It’s really starting to feel like spring. This week I started running with short-sleeve tops which is a first for the season. Speaking of running, I only have 2 weeks before the BMO Vancouver Half-Marathon. I did a 20km peak run today and felt quite strong. Now I just have to taper before race day. I’m not expecting a great time as my speed hasn’t been there in months (given I was training for a much longer distance) but I should still be able to come in under 2 hours. After this race I’ll keep my mileage moderate while focusing on getting my speed back up.
I’m having tons of fun roller skating. My skates have fully broken in and I don’t have to think about them anymore. Melinda got her skates on Thursday and on Saturday we went to Central City Arena for their public skate. Oh my was it ever fun. The skating surface there is a dream. I spent the full 2 hours skating and didn’t want to leave when the public skate was over. What is really awesome is that the Terminal City Rollergirls have their practice directly after the public skate so they start showing up near the end. I chatted briefly with one of them as we skated around the rink.
Melinda was doing far better on skates than I expected! After never being on skates of any kind in her life she started taking ice-skating lessons in March. She was able to apply the skills she’s learned to roller-skates and I was really proud to see her skating away from the boards. Everyone at Central City Arena was so nice to her, giving her tips and advice as she worked so hard. I can’t wait till next weekend when we get to go back for another public skate. To be honest, if they had a public skate every-night I’d probably go.
Ludum Dare #17 is next weekend so it’s time to dust off my game-making skills. I’ve been pretty stagnant with game development since GDC mostly due to work sucking all my intelligence. It’s been a rough month at work so I haven’t had the spare brain cycles needed when I come home to work on personal projects. I’m looking forward to dedicating a weekend to a small 48hr game. I’ll be using the Flixel library along with Flash Builder this time around which will make my work-flows far more efficient than last time around. Looking back I can’t believe I built Echo Explorer from scratch in the Flash IDE.
On the Game Playing side I finished off Dragons Age: Awakening about a week after release. I quite enjoyed the 12hrs I got out of this expansion.I hope Bioware does more of these sorts of expansions to Dragons Age and Mass Effect: 2. Now a days I’m working my way through Final Fantasy XIII. I’m enjoying it! I haven’t finished a Final Fantasy since FF7 and unfortunately I don’t know if I’ll get through this one. It’s just such a long haul. Anyway, I’m about 15hrs in, really enjoying the battle system, and Lightning is such an awesome bad-ass character.
In 2 weeks we’re heading to Disneyland with Melinda’s family (including our niece and nephew). I can’t wait to take the kids on all the awesome rides! We’re leaving for the week-long trip the day after the half-marathon. I’m totally looking forward to this vacation!
