I've decided to update you all on my recent exploits. 
July was a month in which my calendar was full of plans for what seemed like each and every single day. With a graduation party to attend every Saturday and Sunday (literally), my two-day orientation program at Rutgers, my brother's 21st birthday, and my family's week-long vacation (that got extended by a week), I had very little time away from friends and family ...
... not that I'm complaining! 
I certainly got my fill of my church friends, family friends, and close relatives in what was an action-packed month. However, all of this partying and celebrating came with a sacrifice, which turned out to be my weight-watching / weight-loss routine.
Party food every weekend and a two-week all-inclusive buffet-style vacation have caused a major set-back for my expectations. I'm surprised that I'm still at a net weight loss to be honest. 
I had managed to lose about 6-7 pounds before vacation, but I put on about 4-5 pounds during the vacation. So, overall, it's a net weight loss of about 2-3 pounds, which actually isn't horrible considering the circumstances.
Now that we've started the annual 2-week fast for Saint Mary, I'm going to have to try even harder to lose weight. In case you forgot, it's actually more difficult for me to lose weight during a fast because of the instability of my eating patterns and overall diet.
The Vacation
Anyway, I can't complain because the vacation was certainly one of, if not, the best vacation of my life. My family, along with the families of my two uncles on my mom's side, went to the revered Riu Palace (a 5-star all-inclusive hotel/resort) in Playa del Carmen located in Playacar, Mexico. 
This was my 4th or 5th vacation in Mexico (I lost count lol) and my 3rd or 4th vacation with this group of people.
Being that I'm now 18, this also marked the first time I'd get to drink alcoholic beverages since the drinking age is only 18 in Mexico. Although we had a fair amount of encounters with some heavy drinkers, I'm not one to get carried away. The hardest drink I had was an apple martini (because JD always drinks appletinis on Scrubs 
) and Bacardi & Coke, which are laughable to any experienced drinker. Whether or not alcohol is involved, I chose my drinks based on taste, and I dislike most strong alcoholic beverages, so I see no point in drinking for the hell of it. It's stupid. 
Back to the actual vacation. We pretty much did the normal vacation stuff like swimming in the pool and beach, kayaking, pedal-boating, enjoying drinks and nachos in the pool, playing beach soccer and beach volleyball, eating, and playing cards every day. The best activity, wave-running, was saved for the last day, and I got to drive around, full-throttle, for 30 minutes with my cousin essentially strapped to my back. It was badass!! 
We almost fell off or tipped over every few minutes and we got faces full of ocean water with every wave, but I didn't care. I showed that machine and that ocean who was boss! My biggest air time was where the Waver Runner was so high in the air that I heard the motor emerge from the water and rev in the air for a full 2-3 seconds. It was awesome!!! 
We only stayed at the Riu for a week, but the reason I say the vacation got extended was because my cousins who live in Canada stayed with us back in Jersey for an extra week, which has never happened before. They stayed at my other cousin's house (the one who lives 2 minutes away) and I basically lived there during that time as well.
During that week, we got our fill of gaming, including taking turns playing through Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, which has become somewhat of a tradition thanks to me. After I introduced the Kingdom Hearts series to them, they've all been obsessed with it, quite like me. Since they've left this past Friday, I've been pretty much just chillin' at home and catching up on all of my lost sleep.
Gaming News
In the past few days, I've run a few errands including some college stuff, some cleaning up around the house, and some gaming stuff too. I made the annoying 30 minute drive to GameCrazy to replace the corrupted Assassin's Creed disc I got there last fall on my buying spree, and I went to Blockbuster to use my $10 gift card before it expired.
I found The Club used there for $10 and thought why not? I don't normally ever shop at Blockbuster since I'm not one to rent games or movies, so I just went with the first good deal I saw. I've wanted to get The Club since I played the demo a while back, and $10 was definitely a sweet price, but I essentially got it for free.
I haven't played it yet because I just picked it up yesterday and I wanted to make sure Assassin's Creed was working. It is, and I played it for a little while. I also finally got my first platinum medal in inFamous, and once I complete Uncharted on Crushing difficulty, I'll officially close the book on my second platinum medal.
However, it's my second playthrough of the Crushing difficulty, and my fifth playthrough of Uncharted overall, so my patience is starting to get thinner since I'm not enjoying the game like I once did, which means that I can't play more than a chapter at a time without losing my sanity and I'm in the middle of chapter 5. So yeah, it's gonna take a while.
I'm fine with this though since it gives me time to play other games during breaks of Uncharted. I've learned the hard way with the MGS series that I can burn myself out if I play games that require my full concentration and focus for too long. After playing MGS1 and MGS2 consecutively, I haven't touched MGS since. I need some nonsense games in between so I can avoid getting sick of the more-demanding games.
Until next time ...
Hopefully, I'll find it in me to post up another blog before school starts because I'm definitely not gonna be blogging during any semesters, which last for 15 weeks at a time.
But if I don't, I wish you all a great summer and a successful start to the new school year (if you're [unfortunately] still in school ).
Until next time, thanks for reading my blog.
- Patrick