My Friends at Nintendo in Seattle

Some of you may remember how tired I got of SXSW on The Twitter.

Sorry. There's a chance I was at least that annoying during the Nintendo Ambassador Roundup.†

But, guys, it was SO COOL.

For one, being treated like one is important actually lends to the illusion that one is actually important, and for this one, those illusions are what makes the world go 'round.‡

For two, it was amazing meeting people who are in this particular boat with me.

Many of you may not believe this, but I'm actually kind of shy around people I don't know. I started to dread the whole thing somewhere over Nevada.

Shouldn't have worried.

Brand About Town, a marketing company that does a fantastic job for Nintendo,* flew us in to Seattle Thursday, March 31. There was a reception Thursday night that started out nerve-wracking for me, then became enlightening.

There were *guys* there.

Just for starters.

I came into the Nintendo Ambassador thing under the Girls' Guide to Gaming, which was a marketing push to women who weren't necessarily video gamers.§ The idea was to show that there is more to the Nintendo family than shooting aliens and playing football. You don't have to be a teenage boy to enjoy a nice gaming system.

They created a comfortable, supportive, fun environment for us to try out their product and learn just how much we could get out of it.

Turns out, before there were Girls being Guided in Gaming, there were Wii Families. Somewhere along the line, there were mommy bloggers. And I think there was a sort of community effort, since a couple of people I met got involved via a Boys & Girls Club-type program and through working in a nursing home.

Yeah, this is the kind of stuff that trips my trigger.

Friday, we spent the day at Nintendo America HQ. This pic was provided by Brand About Town as maybe the only sanctioned photo of the building:




You'll note this isn't from our trip. You can tell because there's blue sky. Our trip looked more like this:¶




But none of that matters when you're inside with a bunch of Nintendo nerds and the latest technotoy.

This is Jen. Jen lives in Nederland# and has a food-ish blog. She is a professional photographer, so you really wish you were following her because her pictures are probably much better.




Now, our photog rules were pretty strict but simple: photos only inside the rumpus room, and 3D must be turned off if you take pics of the game. So here's a 2D Nintendog for you:




The 3D-without-glasses on the Nintendo 3DS works basically the same as a View Master. It's essentially an electronic stereopticon. Paired images push your eyes to focus in such a way that it brings depth to the image.††

Besides the 3D gaming, there is a 3D camera and 3D video viewer. We played with those too.

Actually, we played with eight different games in much the same setting as my Girls' Guide to Gaming experience: comfy couches, games to play with and a Nintendo expert to help light the way.




This was our tour guide for Street Fighter. He was nice and helpful,‡‡ but as it turns out I'm a Street Fighter savant, I didn't need too much hand-holding on that one.




I appreciate the 3D on the game, though my tendency to steer the game and wiggle like a banked trout as I beat the snot out of a fellow ambassador can diminish the effect a little.§§ The 3D wasn't the most impressive part to me, though.

I really like the StreetPass feature. You build a Mii avatar for yourself, then if you turn on the communications and allow the flow of information, if you pass someone who has a Nintendo 3DS with StreetPass up and running, it swaps your Miis. The Miis carry puzzle pieces and act as heroes to save your Mii from a dungeon.¶¶

OK, that sounds dorky and weird, but it's very cool. And I tell you, I almost kissed a stranger when I got my first StreetPass friend outside the Nintendo gathering. It was like finding a hundred dollar bill in a rest stop bathroom.

The thing that really blew my mind, though, was the AR cards.% They're freakin' magic. That's all there is to it: magic. How can you play a whole series of games by pointing the camera at a question mark on a card?^

Now, for your dining pleasure, here's the montage of People Enjoying the Nintendo 3DS.##





The President and COO of Nintendo of America, cult figure††† Reggie Fils-Aime, talked to us for awhile about the company and the Nintendo 3DS itself. I'm impressed with the conscience Nintendo showed in testing the 3D and its effect on kids' eyes. Plus, great parental controls.‡‡‡




I also love that the employees I talked to call him "Reggie" and speak like they're basically buddies.+ Not in a creepy, bootlicking way, either. I get the feeling Nintendo is a fabulous place to work.

And I couldn't take pictures, but their building is beautiful and comfortable. Sustainable and green, of course, with really nice bamboo floors. There's a great cafeteria§§§ and a floor that's just for hanging out, meeting and - with a rooftop deck$ - getting a little fresh air.

OTHER COOL THINGS ABOUT THE NINTENDO AMERICA HQ:

1. The building is square and is divided into four equal parts. Each part is represented by a colour and a Nintendo character. It's kinda like airport parking garages, where you remember your car is parked on the blue bear level or the red boot level.
2. There is a Panaboard in one of the conference rooms.& I really, really wanted to play with the Panaboard, but there were enemy ships to sink.
3. Speaking of conference rooms, they're named for iconic game characters and elements.>
   
4. The male/female icons on the bathrooms are Mario character silhouettes rather than those Fisher Price armless people we usually see.

We got a chance to tour the building with a couple of Nintendo employees, who gave us some Nintendo history and personal insight into the company.

Then we got to go shopping in the Nintendo employees' store.¶¶¶

Friday night, there was a small reception while we gathered to have the buses take us to a nice dinner. I went to Anthony's, which is a Seattle chain and maybe not the most avant-garde choice I could make, but I went for the view.




And the fish.###




The trip was a total success for me and I'm excited all over again about the state and direction of technology.

Particularly in technology that makes me the coolest aunt in the world.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Of course, my trip only lasted a couple of days. SXSW was, like, six months.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): I may be needier than I like to admit.

*FOOTNOTE (yes, an asterisk): By the way, as cool as it was to find out about Nintendo, I'd like to spend some quality time with Brand About Town people. I suspect their jobs are very, very cool.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): You may recall the series of ads with actresses and their kids and friends. I've never felt so close to Lisa Kudrow.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): In the half-dozen times I've been to Seattle, this is the first time I've ever seen rain. I was beginning to think the rain stereotype was a way to keep tourists away. Kinda like how we use snow in Denver. By the way, that's the company soccer pitch we're walking toward. Yes, there is a Nintendo company soccer pitch.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): A rogue suburb of Boulder.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Go look it up if you want something more scientific.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): And cute!

§§FOOTNOTE (dizziness): You pretty much have to be looking at it straight on or you can see the pictures split. It's disconcerting to be shooting ships from your submarine and you tilt to allow for the motion of the ocean and suddenly you're drunk and seeing two of everything. Other people may not have this problem.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (Street Fighter combo - trust me): And you can earn HATS for your Mii.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): Augmented Reality. We could all use a little Augmented Reality, couldn't we?

^FOOTNOTE (careted): MAGIC! Weren't you paying attention?

##FOOTNOTE (couple of extra pounds *ahem*): Insert inspirational soundtrack here. Also: see the fourth picture? That's Sarah and Sammy. Sarah's lots of fun. I'm following her on The Twitter at @pinkshoe. And I don't have a pic of here, but Erini at @myadorkablelife is also on my list. In case you want to be like me.

†††FOOTNOTE (Cross in 3D): When what you say sparks and Internet meme ("My body is ready"), you earn cult figure status. Plus, people who know better than I term his COO-ship at Nintendo the Reggielution. That's cult status.

‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (3DDoubleCross): When you want to be sure the Keepers of the Nephews don't cut off your supply, you're very sensitive to things like "age-appropriate" and "parental controls."

+FOOTNOTE (plussed): One of our tour guides told us that when Reggie's in his office, people go by waving their Nintendo 3DSs hoping to get his Mii on their StreetPass. THAT'S cult status.

§§§FOOTNOTE (3DSwirly): With the coolest soda machine ever. A little elevator travels up to your choice (A12, for instance) and slides under it, then moves down, then right, then angles your drink so it slides at a 45-deg angle into the delivery slot, where it is presented to you. I could have spent all day plugging dollars into the machine and watching it. I may be Nintendo's perfect Guinea pig.

$FOOTNOTE (moneyed): A *living* rooftop. Plus, the conference room and areas up there are named after Prisoner of Zelda characters.

&FOOTNOTE (ampersanded): Maybe in all of them. I was only in one, and it had a Panaboard.

>FOOTNOTE (greatered): My favourite: Another Castle.

¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (Paragraph in 3D): A certain indulgent aunt may have purchased two Nintendo 3DS's for certain indulged nephews.

###FOOTNOTE (3DPound): The fish is wearing a Seattle Mariner's cap, for those of you scoring at home.

We Interrupt Our Blog Schedule†...

I'm puttering‡ through a handful of blogposts, including:

• Pole dancing
  
• The many wonderful things my year-long now-not-so-secret pal§ has sent me
• The many wonderful things Nintendo has sent me
• Stupid sparkly handspun¶ and an executive tiara#

In the meantime, let me amuse myself by telling you - quickly - that Hans

[our Hans]

went to see

[brace yourself]

the latest STUPID SPARKLY VAMPIRE MOVIE

[in IMAX††]

on opening night.‡‡

Take a moment.§§


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): BWAHAHAHA! Because I'm sure you're setting your watch by my blog these days. Schedule... BWA!

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Because puttering is the order of the day here at Chez Barfly.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): All will be explained in due time. Perhaps now would be a good time for another "BWAHAHAHA!"

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Gods, I love my friends. How else would someone be browsing a wool festival and go, "Sparkly. Purple, grey. Foggy, atmospheric, sparkly... stupid sparkly... vampire. Marin"?

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): If you don't think executives should have tiaras, you're not familiar with the insecurity of executiveship. If I can confess right here, nothing in my life (not boys, not college, not spandex, not yearbook pictures) has made me more insecure than being an executive.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Possibly in 3D.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Bought the tickets *in advance*.

§§FOOTNOTE (turn it around): Because we love Hans, and in all fairness, he's the best of best boyfriends; his girlfriend is out of touch with her Twilight contingency, so Hans wanted her to see the movie. AND he decided that she spent a lot of time doing what he wanted to do, so maybe he should do something she wants. If more men were like Hans, there would be no sit-coms.

NOTE: It made me feel better, and may make you feel better, that Hans did not like stupid sparkly vampires.

ALSO NOTE: He told me. He didn't tell his girlfriend. In the land where sit-coms don't mean anything.

Procedural Question

Took lovely vacation.†

1. Took fantastic new job.‡
2. Won tourney pool.§
3. Came home last night to find new Nintendo cooking game% on the front porch... along with a new chef's apron,¶ onion goggles,# a Cuisinart†† stainless steel stockpot and a truly beautiful, big bamboo chopping board.
4. Went to happy hour with Kelley. One bottle of wine, one beer, one order of chips and salsa: $16.25. God bless half-price bottles of wine.‡‡

The question is, do I buy the lottery ticket because I'm on a roll, or have I used up more than my fair share of luck?§§


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): With glow sticks!

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Yes, I did. The company that's been my client for the last three years offered me a full-time, permanent position. After carefully weighing the pay (a little less than contractor pay, but that's expected. I'll have to watch my pennies for most of the year, I'm guessing, until I get used to not having free rein of my gross pay), the benefits (401K AND pension, raises AND bonuses, med/dent/vision for $1 a month, garage parking for $25 a month, four weeks paid vacation a year, 10 holidays and one floating holiday a year - for those of you scoring at home, that means I get a full month of and paid per year. Well, for the next four years until I get FIVE weeks vacation a year. Discount stock plan and LTIP [long term incentive program, and when I figure out the LTIP thing, maybe I can explain it to someone else], which means more cash prizes.), the location (same place, five miles from home) and the position (they created it for me, keeping in mind my short attention span, and I will have MINIONS. FOUR MINIONS), I decided that at my age and stage, I couldn't pass it up.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Cash, yes, but bragging rights more important.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): America's Test Kitchen...



to go along with my last two Nintendo-supplied games, which we never talked about.




Professor Layton: wonderful puzzle game (I like puzzles).
Style Savvy: like electronic Barbies.


¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Red.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): I'm very sensitive to onions. I hope the goggles work.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Cuisinart!

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Every happy hour at El Camino, which sounds divey and suspect, but it's actually a really nice neighbourhood bar in what is considered a pretty nice neighbourhood. Despite the name and the discount wine.

§§FOOTNOTE (head... spinning...): I'd hate to be the victim of the first exploding lottery ticket or something, which is where I fear this is headed, given the Kharmic Green Stamps I've cashed in over the last few days.

#NintendoEnthused - plus there's a new hashtag that's supposed to say I've been compensated by Nintendo, but you already knew that and I don't remember what that hashtag looks like. Y'all know Nintendo ships me stuff and I talk about it. I hope you also know that if it sucked, I'd tell you so.

It totally does not suck.

My Friends at Nintendo Save My Lips

In Nintendo's very successful campaign to be my new best friend, they have sent me another little present.

As always, I picked the box off the front porch and spent five minutes trying to remember who I know in North Hollywood that might be sending me a CD.

[SUMMARY: Proving that some people really never do learn.]

I got my happy, friendly letter from the Girls' Guide to Gaming:




And a very pink and girly Nintendo accessory† with lip gloss‡:




See? My friends at Nintendo don't just want to entertain me, they want me to be beautiful and moist of lip too.

[SUMMARY: Making gaming girly for nearly ten months.]

It's a philosophy I can get behind.


‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): It's a keychain that holds four game cartridges for maximum Nintendo portability.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): And a heart! Girly!

Now We're Cookin' with Gas

You may have already noticed; I have a very broad definition of "tomorrow."

I have really good excuses.†

For one, the 50 feet of cable "enhancing" my "wireless" connection became a game of hide and seek‡ yesterday§ and I finally gave up and went to a movie.

For another, I've been home "working" for the last three weeks and, upon realisation that I only had one more day to do fun stuff while other people were working, I finally gave up and went to a movie.

And, well, I've seen four movies in two weeks now¶:

1. Benjamin Button was sepia-toned# and it made me cry for about 45 minutes.
2. Marley & Me was tenser than I had anticipated and [spoiler] the damned dog dies,†† so I cried for about 45 minutes.
3. Seven Pounds contained about three seconds of lighthearted‡‡ and I didn't cry for 45 minutes, but I did tear up a little and I had a headache from all the heavy.

I needed something with no crying. So I gave up and went to a fluffy movie.§§

[SUMMARY: Apparently, I'm very sensitive.]

But enough about me. Let's see what my friends at Nintendo thinks of me.¶¶

My friends at Nintendo still wants me to use and enjoy my DS Lite.

My friends at Nintendo sent me a Christmas present.

I reacted largely the same way I acted when Kirby hit my doorstep: "Oh, my. A package. A square, white package. Am I expecting a package? It doesn't shake all that well, so it's not, like, a puzzle or a Chinese Checker set. Who do I know in West Hollywood? The address looks vaguely familiar -- do I have an outstanding perfume order. Could this be Luckyscent? No, Luckyscent uses FedEx, not UPS. The box is certainly an interesting size... could it be one of the books I ordered? Or is it too square? Too thin? It's too flat to be yarn. A knitting book, maybe. Did I order a knitting book? Whatever could it be?"

[SUMMARY: OPEN THE DAMNED BOX ALREADY!]

And it was this##:




Not only does it have a cookbook's-worth of recipes, you can search by ingredients, calories, ethnic cuisine... and there are movies. Little movies about how to do cooking stuff like julienning or poaching or how big a dice actually is.

And shopping lists and prep instructions and step-by-step instructions and any time there's a term of art, they have a link you can click to see the definition.

They even have a place you can tell it% things you won't or can't eat and will filter recipes to suit your tastes. Or allergic reactions.

Also?




It has my *name* on it.




For someone who never had much truck with video games,††† I think I've done pretty well for myself.

[SUMMARY: Apparently, I'm influential.]

I'm the luckiest little geek-aspiring girl ever.

*************

Blu Notte - Bulgari‡‡‡

Marin says: There's an astringence at the beginning that smacks of rubbing alcohol, but it's a little different. Unlike a lot of edt's that use an alcohol base, this is sweeter -- almost nutty -- in a way that feels more like a note rather than the second ingredient on the list.

It burns of nearly as quickly as that rubbing alcohol thing, and it's an interesting citrus. Lemon-lime? I immediately think lime, but... remember those bottle caps candies? The ones that looked like bottle cap-shaped SweeTarts and ostensibly tasted like various sodas? This reminds me of the 7Up bottle cap candy. Lemon, lime, more impressionistic than realistic, sweeter than actual 7Up. So not *exactly* lime.

I'm this short, I think. I really like it as a whole, I'm just very caught up in all the individual trees and forgot to tell you the name of the forest.§§§

It's tangy, citrusy and sweet, but not a vanillic sweet or a big, round, amber sweet. In fact, it's just this side of too sweet for my taste -- in a good way. The citrusy part bumps it into an almost spicy range, and there might be the tiniest bit of wood streaming along underneath it all. In fact, it might be sandalwood, what with the sweet and the spice and the wood.

The final wisps have a slightly astringent, powdery thing going on.

The Perfumed Court says: A lush Oriental floral fragrance that is a blend of galangal,$ vodka,$ iris and dark chocolate.¶¶¶

†FOOTNOTE (crossed): You would expect no less from me.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Making it a "connection."

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): The *real* yesterday, as opposed to my broad-spectrum "tomorrow" version of yesterday.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): There was a time I saw 100 movies a year. I believe I've seen more movies in the last two weeks than I saw in the past three years. There's something very "breakthrough" about that.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Both in colour and in mood.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): I know, I know, but Brother and I had had the conversation months ago about how nobody ever writes a dog book where the dog doesn't die. I said, "Marley & Me..."

He said, "The dog does too die in Marley & Me."

"You read the book?"

"No, but it's about a dog, right?"

"Yeah, but..."

"So the dog dies."

Since it had been awhile since I read the book, I allowed how's I may have forgotten something, since mostly what I remembered was Marley eating the drywall.

A couple of weeks ago, I recounted to Dad the above conversation.

He said, "Marley & Me... Marley doesn't die."

"That's what I said! OK, Brother is smoking crack."

So when Marley started getting old and slow in the movie and the foreshadowing was beating me about the head and neck, I leaned over to Dad and said, "You told me the dog doesn't die."

"For my sake, I really hope he doesn't."

Fifteen minutes later, I was sitting with my the neck of my hoodie pulled up over my nose, sniffling and scrubbing at my eyes.

"You OK?"

"The damned dog died, Dad."

"You really didn't remember the dog died?"

"You SAID he didn't. I TRUSTED you!"

The moral of this story: the responsibilities of parenthood do not disappear with age. You still can't lie to your kids.

BTW? This may be the longest footnote ever.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Though, despite the unfortunate plotline (and I mean both the heavy melancholy of it and the sad state of it), had an absolutely stunning acting performance by Will Smith.

§§FOOTNOTE (two reel): With the glut of movies hoping for Oscar noms, I was convinced I was going to have to see the stupid sparkly vampire movie... then the even stupider-looking wedding movie... but settled upward on "Yes Man." Which wasn't great. But probably better than sparkly vampires or slapstick weddings. Though if you see "Yes Man," do what I did: blur your vision and twiddle your mind a little and picture John Cusack in the lead role.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (drums for a rimshot, please): Such an old joke. Didn't stop me.

##FOOTNOTE (pound and pound again): You may have seen the commercials in which Lisa Kudrow makes kung pao chicken with a four-year-old.

†††FOOTNOTE (who needs three joysticks?): Despite being generationally placed at the ideal time to be a video game junkie... I played pinball at the bowling alley after school while everybody else was playing Pac Man and Tron. I know I've told you that story before, but, hey -- I'm old and feeble (I just copped to being bowling alley aged in the naiscent era of video gaming) and will be inclined to repeat myself. Repeat myself. Redundantly.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): Yes, I talk to my Nintendo.

‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (all tracks lead to Rome): Bvlgari Blv Notte, if you prefer.

§§§FOOTNOTE (leaves swirling): Let's call this particular forest "Sylvia." That's really funny if you took Latin.

$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): Once I read what galangal is, I am giving myself credit for 7Up SweeTarts. In my head, galangal TOTALLY smells like 7Up SweeTarts. And I think "deliberate rubbing alcohol" pretty much equals vodka. AND I can't believe I got powder in any form and didn't immediately assume iris. That's just not like me.

¶¶¶FOOTNOTE (truffles on a stick): Wow, did I NOT get dark chocolate. Though that might account for some of the sweet that wasn't vanilla.

Not Awesome

I feel I owe an apology to all of you% who rushed out† to get me my very own LCD skull mp3 belt buckle.‡

Hans got his notification in the email, and I assume you have yours by now:

Dear Hans,

Good day! Many thanks for your order 2XXXX9 in our website http://www.chinavasion.com/.

I am very sorry to let you know that the item CVSDU-10008 (MP3 Player / LED Light Belt Buckle - Punk Skull Design) you ordered, which we thought would be available, is now not being supplied by the factory.

We can not offer the item in this case. Hope you can understand our situation.

We can help you to cancel this order and refund the payment back to you. Please confirm whether you wants us to do that. Thanks a lot.

We are waiting for your confirmation very urgently.

Thank you for your patience.


If you're looking for a replacement gift, might I suggest something hand-made? I found directions right here for something excellent enough to bring us back to awesome.§

It would go nicely with my latest schmooze from my friends at Nintendo.¶

Only 14 shopping days...


%FOOTNOTE (percented): BWAHAHAHAHAHA! I crack me up.

†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Unless you rushed in time to get one before those gates slammed shut. In that case, thank you!

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Which I feel would go with either a brown belt or a black, making it a versatile and ultimately thrifty accessory.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Especially with plenty of wasabi.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): I still don't know what I'm doing with that little pink ham ball (that's what she said), but isn't it fun when we're all self-referential like this?

In the Pink

I'm expecting a package. A UPS package, so I've been diligently checking the front porch every night.

Last night, there was a small, square box on the welcome mat and I got all excited, only it wasn't the box I was expecting.†

My friends at Nintendo sent me another present.‡

[SUMMARY: Better lucky than good.]

Let me give you a little background on my relationship with video games.

Way back in the dawn of the 80s, when Pac Man and Tron started taking over from Pong and pinball, I resisted.

You know that scene in Say Anything where the skate dudes are hanging out in the parking lot talkin' 'bout bitches and Lloyd says, "I got a question. If you guys know so much about women, how come you're here at the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?" And there's that little pause and Joe says, "Bye choice, man," and they all chime in like, yeah, I meant to do this?§

Yeah, I resisted like Joe and his chickless dicks chose to fly stag.

I "resisted" because I was lousy at all those TiVi screen games and there may not have been enough quarters in the world for me to put the time in to get good. So I stuck with pinball, whose low-tech charm and straight-forward, transparent game play suited my Luddite sensibilities.

With pinball, I could accidentally win at least part of the time.

If I had been cooler, I probably would have turned my nose up when my friends went to conquer Galaga. I might have played the Velvet Underground card¶ and claimed a longtime love of pinball. Maybe could've spouted something about the digitising of America or the lack of punkish grit in Centipede, if I'd been really on my game.

I wasn't remotely cool, though, so I readily admitted I didn't get video games and was no good at them and I'll be over here in the corner with the pinball machines, let me know when you're ready to leave.

We did have an old Atari system at home,# and eventually Dad hooked it up to the big screen TiVi. I got pretty good at Space Invaders and Q*Bert†† through home study, though I still never played them in the arcade.

But I never played any of the Mario games. I certainly haven't played Everquest‡‡ or Prisoner of Zenda or anything like that. I like the puzzle gams on my DS. I can happily do electronic word search and hidden picture games for hours.

Actually, since I'm perfectly capable of starting in on computer solitaire and looking up to find it's four o'clock in the morning and I have been sitting on my foot for six hours and it got really dark... well, it's probably best I don't get too involved in anything too involved.

[SUMMARY: In which I sound cooler with every passing word.]

Only now I have Kirby.




You'll forgive me if I tell you Kirby is a lot like Mario Brothers and it really isn't. It looks like it to me.

Kirby runs around different levels, eating cherries and bananas and fighting with chickens and sometimes he sucks things in and he can spit them out at his foes. Sometimes he sucks his foes in and if he swallows them, he gains their special powers.§§




He can go through doors.

And up ladders.

And when he rides the star, it takes him far away to other ladders and foes and cherries.

There's underwater stuff.

And flying.

I find little, pink Kirby weirdly compelling and charming.




I cleared a couple of levels last night. Mostly, I just ran like mad, fought with no strategy or grace and went through every door I found. Despite having no idea what the actual objectives might be, I managed to reach them.




[SUMMARY: Better lucky than... oh, wait, did I already say that?¶¶]

Come to think of it, that's how I play pinball too.

*************

Kama - Farmacia SS. Annunziata dal 1561

Marin says: Powdery. Not in a wholly bad way. There's something really salty running under that classic powdery rose smell. Vanilla too. Rich, warm vanilla, not sugar cookie vanilla. A hint of patchouli - mostly camphorous (like Carmex). The longer it sits on me, the saltier it gets (like Play-Doh).

It's kind of olfactorily pornographic when it's salty -- like an intimate bodily fluid.

Luckyscent says: A mysterious veil of rose$ and musk that hovers close to the skin, Kama is all about nuance and whispers. A hint of grapefruit, a delicate dusting of rice powder, the faintest suggestion of salt$ and ink -- all working with your skin to create a subtle aura of seductive grace that fans of understated scents will adore. Even typical powerhouses like vanilla$ and patchouli$ tiptoe in silk slippers here, adding watercolor washes of sweetness and earthiness without disturbing the feather-soft layer of rose petal and musk that makes your skin smell like you just might be an angel. Kama notes: Petit grain, red grapefruit, dog rose, rice powder, patchouli, musk notes, vanilla, ambergris

Hans says: It has that stuff that smells like baby powder. What's that? Aldehyde, right. [Hans sign language for give me another sniff] I want to say it smells brown, but I don't know what that means.## This is what brown would smell like. Musty, musky brown. But I don't know if it's actually musky.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Yes, my Sister of the Travelling iPod, erstwhile girlfriend of Jay Smooth, Nintendo got my hopes up and it wasn't your package. They did redeem themselves by sending me a present, though, so I'm prepared to forgive.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Oh, Nintendo, you shouldn't have!

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): If you check way back to the beginning of that sentence, it is, indeed, one sentence and a question at that.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Y'know... where every musician claims to be strongly influenced by Velvet Underground, even though VU is about half unlistenable, they're just such an iconic touchstone of American music that everybody wants a scrap of their shroud. VU is to the Jonas Brothers as pinball is to Marin, c. 1980.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): By all rights, I probably should have been the coolest kid on the block, given we had video games in our home in 1977. Some of us just shed cool like a duck sheds water.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Q*Bert on a 60" screen is like a Mack truck going down the stairs of the Philadelphia Art Museum.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Evercrack.

§§FOOTNOTE (whirling blades of doom!): Take your pick, Kim.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (two heads are better than mine): I think we have a theme.

$FOOTNOTE (on the money!): Ha! Got one!

##FOOTNOTE (tic tac d'oh): I assured Hans if scents can be labeled "green," brown is a valid option.

#NintendoEnthused

Go to the Post

In order to make that blogtitle work, I should probably mention something like how native son Chauncey Billups is coming back to the Nuggets. Look for his debut on ESPN when the Nugs take on the Mavs on Friday.†

[SUMMARY: Connecting the dots to give you the whole picture.]

They say money can't buy happiness. It's a pretty little thought, good for Aesop and bedtime stories, but a steady stream of deliveries from Internet retailers gets me pretty goddamned giddy.

For instance, when I fully realised you can purchase discontinued perfumes at any number of online venues, I immediately went to look for Scaasi, my signature scent from 1990 through 1993.

No go.

I tried periodically, and finally a week ago, there it was.

EVERYWHERE.

So I married a discount code to a sale price on a website with free shipping and pennies later...




Still as big and bold and stupidly beautiful as I remember it.^

And I read a little something a little somewhere about a niche perfumer offering a sample set and voilà!




Don't tell me I didn't just buy myself some happy.‡

[SUMMARY: Feel-good psychology is lost on the capitalist.]

Then, because this is still a knitblog,§ there's the singular joy of the yarn club.

My new-found fibre lust for lace knitting¶ was slaked by the arrival of about 1000 yards of Black Bunny merino/silk laceweight in totally -licious# purples.††




It doesn't hurt that the purple goodness came in this‡‡:




Carol was kind enough to let me stay in the Black Bunny club even though I'm just *barely* bright enough to work PayPal to finance it. That in itself makes me happy.

[SUMMARY: The gods look out for the feeble.]

Best for last, there's the even-better of receiving unsolicited items that didn't even require a credit card number in the mailbox.

Brought to you by Skull a Day, the Magic of Kim, the number four...




...and Animal.§§





Kim... seriously, better than Nintendo in the mail.

[SUMMARY: Good things come to those who stop whining for five minutes to appreciate them.]

Know what else makes me happy?




[SUMMARY: Proof of life.@]

*************
Améthyst - Olivier Durbano (Bijoux de Pierres Poèmes)

Marin says: My very first impression was, "Oh, no... Chanel." I was sure we were heading straight into That Aldehyde, but the alcohol burned off and it was a lovely ride.

Much like its companion scent, Black Tourmaline, there is a soft richness to this that probably shouldn't appeal to me. It's very nearly vanilla, very nearly aldehyde, very nearly headshop.

Maybe this an olfactory tour of negative space, harmony, background and all those things that make good art great.

Deep, huh?

I smell cedar and pepper, I got a whiff of bitter orange, something powdery -- which always makes me think of iris¶¶ -- and a touch of those vanilla/amber/sandalwood headshop things I usually hate.

The tiniest hint of smoke?

I really like this, but it may be too pedestrian to consider buying a bottle.## Something about it just says blah, blah, masculine cologne, blah.

Upon revisiting, I'm getting more of the soft, tempered cedar, which I lovelovelove. And I have no idea what kind of crack I was smoking to get The Aldehyde.†††

Luckyscent‡‡‡ says: The second in Olivier Durbano’s Perfume Poems, Améthyst takes its name and mood from amethyst, the prized purple gemstone of lore.% The gem itself is a symbol of heavenly understanding, and of moving with ease in the religious, spiritual, and material planes. In antiquity, the gem was thought to serve as a talisman against poison, drunkenness and bad luck. Durbano’s interpretation of amethyst into perfume form has made for a deeply peaceful, mysterious scent that debuts with a surprising pepper and fruit mix before it slowly swirls into palisander wood and the silky powder notes of orris. A soft amber, sandalwood, musk and vanilla are the base upon which this purifying scent is built upon, playing upon your senses with their sweet and musky natures and sending you to a place of contemplation and reverie. The majesty, the spirituality and the intensity of the color purple all rolled into one beautifully mysterious and forever haunting fragrance.

NOTES: bergamot,$ pepper, grape, raspberry, incense,$ palisander wood, jasmine, orris, vegetable amber, sandalwood,$ musk, vanilla$

Hans says: Mmmm... very citrusy. Like orange juice. You can tell them I said it smells like Yazoo spicy barbecue sauce.§§§


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): If even one of you got my tortured jape, all the set-up will have been worth it. I am just that dork.

^FOOTNOTE (careted): And even if it's awful, it will always remind me of Mom -- who bought me my first bottle of Scaasi -- and that will always blind me to the possibility of awfulness.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And the chance to dabble in what I fool myself is Nathan Branch-esque perfume photography doesn't break my heart neither. On the other hand, the Scent Systems Jasmine is to ass AS cat piss is to honeyed rose petals. This did NOT make me happy, but I will chalk it up to the greater good and... happy again. Lalala.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): *cough*

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Despite having frogged and re-knit the first two repeats of the body of the Purple Prose scarf roughly eleventy-seven times.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): It used to say "Marin-licious." I simply couldn't keep a straight face.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Purples even a digital camera can love.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): Which furthered my happiness because Cat for Scale tried wildly to catch and bat and bite the ghosts.

¶¶FOOTNOTE (beat the drum, don't eat the drum): AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! WOMAAAAAAAAN!!!

@FOOTNOTE (atted): And proof that, though the damned cat won't sit still for a decent portrait, he can't resist hanging around when the camera comes out.

§§FOOTNOTE (the swirling elegance of irises): Largely because all the real perfume critics say iris is powdery. I don't think I'd know if an iris bit me in the ass. Rest assured if an iris ever does bite me in the ass, I'll share the pictures with you.

##FOOTNOTE (pounded like cross-wise logic): Yes, upon re-reading that sentence, I realise just how dorky and sort of elitist it sounds. I never promised you logic or reason. Or a rose garden. Though I think I did just promise photographic evidence of ass-biting irises.

†††FOOTNOTE (obvious is my cross to bear): Aldehyde crack, apparently.

‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (cryptic triptych): I usually try to quote the actual perfumier (or the soulless conglomerate that markets the stuff), but when I went to the Olivier Durbano website, I found a cryptic splash page -- a login, an animation about beauty and truth or some such drivel, and no content to be reached without the login and password... no way to even sign up to get a login and password. I'm thinking I have to buy a bottle of something Olivier Durbano to learn the secret handshake so I can share with y'all. That's the sacrifice I'm willing to make to help further your education.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): And my very favourite stone of all time, for those of you scoring at home. Only 49 shopping days left 'til Christmas.

$FOOTNOTE (on the money): Ha! Got one! And if palisander wood could be mistaken for cedar, maybe even two!

§§§FOOTNOTE (smokey joe): This isn't like the elephant comment. We had BBQ for lunch and I had a blob of Yazoo spicy on my left wrist right next to the scent zone. BBQ trumps cedar/citrus and Hans thinks he's funny.

My Friends at Nintendo

My Nintendo intentions are ever inventing.†

I'm sure the general public‡ was at least as shocked as I was when the nice people at Girlfriends Guide to Gaming picked me as influential and asked me to provide the body count for a Nintendo DS Lite party a couple of months back.

I only wish I could structure this blogpost so y'all could be as surprised as I was Monday night.

Here's the story%:

I try to remember to open my front door every couple of days§ to check for pizza coupons and UPS deliveries.¶

Monday, in a fit of adult responsibility, I did just that, expecting nothing.

There it was: a square, white box, six inches to a side, two inches deep.@

[SUMMARY: Serendipity!]

It was addressed to me, but I couldn't figure out what it could possibly be. Usually when I get a package, I'm well aware of it. Most of the time, I paid somebody to bring me the package. So I quickly ticked back through my mind to try to determine what it might be.#

Hmmmmm... perfume samples come in bubble mailers.††

Yarn comes in the postbox.‡‡

[SUMMARY: My knowledge of the mailing habits of the smelly and fuzzy is enviable.]

I finally opened the box.§§

As a side note, the cat was very into the box. I'd begun to think he'd found my credit card and ordered exotic tuna from distant lands, as difficult as it was getting him out of the way long enough to rip the tape off.

[SUMMARY: Cats know better than to *think* about what's in the box.]

And it was not tuna. It was this¶¶:




The letter, from my friends at Nintendo,## tells me all about the sleuthing I could be doing†††:




So I haven't been knitting a lot these past few nights.

[SUMMARY: See: long attention span, not easily distracted.]

If anybody knows how to get past the bird safe, could you let me know?‡‡‡

*************

Les Bijoux - Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab (Ars Amatoria, oil)

Marin says: It smells like roses and crisp fall apples to me... and something really synthetic. After that first blast, the roses and the synthetic syrup calmed down and it all melded into a very nice apple -- like real apples, not like Jolly Rancher neon green apples.

I loved the apple phase -- for a bit, it was like a memory of going to Wisconsin in the fall with my mom and stopping at the indoor farmer's market for cheese curds and the crispest, winiest apples^ that only autumn can give.

It faded back to a powdery rose, with the powder inexorably overtaking.

BPAL says: Skin musk and honey, blood-red rose,$ orange blossom, white peach, red apple,$ frankincense and myrrh

Hans says: Rose and porta-potty.



†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Yeah, I'm not sure it means much, but it trips on the tongue. I'm all for a little tongue-tripping when you can get it. Heheheheh. Twelve.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And by "general public," I mean, "you."

%FOOTNOTE (percented): And the back-story. And a little side story. Probably a tangent. And a dick joke. Maybe even a perfume review.

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Because, like the postbox, it is not on my regular route and requires a special trip.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): I love my UPS guy. I've loved ALL my UPS guys. When they say, "What can Brown do for you?" I start making a list.

@FOOTNOTE (atted): I'm giggling like Beavis, I'm so twelve right now.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Because you know I have this habit of playing detective with the mail and the caller ID rather than just opening the damned thing and getting a ready answer.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): And little drawstring organza bags. I brought the Tallest, Hairiest Nephew some bottle caps for his bottle cap collection in a nice little drawstring organza bag and my smart ass of a sister-in-law said, "Wherever did you get a bag like that?"

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): It's starting to sound like an episode of CSI.

§§FOOTNOTE (streamers!): Does anybody else feel like there should be confetti and party horns?

¶¶FOOTNOTE (two magnifying glasses -- I only got one, but, really... how many magnifying glasses does one Nintendo geek need?): *magnifying glass included

##FOOTNOTE (two pints are two pounds the world around): They are too. Says so right in the letter. Nintendo is my new best friend!

†††FOOTNOTE (my crosscrosscross to bear): And they didn't even know about all the sleuthing I did just because a box showed up on my porch!

‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (tracks of my brain): Seriously, I'm starting to think the game is stuck.

^FOOTNOTE (careted): Public Service Announcement: It's that time of year again. If you can get your hands on Honeycrisp apples, just DO IT. Best... so crisp... sweet, tart... *drool* If you're in Denver-ish, King Soopers carries organic, Colorado-grown Honeycrisp apples.

Why are you still sitting here?

$FOOTNOTE (on the money): Ha! Got one!

#NintendoEnthused

Games People Play

I never intended to Nintendo.†

When I first got the email... well, like the first time a Nigerian prince offers you a million dollars to help smuggle his family jewels out of the country, you look around to see if anyone is watching and you consider it.‡

Then there was a second email saying, in essence, "You probably ignored the first email 'cause it looks like that Nigerian prince thing."

Turns out it was totally legit.

[SUMMARY: I am that dork.]

You may have seen the Nintendo commercials for the DS Lite with America Ferrara and Carrie Underwood and Liv Tyler.

Video games have long been the territory of 18-35§ males. Geek grrrls are certainly out there, and I'm guessing there's a healthy market for video games among the teenaged girl set, but not so much us women.

You know... mature. Responsible. Grounded.

*ahem*

On the one hand, there is a solid selection of video games that *don't* feature robots and elves and car theft... Brain Age 1 & 2, Let's Yoga, Big Brain Academy, Flash Focus Vision Training, Crosswords, My Weight Loss Coach, My Spanish Coach. These sorts of self-help, personal growth, educational games belie the concept of video games as sheer frippery.

On the other hand, have you ever seen a bunch of women driving turtles and gorillas around a virtual racetrack while trying to pick up squids and ghosts and shooting each other with mushrooms?

Mature, responsible and grounded.

I'm sticking with that.

[SUMMARY: Ladies and gentelmen, my friends... the mature, responsible, grounded women.]

As part of their marketing effort, the Girlfriends Guide to Gaming group is travelling the country, throwing parties in different cities, giving women a chance to try the DS Lite in a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere¶ with lots and lots of help.%

To construct their guest lists, they do some research and invite influential# female bloggers†† to hostess.

I supplied the 30 women, they supplied the food, wine and games. Including a DS Lite and a copy of Brain Game 2 for each and every attendee who completed the four-station "training."

[SUMMARY: Training. Like it was boot camp or something.]

Saturday, on a quiet street near the railroad tracks in central Denver...




...through a nondescript glass door...




...was a big, happy, personal welcome.




When I arrived, several of my invitees were already there.‡‡




It was a spacious, urban setting; a photographer's studio, I believe. There was a buffet of finger foods, several bottles of wine^ and soft drinks for the mature, responsible, grounded and/or pregnant.§§




Upon entering, we each received a naked charm bracelet. At each of the four game stations, we "had to" play the game, then we received a charm when we completed the task. As each woman filled her charm bracelet, she got a DS Lite of her very own. Along with Brain Age 2.

The stations? There was Brain Age 2¶¶...





...Mariokart##...





...Crossword...




...and quite possibly the most compelling, Guitar Hero.




Rock on, Jess.




Don't think I didn't try to figure out how to smuggle this out under my shirt...




...but mine was the last Denver party. When the tent comes down in one city, they pack up the entire thing, furniture, games, decorations and all and truck it to the next city.†††

It really was cool and touching. I met some people for the first time,@ had a bunch of old friends on hand and one woman teared up a little because she hadn't realised she was actually going to take a game home with her.

[SUMMARY: Awwwww... mature and grounded.]




Yeah, I really liked this part too. Besides being influential, being hearted is among my new favourite emotions.

I heart you too, guys. Thanks for making my little corner of the Nintendo world so bright, for making me look good, for being cool, for being there.

And, y'know... for calling me a hot redhead.


†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Yeah, I've been waiting for weeks to use that line.

‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): And by, "you," I mean, "I."

§FOOTNOTE (swerved): If we're being totally honest, I bet it's 12-50.

¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): read: No boys shouting, "Hit the A button! No! The A button! THE A BUTTON!" in your ear.

%FOOTNOTE (percented): Not that some of us needed lots and lots of help. Not that some of us completely missed the part where you have to *strum* Guitar Hero to make it work. Good grief, those GGG women were patient.

#FOOTNOTE (pounded): Ask me how much I love being termed "influential." In fact, I tell everybody I meet -- including shop clerks and landscapers -- that I'm influential. "Apparently, I'm influential," I tell them.

††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): Maybe female astronauts too. Or female senators. I mean, they're influential too.

‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): I swear I was trying to get there first. I was 15 minutes early. I guess the mature, responsible and grounded are also eager. And fewer of them may have stopped across the street for a shot of Patron.

^FOOTNOTE (careted): Not that the wine part had anything to do with the needing lots of help part.

§§FOOTNOTE (twisted like a Mariokarts track): Hey, Tani! Love you!

¶¶FOOTNOTE (plug-ins!): I don't want to brag, but I had the lowest brain age there. Of course, the nice GGG people also sent me a game like a month ago (mine has a pink crystal heart bling on it), so I've had lots of practice.

##FOOTNOTE (pounded like a Guitar Hero): The DS Lites communicate with each other, so if you have a game like this, you can go multi-player against people in your vicinity. We did. Squids were thrown, blood was shed.

†††FOOTNOTE (crosswords?): In this case, San Diego. Pause with me a moment and contemplate how cool a job these GGG women have: they travel from city to city playing and teaching video games, and everywhere they go they get to give out DS Lites and games to delighted party-goers. It's like Willie Wonka for the new millenium.

@FOOTNOTE (atted): I love it when imaginary friends migrate to the IRL list.