Your Original Self

When I was a child, I was especially attracted to the Toys section at =
department stores. I was fascinated by the Radio Shack 100-in-1 =
electronics kit my mom bought me. I loved mountain biking, Nintendo, =
board games, playing with the Fisher-Price submarine in the bathtub, =
playing with Hot Wheels in the rugged mountainous blankets, reading the =
video game instructions from cover to cover, creating rescue scenarios =
with my fire truck and space shuttle, planning a city within the =
convoluted surface of an overturned metal car, writing and producing =
music on expensive rented synthesizers, building Lego structures in the =
sunlit family room, opening the box of the Apple IIc computer mom bought =
me one day, dreaming up new video games and trying to make them, =
watching The Cosby Show, watching Diff'rent Strokes, making my own comic =
book, buying The Punisher from comic-book stands at grocery stores.

The senses I lived most through were: sight, taste (I loved candy and =
chocolate - Halloween was an exciting time!).

I loved daydreaming about wizards and orcs and heroes and dragons. And =
videogames I wished were in existence. And pizza and meatpies. "What =
should I dream about?" I would often ask my brother beside me. "How =
about meatpies?"

At school I had secret games. One was Red vs. Blue. I and my friends =
were on the Blue Team. The Red Team was led by the dastardly Nathan =
(unbeknownst to him). The Blues were heroes. The Reds were evil.

Another game was a fantasy land of elves, trolls, and warlocks. I =
created a map of the school grounds and what they really were - =
mountains over here, dungeons over there, the golden key hidden over =
here.

There is still a part of me that loves these things. They point to =
talents and abilities like: visualizing (cf. the Dene Lounge Decorating =
Contest), experimenting/playing with technology, managing an emergency =
response, inventing e.g. video games, envisioning (from rooms to city =
structures - urban planning, perhaps?), illustrating, working in the =
outdoors/forests, marketing (creating hype), choosing (reading hype), =
engineering, composing/performing music, making maps (geographic or =
otherwise).

Oh and I liked to make forts out of the sofa cushions in the family =
room. And pretend we were soldiers in the trenches formed by the back =
seat of our car. And joining the neighbourhood Detective Agency formed =
by some other kids. I treasured my Hardy Boys' Detective's Manual.

Building spaces? Spying and solving mysteries?