd like. We'd really enjoy knowing that you...enjoyed it. http://themommygamers.com/2013/08/episode-47-joco-crazy/

It's a Pterygium, not a hangover...at least this time.

See that funky slash of red veiny gross across my left eye? No...it's not a hangover...it's a pterygium. There are medically noted reasons for getting them, but for the most part it has to do with exposing your eyes to sunlight, dust, UV rays and in my case, as the eye doctor guy told me...staring at screens too long. This may be something future generations of gamers have to deal with, or hopefully it will make parents more aware that their children need to learn about proper eye care at a younger age. Sunglasses are good...don't screw up your kids eyes.

Ok, lie to me and tell me this isn't gross. I know that no one is trying to be hurtful, but I am so tired of people asking if I'm hungover or if I got scratched in the eye by a lanyard at a gaming event. I've actually been on internships where I was asked by a peer if I had a "rough night out" the night before and I explained myself, but wondered how many times people didn't ask and just assumed that I was hungover.

Here are my (crooked) eyes when I look in the opposite direction of the growth on my eye. Mostly normal...

And here's the other direction. the growth overlaps the cornea (colored part) of my eye. I was told to be glad I had light colored eyes. Otherwise it would be more apparent. If I get too tired or do too much outside with the kids, or on the computer/gaming it gets crazy inflamed, itchy and overlaps my eye to where it's blurry.

I was told that removal was a possibility but that there was a chance it would flare up again, even worse.

So what would you do? The thought of eye surgery creeps me out, but this hurts, and is possibly keeping me from being taken seriously.

Lonely...and yet...

 So I'm in one of those phases, where I just can't seem to put on a happy face. Normally, I have this ability to smile no matter how bad things are. To be able to snap a picture and make everyone think life is all sunshine and roses. But tonight...I couldn't even fake a smile.

 I tried...I failed. I tried again, and got even more sad that I haven't been able to shake off all the bad feelings I've had lately. Feelings I'd love to share with everyone, but can't...things that are making my heart ache so badly that I can't share with everyone, just my closest friends.

 And then I remembered what was over my shoulder. My silly little geeky shrine that I have built for myself. Something I have pieced together and jumbled up in a little space that makes me happy when I look at it.

 My hot mess of a desk :) The desk I sanded down and painted, that serves no other purpose currently other than housing my junk, and a printer because the internet STINKS in my bedroom...

 There's that picture of my sister and our friend Kim from my wedding. They were there for the night before the wedding, and saw what went down. I had a blast visiting them both this summer, seeing my sister be a mother for the first time, and Kim living in a million dollar house for a couple weeks looking happy and making me miss her so badly.

 My book collection, with the portal bookends my sister sent me for Christmas. The autographed book from Dan Amrich, and other books with special notes from family members, my favorite being the Shitty Mom book from Aunt Cindi, and also some Prima game books.

 My media badge wall of shame, reminding me that I go to events but don't feel like I belong there. I speak to people, but never write...afraid what I have to say won't be good enough, but still know that one day...I will break free and believe in myself and make this all happen.

 The Wall-nut in a martini glass...because...that's just where it ended up...

 My birthday monkey from someone I am so glad I met, and even though we weren't a good match we remained friends and sometimes have lunch, dinner, or chilled white wine on a summer day. And one year he gave me a monkey for my birthday and I love it and will never let it go.

 My Maw, the first piece of swag I ever got at the first gaming event I ever attended. I wrote a review for Sarcastic Gamer, superimposing Lono's face into Maw's mouth, and have loved Twisted Pixel and their crew ever since.

 Mah Plants vs Zombies hat. I gave it to my son, but he kept leaving it places, so I took that shiznit back!!

 My soft kitty, sleepy kitty, little ball of fur that my Mother-in-Law sent me along with the shirt. I'm so glad she came into my life. She is an amazing woman, and such a fun person to be around.

And a small part of my PC wall of shame. Games I bought, there are so many, that I never get to play...but want to oh so badly.

Life has been pooping on me lately, and also sending good things my way. I wish I could share the bad, and get it off my chest and revel in the good. But I know that things happen for a reason. I also know that surrounding myself with good people and memories of the good times will keep me smiling even when it feels like I have no smiles left in me.

And

The Mommy Gamers 39: Hanging With MightyMeCreative








The Mommy Gamers are joined by MightyMeCreative, aka MMC, a Kinect Game Play Dancer, Fashion Product Designer and mother to an adorable 7-month-old baby boy. With over 10 million views on her YouTube page, we decided to pick her brain about how to make a great video. Marcia and Desirai are really excited about the fall TV show lineup, but not as excited about the new trend of dressing homeless people in Abercrombie & Fitch clothing. With summer vacations coming up the ladies discuss their thoughts on the moral aspects of paying handicapped people to get you to the front of the lines at theme parks, and how “Pinterest Stress” is affecting many women.

You can subscribe to The Mommy Gamers podcast for FREE on iTunes. Remember to follow them on Twitter, and Facebook too!

The Mommy Gamers 38: Kickstart my Cardboard Forest

 In this week's episode of my amazing podcast, Desirai  and I are joined by Daddy gamer Jeff Hanna, a veteran in the gaming industry.  Jeff's prior works at EA, Sony and most recently Deep Silver Volition still fail to impress me as much as the fun "weapon" he created for Saint's Row: The Third. 

This weapon is also part of the reason for the explicit tag on this episode. Our strange trio of gamers discuss some great indie games such as Monaco and Kerbal Space Program, Plants vs Zombies 2 (Finally), and if WOW seems lonelier after losing nearly two million subscribers.

 Because this is a podcast by parents, for parents, we also discuss micromanaging your children's lives and what video game ratings mean for different parents. There is more, so very much more, but you will have to listen for the rest.

Monday Motivation...Ugh.

I created this mental stigma I use to convince myself if I do not start on my goals for fitness, diet, cleaning the house, being better organized...whatever...all of it...on Monday, I can put everything off until next Monday.  I have discussed this elusive "next Monday" thing a few times for anyone who has followed my pointless ramblings on here, on Facebook, on MyFitnessPal, etc.

So here I am in that fish bowl on the right, swimming along with the other little unmotivated Monday fishies that are playing on Facebook or doing something equally unproductive. Will I make the jump today?  Where can I find the inspiration?

And in asking myself these questions I realize that I already have the inspiration, I am just in denial, and maybe if I write it all out I can go back and read this blog post to get back on track.  Because honestly, this is all the same stuff that pops up again and again for me and the cycle has to stop.  So, how about I write out some of these excuses?

*I don't have time to work out

Lie
I could be at the free gym up the road right now.  The kids are at school and all I have to do is slap on my workout clothes and go.  And really...Hailey is old enough now to go play on the playground with her big sister while I workout in the building next to it. I could take the kids on a walk to the park after school, or take our fat arthritic lazy dog on a walk.  I could fire up Dance Central like I told Kelly from TheMarriedGamers I would and do some challenges with her.

*I will eat better tomorrow

But...why not eat better today?

*There's no healthy food in the house, I'll go shopping tomorrow.

There are healthy things, I'd just rather eat the non-healthy ones. I always say I'm going to plan out a healthy menu for the week, go shopping and have all the things in the house to stay on track.  But then I convince myself that maybe I won't want the thing I planned for dinner, so it's just easier to grab whatever I want each night from the store, but of course it gets later in the day and it's so much easier to go to Panera and not have to cook or clean...

*I have too many other things to do.

This one...this one right here is the main killer of all motivation.

I am always going to have too many things to do, but do I feel good about myself when I sit here and do nothing?  Absolutely not!  But it's easy for me to sit here and get bogged down by my to do list. Right now I am not happy with myself for getting off track on my goals.  The yard needs mowed, my garden is a wreck, the house needs cleaned, laundry needs done, there are a million things I could be doing for my website The Mommy Gamers to make it better, I could be trying to earn money with my Thirty-One business that I have kind of left stagnant, and I think if I continue to make this list I  might have a panic attack.

Even my website logo is annoying me today, how is she juggling all these things and still SMILING? I want to punch her in her face.

So instead of doing anything, I do nothing.  Time to break the cycle.  If you have suggestions of what works for you PLEASE share them with me.  I'm tasking myself with not saying "I'll try" and instead will actually DO things today.

I already logged into MyFitnessPal, logged the breakfast I shouldn't have eaten, stopped avoiding the bathroom scale and logged my weight.  I gave myself a brief moment to mourn the weight I had lost and gained back, and to be disappointed in myself for eating like a hog this morning.  I can't go back and undo anything I've done, I can only move forward.

Can I get all the yardwork done in one day? No, but I can write down everything I would like to do and start ticking things off the list, or I could create an Indiegogo project and raise the money to hire someone to do it for me lol. Anyone want to chip in on that? My stretch goal would be a hottub and a tiki bar :)

But really, I think making a list might help, a realistic list that doesn't have to be all done in one week. Seriously though people, share your ideas with me because whatever it is that I am currently NOT doing is absolutely NOT working for me.

The Tale of the Absolut Hunk

Nice...bottle?

All too often as college students we are forced to sit through mind-numbingly dull videos that our professors have deemed brilliant enough for us to watch. This week I had to watch a relic of a video dating back to 2004 that related to my Media Literacy class. Actually, it was more of a series of YouTube videos or whatnot that described changes in advertising, etc.

 One particular section explained how people no longer watch television commercials, so advertisers have started peddling their wares directly through our favorite shows. Somehow this led to a bit on how Absolut Vodka worked its way into one of my favorite HBO hit series of all time...Sex and the City.

*Please note, this is not the exact video used in our class and also it is NSFW.

So now this class has my attention as not only a woman, but a lover of drinks of the alcoholic persuasion. The clip she did show (which I cannot find) shows Samantha sipping a martini while talking to her lover (the man in the Absolut ad) telling him that she is having an Absolut Hunk and that HE is delicious.

Now, normally playing on the internet is frowned upon in the classroom, but one of our assignments just happens to be a Twitter project, so we're actually not only allowed to use our devices in the classroom, we are encouraged to do so. So naturally I google the drink and find I have most of the things to make it at home already. Here is the recipe for those who are curious:

Absolut Hunk

2 shots Vanilla Vodka

1/2 shot Lime Juice

1/2 shot Simple Syrup

1/4 shot Pineapple Juice

I shook mine up with a couple ice cubes in my little drink shaker thingy and strained it into a martini glass. It's incredibly sweet and strong, but in a nice way. If you don't like strong drinks (sissy) then just splash some more pineapple juice in there. I can't imagine having more than one or two, just because it really is that sweet, but it's not half bad. Definitely not as tasty as the model for that "ad", but still...tasty.

Now kids, the lesson you should take away from this is that not all the stuff you're forced to watch in school is going to be boring. Sometimes the female professor will find something that works a mostly naked male and a fun vodka drink into the mix. She is now one of my favorite professors ever.

So go mix yourself up an Absolut Hunk and enjoy your Friday night. Cheers!