What has Mario done for you lately?

Would you trade your memories for anything? Even knowing they messed you up, spin you around, pulled you back and never let you get any peace? Would you do it? Would I do it?

I was talking on the phone with Tesarski the other day. She mentioned that as a child she never had any gaming systems. Which I find cool, whatever, you know? Not having Nintendo NES or SuperNintendo made her as much herself as my having every Nintendo system since NES made me who I am today. Kids these days are messed up because of video games I think. But it was a simplier time back then. It was a special kind of innocence trying to shoot that damn dog in Duck Hunt. Did anyone ever kill him? It wasn't violent, it wasn't unhealthy, it was just... the dog wouldn't die!

So I thought about it. What good did Mario & Luigi ever do for me? Then I remembered. The one of two or three clear memories before the age of 5. My childhood best friend, Thi, and I were sitting on his bathroom floor trying to get the game clear of dust. His mom had tried to hide the system in the bathroom cabinet but to two 5 year olds dying to get to the next level hiding Nintendo won't do you any good. We'll find it.

The apartment door slams. It's his dad. I'm not sure if it's the talk I heard as I started to get older but I vividly remember his parents fighting. We ended up hiding in the bathroom not wanting to get in trouble for finding the game while his parents are so obviously angry at each other. Now his mom used to be fairly good friends with my mom, that's how we met. We were born a month apart. No one has ever told me anything when I ask but I've gathered so far that his dad was a gambler. They were having money issues. They split a few years later. His mom took him and his sister. They stayed at our house for a week when I was 7. I would go to school during the day and he would stay at home. We'd play Duck Hunt when I got home. Then they left for Toronto at the end of the week and I never saw him again. Last I heard they're in Vancouver and his mom still dates. Scandalous for a grown Vietnamese woman. I miss him sometimes and I wonder what he's like now. We'll both turn 20 this year. Him a month older like he used to like to remind me.

My point is that's one of my clearest childhood memories. A mixture of video games, fighting, and hiding on a damp bathroom floor. Would I ever trade it for an upgrade?