The Bull Pen #7

Something is amiss in the Bull Pen. Ever since I accidentally broke the clasp on my Communicator last Wednesday, my Halo 2 skills have been spotty to say the least. Sure, I was able to glue to clasp back together and then basically glued the ear portion to the head portion on Thursday but since that incident, my KpD ratio has gone south. It really should not matter as long as I am having fun but it seems that my fun is compromised by watching hard efforts to improve go to waste. Perhaps I should be happy that I finally have it over 1.00 KpD (see the http://www.junk.ws/halo2 website) but something seems lacking lately. Maybe I am pressing too much to get my team a victory and it ends up costing us. Maybe I am getting involved in too many matchmaking games where I end up overmatched due to higher party members. Whatever the reason is, I need to figure it out because it is frustrating to be off your game. Perhaps I just need a big hug and vote of confidence from my fellow clanmates. Remember gang, there is a reason I’m named after a roller coaster.

On to a topic that has nothing to do with Halo, going to the movies. My wife and I went to the last matinee showing of Ice Age: The Meltdown on Sunday at a cinema that I had not been to in quite some time (I prefer to frequent the AMC at Newport on the Levee). Well, things were mostly okay (did the slide ads have to be accompanied by the sound system as well, I mean, you can read the slides or you should not be at a cinema) until the movie started and went about 15 minutes in. There were a large number of children at the screening I was at but for the most part, they made the experience more enjoyable by being well behaved and adding their own special breed of giggles and laughs. However, one young child, I would venture to say no more than 2, did not take to the loud noises and began to cry at one point. Well, this is where things got entirely unreasonable as the child’s father decided that he did not want to miss the movie; so, he took the crying child not out of the theatre but into the hallway leading into the theatre (it is one of the modern stadium seating style setups). In fact, you could still see him and his child despite the crying. The child would stop on occasion and the father would occasionally go deeper towards the exit but never fully out so that the cries could still be heard. I am not normally the type to get up and leave a movie unless I really have to but I was close to getting up and telling this genius of a parent that he should either a) remove himself and the child from the theatre completely or b) I would go get the manager to do it for him. In the end though, I bit my tongue and let things slide because I am the type that tries to avoid confrontations and I would rather be annoyed than miss any of the movie.  

Custom Game of the Week: I have nothing for you this week. Well, I do but I am just curious if anybody actually reads these or implements them. Heck, I get curious if anybody actually reads my blog or if I am wasting my time. There is nothing worse than putting effort into something designed for others to enjoy and then find out that no one bothers to enjoy it. Maybe I should stop reading your blogs? Maybe I should find out your phone number, call you, and hang up after you answer? I think I will stop at that. Thank you for reading (or not reading) this edition of the Bull Pen. The next edition will likely feature mostly Simpsons quotes. D’oh!