The Christmas my daughter turned five I bought a brand new game system that came with two controllers and Super Mario World. That year my stepson, his wife and step-daughter came to visit and we all sat around the dining room table taking turns playing the game.

We got to one of the ghost houses and couldn’t find our way out. In the game you had to hit something that caused a timed task to start. We thought we knew what the task was, but suddenly my daughter said, “I saw it. I saw a blue door.”

No one really believed her but me. I knew that her child’s brain viewed things differently than ours and that it was possible she had, in fact, seen something where the rest of us weren’t looking. Of course we had to make our way back to that point, which took some doing, but when we got there, sure enough, a blue door appeared where none of us had been looking except for a smart little five-year-old girl.

Today you’ll sometimes see ads that say “free PSP” or “video game system. Best offer.” Interestingly, there is still a market for the classic systems. I wonder what the original Pong is going for these days? I wouldn’t go back to such primitive games as that now, but it does make me wax nostalgic. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. Hmm.

I have a really funny story to tell. It is all about how I became known as the best horse racing tipster amongst all of my college friends. It was a long time ago, but we all still get such a laugh when we get together for beers and the subject comes up.

One night, when we were all bored, we decided to head down to the tracks, just for something to do. None of us had ever bet on a race before and we decided that we would all place a bet. I started spouting off racing tips, just to be funny, as I really knew nothing about it. I decided to place my bets on the jokes I was making, even though the odds were greatly stacked against me winning a single race.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, I won every single race I bet on. I made a lot of money that night and the next time we went all of my friends wanted me to share my best horse racing tips with them. We never won anything that night and we all had a good laugh that I had just had beginners luck that first time. It is still pretty funny to talk about.

I was looking on eBay the other day, trying to find some Jetsons Halloween costumes. They are pretty rare, but it is what my kids wanted to dress up as and I had no idea how to make them. I actually found a couple of auctions and placed my bid.

I sometimes wish that my kids wanted to be normal things for Halloween, like pirates and princesses, but they always choose to be something unique and in the end I am grateful because we always remember what they were the year before and we have more fun creating the perfect look.

Last year they both went as two UFC fighters and the year before they were Mario and Luigi. We have fun making the costumes, but this year I am just going to buy them and they will be unique anyway, as I am sure no one around here will have them.

My dad built a train toy box for my son and it is complete with a train horn and a little gold bell to ring. In fact, it is one of the most magnificent toy boxes that I have ever seen. My son loves it and we are a bit afraid to let him have it in his room as it looks more like a collector’s item than it does a toy box.

After a lot of use, it seems that the horn is getting worn out and it doesn’t seem nearly as loud as it used to. I asked my dad about this and he suggested that we get some replacement train horns to keep on hand for when they wear out. He said that they would be reasonably easy to put in and that I should be able to do it myself.

We found some and I replaced the old one. It works really well now and my son is thrilled that he can hear it again. He is so thrilled, in fact, that I can foresee us having to replace it again in the not too distant future. That is alright though. We now have extras on hand and it is a small price to pay for his happiness.

I had heard about a good gaming forum that my good buddy, the gaming guru, likes to participate in. He accredits being such a good player to this forum, as he says that a lot of the tips he gets, that make him a good player, he learns from reading and contributing on the forum. I thought if I ever wanted to compete on his level, I should try joining it too.

I had previously been a member of a mobile forum, so I wasn’t completely lost as to knowing what a forum was. But I did not know a lot about forums, so it was a learning experience for me all the way. I have to admit that I did learn lots, but am not ready to go head to head with my friend just yet.

I think I should consider buying one game controllers from an India gadget website - that would be the same that my buddy has. He can take it with him anywhere, so he always has something to practice on and he is getting really good. He is considering entering at a competition level - I think he should.

I wanted to start my own ratingzone website, especially for young women my age. I find that a lot of the movie rating websites are geared towards men and are obviously written by men. I do not share similar movie tastes and I find that a lot of the movies I enjoy get completely bad ratings, as they seem devoid of blood and guts.

What we really need is to have someone who enjoys watching romantic comedies and dramas to write their own reviews. It would give us a more honest look from our own perspective.

I love net gossip and this is how I keep up on the latest chick flicks and find out what my favorite actors are doing. Because of this, I seem to watch movies shortly after they are released.

I think I would be really good at writing entertainment reviews for “chick flicks”. I would love to start a website devoted to this and I think I am going to. But, before I do, I will need to do some research. So, for now, I am off to the movies.

My very favorite game in the whole world is Settlers of Catan.  It is a classic game and was on the top of my wish list for presents this Christmas.  My wonderful husband bought it for me and I was delighted.  But, I now had the problem of finding people who wanted to play it with me.

My husband suggested that I go look at online games sites and see if there was a version that I could play online.  I would have the option to play against the computer, so that I would always have opponents to play against.  I thought this would be a grand idea, and it became my new mission.

At first, all of the searches I tried only brought up results for casino games, but I pressed on.  I finally hit the jackpot when I managed to find a free version of the game.  It also came in a variety of different maps to keep it challenging.  I have played it so much since I found it - man do I love this game!

Well, I have been debating whether or not to buy Nintendo Wii for some time.  Part of my problem is that I am the person that has to weigh my options - I am definitely not a spontaneous shopper.

With that being said, I thought the game would help me decide what to do.  In all honesty, the games make the system, right?  So I have been looking at some of the best Wii games available - and they are good.  Games like Super Mario Galaxy, Resident Evil and Zelda get me really excited.  They are titles that I have played on other Nintendo consoles and I loved every one that I played.  Definitely a strong argument to buy the Wii.

But, there is one game I really wanted to play: Perfect Dark.  Unfortunately for me, Microsoft purchased Rare (the developer of Perfect Dark) so it is one of the games for Xbox 360.  I looked at the other games available for the Xbox 360 and there are quite a few good ones.  What I found lacking though was that most of the games are geared towards adults - and I know that my nieces will want to play too.

It seems for me the Wii is the console I have been looking for.

I have to admit that sometimes I am not very patient with life.  If there is something that I want, I want it now - I do not want to wait.  This is something that affects all areas of my life and most recently it has affected my World of Warcraft (WOW) player.

You see, I purchased WOW a couple weeks ago, and it has been great.  I spend quite a bit of time playing, but to be honest, I am getting impatient.  I do not have enough WOW gold to buy the items I want - and I want those items now.

So, I purchased some WOW guides that promised to show the "way" to make gold as quickly as possible - sadly it is not quite fast enough.  There were also tips on how to get my character to high levels quickly - but still it is not fast enough for me.

I am browsing through some WOW accounts on a site, trying to find a character that is the level I want and has the items I want.  If I find the one I need, I can just buy it without having to spend all my time getting to that level.  Definitely a much simpler and quicker solution for me.

It has been quite a few years since I was a waiter in a restaurant.  In some respects, I miss those days (mostly the tips) and in some ways I don’t (I don’t miss the sore feet).  This week, I was trying to find something to do and was looking for some fun action games to play.

I ended up at one of my favorite online game websites.  Strangely enough, they had a game all about waiting tables: Diner Dash.  Now, I enjoyed it a lot more than working back in the restaurant, but it made me remember the pace I used to have at work.

After playing awhile (and getting a little stressed out), I decided I needed a change of pace.  I spent the rest of the night playing fun puzzle games.  I worked on my spelling while playing Scrabble, and my matching skills with Mah Jong.

As my head hit the pillow as I was going to bed, I felt good.  It has been a long time since I took a break (playing fun games)- and I am still happy of my choice to quit the food service industry.  Goodnight.