Perhaps it was because I was given a 13″ television and a Nintendo gaming system at a tender and impressionable age, or maybe it was because I was an early video game addict. Either case being true there were many night when I dreamed Tetris. To this day I am complimented on my uncanny ability to fit things into boxes, cars, dishwashers and other container type devices by twisting turning and flipping things around until they fit perfectly (the compliments probably wouldn’t come so quickly if they knew I screamed, “Yes! Tetris” in my mind). Then there was Duck Hunt (that damned laughing dog) and Castlevania, Super Mario Brothers 2 and Zelda, Donkey Kong and Paperboy. The days of grade and middle school were haunted by blowing dust from the end of cartridges and banging on the top of black and grey plastic boxes to stop the squiggly lines and rolling screens.

Flash forward through a montage filled with awkward high school moments, SEGA’s and Playstations to land in college. I was on my own and how did I chose to occupy my time? Sneaking my best friend (and the six-pack of beer his older brother bought us) into the girls only dorm to play Goldeneye in my room until 3 in the morning on my Nintendo 64. It was a wonderful life filled with cheat codes that made James Bond get a head that looked like a balloon and serious bets being placed on Star Wars Podracer outcomes.

Yet another montage; this one, however, is slightly more exciting with Final Fantasy, Tomb Raiders as far as the eye can see and a few cubicles and it lands you firmly in 2009. My Tetris dreams are replaced by nightmares about what my Wii Fit is going to say after a weekend of nachos and ballgames (will it laugh at me or scold me?) and my clunky, green screened Gameboy has been replaced with the DSi which (hand to heart) can teach you a foreign language (using a speaker and microphone that keep you in check better than your high school French teacher) and aids you in pushing your culinary endeavors beyond grilled cheese and cereal (complete with a grocery list maker).

As I popped open the lid of Nintendo’s new DSi hotness (complete with a little crystal bling guaranteed to keep it out of the Mister’s hands) that while my grandparents complained about walking to school, barefoot, uphill – both ways, when I am old enough to wear Mumus and gaudy jewelry (which I swear on all that smells like lysol and dust bunnies I am going to rock like a rockin’ rock star) I get to complain about how when I was a kid my thumbs used to cramp because combo moves in an old game called Street Fighter required you to hit multiple buttons in a particular order – quickly and repeatedly. To which my spoiled little grandchildren will roll their eyes and return to Jedi mind-trick style willing their characters to kick the crap out of each other.