My Fascination with Rock, Paper, Scissors

So Rock, Paper, Scissors kind of fascinates me sometimes.

The game, when played back-to-back consecutively with time to think in-between, becomes this fascinating mind puzzle of thinking one step further than your opponent. When you win it somehow feels like you truly outthought your opponent. You bested them.

And yet, the funny thing is, it's still, all things considered, a lot of luck. And, if one person so chooses, can become a game of complete luck. They simply draw one of the three choices from a hat or such and such. The game is then 100% luck.

It's fascinating.

Is it luck? Is it pure skill?

And does it even matter? Because when played it somehow feels like pure skill. And that makes it awesome.

I think. I don't know, it's kind of weird, haha.

My Top 9 Favorite Video Games

So this has been in the works for a while (I mean, I guess theoretically for years since I'm sure I had the idea of ranking my favorite video games forever ago).

Recently, I made some really good progress on it and came up with my 9 favorite video games, but I never could come up with the 10th. So I sat on this for months now. I've decided to just settle for only having my top 9, haha.

1. Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

        I mean, what else could it be? (Actually, I have an answer to that question, and it happens to be my 2nd favorite game.) I play this weekly at minimum, I compete in tournaments for it, I watch professional players play it, etc. etc.

        This game is such a big part of my life right now and will continue to be so. It is (currently) my favorite video game of all time.

2. Minecraft

        I have spent countless hours playing Minecraft. Literally countless because there's no possible way (in this life, at least) that I can go and find out how many hours I spent on this game with my cousins summer after summer.

        I think Minecraft is the best video game of all time. I have so so so so many fond memories of playing this game. Far more than any other game.

3. Celeste

        Celeste is such a blessing. It simply feels so good to play and to conquer the challenges it presents to you. As of writing this, I recently beat Farewell (aka, some really difficult levels), and it makes me feel like I can do anything. This game is incredible rewarding and enjoyable.

4. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

        I remember first getting this game alongside the switch. I was immediately captivated and simply loved exploring this world. It's a blast to just go around the map and do whatever presents itself.

        Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (sequel to Breath of the Wild) is by far my most anticipated game right now, and probably my 2nd most anticipated game of all time (the only other one that I can think that would beat it is Smash Bros Ultimate). That anticipation comes from just how much I love Breath of the Wild.

5. Slay The Spire

        Slay The Spire is soooo good and is right up my alley of game. I question if it should be 4th instead. Regardless, I'll keep it here for now. 

6. Hades

        What a fun game. Especially just starting out was an absolute blast. As the runs got longer and longer and the grind for materials became more and more important for additional content, I started to enjoy it less, but I still love this game, and it definitely belongs on my list of my top 9 favorite games of all time.

7. Super Smash Brothers Melee

        This is such an interesting game to rank, and, honestly, I'm not sure if it belongs on this list.

        Here's the strange conundrum with this game:

        I'm a Smash Ultimate Player. If I played Melee more, I am 100% sure that I would love it, but as of right now, I invest my time into Ultimate instead. I don't particularly enjoy playing/competing in Melee because I'm awful at the game.

        However, it is my favorite e-sport to watch. I love watching melee and I love the top melee competitive scene. Even more than Ultimate.

        And so where do I rank it? Should I rank it? Idk, it's weird. I settled on putting it here.

8. Fire Emblem: Awakening

        I just have fantastic memories of playing this game with my cousin Joseph and having an absolute blast with it. Did I enjoy the game so much because Joseph was there? Oh, for sure. Doesn't change the fact that I love this game and the time I spent with it.

9. Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

        Had a great time with this game. I enjoyed it enough to beat it twice -- the second time around one-hundred-precenting the game.

If I had to make this into a tier list it would be as follows:

S++: 

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Minecraft

S+: 

Celeste, Breath of the Wild, Slay the Spire, Hades

Not sure how to tier this one: 

Super Smash Bros. Melee

S: 

Fire Emblem: Awakening, A Link Between Worlds

Went Snowboarding for the First Time

Andrew, Justin, and Jamie are all going on one last slope before we take off, so I had some time and no internet, so I've decided to just start writing this post.

[For context I'm editing this in here: Andrew is my roommate (and has been for 2 semesters (Winter and Fall 2022) before this one) and is my closest friend I've made up here at college. Justin is Jamie's younger brother, with Jamie being my FHE sister and good friend.]

Snowboarding was fun! It was also awful. It's incredibly frustrating but also rewarding to slowly get better and actually being able to stand up on your board more than a few seconds at a time.

It's kind of brutal because the learning curve is especially harsh for the first ¿hour? or so. I hated the first roughly hour. It felt kind of impossible to get anywhere.

Although I think part of that was because of this weird/interesting thing about this particular place we went to. And perhaps this is the case across the board. The allegedly super easy very low slope was actually more difficult than the next "difficulty" up, which was quite a bit steeper comparatively.

I believe this was the case because the low slope course was low slope enough where if you tried to do switchbacks on it, the switchbacks didn't have enough slope for you to go anywhere. This means your board pretty much had to be facing dead on down the hill. This, along with the fact that the snow in that area was pretty compact, made it difficult to turn your board sideways in order to slowdown.

It's the next day now. I should have written down briefly what I wanted to talk about next because I know I had something in mind, but I've forgotten it. So I guess I'll just put some pictures down below and call it a day.

Oh, wait. I remember now, I think.

So I talked about doing these switchbacks kind of idea, and how doing the switchbacks didn't have enough slope on the low slope hill.

This way of thinking helped me not be as intimidated by the bigger slope that we went on. Initially, I was terrified of it because it was significantly steeper than the low slope hill. But when I picture the slope of the individual switchbacks instead, it's not nearly as bad.

Obviously, if you're heading straight down the hill, the slope is an absurd amount more than the low slope hill. But when you're snowboarding, you don't go head-on downhill. If you're instead going horizontally for a long time, and only go slightly down the hill, then the slope of this mini-hill you've created is not that steep.

That concept was way more difficult to articulate than I thought it was going to be, and I realize that probably didn't make much sense, so I apologize while simultaneously not caring enough to try to make it more comprehensible.

Anyway, here are the photos:

Two of London's younger siblings ¿cousins?, Charlie, London, Justin, Jamie, Myself, and Andrew

[Adding in another for context: London is my FHE sister, Charlie is my roommate (and has been for the last two semesters)]

Jamie, Andrew, Myself, and Justin

Jamie, Justin, Myself, and Andrew

Andrew and I