Nintendo Rhapsody (World 9: Reboot) (Work in Progress)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 9-1: Little Boy Blue

Goalsoft had come a long way from its humble beginnings with Clickteam's Klik & Play. My initial goal of building a simple space shooter had evolved into so much more. Goalsoft had since undertaken everything from point and click adventures to turn-based RPGs. As the VP of Goalsoft and Chairman of RPGs, Marlon Castillo, wrote in his yearly press release for 2001, "We are expanding faster than ever before and have a vast community of visitors. In the future we will grow and grow and someday make professional games." That day would appear to have arrived. I had begun work on Space Ruckus: The Great Invasion, a modern 3D reboot of my very first computer game. It would be Goalsoft's ultimate test. Our first truly professional game. And it would be designed with a whole new group of developers. Mark, my fellow moderator and whimsical friend from Chris Cromer's AGI Message Forum, would serve as the game's assistant designer. Ass. designer for short. His expertise in the field of programming would almost certainly prove useful to the project. He had previously, and perhaps most notably, designed a series of desktop applications during his college years. A brand new chapter was just beginning, not unlike the school chapters that came before. Despite the ongoing pressures of game design, I would still find time for other things in my life. I continued to correspond with my middle school friend and pen pal, Melissa, through old fashioned letters of a handwritten nature. It was a joy to see something new in my mailbox every few weeks. We would come to find that we still had much in common. I also still found time to watch television on occasion. I had discovered a new program on the Discovery Channel that seemed to peak my interest. It was known as Mythbusters. Various myths and urban legends were put to the test by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. They were my new science teachers. My very explosive science teachers. And of course, I would still find time to play the Nintendo GameCube. Mario Party 5 and Mario Kart: Double Dash!! had just recently joined my collection, and they would soon be seeing quite a bit of playtime. Especially once my nephews and nieces arrived for the holidays. Let the games continue.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 8: Pros and Cons)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 8-1: Home Sweet Home Again

With my unceremonious departure from Cerritos College, and the apparent end of my school career, I fell back on that which I loved. My ongoing endeavors with Goalsoft. In January of 2001, I launched my first ever online magazine dedicated to Goalsoft. It was no doubt inspired in part by Nintendo Power. The Goalsoft MAG featured monthly interviews administered by Marlon with the various Goalsoft web staff, release dates for upcoming game projects, short stories, poems and one very controversial comedy column. The latter of which was hosted by Dave Smith. Goalsoft's resident comedy writer and beta tester. In the span of time between January and April of that year, I released Sword Quest III: Dimensional Drift, Super Israel World 2 and Swashblood Isle. I had originally intended to develop Swashblood Isle in Glumol, but the tools were unfortunately not made available until much later. I would instead use Clickteam's The Games Factory. Much like Klik & Play, it left something to be desired when developing traditional adventure games. Everything, as usual, had to be created from scratch. That included an inventory screen and dialogue prompt for every possible scenario in the game. Timers were used to tell the game whether or not an event could be triggered, and when and where to display an item. As a result of these limitations and improvisations, Swashblood Isle was more than a little rough around the edges. Clearly, I had an awful lot of free time on my hands. It certainly felt strange being out of school, but I still had a teacher or two in my life. I became rather hooked on TechTV, a cable network focused primarily on the computer industry. Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton hosted a late afternoon show known as The Screen Savers. They covered every computer topic one could imagine, but my favorite segments were the ones where they built custom machines for gaming and whatnot. It would be several years before I attempted such a thing of my own. With 2001 rapidly drawing to a close, I had just one thing on my mind. Nintendo's brand new disc-based console. For the longest time, it was known simply by a codename. Project Dolphin. A name that left quite a bit to the imagination.

The Computer Files Draft Post

The Computer Files
A Nintendo Rhapsody Spin-Off

The Computer Files, Folder 1: ExoDOS (MS-DOS and Windows 3.1)
The Computer Files, Folder 2: CD BDEC (Windows 3.1)
The Computer Files, Folder 3: HIGH Memory (Windows 95 and MS-DOS Mode)
The Computer Files, Folder 4: You've Got Mail (AOL and the World Wide Web)

Memories of Doom/IBM 486 (for Folder 1: ExoDOS)

My grandmother and aunt picked up my first computer from a business, to the best of my recollection, known as NET Computers. It was a custom IBM 486/66 with four megabytes of RAM. I knew next to nothing about computers in 1994. So little so that when I began playing SimCity 2000 and noticed the landscape had edges, I thought I needed more RAM to build bigger cities. I quickly upgraded to eight megabytes of RAM. SimCity 2000 remained, of course, unaffected. My aunt gave me a copy of the original SimCity and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego. The computer itself came with Doom and Epic Pinball pre-installed in MS-DOS. Doom transported players to the one place nobody wants to go, but it was truly something else in 1994.

That computer was plagued with its fair share of problems. It often suffered from disk read errors, and there were even times in which it would fail to boot at all. I eventually had no choice but to take the computer in to be serviced, and in the process, Doom was completely wiped from the drive. It was not long before I became eager to get my hands on the game again. While browsing a small computer shop with dad, I happened to eye a copy of Doom sitting on one of the software shelves. I was curious as to what exactly the term "Shareware" meant on the game's disc and proceeded to ask a clerk about it before making my purchase. I was told that the label was no big deal; that the complete game should be on the disc. Well, imagine my surprise when I came home and found that only Knee-Deep in the Dead was playable from the episode selection screen.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 1: Far From Home Redux)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 11-1: Alone in the Dark

When I was eight years of age, I lived away from home five out of seven days a week for a period of six months in East Los Angeles at a facility known simply as The Diagnostic School. On Friday afternoons, I would be released to spend the weekends at home with family. Every Sunday at 5:00 PM, I would have to return to The Diagnostic School for the forthcoming week. Once there, I had to eat cafeteria food. I grew to loathe cafeteria food.

On those particular nights, however, I would often choose a bag of Skittles. I hated Skittles. I greatly preferred M&Ms, but Skittles was all that they seemed to have. I would sit on the far corner of the cafeteria, my back to the window, eating my bag of Skittles. All the while, dreading the days and week ahead. I peered out into the darkness of the night every so often.

Nintendo Rhapsody Notes

A place for my unrestrained thoughts and ideas on the subject of current and future Nintendo Rhapsody chapters.



World 0: The Schoolyard Menace (Prequel Chapter)

World 0-1: Terror of Orchard Dale Elementary

When I was three years of age, I attended preschool at the YMCA. I was accompanied by my maternal grandmother. She would often stay with me during the classes. I was already showing signs of an attention deficit. My preschool teacher, Mary Ray, seemed very concerned with my inability to remain still. She also raised concerns about my delayed motor skills. My grandmother also seemed worried. I would be entering elementary school at Orchard Dale soon enough. A possible recipe for disaster.

When thinking back upon Orchard Dale Elementary's computer lab, two words come to mind. Cold and sterile. It was devoid of the usual classroom writing utensils. Occupied instead by thinking machines. Machines that appeared to have one function only. The output of math equations to a monitor.

A few thoughts on my home life while attending Orchard Dale Elementary in 1989. I used to sit in my room listening to The Beach Boys and I would often compose my own music via a toy piano. One of the songs was entitled simply "Doors." It was just a rudimentary series of increasing and decreasing notes, but it was music to my ears at the time. The Atari 2600 Space Invaders portion of the chapter would be themed around Orson Welles' mischievous War of the Worlds radio play from 1938. I also used to play Dragster with my dad on the big oak television set in the living room. All I seem to remember of that game is burning out the race car over and over again.

My parents owned the original wood grain Atari 2600 game console, but when I was two or three years old, I disassembled it piece by piece. I was more than likely curious how the thing worked. Electronics were like magic to me back then. It was replaced by a second generation Atari 2600 in the years that followed. I still have that second generation console in storage to this day.

Atari 2600 Game Collection

My First Reading Tutor

I came into this life a destructive force of nature. I was, in my own way, ever curious about the world around me. I just failed to show it in an appropriate manner. Being the slow learner that I was, I would often paint my own version of reality based upon my then limited comprehension.

Needless to say, I learned a lot from the school system, but much of it took place outside the classroom; on the playgrounds, in the lunch rooms, in the offices. It was the people, not the curriculum, that truly mattered. I came to the realization that I was not alone. There were students with far worse disabilities than my own, and there were staff members that legitimately cared for each and every one of them.

It was a treasure trove of experiences, and at the end of the day, it matters not if they were good or bad ones. All that remains to be seen is whether or not something was learned from them. Life, itself, is an institution for learning. The ultimate school system. We pass on what we learn, and what we pass on gives others reason to learn.


Diane Stepnitz

Games of Yesteryear

Below is a handful of my favorite classic computer and video games that have been thoroughly discussed in other articles on The Grig Post. I have included snippets from those articles here. I decided to present them in chronological order because I just cannot seem to bring myself to number them.

Chrono Trigger

I first played Chrono Trigger in 2000; one year after the "Year of Lavos." Technically, I first played it on PC, since I used an emulator (Snes9x). Before I played Chrono Trigger, I was not much of an RPG fan. I had a few friends that were very much into RPGs, however. They strongly suggested that I play a few. I was blown away by the depth of Chrono Trigger.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 6: It's About Time):

What is time? We like to think of it as a straight line from past to present to future, but our hearts and minds often dwell exclusively in the past or future. We rarely exist in the present moment. Time, it would seem, is merely an earthbound construct. It was the year 2000 AD in actuality, but my mind was fixated ever in the past. 1995 AD to be more precise. I was trying to hunt down a copy of Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo. I was very unlikely to still find the game in any store, and virtual console services would not exist for another six years. Thus, I settled on an emulator for Windows 98. I downloaded Snes9x alongside a ROM of Chrono Trigger. I would eventually find and purchase the Sony PlayStation compilation with Final Fantasy IV and the Nintendo DS version of Chrono Trigger, but for now, emulation appeared to be my only option. Chrono Trigger begins with a legitimate sense of joy and wonder. Crono is a carefree boy just out to have fun with his friends on the morning of the Millennial Fair. A stark contrast from The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in which Link's adventure begins with a frantic quest in the midst of a storm. Both story techniques work effectively in their respective games, but Chrono Trigger does a far better job of building tension, and boy does it deliver on surprise twists. From the moment Crono's mother drew open his bedroom curtains, I knew that I was in for something special. Lucca, one of Crono's dearest friends, is a dedicated scientist and a rather talented inventor. Her latest invention, a teleportation device, was about to take the Millennial Fair by storm.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 7: The End of the Beginning)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 7-1: Uncharted Territory

I was a very reckless grade schooler one minute, and then the next, a high school graduate on his way to college. I was for the briefest of moments in time, as Ms. Davis said, "the man of the hour." It felt as if life were but glimpses. As I took my first glimpse of Cerritos College, I was filled with a fear of the unknown. The very same fear I had previously felt upon my arrival at California High School and every school before that. I entered into a large enclosed amphitheater. I was taken aback by the sheer scale of the college campus. It gave me such pause, I very nearly forgot the reason for my being there. I approached the front of the amphitheater to collect my entry exam before having a seat. I breezed through the multiple choice questions, but when it came time for the written portion, I struggled to think of anything. It was one of those scenarios where you have to write an essay response to a question. A very specific question designed exclusively for that exam. I consider myself to be a fairly creative person, but writing within those constraints always proved difficult. I had no choice but to take the entry exam over again. During the second attempt, however, I was given more time to wrestle with the question before me. I managed to pass the exam in the end and was thereby approved for three courses. An entry-level math class, a business class and a computer software class. As fate would have it, my computer software teacher was named Mr. Davis. No apparent relation to Ms. Davis. Among other things, I was instructed to write a GW-BASIC program from scratch. It would prompt the user to enter a salesman's name, employee number and sales amount before printing their commission. I found my mind a bit preoccupied those first few days in class. Squaresoft's Chrono Cross was set to release that week on Sony's PlayStation. A spiritual sequel to Chrono Trigger. I was eager to dive into the game having known of its existence for months.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 6: It's About Time)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 6-1: To Far Away Times

In just three short years, I had made California High School my own. My performance in the classroom had afforded me the opportunity to choose an elective course or special task around campus. I chose to assist Mr. Hales, the physical education teacher, with his daily routine. I would deliver the sporting equipment to the field for practice, deliver the attendance sheets to the office and report any problems directly to Mr. Hales for inspection. More often than not, however, I spent this time standing around the basketball cart chatting with other students who happened to approach me. One of them was named Shalimar. Her boyfriend, Randy, had recently broken up with her and she was feeling quite down on herself. I would sit with her on occasion. I tried my best to lift her spirits. "You never know who you might meet out of the blue," I told her. I had personally experienced my own fair share of struggles in life, but something good always seemed right around the corner. I just had to believe in myself. She appeared to appreciate the sentiment. "Out of the blue" became a source of inspiration to her and she would come to remind me of that a few times. And then there was Jovani. We chatted about video games. One video game in particular. The then unreleased Perfect Dark for Nintendo 64. Rare's spiritual successor to GoldenEye 007. We would each comb the web for any clues we could find about the upcoming game and then report back in Mr. Hales' class. It would be quite some time before we actually got our hands on Perfect Dark.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 5: Nintendo Strikes Back)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 5-1: A Whole New World

With Barbara Dawson Educational Center now firmly in the past, I began attending California High School. The adjustment period was somewhat less unnerving than Hillview Middle School. I credit my early enrollment in summer school. I had a whole month to absorb the campus before the overwhelming invasion of students in September. During this relatively quiet time, I became acquainted with one of the more interesting teachers on campus. Her name was Tamara, but of course, everyone knew her as Ms. Davis. Gone were the days of being on a first name basis. Fellow class members remember her best for her love of pumpkin seeds. I remember, from the moment I first met her, her sense of humor. Ms. Davis was a lighthearted woman, sure, but she also had a rather strict side. It was not wise to upset her. The months flew by in the blink of an eye. Christmas arrived right on schedule. Santa Claus delivered a very exciting present to my brother and I that year. It was none other than the Nintendo 64 and it was not alone. It came with Cruis'n USA, Killer Instinct Gold, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, Wave Race 64, but most importantly, Super Mario 64. It was not long at all before a debate was had to decide whose room the system would reside in. A few days later, we all contracted chicken pox and the two week quarantine period began. Let the games begin.

Conrad the Healer

INTRODUCTION

I reckon you've heard of the name Conrad Sheldon; else you wouldn't be here. Everyone in Hicksville knows his name. He was born with a rare learning disorder. All throughout his days, he was licked in every task by no fault of his own. He struggled as he might to spell, but he served his purpose well.

You see, Conrad Sheldon had a heart of pure gold. Most folks, well, they never back down from a fight. Conrad was different. Conrad would face a fight with a kind of innocence about him. Some of them folks wrote it off as mere ignorance. Conrad just sought to share in his love of life. He knew nothing of resentment. Hicksville is a better place having known him.

If you should permit me the time, I'll tell you more about Conrad Sheldon.

What was that? The next bus out of Hicksville aint for another three hours yet. Sure, we have plenty of time. Allow me to start from the beginning...

CHAPTER 1: FARTHER SON

Part 1: Reintroduction

Conrad Sheldon was born to Roy and Petunia Sheldon of Sunnybrook Lane. Roy, the only son of a Jewish household, and Petunia, a devout Catholic. They weren't always in agreement with one another, but they knew in their hearts that which was best for their children.

Their daughter, Vespa, was born a few years after Conrad, and by that point, Roy had taken a job as a high school math teacher. He grew ever more curious with computers. They were but a strange contraption to most folks at the time, but he desired to understand them more fully.

Roy eventually mastered a multitude of programming languages. A skill that would prove most useful to Conrad in his own quest to understand the world around him. With the help of his father, Conrad might even live out the fantasy of a king.

Psychoeducation: Preschool

This hand written letter (which I have copied word for word) predates my entry into Orchard Dale Elementary by two years. It appears to be penned by my maternal grandmother, Allene. It paints a clearer picture of my childhood emotional state. I previously assumed the problems to have begun in elementary school. In fact, my wave of destruction began much sooner. For example, I drove a car into my grandmother’s house at the age of two.

Psychoeducation: The Diagnostic Center

In January of 1991, I began attending The Diagnostic Center in Los Angeles, and thus, the Rossier School chapter came to a close. I wrote at length about this time in my life for Nintendo Rhapsody. It may not have been my first encounter with Nintendo, but it was certainly quite impressionable. When given the opportunity to spend time with the NES in the recreation room, I could easily find myself so entranced I would, for a brief moment, forget I was living away from home. My memory of the actual school environment at The Diagnostic Center remains a bit fuzzy, but some of the reports I have discovered may shed some light on the subject. This is a very much abridged version, by the way. There are twenty pages of mostly boring, deeply versed statistics. "This thing reads like stereo instructions!"

Psychoeducation: The Second First Grade

In May of 1989, my time at Orchard Dale Elementary came to an abrupt end. I was placed in a non-public school known as Rossier. My memory of this school is also a bit fuzzy, but I do remember some things here and there. I remember carrying a float back from an event in the gymnasium, the wind blowing it from my arms, and trying desperately to retrieve the scattered pieces from the field where I was suddenly ambushed by a group of students on the playground. I curled into a ball and they proceeded to kick at me until they grew tired of this activity. I then walked back to class, empty handed. I also remember stretching my arms backward while sitting at my desk one day, pencil in hand, when I managed to stab the teaching assistant. Until this very day, I feel as though it was an accident, but they took it very seriously. Below are a set of generalized reports from April 30th, 1990. At present, there do not appear to be any specific incident reports from Rossier.

Easter with the Haleys

With a lack of progress on Ancestry with the Haleys, my video anthology dedicated to the Haley family remained dormant for a few years. I would often entertain the idea of a new video, but was at a loss for content.

In 2014, I set out to locate the missing Easters. Dad was good about labeling home movies, but for some reason, this egg-filled holiday always fell near the end of existing VHS tapes. Sometimes, it was not labeled at all. The video hunt was a bit like Easter itself. However, just in time for that year's Easter Sunday, I found all but one. I have reason to believe 1997 was not filmed. As I was not prepared to enter the director's seat on an Easter with the Haleys, I merely shared the uncut footage with family. I thought the idea made little sense at the time. Choosing the best moments from Christmas, Campland and Disneyland was difficult enough. Easter has always been a tricky occasion to cover. I know, for some, its religious significance is a turn off. Not only that. Who wants to watch three kids look for eggs for twenty minutes?


Easter 1994

Psychoeducation: The First Grade

I recently discovered my IEP papers from elementary school and was quite shocked by some of the things I found. I was always a relatively average child according to everyone I knew and spoke to, but as I entered Kindergarten and then Grade 1, I began to exhibit serious emotional problems. I have very few memories from this time, but I do recall being reminded by my parents of a few incidents. One of which left a custodian hospitalized. The following stories come from the staff of Orchard Dale Elementary the month of and month following Easter, 1989. I was six years old. I must warn everyone, it is quite intense!

I am sharing these stories in an effort to show I have nothing to hide. I made some serious mistakes as a child, more severe than most children, but I am certainly not the only one who ever gave in to impulsive actions or judged others before they knew all the facts. If we are to truly become better people, we need to focus on the strengths of others, not their weaknesses. I wish I could comfort the people in these stories. Chances are, however, they would not remember me. It was twenty-seven years ago, after all.

Computer Love

A short history of my former and current PC hardware. Most of the information below was retrieved from an entry I made on March 8th, 2009. I have revised its contents and attached a few photographs. Yes, the new title is a reference to a Kraftwerk song.

#1. IBM (486/66MHz)
August, 1994

My first PC was a beast. 66MHz of raw computing power, 8 megabytes of memory enhancing RAM, 16-bits of surreal audio processing (Sound Blaster 16) and 2 megabytes of mind blowing onboard video memory. It could run Doom II: Hell on Earth at maximum settings. This PC was originally packaged with MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1. Later, I upgraded to Windows 95. "Where do you want to go today?"


IBM in 1995

Dot-com Babble

Due to financial realities, SpaceRuckus.com is no longer host to Space Ruckus: The Official Site and Forum. I, for one, am a proponent of preservation. Beginning a year ago this month, the robots.txt was disabled to allow Archive.org a full snapshot of the site contents. It can be found in the attachment below.

SpaceRuckus.com, itself, will redirect here (TheGrigPost.Blogspot.com) until further notice. If such a time comes as another project is in development, it may redirect elsewhere. Thank you to those who remained loyal over the years. It was a road filled with personal and professional turmoil. A less heart driven individual may have just scrapped everything a long time ago... in a galaxy far, far away. Live long and prosper, everyone!


Space Ruckus: The Official Site (Archive.org)

Space Ruckus on the World Wide Web:
Blogspot  •  Facebook  •  GoDaddy Photo Album  •  Internet Archive  •  YouTube

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 4: Trial Separation)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 4-1: He's Got an Attitude

Nintendo's undisputed reign over the Haley household was, for the time being, at an end. Just as Mario hung his hat for a well deserved rest, an edgy new platforming star was beginning his own adventure. Sonic, a mysterious blue hedgehog without a speed limit, was set to conquer far more than my television screen. In no time at all, I owned everything from Sonic the Hedgehog sleeping bags to plush toys to comic books. I would eagerly visit the nearby Ralphs supermarket each month to score a new issue. It was almost as exciting as the animated series. Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog aired Monday through Friday at seven in the morning. Once I began attending Hillview Middle School, I had no choice but to record them onto VHS tape and watch them after school. Hillview was a whole new experience. There were an unnerving number of fellow students. Having been enrolled in non-public schools for many years prior, I was not prepared for the often twenty something students per classroom - or the fact I now had six classes a day. It was quite a bit to process. In retrospect, I always found smaller classes more focused and therefore rewarding experiences. One of those classes was, thankfully, a more intimate environment and it was there in which I began to take computers seriously. Previously, I saw them as rather dull educational instruments. I was assigned a floppy diskette and a desk terminal. My assignment was simple: Build and maintain a town in Maxis' SimCity. A town which continued to function whether I was present or not. It was like Quintet's ActRaiser, but without the action platforming stages. Computers were rad and all, but I really just wanted to get home and play the Sega Genesis.

Nintendo Rhapsody (World 3: Genesis)

Nintendo Rhapsody is an ongoing story about how Nintendo, and video games in general, helped me through some of the harder times in my life. Each chapter, known as a 'world' in Nintendo Rhapsody, is rather self contained with introductions and conclusions.



World 3-1: I Know Those Letters

In the beginning, there was the Magnavox Odyssey. Utilizing an array of on-screen lights and television overlays, it marked the start of a worldwide phenomenon. One of many smiles, tears and jeers. Twenty years later, the video game industry was a bustling business. With the increasing popularity of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis, a whole new phenomenon was just beginning. As for the rambunctious Haley bunch, we arrived home from Toys "R" Us with the SNES in tow. It was quickly decided the system would reside in my brother's room. I cannot say for certain if this was punishment for my wrongdoings at Murphy Ranch Elementary, but whatever the event, it was rather effective. I would next attend Barbara Dawson Educational Center, where I would finally learn to read and write. I have Diane to thank for her encouragement, persistence and unique approach to instruction. I recall one book reading session in-particular for its use of non-linear progression. Diane would come to a key point in the book's story and I would be faced with two or sometimes even three choices. Each choice had a page number written beside it. Diane would then turn to the page of my choosing to continue with the story. A "choose your own adventure" story in a world filled with stories fixed in stone. My mind was suddenly set ablaze. It would be quite a number of years still before I could write well, but she laid the foundation. I gradually became more proficient with practice of my own. I missed out on so many funny mistranslated NES games, but I had a plethora of dialogue heavy games to look forward to on the SNES. Of course, the first game to grace my brother's television screen was none other than Super Mario World - and it was good.