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{ June 19, '98 }
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The strange request
Mario falls into a square hole in a little hill. Soon the barrel of a cannon begins to ascend with a ratcheting sound. The cannon turns 45º; Mario aims it through the crosshairs. KABOOM! Mario is flying through the air, headed straight for a wall. Barely in time, he pulls up, and heads for the top of a mountain. There he wrestles with king Bob-omb for a golden star.
After being awarded this coveted prize, Mario is hurled out of that corner of his world. He is back in the castle where he started his quest some time ago.
His pager beeps (yes, Mario has a pager). The message reads: "MARIO, GET A JOB. THE PRINCESS" Mario is startled a bit at this message. He has been accustomed all his life just to run, leap and fly about, saving the world. A job? How boring! What will his audience think of him now? "No one will play me," he thought. Despondently he dragged himself to the Princess's office, and opened the door.
"Mario!" the princess cried out. "It's time you grow up. You say that you're going to save me from Bowser, but you know very well that's just a story we spread so we could hide the merger of Bow Server Inc. and Princess Enterprises." "The saving I need is saving from your expensive adventures. You have to bring revenue to our company!" Mario looked down at the floor. "Don't worry, I already arranged for your interviews." the Princess continued. "Scat now, and good luck."
I feel a lot like Mario would feel if he were forced to stop his adventures and go to work to support himself. I had a job interview early this morning. I got home after a battery of tests, and could do nothing but sleep until noon. After lunch, I visited my sister and explored the Mario's virtual world in my nephews' Nintendo 64.
The first time I saw a Nintendo 64 in action I exclaimed (in proper GenX lingo): This is like, Kindergarten Doom! I had toyed around with various N64 games like GoldenEye 007, Mario, one of the Lucas Arts games before, but this time, I was a fanatic. I played for hours, and hours. I'm hooked.
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email me at aeortiz@iname.com.