"Dancing in the shadows"

Schedule for the next couple of weeks:

March 16 - 18: Anderson!
March 23 - 25: Anderson!

At least that's the current plan. We'll see how it works out. I understand many of the guys are going to see 300 on Saturday. If you wait one week, I'll go with you! If you do not wait, I understand. If it were me, I would be hardpressed to wait, because there are no other Bro Shows out right now so it is the perfect movie to see.

Notes about my childhood:
on Nintendo

• I was only aloud to play video games for one hour each day. I remember one time, when my childhood friend Eric R. came over to spend the night, we played Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: The Arcade Game and defeated it. (Of course we were using the game genie.) Anyway, the point is, that game had to take over an hour. But Eric felt sick and ended up having to go home, which was no big deal because he lived pretty close. But I was sad. That night, my Mom could tell I was disappointed so she let me stay up late and play Nintendo for another hour. I remember, I turned to Super Mario Bros. 3.

on playing with action figures

• I vaguely remember the first couple of times that I played with action figures and imagined that they were fighting. On a related note, I remember at the dawn of imagining battles, my Uncle Dave played Army guys with me. We set them up and would take turns shooting down one guy at a time from the opposite army.

on Santa Claus

• I remember visiting Santa Claus and only being allowed to tell him 3 things that I wanted. I wanted a lot more than that, but my Dad said I could only tell him 3 things.
• When I asked my Dad if Santa Claus was real one Christmas, he told me he'd tell me later. That night when he tucked me in, he said that Santa Claus wasn't real...that he was the one who put the presents under the tree. "But I don't think Mom or Julie know," he said, "so let's keep it a secret." To this day, we still open presents from "Santa Claus" (fortunately, we have a baby in the family again, so it's not too pathetic!)

on my earliest memories

• I remember my carseats. In our blue car, I had an uncomfortable car seat. It never felt right. In our maroon stationwagon, the car seat was much more comfortable.
• One particular Sunday morning before church, my earliest tangible memory was learning that I shouldn't swallow the toothpaste...that I was supposed to spit it out. That was probably the reason I didn't feel good.

on holding hands

• In preschool one day, I made a girlfriend and we were holding hands in the hallway. I remember another kid saying something like, "Are you guys married or something." I told my mom about that later, and if I remember correctly, I was told to not hold hands with girls.