TC
Today's holiday was VCR Day. I know it's pretty similar to yesterday's Drive-in Movie Day, but it just kind of worked out like this. There is a cluster of decent holidays and a few of them are Friday & Saturday (and even Sunday in some cases). Anyway, in terms of today, I checked out a VCR from the library since I don't actually own one and watched an old tape of mine over dinner.
Fiddling with the VCR made me think back to my childhood and I was deliberate about not making the tracking perfect so it still had some graininess to it. The video specifically was a taped performance of "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare... Abridged!" I have a small pile of tapes with me and I put them to use occasionally when I was chaperoning the shuttle bus that didn't have a DVD player. It has been a year or so since I did last watch any of my VHS tapes, so I might pop a couple more in over the weekend.
TC
I did want to talk about a video game today, but the story doesn't start there. My most recent ex goes to college elsewhere in the state and her school is close enough to her parents' house that she stays there for breaks or a weekend away if she feels like it. While I was dating her, I ended up staying at her parents' house a handful of times and early on, I discovered that they had a Nintendo 64 in the basement. The game library was rather small - in fact, the only one I can remember was Super Mario 64. My ex played this game a lot growing up and Super Mario 64 was the first console game my sister and I got, so my ex and I had that video game experience in common.
During what would be the last time I drove out to see her, I brought some of my N64 collection including my copy of Super Mario 64. I had never beaten it as a child, but I still had my old save files from the years. (My excuse was that it was my first game and there were other games I became more invested on going to completion.) We played on one of my old save files and then my ex and I had the idea to start a new file together, where we would pass the controller back and forth after either of us got a star. That became our video game project for that visit (the only other project of note was the Portal 2 co-op) and while we didn't finish it by any means, we had a good go.
A few weeks after that visit, my ex dumped me. I would be lying if I said that it didn't affect me. It was the longest relationship I had ever been in and she meant a lot to me. The next few days were difficult and I remember that Super Mario 64 popped into my head at some point shortly after the break-up. I don't know what triggered the idea, but I turned on the Nintendo 64 and deleted every game file on my Super Mario 64 cartridge, including the co-op one. I decided then and there that I would play through the entire game, collect every star, and not look for any tips or playthroughs.
To be honest, as soon as I hit the empty save slot to start a new game, I knew of similarities between my video game self and my relationship self. Just to make sure everyone has a basic knowledge of Super Mario 64, here goes. Mario starts the game by learning that Princess Peach has been kidnapped by Bowser and must retrieve Power Stars (but really, just call them stars) to restore power to the castle. There are 120 stars in total and they are hidden across 15 different worlds as well as secret stars spread out in a variety of places, including the castle overworld. The 15 worlds range from mountains to oceans to mansions with various gimmicks (in one, you can go between being giant and huge compared to the surroundings and creatures) and the stars will have different requirements. Some require collecting coins, some require defeating baddies, and some are scavenger hunts.
During the first couple of days, I was able to nab stars by the handful. The first few levels are quite easy and I can think to breezing through Whomp's Fortress as a kid. Even the big eel that made me nervous as a kid wasn't a terrible hurdle now, although getting the star that was stuck to his tail was a pain. On the relationship side, the first few days had a flurry of action as well. I deleted things off my calendar, took some photos, and talked to a few of my really close friends. I'd had similar experiences with previous break-ups, so similar to Cool, Cool Mountain, it didn't feel like new territory.
My ex really liked Big Boo's Mansion, which is a haunted mansion filled with ghosts, eyeballs, and a killer grand piano (if I wanted to really fill this post out, I would include pictures and videos, but trust me when I say that the programmers made the grand piano as an attempt to just freak little kids out... in an E-rated game way). When I got to that level, I knew that I would just need to enter, collect the stars, and move forward. This equates to some of the specifics with the relationship, but I don't want to write that down in this post.
In the game, the castle is broken into four sections with a few worlds and a "You need this many stars to continue" barrier, usually paired with fighting Bowser. As a kid, I was pretty good at the first two sections, but once I got to the third section, things slowed to a halt. There were just a variety of levels that proved difficult, like the giant mountain with mushrooms floating above a endless abyss (aka death). There were a few stars that I only figured out how to get by the co-op session with my ex. When I got to those in this playthrough, I thought "You've seen how this works. You don't need someone here telling you what to do. You got this."
As the school year moved past spring semester and into May Session, I was playing Super Mario 64 less often because I was busy with work. I'd get a couple of stars here and there, but not as many as my first couple of weeks. Work did just take over everything, so I had less time to think about non-work stuff, video game or relationships included.
As I've moved further through the game, it's felt less connected to my break-up coping and more just me proving to myself that I can complete this task. I'm not thinking "I'll show her", because it's "I'm doing this because it's challenging and I'll feel proud when it's done". There was the point where I was going into a level relatively blind. I hadn't gotten a star before and in some cases, I had never personally played in an entire world. Now, I did have a player's guide as a kid and I've seen experts pull a speed run on the game, so I was at least a little informed on every star. On the other hand, there's still the challenge of climbing up a giant clock, even if you know what your stopping point looks like. The most challenging stars by far were collecting 100 coins in a world, since the speed runners had a very specific order and my method was more like "I remember seeing some coins over by this pillar..."
Now, if we want to use the allegory still, these later levels were like me starting to really be on my own. There are things I've seen others go through after a break-up, but I was experiencing it for the first time.
I had originally wanted to complete Super Mario 64 before graduation, but that didn't end happening. I ended up finishing May Session only three stars short of my ultimate goal (and they included some of the toughest challenges in the game), so it's not like I was leaps and bounds behind schedule. When I made the to-do list for the week, there was an item I included that prevented me from having full closure on the relationship. I also added "Finish Super Mario 64" because a tiny part of me still had that connection between defeating Bowser one last time and moving on from the break-up. I was able to complete the non-video game item as part of yesterday's productive hodgepodge, and there was a point today that I just decided to sit in front of Nintendo 64 again after not playing for a week-and-a-half.
The first of the three stars was quite the hurdle to jump - collect 100 coins in a world that's just a bunch of moving platforms. With fire. And a creature throwing spiked turtles. But mainly a lot of nothing if you miss a jump. No pressure. I had a couple of attempts that were ruined because I couldn't pull off a series of jumps that would get me up to some blue coins (worth 5 coins) in time. It proved quite frustrating, but I kept at it to get the star. Thinking back to today, I am content with playing these final levels during the summer because I could yell and swear as much as I liked (and I did). I was half-expecting a knock on my door from a co-worker making sure I was okay (although since every other co-worker lives in a different side of the building, I wasn't too worried).
The second star was collecting eight red coins amongst the clouds, using a winged cap to fly between the clouds. This was the star I felt the most blind on starting out because you're only there once and it can be a very short course if you know what you're doing. Well, I didn't know what I was doing but after an attempt or two, I was able to piece all the clouds together and find a good path for all the coins. It was really a lot of fun and equally satisfying to get that star in the clouds.
The final star was collecting another set of eight red coins on your last route to Bowser. The course is littered with enemies, moving platforms, and flamethrowers, so you have to be aware of your surroundings at all times besides just scoping for red coins in the distance. To be honest, I only thought I would get the first star today and leave the last two for the weekend. I'm not sure what changed my mind but when I had so much fun getting the second star, I thought "hey, let's just go for it and see how we do." I thought that since I felt rusty, the last climb to Bowser would prove difficult. Surprisingly, it didn't. You have to get the last star before fighting Bowser and when I got to the "fight stage this way" pipe, I was two red coins shy of my goal... and I seriously did not know where they were. After a little scouring, I was able to find them and press onto Bowser.
Fighting Bowser typically includes dodging fire, avoiding falling off into an abyss, and running away from getting plowed over. You then defeat Bowser by running behind him, grabbing him by the tail and throwing him into a bomb off the edge of the stage. I'm definitely not an expert of accuracy in this situation, so I did die a couple of times. However, I stand (sit) before you to say that I vanquished Bowser and completed my challenge of getting all 120 stars. For this accomplishment, the game has the reward of opening up a cannon in the overworld so you can shoot yourself on the castle roof and visit Yoshi who gives you 100 lives and a new jump ability. With that said, here's my proof:
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| Note the US map behind the TV... and the paper taped to the TV. That's another story... |
So yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. DFTBA.
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