It's dangerous to go alone

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the original Zelda's release in Japan.

This makes me happy, but also make me feel incredibly old. I was almost two when it came out.

The first game system I really remember is the NES, which my brother got for Christmas one year, I believe. My father's reasoning was that it would save money in the end, because every time you died in-game, you didn't have to pay another quarter to play again.

My family fell in love with Zelda when they played it. My parents and big brother spent hours and hours drawing out maps for each of the dungeons on graph paper. Not only did they make the layouts, but included what enemies were in each room, where to use bombs, what needed keys, and the best routes to take to find everything and beat the dungeon quickly.

In the intervening years, we have recopied those maps on at least four different occasions, because the previous versions would grow so old and yellow that you could hardly see what was written on them any more.

The Legend of Zelda's been such an integral part of my family's culture, that it became a right of passage to beat the game. I believe I was about 11 or 12 when I finally beat it. I had downloaded an NES emulator onto my computer and started playing through it. Mom saw what I was doing and told me to dig out the NES and play it old-school.

Mom and Dad then proceeded to guide me through the dungeons and give me tips and hints. Prior to that, I had always manned the maps and told them where to go.

It was a bizarre feeling.

This past Christmas, we guided Sam through the game. It was a bit different of course--they had downloaded it onto the Wii, since the NES now lives with Sam and I. Still, after a couple of days Sam had destroyed Ganon and rescued the princess. When he had finished, I heard C-3PO in my head saying, "You are now a part of the tribe!"

(I know the original quote is "we are now a part of the tribe," but that's the wonderful thing about imagination--it can adapt.)

So, it is with great joy that I celebrate Zelda's 25th anniversary!

Some geeky and web happiness

I have three things I wish to share with you, my faithful readers.

(Especially my Russian friends. I had nearly as many hits from ya'll this past week as I did from Americans. I suppose that tells you just how few people look at this site. To be fair, though, I had a large contingent of Swedes as well.

Hey will, are you still trying to find me hockey players? I'm kinda taken now, you know. I found a nice redhead all my own.)

Any way, where was I? Oh yes--some fun geeky items I've come across today.

Firstly, if you haven't seen it, you totally need to go check out this poster showing the history and development of the bat-mobile over the years. It's absolutely fantastic, and would have made an excellent Christmas present for a certain gal I know who loves masked men....

Secondly, some excellent news coming out concerning Peter Jackson's The Hobbit. We'll be seeing Sir Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, and Elijah Wood again. Maybe we'll be seeing this film after all...

Lastly, as most of you know I'm a bit of a fan of lolcats. Well, this week icanhascheezburger.com turns 4-years-old! Today they posted a brief video showing people's most favorite lolcats from the past four years.

Enjoy!

Four Years Ago....

"What are you doing between shows today?" Drama Manager asked.

Never looking up from the intense game of Connect 4 I was playing, I replied, "Don't have any plans. Debating whether or not I want to drive all the way out to the apartment, just to turn around and come back a couple of hours later. Why?"

"Good, then Music Geek and I are taking you to get your Christmas present." the tall blonde replied, satisfaction radiating off of her in waves.

That made me look up from the game. It would be lost in three moves any way, and Magic Bed Guy was grinning far too smugly.

"Oh? What is it?" I asked.

"You'll find out on the way." Music Geek piped up, skulls and crossbones emblazoned across her chest.

No amount of pleading or wheedling on my behalf would cause either girl to relent, and so I had to wait until we'd finished the latest show of A Christmas Carol to find out.

Finally, all of the students were out of the theater, and I made my way back to the green room were the others were waiting on me.

"Ready to go get your present?" Magic Bed Guy asked, as apparently he was driving us.

"Yes, but what is it?" I mock-wailed, thoroughly enjoying myself.

Music Geek and Drama Manager exchanged a long look as we headed out towards the car, as if debating how much longer they could stay mum before I hurt them.

"We've decided to get you a cat." Drama Manager declared as she and I crawled into the back seat.

"What?!"

I had made no secret that I loved cats and dearly missed Tiger. They had all heard my reasoning that a cat is easier for a theatre person to take care of than a dog is.

"We're taking you down to the SPCA to get a cat." Music Geek clarified.

If I thought the students had taken forever to get out of the theater, it was nothing compared to the excruciatingly long drive to the SPCA.

Twenty minutes later, we walked through the door.

A long counter ran down the right side of the room, behind which a ragged woman was processing an adoption for an energetic ball of licky fur that I later found out was a black lab. Another woman told us to feel free to look around at the animals available.

Next to the counter were four cages, each of which contained a cat. Inside the top cage was two cats about a year old. The first, Austin, had white fur with black patches/spots, similar to Sherri's Oreo. The second was a pure black cat standing protectively in front of his brother.

"Well aren't you a cutie." I said, sticking my finger through the wire mesh at the black cat. His name tag read Nelson.

Nelson batted playfully at my finger, then stuck his cheek next to it in a clear command to scratch it. I complied.

"Let's go see some of the other cats." Drama Manager said, gesturing towards a room further back.

I told Nelson he was a handsome lad, scratched under his chin one last time, and headed towards the back room. Two steps later I felt something catching on my shirt, and when I looked back, Nelson had reached his paw through the gaps in the cage to catch my shirt.

"Don't worry, I'll be back." I reassured him as I disentangled his claws.

Music Geek wanted to go look at the dogs before we continued looking at the cats, so we wandered back to the dog area first.

"Aren't pugs precious?" she wondered wistfully, as though she didn't already have one.

"I like labs myself." Drama Manager replied. Her boyfriend had recently gotten one to train as a hunting dog.

"Don't have the time or space for a dog, unfortunately." I told them, and then went back to where the other cats were. Music Geek and Magic Bed guy stayed behind with the pups, but Drama Manager went with me.

Kittens were cavorting with a bell. A couple of the older cats were curled up towards the top of the cat trees in there. Tabbies, calicoes, a Manx, two Siamese cats, and several tuxedo cats stared up at me from behind the glass.

None compared to Nelson, though.

After several minutes of Drama Manager trying to interest me in the kittens, I wandered back to the front room where Nelson and Austin were.

Nelson was at the back of the cage with Austin, but when he saw me he wandered back up to where I was.

"You know I can only take one of you, right? I can't afford both of you right now."

Well, more accurately I couldn't even afford one; my friends were getting me a cat for Christmas.

Nelson gave a sad look back to his brother, then meowed at me. It was the prettiest meow I'd ever heard.

"Okay then." I told him, scratching his chin.

Drama Manager told the lady behind the counter we were getting Nelson. Thirty minutes later we walked out with a very frightened cat in a cardboard carrier.

"I don't care for the name Nelson, though." I murmured to him through the box as we bounced over railroad tracks.

A very frightened meow answered me.

"It's okay, we're almost there." I assured him.

Drama Manager, Music Geek, and Magic Bed Guy made suggestions the entire ride back to my apartment. Like any good group of theatre technicians, they had numerous creative names, from pop culture to literature to names like Spot. As I thought about their creativity, I suddenly knew what my black cat's new name would be. Just then, we pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex.

"Welcome home, Techie."

Here he is, four years later.

Happily Ever After

One year ago today, Sam and I married.

We, along with my sister and best friend Sherri, left OKC early in the morning for our flight out west. There was a great deal of excitement on everybody's part. Quite possibly, Sherri's excitement was that she was getting three days out of town, with one whole day to herself in Las Vegas, but I won't say for sure that's the case. Even though she has gorgeous pictures from the Bellagio.

Ahem.

We had a brief layover in Denver, maybe 40 minutes or so, and then we continued on our way.

A year later I still remember the slot machines in the airport when we arrived at McCarran, and how utterly hungry we were. We wanted lunch, badly, but it was barely 10 am local time.

Ignoring our hunger for the time being, we found our way to the bus ride out to Circus Circus. Once we arrived there, we ended up waiting for about an hour in the lobby until they had our rooms cleared, thanks to the lovely time difference. (I had built in a good deal of extra time between when we arrived and when we were supposed to walk down the aisle, in case there were mishaps.) We kept getting distracted by the ticket booth down the hallway advertising all the various shows in town. Eventually we got to go see our rooms and drop off our things.

Sadly, I was a bit disappointed with the rooms--I've gotten more amenities at a Motel 6. Literally. Hotel room didn't even have a coffee pot.

Vegas just isn't what it used to be.

Anyhow, afterward we went in search of sustenance. I remembered from previous trips how Vegas had tons of cheap buffets and restaurants, so I was looking forward to good, cheap food.

Like I said, Vegas just isn't what it used to be.

After an overpriced meal we could have gotten at any diner in the Midwest, we went somewhere... I can't remember if we went to the courthouse first or upstairs to fill out all the paperwork at the wedding chapel, select our music, and so forth. I think we went to the Chapel first.

To be honest, I hadn't really given any thought prior to that as to music or the other little details they wanted to know. I just knew that I wanted to get married to this wonderful, handsome redhead who'd wandered into my life. All of these details came out of left field. Not to mention that the music choices were rather, erm... uh... cheesy? I know, I know, it was a wedding in Vegas, but still! We went with the only inoffensive choice, which was Pachelbel's Canon in D. At least it wasn't done by Jingle Cats.

As I've mentioned, we also had to travel out to the courthouse to get our marriage license. Thankfully, that was one of the few times in my life when social security didn't screw things up for me. (To date, they have the wrong birthday and name for me. I've decided to just live with it.) It was a very long wait, and poor Sherri had to wait outside in the Nevada heat the entire hour and a half it took us to get through the line and to do all of the paperwork.

I don't think I ever stopped bouncing on my toes the entire time. Or staring at all of the other people waiting to get their license. I couldn't help but wonder how many of them were truly a last minute elopement; Sam and I had made our decision to go to Vegas several months earlier. For many, many years I'd declared that I was not going to suffer through a large wedding, and the man who chose me was A-okay with that.

(To the eternal gratitude of the rest of our family and friends, however, Brad and Regina organized an absolutely lovely reception for us a couple of weeks later. I have the most awesome friends!)

We then returned back to the hotel, and had a couple of hours to kill before the big moment. Sherri got to aid me in all of those last minute preparations for hair, clothing, and such. Everybody needs a Sherri to help them when they're getting married. I'll even loan her out to you if necessary!

The three of us made the trek up to the Chapel about 30 minutes early, and to our surprise and delight we could go ahead and do the ceremony ahead of schedule!

While strains of Pachelbel's Canon floated through the audio system, I walked down the aisle, my entire attention focused on the man I was about to wed. We joined hands and stood before the preacher; it was the beautiful and romantic moment I'd dreamed it would be.

Then we found out that our preacher was straight out of The Princess Bride; but we didn't care.

Twenty minutes flew by in a blur as we said our "I do's," and I became the happiest woman in the world.

Le sigh.

Then came the flurry of pictures and signing papers and taking care of more of those pesky details. Once again I don't really remember that much of it--just that I was wondering why in the world I was wearing 3-inch heels.

Overall, though, I wouldn't have traded any of it for all the tea in China.

A year has passed since that joy flooded my soul, and I can say with complete honesty that despite the roller coaster ride we've been on for the last year, I am just as madly in love with my husband as I was a year ago today.

I love you, my Sam, and I look forward to our spending our years together in love happiness.




Love is patient, love is kind. It doesn't not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. --1 Corinthians 13:4-8a