Okay, this'll probably be a long update, mainly for my own memory's sake. Two things I considered adding to my Day Zero list when I was making it but were ultimately cut were 1) See an orchestra and 2) Go to a hockey game. I always loved orchestral music and Hubby used to play hockey through his entire childhood, and I didn't know a thing about it. Well, this week, for his birthday, I would have completed both of them. Darnit.
On Saturday, we drove down to his old hometown for Video Games Live - a concert series involving symphonic orchestras playing favorite video game music. Hubby's best friend got all three of us tickets for the show. We spent the day hanging out at at 7, drove to the auditorium it was being performed at. Unfortunately, my seat was directly next to the biggest tool in the place; when he wasn't yelling encouragement at the stage, he was humming or singing along with the music. I wanted to say "Dude, I appreciate your enthusiam, but none of us in the area are here to listen to you. Shut up for 5 minutes." Sadly, I'm too nice. At least Hubby was willing to ask him to keep it down after several songs of the humming and singing. Didn't save my eardrums though.
Despite the "company", we had an amazing time! They played excerpts from most of our favorite game series (a collection of classics, Legend of Zelda, Castlevania, and Chrono Trigger to name a few) accompanied by video footage of cutscenes or gameplay. There were a few "minigames" where people were picked to go onstage to try and win a prize while the orchestra played and short films to break up the music. I was most fascinated by a video of the first video game ever being played, a version of Pong from I think the 1960s. Following that video, they actually pulled up the inventor, a man in his late 80s, to talk on Skype. All in all, there were 110+ performers on stage, including the host, a long-time video game composer, the conductor (also a long-time composer), and a man made famous by playing the Mario theme on the piano blindfolded. He was amazing - I didn't know fingers could move as fast as his did when he played! He even managed to throw in a "Happy Birthday" jingle while he was recreating his blindfolded theme video (for the host's birthday).
After the show, there was a meet & greet, and of course, the line filled up quickly. We decided to hang around a bit, buy some swag and people-watch until the line was more manageable. There were a few people in costume walking around from a costume contest that was held before the show started. A guy was walking around in a giant Sackboy costume (from LittleBigPlanet) that had to have been 8 to 9 feet tall. When we finally got our swag, we headed to the end of the line for the meet & greet. We chatted for a bit and I glanced a look behind us to see how many others had come after us. And right there behind us, like immediately behind, was Sackboy. After getting over the startle, the three of us struck up a conversation with him and his girlfriend that we kept up through the rest of the line. The five of us were the last ones in line, so there was no rush aside from letting the signers (the host, conductor and piano player) get back to their hotels or wherever they were staying. We traded Facebook information as we left and found each other the next morning. So we got a great show, autographs, and two new friends!
We drove home that night and arrived back around 2AM. The next morning M & B arrived. We got lunch and promptly sat down to play our newest D&D game, our first in-person one in months, and honestly, one of our best games yet. We usually clash somehow when we play, or our characters don't mesh, but in this one, we all just worked. Plus, all the right rolls at all the right times helped.
Yesterday, long after the boys had gone, Hubby and I drove to Raleigh for my first ever hockey game: the Carolina Hurricanes versus the New York Rangers. At his request, we got nosebleed seats, three rows down from the top. I spent half the time asking Hubby to explain things to me, but I picked up most of the basics pretty quickly. Hurricanes lost on the last shootout after overtime 3-4. It was a close game, though, and I had a good time. I can't remember the last time I went to a professional sports game. I'd love to go again. I can't say if I'm a fan of any team yet or not, but I definitely enjoy being a spectator. I was getting into it a lot more than I expected. We might try and go to another in April between the Hurricanes and the Red Wings (His favorite team). We'll have to see.
I haven't made it onto the exercise bike yet due to all the running around this week, but so far, I'm down at least 1/2 lb from cutting back on overeating and watching serving sizes. It's difficult, I've had a few points where I'm just craving chocolate or unhealthy snacks we have around, but I've got some mints to suck on to cut the craving down.
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