Lately, Lindsay and I have been playing the hell out of Super Mario Brothers 3 on Nintendo. (I'm just going to call it Mario from now on. Now you know.)

Even though the game was made in 1988, it still holds up to any other video games on the market. Not graphically, so much, but gameplay-wise. It is a total blast to play. Whenever the K&K Connection come over, we fire it up and take turns playing. Lindsay and I even choose Mario over the XBox 99.35% of the time. It's that good and that much fun.

We first started playing Mario again back in December, when Ross was kind enough to loan/rent/sell his Nintendo Entertainment System to us. Obviously, we hadn't played Mario for quite some time. 10 years or so, in my case.

The game contains reward challenges that reward you (hence the name!) with power ups or extra guys. One of the better reward challenges takes place inside a Spade card. Yeah, that's a little trippy. Anyway, it gives you the chance to win extra lives. You have to line up 3 slot machine style wheels so that they form a complete image. You hit your button, the wheels start to slow down, then they stop. There's a Star (5 lives), 2 Mushrooms (2 lives for either -- they're identical) and a Fireflower (I have no clue how many lives -- maybe 3?). With all those options in the mix, it can be pretty tricky to master.

Those of you that know me know that I am nothing, if not a huge video game dork. The first time we played Mario again, I got to try the Spade. I took the slot machine challenge: boom boom boom. Star. 5 extra lives! The next time we got to one: boom boom boom. Star. 5 extra. After repeating this process about 30 times, we kind of got the feeling that I had mastered the process in a previous life and was subconsciously banging it out each and every time. Perfect. Silky smooth. Like butter. It was just like riding a bike. Except, you know, sitting on my ass and playing games I played in junior high. Other than that, just like the bike thing, though.

Everyone would hand their controller to me when they hit a Spade. Eric, can you give me 5 extra lives? Okay... Boom boom boom. There you go, kid. Stay in drugs. Say no to school. (So I'm not the best motivational speaker.)

Eventually, we took a week and a half off. Not really intentionally. It just never came up. Okay, I know. That's an awful thing to say about Mario -- it will never happen again. Ever. Why? Gee, we might have been busting our asses trying to get the house ready for the carpet instead of playing Nintendo. So not that we meant to take time off, it just happened.

One night, after our beautiful new carpet was all in place, Lindsay and I were relaxing. We looked over at each other and we knew, it was in the air -- it was time to fire up Mario again. I easily and expertly cleared the first level, Lindsay deftly cleared the second. Then it was my turn to reap the rewards of all my hard 8th grade work: the Spade challenge. Boom boom boom. Mushroom, Fireflower, Star.

Shit... That had never happened before... Strange... I'm sure I'll get the next one, though. Next challenge: boom boom boom. Star, Mushroom, Fireflower. Shit! I had totally lost it.

In fact, now everyone else knows I've lost it, too. They taunt me. They no longer hand me their controller. In fact, that lone ability was my main source of respect from my fellow Mario-ers. Now I'm just the kid that used to be able to get you 5 lives. Now I just... I just can't do it anymore. Now I'm just the guy that can text message your cell phone really fast. It's just not the same, people. It's just not the same...

Feeling like a shooting star (What the hell do I even mean by that!?),
Eric