"The? That's pretty cool."

The group is gathered around the television, engrossed by the movie Space Balls. This week, the group consists of Star Lord, Mr. Piccolo, Rocket, Guy, and Van winkle. The dress is still the same within the group. Each guy wears a shirt of something they like and wears either pants or black slacks with their shirt. The movie is almost over. The group does not really talk right now because they are too focused on the interesting parts of the movie.

After a few minutes of laughter then silence between the group, Rocket begins to go through his Vanguard cards. I assume that they are new considering he has never been seen with these cards before. Rocket mentions that he has built a new deck and would like to try it out. Star Lord said he brought his deck and would gladly battle with Rocket. At this point, the movie is over and the group splits up again. Rocket and Star Lord move over to the opposite side of the store to play Vanguard while Mr. Piccolo, Guy, and Van winkle stay on the side of the store that has the television. I join Star Lord and Rocket with the intent to see if more personality traits come out from playing the game.

Rocket has a cyber-demon deck that he recently built while Star Lord has a Jewel Knight deck that I believe he has had for a while. Before the game has even started, it is clear that Star Lord is a superior player. Star Lord’s deck has sleeves to prevent the cards from being damaged while Rocket’s deck does not. Star Lord is also better at shuffling his deck; Rocket struggles with the shuffling. As the two play the game, Star Lord has to remind Rocket of the rules. However, Star Lord does not seem to mind this. Even though it is clear that Star Lord is the superior player and has the ability to completely destroy Rocket within the game, he does not. Star Lord seems more interested in Rocket learning how to play the game and wanting for him to have fun rather than the game being about himself having another victory under his belt.

As Star Lord and Rocket are playing, Mr. Piccolo, Van winkle, and Guy stay near the cash register. This is because a few customers have actually came in to the toy store and purchased a few items. The three guys mainly talk about their usual topics: the store owners, how their week has been, comic books, movies, and things of that nature. After it is obvious that no more customers are coming in to the store, the three guys move over to the side of the store that Star Lord, Rocket, and I are on.

The first game ends between Star Lord and Rocket. Star Lord is the victor, but he does not take any pride in it. He merely brushes it off and asks if Rocket wants to play again. Rocket agrees and the two start another game. The other three guys continue to talk among each other with Star Lord and Rocket occasionally voicing their opinion on the subject. The second game ends with Star Lord once again being the victor.

Rocket asks for another game, but with himself using a different deck this time. Star Lord agrees. About halfway through the game, Rocket makes a comment saying he would be able to win if Star Lord did not have this powerful Grade 3 card. Star Lord then says he had no intention of building such a powerful deck. He merely wanted to build that deck because the characters on the card looked cool. Star Lord also mentions that his deck is one of the most expensive decks to build, but he only spent half of the money that it’s actually worth on it. Mr. Piccolo asks how much the deck is worth. Star Lord said that the deck is worth $150, but he only spend $70 on buying cards to build the deck. Star Lord takes some pride in his comment, but then quickly dismisses that pride to focus on the game again.

The final game ends with Star Lord being the victor. Rocket says he would have been able to won if he had better Grade 3 cards, but Star Lord quickly says “In the anime, they show that you don’t have to have a Grade 3 to win. All you need is a good strategy and some luck”. Rocket seems touched by Star Lords comment. Rocket then mentions that he has to go get some food for his wife and leaves the toy store. The final four members of the group say that they will also leave and say their goodbyes. They all tell each other to be careful driving home and that they will see each other next week to play Hero Clix. 

Weekend at the lake

This weekend I went up to the lake for a fraternity retreat with a bunch of friends. Getting up there was quite the hassle because apparently finding the correct beach isn't as easy as one would think. As I arrived I noticed how unbearably hot it was, there wasn't a cloud in sight. I noticed everyone in my party putting sunscreen on so I lathered as much as I could without making myself look whiter than I am and plunged into the refreshing water.

After my swim I came out of the water and noticed the two English members of our Fraternity playing with a football (soccer ball) on the beach, I gladly joined them and was quickly shown up by their superior skills that they had learned as young lads whereas I had just started to pick the game up.

After my miserable failure of trying to dance with the ball at my feet I decided to take a seat and get some sun, giving me the opportunity to observe my brothers, hanging out and having a good time. After a while I decided to try and catch some dinner casting for some fish. After a couple hours of nothing but nibbles and false hope for a fish I noticed the guys got the fire pit ready and I was starving.

Thankfully I didn't put all my eggs in one basket when it came to the food, I brought traditional campfire foods, Hot dogs, burgers, beans, and smores,  After dinner we had a ceremony for the new members.

Toy Store!

Heat runs throughout the toy store. The door is slightly open in hopes of letting some cool air come in. However, the only thing that does come in are the conversations of people heading to the bar next door.  There are five people in the toy store. Star Lord, Mr. Piccolo, Rocket, Lunch box, and myself. The store lacks other customers due to the store being past closing time. Star Lord, Mr. Piccolo, Rocket, and I sit on one side of the store while Lunch Box sits on the opposite side, having no desire to be a part of the group. The dress of the people is very casual. Star Lord has on a Blazblue shirt with black slacks. Mr. Piccolo wears a Legend of Zelda shirt with jeans. Rocket has a plain shirt with cargo shorts. Lunch Box has a blue collared shirt with jean shorts.

The activities of the group mainly consist of talking. They jump from subject to subject as one member is reminded of something else. The topics include how their week has been, the incompetent store owners, different toy stores in the city, different people who have been a part of this group but are not currently here, and of course comic books and games. Mr. Piccolo, who works at the store, mentions the store is having a sale for Labor Day weekend and shows Star Lord and Rocket the things that are on sale. Star Lord asks if the Vanguard cards are on sale. Mr. Piccolo does not care and sells them anyways, figuring it is better to sell them and make some money for the store rather than have them sit on the shelf.

Star Lord buys most of the Vanguard cards while Rocket buys the rest. They open up their packs and sort through the cards, giving each person the cards they desire. Star Lord wants the Angel Feather cards, Mr. Piccolo wants the Nova Grappler cards, and Rocket wants the cyborg demon cards. Angel Feather are cards that have angels that are nurses on them. Nova Grappler are cards that have giant robot fighters. Perhaps the cards they want are a reflection of their personality and the other things they like besides the cards.

After sorting through the cards, Star Lord builds a deck for Rocket and teaches him how to play. This is done by actually playing a game with each other. Star Lord seems to know the most about the card game since he was the one who knew all of the rules and knows most of the cards. Mr. Piccolo stays off to the side, mentioning that he is not feeling well.  Lunch Box continues to sit on the opposite side of the store. While playing Vanguard, Star Lord starts to tell stories about the weird eating habits of Lunch Box to Rocket.

Mr. Piccolo says that he is going to leave due to him not feeling well. The group says their good byes by everyone hugging one another. Mr. Piccolo and Lunch Box leave in the same car, while Star Lord and Rocket leave in separate cars. The group says they will see each other next week at around the same time.

Upkeep

It just turned evening as everyone gathered in the warm shop that was filled with fans fighting against the hot air. There is many people ranging from mostly middle aged men to a few kids. There was only one person working who I assumed to be the owner. I can only imagine how he was going to handle the many people in his shop. However he seemed more focus on refilling the fridge with drinks and snacks then the people.

Slowly he took players names one by one and added them into the tournament roster, not paying to the kids asking for the cards that were displayed in the display cases. When everyone was placed on the Roster, he did roll call, like how a teacher would to his students on the first day of school. When the games started, everyone was engaged against their opponents, and volume of the players decreased and the shop was more quiet.

A blond teenage boy lost his match but it didn't seem to affect him much. He went up to the counter and asked the owner if he could purchase a certain card. He seemed like a regular since he knew the owner's name without asking for it. A little boy then came up which I assumed to be his little brother since they looked a little identical. Soon after  problem occurred, the Teenager was down one dollar. His little brother offered him some money in exchange for his snack. Before the teenager had a chance to respond the owner told him that he had exactly one dollar in store credit. The little brother then became upset since he wanted his brother's snack and he wasn't going to get it anymore.

Time passed and large man got up and few of his (which I assume) buddies as well, and they all walked out of the shop for a smoke. They seemed a little angry, probably because they lost or they just really needed a smoke. Meanwhile the owner was taking a break and was eating a cheese pizza. One thing I notice is that most of the middle aged men knew each other in a way. Even the ones form Las Cruces knew the men from Alamogordo and El Paso. They refer to each other as nerds even though they clearly were themselves.

As things started to wrap up, The blond teenage boy's mother walked in to give him his lunch money. It seemed though the teenager had an obsession since he would rather spend his lunch money on cards. Some people stayed after the first tournament was done, because another tournament was started and I was told that this one usually ends at 5:00 am in the morning or when the sun starts rising. These people seemed very dedicated and passionate in the game.

Different card tournaments are held here, maybe the people are different as well.

Duck Duck Goose!

Driving to a local school for an observation learning I needed for one of my classes on the university I am having different thought processes and what I will be seeing in the next few hours that I haven't before. I am calm, excited, and curious as to what I will be observing and how I will do as a viewer of the classroom. As I drive it brings back memories when I was a young adolescent in school and they type of things I would learn and what different personalities I would be around. At that point in time in my own life I had a lot of fun. So I wondered how things would be now that I am on the other side of the "fence" being a observation learner for my future job. As I began to walk into the school office with my other classmates from the university we had small talk as we walked and were pretty much wondering the same type of things that were lying ahead of us. How will they react to us? Will they like me? Is this what I really want to do? With all of that thought process in our minds we get ready to walk in the building and as we begin to check in the main office we all encounter Mr. Head Hancho and Mrs. Superwoman.

Mr. Head Hancho greets all of us and welcomes us to his school, he gave a really quick introduction and stormed out of the building because he had a meeting to go to. Mrs. Superwomen better known as the vice principle of the school also welcomes us and takes us into a conference room. We all briefly talk about what might happen and she talked about how excited she was for us and how things ran at her school. In all honest we were all eager to go outside and into our designated classrooms at this point.

We all took a brief tour of the school and noticed how different classes were. I immediately thought that this was not how it used to be when I was in school. Things were much different, such as the clothing the technology and how school spirited they all were.

I was assigned two partners for the first day so each of us could be together and introduce ourselves to the classroom and greet the students. We all walk to the classroom and are each excited to see what we are all going to be seeing and learning with our time needed to be spent here at the school.

I knock on the door and Mrs. Teacher opens the door and greets all of us. She was extremely enthusiastic to see us. She made it seem as if she had known us for quite sometime, and not as if we were complete strangers. The first class was about to be let out and they all were happy to see us, but sort of bummed because their class period was ending and they had to leave to another class. We did some quick introductions to them and told them why we were there. They immediately began to ask us questions. ShaggyHair asked me "Do you like football?" I quickly responded "Yes". The bell rang and the kids stormed out of the class, each of them yelling BYE!!!

We takled with Mrs. Teacher and she discussed what she would be doing this next class. We patiently waited and before we knew it the next bunch of kids began to come in and greet us as well.

I looked around the room and immediately noticed the different personalities the kids had and how they acted amongst one another. I saw some kids talk to us fairly quickly, and some students avoided us because they seemed really shy.

I walked around the class introducing myself to the students as they were doing a quick warm up for this Social Studies class. The classroom was "alive" noise was surrounding the room by these kids. I liked the environment. Mrs. Teacher began to take roll for her class.

Quickly after that she walked around her class and put her hand over some students saying Duck, Duck, Duck... Goose! Seahawk(wearing a Russell Wilson jersey) was called upon. Mrs. Teacher said "Seahawk, what is the state capital of NM? "SANTA FE!" he said loudly. "Good job Seahawk" said Mrs. Teacher.

She kept walking around. Duck....Duck......Duck....Goose!! "Okay Cheerleader, what standard time zone are we in?" Cheerleader said "Mountain Standard Time" The class was extremely alive. I was immediately impressed with how engaged the students were and believe it or not they were eager to be the "Goose" and get called. That simple game of Duck Duck Goose had the students eager and energetic.

Unfortunately our time came to an end for the day, and we had to head back to the university. The classroom continued to do their work and we said bye quick and left the room and said "we'll see you soon".