SAJAAAAAAAA!

This past week, hardly a day has gone by in which I have not had a chance to play Rock Band/Rock Band 2. It has been the unofficial "Week of Rock Band."

But who's complaining? They are quite possibly the coolest video games ever made and are also the most fun to play. (Well, that is, until Rock Band 3, Rock Band 4, and the like are released. You get the idea.)

Monday night, following a get-to-know you evening with our newly reorganized FHE group ("The Barnacles" have now absorbed "All 4 Fun") at the Myers' home, we fired up Rock Band in their basement. Laureen, Mandy, Ryan, and Sarah were among those who had their first try at the game, and they all seemed to have a great time doing so.

Next, on Wednesday evening, I was invited to my home teacher Joe's house for a group home teaching lesson. The new idea in our ward is that home teaching can be made a lot easier with group activities, in which home teachers can kill two or more birds with one stone (so to speak). Sadly, I was the only one - other than our friend Gary, who asked to tag along (but is not on Joe's/Duane's home teaching list) - to show up. Still, we made an enjoyable evening of things. Joe and Duane shared a brief lesson with me out of this month's Ensign, after which we ordered out for pizza and played a couple of hours' worth of (you guessed it) Rock Band. Joe and I goaded Duane and Gary into trying out the guitar for the first time, and, before long, they were both passing songs without failing once.

Then, last night, I attended the "Rock & Roll Party" held at Adam/Brian/Jordan/Mike's house. Rock Band was once again the core activity. Since far more than four people (the maximum number who can play Rock Band at any one moment) showed up, there were board games ongoing on the other end of the room. I fit in a game of what I know as Perudo (I'm not sure what they called it) between sets on the guitar and drums.

Incidentally, "SAJAAAAAAAA" is the generic band name we created a couple of months ago on Brian's Playstation and has been the band name we've been using since. It began as an acronym for "Shannon, Adam, and Jon," since the three of us were the first to play that particular evening, and it somehow ended up becoming "SAJAAAAAAAA." ("SAJAAAAAAAA!" is also now our war cry for whenever we pass a song or do something well in the game.)


(The above pic was actually taken the previous week, at my friend Mike Oliver's birthday party - hosted by Jared and Allison - in Farmington. In it, I am getting one of my first cracks at singing one of the songs from Rock Band 2. I believe it was Duran Duran's "Rio.")