Tag Archives: Childhood Memories

2018 Lego Advent Calendar: Day 6

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Big news: Last night I beat the original Legend of Zelda for the NES.

I’m proud of myself.

I have beaten the game only once before, many years ago. And while this second victory isn’t as grand as the first, I’m still riding a high comparable to that of taking cocaine for the first time. (I assume.)

While I was a Nintendo kid growing up in the 1980s, Zelda was never a favorite until later in life. When Little Kid Dan borrowed the game from friends, it seemed too hard and strange. Mario made sense to me — run to the right as hard as you can and kill turtles. But Zelda let you go in any direction, with little guidance except for a few cryptic (and mistranslated?) clues. My eight-year-old brain couldn’t handle it.

What was I supposed to do? Go in that door? Is that the right door? Should I not go in that door? Am I doing this wrong? WHERE ARE TURTLES I CAN KILL?!

I love the game now. It’s probably my favorite of the old 8-bit days, even beating out Super Mario 1, 2 and 3.

But Little Kid Dan hated the game, despite my mom’s best efforts.

I don’t know how my mom found out about Zelda but she tried on several occasions to get my brother and I into the game. She was fascinated by the idea of exploring and finding secrets. Something about the game spoke to her and she wanted me to own this magical treasure of a game. However, when writing my wish list to Santa, Zelda never made the cut. I didn’t want Zelda. And so my house was Zelda-free for years…too many years. (I did own an NES game called Werewolf: The Last Warrior. It was terrible.)

I was a fool. My mom was right. Sorry mom!

It wasn’t until the game was re -released on the Gameboy Advanced in the early 2000s that I played through the whole thing. By then, I had already devoured the SNES and Nintendo 64 versions of the legend. And my favorite was the old Gameboy adventure Link’s Awakening — an odd addition to the series that seems to be slightly forgotten.

Playing the original game, even in a world of fancy graphics and high-tech zip-zaps, was a joy.

I love it!

What does all this have to do with a Lego Advent Calendar? Not one damn thing.

Behind today’s door we find… Continue reading →

The Book That Changed My Life

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You see a piece of art, hear a piece of music, see a movie or read a book that cracks the shell of your mind and lets the real you emerge. It’s more than being inspired; it’s finding out who you are. There is a time before that experience and a time after that experience, and it shapes the rest of your life. It happened to me while reading Steve Martin’s Cruel Shoes.

By my senior year in high school I was well-versed in the history of comedy. I had old Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner routines memorized. I knew every beat of George Carlin’s 7 Dirty Words bit. And I listened to The Buttoned-Down Mind of Bob Newhart more than I listened to Nirvana’s Nevermind — and this was in the mid-90s so you know how cool I was. Continue reading →