Simmermon: Childhood nostalgia inspires trip down Rainbow Road
Never was there a better Rainbow Road level than in the Super Nintendo version. Good soundtrack, great memories.
Friday, February 29th, 2008
I‘m beginning to feel like an old person.
I’m young on the outside but getting progressively older on the inside. As the years pass by, new technologies and forms of entertainment emerge, but being the creature of habit that I am, I can’t let go of those things I loved growing up.
For example, I will never buy a Wii. It’s just too advanced. It’s like alien technology or something. No sir, no Wiis for me. I’m sticking to Mario Kart and Aladdin on my Super Nintendo. Never was there a better Rainbow Road level than in the Super Nintendo version. Great soundtrack that game had.
But the real question is: Is becoming a square a bad thing? After all, doesn’t the saying go that “it’s hip to be square”?
Getting squarer shouldn’t have such a negative connotation. We all can’t be young forever. Imagine if there were 40-year-olds dry humping in the boom-boom room at The Hawk. Disturbing enough as it is, people think that because it’s dark in there that they’re invisible or something.
The point is that eventually we are all going to grow up and become behind the times, and there’s nothing we can do about it. So why not enjoy these old things that have defined us as we’ve gotten older?
For example, Rocko’s Modern Life, what a phenomenal show. I mean, Spunky, Rocko’s dog, is probably one of the best characters in television history. Just the way his legs stick up in the air when he sits is so endearing. And Hefer, what a looney that cow is. No one can forget Filburt, the nerdy turtle that provides an endless amount of subtle comic relief. It’s genius, I say, genius.
There was a Rocko marathon on the other day on the Nicktoon channel, and I watched it all day. It was awesome.
While watching, I just couldn’t help thinking about when I was little and I used to loath watching TV with my dad, because he was always watching old black-and-white westerns and war movies.
Will Rocko, someday, seem as ancient as those old films? Are my kids going to be so bored watching TV with me that they’ll say, “Jeez Mom, I don’t wanna watch Rocko. That show’s weird.”
But now I’ve realized the “squareness” has gone beyond technology. I have trouble trying new restaurants. Never have I been more able to relate to my grandparents (who eat at Hardee’s and Applebee’s religiously).
Will I ever move past a Wendy’s frosty?
They’re so good. I never get ice cream from anywhere else. I’ve ordered a Wendy’s frosty my whole life, and they do more than suffice.
Maybe finding joy in familiarity and routine are hidden innate traits of human behavior as we age. Therefore, I am just progressing along the normal path of humanity and to maintain that humanity I must continue to indulge in Wendy’s, watch old cartoons and play only Super Nintendo. Call me square, but the past is just too good to let go.
Simmermon is a Leawood senior in journalism.
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