JJ BANKS’ Blog

     Last night my X-Box 360 Elite got the dreaded “Red Ring of Death” and now has to be shipped off to Microsoft and will probably be gone for the next 3 - 4 weeks. And you know what? That’s fine with me.

     Because a funny thing happened last night when I turned on my X-Box and saw the three red lights flashing at me, my heart started pounding and I had a fear in me like one of my family members was in danger. And then I stopped and was ashamed to think how upset I was getting because my X-Box was now out of comission. Here I am about to turn 31 years-old and I’m worried about a fucking video game console. What the fuck am I doing with my life? It made me think….if my X-Box could all of sudden just drop dead, then what about me? And if I did die today, would I have made the most of my life? Who knows how many hours I’ve spent in my lifetime playing video games? Living and dying in a virtual world. But the question is…am I making the most of the opportunities presented to me in The Real World?

     So as of right now I’m done with video games.

     Wait! What I mean is that I’m taking a break from video games. A break that was obviously forced upon me by ”The Red Ring of Death”, but even when I do get my fixed X-Box back I don’t plan on playing again anytime soon. Which surprises even myself because I was currently playing GTA IV, which in my opinion might be the best GTA game, if not the best video game ever, and you also got Ninja Gaiden II coming out in June, but I feel this is a great chance to focus on other things I want to accomplish in life. I’ve got my World Series of Poker Event coming up, I want to get back to advancing myself as a filmmaker, and for God’s Sake maybe now I can finally motivate myself to get back in physical shape. Charf, Steams, Coco and everyone else in the SW Community I’ll miss talking to you guys over X-Box Live, but hey I do intend to keep contributing to this Blog in my hiatus. It just seems like this is a good indicator that maybe its time to unlock some achievements that would increase a different kind of gamerscore.   

     So a month after Tax Day I’ve finally found out what our tax dollars pay for:

     The Feds take an estimated $938.7 billion from taxpayers.

     $337.9 billion - funds Social Security, Medicare, and other retirement benefits.

     $215.9 billion - funds national defense

     $178.3 billion - funds assorted social programs

     $112.6 billion - funds student loans

     $75.1 billion - pays the interest on America’s $9.4 trillion federal debt

       $18.8 billion - funds federal law enforcement agencies

     Taking a closer look at this you can see the biggest chunk goes to old people and wait….Social Security? Now why do my taxes go towards Social Security when I have money already taken out of my paycheck for that? You want to know why? Because federal programs don’t fucking work!!! The Government goes by The Golden Rule - those who have the gold, make the rules. And since the Federal Reserve basically runs this country flawed government institutions will continue to go on and us the taxpayers will continue to foot the bill. Some people say America should have Universal Healthcare. Are these people out of their fucking minds? It’s not my fault you didn’t pay attention in class so you weren’t able to get a good job with a good company that has health benefits. Now you want The Government to bail you out? Good luck, because you can see how efficient they are with money based on our $9.4 trillion debt. Besides, an individual’s health is their own personal responsibility and not the duty of the state. If you let The Government in charge of your health you’re just giving them more control than they already have of your life.   

     Traveling up the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is like time traveling 25 years into the past, and I’m not just saying this because I spent a Saturday afternoon with Charftong and Graberman playing pinball. I say this because Allentown, PA is a town time has forgotten. For Christ sake I saw a Little Caesar’s Pizza Place in Allentown! Who still has a Little Caesar’s in their town? I thought I was hallucinating. Maybe I should have eaten there though, because if you ever do go to Allentown avoid any kind of beef product. Charf and Graber did that Bar-B-Q sandwich hit you like it hit me later in the day? It’s also sad when the newest and nicest building in your town is a L.A. Fitness. Wow? WTF? But I’ll say this about Allentown, they do have one of the best pinball conventions around going for them, so let’s focus on the positive!

     As much as I love classic video games my passion for pinball might be just as strong. The flick of the flippers, the violence of the bumpers, the thrill of getting a multi-ball or a replay, pinball is equally exciting to me today as it was when I was a kid going to the arcade at the local bowling alley. On that Saturday though I was pretty much “The King of the Ball Save” but I did get better as the day went on. At first it was hard to even get on a machine because it was so crowded, because for $15 at the Pinball Wizards Convention you get to play as many games as you want on a variety of different machines for free, but as the day went on the pinball players thined out and it was easier to play.

     In addition to playing you could also buy any of the machines if you had the scratch to do so. I myself felt bad about this for two reasons. 1. I don’t have enough room in my condo for a big loud-ass pinball machine and 2. Do I really want to drop over a “G” on ”The Simpsons Pinball Machine”? Well, the answer to 2. is “yes” but I don’t have the funds right now to do so. If I had a wish list and money wasn’t an issue here are the 3 pinball machines I would buy today: 

                                                                                                                                              Checkpoint Pinball Machine

     I dug all the machines at the convention whether new or old. Most of them were in perfect working condition except for a few that had small problems like weak flippers, broken bumpers or burnt old lights, but overall the games were awesome. Here’s a list of all the games I played:

                                                                                                    The world of professional pinball….what’s the deal with the 7′ gaint watching?

                                                                                                  Charf attracted his own crowd while he rocked out on Family Guy.

     Man, after writing and posting all this I realize I really want a pinball machine of my own. I guess I better do good in the upcoming World Series of Poker.