Begin 7th grade at Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy (CVCA) in Cuyahoga Falls.
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Think Different
I see a Macintosh for the first time and wonder who would ever want to use a mouse and a GUI instead of a keyboard and a text parser.
Begin 6th grade at CHCS.
I think that Matt Luker moved away to Georgia this year. I was heartbroken and was forced to re-evaluate my life.
Jedi
I see Return of the Jedi.
Begin 5th grade at CHCS.
I try selling my first computer game, “Warriors of Wargoz” to classmates. It involved a warrior of your creation fighting an endless stream of monsters. It was all text-based, of course. I sell one copy.
More Geek Seeds
Begin 3rd grade at CHCS.
I simultaneously encounter Dungeons & Dragons and Lord of the Rings.
Seeds are Sown
I see The Empire Strikes Back.
Begin 2nd grade at CHCS.
My dad brought home our first computer, the Apple II+. I started playing the interactive fiction game “Adventure” (AKA “Colossal Cave”) and my life was changed forever. I decided I wanted to create stories.
Tallmadge
We move to Tallmadge, Ohio where I would live until I went away to college.
Begin 1st grade at Chapel Hill Christian School, which was about a mile away from my house.
I meet Matt Luker, who would become one of my best friends. We still email now and then.
Darkness
I have only tenuous memories of the time from 1979-1985. I will cover the highlights which I can recall in the next few posts.
Kindergarten Memories
My parents decided that I shouldn’t start first grade yet.
I went to kindergarten at Lake Ridge Academy. I remember snack time with graham crackers and juice. I remember a girl beating me up on the playground. I remember keeping my tennis shoes in a cubby hole. I remember gym class. I remember a lady coming to the playground with one of those “invisible dogs.” I remember lying at Show and Tell one time about having this cool hand-carved toy at home. I remember accidentally breaking a girl’s Easter Egg (the ornate kind with a little scene inside it). I remember drawing a picture of a bear and everyone commented that I was such a good artist.
I think my friend’s names were Andy and Joe. Andy and I always got into trouble. Joe was this really smart Asian kid.
I had a bed sheet with a design of the American Flag on it.
I remember really liking Batman and Shogun Warriors at this point in my life.
I remember watching the Star Wars Holiday Special. Somehow I associate that evening with my dad staying home with me while my mom had to go to the hospital after coughing up blood.
May dad took me to some kind of auto/technology show at this convention center. I had to pee really bad the whole time and ended up wetting my pants.
Ohio
We lived at the end of a cul-de-sac on Marsh Place, somewhere in Ohio.
The kids across the street always made fun of my name.
I had a crush on Kim Monroe, the girl next door who was way older than I was.
My two friends Tommy and Todd lived at the end of the street. Tommy got in trouble one day for saying “Fock.”
Primo
I started kindergarten at Bella Vista Nursery School.
We get our Welsh Corgi, “Primo.” I seem to remember his pedigree name being “Symphony von Thadden.”