Extra Life 2014 - Zadrya

Well, here we are with my third year of participating in Extra Life to this point.  :)  I have raised more money this year than the past 2 years combined, so I cannot thank you all enough for donating.  For those of you who haven't donated yet, my fundraising page is here:  Zadrya's fundraising page for Extra Life 2014.  My team's page is also up on the drop-down menu to the right of this blog post.  Unfortunately, my team has dropped off like flies, and I think I'm flying solo today.

Unfortunately, I do have to stick with the blogging, as I'm not sure how to do live streams.  Perhaps next year, that will be on the agenda.

I have had a rough week to this point--many 12+ hour days at work, a root canal on Wednesday, several days a week at the chiropractor, and my 30th birthday (ugh!), but that didn't stop me from starting up early this morning to get my gaming marathon in to this point.

I originally had planned on getting out of work around 5:30pm yesterday, but that didn't happen, so my plan to wake up at 2:30am this morning somewhat failed.  However, I did start at 6:00am this morning, and intend to make it to 6:00am tomorrow morning despite having to work.  Caffeine is a wonderful thing!

(http://www.edge-online.com/review/
borderlands-2-review/)

11:03am - The morning has been filled with frustrating attempts to play games.  Many of my PS-Network free games had expired, my Kindle battery died (so my Doctor Who game was out of the question for a while), and I had to update a few games to start to play them.  I also had one more chiropractor appointment, but was able to get away with playing some games on my phone in the meantime.  I eventually did get Borderlands 2 up and running, and that has been the staple game of the morning so far.  I actually love how they have the same feel as the first in the series--the animation style is still beautiful, and the side quests are challenging (albeit frustrating at times).  ClapTrap continues to be the comedy relief of the game, and 4 new characters are introduced.  Naturally, I'm drawn to the female psyonic character once more.

5:00pm - Still working on this game... it's done a good job at sucking me in!

7:15pm - Mmm... roast beef sandwich, mac & cheese bites, and carnage.

(http://www.digitalspy.com/)

8:35pm - Finally calling it quits on Borderlands 2... I've hit a point where I just keep dying, so I'm gonna switch over to my Doctor Who: Legacy game on the Kindle for a little bit of brainless gaming for a bit.  It's essentially one of those gem-swapping games, but each set of colors triggers an attack with your party of Doctor Who characters.

11:40pm - With a little over 6 hours to go, this is usually the point I start to lose some steam... I wish I had a game like The Sims to just suck me in... I remember many nights in college playing for 5 hours, but having it only feel like 5 minutes.  Since my roommate has fallen asleep on the couch, I have returned to my room to do my work on the PS3 or XBox... depending on what game I end up wanting to play.  Right now, it's looking like I might give Borderlands 2 another go.

Update as of 10/31/14 @10:49pm - I kept meaning to return to this to post my final update... but passed out pretty much right at 6:00am right at the end of the event.  I was so tired that I barely even had the focus to turn off the Playstation!  I'm surprised this year that two games kept me focused for so long.

I'm hoping that next year, I can bring in more of my friends to join in the gaming and fundraising.  :)  That's right--I'm coming after all of you guys!  I don't care where you live--there's such a thing as the internet.  Tyler, we've gotta finish Ibb & Obb... Jeff and Jenn, we've got Cards Against Humanity and Arkham Horror.

With that being said, I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who donated this year--my friends from Ross University (Beth and San-San... on a technicality ;) ), co-workers (Amber and Linsey), family (Aunty Betsy and my mom), and everyone at my mom's office (Andler Bottle Company).  I've raised far more than my goal--a grand total of $560 for this year.  That's $953 since I've started participating back in 2012!  That's more than I did in the previous two years combined.  I can't thank you all enough for donating to the charity, and blowing my previous fundraising years out of the water.  Here's to another successful year--I wish you all the best!

 - Nicole (Zadrya)