MarioKart Wii

If you don't know MarioKart is the best game ever! It has been a favorite of mine to play since the Super Nintendo came out with it. For the Wii it is even better because you actually steer with the remote control. You know how back in the day you would make fun of the person playing a racing game because they were steering while they were playing. Back then it wasn't how the controller worked and therefore you were made fun of as if you were sticking your tongue out while playing as well. Times have changed and now the controller can sense your moves and steer the Kart while you mimic the movements of actually driving. MarioKart comes with steering wheels that you can place a remote into, but we have come to notice that it isn't advantageous and we just steer play without it.
Triton has played just about as long as we have, but he of course isn't very good. He plays as Yoshi about 90 percent of the time and that is the green dinosaur above. We usually play with all three of us even though Triton is slow he isn't really affecting the outcome of races. We don't have to wait for him to finish a race because the computer characters always place above him and the race is over when 11 of the 12 people finish because it is obvious that the 12th place person finished in 12th. I can't remember when, but we were so excited when Triton would finish a lap by the time we finished the 3 lap race. We would cheer him on and tell him he was doing so good. He had been getting better and would even finish two laps by the time we finished three. He of course gets bored with it here and there and just tries to run over bananas on the course or get blown up by lava vents. For the most part he has been getting much better. We hardly ever just let him play by himself because we enjoy playing too, but when he plays alone he can usually finish any race under 5 minutes. Pretty good considering he is not even three years old. There are 12 racers, like I said, and he had never finished a race in time to beat any of the other computer controlled racers. Last week when I was taking care of him during the day after work I noticed on this one race that he was on his last lap by the time I finished the race and I was cheering him on because he had a good shot to get 11th place. He was so close but didn't get in in time. That night when I awoke to prepare myself for work Sheri informed me that Triton had finished a race in 11th spot. I was upset that I didn't get to watch but of course I was happy for him. I told her that he almost did it earlier that day as well. She then said that he also placed 4th in a race as well! Oh my gosh, that is so cool! We have of course been trying to potty train the little monkey so we let him play Wii while sitting on the potty. He isn't able to jump around and be the little A.D.D. monkey that he usually is when he sits on the cough. He plays much better while sitting on the potty because he has to sit in one spot. I guess she had to help him a tiny bit and tell him to use certain objects that assist you throughout the race. He will usually use objects by himself, but not right off the bat. So he got fourth place and I didn't get to see! I still haven't seen him finish a race in 11th or better while playing two players with him.
This last week (April 22nd) we bought a router so that I could play MarioKart online and see how good I was compared to the nerds who are probably online and live the game. The router was taking forever to install and we just gave up for the night because there was a basketball game on and my friend Scott had come over to watch it with me. Triton had been playing MarioKart by himself while I was messing with the router and while Sheri was cooking dinner. What a good woman I know! Anyway, Scott and I gave up on installing the router like I said and walked into the living room where Triton was racing. I noticed that he was in 5th place on this particular race with just over a lap to go. I cheered him on saying "good boy". He turned and looked at us while he kept his finger on the gas. I told him to look at the screen and pay attention. Like I said I have never seen him finish a race ahead of anyone so I was making sure he was paying attention since he was doing so good with only a lap to go. He was doing so good. I don't remember telling him to use any objects that he obtained but maybe I did? He did turn around two more times looking at Scott and I but I quickly told him to watch what he was doing. The game was on 150 cc and that is the fastest hardest single player level there is and he was doing great. I can't remember any small details on how he did it, but he actually finished in first place. I was so proud of him. It is an easy course but not easy to get first place on. I imagine that I myself would only get first place on that particular race 70 percent of the time.
I was finally able to play MarioKart online and found out that I am not as bad as I figured I would be. You hear stories about how people think that they are really good at a game and they get online to play against others only to find out that they are nothing compared to the nerds that live the game. There are a few players online that can beat me, but I am way better than I thought. I wouldn't want to play any of them nerds for money but I am probably better than 9 out of 10 people easily. I think it is fun playing online but I can tell that Sheri doesn't too much care for it. There is a lot of waiting for games to load and there are a lot of players that are better than her too. Sheri has gotten good don't get me wrong she can beat me 4 or 5 races out of 12 but she doesn't like the online for some reason.
Bowling is over thank goodness! Or! Am I really glad that it is over? I ended up taking another golf lesson from a local pro. I have been getting better each year but if my game isn't progressing and I start getting discouraged I take a lesson. They tell me some simple thing that might help me and I have mentioned in the past that it really hasn't helped at all. I watch a ton of golf and try to replicate what I see. I can catch on to things really fast and integrate them into my own game. The thing that I thought was going to work great this year hasn't helped me too much. It has helped a bit, but not to the degree that I would like. I have had more eagle putts this year than I ever have had in all years past and that was all due to my own studying of the game just by watching the pros play on T.V. I was mad after golfing the weekend before last because I was starting to revert back to being pretty bad again. I wasn't focusing and was making mistakes that I never make so I took another lesson. The local pro knew that this last week was going to be bad weather in the late days of the week so he squeezed in a little 45 minute lesson on one of his busiest days (Monday). He is one of the nicest guys ever. He loves Triton and actually allows Triton to go behind the desk and play in the range ball bin. The bin probably has thousands of balls in it and is the size of a small hot tub. Triton plays in there and of course loves it. Triton went golfing with us this last Friday and the same guy came out and asked how I was doing when we got done with the 4th hole. Triton was freezing. It wasn't that cold but Triton was shivering. We put my uncle's leather coat around him and he stopped whining. The local pro while talking to us noticed how cold Triton was and offered to take Triton back to the clubhouse with him! We only had a few more holes to finish and Triton stopped whining so I declined his invitation. How nice is that of him to offer that though? It wasn't that cold outside and Triton had been out with us when it was way more colder so I didn't know why he was shivering? We got done with 9 holes and I decided to leave early and not finish the round. I got Triton home and he was still cold. I washed his hands in the sink to warm up his arms and hands. We walked into the living room to watch the television or play MarioKart. I changed Triton's diaper and noticed that his arms and hands were still freezing. I cranked up the heater and put Triton under a blanket with myself and we warmed up. He was acting funny ever since the 3rd hole. I thought it was because he was cold, but like I said he had been out with us when it was way colder. The first 2 holes he was his normal self trying to golf with us and from then on he was just sitting in the cart freezing.
A little later I took his temperature just to see if he had a fever. He wasn't coughing or sneezing but he did feel warm to me. He had a small fever of just barely over 100 so I gave him some children's Tylenol and figured he would be fine. Sheri got home and I told her that she might not want to come with us to the last night of bowling because Triton has a fever. He wasn't acting any better and his fever actually got way worse. The Tylenol didn't seem to help at all? His fever went up to just under 102 and Sheri decided to take him to the doctor. They tested him for strep nothing, looked at his ears to see if it was another earache/infection and nothing? I guess they want to test his urine to see if he has some sort of a kidney infection maybe. He has acted like his normal self since then, but we don't know what is wrong with him. He has been having stool issues for the last few months where it seems that he is always constipated so maybe that has something to do with it? Who knows? I just hope and pray that he is okay. We weren't able to get much of a sample of urine from the little man because he hates the sticky bag thing.
So back to the whole am I glad that bowling is really over thing? I am glad just because of the frustration that I have had all year but of course the last night is when I might have figured something out. I switched over to the golf lesson in the previous paragraph's because that is where the last night's bowling good stemmed from. I had asked a friend and a really good bowler to try and help me a little over a month ago with my bowling. He tried to help me and gave me some pointers on how to improve. For the last 8 years I haven't really been a good bowler. I used to be somewhat good and even bowled a couple perfect games but since whatever happened to my train of thought or whatever bug I caught I have had no confidence. I have had friends try to see what I was doing wrong and they would all tell me the same thing "you are trying to hard", "you need to do this or that". Nothing was helping and depending on how next year goes I might actually quit bowling. If next year goes like this last week of bowling then I won't even have to worry about giving up on the game. While this local golf pro took time out of his busy day to give me a quick lesson he noticed that I wasn't following through correctly. I know that I was following though but didn't know that I should have been following though differently. I wasn't able to golf any day until Friday (the day that Triton was sick and also the last day of bowling for the year) because the weather was bad so I wasn't able to try out what the pro had told me until then. It helped a lot and I was actually at even par after 5 holes on a pretty dang windy day. The last 4 holes were into the wind and I ended up still shooting a 41 not good for the great start that I had but better than I was doing. Anyway I went home and tended to Triton like I said and for some reason got to thinking about bowling. I was wondering if my bowling follow through was the same as my golf swing. I knew that I didn't have much of a follow though and never really have. Even back when I was averaging 213 I didn't have that much of a follow though. I shadow bowled a few times just wondering how I could take what I learned from golf and use it to my advantage and maybe improve bowling as well. Dale is the guy who tried to help me a month or so ago with my bowling and he was trying to help me follow though. Of course anyone who has tried to help me in the past years has told me the same thing (follow through) but my "bowling" swing wasn't allowing me to correctly follow through. I only thought about it like 15 minutes or so that day before bowling and right before bowling it entered my mind again. The bowling league has an allotted 10 minutes of practice time before bowling starts scoring to allow players to loosen up and warm up. I was throwing the ball pretty good during practice. On another note we were bowling against Dale's (my coach a month before) team. Midway through the first game he asked me if I had been practicing? I jokingly told him not to give me any false hope that I was bowling better. I was scoring my better and felt much better about my release. I bowled a nice 230 game and fell off a bit the second with a 178 or something. The last game was almost over and Dale asked me what happened and why I was bowling so much better. He has seen me struggle all year and the many years before this one so he knows that the game has not been fun for me. I told him about the golf lesson and how it helped me think of something different and allowed me to have a follow though. My last game was 198 and I finished with a 600 series so that is pretty good after only trying one new thing. If I am able to remember how to allow myself to have a swing that will give me a proper follow though then lookout because I should be averaging over a 200 again next year and maybe having some good games. Fingers crossed because I would love to have another 300 before I die! I think I finished this year with a whopping 184 average! That is almost kill myself material! If I can remember how to do what I did to finish the last night of bowling this year and carry it over to next I will be fine. If it doesn't work and I have another year like this one next year will probably be my last.