Took a Little More of What I Take for Granted.

After a nice productive streak, it's always a little disheartening to realize you haven't written, not just in a day or two, but in days. I don't know what I'd do without a place like this to write. I remember this summer before I'd stared this blog and after I called it quits back at WilmingSloan, I would find myself itching to punch keys and publish something but I had nowhere to do it. Every so often I just feel the need to write and I guess with all the hustle and bustle of the season, that urge just hasn't hit me lately.

Excuses aside, I had a wonderful Christmas here with the family. Tomorrow I'm going to spend time with dad's side of the family and they're always an entertaining bunch.

But all of that isn't what I'm here to write about.

My mom asked that I clean my room instead of buying her anything for Christmas. Now, I'm still living at home so cleaning my room would be of benefit to me as well and you may be thinking, "Aw, Nathan's mom is trying to help him save money at the holidays." That may be partially true, but I assure you that money played little into her request. You see, my room hasn't received the attention it deserves for, oh, probably four years. In that time I've piled junk from everywhere else I've lived (a dorm, two apartments, and 4 summers at Caswell) into the floor until there was barely room to walk or, (how does one say it?), live in dignity.

Over the course of four grueling days I have finally cleared and rearranged it into a very cool and livable space. In the process of cleaning I hooked up my old and miraculously still working NES, mostly out of nostalgia. Surprisingly, I found the first Super Mario Bros. to be quite entertaining all these years later. Now I know what must be done.

Let me explain to you something: I played this game religiously for hours upon hours though most of my childhood. Starting in Christmas of 1989 when we first lucked out by getting one from Santa, my sisters and I put that system through the truest test of operability. In all that time, I'm sad to report that I have never - never - beaten the original Super Mario Bros. That is about to change.

I hereby declare, on this day, that I, Nathan Sloan, shall conquer the ultimate challenge of my childhood armed only with a rectangular grey controller and a pink book titled, "How to Win at Super Mario Bros. Games," (which I believe was published in '93 or '94). I will beat the original Super Mario Bros. and when I'm done, I'll be sure to share the glorious victory with all of you in a triumphant blog post.

Until next time, remember to push vigorously with the plunger handle and release suction every 4-6 seconds until the clog has cleared.