Mad Rob: Thunder-Dome

Quite often, I have a hard time blogging. My life just isn't interesting enough to put into words each day. So I embellish...and paint pictures...and try to bring the funny... and hope that I bring a small amount of joy to your insignificant lives.

But today is different. Today I can tell you about something that happened to me...and I don't even have to lie. I think it's a pretty interesting story.

So without further adieu

I bring to you

The tale of how Rob conquered Asia! *Crash of thunder*


No wait...I'm looking at the wrong notes. I can't post that one for another month yet. This is actually the tale of how I got the small bedroom.

So when moving into an apartment with a roommate, you have a problem right away. The bedrooms aren't the same size. One of you shall spend the next 12 months basking in luxurious space, while the other pretends that he is secretly living in someone's closet and spying on them for the government.

But how do you choose? Sword fight? Muskets at dawn? A battle of wits...To the death??? I suggested we either flip a coin, or write a little program that chooses randomly for us. It's simple. It doesn't take much time. But does Trian go for that idea? Noooooo...

Here is what he proposes. We go to Dave & Busters in Philly. We then proceed to cooperatively choose 5 video games to compete in. Whoever gets the higher score in a game wins that round. Whoever wins 3 out of 5 rounds gets the Master Bedroom. So here's how it went down.

First we chose Time Crisis II. It's a shooting game. Very simple. You shoot the bad guys, and you have a foot pedal that when pressed, allows you to hide behind objects. Well, Trian kicked my ass in it. He had maybe 3 times more points than I had.

Next we decided to race. I forget the exact game we chose. Tokyo Racer, or something like that. We played a practice round where Trian won, but I took the gold when it counted (though he was right behind me). Now we had each won a round.

Next, we played another shooting game. This time instead of little handguns, we had big machine guns. Our goal was to kill all the terrorists and save the hostages. Well, I guess I'm just more patriotic, or maybe I hate terrorists more, but I won that one. Things were lookin up for me; 2 games left and I only had to win one of them.

Round 4 we went old school. Original Donkey Kong. That's right. You're Mario, and you have to run up the ramps, avoid the barrels, and save the princess. In my practice round I was amazing! Those barrels were like little pebbles to me, and Donkey Kong was a...um...littler monkey. Unfortunately, in my official play, I screwed up. I didn't get the joystick to move how I wanted. No saved princess...no avoided barrels. Just low points. Trian got me, but not by much. Now we're neck and neck. We both had won 2 rounds of games. It was time for the deciding game.

We scoured the area. No game was left unwatched. The decision came down to racing 18-wheelers or shooting Dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Well, we had played 2 shooting games already, and we each won one of them...so we decided this would be a fair decision. We went dino hunting. And it was scary. Raptors flew at us from all over the place! Then smaller dinosaurs spit crap in our eyes! We fought long and hard. And in the end, one of us emerged victorious. And his name is Trian.

I'm not bitter. We had a lot of fun playing the games, and I think both of us expected to lose so I was already prepared for it. Now I have to choose my furniture carefully. It'll be an exercise in creativity. Anyone have some advice?