One time when I was in 6th grade I got invited to my best friends brothers graduation party. I hung out with them daily because not only did we have the same interests (skateboarding, trampolining, and video games) but I could literally see there front yard from my backdoor. If I was jumping on my trampoline I could see when they got home and what they were up to all the time. It would only make more sense for me to be over there instead of stalking them.
But it was a dual party and I never got an invitation to the first get together which I heard consisted of mild drinking and girls. I was only cordially accepted to the sleep over aspect of the party and I was enthusiastic. Wills would always have some of his aged friends over when I was there and we always seemed to get along. Even with my brothers friends who is 8 years older then me would bring his friends over and let me hang out with them. I had a knack of stringing swear words together to cause them all to laugh. I had a very high pitched voice to match which made me sound like a girl too which add to the humor. But also I had a vast knowledge of video games since I have been playing Nintendo and also Genesis since I could move my fingers.
I walked over to his house and met up with his mom who was also my third grade teacher and, her boyfriend at the time, Pat. They needed to go over to the first party and get all the children who was sleeping over and bring them back to theirs. The sun was just going down so the bus were already falling out of the trees. The mosquitoes were viscous that night and no matter how many layers of repellant you sprayed on they wouldn’t leave without penetrating your skin. The walk was a familiar one through 2 baseball fields that were below a church and then past a very small cemetery that had white chipped angels playing by the only entrance. I had a few friends that lived in this newly expanded subdivision which I visited frequently. Then after following the biggest field’s outfield fence you would enter a path that was through a forest for a minute. This was were a lot of teenagers hung out because the property was in the middle of the churches line and residential line so the ownership was fuzzy.
While traveling through the oak trees all you could see was a bonfire in the backyard of Jack Gehrke’s house and in front you could hear rambunctious teenagers and loud music. Upon entering I saw that most of the guys were playing catch, basketball or just hanging out waiting to be relocated while the girls just stood in the grass waiting to be picked up by their parents or trickling out slowly in pacts walking home in the known area of sex offenders.
I just grew out my hair for a year so it was dirty blonde and curly down to my neck. I was probably wearing some Bugle Boy shorts, some British Knight shoes, and probably a collared t-shirt. I looked like a total loser, walking with parents that I saw more then mine collectively but weren’t mine to pick up kids for a sleep over like I couldn’t be left alone without catastrophic repercussions. There was a dozen or so coming back to will’s backyard and we just retraced our footsteps back to his house but this time the feet multiplied by 5.
The party did not take place in his two bedroom house but just consisted in his backyard that only contained a new trampoline and a deck with tiki torches on the ends. And also four tents were set up to sleep in. But one had a television and a there was a play station hooked up in it for brief entertainment purposes. That would be my base camp the entire night. I had a demo disc of this game “Grind Session” that was just like Tony Hawk Pro Skater but had way cooler skateboarders in it and also felt a little more realistic. The Waite’s bros and I probably played this for 10 hours. The demo was just one level that took about 5 minutes to beat. I convinced my parents to give me money to rent the game from Blockbuster for the party as a gift. They did and they were pretty excited too. But I spoiled the fun and before the party when they were all partying I popped open the case and played it for an hour. This was not good. I was known to beat a video game in one sitting so I could play it for endless hours getting better and unlocking everything I could.
When I put in the game disc and plopped down on a pillow while gathering an audience in a medium sized tent, I couldn’t resist but to play. I would still be courteous and ask if anyone else wanted to play but I knew this was a joke. If a non-gamer or a casual gamer saw me playing the game they would immediately be intimidated by my skills and just watch. This didn’t bother me because I was already halfway through the game and addicted to the ridiculousness of extreme sport video games. Nothing like real life. Doing a 900 doesn’t take 10 years to try it and a quadruple flip which could only be on the ground and after many bruised shins just takes some speed and a big enough ramp. A board flying from you which happens in every trick while you skateboarding just sticks to your legs as if the palms of your feet held the gravity.
Usually if you wanted to skateboard you would watch a skate video. 45 minutes of professional skateboarders hitting up street spots. The only place we ever skated were in their garage that had a quarter pipe. a round rail, a I-beam, and a ramp that was just a board with milk crates to raise the angle. Or a skate park but that needed a ride or money so it was much easier to just do it ourselves. If you had a shitty time skating which you always did because the professionals left you wanting to be awesome and the skateboarding with K Mart board only let you land a few tricks because the grip tape felt like it was made from tape you would just turn on your entertainment system and do impossible tricks beating the pro’s. It was a vicious cycle that happened four nights a week or more. The games are what drew us to the sport but it was the pure adrenaline that you got doing it, wanting to be better that pulled you in deeper.
So I just sat and hardly got up wanting to beat it especially since I was renting it. I didn’t have the attention span to play a rented game because I hardly ever just stick to one game unless it is one day. I like to even my playing field and try out different games. Just like all games the last level is usually impossible. The only way you can beat it is by being extraordinarily well at button mashing or at what I like to call the chance of the day. It hardly ever happens but you need to focus all of your attention, strategy and energy on the single challenge. But I just couldn’t do it and I was just infuriated and frustrated. I would occasionally peak outside the tent to see what other people were doing since the only one’s inside the tent were Jon and I. Jon was my best friend and I knew him since pre-school. He was always exceptionally well at everything that he put effort into and has always resembled Kevin Bacon. The party goer’s were playing on the trampoline, playing games like smear the queer and also spraying the mosquito repellant into the tiki torches making a flamethrower. Nothing I haven’t seen before but I have always been attracted to the light of fire. I couldn’t beat Grind Session and I never would. It was like my entertaining side conflicted with my selfish play style. We always brought up Grind Session but its still in a list of games I have never beaten and probably can’t beat. A list that isn’t too long but is deteroirating to my love of video games. All the times I missed out on doing things that most teenagers have had the experience of never made there way to me since I was too busy in my bedroom trying to be the best while no one else even cared. All those memories or friendships or even relationships I could of materialized on were hindered by my addiction. I was always way far behind until video games became the time consuming majority and since I have already mastered it, I got to go out and breathe.
I finally left the tent and talked to the kids that were there to have fun not to win. Not to see the best video game player probably in town or close to it be struck down by pressure that later turned into embarrassment. I just hopped on the trampoline and showed them how many back flips I could do in a row. Six more then anyone else.
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