What Coming Out Means to Me

  There comes a point in everyone's lives where they are faced with a relatively large decision.  For some, it could be deciding to buy a car.  For some, it could be that house you want but you have to figure out how to mortgage it.  For some, it could be deciding to take a job that pays more, but it is in a place you have never been you and you have to figure out how to make that work before a committal of any sort.  For myself personally, I was faced with a large decision in my life that would change me forever.  It was deciding whether I should come out as bisexual to not just my close friends, but publicly as well.

  Before I get into the deciding factors of when I decided to come out, let's first discuss what happened that led to that point.  For a long time, I naturally thought I was straight.  I'd had two girlfriends and while those didn't last in terms of relationships I wasn't too overwhelmed at the prospect of having another one for a foreseeable future as I was working on paying down debt (thanks student loans for a start) and working a full-time job which I have since transitioned to overnight shift.  So in essence I wasn't too worried about finding someone else since it is what it is for me.  However, at the start of the year, my feelings started changing.  I felt inside myself starting to change and it wasn't that I didn't like women anymore, but also when I had been out or in public I would think a male is attractive as well.  It really didn't hit me until February when these thoughts were constant and I really began to think a lot differently about myself.  As soon as that happened, I immediately went into this mode of what is wrong with me.. as I had never felt this way before or as strongly as I did.  It took close to three months to battle myself with this fact that I could be bisexual.  It really just hit me and at one point in May I finally accepted this as myself and someone who I am rather than being more and more frustrated, upset and confused about myself. 

Me with my bisexual flag draped on me

  The main factors that led me to come out was if I had kept it inside, I would have drove myself to incredible levels of anxiety, frustration, depression probably as well.  When I kept burying my feelings, the more short tempered I got I felt.  The more I buried the thoughts, the more anxious I got as well, especially at work if something didn't go right or in a social setting just randomly.  Also, there came a point of no return for me I felt.  That partly goes into my thinking of if you are committed to something, be committed.  If not, then don't be.  I was committed to talking about this with people.  Maybe not in a public setting at first, but eventually it would draw up to that moment.  So that was the other thing I thought about when I decided it was time to come out.

  Some will point out the date of which I came out publicly is the date I came out to everyone, however that isn't quite true.  The initial date I did was May 16th, to a friend I have on Twitter.  For purposeful sake, I'm not disclosing the name but she knows she was the first person that I told.  She was super supportive of me, and when I finally got the first acknowledgement done, it felt like a gigantic weight had been cast aside and I was getting free from hiding in a hole about this (or as general terms say, the closet.)  After that I told other close friends and eventually coworkers.  Everyone that I talked to was incredibly supportive of me talking to them about this and thought it was really great that I was finally coming out.  It wasn't until mid-June when I publicly decided to come out mainly because while I knew friends and coworkers were ultra supportive, I didn't know how the rest of my general friends/family would handle it.  I figured my immediate family (mother, father and younger brother) would go along and be supportive.  Part of me also thinks that if anyone in my family wasn't, my mother would probably spite them for life so I had that going for me.  When I came out and see all of my social media blowing up like crazy, it honestly made me feel uplifted that a lot of people were there for me and had a lot of good things to say.  It's why I have them as friends/family. 

  In all, I would say now I can see why people who haven't opened up worry about what people will think.  Thankfully I have a wonderful group of friends who are always supportive of me and coworkers who are the same way.  I'll always be indebted to their kindness and generosity.  Also, with my family supporting me it means I have a very strong group of people in all networks who are there for me.  I only can wish that any person coming out with their sexual preferences can have the strength in numbers that I am fortunate to have.  Something that I have heard that I really didn't think would be possible is that I could be an inspiration for people.  Now at first I kinda was like, "Yeah, right and if that happens then the World is crazy."  Well when I had a friend open up to me as the first major friend of hers about her sexuality it really humbled my mindset.  My first initial thought is "Yes, girl, yes please do open up about this."  It meant that somehow, I can be an influence and an inspiration for people.  While I have always supported people opening up about themselves to me, this moment brought a lot more to me than I realized.  Now anyone can open up about their sexual preferences to me and I will always be there to lend a supporting voice and help them if needed. 

SNES Game Review: Donkey Kong Country

The third best-sold SNES game of all-time gets its proper review finally.  Donkey Kong Country was the highest sold game not named Mario (Super Mario World #1 and Super Mario All-Stars #2.)  This game was the first of a trilogy of Donkey Kong Country games on the Super Nintendo, and all three games were among the top 10 most sold games (DK 2 was 6th, DK 3 was 10th.)  Over time, especially with the newer systems, a lot of these games tend to age badly.  But personally, I don't really quite care as I stopped really buying a lot of the new games after 2006 anyway.  Many people on YouTube have this game among their top 10 video games for the SNES, some (albeit with blasphemy I say) have it in their top 5.  I will say, with playing DK 2 right now as I played the first DK, Rareware did very well to address what was wrong with the first and take it to the second game.  With that, what was good and bad about Donkey Kong Country?

Pros

1. Opening theme: Press play on the SNES, and the first song you hear is a musical jukebox by Cranky Kong.  Then DK breaks that up with some upbeat music.  Typically I gloss over the opening theme, but the cinematic was funny and the theme was pretty cool so I added it.
2. Music: Rareware knew exactly what they were doing when they added the music for all the levels.  The selection is very, very good.  So they got the music right, but what else can I provide?
3. Different characters: There is a bird, an ostrich, rhino, swordfish and a frog so need I go on?  They all provide different beneficial things to you through your adventure by either jumping on frogs, batting sharks out of the way, flying over stuff or whatever you need.  This is a cool thing to have as the journey continues.
4. Different character bonuses: During the game you will have these pendants if you will say that if you get three of a certain animal, you are rewarded with a mini game to gather more lives for your characters.  Also, the characters can be used to open up secrets to get mini-games as well.  So there is more than just one use for these different animals you use.
5. Different levels: Again, Rareware knew how to hit it out of the park with this.  The levels are very well done, and they are very diverse.  You are in the jungle, also under water, in mines, on mine cars, on snowy cliffs and sliding like crazy and on a ship to name some of the levels.  The diversity, combined with the enemies (or as DK says, the bad guys) make it a very good game in this regard. 
6. Diddy Kong: Okay, this one may be obvious, but there is a main reason I think it is imperative to have Diddy Kong in the game.  Essentially the reason is below.
7. Graphics: For as thorough as this game was, the graphics held up well I thought.  This is an added plus

Cons

1. Donkey Kong: You want to know why Diddy Kong is so imperative? It is because Donkey Kong is SO BRUTAL TO PLAY AS.  The only reason to play as Donkey Kong is due to get the bigger enemies out of the way.  Diddy can't bounce the heavier enemies out of the way so Donkey Kong has to.  Otherwise, Donkey Kong is so slow in everything else.  His rolling start run is slow, his jump is slow, his reactions are slow.  Diddy is so much more agile, quick, responsive and he can do fine with about 90 percent of the game anyway. 
2. Frame Rate: I will say this is something I immediately noticed when I started playing the second game.  The frame rate in this game can be decent but overall it is lacking.  This is remotely visible in levels with moving platforms.  They can really be so slow and make the game difficult to grasp.  But when I finish DK 2, I'll compare it.
3. The bosses are way too easy in this game.  There isn't any remote strategy until the final boss.  You just jump on them (or hit a barrel at a giant wasp) and avoid them.  The final boss is a bit different but it is still the same format; jump on them, avoid the boss or the obstacles the game is trying to hit you with and beat the boss.  Oh and other than one part of one boss fight, Donkey is essentially useless especially in the final battle by the way.
4. Graphics: This is more of a comparison but the DK 2 graphics are much more crisp than the DK 1 graphics.  And DK 2 only game out a year after the first game.  Maybe it was because there was a lot more development in 1995 than 1994, but graphics are a pro and con on this game.  I felt the development team would have done more for this game to make it better aesthetically.  

So that is my review of Donkey Kong Country.  So what is my final score of this game?

Score: 8.8/10.  Mostly the subtractions deal with the boss fights and the fact that Donkey Kong is next to remotely pitiful at this game.  The positives? Levels, characters, Diddy Kong being so good, so you get the picture.  So where would I personally rank this game overall in the SNES world?

Rank: 24th.  Yes I am harsh on this game for it kicking off the Donkey Kong trilogy and being the highest sold game not named Mario on the SNES.  However, as I am playing the second game I already see it is better than the first.  My deduction is if they made the main character a lot better and the boss fights even remotely challenging other than the last boss of the game, this game shoots up the ranks easily. 

White Sox Still Around as Chicago's Fifth Team

Typically when I make titles for a blog post for my travels, it would be something creative and/or pretty straight to the point.  However, when it comes to the Chicago White Sox, I couldn't find much of a catchy or creative thing so to the point, they are the fifth team behind the Cubs, Bears and Blackhawks.  I would also put them behind the Bulls because at least there is a dedication of a legion of fans there.  You don't have that with the White Sox except for the big diehards.  However, that didn't stop me from going to a game against Tampa Bay.  Now the pre-game note to this, they had arguably the worst attendance ever in their history a day before with about 900 fans at the game.  This game I went to the day later wasn't much better.  There couldn't have been more than a couple thousand at this game and it really made me think of if this team was better if the fans would come back to the park. Anyway, this was the last ballpark I visited prior to ending my road trip. 

  As for the city of Chicago, I got to eat at Giordano's after I left the game.  I used the train system again, so it was relatively cheap.  After the game I was sightseeing the city after, so I went to a couple of different parks, got my picture with that bean, saw a lot of the Chicago River and different areas.  So there's a lot in the city, but in this blog, I will pretty much showcase the White Sox.  So as I got to the stadium, I went through the security, but went up a couple of different ramps to get to the main concourse.  This is a bit different than other ballparks so if you get a bit confused, don't worry I was as well initially.  Upon entering the concourse, you don't initially think you are in a ball park, but more or less an awkward soccer field but then it gets easier.  There are different concessions through the stadium, and I took pizza/soda on this day.  It was pretty good pizza and it is relatively cheap (six dollars compared to other parks.)  There were other food and drinks, most notably they sold churros here.  I haven't ever seen a park sell churros so that was pretty neat. 
  As for the park itself, it is an older park by contrast to others in the MLB.  It is also one that doesn't look as though it has renovated or massively redone like other parks that are aged like Wrigley and Fenway.  There is a lot of room to walk, but that could also be because there weren't many people there on this day.  I got to see a lot of the stadium.  They have a neat center field batters eye, also beyond the left field seats, they have a cool statue as well as inscriptions of Frank Thomas and Paul Konerko.  They essentially also have a walk of Fame outside the stadium for more picture taking.  So there are awesome spots to the stadium.  Just would be a bit better if more than a couple thousand people showed up.
  As for the game itself, Tampa Bay won, but it was a grinding game.  For reference, there were televisions for fans to watch during the game, and you could hear the televisions at times over the game talking about pace of play.  The game went about 4 hours but I left after about five innings when Tampa was up 5-0 and the game was grinding to a quagmire of being very slow.  Other than Tampa hitting the ball around in an inning, there wasn't much to write home about with the game.  The talent was very much lacking on both sides.  Since the game, Tampa has gotten better but the White Sox are plain bad.  So I can see why there were only a couple thousand people at this game. 
  As I left after the fifth inning of this game, I again hoped that the White Sox were good to see what they would be like with a bunch of fans rooting for them.  However, they are next to unwatchable most times and this game was no different.  The ballpark is at best antiquated although the staff do their level best with what they can do with.  As I walked away to sight see Chicago, I probably would rank this at the bottom of the ballparks I have seen at the Major League level (St. Louis, Milwaukee, Minnesota, and Cincinnati are those that I have been to thus far.)  I hope the White Sox can look into this and see that they can try to compete again and put a good product on the field to bring the fans back.  Otherwise they are just a blip on the radar of baseball and their city.

Tincaps Have Best Park In Minor Leagues

After the trip to Indy, I decided it was time to check out arguably the best Minor League park in all of baseball in Fort Wayne.  I also prior to the game checked out the City of Fort Wayne and it has some cool things around it but I focused primarily on the game.  The Fort Wayne Tincaps are the Class A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.  However, the community just embraces this baseball team.  Even on a cold, at times snowy, night they drew a decent crowd of a few hundred fans.  Had it been maybe 55 instead of 35, that number rises to the thousands I would suspect.  Even then, it is cheap to be around Parkview Field, which is the home of the Tincaps.  Tickets won't run you too much and the parking is inexpensive for this team.  Inside the field you get the real feeling of the stadium.
  At first sight, you think Parkview Field is amazing.  You walk the corridor and there is a lot of room with a lot of vendors.  Given the cold night, it wasn't as occupied as it would be through the fall and summer so it was very easy to get what you want/need and go from there.  On this night they had a one dollar promo for items like small sodas and hot dogs and different things, so you best bet I took advantage of that deal.  The soda is what you expect, typically Pepsi products with Dr. Pepper as well which typically is the standard for most ballparks other than some who have Coke products.  The food is good, but of course I just took advantage of the one dollar deal on this night.  You don't go wrong with a lot of the different food in this ball park when you get the opportunity though. 

Parkview Field

  The field itself is impeccable.  Even in the cold/snow at times, they did a terrific job of doing the field so a huge props to the grounds crew on that.  The park itself has a lot of amenities.  In one area they have an indoor batting cage for the players, but they have so many concessions and bathrooms so you have a lot of choices.  One of the cooler features I see with this park is the right field area.  They have a set of seats that you can sit on there and in left field, they have a bunch of stores with apartments above that so fans there can watch the game if they want.  But there isn't a bad seat to be had at Parkview Field.  It was probably the most anticipated park I went to through this trip and it massively succeeded in impressing me.
  The game was a cold one that somehow featured a home run. I also got a foul ball from a player.  As the snow flurries fell at times, the hot chocolate and heavy jacket I had came in handy.  I was impressed though that the crowd was so dedicated to sit through everything.  I left after 7 innings after the game was in hand in favor of Lansing, their opponents.  However I do feel that the staff and the park itself was amazing to be around. 

  As I left Parkview Field, I felt an incredible sense of pride in knowing I went to one of the Minor Leagues best ball parks.  It is easily the best ball park I went to in the Midwest League, with Quad Cities being second (I guess I have to rewrite that blog a bit eh?)  But overall I really enjoyed my stay here, and I hope that all Tincaps fans appreciate how great a park they have.  As far as best minor league parks, so far of the ones I have visited I would have to put Fort Wayne #1, with Quad Cities #2, Indy #3 and Iowa #4 with the others falling after that.  Fort Wayne doesn't have as many fun zones like Quad Cities, but they more than make up for it with the picturesque ballpark, amenities and the cool sightlines they can have on different areas.  Quad Cities and Fort Wayne should both be happy that they have such great ballparks in the Midwest League.  Fort Wayne, you're doing great, just keep it going.

Indy Indians provide great Minor League team in Major League City

Victory Field is home to the Indianapolis Indians.  It is situated next to seemingly the worlds biggest Marriott, a state park and zoo and Lucas Oil Stadium, aka that stadium that Peyton Manning created (yes and home to the Colts.)  So after my trip was done in Peoria, I set out for this massive city in the Midwest to go to an Indians game on this Sunday.  The weather? Still cold, but considering it was in the 20's in Peoria, 45 and only a slight breeze felt summer-like in Indy.  With that, I parked in the parking garage, took the three minute walk to the stadium and got to see my second Triple-A baseball park in my lifetime.  As an additional point, Indianapolis is the Triple-A affiliate of the Pirates.
  Victory Field upon entering is a pretty cool ballpark. There is a massive front entry to the park that is a walkway to either side of the stadium to where you walk towards the seats.  This park does have two tiers of seating, the upper level and the field level.  I sat on the field level and actually sat in the second row near the field.  That picture on the right shows how close I was.  But it is a really cool field as there are no bad sightlines in this ball park.  On a given night, Indianapolis can get more than 14,000 fans in the stadium and typically do this for major events or during most weekends in the summer.  On this day, there were only a couple thousand fans through the gates as the weather was still cold.  But there was still plenty to be had at this ballpark. 

Victory Field from the second row

  The food here is actually pretty good.  I went chicken tenders and fries, but when the summer months hit, this park has a lot of different vendors for food and drinks.  They have a party/social gathering out in the left field area when open and there are different kinds of beer they sell there as well for those beer drinkers in the crowd.  But there are many different kinds of drinks here and you won't be going wrong either way.  I thought the chicken and fries were quite good, but I would recommend most anything on the menu here.  It is reasonably priced for a triple-A team, similar to that of the Iowa Cubs in terms of anything, from food, soda, beer and souvenirs. 
  The on-field action was good, as the Indians beat Columbus 5-3 on this day.  The weather certainly affected the ball as it didn't get out of the ballpark on this day but it was back to the grind-it-out action baseball that made it a national recognizing sport.  So these sorts of games are fun I feel.  Indianapolis did a really good job with the production.  The field itself in April in the brisk conditions was very good.  Everything worked for them.  And I was very happy with the way the staff were to me.  They answered any question they could and overall made me feel good as a fan. 

Lucas Oil Stadium

  As I left Indy for Fort Wayne, my next stop, I couldn't help but be excited that the Indians do very well for their fans at Victory Field.  The ballpark itself is very cool, very wide for people to walk and everything around.  They have a lot of different options for you to eat and drink and just have fun.  I have only been to two Triple-A ballparks, here and Des Moines for the Iowa Cubs, and I can say that both have equal great value for their fans.  If I were to just rank them, I would say probably Indy #1 and Iowa #2, but Iowa could probably get a Top 5 or 6 rating if I visited every ballpark in the Triple-A minor league system.  I credit the Indians organization and they have a great ballpark for Minor League Baseball in a pretty big Major League city.

SNES Game Review: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

In a decade that brought to you about the most graphically amazing game (for its time at least) there was the kickstart to a series of RPG's that you NEVER would have expected to make it big after playing the first one.  Okay, I guess the NES version was theoretically the first, if we are being technical.  But the SNES had it's kick starting RPG machine.  Squaresoft also did (and yes, I know that Squaresoft is now Square Enix.)  That game?  Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.  Yes, for all the fanboys of FF7 out there still wanting your remake, the PS One game magically wasn't the start of this.  In a time that saw the Green Bay Packers finally become relevant for the first time in 25 years, Final Fantasy Mystic Quest was created in 1992 with the SOLE PURPOSE of bringing RPG's to the America's and elsewhere and make them cool.  Sales though.. spoke otherwise.  This game sold only around 800,000 copies worldwide, and barely close to half of that was in America.  However, it pretty much jump started the Final Fantasy franchise on the SNES and beyond (including the one everyone fawns over today, yes FF7.)  So, with yours truly just beating this game, what did Squaresoft get right, wrong and how does it rank?

Pros:

1. Music: HOLY SCHMOLY THE MUSIC IS INCREDIBLE! Squaresoft HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK WITH THE MUSIC SELECTION!  Hands down, this game's music soundtrack is awesome in every scenario, map, battle, and boss type.  Squaresoft obviously knew what they were doing from there onward with music selection as essentially every Final Fantasy is amazing at this. 
2. Creativity of Levels..of the third and fourth dungeons: There will be more on this in a bit as well.  But I actually found the third and fourth dungeons to be quite creatively done.  They are a bit of a challenge to maneuver but as long as you did that, you were just fine.
3. Quick-paced: This is more so relevant in today's society where you cannot go 9 seconds seemingly without a phone near you.  This game isn't overly taxing on time and if you have a week off of work, you'll be able to complete this RPG in 10-15 hours.  I took about 14 to finish.
4. Setting the stage for future Final Fantasy games: This kick started the legend of Final Fantasy and really jolted the games on the SNES.  The basics were there for Squaresoft in this game for what they had in mind to create and obviously they knocked it out of the park with their last Final Fantasy on Super Nintendo.  

Cons:

1. Way too easy a game: Typically I don't like to harp too much on this given a skill set, but this game to me was way too easy.  In the day, SNES games were a challenge on the whole.  This game isn't one of them.  If you died, it is because the game hated that you were successful all the time so they gave the enemy luck (not saying this is entirely accurate, but it's probably the best explanation.)  I think their way of wanting RPG's to catch on in America led them to be a player-friendly game here.  If you died (and I think in total I died 6 times, only once in a boss) you can just pick up again as you left off on the fight.  And by then the enemy's luck runs out and you win the fight.  Given their goal, it's not an extreme knock but one nonetheless.
2. The battle system: I could not get into this game at all with the battle system.  If not for the music I would have just been on the computer every battle.  There is no strategy, there is no thinking.  Either hit the monster with physical or magic attacks and move on to the next.
3. No randomization of battles: I beat this game at level 39, and that is mainly because of the amount of battles all the dungeons and battlefields have.  The amount of them were varied which is fine.  but the kicker is no random battles.  Everything is pre-determined.  A battlefield has 10, and wherever you go for a dungeon, there'll be enemies moving on the screen as you walk into them.  Obviously this was part of the player friendly atmosphere Square was trying to create but it really wasn't much fun to just walk into an enemy you are already going to beat.
4. Creativity of levels everywhere else: Like I said, I would touch on this again.  So Squaresoft did well with two of the dungeons of this game.  Everything else.. is lackluster at best.  There is maybe one more creative level, which is in the Alive Forest (wacky name eh?) Otherwise, it is very basic at best.  
5. Armor/Weapon system: So they just automatically upgrade your armor and weapons through the game.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, and to keep harping it was for the player friendliness, but it was also very weird to know that you are not in control of what you want to give your player you are taking on the journey.  This obviously got sorted out later on in future games.
6. Boss fights: Okay like I said I only died once in the six or seven times I died during the game.  The boss fights are a bit more challenging but they aren't that overtly great.  Something of a disappointment really.

Neutral:

1. World Map: I was okay with the map, given the way the game was made.  With no random battles, you just pressed the directional pad to where you wanted to go to enter whatever dungeon or town or temple you wanted. 
2. The plot: You'll notice this with a couple of SNES games, a fight for crystals and to maintain the Earth. Oh and that happens on at least one PS One game too.  This was the structure at first that Squaresoft had in mind, and it actually in essence had some other plots to other games (See 7th Saga and runes, and I am sure there are other games as well) but the plot of the game was actually quite alright. 

Final thoughts: Given the mass ado later on about Squaresoft and their games on SNES, this game honestly kick started the franchise.  It also kick started Final Fantasy being cool in the Americas.  I do think this game needs to have more credit for that.  However, this game is with a lot of flaws.  I think it's a bit harsh to call this game as some have reviewed as bad, terrible or trash.  This game to me is average, which Squaresoft probably was hoping for more than that.  I think they were hoping for good to be what the game was and they fell short of that.  I think their drive to make RPG's cool across the world backfired a bit in this game.  There were some significant building blocks they could use going forward however and that showcased itself in the money making machine they built in the mid-90's with the SNES games they brought out and especially the latter three Final Fantasy games for the SNES.

Rating: For the fact there were 721 American SNES games, I would probably rank this one about 325th.  It's average, it's not overly great.  Not overly terrible.  There were things definitely you could see them working on for the future and that is to be warranted with this review.  I think overall, 6.2/10 is a good score for it.  Obviously Squaresoft was on to bigger and better things through the 90's.