Retrogaming FTW

I bought a Sega Game Gear on Craigslist a few days ago. It was pretty cheap, nearby, and of a fairly rare color (there are few blue ones on eBay, all over $40). I think most people (myself included) base their console purchases on the games made for them; this time it's Game Gear's Sonic the Hedgehog games.

I've always loved Sonic games, ever since I played one on a Genesis back when those could still be found in Toys 'R' Us. Perhaps I don't like them as much as my brother does, but I've always had a soft spot for Sonic games, especially the original ones.

The only bad thing about the Game Gear (except for it's staggering weight) is it's battery usage. Six AA batteries for only 2 hours of gameplay is ridiculous; a rechargeable pack and adapter is a necessity.

After toying around with the Game Gear (which is about twice the weight of a DS, or 120 minifigs) a bit, I had to disassemble it to remove the dust that was on the LCD screen, but under the clear plastic covering. After about an hour of being careful not to destroy it's innards, the Game Gear's screen was nice, clean, and, surprisingly, still functional.

Ah, the simplicity of retro games. No convoluted controls (just run and jump!), no special graphics, no saving -- just pure platforming, the way it should be.

First day of school... ever.

Technically. I've been homeschooled for my entire 16-year life thus far, and today I had my first class in a public school. As I was forced into it for the "socialization", I chose a class I knew would be easy for me -- "Intro to logic". More later.

-Ryan

Himitsu-Bako

A couple years ago, my little brother got a small box from japan -- a 2 sun, 4 move himitsu-bako, to be exact. They're puzzle boxes; when closed, every edge is flush and nearly identical -- if you didn't know it was supposed to open, you'd never guess that it could.

I've tried a couple times to make a LEGO version of these special boxes. I failed the first time, due to making the box too large, and running out of parts. This time, however, I made it much smaller -- and it turned out much better.

While it's of the simplest variety of himitsu-bako, it does the job of concealing its secret well. If one stumbles upon the correct sequence of moves to allow the lid to come off, however, one will see the valuable surprise kept inside.

Yes, I made a blog. Is that so bad?

In short: yes. However, since everyone else seems to have one nowadays, I thought I'd go ahead and make one of my own. Also, Flickr isn't the best place for write-ups, and I'm not bothering with MOCPages. Now, I'm not going to take this seriously at all -- no specific topic (just generally Lego in general), no fancy setup, etc. I laugh at regular updates ("Regular updates? lol" -- see?); if you want more from me, check my Flickrstream [my own portmanteau of Flickr and Photostream (yet another portmanteau word!)] . That's where it's -- and I'm -- at.

-Ryan