Friday 12-20-24 Pizza Night, Games, Pinball & Dancing

 

Do the happy dance

We had a gorgeous day with a lot of sun. 

Before lunch we went to the UPS Store to pickup a package that was waiting for us. It was from Larry's ma, it was Christmas gifts and snacks (Lake Travis Mudd and Cheerios Peanut Cookies). We also picked up out mail. 

The post office returned one of our Christmas cards. They put a sticker on it saying it could not be machine sorted and hand sorting cost more. Some postal worker must not have been in the Christmas spirit. It was not rejected by our local post office. It was only going a few miles down the road to Georgetown, either Austin or Georgetown rejected it. In all the years Larry has been doing cards this is the first one rejected. It was a bit larger than most but he has sent others that were this size. Larry made a new envelope and sent it out in today's mail with extra stamps attached.

Larry spent a good part of the day working on the mini pinball cabinet. He played quite a few games on the cabinet and had a super time.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Spider and 5 Tri Peak). It took me 1 hour and 21 minutes, which put me in 21st place in my group. Then I played some Angry Birds.

After playing the daily event I worked on my diamond painting Mandala and finished it. I started 12-7 and finished 12-20, which was 20 days. It came out great.

 

Mandala finished

We snacked on the goodies the rest of the day, they were delicious.

 

Cheerios Peanut Cookies

 

Lake Travis Mudd

 

I worked out with the Synth Riders for a half hour. 

I played Pirate's Plunder, Asteroid Outpost and Gunpowder Gulch. I played the games once. I am getting a little better, I played three in forty-five minutes when I usually play five games in a half hour. While playing Pirate's Plunder I got a silver metal with 1,030,039. I fought my enemies twice. I played Asteroid Outpost and mined the asteroids twice. Gunpowder Gulch I did have a shoot out with the deputies twice. I had a good day playing Bounce Arcade.

 

Asteroid Outpost

 

Gunpowder Gulch

 

Fight the Skeleton Swarm

 

The events I did during the game

 

Final score in Pirate's Plunder
 

I played four games of pinball, which were Theatre of Magic, Attack From Mars, Big Buck Hunter Pro and Black Rose. I played very well even though I didn't get on the board.

Attack From Mars

Big Buck Hunter Pro

Black Rose

Theatre of Magic

For dinner we had pepperoni pizza that was baked on the grill. In the evening we watched Elementary. When Larry went to bed I watched another Christmas movie called Unlikely Angel starring Dolly Parton. It was very good. Then I watched Everwood. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in fourth place in my group.

 

 

Thursday 12-19-24 Happy Thursday, Diamond Painting, Games and Pinball Cabinet

 

We had a wonderful day. It was a little cooler than the last few days. The low this morning was 39 degrees and the high was 72 degrees.

Larry spent the day working on the mini pinball cabinet. Today he worked on the top cabinet. He hasn't been able to locate the correct size of speaker covers so he decided to do something else. He took the speakers out and cleaned up the holes. Then he cut some decals using his Cameo, he installed them where you would normally have speaker grills. He also wanted to build a frame to go around the small monitor but he didn't have the correct trim.

After lunch we went to The Home Depot. He found the trim he wanted. It was sold by the foot so he had to cut the trim down to the size he wanted. He bought two 6' length. While there we bought some small screws he was getting low on.

When we got home he built the frame. Then he sanded, primed and painted the wood. Tomorrow he will install the frame.  

While Larry worked on the pinball machine I kept busy doing this and that.

I did my housework, which took an hour. 

 

Doing housework

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: The Hard Road of 16 games. It took me 2 hours, 27 minutes and 39 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds. 

I worked out with the Synth Riders for an hour. 

 

 

 

 Working out

 

I played Pirate's Plunder (three times) and Monster Manor (two times). While playing Pirate's Plunder I got a new high score and a bronze metal. Each game I played Pirate's Plunder I raised the sails, got the skulls up and had fun. While playing Monster Manor I played Spider Multiball for the first time. I lite the manor both times.

 

 

Monster Manor

Pirate's Plunder

I played seven games of pinball. They were Theatre of Magic, Star Wars, The Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lord of the Rings, Nightmare Before Christmas, World Joker Poker and Maverick.

 

Maverick

Nightmare Before Christmas

Star Wars

The Guardians of the Galaxy

The Lord of the Rings

Theatre of Magic

World Joker Poker

I worked on my diamond painting a bit. I thought I would finish it today but I didn't quite make it. I am very close.

In the evening we watched Elementary. When Larry went to bed I watched a Christmas movie called Christmas Angel on Amazon. It was very good. Afterwards I watched a couple of episodes of Everwood. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

Wednesday 12-18-24 Christmas Dances, Projects & New Synth Riders Songs

 

Smile and have fun

It was a beautiful day with the low temperature in the mid 50s and got up to 65 degrees.

I attended three Christmas dances on Zoom. First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 10:00. They took turns calling five tips to 12 participants. Di called a few four couple moves, which were Load The Boat, Spin Chain Thru, Motivate and Acey Duecey. Terry and Di and some dancers wore Christmas outfits. I had a super time dancing with friends.

 Participants at Di and Terry Christmas Plus dance

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for 45 minutes. Ett called three tips to 16 participants. She had computer problems so she had to leave early. She worked on the Triangles Concept and Anything Chain Thru. Some of the sequences were hard to see because I had to dance with seven phantoms. But I had a fun time.

 

Participants at Ett's C1 dance

Third was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped him call the dance. The format was three tips of C1 to 9 participants, three tips of A2 to 10 participants and two Trivia questions in between the A2 tips. I had a great evening dancing with friends. 

Participants at the A2 section of Dave's dance

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 40 minutes and 12 seconds, which put me in 22nd place in my group. Then I played some Angry Birds.

Larry spent the day working on the mini pinball machine. He is working with the program that runs the shaker motor. He apparently changed something that stopped it from working, he has no idea what. It took him hours to get it working again and he has no idea what the fix was. He is really stumped and now he does not want to add anything else that uses that program. There are lots of software pieces to virtual pinball and anytime you change any of them there is always a fear something will break. 

I worked on my diamond painting Mandala. I should be finished with it tomorrow.

I worked out using the Synth Riders for 45 minutes. I worked out with three new games and nine other games. The new games are Carol of the Bells, HEX and Shangri-La-La-La. Carol of the Bells is for Christmas, where presents, Christmas trees, candy canes and other Christmas items come towards you while you try to hit the balls with your controllers. HEX is a Halloween songs. The Shangri-La-La-La is where you work out while Walkabout Mini Golf. As you try to hit the balls with your controllers you have gold clubs, golf holes with flags, golfers and ballerina coming at you. I had an outstanding time working out with the music in Synth Riders.

 

New songs available

I also played Gunpowder Gulch and Asteroid Outpost. I played them both a couple of times. I got a bronze metal in Gunpowder Gulch.

Asteroid Outpost score

Gunpowder Gulch score

I played four different games. They were the weekly challenge of Theatre of Magic, Dirty Harry, Elvira and the Party Monsters and Elvira Scared Stiff. While playing the Theatre of Magic I got a new high score for the week, which was 1,035,414,770. This put me in 14th place out of 31 participants. I had a fun time playing pinball.

Dirty Harry

Elvira Scared Stiff

Elvira and the Party Monsters

Theatre of Magic

After the dance we watched Red One on Amazon. It's new Christmas fantasy movie. It's a cute movie. Then I watched The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and a couple of episodes of Everwood. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

 

Tuesday 12-17-24 Di and Terry's A2 Christmas Dance, Pinball Project & More

 

Happy Tuesday

We had a terrific day. It was overcast. The low was 60 degrees and the high was 81 degrees.

Larry was successful in getting the shaker motor in the new pinball machine to work with 2d games but he is having difficulties getting it to work the way he wants in VR. He spent a lot of time trying to figure it out, he finally asked in a online forum if anyone knew of a way to do what he wants. So far he has not had any responses. 

We attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 10:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. It was their Christmas dance. Some of the dancers dressed up for Christmas. Larry wore a red shirt and jeans and I wore my Mrs. Claus skirt with a white blouse, candy cane Leggies and red belly dancing belt. We both wore a Santa's hat. Di and Terry took turns calling 5 tips to 10 participants. Larry danced four of the tips with me. We had a great time dancing with friends.

 

Di and Terry's A2 Christmas dance

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5Free Cell and 5 Tri Peaks). It took me 39 minutes and 31 seconds, which put me in 10th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I worked out with the Synth Riders for 45 minutes. 

I played Gunpowder Gulch and Monster Manor in Bounce Arcade. I played Gunpowder Gulch four times and Monster Manor three times.

 

Gunpowder Gulch

Monster Manor

 

I played seven different games of pinball. They were Theatre of Magic, NASCAR, Dr. No, Superman and the Justice League, X-Men, The Lord of the Rings and Black Rose. I didn't get on the boards but I had a great time playing. 

 

Black Rose

 

Dr. No

 

NASCAR

 

Superman and the Justice League

 

The Lord of the Rings

 

Theatre of Magic

 

X-Men

 

Christmas is just around the corner and I hadn't put up any Christmas decorations. Our pinball machine is set up in the living room where I usually put the Christmas tree and we have limited room. I decided to hang the ornaments that Larry made on the living room window. I also put some Christmas towels in the restrooms. Now it looks a little bit like Christmas in the house.

 

Christmas ornaments

 

In the evening we watched a few episodes of Elementary. Then I watched Star Trek Beyond and a couple of episodes of Everwood. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.

 

 

 

Monday 12-16-24 C1 Christmas Dance, Pinball Cabinet & Games

 

Overcast Day

We had an overcast day with the high of 79 degrees.

We started the day off by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance at 9:00. Di sent an e-mail to remind the dancers about the dance. In the e-mail she said if you want to dress up for Christmas feel free to do so. Di and Terry had been playing some Christmas music in their dances all month. A lot of the dancers dressed up for Christmas. A couple (Carol and Brian) from the U.K. wore Christmas hats (Brian's hat said Bah-Humbug). Di called five tips to 13 participants. She worked on Triple Boxes, Triple Lines and Triple Waves. When ever the dancers were having problems Di would work on the move. Larry danced four of the tips with me. We had a super time.

 

Dance participants

Brian and Carol

Larry spent the day working on his mini pinball cabinet. He moved the cabinet from his workroom to the dining room table. He is working on getting the shaker motor working. Some pinball games use a shaker motor to vibrate the cabinet when some event has been achieved. We run across this fairly frequently when we play real pinball. Larry did not install a shaker motor in our original cabinet but he thought it would be interesting to have it in the new one. Since he has not done this before he has a lot to learn. It requires the motor, wiring, a switch and two special circuit boards that he got from the vendor in France. He got all those pieces working today for the first time. Now he has to figure out the software. The software works with the pinball software to know when to run the shaker motor, for how long and how fast.

He also played quite a few games on the new machine. Both in 2D and VR. This was the first time he has played the machine in VR. He is trying to ensure everything is working correctly and that he is happy with it. Time is running out to make changes. Once he has decided he is satisfied he will have to tear it all apart so he can do the final painting and graphics. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Games Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Spider). It took me 1 hour, 21 minutes and 54 seconds, which put me in 25th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I worked out with Synth Riders for an hour.

I played Bounce Arcade for an hour. I played Monster Manor (2), Pirate's Plunder (2), Gunpowder Gulch (2) and Asteroid Outpost (2). While played the games I got a bronze metal and new high scores.

 

Asteroid Outpost

 

Gunpowder Gulch

Monster Manor

Playing Pirate's Plunder

Pirate's Plunder

 

I played seven different pinball games. They were Theatre of Magic, Star Trek Next Generation, James Bond 60th Anniversary, Big Buck Hunter Pro, Fast Break, Judge Dredd and Playboy. While playing Theatre of Magic I got a new high score for the weekly challenge of 731,050,930, which put me in 8th place out of 21 participants. I came in high score # 3 in Star Trek Next Generation, high score #4 in Big Buck Hunter Pro and played Mansion Mania in Playboy. I had a great afternoon playing pinball.

 

Theatre of Magic

 

Big Buck Hunter Pro

Fast Break

60th Anniversary

Judge Dredd

Playboy

Star Trek Next Generation

 

 I worked on my diamond painting Mandala.

In the evening we finished watching the fifth season of Miss Scarlet and an episode of Elementary. Then I watched Star Trek Into the Darkness and a couple of episodes of Everwood.

I've had a Garmin watch device for years. I joined a weekly step challenge to motivate me to do my steps. I've been in a 100K Challenge for awhile but I have been doing 120K or more a week so now I'm in the 125K Challenge. In order to get my goal I need to do 18K a day. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.