A farewell for now

It’s November, which means two things: 1) I’ve been swamped for the past month and a half on election coverage and 2) this blog is almost five months old.

I was planning on doing an article at this time about the first thing, and discuss the time when in kindergarten I believed that my vote for George Bush Sr. would be counted in the event of a tie for the adults election (I don’t think it was close enough that they had to come down to it), but sadly, today’s is actually a farewell, at least for a while.

Goosebumps Month: Recap

 Throughout the month of October, I’ve gone through the sometimes unfortunate task of reading Goosebumps books. It was a choice, I know, and one I was looking forward to early on in the creation of the blog. But that didn’t make it any easier.

You see, throughout doing this blog experiment one thing has constantly been in my mind: tell the funny, embarrassing and nostalgic stories of a time long gone. And revel in the ironic love of all things 90s.

There was honestly no candidate better than R.L. Stine.

Goosebumps Month: "How to Kill a Monster"

“How to Kill a Monster” is not so much a manual on how to kill horrible, blood thirsty creatures that will kill you. (Also a description for bears.)

No, it’s a Goosebumps book. And a surprisingly decent one, all things considered.

Goosebumps Month: "It Came From Beneath the Sink"

On the cover of “It Came from Beneath the Sink,” there is text reading, “It’s warm! It’s breathing! And it doesn’t do the dishes!”

I guess at least this one didn’t put me to sleep every time I tried to read it.

Goosebumps Month: "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes"

“Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes” is the 34th book R.L. Stine published under the Goosebumps banner, which I think is getting fairly close to the point where the series has run its course.

And let’s be honest here, in eight books he publishes one of the worst in the series “Egg Monsters from Mars.” (Apparently “A Funny Thing Happened on the way to Jump the Shark” wasn’t available.)

Goosebumps Month: "The Ghost Next Door"

This week we move a little further into the Goosebumps library with “The Ghost Next Door,” the 10th book of the series.

Goosebumps Month: "Monster Blood"

"Monster Blood" is the third book in the Goosebumps series (if you can call it that) and the story is the basis for four of its books. If there was ever a flagship book in R.L. Stein’s writing, I feel like this is it.

And boy, it is fantastic.

Goosebumps month is here

I want this exact picture on the biography page of any book I ever write.

To be entirely honest, a good portion of this blog is dedicated to allowing me to reminisce over the many things from my past that I love ironically. From T.G.I.F. to Pogs and most of the shows Nickelodeon produced back in the day, this has been a dream come true in terms of self deprecating humor and nostalgia.

But for all of the things that I love ironically, there is one which I kind of put on this list, even though I truly enjoyed it (and am still pretty fascinated by it): Goosebumps.

The Velveteen Rabbit

Here come the water works.

Somebody gave me a copy of the Velveteen Rabbit as a gag gift.

7-year-old and 25-year-old me cried a little.

Rollerblades

Neon colors were actually one of the highest exported goods during the '90s. Seriously, Wikipedia that.

 I don’t understand the weird shoes that kids wear today that have a wheel in the heel. They don’t make sense to me and seem a little dangerous.

Then again, when I was a kid I probably spent as much time in the summer with wheels on my feet as they did. Mine were called Rollerblades and they were about 80 times cooler.

5 for Friday: Birthday memories

Caitlin, myself and a very young Zach circa 1997. Although this was technically Zach's first birthday, celebrating with the family is always nice.

As I said with my last post, Wednesday was my birthday.

I have had a lot of great birthdays (many that have happened in the past few years have been especially fun), so I thought I would trudge through memory lane and come up with some highlights.

Today is my birthday

These pictures were taken a few years apart.

As you can see by the headline, today is my birthday, so instead of doing a post about 7-year-old me, I think I may talk for a bit about 25-year-old me.

He’s new here, so let’s be nice to him.

Becoming a stand-up comic

"Seriously, don't make me laugh. I'm swinging here, come on."

I think of myself as funny. In fact, I pride myself on it in a manner which borders on narcissistic.

It also was a future occupation 7-year-old me though we would one get get into, even if he was more in prat falls.

Heroes in a half-shell

Watch out bad guys, headband-wearing turtles are coming to get you.

Ask almost any kid during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s what their favorite TV show was and good chances the answer is going to be Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Confession, 7-year-old me was not one of those kids.

Pogs

To do list: 1) Find my slammers. 2) Knock all of these over.

The other day I was talking with a friend about my weekend job at a local magazine store. In doing so, he had mentioned that he had not been there since the mid ‘90s when he would make regular stops to pick up football cards and pogs.

Yes folks, we’re doing a post on pogs. Get ready to read at the edge of your seats.

5 for Friday: Taking trips

"What? Oh, this dinosaur? Yeah, I dug it up, no big deal."

This is my last post in the series for Summer 2011, which for me has been a great time with friends and some good memories. But there is one thing I did not do this summer which I probably should have considered: taking a vacation.

For my family, vacations were few and far between -- we took one-day vacations before they were cool. But that’s not to say we didn’t take a few trips in my lifetime of note. So here we go, my family’s top trips, at least as best as I can remember.

Final days of Summer

This kid knows how to play.

My youngest brother went back to school last week. I stayed at the office until 1:30 a.m. Friday waiting to check pages after the football game. Last Monday I had to wear a hoodie when I went to the park with a friend.

Summer is officially coming to a close. I should really keep that a secret from 7-year-old me.

I want to ride my bicycle

People who love riding bikes: This guy.

For all intents and purposes, this is the last week of summer (yes, technically Fall starts in about a month, but kids are back in school and the city pool closes this week). And so far this year, I have not taken part in one of the most traditional summertime activity: Riding a bike.

But then again, when you look at 7-year-old me’s history of bike riding, it’s not all that surprising.

Do the Sneak

When you want to watch the Simpsons, but your folks say 'No,' you do the sneak (ahh), do the sneak.

I have great parents. They are wonderful people who have always been loving, respectful and caring. But when you are a 7-year-old you tend to have a love-hate relationship with your folks because you’re told to love them but deep down, you know they are the ones that keep you from doing the things you want to.

And therefore, you do the sneak.

Running

I want to know how people used to play basketball in these.

I don’t have a lot of friends with kids, or at least I don’t spend a lot of time around their kids, but when I do, I have noticed something about those children that I never see in adults: they run everywhere.

However, I am living what some doctors would refer to as a sedentary lifestyle.

Without this getting into a creepy place, I want you to watch children next time you are around them and notice how often they run. Kids have places to be and they are going to get there as soon as possible. Better yet, try to remember back to grade school and look at the difference between kids in 4th grade to kids in 6th grade -- it’s about 2 feet and 14 mph.

This probably comes down to a number of things, but possibly one of the biggest reasons people older than 6 grade don’t run like they used to is because they don’t play like they used to. Sadly working as a journalist in a small town newspaper doesn’t allow for a whole lot of recess breaks. For some reason HR always gets a call whenever I ask co-workers to partake in a game of hide and go seek with me.

In addition, I have never been one for exercise, or sadly physical activity of almost any kind. Although I played sports in my youth, it was typically not because I was interested in them, and throughout college it was very uncommon to find me at the gym except for the quarter I took a wellness class. And even though I recently purchased a pair of shoes with the purpose of being used as running shoes, I have only taken them to the park with me a small handful of times.

I realize that physical health is something I should probably be working on. I was a big fan of walking in college and for the most part had no problem walking from building to building on campus and even taking long trips off campus to hit up the local library or grab a bite to eat. Even today I have no problem walking to my part-time job downtown or walking to any of the nearby bars to see friends. The problem is that when you spend so much time working in an office, and that office is so far from home, you tend to walk less and less. And now my only real physical activity during the day is the distance between my car door to the door of my apartment.

One of the good things I can say is that I have tried to make a more conscious effort in the past few years to eat healthier, with more veggies and I have almost completely cut red meats out of my diet. I do make other bad health choices, but I feel like some of these things are a step in the right direction.

So for this, I apologize to 7-year-old me not taking care of myself as well as you did, even if you didn’t know you were doing it. Yes, it may be awkward watching you run everywhere in family movies, but at least you were keeping active -- and having fun.

10 for Friday: Disney Movies

For a 7-year-old in the 1990s, there was no company as prolific as Walt Disney, especially their cartoons. So in order to do a countdown of my favorites at the time, I’m going to have to cheat a little bit.

So, here are 10 of the best animated features, according to 7-year-old me.

I'm Nick, and I used to be a Mac

Even today, I still kind of see this as our greatest technological discovery.

Today’s blog posting comes to you courtesy of a Frankenstein PC with about two components of the computer I bought a month before I started college in 2005.

I’m often surprised I use a PC considering how much 7-year-old me loved the Mac II that spent a few summers at my parent’s house.

"It's Morphin' Time!"

Let's be honest, you know the names of each of those characters and what animal they turned into.

Sometimes in looking back we notice our mistakes. This was possibly one of them, but I’m not alone.

Dear 7-year-old me, I’m sorry we had to watch Power Rangers.

5 for Friday: Super Nintendo Games

Its on like, well, you know.

I play a lot of video games today. Probably more than I should. But for all of the time I spend in front of my PlayStation, I feel like the best gaming experience I had was as a kid.

I’m a major proponent of unique gameplay and “fun” games. Instead of titles like Call of Duty and Halo, my game collection tends to feature more discs that allow me to roll things up in a ball or play “Everlong” on a plastic guitar. That’s kind of my thing.

For me personally, the idea of fun gaming was at it’s peak with one system in particular: the Super Nintendo. The system featured a huge collection of great sidescrolling adventures with fun characters and brilliant animation (for the time). So with that stated, here are 7-year-old me’s favorite games for the Super Nintendo (warning: this list is based completely on what he owned/played at the time).

"After these messages, we'll be right back"

This was the best thing Disney has ever done.

Remember that time I said my DVR is full of Batman cartoons? I lied -- it’s really just full of cartoons.

And I have 7-year-old me to thank.

As many of these posts have suggested, I had a more than mild addiction to cartoons as a child. It was one of those constants things in my life I could barely go without, and luckily they were not hard to find (even without cable TV).

Blinded me with Science (Fiction)

LaVar Burton was everywhere in the 1990s, which helped make it the greatest decade. I understand that fact is now featured in every 6th grade history book.

 Although I’ve already mentioned it, 7-year-old me would be disappointed that I haven’t had the opportunity to travel to space or own a jet pack.

I’m disappointed as well.

The 1990s proved to be a relatively interesting time for science fiction, as it marked the 20th anniversary of “Star Wars,” years of strong ratings and prosperity for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and its spin-offs, the introduction of the Sci-Fi television network and the breeding grounds for a number of TV shows based on out-of-this-world adventures.

5 for Friday: TGIF

This lineup was the reason why TV was invented.

I’m going to be honest: I’ve been looking forward to writing this post since I started this blog.

So, remember that story about not having cable but never really having any problems with that? One of the biggest reasons why 7-year-old me had no problems with this was because network TV was, in his mind, actually pretty good and offered some excellent choices. And few were better than TGIF.

Using my full name

If you want someone to stay away from your possessions, use a name tag with Winnie-the-Pooh on it. Works every time.

The byline on every story I have written is “Nick Dutro.” That would have made 7-year-old me puke.

As a child I had one major request for most people: Call me Nicholas. It was a strange request (I was a strange kid, and a babysitter had recently pointed out to a friend of mine), but one that I was very adamant about. I wanted to be called my full name, and I would not accept any variations on that.

Reading

Everything in this picture is perfect. Including "Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes."

Even with all of our distractions, reading was cool in the 1990s.

Ok, maybe cool is a stretch, but I recall reading as a major source of entertainment as a child, something I have sadly lost touch with. And something 7-year-old me would probably be judging 24-year-old me for today.

Owning a dog

Sparky and So. In case you can't tell, one of them is a stuffed animal. Also neither look very happy to be getting their picture taken.

As a child there are few things one can think of that would be better than owning a dog. Sadly, this was not in the cards for my family.

Because of this, my brother would pretend to be a dog. This didn’t convince my parents to get us a pet -- just that we were weird.

Making a career out of cartooning

Thomas Paul, circa 1970. They just don't make them like this guy anymore.

 Every kid can draw. Few are world renowned, but every child, at some point, has put pencil to paper and created something.

7-year-old me thought he was better than everybody else and wanted to make a career out of it. I have probably let him down and claimed it was for practical reasons.

Comic-Con Special: Top 5 Superheroes

Yes please.

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 is in full swing. I, on the other hand, am by posting a story about it to to my blogger account from behind a desk in Ohio.

Go ahead. Be jealous.

Movies on TV

Of all the life lessons the movie taught, the best is that the greatest insult is telling someone they play baseball like a girl. Try it at a bar some time and see what happens.

Today I am a movie snob. Ask me about almost any big budget Hollywood movie and my response will be that I haven’t seen it, but do know its score on Rotten Tomatoes and a highlight from the Associated Press review and Roger Ebert. (Christie Lemire of the AP surprisingly liked it, but the score wasn’t great. Ebert absolutely hated it, and would have gotten to a really strong argument as to why, but became involved in a heated Twitter war instead.)

I love being a movie snob, although I’ll admit there are times when it can be a little baffling when you look at my DVD collection (an example: Movies I own that start with the letter “B” include “Batman: The Movie" (1966), “Being John Malcovich,” “Big Fish” and “Breakfast Club”). And I’m sure its frustrating for friends who want nothing more than to enjoy a couple hours at the theater, knowing I will complain during almost the entire ordeal.

Best part of waking up

How could any 7 year old resit having their mom buy this.

I don’t eat breakfast. If he were here right now, 7-year-old me would say it was the most important meal of the day.

OK, full disclosure, 7-year-old me probably would have been as skeptical as I am now, but at least he ate it every morning.

I have often been told the importance of breakfast, and I’m sure that if there are moms or health nuts reading this, they too will speak volumes about how important breakfast is. I have never been convinced.

Batman: The Animated Series

Sorry Chris Nolan, but your Batman barely compares.

My DVR is full of cartoons. It is probably one of a few things in my adult life that 7-year-old me would be proud of.
 

I had a special relationship with cartoons as a juvenile, one I will most definitely be touching on often as I continue to update this blog, but there is one in particular that always stands out in my mind - “Batman: The Animated Series.”

Mario 3

The concept may be silly, but Mario was at the height of cool when he wore ears and a raccoon tail.

I have not collected a leaf and turned into a raccoon.

As a child of the late 1980s and early 90s, I missed out on the Golden Age of video games when Atari and Nintendo fought for dominance over the many systems and campy titles that destroyed the gket. I however was just old enough to experience the excitement first hand when a little game called Super Mario Bros. 3 was released. It was like magic.

The Final Frontier

Truth be told, most of my knowledge of space travel is based on the movie "Space Camp."

Today was the launch of Atlantis, the final space shuttle launch for the foreseeable future.

As this blog is in its infancy, I feel I need to take some time to think about what this would mean for the 7-year-old version of myself, who may not have been obsessed with space travel, but it gave him a chance to wonder about the great unknown. I think many of us dreamed about the potential for space travel as children. It’s an incredible thing to not only think about the life that may exist on other planets, but just the vastness and not knowing what’s out there.

Legos

Every city needs an organization to patrol the streets and space. It's actually written into Legoland charter.

As an adult, I miss playing with Legos. And 7-year-old me is probably not too excited that I stopped.

Legos were one of the most played with toys in my house as a kid and we had a ton of them. This was in part due to my uncle from Germany buying us a set every year for a long time (and the range of sets were always a little strange, like the gas station, the space police jail ship and medieval castle), and my dad having some larger sets of his own that we were not supposed to touch (but most definitely did). At the height of our playing with Legos, we had built two or three towns worth of buildings, space ships and almost two police stations to every three “bad guys.” It was a world of multi-colored imagination that only ceased to grow when we ran out of basic building blocks, which was more often than not.

Ghostbusters

All I need is a phone call and I'd drop everything to join up.

By far the most egregious error in my ways that I am not a ghostbuster.

My obsessive fanboy personally started at a young age, younger than I probably realized or would own up to. My obsessions run deep, from my undying love of comic books and science fiction, to my rather snooty behavior regarding music and movies (all of which I plan to get into at a later time). But as a child I had only one real obsession: The Ghostbusters.

With Apologies to 7-year-old Me

The first day of school with 7-year-old me in the middle, trying to rock the Catholic school uniform shorts. This happens to be my mother's favorite picture of her oldest children.

I am a writer for a mid-size newspaper in my hometown. It’s a chapter in my life which has been mostly enjoyable, but has left me with a great deal of time to reflect upon what has lead up to this point.

In doing this, I have also tried to take some time to do a little writing for myself, something I will enjoy doing when not having to stare at the computer screen at work. It’s been rather difficult, especially as I force myself out of the mindset of “reporter” to “creative writer.”