Loaded August 16, 1995
He suddenly decided to remind me that I had bought his brother a Nintendo while HE had been the one to ask for it. He was still upset.
My God!
Over the years how I must have sinned!
It doesn't matter that he had an Atari at 8 (when they were the only game in town) and had over 50 games. We had hit a few garage sales.
And I had swore that I would only buy one of these things.
And I had bought a new Atari when the other one gave up the ghost.
The original Atari that is. The 2600.
I thought they shared. Sure.
I bought a Nintendo for the little one knowing that the other would play it too.
No, that is not quite right.
How about knowing that the older boy would take it over as much as possible, short of removing it to his room.
He tried that.
They are two-people games. I insisted.
And he already had a computer. And my ex had bought him a Lynx. That's a portable game.
And he had his first TV set. Not great but good for games.
His had his first Apple IIe at 12.(To get him off my computer.)
It had a monochrome screen.
I bought a Laser computer for the younger one.
Bad move. It was color.
The older one sulked.
And took it over.
I upgraded the IIe to a IIc. With color.
The older one, now 13, decided that the newer one was his. He programmed all the color tricks in the books. He played with patterns. I taught him to flowchart.
I upgraded the Laser to a IIc+. With color.
OOPS! Caught the older one flatfooted. He was stuck.
He was also annoyed.
Let us just say that the IIc+ never got full use and had its keyboard broken.
That's how he is. It's how he's always been. It's genetic.
After he learned to program in BASIC, PL/1 and C, I got him a MacSE.
I gave the Apple IIe away.
I had a MacSE as well. I figured that I'd better let him have one to match. Or I'd never see mine. He was now 15. A growing boy.
The little one had to stay on the Apple. And his Nintendo.
The older one got a TV set and a VHS tape. He was now 16.
He was eyeing color Macs.
I broke the bank and bought us all computers for Christmas. The older one got a IIci, as did I. The younger one got an LCII.
The older one got a Sega for his birthday.
How much nagging could I take?
I said no to CDs.
He doesn't share. Not much.
So I bought the little one Game Gear for his 12th birthday. And bought the older one another to match. This assured that the little one would get to keep his.
The older boy added a video card to his computer. An accelerator. A Midi. A mike. A few thousands of dollars of professional graphic software. A modem. 32 Megs of RAM.
One piece at a time.
He nags well.
And of course a big hard drive.
And a CD ROM drive.
I had a CD drive by now and wanted to keep it after all. I have never seen my scanner.
At one point he crawled across the floor of the computer store, begging for parts.
They had them rung up before I reached for my credit card.
He is now eighteen. He wants a PowerMac.
I told him to get a job.
He is driving.
About to graduate.
About to be given a van.
About to leave home.
About to start a real job.
He is still upset about the Nintendo.
Unbelievable.
I can't wait for him to have kids.
I intend to laugh.
PS: He got a job. And got a PowerMac 9500. He called up to brag. I'm still on an 8100/110. That's OK. I have more RAM.
Home Page * Greetings Page * Vitae * Bio * Story Index
For information about this file or to report problems in its use email donnamaie@sbcglobal.net