This post brought to you by Christmas, 1990

This morning I had to remove the battery from my cell phone after it got stuck in locked mode AGAIN (which, AT&T?  I spent my extra birthday money on this ridiculous phone so I could use the super-fun slidey text keyboard thingy that I am honestly too old to be excited about.  I did not buy it so that I could watch it refuse to respond to my “unlock” commands.)

Anywayyyyyyy.  Before replacing the battery, I paused and, without thinking, blew into the phone.

Now.  Some people might be perplexed by my behavior.  But I know there is an entire generation out there full of people who know exactly why I reacted that way: we are the Nintendo kids.

When your game of Super Mario 3 froze just before that leaf gave you your raccoon suit, what did you do?

When you and your Power Pad lost the long jump competition because your screen was suddenly filled with jagged pixels, what did you do?

That’s right, you ejected that cartridge and blew the dust out.  Even now, I catch myself blowing on a DVD even when I know good and well that it’s skipping because of scratches, not dust.

I gotta wonder how every kid in Mrs. Yoos’ second grade class knew that trick.  I guess any of us could get creative when our beloved video games are threatened.

My friend Jennifer and I once MacGyvered our Super Nintendo with a paper clip shoved into a coaxial cable.  Apparently we feared electrocution less than life without  Uniracers.