Today is Groundhog day, all over the world groundhogs emerge from holes to predict the weather like furry barometers. Have you ever seen the Bill Murray movie "Groundhog Day"? I have been to the town where it was filmed, was given a tour of it by a jovial old drag queen.
This entry continues the telling of my story, which started the entry before last.
When I was seven years old we got our first computer, a commodore 64 with like a meg of memory. I learned to program basic, entering code for games from the computer magazines of the time. This knowledge of programming became important later in my life.
We lived in an old brick house in town, blocks away from the city park. My room was in the attic, a large blue space with slanted ceilings, covered in cabinets that would lead to tunnels to strange and secret worlds. I could have stayed alone in that blue polyhedron of a room forever.
I got into books early and started staying up late on weekends reading piles of literature from the local library. One of my few good memories of my stepfather is that he would take us to the local library for books because he was into learning. Learning, surprisingly artistic woodworking, and beating up anything smaller than him. That's Dad.
I got obsessed with different subjects and read piles of books about them, back then it was archeology, chess, dragons, oriental religion, robotics, medieval history. I do the same thing today with different subjects. One thing I miss about childhood is having the time to read more. What do you miss?
Mother's love for Tolkien turned me on to the fantasy genre and then to D&D. Our neighbors on one side were extreme asshole Christians. They thought that D&D was satanic and acted like we were not there or less than human. This is the beginning of my aversion to organized religion, I do not condone condemnation of art on the basis of concept rather than content. Besides, if you are going to get that into religion I recommend one that encourages extreme facial hair or ridiculous hats, at least get something weird out of the conformity.
What is the first thing you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you become it? When I was three I wanted to be a rhinoceros when I grew up. Maybe this is still an obtainable goal, it would be better than being an accountant or fast food worker. After that I wanted to be a doctor. Then a clown.
At seven I wanted to be a magician when I grew up and started reading every book I could find to learn tricks. I held onto this goal until around age 12, doing shows for school projects and small parties. I framed the first dollar I made as a magician, and still have it somewhere. I was very good for my age, but after going through all the books in the local libraries I was not sure where to go with it. If I would have thought to look for an apprenticeship with an older magician my life might have gone very differently. In time I moved on, but I can still remember some of the old tricks, and can make coins disappear with the best of them.
I continued through elementary school, getting A's without really having to try, building on my passions for books, magic, art, programming, and music. I remember skating parties, 80's music and homo-erotic 80's cartoons, daydreaming a lot, the Goonies, comparing parts with the neighborhood girls, finger painting, not wanting to say the "under God" part of the pledge of allegiance, piano recitals, getting glasses in the second grade and finding out how much sharper the world could look. After all that I started junior high and we moved and life took a darker turn. |
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