I read in the paper today that the Oregon Zoo is putting their oldest elephant to sleep next week. Apparently, years of nasty arthritis coupled with an infection in one of her feet means that the pain has gotten too intense to tolerate. I wonder if she is the same elephant who was throwing grass on her back last week during the Leo Kottke concert. I guess that would explain her bad aim. Poor girl! May all 6,340 pounds of her rest heavily in peace.
I don’t have much in the way of a good segue, so I’ll just launch into it: When I was home for the holidays, I dug through dusty boxes of my old classwork, tucked away deep in the basement. I pulled out the following cardboard-and-contact-paper-bound book, self-published in 1990, which I will share with you for no other reason than WHO THE HELL WRITES A STORY ABOUT A VIDEO GAME?!:
BUBBLE BOBBLE
by Laura K. P.
I got Nintendo for Christmas, and one night my brother Kieran and I played Bubble Bobble. We got so far, but then we had to go to bed. But we didn’t want to because we had gotten so far. So my dad just turned the power off. We got so mad because he turned the power off.
[Editor's note: I was only seven at the time, but I still remember that night clearly, and I can tell you that my description here does not do it justice. We didn't just get "so mad"; we actually both threw intensely bratty temper tantrums and practically had to be dragged by our limbs to bed as we were still screaming, "But we got SO FAR! This is NOT FAIR!" And my father hadn't "just turned the power off"; more accurately, I should have written: "After we repeatedly ignored my mother's requests that my brother and I get ready for bed, my father finally walked up to the Nintendo and shut it off."]
The next morning we played Bubble Bobble again. We got as far as we got before, but we got past that part and got up to [level] 35! But we couldn’t get past 35! Finally Kieran found a way to kill the monsters! [Insert repetitive explanation about how to kill the monsters here.] But we [still] didn’t get past 35!
But a few weeks ago Katie told me that when we have a playdate she would show me how to get past 35! [Insert boring story of a time a different friend came over and played the game with my brother here.] They got all the way up to 57! But they couldn’t get passed 57. Katie had told me a code so you can escape to any level. [In case any of you are wondering and/or still own a working Nintendo and a copy of Bubble Bobble, the code is DDFFI. I don't know why I still remember that.]
My favorite levels are A6 and A7. I don’t like the Master becaue [sic] I can’t get past [sic] the Master. We didn’t win the game.
THE END
12 responses so far ↓
1 Boo // Jul 29, 2006 at 8:35 am
Sad about the elephant but good that they do pay attention to the pain factor.
Oh such a cute story. The concerns of 1990 are, like many concerns, are moot now. My nephews’ little video games all have a “save game” feature so they don’t get their undies bunched when they have to quit. I am pretty sure their father appreciates the feature too as “dads game” was listed as a saved game when I tried and failed to play it. I saved mine as “nohope.” I got to level 1 on a Mario thing before I had to bury a dead fish.
You were a very literate seven!
2 kaz // Jul 29, 2006 at 11:44 am
RYC
THANKS!
Hey, I’ve not seen alot of you lately…I guess ‘cuz it’s harder to navigate to you because you’re on that other thing or something nah I have no excuse..see ya soon kaz
3 TimsHead // Jul 29, 2006 at 11:51 am
Interesting to see how quickly an inner writer emerges. When we (the bro and I) were four and staying with our grandmother at camp one summer, I wrote a mini-newspaper where the lead story was Granny Schoonmaker named idiot of the year with a number of rationalizations, including that she didn’t like squirrels but my brother and I did.
My grandmother was, of course, a wise woman. She saw this social commentary as a potentially misguided way of showing how much I cared about her influence. In her last few months as she battled strokes, she kept that old paper at a special place in her room and often showed it to visitors. No matter how much I ever write, I will never enjoy a more special bit of literary praise.
4 Gnarlysurf // Jul 29, 2006 at 4:02 pm
I remember that game….I didn’t get past level 2.
5 jasmine624 // Jul 30, 2006 at 12:07 am
Ha! Very cute story! Was it an assigment? If so, what grade did you get? (Reminds me of my first picture book I wrote in the second or third grade about a kid gettng a hamster for a Valentine’s Day gift or something.)
The elephant bit, however, makes me sad. I love elephants. I, too, hopes she rests in painless peace.
6 Anahita // Jul 30, 2006 at 9:56 am
That is too cute
Reading old diaries especially from the early years is very amusing.
7 Lynn // Jul 30, 2006 at 10:07 am
Jeez. You were only seven in 1990? I think I’ll take my walker and shuffle on. Where are those Alzheimer’s pills.
Lynn
8 tektoo2 // Jul 31, 2006 at 6:05 am
That’s great! I rememebr sleepless nights with nintendo and my cousin Chris. IKARI WARRIORS all night long! with a mid-war break for Cheerios…lol We joke about those nights to this day [especiallywhen i wound up wiht his bowl of Cheerios on my head, lol]
Thanks for the smile!…
The story or the elephant is sad, but at least she’ll be at peace now…:(
9 Kellen // Jul 31, 2006 at 9:50 am
dude! Look up this band called The Advantage! I think you can only download them but might be wrong. They cover all Nintendo songs but they play them to the T. The Bubble Bobble theme song, they did live when they last came through town. I heard it blew minds off.
10 Gabe Soo // Jul 31, 2006 at 5:52 pm
LAURA!
I *heart* Bubble Bobble… That was one of THE best games (besides Bomberman and Megaman and… yeah) ever made!
Have you tried… PUZZLE BOBBLE?
Positive Vibes
Gaber
11 Amber // Jul 31, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Hi I’m a complete stranger who has just found your blog via somebody else’s blog. That’s generally how these things go don’t they?
Anyhow, nice writing / blog … I loved your ‘talkin bout my generation’ post especially (I laughed a lot). Family dynamics can be so incredibly hilarious.
Oh Nintendo.
12 Ernay // Aug 1, 2006 at 3:51 am
What a hoot! I see your writing has remained fairly unchanged over the years.
If it’s any consolation, I was 21 at the time of your “book’s” release