This Nostalgic Life is a free weekly publication rich with nostalgia brought to you by co-creators Eric Vardeman and Mick Lee. If this is your first time reading, you can subscribe using the button below so you don’t miss receiving any future issues delivered straight to your inbox.
Welcome to this 40th edition of This Nostalgic Life! We’ve covered a lot of subjects in our past issues, so in this edition we’re doubling back to hit some of those same topics again.
In our first feature, Mick has another story to tell centered around Nintendo. Then, Eric tells another story about his first car and his first ticket.
And we also have a special guest post this week from Kevin Hellions that submitted a story about his experiences with a neighborhood bully inspired by the tales told in issue #36 last month.
Let’s get to the stories!
Bonding Over Tetris
by Mick Lee
If you remember, all the way back in issue #4 of this fine publication you’re currently reading, I related the story of my first experience with Nintendo. I told about how I was hooked instantly and how Nintendo would go on to become a huge part of my childhood.
Fast-forward a few years, and Nintendo released the Game Boy. I had seen advertisements for it in comic books, and it was the subject of several conversations with friends at school each day. One day, while out on a shopping trip with Mom, we ventured into our local Roses department store and I saw the in-store demo display for the first time.
While the Gameboy itself was an impressive concept and product, it was the game that came with it at launch that I really fell for. That game was Tetris, and it instantly hooked me.
We all know the story of this game. Several different odd-shaped blocks fall from the top of the board, and you had to rotate them, move them left or right to get them to drop into position to complete a line and make it go away. If you weren’t quick enough or smart enough to do that on a consistent basis, your board would be full and your game would be over.
Every weekend that Mom and I went to Roses, I made a beeline to the electronics department where the display was, and I would play Tetris until she had to come find me when she was done shopping. I couldn’t get enough of it.
I had been saving up my allowance money, but was still a long way away from having enough to buy a Gameboy. Again, the Gameboy itself was cool, but in those early days, I was more excited about Tetris than I was the Gameboy itself. Luckily for me, I discovered that Tetris was available for the NES itself…and I had enough money saved that I could afford it!
Now, I wasn’t stuck with playing a smaller version of the game in that monochrome green color of the Gameboy, I could play a much larger version in full-color! I loved the gameplay of Tetris, and the excitement that came as the game got faster and faster, and constantly trying to top my own high score. But it was something else that eventually made Tetris one of my all-time favorite video games.
Tetris was a game with such a simple concept that just about everyone could understand it, play it, and do well at it. Even parents. One random evening my Dad popped into my room just to see what I was up to. He saw me playing Tetris, and something about it caught his eye, and he sat down on the bed and watched a while.
He asked several questions about it concerning the mechanics of how to get the pieces to rotate and such. I answered them without realizing that he was so interested in the game, he was actually asking me how to play it. When he finally thought he understood it enough, he asked me if he could play.
Until that point, I would have had an easier time believing the Tooth Fairy was real than envisioning my Dad ever playing a video game. I had never known my Dad to play any video game. But here we were, me sitting on the floor of my bedroom watching him work his way through the levels of Tetris as he sat on my bed.
For many weeks after that, he would come to my room in the evenings and we would play Tetris together, always competing to see who could get the highest score each night. And this is why Tetris is still one of my favorite games ever. It created a bonding experience with my Dad and me. It helped create memories that I still think back on and remember fondly.
Tetris went on to be one of the most popular games worldwide of all-time, and for me personally, it’s a first-ballot hall-of-famer.
On The Way To School
by Eric Vardeman
Tuesday, March 4th, 1986.
The day I turned sixteen. I had gotten my drivers permit the previous September and had been driving with a parent on a semi regular basis. But today was the day. I was eligible to take my driving test and get my drivers license. Our version of the DMV wasn't far from my dad's office so he agreed to take me to my test and then, provided I passed said test, I could drop him off at his office and drive myself to school. DRIVE MYSELF. ALONE. Hot damn.
I breezed through the test, no issues. Once I got my grubby little hands on my newly printed and laminated license, I dropped my dad at his office. "Be. Careful." he said, as he stooped down to look at me through open passenger door and, like Kevin Bacon in Animal House, I assured him he should remain calm because all was well.
Spoiler alert: all would soon not be well.
I had yet to upgrade the stereo in my car so all it had was an under the dash 8-track with a cassette adapter. I had just bought the new Mr. Mister album Welcome To The Real World ("Kyrie" was the #1 song that week) so I popped it into the adapter and turned it up. Everything was going smoothly. I don't know what my parents are so worried about...this driving thing is a cinch. I turned right off of Tuxedo Boulevard onto Madison Avenue. At this point I'm a little over a mile away from school. As I approached the big hill on Madison Avenue, I gave the Malibu a little gas to accelerate up the hill. The only problem is I kept accelerating after I topped the hill. I have no idea what the speed limit is and I really wasn't even paying attention. Suddenly, I realize there are red and blue lights behind me...and he's not trying to pass me because he's been called to some sort of emergency. No, he's after ME.
I turn into a neighborhood and pull over to the curb. At this point, I'm less than a mile from school. The cop walks up, asks for my license and insurance, then tells me he pulled me over for going 44 in a school zone. That's TWENTY FOUR MILES over the speed limit. I panic. I have no idea what's going to happen. The cop looks at my license, glances at his watch and the looks back at my license. Then he holds my license to his nose, sniffs it, and says "this is new, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir."
"How new?"
"An hour?"
He belly laughs. I mean, almost snorts. "You didn't waste any time did you?" In the end, he takes pity on me and only writes me a ticket for general speeding which is a much cheaper ticket and tells me that if he had written it for the exactly speed he could have arrested me. I don't know if that's true or not but it scared the living hell out of me. He sends me on my way, still laughing.
I had to go through the entire school day knowing that I was going to have to face my parents when I got home. The beautiful thing is, since it was a general speeding ticket, the actual speed wasn't listed and you can believe I never told my parents what the actual speed was. They weren't happy, to be sure, but they would have been a whole lot less happy if they knew it was twenty-four miles over the limit.
In the end, I was grounded for a week and had to go to driving school one Saturday. No harm, no foul. Until the next ticket. And that, dear readers, is an ENTIRELY different police action story…
Be sure to check out Eric’s Substack where he has just launched a series looking at, and telling the stories behind, his 55 favorite songs in honor of turning 55. Go visit at the link below and consider subscribing for more great stories from Eric!
Billy the Bully
My brother and I had a horrible bully when we were growing up and while some bully stories seem silly as adults, I’m shocked ours did not end up in court.
We lived on the corner, and we were friends with the five siblings two houses away. But in between our homes was Billy’s house. Billy tormented all of us. He would chase us into our homes. If we made it to the door on time. If not, he would punch us down until some neighborhood adult saw or he got tired.
My home was a duplex with my family living downstairs and a collection of quick year-long leases upstairs with a common area in the front hallway. My mom kept a dresser out there full of our seasonal clothes. We would probably still have that dresser if Billy hadn’t walked into that area one day when no one was home and carved every swear word he knew into the wood. Billy fought with one of our friends two houses down and bit his leg deep enough to draw blood and require stitches. He kicked in the door to our house one day and punched me in the face, causing a black eye that also caused some phone calls from school the next day. He lit fire to our garage and nearly burnt the whole thing down. Oh, it was an attached garage too so we’re lucky it didn’t spread to the house.
The sad thing is I’m sure I’m forgetting stories thirty years later. Police were called here and there. Attempts to do anything about him were sporadic because I don’t think any adults realized how bad this was. Kids taking things too far, but still just kids? Maybe? I guess. I would have been knocking on doors, pressing charges, and threatening a world of hurt on anyone messing with my kid. That’s not a knock on any of the neighborhood parents. I just don’t understand why this was left as a thing that kids have to figure out on their own. But one day, I did.
I have a bad habit of not sticking up for myself, but I will stick up for someone else. One day my brother and I were riding our bikes to our grandparents’ house. Billy and one of his toady cronies happened to be riding by our path. Billy blocked our path on the sidewalk. He pushed my brother over and I heard him land hard on the sidewalk path up to someone’s house. I have no idea who lived there, but I can point out what house it was to this day. I saw my younger brother hurt by our longtime tormentor and I knew no one was coming to help. It was up to me. I leaped over my bike (on the kickstand now while we were blocked) and tackle speared Billy. I punched down on him with all of my Ralphie in A Christmas Story strength. And I shared his Yosemite Sam inspired swearing, using words too vulgar to carve on a dresser. Years of rage came out and this “fight” was all me. When two teenagers walked by and separated us, I’m sure I looked like the aggressor. Those older kids told us all to go our separate ways and they were much bigger so we listened. Maybe they lived at that house. My brother and I continued on to our grandparents’ house with adrenaline flowing.
We finally stood up. But now worried about what the repercussions might be. Like so many stories though, the bully crumbled when confronted. I don’t think we heard or saw from him again after that day. Maybe because I unleashed all my childhood fury on him. Maybe because we moved to a different part of town shortly after. Looking back, I’m just thrilled he was gone. I’m mostly sure he’s in jail now, or at best on parole. He will always live on in infamy but also maybe as a life lesson. If you don’t stand up for yourself, no one else is going to. Not that I would ever give him any credit.
That’s going to be a wrap for this issue. We’d like to extend a big thank you to Kevin Hellions for contributing his story to this issue, and remind you to be sure to check him out at his home on the web, Hellions Team.
We’d also like to extend an invitation to all of you reading this as well to join us. If you have a nostalgic story that you’d like to submit, send us a message or leave us a comment as we’d love to hear your tales as well, and we’ll see about publishing them in a future issue.
Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to being back here with you again next week.
