Friday Night Fun! (part 3 - Game Time)

Earlier in the week, I recounted my experiences on the way to my favorite night of the week - Mario Kart Wii game night!  Every Friday night, starting at 10:30PM at the earliest and sometimes after midnight, I play Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii game online with some friends and other miscellaneous strangers from around the world.

So far if you have been keeping track - and who wouldn't be!? - you have learned (in brief):

1. I cut my grass in the deepening night and in the front line of a major thunderstorm.
2. My wife and daughter, while I was cutting the grass in the dark and rain, ate my snacks I had purchased for Mario Kart!
3. When I went to Shop 'n' Save to replace my pilfered snacks (and buy a backup bottle of Yellow-Tail) I was mocked for my Ruffles and wine combo by a snaggle-toothed man who had a matted ZZ-top style beard and an actual spider living in his hair!

Fast forward to 10:30. None of these earlier adventures meant a thing to me anymore, as I was rapidly approaching game time!  I loaded up the game and went online.

None of my friends were there, yet.  That's OK.  I wouldn't give up on any of them until sometime after midnight, and started playing online with some other people.  The interesting thing about my Friday nights is that while I now have a pretty good friend list set up in Mario Kart, non of MY friends have each OTHER listed as friends.  What does this matter, you ask?  Well, if you aren't familiar with Mario Kart, it is a basic go-kart type racing game, in which you can have up to 12 people playing at the same time.  The races are set in Nintendo's Mario themed worlds, where there are all kinds of magical things that can give you boosts, or bizarre weapons (like flying exploding turtle shells) that can be used on the other racers.

Since I could easily be in a race with four or five people I know, but who don't know each other, I get a disproportionate amount of attention paid to me.  In this case, attention is NOT what I'm looking for! So, to race without my friends being online gives me a chance at a FAIR race, one that I have a chance to win and get some Nintendo ranking points.  I need these as they will no doubt be erased later in the evening...when everyone focuses their exploding shells and giant mushroom kart crushing power on ME.

I raced for about 30 minutes until my friend Tim - my primary racing partner - was JUST ABOUT TO GET ONLINE.  I was excited and looking forward to playing! As I mentioned in earlier posts in this series, I look forward to playing this game every Friday night.

I had my snack chips.

I had my dip.

I had my diet Dr. Pepper.

I had a bag full of batteries.  (I use "used" batteries from our wireless microphones.  Since they start out at the end of their life, how long they last for Mario Kart is completely random - and sometimes they suddenly die without much warning!)

I was ready!  I was pumped! I was ready to take on the world (literally)!

Naturally, this is the point where OUR POWER WENT OUT FOR NO GOOD REASON!!!!

Perfect. Just peachy.

The storm that I had cut the grass in had passed through the area by now, so there was NOT an immediate or apparent reason as to why I should no longer have electricity.  I started wondering if ol' snaggle-tooth was actually a Stephen King character like the clown in "It" and every time he laughed, something bad happened.

Shudder.

I called Tim and explained my predicament.  I also explained that since there was no reason for the power to be out (as far as I understood), that he should not give up on me!  He said he was going to continue to play.  "I'll keep you informed", I said.

I paced around the now candlelight house for a while, and then decided I wasn't going to let ol' snaggle-tooth's possible curse keep me down.  I whipped out my Nintendo DS and played Mario Kart on THAT machine.  Yeah for portable, battery powered game systems!  Mario Kart night was BACK!

So that is the story of my Friday night.  It's a story of courage and perseverance.  It's a story of undeterred Nintendo fun! It's a story off beating everything that nature, your family, and snaggle-tooth can throw at you!  It's a classic story of good vs. evil.

Oh, and shortly after midnight, the power was restored.  I even got to play online like I was looking forward to.  My friends waited for me. How awesome is that?

Now, tonight, it is Mario Kart night again. Email me and we can swap friend codes!  I'm looking forward to playing with you.

Life is good!

Comments

[Kathy G]

It's interesting the way you timed the end of the story for a Friday--like you were getting psyched up for another night of Mario Kart or something :-)

[Todd Jordan]

Can you say addict? :)
They have a program or three for folks with your issues.

I've got Mario Kart for the Wii. Now just to play the first time.