In 1985 I asked Santa for an Atari. I had played it at My uncle's house and some friend's houses. On Christmas morning, I received a Nintendo instead. I think I was initially disappointed because I had never heard of a Nintendo and I wanted an Atari. However, as soon as my dad hooked it up and started it, I was wowed. I remember playing Super Mario brothers and remembering that this was the arcade game I played last time we went to Florida. I distinctly remember dying on the first mushroom when I played for the first time.

My dad went all out, buying the deluxe package for the Nintendo. It contained R.O.B. the robot with the game "Gyromite", the gun with "Hogan's Alley" and "Duck Hunt" and two controllers and "Super Mario Brothers". You just can't buy a package that cool anymore. I was instantly hooked and I am still a gamer to this day.

I remember that we were the first people I knew to have a Nintendo and my friends wanted to come over to play it all the time. Way to go Dad!

Back in the day, Garbage Pail Kids (GPKs) were the hottest thing. I remember that they were banned from school and I can't remember why. I don't know if it was because they were such a big distraction or if it was because they were so gross. Well, one day in the midst of they hype, my Dad came home with a whole box of 5th series GPKs! Kevin and I were so geeked. I think we got the whole set from that box. Sometimes Dad would come home with the coolest of surprises.

I don't remember much about this day. What I do remember is that my Dad let me drive his Suburban. I drove through Chestnut Hills and on to Maybee Road headed towards Dixie Highway. I probably drove to Todd Bauer's house. I remember as I was turning onto Maybee that I just had this incredible feeling of independence. It is a feeling like nothing I have felt before or since. It was genuinely a rite of passage for me. It's funny how you just want to grow up when you are young and be independent but then as you get older you wish you had less obligations and that someone could take care of your needs. As I drove out of my subdivision I was making the transition from my youth to adulthood.

I think it was Halloween 1994 when I first beat Final Fantasy 3 for SNES. I thought it was the coolest ending ever. Before we were trick or treating I think I was on the last battle and I had to pause it. I went trick or treating with Steve Trevaskis and Adam Pearsal, I think. After we trick or treated I came back and beat the game and it was the coolest feeling. I don't think there is a better game ending out there for the time that this came out. I am such a total dork that I still enjoy listening to the music from FF3 while I am at work. I remember I used to name all of the characters after my friends and the female characters after girls that I liked. I named the character "Locke" Noel.

One day a rock show came to our school. I was really into rocks at the time. I liked the ones with crystals in them and stuff. I really didn't learn anything though because I couldn't tell you the name of a single rock. At any rate, the rocks were on tables and you walked around and looked at them. Each rock had a sticker on it with a number so you could identify what it was. The show was in the gymnasium.

Well, for some reason I got the idea in my head that I wanted to steal a rock. I saw a nice, shiny small one and no one was looking so I pocketed it. At first I thought I was pretty clever and I went home and admired my newly acquired treasure. Eventually though guilt got the best of me. I started fearing that the people who put on the rock show would notice that a rock was missing and they would come back to the school and look for it. I feared that they might go to the students' homes and search for the rock. So I went in my backyard with the rock in hand and . . . Read More..