Everyone has their own opinions on how they like to watch games. Some people prefer being in a bar and watching the game on a big TV and being able to order drinks and eat. Some people like to just sit at home and watch from the comfort of their couch. And some people prefer to actually be at the game, no matter what. I think I am all three of those, depending on what sport I am watching. When it comes to football, I want to be there. Especially at a Texas Tech game. I love being at the games, yelling all the specific yells that the student section does, and hearing the band. But, since I love football so much I also really enjoy games on TV. When it comes to baseball, I like to be there, as well, but only if the weather is really pretty. I don’t want to tough it out for a baseball game if it’s freezing, but for football I will. There aren’t many baseball teams that I’d even take the time to watch on TV, but I love watching the Cubs. So, since I can’t go to Chicago any time they play, I have to settle for watching on TV. If I know the Tech Baseball team is playing and the weather is nice, I like to go to the games at watch, but I don’t follow them religiously. When it comes to basketball, I’m content never seeing a game on TV. The only time I even care to watch is when I get to go and they’re really good seats. If not, then I wont even see a basketball game all season. I guess it’s just a personal preference, but of course all sports are better in person!

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My family always does things big. All of our get togethers involve lots of wine and hanging out, tons of food, and someone always gets into some kind of trouble. This year, we all got together to eat at my Grandma’s. Before we went, my cousins and my brother and I decided that we needed to meet up and pick out some games to play while we were over there. So, we went to my aunts house and looked in the closets, found a few to bring, and then decided to work on the kegs that they had over there. We had a few beers, make some White Russians, and decided that it was going to be one of “those” holidays. Before we went over to my grandma’s, my brother and I stopped and bough each of us a Five Hour Energy because he was tired. So, before we even begun the diner, we had all had a few drinks, and were all hopped up on energy drinks. The dinner was AMAZING. We were all laughing, everyone was in a good mood, and afterwards we all got to play games because no one was tired from eating so much. So, for anyone that thinks their family holidays need a little bit of a boost, I can say that the Five Hour Energy shots will be a tradition in ours from now on probably.

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I love my Wii. I love video games in general. I own every Nintendo system ever made. I’m not real sure if that’s something I should be proud of or not, but it is what it is. Wii is definitely my piece of my collection. Super Nintendo is a close second. I really admire the guys who came up with the Wii. It’s a super cool system because you can chill, sit back and play all of your favorite games, or you can get up, yell, break things (on accident) and pretend like your a tennis great or a rock star. Wow, I’m starting to really did myself into a hole aren’t I? I’d like to say I’m not really this nerdy, but I guess I am. I just really like that playing Wii can be considered a beneficial pastime. You can improve on your hand-eye coordination, get flexible, get strong, box out aggression, get your hear rate up all while having a really good time. I admit, Wii exercise isn’t as good as the real thing, but as long as your sitting around playing games, why not get something out of it? Wii’s have been used in nursing homes and by physical therapists to help people work on their movement and coordination. There are Wii games and activities that appeal to both little kids and grown adults. How many video game systems can you say that about? The best part about Wii is that have created Super Mario Bros. for it. That is the perfect combination of the best systems out there. I think.

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Do you remember the books you loved when you were little? The Berenstain Bears, and Dr. Suess books are classics. Once you pick one of them up and start flipping through the pages, you will begin to remember your favorite stories from when you were a kid. That little trip down memory lane is a fun one. Actually Dr. Suess and his tongue twisters are fun for all ages. I still like “One Fist, Red Fish, Blue Fish”. It’s still hard to get through without messing up. Maybe it’s just me though. It’s probably not that difficult at all. Kid games are fun to relive every now and then also. Remember games like Battling Tops, Mouse Trap and Candy Land? All I can remember about those games is that they were a blast! I tried to play Candy Land with a friend’s kid the other day. All I have to say about that is the memory is definitely better than the real thing now. Keeping those memories alive is important though. It’s crucial to keep in mind the things you loved when you were a child to be able to relate to kids when your older. I personally try to relate as little as possible to small children. They make me nervous, but someday I may want to talk to one a little more. If I ever do have a kid, I at least want to know how to make it happy. I never want to be one of those stiff, stern adults who have forgotten about all of the things that make up a good time for a 4 year old.

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When I was little, I can remember my mom taking me to the park to play around. That was when I was too young to go alone, and she would take me and let me just play around and do what ever I wanted, all the while I was getting a work out that I didn’t even know about. When we got older, my cousins and brother and sister and I would all go to the park and just play games as often as we could. We would make up games, swing, play on the bars, just what ever we could get our hands on we wanted to do. We would roller blade, ride bikes, and didn’t even think about it being a work out. Now a day, for fun kids like to sit around and play their video games. They get on their computers and mess around on their myspaces and facebooks. They talk on their cell phones and text each other, instead of getting on their bikes and riding over to their friends houses to play. I walked to my friend Jill’s house all the time, or we would meet in the middle and then do what ever we wanted. Now, when I go to Dumas, I don’t even see a kid on a bike or walking around. It’s just sad that no one wants to just play around anymore, and this is why children are so overweight. I just wish that parents would take their kids out and let them play like mine did for me, instead of me just sitting at home on the computer eating crap food.

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I talk about this a lot, but when my family gets together we like to play different games. One of the best games we have found of all time is called Apples to Apples. When it’s your turn, you draw a green card that says a verb on it. You read off the different definitions of the verb so everyone understands all the variations of what that word can mean. Then, each person has cards in their hand that have nouns listed on them. They can be basic, like marshmallows, or sometimes they are proper nouns, like Oprah. Then, from the seven red cards you have in your hand, you have to set down a card that you think the verb describes most. And, not just in your own opinion, but in the person’s whose turn it is. Then, that person gets to look at all the options everyone set down and pick the one they think is the best. If they pick yours, you get to keep the green card, and who ever has the most at the end is the winner. It might sound a little complex and the first time I heard about it I wasn’t too interested, but once you play with a fun group of people it’s a blast. It’s funny to see the random things people pick, and how everyone thinks their card is always the best one to choose. It’s just fun to try and read different people, because you know that someone will choose the most random card in the pile and someone will choose the most logical. It’s fun, easy, and helps you learn more about the people you’re playing with!

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So if you’ve read my previous blogs, you know how I feel about Monopoly being the greatest game ever. My boyfriend and I were at Toys R Us a few weeks ago and came across a new game called Monopoly Deal. It was just a deck of cards and less than five bucks, so we decided to buy it and give it a shot cause playing Monopoly all the time with just two players can get old. It’s actually a really creative and fun game. You get to make property sets and monopolies, just like the game, but there are cards in the deck where you can do different kinds of actions. You can steal someone’s properties, trade them, steal their entire monopolies, draw extra cards, and force them to give you money randomly, or, a card that can stop the other player from doing any of these things to you once they’ve played the card. It’s hard to explain, definitely one of those games you just have to sit down and play to truly understand. Definite recommendation for this game, it’s cheap, fun, relatively no set up, and really easy to learn. We play it all the time, and it has yet to get old. You can play with only two players which is what we always do, or, as the box claims, up to 5. I think it wouldn’t be an issue to have more players, but the game would definitely take longer to play to get all the monopoly sets. And for all of you out there who claim that the real Monopoly takes too long to play, don’t worry, here’s a quick baby version for those who can’t hold their attention for very long.

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Spending an evening at home with friends, in my dream world, you’ll find drinks, snacks, friends, and Monopoly. Monopoly is the best board game ever. A lot of people like to say, for some reason, that Monopoly takes a long time to play. I disagree. Maybe if you don’t know what you’re doing and if you don’t have the Monopoly skills that my friends and I have, I can understand you getting bored and giving up on finishing the game. My friends and I have been playing competitively for a long time. We don’t allow cop outs either, you have to stay and play to be considered a winner, no matter what. Sometimes, the games do last long if two people are equally awesome at the game, but most of the time someone just kind of dominates the game and it’s quick, but not painless. We play all the rules correctly. You can auction off un-purchased properties. You can trade properties for what ever you want, money or more properties, on your own turn. You pay back the 10 percent mortgage fees on your properties when you decide to un-mortgage them . No cheating here, this is a real game and we don’t joke around. Well, with a few extra awesome rules that aren’t in the play book that most kids have heard of, like you put all your owed money to the game in the middle and the person who lands on free parking gets it, and if you actually land on go instead of passing it you get 500 bucks instead of just 200. Yeah, that’s how we roll. We’re so into the game we got our own rules. Now, stop complaining about the game and just play it for real, with out the idiots who don’t understand. You’ll like it, or I don’t know you.

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I hope someone out there understands this as they read, but my most embarrassing obsession here lately is Mafia Wars. Yes, I sit around on my myspace account and play a stupid repetitive game when ever I get the chance, but I completely love it too. Make fun, yeah yeah, but you just don’t understand until you take the time to play. I mean, where can you go wrong sitting around killing fake mafias all day, robbing their casinos and apartment complexes, or upgrading you businesses so you can get more money? It’s fucking awesome. I know most people out there sit around and play games on the internet they are kind of embarrassed of, but I can sit here and admit that maybe, just maybe, I have a thousand friends on myspace that I don’t even know just so my mafia can kick even more ass. I might get excited when I find surprise loot in a job. Just give it a shot you have no idea how addicting it can be, and when you read this again you’ll know what I’m taking about. I’ve showed it to a few of my friends, and now they are in my mafia too doing the same thing I do. It’s nice to have someone out there who understands how awesome it is to kill someone on the hit list, or level up and get Godfather points. Give it a shot, it’s a good way to pass time and it’s never ending fun. I apologize in advance for the inevitable loss of your social life, but hey, at least you’ll be having fun alone at your house!

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My family and a few friends do a competition every football season called Last Man Standing. Each week, you have to go onto the website and choose any football team that you think is going to win. Each week, you have to go in and choose a different team and you are not aloud to pick the same team more than once. This year, we have over 50 participants and the prize is going to be over a thousand dollars. I have total claim on this prize because, well, I fucking need the money. I am determined to be the Last (wo)man standing. So far I’m doing really good, and over half of the people have been eliminated. Sure, this contest probably sounds easy, but when you realize that I no longer have any team that’s worth a damn going into week nine my chances of winning are slowly looking pretty bad. I haven’t taken any chances with it so far, but this coming week I am going to have to really go out on a limb because my options are slim. So far, I have picked: New Orleans, Minnesota, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, New England, and Chicago. So, to sum it up for you, I don’t have shit left. And the shit that I do have left are playing the teams that I’ve already picked, so I don’t want to pick them because the spreads are less than 5 points. I really want to stay in the competition and I know that a lot of people are going to get eliminated this week and I hope I am not one of those people. If you’re interested in starting one of these pools, just go to Run your Pool and set up an account. It costs a bit of money, but just have everyone throw in twenty bucks to cover the small fee and then the winner gets the rest of the money. It sounds like a pretty easy competition… until you get in the predicament I’m trapped in right now.

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