Pretty self-explanatory. Stream tonight with my brother and cousin at 6 PM EDT. We think we figured out the chat problem. Please look on twitch to see what time applies to your time zone. Hope to see you there.
Tag: family
Family Storytime: Defending the Pedestal
While growing up, our town would celebrate the 4th of July in grand style. A pancake breakfast, parade, fireworks, and an exciting midway. There were a few inflatable attractions to partake. A basketball dunking contest where we connected to military recruits by bungee cord. After beating one of them, I was offered to a spot to join them which I politely declined. Next was another bungee one. Two people start attached to them with vests and they run as fast/strong as possible to place a beanie at the end of a Velcro track. Now these two were fun, but nothing beat the last one. An inflatable small arena was set up with two pedestal/platforms. Each person received a helmet and a cushioned staff to knock their opponents off.
Now, back then I was quite physically fit and still keeping up with my karate. These two factors made a marathon of others trying to defeat me. To the point where people paid me to rumble with them. Of course, I couldn’t employ the same strategies over and over again… That would be predictable and easy to counter. This led to an epic few matches since I didn’t want them to predict anything. One of my first moments, was a bout where the match wasn’t going anywhere. There needed to be a change to upset the rhythm of the fight. So, I jumped on the other person’s pedestal and pushed them off. They were sooooo annoyed and surprised by the move while trying to get the ref to side with them. However, the rule was just to stay on a pedestal and knock your opponent off. The next one was hilarious. I’d gone a few rounds with the same opponent who was annoyed at how I kept winning. They finally managed to get the staff out of my hand. I smirked at him as he tried to bat me off with a hard swing. The problem was when someone goes for a heavy attack, it was quite easy to counter it. Watching the path, I grabbed the staff on impact and pulled my opponent off the pedestal. They were shocked but gave me a high five for the tactic. At one point, I was getting really tired from the constant matches one after another. So, as they were preparing to steady themselves at the beginning of the bout, I threw the staff and knocked them off because they tried to catch it instead of blocking it. I’m very unsure what their mindset was at that moment. Made me laugh a bit too as I helped them up. However, all of these paled in comparison to my favorite moment in the ring. Her I was facing off with one of my friends. We’d done this a couple times now, and he improved after each one. So much so, he blocked every strike I gave him as I did the same. Finally, I saw an opening as our two strikes met. I slid my hand down his weapon and grabbed one of the handles. In an effort to stay on, he let go of his staff and just looked at me. I gave them a twirl as I readied myself to strike again. However, he looked at me, their hands, back at me, then jumped off the pedestal themselves. I laughed so hard I needed to sit down… Such fun times back in the day. For the record, I was undefeated.
Family Storytime: A Clown’s History
Fun fact. Did you know as a kid I debated on joining the circus and becoming a clown? No joke. I even learned how to do card tricks and make balloon animals. Why was did I want this? I was intrigued from my own family history. Turns out I came from a line of circus clowns from my grandfather’s side. They specialized in unicycle acts which amused the crowd with their antics. I learned this history when I was asked if I wanted to join a visiting circus. The ringmaster knew my grandfather and knew of my interest. I, being young, declined the offer at the time since I wanted to finish school with my friends. (What a silly decision in hindsight… so much opportunity for my future. Then again…) When I returned to my seat, I asked my grandfather why we weren’t part of it anymore. He pointed at the high wire and shook his head. In his strange way, he told me he was afraid of heights… this was shared by his children. I shook my head at the twist of fate. After all I was already known as a clown… might as well made it official.
Family Storytime: My Brother’s Title
Those who didn’t read my other story about my cousin’s title might not understand what this means. If you want the explanation, click here (https://kcjhutchins.com/2023/06/13/video-game-storytime-my-cousins-title/). Otherwise, I’m continuing on. So, I grew up playing video games with my younger brother. This, of course, meant we played a lot of co-op games since competitions would occasionally end badly. For those who’ve never played a game with someone, you might find people think very differently from you. For instance, boulders are blocking your path and your thought is to blow them up to clear the path. However, your partner thinks to jump over the rocks instead. When he was a kid, he’d always head straight to the treasure… often at my expense. There would be hordes of enemies after us, but the glitter of gold would pull him away… leaving me with the enemies.
Barely scraping by, I’d annoyingly yell for him to come back… which he’d often respond with, “We need the treasure.”
I’d remind him by saying, “We could grab it afterwards. You know once the enemies aren’t trying to kill us?”
“Oh, I’ll remember next time.” He’d always say.
While I was in high school, we played this dragon game (The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon) where we were linked. Try to pull too far away and you’d pull your partner. Surrounded, my brother went straight for the treasure. I, unable to stand my ground or really fight, soon fainted and this causes us both to lose.
He asks, “What the heck? How did you die?”
Which I responded, “I was a victim of greed.”
He laughed realizing what happened at which I joined in the revelry. However, it gets worse. Since he’d left me to fight on my own so often, I was a considerable high level… while he wasn’t. We ended up playing the stupid siege level sooooo many times due to this little hiccup. But, oh no, this isn’t what gave him his title. After all, this was too soon before the idea came to my head.
Fast forward to around myself starting college. My brother convinced me to play this Zelda game where we fight on a battlefield (I don’t remember the name). At one point in the game, you need to face three boss fighters at once. Now, they are quite far from one another at first… so you could take them down one at a time. I mean the only way they’d come together is if you lured them over. No one in the right mind would do this… right? Can you tell what happened? That’s correct… my brother purposedly lured them over to me as he went to swipe the treasures. An act of betrayal while he laughed and watched me take these down by myself. Which was working… until a boss noticed and rolled after him. The fight was much easier at that point.
When it was all over and done, I turned to him and exclaimed, “You are officially known as the Treasure Seeker, and I will remember that!”
We both were laughing our butts off from the whole thing. To this day, he continues to hunt for the treasure to stay true to his title.
Video Game Storytime: My Cousin’s Title
I’d use the previous word epithet, but I recently found the word is considered insulting now compared to the past. So, I’ll be using the word title. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s the stuff phrase after a name. Think Vlad the Impaler. In my phone, I give this to all my contacts (in good humor). My cousin earned his name while playing a round of Golden Eye. This is a James Bond game in the shooter category. On this round of play, we were at a map called Train. Its layout included a subway-like train cars on top of an incline overlooking various construction work structures. Three of us were playing: my brother, my cousin, and I. Sneaking around, I watched as my brother and cousin squared off.
Shots back and forth until my brother pulls a rocket launcher. My cousin stood in the doorway of the train car as I start to her him panic. I watched as a missile slowly inched across the screen. All the while my cousin simply saying no over and over… while not moving. I swear I could’ve made a sandwich by the time it hit. But nope… my cousin decided to watch it all the way until it hit him square in the face. My brother and I crack up laughing, followed closely by our cousin. Our controllers were put aside as we were rolling on the ground laughing. We asked him in between spurts why didn’t he take cover… He retorted with “I panicked” and “Why didn’t I take cover?!”. When we finally recovered, I discovered his title. From now on… he is known as the RPG Watcher… a title he relishes and smiles when I mention it.
KC J. Hutchins' Blog- A Journal of a Creative Creature 