The Luckiest

Looking back at some old pictures made me remember that I am the luckiest, because I grew up with these kids:

I mean, seriously, they're the best. I was blessed to be surrounded kids who are not only amazing people, but also incredible examples to me. I miss these days, but it's even cooler to see the awesome things everyone is doing with their lives now that we're all finally growing up. I have always been change-resistant, but I think the really cool thing about change is that it gives us all the opportunity to appreciate the parts of our life that have passed, and look forward to the things to come. We look at life through the lens of our experiences, and growing up with these people, in beautiful Florida, gives me nothing but hope for the future.

Nintendo Is Always Right

I made a happy discovery this week. By clicking here, you can waste countless hours of your life on the only video game I ever grew to love. I have lovely memories of car rides to Grandma's house glued to my little Gameboy Color screen, playing DKC until my head hurt.

I don't know why I liked it so much. It was challenging, but not so much that I couldn't beat it. It had miserable birds that shot rocks out of their mouth, and giant bees that buzzed over the gaps between two canyon walls, and stupid hamsters that spun atop massive stone wheels, prepared to squash poor Donkey and Diddy Kong. All stuff that should have annoyed and exhausted my little kid brain, but I played it anyway.

I have very few distinct memories of my life before I was five, but I do remember Donkey Kong Country. I remember, very clearly, watching my brother and a family friend struggling to beat one of the water levels on the Super Nintendo version one night. That friend passed away in a motorcycle accident not long after that. Whenever I get to those ridiculously difficult water levels (those little blue fish cause that much pain to a freaking gorilla? please), I think of Travis.

So much for Halo, Call of Duty, or Fallout (whatever that is). I stick to the simple, side-scrolling, double-bouncing magic of Donkey Kong Country.