You always remember
You always remember where you were when a huge historic event happens. People say that about JFK's assassination; I was trying to think of what events in my lifetime have had a similar effect on me. You might be amused by what events seemed important enough to my subconscious to merit a permanent place in time, space, and memory.
I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon starring Godzilla when Reagan was shot. I must have been about six, maybe seven. I remember being pissed, because the episode I was watching was the best one yet, and they preempted it to deliver the news. They finally went back to the cartoon--just as the credits rolled. I couldn't figure out who the hell thought that the assassination of the President of the United States was more important than Godzilla.
In sixth grade, I came in from recess briefly to get something out of my desk. As I was walking into the building, Jon Nichols stopped me and said that the Challenger had exploded. I thought he was pulling some kind of practical joke on me, and spent a few long moments trying to figure out why he'd make that particular story up. This is the first time that I can remember the feeling of disbelief in the face of tragedy.
Doom 2 arrived at the Carleton post office just before my Anthropology 110 class. I remember desperately wanting to skip class, but at the time I was failing it quite badly and couldn't quite muster up the bravery. I would ultimately squeeze out a B by writing an accidentally brilliant term paper over two days without doing a rough draft, but I had no idea that that was in the cards. I walked into class with the box under my arm and three guys looked up and said, roughly paraphrased, "Shit, Doom 2 is out? Where'd you get it? Why the hell aren't you skipping class?"
I remember when Quake finally shipped. I had just graduated college and was still living on-campus, doing summer theater, not working, just enjoying myself and delaying the inevitable transition to being a grownup and moving away from everyone I loved. My roommate Clark worked in the post office, and he called me at 6AM to let me know that it had arrived. I'd just gone to bed around 4AM, but he knew that I would get up for this. I staggered bleary-eyed across campus to get the package, went back and locked myself in my room to play. Twelve hours later, I came out for dinner, and I was almost completely unable to communicate with other human beings--something about the combination of game immersion and sleep deprivation, I'm not sure what exactly.
I remember meeting Laurel. She came into the theater with two other people that I knew and sat down right in front of me. I introduced myself, she said hello, turned around and didn't say another word. I had no idea how significant we'd end up being to each other.
So there you have it. A presidential assassination, a Space Shuttle disaster, two video games, and meeting my sweetie. I knew I was a dork, but I never realized quite to what extent.
I was watching a Saturday morning cartoon starring Godzilla when Reagan was shot. I must have been about six, maybe seven. I remember being pissed, because the episode I was watching was the best one yet, and they preempted it to deliver the news. They finally went back to the cartoon--just as the credits rolled. I couldn't figure out who the hell thought that the assassination of the President of the United States was more important than Godzilla.
In sixth grade, I came in from recess briefly to get something out of my desk. As I was walking into the building, Jon Nichols stopped me and said that the Challenger had exploded. I thought he was pulling some kind of practical joke on me, and spent a few long moments trying to figure out why he'd make that particular story up. This is the first time that I can remember the feeling of disbelief in the face of tragedy.
Doom 2 arrived at the Carleton post office just before my Anthropology 110 class. I remember desperately wanting to skip class, but at the time I was failing it quite badly and couldn't quite muster up the bravery. I would ultimately squeeze out a B by writing an accidentally brilliant term paper over two days without doing a rough draft, but I had no idea that that was in the cards. I walked into class with the box under my arm and three guys looked up and said, roughly paraphrased, "Shit, Doom 2 is out? Where'd you get it? Why the hell aren't you skipping class?"
I remember when Quake finally shipped. I had just graduated college and was still living on-campus, doing summer theater, not working, just enjoying myself and delaying the inevitable transition to being a grownup and moving away from everyone I loved. My roommate Clark worked in the post office, and he called me at 6AM to let me know that it had arrived. I'd just gone to bed around 4AM, but he knew that I would get up for this. I staggered bleary-eyed across campus to get the package, went back and locked myself in my room to play. Twelve hours later, I came out for dinner, and I was almost completely unable to communicate with other human beings--something about the combination of game immersion and sleep deprivation, I'm not sure what exactly.
I remember meeting Laurel. She came into the theater with two other people that I knew and sat down right in front of me. I introduced myself, she said hello, turned around and didn't say another word. I had no idea how significant we'd end up being to each other.
So there you have it. A presidential assassination, a Space Shuttle disaster, two video games, and meeting my sweetie. I knew I was a dork, but I never realized quite to what extent.
posted by at 2:52 AM
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