Nostalgia Attacks!

A whole load of Pokemon and DragonBall Z cards hit me on the head the other day, as I went to open my wardrobe. Best taken as a sign that my wardrobe is a complete mess about to fall to the ground, but I took it as something much cooler. I took it as a sign that my childhood wanted a bit of interaction with who I am today.

Looking through the cards, I can’t help but feel all the memories flooding right back: going to Toys R Us for weekly “tournaments”, wearing my Ash Ketchum cap with pride, aiming to get mini badges that probably cost 50c a piece; spending all my allowance on booster packs; getting particularly excited when K-mart or Electronics Boutique had a card sale on; the joy of getting my first Charizard; waiting endlessly for Dragon Ball Z voice actors to sign my premium cards; buying folder after folder and box after to fit my ever expanding collection; entering “Kamehameha Blast-Off” competitions (probably my first theatrical experience) to win even more cards and action figures. Those were the days.

I’ll post a picture up of the cards soon. It’s funny, looking back at our childhood with such glee to those times, yet refusing to fully embrace it due to some sort of social barrier. I want to break that barrier.

In Memoriam: Tetris

No, this is not some cynical taunt about how gaming isn’t how it used to be (that comes next week, hehe). I am serious when I say this: my 19-year-old Game Boy cartridge of Tetris no longer functions.

Hence, I have concluded that it has surcurmbed to old age and has, with my dearest sadness, passed away. This cartridge has given my family the greatest gifts all gaming can give throughout its lifetime: pointless entertainment and an excuse not to do set homework. It was bought as a sparkling piece of new technolgy with the original Game Boy in 1988, before my family had arrived in Australia, let alone had the child known as me.

The entire idea of distracting, useless gadgets – today found in every form of technological contact a youth has – was derived from the GameBoy-Tetris duo. It was the Lennon-McCartney partnership in my gaming world. No matter how many more levels, power-ups or bosses you placed in the next installment of Generic Big Game Franchise, nothing could beat the feeling of falling blocks in my hand.

Lest We Forget

**********************************************************************************************

If ANYONE is willing to buy me tickets to Rage Against The Machine, they will be greatly rewarded.

That is all.