Get (Back) Into the Groove

Ah, January 2nd. That blessed day when everything returns to normal.

Even though I'm no longer working for The Man, over the last few months I finally established somewhat of a daily routine (much to my dog's delight), and am very ready for it to resume. So is my dog, actually, as he is fast asleep right now, recovering from all of his holiday traveling and adventures. His recovery process involves loud snoring.

But before leaving the holidays behind completely, I need to mention two things that I did over the break:

1) I saw Alvin and the Chipmunks. Yes, you read that right.

and

2) I played Guitar Hero 3 (and 2) for the first time.


First, the movie. As stated Monday, my husband and I were in North Dakota visiting his family, and our yearly tradition is to take his three nephews to a movie. As a five-year-old was in the mix, Alvin and the Chipmunks was our safest bet. It wasn't as bad as I feared it would be, although I don't think I've been in a theater packed with toddlers in, well... OK, I've never been in a theater full of toddlers until that moment. Needless to say, it wasn't a quiet and serene experience. But I got over it quickly. Truth be told, I used to love the Chipmunks cartoon back in the day--I had their album and would play their Christmas song over and over and over, so I figured that I might actually get a kick out of the movie. While I still prefer the animated show, the movie had decent CGI versions of Alvin, Simon and Theodore. Jason Lee (playing their owner, Dave) was bearable only because I forced myself to stop thinking about the fact that he believes in the alien Xenu.

Although the movie was about 45 minutes longer than it should have been, especially considering kids' short attention spans, it was enjoyable--and I got to hear the Christmas song again!

Me, I want a huuuuula-hoop!

Or perhaps I now want a guitar?

A (slightly) more adult activity was a highlight of our stays both in North Dakota and Michigan. In North Dakota, we had gotten the oldest of our nephews Guitar Hero 3 and two of the Guitar Hero 2 guitar controllers (the GH3 guitar controllers were sold out everywhere). I'm quite positive that the only reason we bought two controllers was so that my husband could play along with his nephew during the few days were were all together. In Michigan, one of my cousins brought Guitar Hero 2 to our family gathering and all of the adults took turns trying it out. I significantly improved my skillzzz in Michigan after I learned that you didn't need to keep pressing the button (just the strummer-thingy is needed) if there were two of the same notes in a row. But I still was pretty bad. Nevertheless, it was extremely fun and if you get a chance to play it, I highly recommend it. Just be prepared to have the songs stuck in your head for weeks afterward (I'm still singing 'Barracuda,' which is not right).


(Note to husband: my endorsement of this game does not mean we are going to buy an entire system just to play it. Sorry.)

- e