Story Behind The Photo 2

Back when I was around 13 and getting ready to get fat again my parents decided that it would be a good idea to move to 78th Street mere minutes away from where the L.A Riots began. At least it was after they happened. During this time I had my first in person girlfriend. My first two were over the phone. Don’t ask. Anyhoot, my girlfriend had a working Nintendo and let me borrow it since she had it in storage and never played it. That smile on my face is real and I have no idea who took this picture.

I would sit in that ugly brown chair (which would jackknife my father every week when he leaned back too far) and play video games and make lanyards for hours. On top of that TV is one of many two foot long lanyards I would make. How I don’t have arthritis I will never know.

Also in this awesome ass room was my bunkbed/futon, my drawing board, and my baseball shaped fish tank. I don’t like baseball. Don’t know why my brother bought it for me. That big ass mirror was groovy but I remember one night waking up and seeing my reflection across the room and getting scared. I thought some asshole snuck into my room and fell asleep.

So back to the Nintendo. We moved from this house, thank god, like maybe a year later. We moved at night since my mother said it was the best way for neighbors to not know what you owned. Next time you wonder why I’m the way I am re-read that last sentence. By this time me and my girlfriend had broken up. I should mention her for a second. She was a big girl. A year older than me and tried to get me interested in her by showing me hickeys on her neck. Apparently it worked since I got with her for a few months. Got a kiss too and it sucked. Had to go home and take a Crying Game tooth brushing.

When we moved I still had the Nintendo. I felt I deserved it. Why? Because I have a god complex. I think a lot of things that make no sense. A few days after we moved my brother called my ex’s cousin and she asked about the Nintendo. I was pissed that he called her at all. My parents went back to the old house to get some stuff and took the Nintendo with them. “You lucky you didn’t go!” he told me. “They were all waiting on the porch for you!” I miss that room sometimes. I sure as hell miss that Nintendo. The ex…not so much.