Video Games

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!

It has been an exciting year for the Rosenbaugh Family, and I’m really grateful that we were able to share it with many of you. Here’s the month by month rundown:

The wicked awesome seal we used on the wedding announcements

January: Wedding planning was in full swing. Wedding announcements were printed and shipped to us so we could get started mailing everything out to everyone while Hayley was finalizing her dress fittings and I enjoyed Jimmer.

February: We held our annual Super Bowl party (I hate the Packers) and had a really good turnout – including a lot of delicious food. Hay went skiing over President’s Day weekend with her family, and I got to see Jimmer destroy TCU in their high school sized gym with my buddy Gary. More wedding planning madness ensued, including me purchasing a sweet Hugo Boss tux and a bunch of stuff from Brooks Brothers.

March: “Mawwage. Mawwage is what bwings us together today. Wove, twue wove… So tweasure your woves forever!” We got married on March 26, 2011 – GO TEAM ROSENBAUGH! Then we swiftly left the country to party it up in Costa Rica for a week. The wedding was great, and both of us are incredibly grateful to all of our family and friends who made the sacrifices to be there with us. I personally have to thank my most excellent groomsmen, Travis(aurus Rex) Tidball and W. Spencer Porter - you guys are truly great!

Family and friends in front of the temple doors

April: The honeymoon continued into April, and then it was time to get used to normal life and the fact that BYU wasn’t going to play in the Final Four. Hay studied up a storm for her next exam while I finished Red Dead Redemption and began the amazing Mass Effect 2. Honestly, April was allllll about relaxing after the wedding planning, and boy did we need it.

Hay & I on the beach in Costa Rica

May: We had a wonderful Open House in Houston to celebrate with friends here at home, and then we were off to Chicago for a fun filled adventure in the city and another Open House at my parent’s place! Rand and Cynthia (Hay’s parents) made the trip to both Open Houses, which made it that much more fun. Also, I beat Mass Effect 2,was immediately sad it was over, and Hay took her actuarial exam of doom. It was a busy month!

June: The beginning of Birthday Season! Hay was spoiled with a birthday celebration and a really awesome road bike: Orbea Onyx (lady edition – Hay named her Betty). We also went to an Astros game with ExxonMobil, X-Men First Class was great, Assassin’s Creed 2 helped me learn Italian (“Requiescat en pace…”) while I enjoy assassining, and Jimmer got drafted.

July: The “Birthday Season” continues!!! I was spoiled w/ a Cannondale SuperSix road bike (awesome – it’s named Thor, after the cyclist and not the Marvel Superhero) and a really great little birthday party! We went on a bunch of bike rides and thoroughly enjoyed the weather before it started getting really warm. Oh… and CAPTAIN AMERICA WAS AWESOME!!!!

August: Papa Ron came to visit us while in town for work! We loooooove having people visit us! We got all caught up on Mad Men, which is highly recommended. (OhDon – we just want you to be happy and make good decisions!) Other than that, we went on our first long bike ride (34 miles, Hay was a trooper) and threw a party for absolutely no reason other than that we wanted to see our friends from the single’s ward.

Hay relaxing on the rocky cliffs of Acadia National Park

September: We went on am amazing trip to the Northeastern United States, hitting seven states and getting to see Derek and Brooke, Carly (Hay’s Sister), and the Jersey Boys (along

Riding in the Tour de Cure (50 miles)

with the beautiful Acadia National Park, the Freedom Trail, the US Open, and forests of the Northeast). Later in the month I participated in the Tour de Cure, riding 50 miles w/ the ExxonMobil cycling team to support research for the cure to diabetes.

October: Hay went with her sisters to Tennessee for a long weekend and came home singing “Rocky Top” nonstop, I got the new iPhone 4S and proceeded to use Siri for just about everything, and we got to see Memphis as our first show in this year’s Broadway Across America season! For Halloween Hay was the Morton Salt Girl, and I did nothing… Again… Maybe next year I should buy that bear suit I’ve always wanted?

November: November started off with the Romans Family Reunion in Arizona – I got to meet a bunch of Hayley’s relatives who weren’t able to travel for the wedding, and I think I successfully proved a valuable addition to the family. I met Brandon Sanderson at a local book signing, the author of some of my favorite books, including Mistborn and The Way of Kings! On a mini-adventure in Houston, Hay and I successfully found the Presidents statues, which was a little trickier than I had originally thought. For Thanksgiving it was off to Chicago! We had a great time hanging out (Color Me Mine w/ the sisters!) and we were able to go on several adventures (including a trip to downtown Milwaukee to see the Jelly Belly factory and Pabst Mansion, and another trip into Downtown Chicago).

(from top left to bottom right) Hay w/ Grandma Katee; me meeting Brandon Sanderson; Hay and the sisters @ Color Me Mine; Hayley discovering the Presidents!

December: This month we’ve hit 5+ Christmas parties ( 2 ExxonMobil, 1 Towers Watson, 1 Ward, 1 friends), celebrated the birthdays of our AWESOME friends Jenny & Kyle, and we’re headed to Utah for Christmas tomorrow (I’m going to learn to ski this year?!)! Oh, and I think I have Hayley now hooked on Fringe, I totally finished inFamous 2 and then got quickly wrapped up in Uncharted 3, which is amazingly wonderful.

We are incredibly excited for 2012 and all of the adventure that it will bring! We already know we’ve got a big trip planned for March/April, I’ll be riding in the Houston to Austin MS150, and The Lion King musical will be coming to Houston in the summer (I’m way too excited for it)!

We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in the new year!!!

aside 1 Feb

A New Roommate Has Appeared

One of the things I’m most looking forward to post-wedding is having Hayley live with me rather than downstairs in a different apartment. The status quo presents several frustrations that I am more than happy to be rid of.. No more guessing and worrying about whether or not the other is actually awake and out of bed in the morning (which was a FAIL this morning as I showed up for morning prayer and Hayley was still sleeping). No more “oh crap, I left that pan down at my apartment!” revelations as we’re speedily trying to prepare a meal. No more staying up late so I don’t feel like I’m abandoning Hayley as she does some internety things at my place late into the evening when I would rather be sleeping (NOTE: she doesn’t have internet access at her apartment – she mooches).

All things considered, it’s an extremely excellent thing that she’ll be moving in. There are, however, a few minor concerns I’m trying to wrap my head around.. (Be aware that I’m not directing any of my thoughts/complaints/reflections at Hayley – I’m just trying to get used to a new reality. And I’m trying to be funny about it.)

(see if you can find the easter egg in the image)

#1) Closets

I won’t use an actual picture of Hayley’s closet, but I think this one is a mildly decent representation of what it looks like. Essentially, it’s full of clothing. Lots of clothing. Take this picture and add in another 50% more and we’re just about there.

Women have clothes. I get that. It may be annoying to me on some levels, but I recognize that women think and function differently than men do when it comes to the amount of clothing they have. Women have skirts or blouses that one work in combination with only one other skirt or blouse – this is not something men deal with, and thus the plethora of clothing can be considered somewhat reasonable for the fashionable woman. Simply, women have “outfits”.. Men only use that word when referring to military units.

I do, however, have one major concern with this situation.. Where am I going to put all of my clothes? I have 4 pairs of jeans, 4-5 slacks, 1 suit, a couple dozen dress shirts, a dozen polos, and a bunch of t-shirts.. Add in socks, gym clothes, undergarments, and ties; I need a little bit of space as well. Not a cavernous closet of my own, but I do need to hang up something!

Well, once the wedding bells have rung, I think I’ll be living out of boxes for a few months. We don’t have any bedroom furniture (currently), so I can’t just fold up everything and place it in a dresser.. We will go purchase a bedroom set at some point, but even then I’m a bit concerned about the direction I’m heading in. I feel like I need a separate storage unit just to manage the SHOES! OHHHH, THE SHOES!

I’m certainly being dramatic for the fun of it, but I am really curious as to how this will work itself out.

(MAJOR NOTE: This issue of enough space is also a concern when it comes to the bathroom, balcony, and the apartment in general for that matter… It is going to be crowded!)

*sigh*

#2) Decorations

I know I currently live in a glorious bachelor pad, and with a woman moving in things will change. But.. I don’t know that I’m ready for a million pillows on my couches.

Hayley is already excited to start sewing some pillow cases that we can use to have a ton of pillows around the living room… Then she wants to find some really classy art stuff, work on setting a theme (potentially using a grass-green as the base color), and essentially destroy my soul as a consequence of all this femininity.

I will have a great deal of patience with new decor if our place looks nice (according to my standards of nice), but this is one of the few areas where Hayley and I have disagreements. Hayley is a little more glamorous than I am, I suppose; I mean, she did request we season pass Gossip Girl on the TiVo… My dream home is a large and spacious lodge with huge windows, wooden furniture, big comfy couches, and lots of earth tones. Hayley would be much happier in the classic colonial mansion with very fashionable drapes blocking out significant amounts of natural light..

I think there is enough overlap where we can be happy, but we have honestly not yet discovered enough overlap to assuage my fears. Part of this is just me being stubborn about losing my man-cave of an apartment, so of course I recognize my thoughts as pretty ridiculous. I do, however, wonder if I’ll one day wakeup to find ruffles on everything… This sounds like a potential nightmare for me!

#3) Relaxation Habits

I will keep this short: I don’t like cuddling while I play video games. It’s distracting, I get warm really fast, and someone keeps bumping my arm.. Cuddling while playing Red Dead Redemption is like mixing milk with Mountain Dew – it can be done, but no one enjoys it.

I think this is something every man needs to get used to though – the Mass Cuddle Effect. I hereby swear that I will cuddle during all chick-flicks, episodes of Community, and before bedtime as long as I can avoid my husbandly duties during game time. I think this is the most fair thing I’ve ever agreed to. :)

— And now I will subtly retract my tongue from my cheek region.

aside 25 Aug

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Review

Tangent: A quite humerous and adorable blog post about the rumorative power held by Facebook can be found here. It may be of interest to frequent readers and those who know me personally.

I went and saw Scott Pilgrim vs the World on Saturday and I love, love, love, LOVED it! It’s the kind of movie a comic book/video game/hopeless romantic/kinda stupid nerd would love, and I think that description defines me pretty well (except for maybe not the stupid part – you decide!). If you grew up playing games in the 80′s and 90′s, and you love movies that make you laugh and are insanely different than anything else Hollywood does, do yourself a favor and see Scott Pilgrim. I promise, you’ll love, love, love, LOVE it! And if not, lie to me and say you did.

I’m saddened that the film is “failing” in the eyes of the movie industry, and I think there are 2 legitimate reasons why.. Every movie blog within the blogosphere has come up with their own guesses, but I only really consider a these 2 to be legit:

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is hard to categorize. This is one of the aspects of the story that I really love, but it has to be a marketer’s worst nightmare! The posters with Scott rocking out on the guitar have been slammed for making people think the movie was about a rockstar, which is not the case, but they do make sense if you already know the story. You also can’t sell it as a love story, because that’s only one component of the whole. And an action movie? With Michael Cera? That won’t fly… So, how do you categorize this film if you’re Blockbuster Video? It doesn’t even fit in with the goofy punk/skateboarder movies I remember from the 80′s and 90′s (Gleaming the Cube, anyone?)… Universal Pictures tried, but mixed messages left potential audiences confused, which is a shame.

2. This movie was made for a small subsection of the population – the comic book/video game/hopeless romantic/kinda stupid (maybe) nerds of this world. I honestly don’t see this movie having a strong appeal to the masses when you consider the ever rising barrier to entry for this kind of thing (e.g. the $9 movie ticket). Those who have read the comic, which is supremely delightful and highly recommended, will be immediately drawn to the move. Those who love Michael Cera (a dwindling fan base) might be drawn. Those who love Edgar Wright (the director) may have been drawn… Aside from some of those pretty small fan bases, you’re lucky to pull in the occasional straggler (like my buddy Spencer, who was a rockstar for coming with the lady and I). Does the movie deserve a wider audience? YES, but that doesn’t mean it will automatically have one.

If you’re reading this and find anything I’ve said interesting, go see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and love yourself for it. It will treat you to something wholly different than anything else Hollywood has produced in a very long time. I thought the acting was good, the writing was witty, the transition from page to screen was handled marvelously, and I finally got to see a girl kick some butt with a giant hammer (+5 against girls).

K.O.

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