Pokematic goes to the 2024 Men's Gymnastics Competition

Hey everyone. If you haven't been following, after mskate discovered that we can go to the men's gymnastics meets at University of Michigan for free we've been kind of into going to the events whenever we could. When she found out that the 2024 finals competition would be at Ohio State in Columbus (a place with many fun memories), we decided to go to it as well even though this cost money. It's still not exactly my thing, but it's not very expensive and it is a fun thing to do with the missus. I tried to do a meet-up with Bio since he's not exactly prohibitively far but he was busy, thus is us when it comes to scheduling. Hopefully one day the Peanut Butter Podcast can do something in person, but this wasn't the day. We got a Hyatte Hotel in the area we like to stay in when we go to Columbus (cheap hotel and right by Level One Barcade). This was the first time going to this hotel, and I think we decided this will be our go-to hotel in the future when we go to Columbus, mainly because it has breakfast. Since there was also a restaurant in Dayton mskate likes that was closing down we decided to also make a stop at Dayton before going to Columbus and make an entire adventure about it. It was shaping up to be a big thing.

I took Friday off and we started our journey at about 8AM. The drive down was pretty uneventful, basically I just showed mskate the rout I would take whenever I went to see her when we were dating. I wanted to take the exact exit I knew and took every time but she wanted to take the exit she knew. Getting back was kind of fun, first time we had been there together in a long while and a lot of memories came back. We ate at the restaurant and it was OK, it's a sandwich shop themed after aviation (do to the Wright Brothers and their airplanes) and I like them but they aren't like special to me. I had a ruben I think and mskate had a roast beef sandwich I think. Mskate had a lot of fun though and really enjoyed going there one last time. I kind of tried to get a souvenir but they didn't have anything we could take. Oh well, she still enjoyed herself. We also went to the small grocery store that mskate used to go to all the time to get a couple of things. Main thing I remember getting was a small bowl of the homemade chili to have over the weekend. Mskate was really happy to do those things as that was "Dayton to her."

OK now it's time for my points of interest, the media stores. For those who don't know Dayton at one point had a pretty large number of places to buy videogames and comic books, and while they're kind of down to just Second and Charles and Game Swap (not stop, swap), it's still pretty fun. We did drive by the one store that was killed by covid to see if they returned (they didn't), and while going that way we drove by the old South Park Elementary where I got my picture once.

It's now some kind of medical place, which makes sense since the last time I was there it was being converted to something. The first place we went to was 2nd and Charles. I immediately went to the clearance section to see if I could find anything good. Unfortunately not but oh well. I looked around for the videogame section and I had some trouble finding it. I walked around the books and had fun, but I was looking for my "geek stuff." I eventually found my way to the comic book section and looked through the non-Marvel/DC section to see if I could find some good finds. I managed to find some Incredibles comic books for cheap so I decided to pick them up, and I needed to find a gift for IRA and he's on a power rangers kick at the moment. I found some mighty morphing power rangers comic books and picked them up for him. I did find the videogames and went through the PS2 section. I found a couple of games but not a lot that I already didn't have or was out of my price range. They don't do plastic bags at the store so when the cashier asked if I needed a reusable bag I said "no thanks, I have my own" and pulled a grocery bag out of my pocket.

With 2nd and Charles done we went to Game Swap. It was a little difficult to get to mostly because I forgot the name (kept calling it game exchange and mskate couldn't find one within a close distance). We decided to just drive to the restaurant in the strip mall where the store was in, and then I'm like "oh yeah, it's Game Swap." Funny thing with this, when I went to the PS2 section I was "like the guys in The Big Bang Theory at the comic book store going 'got it got it got it.'" I described it to my parents that way and they were like "lol." I found like 2 games I didn't already have, and then decided to look at the VHS section (because they do home video media as well and have a pretty neat VHS section). I was mostly looking to see if I could find an old Wrestlemania tape or something like that for IRA; he doesn't have a VCR, but it would have made for a neat display piece. I unfortunately didn't find a wrestling tape but I did find Strange Brew for a good price, which will make for a great gift for vikingpolak since he really likes that movie, and I found this Aladdin figure in a VHS clamshell style case for IRA. Before checking out we walked around a little and mskate kept asking "do you have the thing to play that, how about the thing to play that, what about that" when pointing to different cartridge games. I said "yes I do, it'll be easier for you to just ask me what I don't have."

Now that we had finished our fun in Dayton it was time to go to Columbus. It was like another 45 minute drive from where we were. We got to the hotel and checked in no real problems. It was a pretty nice room, there was a kitchenette type thing (there was like a "real sink" next to the coffee maker and fridge, and it was completely separate from the bathroom), and the TV had this interesting input thing. I didn't have anything to try it out with (didn't bring my HDMI cable for my laptop, didn't bring a PS2 to test the games I might have bought), oh well.

We had some time before the event so we went to a strip mall area to get some things we forgot. I don't remember what it was specifically, but I ended up picking up a can of ravioli at the Kroger to have for dinner instead of the ramen I brought. It was also just a thing to explore, because the strip mall had a real mall type thing, and it just so happened that there was farmer's market craft show thing happening. There were a lot of things that I forgot about (homemade soap, beef jerky, and bread, I think), but the main thing was this special macaroni and cheese that mskate really liked and so we bought a kit, and then there was a pickle vendor and if it wasn't for the REALLY long line I probably would have gotten something (I'm pretty basic when it comes to pickles, just dill and salt, but I would have supported a small business and been a little adventurous if there wasn't like a 10 minute line). The macaroni sauce needed to be frozen, and we weren't sure we could keep it frozen because mini-fridge and cooler (thankfully it would still be good for a week once thawed), but I turned the fridge to max which kept it frozen, and later when I covered it with ice in the cooler it stayed frozen as well, yay. A little ahead of myself in the story, but I would have forgotten about it and wouldn't have filled that thread. Before going to the meet I went down to the lobby where they had a microwave and made my ravioli in a paper coffee cup. It wasn't exactly easy to make well, but it was good enough to fill me and easy enough to make in a hotel.

Now it's time for the first event, at least to us since there was a thing in the morning that we didn't go to. We got there fairly early and were able to sit in the front right behind the audio visual tables. Mskate was able to see the spotify playlist they had, it was like "mens gymnastics 2024." Mskate tried to find it but couldn't find it. It was REALLY cool being so close up, we were like right behind the floor routine and pomelhorse. It was pretty fun. When UofM was walking by us on entry we cheered for Fred and we think he remembered us. It was a pretty crazy event since they had all 6 things going at once. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Now for some concession fun. Mskate went to get some food (because she didn't really have anything from before) and ran into a former Olympian. She was kind of upset she didn't have a marker with her, but oh well. Later on I got funnel cake fries. The funnel cake fries were interesting, it's funnel cake but not in the full cake, instead it was strips of funnel cake that were french fry size and shape. Still very good.

After the meet there was still some time left in the night, so I went over to Level One. I got mskate back to the hotel and situated for bed, and then I walked over. When I left I expected a little bit of a walk since the other hotels were close but not super close, but this was actually really close; I walk over a small hill and boom it's there. I got a pong and went over to the games. Like always I played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Turtles in Time, because that was what Wheels Inn was for my brother and we sunk so many tokens into it. Seeing that the game is free to play, I always have to play the game from start to end. Next time I go I need to do something to measure how many times I die and need to press the "add credits" button, just to see how much I save by just buying a drink at this place. I also played some Tetris and got decently far from what I remember. I think I also played Donkey Kong Jr. on this time there, and it wasn't as easy as it is on the NES, I think. Still always a fun time, but I was getting tired and so went back to the hotel to get ready for bed and the following day. On my way back (or maybe on the way there) someone complemented me on my hat which felt good even if it was a little weird (it was night and I was alone). I also saw someone puking behind the dumpster, stay classy greater Columbus area.

Now it's Saturday, the day of the big event, but not quite yet. We start the day with the continental breakfast, which was pretty good. We ate in the little TV nook of the lobby which was kind of interesting. Most of the morning was just kind of spent hanging out in the hotel room. I remember watching a lot of Boomerang since the hotel had Boomerang, which was neat because hotel cable is generally pretty limited and Boomerang is (or at least was) a high package cable channel. For lunch I think I had my ramen, which I accidentally made a mess with. Coffee maker ramen, put the water in the coffee maker, put the ramen ingredients in the cup, turn on the coffee maker and seep the ramen, easy right? Well no, I forgot that the noodles take up space in the cup, so I poured a mostly full cup of water into the coffee maker and let it sit, and then after some time I notice that the coffee cup is overflowing. I unplugged the coffee maker and cleaned it off, and my ramen ended up still being good, just next time I need to do things a little differently.

Anyway, it's now about noon and Level One is open. I go to the arcade very soon after opening and order a Bowser's Secret Potion (or something based on Bowser). This time I play a different Konami arcade game from my childhood, The Simpsons Arcade Game. This one was at the Little Caesar's owned arcade, Caesarland. I remember watching the demo screen and 16 bit rendition of the theme song for probably 10 minutes, good times. This one we actually did manage to beat a couple of times when we had birthday parties, because kids would rotate in and out based on how many tokens they had. I played through the whole game as Bart just because, but regularly brought in Lisa so we could do the team up attack, and when going against Mr. Burns I brought in the whole family and would do the team up attacks and control 4 players at once (since just 1 joystick was needed per group and I have 2 arms). I think I'll add Simpsons Arcade Game to my "I have to beat it every time I go" routine. A new game for me was the Konami X-men Arcade Game, which is basically like the Simpsons and TMNT arcade games (side scroller beat em ups, bosses health is indicated based on how fast they blink, halfway through there's a double boss), but with X-men characters and a special "mutant ability" attack that uses health but is super strong. I played as Wolverine (because he's cool and got the most movies for better or worse), and beat that game as well. Really fun. I played Frogger and Burger Time after that, and a Cabela's light gun hunting game. I also played Klax at one point, a game I have for the NES. Unfortunately they had a fair number of games out of order this time, like I don't think the Area 51 game was working and I know Punch Out wasn't working. Oh well, it was still a pretty fun time.

Now for the big final event. We had a little trouble finding a seat even though we got there pretty early. We ended up sitting where the families sat and got front row seats again. It was really fun sitting so close. I'll share the pictures of the events later, but now it's time for some stories. Someone in the audience brought disposable film cameras (because retro or something) and wanted the gymnasts to take some pictures with it. I guess I forget how old I am because I'm watching these guys struggle to figure out how to use a disposable film camera, and everyone that I know knows how to use disposable film camera because we all had them on vacations. There was also one gymnast who climbed up the side of the bleacher wall and went to the bathroom or something up in the audience. Mskate and I are just sitting there and he pops up in front of us and climbs over the railing. I'm like "he-allo." When he came back I asked if he could sign something for us while he was up here with us. He said sure and signed the program. We also had Fred sign our sign for him, and he struggled a little to throw the sign back up at us.

With the events over it's time for the award ceremony. It was pretty fun watching everyone get their trophies, especially with everyone "standing high jumping" onto the podiums. All the awards were awarded by major Olympians and similar high profile people I didn't recognize (but mskate did). It's funny, one of the moms of the contestants was complaining about how long the ceremony was taking. After everything as we were walking out mskate wanted to get Khoi to sign a sign (since she also roots for him). We were walking out and he was just kind of hanging out, so we asked if he would sign the sign and he said he would, and because we got his attention another fan came up and asked for pictures. The great thing about the gymnasts are they all enjoy the minor fame they have right now (and likely won't have again), so they all are very appreciative of fans and will take time to engage.

We got back to the hotel and I could have went to the bar since there was still some time left in the night, but I was tired and I just wanted to watch Boomerang and surf the web. Normally I'd go into more details, but there's not much else to say, so I'll just go to Sunday now. We had continental breakfast and packed up the car for check out. As I said earlier, we were unsure if the cheese sauce would stay frozen, but the mini-fridge kept it frozen as did covering it in hotel ice for the trip home. We found a mass in downtown Columbus which went well. They were kind of old school and communion was given by mouth while kneeling down, only experienced that 2 other times so it was kind of neat. After mass we went to a restaurant thing that mskate and her mom went to when they were at figure skating nationals. It was kind of hard finding the parking structure since there was a lot of construction happening. There must have been a major event happening because the parking structure was going to be $20 for the day, but the restaurant place validates parking so it was cheaper. This place was pretty cool, it was basically a bunch of different little restaurant things of all sorts of different genres all in an open space, kind of like an open market. I ended up getting a barbecue bowl (rice and brisket), but then went to a Polish food place to get some food to satisfy my Polish heritage. Also, the people running it were immigrants and I had to say "I'm also Polish." The cashier guy that was taking my order didn't understand I was saying "I'm also Polish" when I told him my name (and I think I ended up accidentally flirting with him, lol), but the owner exclaimed "that's Polish, you're Polish." Also, the parking validation, it ended up making our parking free; we were expecting to maybe have to pay a couple dollars because normal fair was $4 for 2 hours and we were there only like 1 hour, but it was free. The only regret is that I didn't see the restaurant featured on Diners Drive Ins and Dives, and after checking out their menu I would have found something to eat. If/when we go back to Columbus we'll go here at least once and then I'll get the Triple D restaurant.

After that we just drove home and got ready for the week to come. It was a really fun time, and if the next place is going to be close enough again we'll go again (I think it's going to be at U of M, which is just a day trip for us). This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

Pokematic's Dolls and Gymnastics in Ann Arbor Adventure

Hey everyone. Little backstory, mskate is into American Girl Doll and Gymnastics, and I'm into Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. On Saturday March 2nd all 3 of those things came together in Ann Arbor Michigan. In one of the nearby cities there was a major local American Girl Doll sale where multiple people were selling parts of their collections. Not to far away in Ann Arbor there's Crazy Jim's Blimpy Burger, a small burger place that was featured on Diners Drive-Ins and Dives. Then at University of Michigan, the state college that's in Ann Arbor, there was a men's gymnastics competition between them and Oklahoma University. I'll get to all this in a moment, but first I'd like to thank my sponsor, good luck. Have you ever wanted to live an interesting life, one great for being an influencer type person like myself where you have things to talk about online? Well with good luck you can get this. Go to the good luck store and mention pokematic, and you can get a fun life so you can make blogs and vlogs like me. Jokes aside, lets get into the story.

OK I'll actually start out with a funny story from earlier in the week. Mskate was taking care of my grandma on Thursday and without her around I decided I was going to see Madame Web because it seems like it might be leaving theaters soon (because it's bombing hard) and I like the Sony Spiderman Universe. I didn't tell her I was going to the movies because I didn't think it was that big of a deal, and it wasn't known when she'd get home so she might not even notice I left. Like a responsible theater goer I silenced my phone before the movie started. About an hour and 10 minutes into the movie I decided to check the time on my phone because I forgot my watch at home, there are 12 missed calls and multiple missed texts trying to figure out where I am (my brother in law asked if I died). Apparently mskate was freaking out that I wasn't home and thought something bad happened, so she called my mom asking if she knew where I was and called her dad to try to figure out what was going on. I didn't mean to cause problems, I just wanted to see a movie. That was funny.

OK, now for the main story. Mskate found an American Girl Doll swap meet about this time last year that we missed out on, and kept it in mind to make sure we didn't miss it this year. I'm not much of an AG fan but I appreciate the neat dolls and the stores as seen in my vlogs to the Columbus store.

We got there pretty close to when it opened and started looking around. Mskate wanted to get the Christmas outfits and Addie books, and maybe some other things. There were many venders of different types. Unlike things like craft shows or flea markets where everyone is kind of "a professional seller," there were some people who were like professional sellers and some that were just collectors that are leaving the hobby. Basically it was everything American Girl had to offer, mostly clothes and accessories, and a number of playsets and dolls, but some people had the books and one person had a bunch of empty boxes for sale. One of the venders was a former employee of the Columbus store that was selling display model dolls and an employee apron she picked up when the store was closing (because it's unfortunately closed now). I almost bought one of the store display dolls that was mounted on a piece of display wood since I love "store things" (I have a "thank-you for shopping at blockbuster sign," a family video "free kid's movies" and "new releases" sign, a Chuck-E-Cheese table topper, various display stands, and some other things), but as I said I'm not super into American Girl Dolls so $50 for something that only has some attachment to and interest in is not really worth it. It was pretty fun. skate found some books and outfits that interest her, and I found a toy camera and can of almonds (the same brand that Mskate really likes). After the first purchase we didn't have a bag, so I pulled out the grocery bag I keep in my picket and used that for our purchases. She got one of the first outfits from the 90s and a christmas dress (don't remember which doll it's for though).

Now that the American Girl Doll sale was over, we went to Crazy Jim's Blimpy Burger. Part of the great thing about Tripple D is that it spotlights restaurants that aren't like 5 star and super expensive, but are still very good and successful (it's not like a "bar rescue" or "restaurant impossible" where the restaurant might be bad again by the time that the episode airs, or completely out of business, making them a "safe pilgrimage"). Then there's the other great thing that the featured restaurants are all over America, and I've started keeping a list of restaurants in places I might go to one day. One of the restaurants on that list is Crazy Jim's Blimpy Burger, a burger stand in Ann Arbor Michigan. This isn't the first time I've been there (vlog below), but this is the first time they had pumpernickel buns (and I love pumpernickel bread when I can get it on special occasions). On their bun options they have pumpernickel listed, but they didn't have it the other 2 times I'd been there. Anyway, it was great. I had a triple with cheddar cheese, grilled onions, grilled banana peppers, grilled salami, lettuce, raw onions, and pickles on the pumpernickel bun. Mskate had a double with pepper jack cheese and grilled mushrooms on a bed of lettuce. Definitely not healthy, but REALLY good, definitely recommend. On the TV for customers they had food network on (as I think they always do), and it just to happened to be Triple D; it wasn't their episode, but it still was Guy.

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And here's the vlog from one of my other times.

While we were on our way to Blimpy Burger, mskate looked into the gymnastics meet. She knew it was a gymnastics meet happening but couldn't figure out how to buy tickets. While we were at Blimpy Burger mskate figured out it was a free event so we just had to go to the arena. We drove to the arena and found parking while finding our way to the arena entrance. Apparently UofM gives out free souvenirs at every event, and this time they were giving out capes. The even cooler thing is the seats were unassigned, and we were able to sit right up close to the floor routine mat. Mskate wanted to sit up higher but then I said "babe, when are you going to be able to sit almost front row again?" so we sat right close to where they do the floor routine. I'm not into gymnastics or sports in general, but I do kind of enjoy watching things in person and stadium energy; I have no energy watching alone on TV or online, but if I'm watchin in person surrounded by excited fans I have some energy. What was really cool is I got a picture with the Wolverine Trooper.

The event was pretty cool. I got a lot of videos and pictures of the competition, specifically the competitors that mskate and her mom like. What was really funny is they steadied the rings for the ring event using a crutch. I also saw some pretty wild falls, which was interesting. They also gave away t-shirts between events, and while we didn't win them I did take note of how they did the tight roll for throwing, and learned how to do that for when we travel since it will make it better for packing (less space).

Good news is UofM won, which made everyone very happy. After the event the entire team was signing autographs. I had them sign the picture they were giving out, and mskate had them sign one of the capes we got. I was able to get the picture signed faster than mskate, mainly because I was willing to hold my arm above the children that were taking a long time to get through the line. I ended up getting pictured and ending up on the U of M website in my yellow shirt and puffy jacket and blue jeans (school colors) as I'm reaching over children to get the autographs of the team.

Protected picture of me in the crowd.

It was quite a fun and full day. Sunday was pretty basic, just went to church, got my hair cut, cleaned my shower, and my kitchen faucet decided to break so I got the replacement and called a plumber. It should get fixed on Tuesday. Yep. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.

An 80s Doll with 80s Videogames, Another Columbus Ohio Adventure

Hey everyone, at the very beginning of this year my wife and I went to Columbus for a new American Girl Doll release, and with the release of the Harry Potter clothes we decided to go again. We also made sure to get the same hotel that we did last time because of the awesome arcade. Mskate is pretty into Harry Potter and wanted to make a character doll (maybe Ginny), so we planned on maybe buying a doll in addition to the accessories. With all that we planned on purchasing I bought some gift cards through swagbucks to get the cash back. Since this was a new release they had some promotional give aways and we wanted to get them. Mskate was being kind of pesimistic though, basically saying "I know we won't be making it, so we don't need to even try, we'll sleep in and don't worry about it," but I said "no, we're going to try, we'll get up early and go there to make it."

Saturday was the day. We woke up at 6:30 but didn't leave until about 7:30, and that was OK because the give aways were for the first 50 people who bought things. I drove the first leg and it was good, then mskate drove the second leg. I was getting hungry and wanted to get McDonalds because of the Pokemon toy promotion, but it was too early since they were still serving breakfast. Once we got to the mall I pulled out my camera and was ready to take some video, but I neglected to charge my camera and the battery was dead, so I had to take video on my phone.

The store was pretty cool. Since we had been there earlier this year there weren't a lot of things that were super new, but there were some cool displays. One thing mskate pointed out is that there were many displays made of card board, and some of them looked really good. You can see them in the video above. The Harry Potter stuff was really well made. There was a trunk that came with an owl, birty bots every flavor beans, chocolate frog with wizard card, wand, and acceptance letter. There was also the sorting hat with the nimbus 2000. This was a funny story, there's a "classic witch" costume that's available as well and mskate thought the broom that came with that set and was on display was the Harry Potter broom, and I pointed out how it wasn't. There were also school uniforms and house scarves, and mskate wanted to get a Griffindore so we could make a Ginny, but of course being the house of the main character it was sold out. We almost got a Ravenclaw so we could make a Cho Chang, but decided against it. Instead of a doll for a Harry Potter character, we got a Courtney doll. She's the 80s doll and her story is awesome (because it's all 80s pop culture, with a love of Pacman and Care Bears).

Now for some interesting things. They have blind bags with little accessories from sets that didn't sell well, typically foods or home supplies (like we kept feeling shampoo bottles and bracelets when feeling these bags), and we were only interested in the cell phone and smart watch set. A lot of other people must have been interested in it too because we felt all hundred or so bags and no cell phone set. It would be a little bit of a scene if it wasn't that everyone does it. Oh well, in the past we successfully found the cheese and cheese grater, milk and eggs, and syrup and pancakes sets.

After the shopping we went to eat lunch at the mall food court. I was going to maybe get Shake Shack while Mskate got Bibibop, but we both ended up getting Bibibop. I got a salad bowl with broccoli, steak, potatoes, and teriyaki sauce. We sat at a table that had outlets so we could charge the camera and my phone, but the camera wasn't taking a charge and my phone barely got a charge after sitting there for maybe an hour. Oh well.

After lunch we went to a game and puzzle store that was in the mall, and I bought a pikmin 3 puzzle. I played the coin dozer games that they had, and I thought they were close to payout but they weren't so I lost a dollar. I had fun though. After that store we went to the legoland gift shop and played "I got that one and that one and that one" since mskate's dad likes to gift lego. We managed to find something we didn't have and kind of need for our holiday display table, a black cat and mouse in a pumpkin display piece for the fall display. We went to the lego store after that and didn't find anything but still played "I got that one and that one and that one."

After this we drove to the hotel. I checked us in, unloaded the stuff, and packed the car while mskate took the stuff up to the room. I caught up to her quickly since there was an open parking spot. We got situated and just rested for an hour or so. We also explored the hotel some and went down to the pool. At the pool we found this funny bit of conflicting information in the signs. Mskate also played with her new dolls, and we got all set-up. Here I am with Courtney. 

For dinner we ordered mskate sushi from the local sushi place and I got McDonalds. I got 2 happy meals because I wanted the pokemon toys. They tried to give me scooby doo toys, but I pushed them and asked for the pokemon toys (and they gave them to me). The McDonalds was pretty interesting, it wasn't like a normal building that matches their style. After the McDonalds we went to get mskate her sushi, which is also right next to the barcade. They have tinted windows and mskate thought they might be out of business, so when I went to get the sushi I also checked (they were open). We went back to the hotel where I finished my McDonalds and mskate had her sushi, and I had her wasabi and other spicy thing they give with it (I just ate it straight, and I felt the heat of the wasabi in the back of my nose). A little while later around 5:30 I went to the barcade.

Here's the business model of this barcade, the drinks are inflated but most of the arcade games are free. Skeeball, pinball, and some new arcade fighters cost money, but every video cabinet that is over 10 years old is on free play. It's a great place. When I got there I started a tab and started with a Galaga; a purple drink made with rum, gin, vodka, and raspberry liquor. This was a good drink, I highly recommend it. Then to start, I went with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Turtles in Time. Someone had left 40 credits on Rafael early in level 1, so I played as Raff. After the time warp I decided to start filming some lets plays with my phone, holding the phone in my left hand while I controlled Raff with my right hand, joystick in my palm and attack with my middle and ring finger. I don't recommend playing like this if you are spending money since dodging requires the jump button, but if it's on free play it's an interesting challenge. While I was playing the 2020 level a boy that was probably 7 or 8 came up with his mom and asked if he could play with me. I said sure and he pressed the credit button for Leonardo and Michelangelo and we played together some. I was very careful with how I engaged with them, because I wanted to let his mom know I wasn't mad that he jumped on but I also didn't want to be a weirdo at the bar talking to children. It was cool though, because at least according to Irate Gamer 4 random kids playing the TMNT arcade game together was what you did back in the day. He got kind of bored after half the level and ran off, so for a little while I'm moving 3 turtles around the screen so I could advance the level, and then let them game over so I could continue playing as Raff (though I did play some as the other turtles just to try them out, because why not). At the last level I got all the turtles on the screen because at the end of the level if there were more than 1 turtles on screen they would high five, and I wanted to have all of them at the end. I eventually beat the game and because I was taking a sip between each level I finished my drink, but because I didn't start from the very beginning I decided to play through until I got to a part where I walked in, so I played through the entire game. As I explained in the other blog and in the lets play, I have a history with this game, so every time I come here I'll probably spend an hour or whatever beating it because 9-12 year old me never was able to.

After Turtles in Time I went to the bar and got a Frogger; a drink made with coconut rum, pineapple juice, melon liquor, and orange juice. I was drawn more to the pineapple and didn't see the coconut, and if I did I probably would have got something else because I don't like coconut, and it wasn't for me. Since I wasn't getting any trouble for filming the lets plays with TMNT, the next game I played was Maximum Force, a light gun game I could play with 1 hand. I don't have a history with this one partially because I wasn't allowed to play light gun games as a child (my mom was pretty anti-gun), and I for sure wasn't allowed to play this because when the bad guys got shot they kind of blew up. I also didn't see this in the arcades I frequented as child, so even if that was permitted I wouldn't have had the option. Regardless, it was fun. The fun thing was it had FMV human enemies and low-texture 3D graphics. I let's played the first 2 levels, but the 3rd I did without the camera because I wanted to dual wield, and that was a fun way to play. I took some sips between levels, but not too much and still had plenty of drink after I finished the game. After Maximum Force I decided to play Frogger while drinking a Frogger, but I was a little buzzed by then and while I'm normally a wiz at Frogger (at least enough to get halfway through the first level), but I wasn't even able to get my first frog in the end cave. I also gave the original Donkey Kong a try, but failed pretty hard at that as well, not being able to get past the first screen.

After failing at Frogger and Donkey Kong I went to play The Simpsons Arcade game. The button layout was pretty similar to the TMNT button layout, so I decided to play as Lisa and do lets plays as well. I filmed one before my phone had a super low battery, so I only got one video. This is another game I have some history with, because I would play this sometimes at the Chuck E Cheese and the Caesarland by me, and I watched the demo screen very well because I would watch it all the time pretending to play. One of the cool things about this game is that if 2 characters stood next to each other motionless for a few seconds they would work together for a super attack. Bart and Lisa would hold hands and hit the enemies, and Marge and homer would do something similar. If Bart or Lisa stood next to Homer, he would pick them up and they would deal double damage. If it was Marge she would pick up the kid and throw them like a projectile. Because the combo attacks just required 1 joystick input (Bart+Lisa and Homer+Marge), there was some time where I just put all 4 characters on screen and controlled them simultaneously, but that eventually became too much to handle so I just played 1 character at a time. I ended up playing as Homer and Lisa primarily (Lisa because that was good for lets plays, Homer because I like playing as him), and I ended up getting 2 high scores because of it. It was another game I beat, and I finished my Frogger while playing it. I had seen the end of Simpsons Arcade a couple of times because there would sometimes be a kid or group of kids that were determined to beat it, but it was fun to beat it all by myself.

For my 3rd and final drink for the night, I was going to get a Stonewall (8 different liquors with a splash of sours, orange juice, and sprite in a souvenir tumbler), but they were out of tumblers so I got a blue bomber (blueberry vodka, blue curaco, lemonade, and blueberry redbull; a very good drink). I decided to give Tengen Tetris a try, the arcade version that is very Russian. I could only use one rotate button because the other was sticky and I didn't want to deal with sticky. I did pretty well with it, getting to like level 5 or 6. After Tetris I played Area 51, another lightgun game that while I never played (gun game and kind of gory), I did see in arcades all the time, and on the demo screen I'm pretty sure one said "used to help train law enforcement." I did pretty well considering I was 2 drinks in and tired. The next game I played was Q-bert, and I made it to level 2 before getting the game overs (I think I played 2 games because the first one didn't "feel real"). I also played Ms. Pacman until I game over'ed, and didn't want to try much because I have a Ms. Pacman 35th anniversary cabinet at my house. The next game I played and failed at was Donkey Kong Jr, it was much harder than the NES port I have (and the 2.5 cocktails and fatigue didn't help). I also played the original Punch Out, and got to the 3rd boxer despite not really knowing what I was doing on top of the other challenges.

One of the last games I played was Tapper, a game I have some history with. When I was in 5th grade Shockwave.com was the game site we frequented, and they had classic arcade games available to play, one being Tapper (or "Rootbeer Tapper," the "kid friendly asset swap" that replaces the Budweiser logo with a generic root beer logo). Even though I nearing my end, I could still beat the bar setting and bonus stage with ease, then I got to level 8 which always got me as a kid (I'd either serve too many mugs and lose the life that way, or a customer would get to me because I didn't serve them fast enough), and this is where I bit it again. It was now a quarter to 9 and I only had enough in me for 1 more game, and I played another game that had a lot of nostalgia connections from Shockwave, Rampage. This was a modern version but still Rampage. I played as George and made it to like level 4 before I basically gave up on (but I still made it to a game over). I cashed out at this time and the final bill was $32. That was a good price for 3.5 hours of arcade games and 3 drinks. If I counted 50 cents for each time I pressed start it probably would have been more than $32. After the arcade I went back to the hotel. Mskate was in bed but not asleep, so I was able to tell her how the arcade went. I showered and had some snacks, and that was it for the night. 

Sunday morning was pretty chill. As I said in the other blog, the hotel doesn't have a free breakfast, so I had poptarts and pistachios. We just relaxed some in the morning, before packing up, checking out, and going to church. The mass was interesting because there were a lot of small children, and they were a little distracting. The church was in a cute little town, with some cool old style architecture. Mskate drove the first half of the trip, and then I drove the other half. So, we filled the gas tank before going on the trip and that should have got us pretty much the whole trip. However, with the traffic that we ran into the gas tank was running on empty and I wasn't sure we would make it home (the car was driving a little different than normal), so I stopped at a gas station like 5 miles from our house and got 2 gallons, and that was more than enough to get us home. We unpacked the stuff and then just enjoyed the rest of the Sunday.

Overall, great trip. While American Girl Doll isn't really my thing, I don't dislike it (we got Courtney mainly because I love the 80s and she's an 80s doll). Then there's Level One Bar and Arcade, an arcade with free videogames. The only way it could have been better is if my camera wasn't dead and they had the Griffindore accessories. Next time we go (because there will be a next time), I'll make sure I have enough charge on my phone and video camera so I can take more lets play videos. I was a little hesitant because if people don't want you taking video they REALLY don't want you taking video, and since was a bar that wasn't in a tourist place there was a decent chance that they wouldn't want me taking video, but I took video in front of the employees and they didn't say anything, so next time I'll be sure to be prepared. I also won't have 3 alcoholic drinks; maybe 2 and a non-alcoholic drink (like a Pinky or Donkey Kong Jr.). I also will play some other games that I haven't played yet like the big buck hunter and X-men game, but I'll always play TMNT because that was as much of a draw of Wheels Inn as anything else there. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.