NES Reality
I swear that my town is the world's refuge for all that embodies insanity. Upon walking down the street, you notice things after a while.
Why does no one look normal? Everyone is distorted and plasticine. This place is a surreal, bizzarre circus of LSD-induced visual hell.
Me and my friend Matt work as technical support engineers at WorldSpy Internet Services. We work the crazy shift - 3 AM - 11:30 AM. There is an old hillbilly man named Muncey who works with us. He stomps and yells and drinks and whee-haws until his shift ends.
Old Man Muncey calls us at 1 in the morning and asks us to come over for a beer. So, we drive over, not wanting to piss off a drunk southerner. Upon arriving at his apartment, we notice the lights are all out.
Rather than wake up an angry drunk, we left.
Working the night shift does something to you. You lose touch with reality - and fast. I think what does it is the fact that we NEVER have a night of sleep - we sleep in the day and take sparodic naps, but never having a NIGHT of sleep just seems to wear you down.
You notice your money drying up. Bought too many drugs, eh?
Its 2:00AM. Your ready to go to work soon. Dreading the upcoming barrage of stupid people calling you and asking you how to do idiotic things, you glance around your room, for something to comfort you.
And then you see it.
The NES. My god, the obscenely outdated little grey box. A wave, a tidal wave of memories wash over you, temporarily dissolving your twisted sense of reality.
When the wave passes, you crave more, immediately. So you play your NES, like any true child of the 80s. The Super Mario Bros. title screen comes up. Your are instantly engulfed in thick surge of memories - third grade math homework, the latest issue of gamepro, and the latest NES hit. Nothing mattered then - life was a cosmic pool of radiant happiness.
Slipping from this nostalgic adventure, the dull ache of reality washes over you.
Time for another day - night? who knows - of utter lunacy. Time to smoke a bowl on break at work, to avoid Muncey's drunken rage, time to sit with my girlfriend and pretend that she matters.
Where is my life going? Good god. Who cares. I'm going to smoke a fat joint and play Tetris.
- Tom Lowrie, May 26 2000.
Editor's note: Tom informs me he's now single again. Oh well. I'm sure if he had a girl, he'd be pretending she mattered :D