Gunslinger Gaming

The following interview originally started a few months ago and was intended to accompany the Gunslingers 5 year anniversary celebration. Aligning the interview of Freddy with said celebration made sense. Freddy, otherwise known as bigfreddy or TripleF, has been with the rest of us for quite sometime, traveling with the clan across multiple games and even consoles. Life is the cleverest of pitchers and, due to some curve-balls slung Freddy’s and his family’s way, the discussion had to be postponed until now. Please, readers, join me as we learn more about a long time member and dear friend to many members, bigfreddy.

GS: You originally joined the Gunslingers back in October, 2008. To put that in perspective, we were all communicating back on the original GS site then. We weren’t exactly easy to find at the time, either. How was it that you ever came across the group, and what made you decide to join the Gunslingers? Do you remember who you first gamed with after joining?

bigfreddy: I had recently managed to get online with my Wii and was enjoying online racing so much I thought I might join a clan. I had signed up on mariokartwii.com (when the site admin wasn’t full of douchebag spineless hacker wannabees..lol) and looked through their clan recruiting threads. Most of the clans seemed to be little kids who took the whole thing WAY too seriously. Being a teacher I didn’t want to hang around with kids. I have enough of them at work, coupled with the fact that it would be just weird.

I was looking for an adult-only clan, and Gunslingers popped up from the search. The rest, as they say, is history.

I believe the first people I gamed with was Vykk Drago, Thorny, LilBev, Korchie, Balki, yourself (Murph), Worcester Rob, Forming, Jethro and Bennet Tilapaugh also seem to ring a bell.

GS: Extremely few active members can have the global perspective in regards to the evolution of the Gunslingers as you. What are some of the most striking changes that have occurred here that, maybe, people who have joined after you may not be aware?

bigfreddy: The clan was so small back then compared to now. You would go into chat and know everyone there. In fact, because the Wii had such a poor friend request system, the GS chat was the only way to communicate with other clan members.

It was fun, Friday nights used to be the BIG event. Everybody would be on, and because the site revolved around one system and one game (MKWii) we could have 2/3 rooms going at one time , all full of 12 GS members. One of the biggest changes is the way the site operates. It is huge and amazing compared to how it used to be.

As many people will be aware, I don’t use the forums much, mainly because I just don’t have the time, anymore. However, the games and topics that are now available are astounding and a great credit to yourself, the site admin and the contributing members of GS.

GS: Let’s take a trip down memory lane. The following is the exact quote from the registration information you provided when first joining:

“Interests/Hobbies:Walking the dogs, flying my kite, spending quality time with the wife, taking the piss out of my friends and Logging on to NASA’s Website.

Brief Bio:
Left Uni in the late 90′s, studied Applied Chemistry, but most of my uni mates will say I studied Mariokart and Super Mario World instead. Worked as R&D chemist. Now in education.”

How much of the above information is still reverent to your life now days? And, Freddy? Flying your kite? Really?

bigfreddy: Well, the “Brief Bio” is still fairly accurate, but I would need to add “Proud Father, zombie slayer and occasional pwner of Noobs on CoD”.

I have a kite in the boot/ trunk of my car still …. so, really Murph, I do still fly it ….infrequently..lol. I would need to add “Playing with and educating my son Theo (aged 3), going to the park and gardening”.

Some things change and some things stay the same, like me taking the piss out of my friends, Murph …. lol

GS: There was a segment of time when you took a break from the Gunslingers and gaming in general to support your wife during her pregnancy. What are some of rewards and challenges of fatherhood that you didn’t necessarily expect? Can you give an example how your son is clearly taking after his father?

bigfreddy: That time was sadly due to the unexpected arrival of Theodore, our son. Why sadly you ask? Well, he was born premature because my wife, Sammie, had a placental abruption, and I nearly lost them both. It was a very worrying and then ecstatic time for us both. He was 3 lbs 7ozs when he was delivered by emergency C-section.

Rewards:- When he looks me in the eye and says “lub you Daddy”, running to greet me after I get home from work, his first milestones in talking, crawling and walking, the list is endless.

Challenges:- Changing and burping such a small baby, he was like a little doll ; Having to take him to A&E (ER) because he went blue through crying when he had colic at 2.5 months old ; Having to wait 4 weeks to get him home as he was in special care ; Screaming to get his own way (doesn’t happen often but it still does happen…. thank goodness almost never in public) ; Puking on me …I have an irrational and pathological fear of vomit ….I can’t stand it. He puked on me two nights ago…..and I just whined for Sammie to come and take him off of me ….lol.

Poo and wee :- Not a problem, as a baby he projectile pooed and wee’d on me many times …it was funny, I didn’t bat an eyelid, but puke……urrghh…lol.

Theo takes after me in quite a few ways … He likes gaming…..He makes sackboy jump up and down on LBP and says jump, then laughs. He also likes toy cars. Oddly enough, I have also rediscovered my love of playing with toys cars and going “brummmmmmm, brrrrummm, rrrrrrrrr (Brakes squealing)” …lol. He also is a bit of an adrenaline junkie….like I used to be before I got fat…lol, He also likes using the “….” key instead of a comma ….

GS: You are a teacher of science. How did you first figure out that you had such a passion for science? What do you find most fascinating about it, and what article of scientific trivia still proverbially blows your mind that you can share with the rest of us?

bigfreddy: Ever since I was a kid and allowed to mess about with mercury and actually touch it (something that health and safety no longer allows), science has always interested me. The fact that it CAN actually answer many of the questions that plagued me as a child also helped; i.e.: How did we get here? Where are we? What causes night and day? What happens when we die? Obviously the last one (and maybe the first one, too, for the creationists..lol) is contentious. I’d say rotting and a good time will be had by bacteria everywhere….lol. There are many things that “blow my mind” about science.

There are three that I will share with you. All of them are quotes by the great Carl Sagan:

The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.

Atoms are mainly empty space. Matter is composed chiefly of nothing.

This was Carl’s speech when Voyager’s cameras were finally turned around and A “Portrait” of the solar system was taken. Our planet was smaller than one pixel. Man, that guy had a way with words.

Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.

Finally, this is a clip I show to the kids at school to get them to realize the vastness of the universe:

Science is truly the greatest pursuit that humankind has ever undertaken. (That’s my quote…lol)

GS: Anyone who has gamed with you can testify that good times have been had. For example, you have been known to wander off to grab another brew or take a needed smoke break…sometimes in the middle of the match. These moments can lead to hilarious times. Can you tell us about one of your personal favorite moments while gaming?

bigfreddy: Many times I have to wander off after getting crawlers on BO Zombies, and I come back and my bro, Mr. Richard Lazer (Dick Lazer) is standing over my soon to be cold corpse. “Bro the crawler died, you went down, blah blah I’ll try and save ya.”

The one that sticks in my mind though I was playing with Dick, the Docs and Tick….I think GS4thMason was there too and others. We were playing sticks and stones. I come back from a smoke to find that EVERYONE is lined up in two rows all aiming at me. I am on mute and I can hear them laughing. I think about what to do and then just fire my crossbow. I dunno how many I took out….only that I was dead very soon after.

GS: Recently, your news in regards to your wife being diagnosed as having breast cancer has made us all collectively pause. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family during these trying times. Are there any updates or thoughts you can share with the rest of us?

bigfreddy: I have been meaning to update the thread I posted for a while, but it has been just too much emotional for me to do. Sammie has had her mastectomy and is coping with losing her breast very well now. She was obviously quite upset at first, saying that they have “butchered me”. Now she uses a prothesis to go out and she feels absolutely fine.

The chemotherapy has been rough, though. She has been quite poorly and has had some touch-and-go moments with her white blood cell count being so low and getting infections. So far, she had had Bladder and kidney infections, pneumonia, gastric flu, and been 4 hours away from total organ failure. We have been back and forth to the hospital quite a lot recently.

Sammie is halfway through her chemo now. Her nails and the rest of her hair will go after the next treatment. She is coping, and we are still laughing at life. But it is hard sometimes. Especially when putting it in print.

To those people who don’t know me very well, I may seem a bit sweary and aggressive when playing online. This is currently my release valve and opportunity to vent my pent up anger and rage at the injustice of it all.

Sammie is a good person who has never harmed a soul and always worked her whole life, who desperately wanted to be a mother. It seems that there is no justice in the world, that just three years after the difficult birth of our son, at the age of 42, after being told she would never conceive naturally (which she did), she is diagnosed with breast cancer.

Her odds are an 81% chance she will live 10 years. Theo will be 13 in ten years. Further thoughts or words aren’t necessary. I just can’t contemplate that possible future. It is just too awful, not just for me but for our little boy.

GS: You reside in the UK, but more specifically, where? Do you have any locally bound interests that keep your attention?

bigfreddy: I live in Royal Lytham St.Annes, more specifically in St.Annes on the Sea. Any golfers amongst the clan will recognise the name as The Open was recently held here. I live about a ten minute walk from the course. I didn’t go because the price was ridiculously high just to gain access to the course.

I could watch it all in glorious HD, and I am not that interested in golf, though I do play infrequently.

My main interests lie in going to the park I “inhabited” as a child and taking my son around it, playing football (soccer), and taking him on the swings and slides. We also teach him about nature, and it is fun watching him explore by himself. There are plenty of tourist attractions that we have and can go to, as St.Annes and the neighboring toilet of a town Blackpool is well known for it’s tourist attractions. We don’t go often as we like to get away from crowds of people and get some piece and quiet.

GS: Not too long ago, you had a real life get together with a few other English Gunslingers. Who was involved, and what do you all do? It is reasonable to believe that it may have been awkward at first. Was it? What broke the ice, sort of speak?

bigfreddy: We got together in Blackpool. We went to the Pleasure Beach, which is a Theme park, which for a while had the tallest rollercoaster in the world.

Dave and Becs Gosling (goz007boyz & ss007mums) and Steve Shaw (GS SteveUK) and their children (Harry, Mia and Matthew). You would probably think that it was awkward, but we have been playing together for over 2 years and had been talking on a daily basis almost for over a year. So after a bit of “you look different to your photographs” it wasn’t awkward at all. In fact, we invited them all to our house and ate dinner together and played the new maps for BO that had been released that day.

We also met again this year. Sadly, Sammie wasn’t well enough to join in on the first two days they were here, and we sadly missed out on seeing Steve, Emma and Matthew this time.

However, we went out for a meal with Dave, Becs, Harry, Mia and baby Mason. Then they came over to our house the following day, and we went for lunch and a shell hunting expedition on the beach. We had a great time. Theo loves babies and older children. Mia and Harry were excellent with him and played with him like he was their little brother. No, from our experience meeting GS’sers is a good thing. Just got to organise a trip to the States to meet some people. Richard and Lee, family Freddy is a coming…….Well, sometime in the near future. Hopefully.

GS: Most importantly, what is your favorite drink?

bigfreddy: Jamaica’s finest : Red Stripe Lager Beer is my favourite tipple. That and Dr. Pepper, Barcardi and Coke, Vodka and Coke, JD’s and Coke….lol…. the list is endless…..Oh, I forgot Southern Comfort and Coke or lemonade…..lol.

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions. We are honored to count you as a member and a friend. Fellow Gunslingers, if you would like to leave your best wishes to Freddy and his family, you are invited to do so in the “Sammie’s Get Well Thread.”

Whether you have run across Merky Water in chat, in game, or on the Gunslingers Forums, you probably noticed he is a friendly and interesting person with whom to swap ideas. He has been sporting the GS tags since December 28th, 2010, and it is high tide..er..I mean, high time that we learn more about Merky Water! Please forget the lame pun and join us in reading an interview about him below!

GS: You joined the Gunslingers on the final days of 2010. What game drew you to here, and what was your first memory in regards to gaming with another member?

Merky Water: CoD: Black Ops. First CoD title the Wii had with in-game comms. The day after Christmas, the amount of screaming youngsters on the headset was enough to get me looking for a way to mute them. The solution: Gunslingergaming!

GS: In the “How’d You Get Your Name?” thread, you mention that your username is, in part, a reference to working on a river. What is your line of work, and what do you enjoy about it the most? Speaking of rivers, what state is said river in?

Merky Water: Ha. I say a lot in that thread but the river aspect is a bit of the truth. I work at a canoe, raft and kayak livery that operates on the Delaware River. As I love the outdoors, this job appealed as at least 90% is under an open sky. I love kayaking the river and while work requires it from time to time, the type of paddling I enjoy most occurs on my days off. We have a few campgrounds as well but the river work is the draw for me. Interaction with various customers is also usually a plus. But as others in the Recreation business know, even with 95% of the people being pleasant, that other 5% can be so difficult smiles can wander off my face… but then I remember the other 95% and carry on my day! The river flows through a few states, but the area we operate on is where it borders NY and PA and later NJ and PA considered “The Upper Delaware.”

GS: The word on the virtual street is that you have a mean Netflix addiction. What tends to be your genre of choice? What have been some of your favorite “rentals” thus far?

Merky Water's current signature in the forums.

Merky Water: Much to my girlfriend’s dismay, Documentaries are my favorite genre when on Netflix. Ken Burns docs being the best by far. National Parks: America’s Best Idea being my favorite and Baseball being second. Also, nice to catch up on TV shows I either missed nostalgically or missed in existence. The TV show “Life” slipped by me somehow. Arrested Development was good to finally watch, too. Would have been a loyal fan almost to the extent I am of The Office and 30 Rock had I but known.

GS: Since joining, you have convinced your significant other (known around these parts as “Liz_Lemon20“) to also join GS. How did that come about, and are there any games that you both enjoy playing? Has this created a new dimension over who gets rights to the television?

Merky Water: Liz thought I was a bit odd to be playing games as much as I do let alone with ‘strangers.’ Just before MW3 hit, her sister-in-law talked her into trying BO and she fell in love. From there, she started realizing the benefits of an online gamer community. Now, she and I keep trying to nudge her brother and sis-in-law to join the ranks. Liz and I also enjoy bowling and playing You Don’t Know Jack together. The big TV (although mine) is hers when she’s here and rarely would I put up a fight as I already know the winner.

GS: Being a Wii player, I must ask. What are your initial impressions on the WiiU, and do you think you will be purchasing it?

Merky Water: I think I might. It looks very interesting. I honestly thought I was done with console gaming since my N64. Had a friend not talked me into trying his Wii, I would have dismissed it as well. But the motion controls got me hooked. Locating one around launch may prove the issue. I may get one of the other next gen consoles as well if they start to embrace the motion controls they hesitantly started to try.

GS: Okay. Let’s pretend that the controllers need to be recharged. What are some other interests of yours that keep you busy?

Merky Water: Rechargeable AAs are in good supply and I almost always try to keep an extra wiimote with fresh in arm’s reach… But aside from gaming, I enjoy running, cross-country skiing, biking, hiking, rafting(aka drinking as we float) and my favorite: kayaking.

GS: A band of GS members jump into a DeLorean and travel back into time to see what 80′s child version of Merky Water would be doing. What were some of your favorite toys? Cartoons?

Merky Water: Depending the year, watching Fraggle Rock, Voltron or Thundercats, and running around the neighborhood keeping my parents on their toes. “Toys” would largely be Legos, Playmobile, Matchbox cars, Micro Machines and water-guns that showed the least resemblance to guns (overprotective mother ). For the record, I do not consider Legos a toy, but I realize the department they are placed in retail stores.

GS: The world is going to be hit by a comet because Bruce Willis wasn’t a qualified astronaut, after all. What would you do on the final day of Earth? (Pretty morbid, huh?)

Merky Water: Kayak the rivers and streams and enjoy the sights. Even the streaming comet through the blue sky.

GS: We had a couple silly questions, so let’s talk a bit more seriously. What is something you personally regard as important to lead a fulfilling life?

Merky Water: Nature. We humans can make a lot of ‘improvements’ and while comfortable to work and live in, mother nature is second to none as a decorator.

GS: What is your favorite drink?

Merky Water: mixed: Bushmills and Ginger
beer: Yuengling (lager or black&tan)
straight: Bushmills (…or most any whiskey on hand when that runs dry)

Thank you, Merky Water for taking the time to sit down with us. If you would like to read more about him or swap gaming contacts with him, feel free to find him in the forums or chat.

It is only fitting that our dear friend, Fist_of_Metal, is April’s GS Member Spotlight. We all got the opportunity to celebrate another birthday with him, seeing as he has been a member since August 18th, 2009. In fact, Fist_of_Metal first represented himself on a Gunslinger Master List with the Nintendo Wii’s Conduit, and, in April 2011, its sequel, Conduit 2, became the newest addition to the roster of featured games at Gunslinger Gaming. Spanning between those two games, Fist_of_Metal has been slinging the guns in various games, on various consoles with the rest of us. GS took a moment to sit down and get to know our friend with the following interview:

GS: You joined the Gunslingers back in August 2009. How did you first hear of the clan, and what games are you playing now days?

Fist_of_Metal: I registered in a forum at http://www.nintendowiipals.com, looking for gaming buddies on The Conduit. It all seemed a little…kiddish for me. I remember seeing the post about Gunslingergaming and thinking that is kind of a lame name. Then I read on to find out it was an adult only clan. So I checked it out and it was exactly what I wanted and more than expected. Well, I’m going to pick up my copy of Conduit 2, so that’s what I’m playing these days.

GS: While it is a given that you like gaming, you are also an anime fan. What are some of your all time favorite anime series/movies, and what was the series that first got you interested in anime?

Fist_of_Metal: My all time favorite series has to be Yu-Yu Hakusho, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood was also very good. The first anime I watched was Dragon Ball Z, the original series, English subbed.

GS: You have been interested in Mario Kart Wii, MAG, and Call of Duty among others, which demonstrates a keen interest in multiple gaming genres. With that in mind, what was the very first game you ever owned, and in what ways do you think any childhood gaming has influenced your tastes today?

Fist_of_Metal: Well, the first game I owned was Mario Kart 64. I remember using that big steering wheel to play Mario Kart, it was awesome. I didn’t own but played my big brothers Genesis/Nintendo/SNES. I played most of the games he didn’t like Shining Force 2 and Secret of Evermore, two Role Playing Games that got me hooked on the genre.

GS: Being a zombie fan, what zombie horror films do you find as the best examples of that sub-genre of cinema?

Fist_of_Metal: Land of the Dead

GS: As stated above, we know you are a fan of gaming, zombie horror, and anime. What is another interest or hobby do you have that would surprise us?

Fist_of_Metal: I recently took a liking to jogging, after I quit smoking cigarettes I decided to keep at it by working my lungs more. It helps, I don’t crave anymore. Also, in High School I discovered I was a decent drawer, particularly portraits. I learned to do portraits using nothing but inkpens, turned out to be really fun.

GS: If you could bring one video game franchise back from the dead, which one would it be and why?

Fist_of_Metal: My serious answer would have to be Battletoads. Final Fantasy could use a resurrection. Every since Final Fantasy hit PS2 it just changed for the worse.

GS: Did you grow up in Ohio? If so, what’s a favorite memory of yours from your time in Ohio could you relate to the rest of us?

Fist_of_Metal: I did grow up in Ohio. My favorite memories are of times spent at Lake Erie, it made it seem like Ohio doesn’t suck so much.

GS: You just had a birthday this April. How did you spend it?

Fist_of_Metal: Well, I worked on my birthday, had a good Steak dinner. I could have taken work off for my birthday but I felt the day off would be better used for Conduit 2. I was right.

GS: What is the story behind the member name, “Fist_of_Metal”?

Fist_of_Metal: No story to be honest. Just a whim, I was eager to join and came up with something quick. That’s OK though, because since my time at GS, Fist_of_Metal has some history now.

GS: What is your favorite drink?

Fist_of_Metal: Jack and Coke or Chocolate Milk

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, and thank you for being a Gunslinger!

March 2011 marks Bolink654′s one year anniversary as a Gunslinger member. Bolink654 is a bit of a husband and wife—Jeff and Giggles—duo membership, and we had the fortune to sit down and ask “the better half” her thoughts on gaming, couples who game together, and other questions to get to know someone we have had a great time gaming with this last year.

GS: You signed up back in March 2nd, 2010. What made you join the Gunslingers back then, and what is keeping you busy around here now days?

Bolink654: Well, my husband and I bought the game [Modern Warfare: Reflex Edition] a few months before we joined and we just loved playing the game, but realized there were a lot of clans we were going against. That’s when we decided to look into it and see if we would be interested in it, and that’s when we found GS. Ever since we joined the clan, we always have a group of (adult) members to play with and enjoy the game with. And I would also like to point out that the reason I have a win/lose ratio of 3.02 is because of my fellow GS. If it wasn’t for them I would never have even got over 1. What keeps me busy is the tourneys, forums, and of course the game [Call of Duty: Black Ops].

GS: In the forums, you go by the name “bolink654.” In chat, it’s “TheHeims.” Many people, however, have grown fond of referring to you as “Giggles.” How did that start?

Bolink654: The “bolink654″ is just something Jeff has always put on the internet as the user name. Well, with the “TheHeims,” it’s because my husband and I both play, but as a lot of you know, Jeff won’t talk on Skype, so I was the one on there. And when we first started using Skype, I was so shy I didn’t want to talk to them, so every time something was said or done funny, I would always giggle. So, every since then I was called “Giggles.”

GS: You and your husband game together quite often. How does gaming online as a couple affect the experience?

Bolink654: Well, honestly, when we play together, we look out for each other more in the game than we would for someone else. But then again, if we are on opposite teams, we try to kill each other more. The game is great, but when we play together it actually makes the game a little better.

GS: Recently, you purchased a second Nintendo Wii system. What were your motivations for doing so, and do you recommend it for other Nintendo Wii playing couples?

Bolink654: We did it because we both love playing the game, but hated taking turns, and we figured if we got a second Wii, not only could we play at the same time, but, if no one was on, we would still have each other to game with. And for the couples, I very much recommend it. Like I said before, it makes the experience of the game better.

GS: Being a female player in a franchise, such as Call of Duty, with an obvious male fan-base must bring about some amusing moments. Can you relate one?

Bolink654: Well, the other day, we were going against another clan, which were all males. We whooped them pretty good, score limiting the game. And like most other games that happen like that, they start having something to say, so I will respond to them, and when they realize I’m a girl, they either start calling me a hacker or just won’t say anything at all.

GS: We all know you like to game, but what other passions do you have? Hobbies? Favorite movies?

Bolink654: When I’m not playing Call of Duty, I am usually playing in Photoshop. I love to work with pictures. I’ve always been the type to love art and graphics. But during the summer and fall, you will more than likely find me in the woods or out on the lake.

GS: What was the very first video game you remember playing? Have you always been into video games?

Bolink654: Yes, ever since I was old enough I have been playing all kinds of video games. The very first one I remember is Mario on the NES.

GS: If there could be one place in the world you could go to vacation, where would it be and why?

Bolink654: Even though I have been there more than one time, I would still go to Eureka Springs, AR. Its just so beautiful there, more than words can describe, and so much to do. The people that live there are some of the nicest people I have ever met. And the town itself has so much history, it would take you forever to learn it. My favorite part of the whole place is the Crescent Hotel that looks over the whole town. In that place alone, the history is amazing.

GS: You are a big fan of the zombie mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops. What is the horror film that, hands down, scares the crap out of you?

Bolink654: Hands down scariest movie ever is……The Strangers!!! I will NOT ever watch that movie again. I was on my seat the whole time during the movie, and jumping at every little sound! I know it’s not zombies-attacking-people kind of movie, but you try watching it on a stormy night, with all the light out, and by yourself!

GS: What is your favorite drink?

Bolink654: My favorite drink is a frozen strawberry daiquiri. Regular drink would be a Cherry Dr. Pepper.

Thank you for taking the time to answer a few of our questions, and we all look forward to seeing you and your husband on the virtual battlefields!