Wednesday 10-30-24 Three Halloween Dances & Games

 

Halloween Eve

Today was the day before Halloween so I attended three Halloween Dances.

First was Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly Plus at 11:00 for an hour. Di and Terry took turns calling five tips to 9 participants. Today Di wore a skeleton outfit, that was one piece outfit with a face connected to it. Terry wore a witch's hat. Ange wore a very nice witch's outfit. I wore my vest and black and orange. I had a fun time dancing to Di and Terry and friends.

 

Plus dance participants

 

Ange all dressed up for Halloween

 

Second was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour. Ett is back from her Greece trip. She said she had a great time. She called four tips to 13 participants. Not too many people dressed up for Halloween. Cindy had a Halloween vest on. I wore the same outfit as I did for Di and Terry's dance. Ett did a lot of regroup. I think I might have made it home about 75% of the time. I either was a quarter out or just didn't know where to go. Don Moger showed up just to watch. I still had a good time.

Third was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore were back to help Dave call the dance. The format was 3 tips of C1 to 10 participants, 3 tips of A2 to 12 participants and two Trivia questions. Some of the dancers wore Halloween outfits. I had a great evening dancing with friends.

 

Participants during the C1 session

 

Participants in the A2 session 

In between the dances I worked out with the Synth Riders for an hour, worked on my diamond painting the colorful eye and played games.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Klondike and 5 Free Cell). It took me 44 minutes and 59 seconds, which put me in 15th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I played six games of pinball, which were Halloween, Who Dunnit, Guardians of the Galaxy, Tales of the Arabian Nights, World Joker Poker and Willy Wonka. I fun afternoon of playing pinball.

 

Guardians of the Galaxy

Halloween

Tales of the Arabian Nights

 

Who Dunnit

Willy Wonka

 

World Poker Joker

 

After the last dance we watched YouTube videos on 3D printing. Before Larry went to bed he did a home project. The Alexa switch that controls the living room light went out. Larry had an extra one so he replaced it. These things always take longer than you hope. It took about 90 minutes. Afterwards he went to bed, then I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Afterwards I continued watching the first season of Whitstable Pearl on Acorn. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

   

Tuesday 10-29-24 A2 Halloween Dance, Crafting & Games

 

Awesome Day

Our day started out with a little sprinkle just enough to wet the back porch. Tomorrow we're suppose to get more rain and they are predicting it to stay around for about a week.

Larry started the day out by playing pinball. He wanted to see how the processor was working. He played Fish Tales because it uses a lot of resources in the VR room. It has a turtle swimming, a crab walking around, a dog wagging it's tail, fire going and fisherman fishing. He hadn't played this game in a long time and had fun. He also played Superman and the Justice League. Later on he played The Godfather.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Easy Street Mini of 15 games. It took me 33 minutes and 42 seconds, which put me in 25th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

We attended Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly A2 dance at 11:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. Today it was a Halloween dance and we dressed up again for Halloween. Larry danced four of the five tips with me. We had 10 participants and had a great time. 

 

Participants for the dance

 

Larry continues doing research on parts for a new computer. He did some reading.

Relaxing with a book

After lunch I worked out with Synth Riders for an hour. Then I played pinball. I played the weekly challenge of Halloween and five other games. They were Fish Tales, Superman and the Justice League, Playboy, James Bond 60th Anniversary and Theatre of Magic. I didn't get on the board but had good games.

Fish Tales

Halloween

James Bond 60th Anniversary

Playboy

Superman and the Justice League

The Theatre of Magic

In the evening we watched a movie on Amazon called Real Murders: An Aurora Teagarden Mystery. It was a Hallmark movie and was just ok. Then I watched Thor: The Dark World. Afterwards I started watching the first season of Whitstable Pearl detective series on Acorn. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

 

Monday 10-28-24 C1 Halloween Dance & Playing Games

 

Happy Monday

We started the day out by attending Di Green and Terry McCann's Weekly C1 dance. The U.K. changed their time for the fall so our dance started an hour later, which was 10:00. This week their dance theme is Halloween. Di called the five tips and Terry danced with her. We dressed in Halloween colors and some of the dancers danced up for Halloween. Amy dressed up as a hot dog. Cindy colored her face white and wore a skeleton outfit and her husband dressed up as a devil with a tail. Deborah wore a witches hat. Di was a cat with a mask with  whiskers and a witch's hat. Terry wore a cape for Dracula. Larry danced four of the tips with me. We had 16 participants. 

 

Dance participants

 

Larry played pinball. The games were NASCAR, World Joker Poker, Superman and the Justice League, Deadpool and The Godfather. He put his initials in a couple of the games. He did very well on NASCAR considering he hadn't played it in a very long time.

He has worked off and on for days trying to get World Joker Poker working correctly in VR. Yesterday a new version with a gorgeous VR room was released. Using that version and some of the things he had tried he was able to get all the lights to work. The game is really fun and the VR room is terrific.

I played the same games as Larry plus the weekly challenge of Halloween. I didn't get a new high score but had fun. When I played Superman and the Justice League and The Godfather  I entered my initials as the high score #1 in both. I had a great time.

Deadpool

Halloween

NASCAR

Superman and the Justice League

The Godfather

World Joker Poker

Below are a couple of pictures of the World Joker Poker VR room.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. I only did 29 of the games because I got stuck on the Free Cell Expert game. I tried for 3 hours, 9 minutes and 48 seconds to complete before giving up. I still came in 12th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I worked out using the Synth Riders for an hour.

I also worked on the diamond painting of the colorful eye.

In the evening we watched the movie Chicago of our movies collection. After Larry went to bed I watched Iron Man 3 out of the collection. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group. 

 

  

Sunday 10-27-24 Dancing with the Sundancers, New Challenge & More

 

 

We had a super day with a high of 91 degrees.

Larry spent part of the day researching parts to build a new computer.

My new weekly challenge is Halloween. Larry downloaded and installed it in both 2D and VR. Once he got it installed he played it to make sure it worked correctly. Then he played World Joker Poker, Willy Wonka and Superman and the Justice League.

We spent the day doing this and that. 

I worked on my diamond painting (Colorful Eye).

I played pinball. Today is the beginning of the week so my challenge changed from Maverick to Halloween. I played Maverick and got a new high score of 644,611,030, which put me in 50th place out of 61 participants. Then I played the new challenge of Halloween, my high score was 483,890, which put me in 4th place out of 4 participants. I also played Willy Wonka, Superman and the Justice League and World Joker Poker. I didn't get on the board but had a great time.

Halloween is an older game, it is from 1978. These games were known as electro-mechanical (EM) games, they used old electronic designs. The newer games use solid state electronics, they have much better sounds and far more complex playfields. We are not big fans of the older EM tables but for an EM table Halloween is really impressive. The game looks terrific and the VR room is very nice.

Maverick

Halloween

Superman and the Justice League

World Joker Poker

Willy Wonka

I worked out with the Synth Riders for an hour.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Klondike Mini of 10 games. It took me 32 minutes and 31 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group.

In the evening we went to Sun City to dance with the Sundancers for their Weekly Plus Dance. It started a half hour later because there was a conflict in the availability of the room. I baked Krusteaz cinnamon swirl crumb cake and everyone enjoyed it. We got there a little early so we watched the round dancers and said hi to people we hadn't seen for years. We had enough people for one square and five people sat out. Char and Glen showed up and we said hi, we hadn't seen them since they went back to full-time in person square dancing. They travel around the country and dance to different callers and they dance up to the level of C3A. Gary called and danced with us. He worked shopped some moves because a lot of the dancers are new plus dancers. We had a fun evening.   

Get a partner and dance

We were back at the house by 9:00. Larry read his e-mails and a forum he follows. I did my steps, which was 18,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group for the week with a total of 123,462 steps. After Larry went to bed I watched The Avengers.

Saturday 10-26-24 Dancing with Brad Caldwell, Projects & Games

 

Have a great day

We had an outstanding day.

Larry spent the day working on getting the lights to work correctly on World Joker Poker pinball game. He got them to work in 2D but couldn't get them to work in VR. He played the game afterward and became Grand Champion two times so he challenged me to the game. Marty updated a couple the games he just released (Superman and the Justice League and Willy Wonka). The other day the flippers on Goldeneye stopped working so Larry loaded up the newer version. If he has a game installed and it is working correctly he seldom installs a new version but this time he couldn't get the flippers to work. Once the new versions of the games were installed Larry played them. He had a fun afternoon playing and working on the pinball games.

Later on I played the weekly challenge game (Maverick) and the four games Larry played (World Joker Poker, Superman and the Justice League, Willy Wonka and Goldeneye). I played World Joker Poker in both 2D and VR. When playing the game in 2D it worked better because the lights work and you can see what you need to do to get points. I didn't get on the board playing pinball but had fun.

 

Goldeneye

 

Maverick

 

Superman and the Justice League

 

Willy Wonka

 

World Joker Poker

 

I worked out for an hour with the Synth Riders. I continued working on the Colorful Eye diamond painting.

 

Colorful Eye

 

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 Peaks). It took me 1 hour, 2 minutes and 8 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds. 

Last Sunday before the Sundancers' Weekly Plus dance we talked to Brad and Paula and Paula gave us a flyer about a dance called Plus U that Brad was doing. The dance was today from 7:00 to 9:00, before the dance he had a callers' workshop. We hadn't seen the dancers at the dance for years and it was great to see them again. They were happy to see us. We had enough dancers for two squares and we're shy one person to make a third square. Brad called eight tips and we had a super time. 

 

Square dancing with friends

 

We got home at 10:00, Larry checked his e-mail and then went to bed. I watched Thor from our movies collection. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

 

  

Friday 10-25-24 Dancing with Loren Smith, Harvey

 

Have a great weekend

We had a great day. 

We started the day out by doing errands. 

Our property taxes are due and if you pay them early you can save a few dollars. Here in Texas if you're 65 or older your taxes are frozen if you apply for it. We were planning to go to the Bell County Tax Assessor Office to pay them but Larry found out you can pay your taxes online, there is a small fee. If you use a credit card the fee is 3%, if you use your debt card the fee is 1% but if you use an e-check and pay directly out of your bank account the fee is only $.50 cents. Larry decided to use the e-check because it was easier than going to town.

Then we went to The UPS Store to get our mail, it has been more than a week. The next stop was Walmart to do a little grocery shopping. After shopping we went back home.

 

Doing errands

 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 29 minutes and 20 seconds, which put me in 12th place in my group. Then I moved over to play Angry Birds.

Larry finished his paper project. Then he moved on to updating some software on the pinball cabinet. 

I worked out with the Synth Riders for an hour. 

I played six different games of pinball. They were Maverick, World Joker Poker, Superman and the Justice League, Junk Yard, Metallica and The Flintstones. When playing Maverick I got a new high score for the challenge, which was 613,641,770. This moved me up one position, I'm now into 33st place out of 39 participants. I became Grand Champion in World Joker Poker and The Flintstones. I had a great afternoon of playing pinball.

 

 

 

Superman and the Justice League

 

 

Junk Yard

Maverick

Metallica

The Flintstones

World Joker Poker

 

After playing games I took a nap. When I woke up I continued working on my diamond painting of the Colorful Eye.

In the evening we attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 dance. She is still in Greece so Loren Smith filled in for her. He called four tips of A2 and one tip of C1. During the A2 tips we had 7 participants and C1 had 6 participants. We had a small group, probably because nobody sent an e-mail to remind folks about Loren calling. Even with a small group Larry and I had a great time dancing to Loren and with friends.

 

After the dance we watched Harvey starring Jimmy Stewart, it was a 1950 movie. We had not seen this movie in decades, it was still funny and very well acted. Then I watched Iron Man 2. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.