Ice Fishing, Bowling, and Deus Ex

So Monday, when we were supposed to go ice fishing, we didn't due to the weather. Lemme tell you, there has been a lot of bad weather lately. It prevented me from going to the specialist last week, and it did delay us from going ice fishing. So instead of going ice fishing on Monday, we went bowling instead.

I'm going to be honest with you all--I really, really, really suck at bowling. For those of you that know a lot about bowling, the highest score I attained was a 52. My boyfriend, Christopher, is much better at it. He picks on me a bit about it, but I don't mind.


So yesterday we went ice fishing. With Christopher's family, ice fishing is an all-day affair, from dawn to dusk. Fortunately for my frozen fingers, we didn't get on the lake until about 10 am. Once we got everything in order, everyone sat down and started fishing. It was raining continuously, so later on Christopher and I got out the two man shanty and used that to keep ourselves from the weather. For those of you unfamiliar with ice fishing terms (as I was recently), a shanty is basically a tent adapted for ice fishing. It keeps out the rain and snow and other bad weather.


For lunch, we had hot dogs on the ice. Apparently Christopher's mother usually cooks on the ice with a camp stove, but we didn't. Instead she cooked them beforehand and put them in a really insulated thermos. With some chips and soda, you have a makeshift fishing lunch right there. Chris's mom says hot dogs on the ice taste like steak. She's partially right.

As for the amount of fish... Well, everyone fished a lot. Christopher's mother fished the most--she had a whole five gallon pail by the end of the day. Chris and I fished together and caught about a quarter of a pail, and Chris's father caught about the same amount.

On the lake we fished, we caught a bunch of sunfish, bluegills, and a few perch. I promised photos, didn't I? There's one of me there on the right, and I'm holding one of the perch I caught. We were inside the shanty at the time, that's why the background looks all blue and shiny. Almost like I'm underwater. I think that's a really neat effect. Even though I was freezing and my hands kept swelling from the cold, I really did have a good time. Ice fishing is a lot like regular fishing--the only differences are the cold and the fact you use shorter poles (called jigging poles). That and you don't have to drill holes in ice in the summer!


I would like to talk about one more thing before I close this post. I've been playing the original Deus Ex game for the computer the past couple days. It's really the best shooter/RPG I've got my hands on for a really long time. I like RPGs in general, so adding the stealth, excitement, and thrill of a shooting game to an already good RPG like Deus Ex was really a good choice. The graphics are, of course, a bit choppy (much like Summoner for the PS2), but graphics don't matter when the gameplay is as amazing as this. When I finish the game, I will have a review on this blog.


I am leaving to go back to school in a couple of days. I don't want to go just yet, but I'm sure I'll have fun at the conference and I'll get back into the learning mode when classes start next week.