The games I’ve chosen to play in the new year are mostly Mario games so far. I played through Super Mario Bros(pictured above where Mario is running into a brick wall before he gets hit by a fireball and falls into lava. He’s seriously about to die), Super Mario Bros. 3, Paper Mario: Thousand Year Door and Super Mario 3D World. It’s been a good time. I’ve enjoyed playing all of these games. Some more than others, the original and 3, I feel are better than 3D world. Having platforming on a 2D plane is much easier than on a 3D plane.

The thing with these games is each one, feels like slipping into a comfortable pair of socks. I greet Mario like an old friend and all of his new friends with joy. They’re just so nice to play, all bright and colorful and calming. Knowing that even after all of this, Mario and Bowser are going to go golfing and go-karting and throw fucking ragers that look more like blood sport than anything else.

The first game I ever finished was a Mario game. When i was given a Super Nintendo way back when and it came with Super Mario World. It was an amazing game I realized recently that I haven’t uncovered all of its secrets. There’s a way to change the whole game so that the turtles are wearing Mario masks.

This is part of not having the internet back then but who would have known you could do this? I thought I was big shit because I discovered the little supply area in the second world that gave you access to all the power-ups.

It’s hard for me to say which is the best Mario game I’ve ever played. I think it has to be the best 3D adaption and use of gameplay. There are only three power-ups and they’re used as much for exploration as to protect and defend Mario. The challenge of the 120 stars that are never that unfair to get also makes the game amazing.

The worst Mario games and I don’t think anyone will fight me on this are the Super Nintendo games Mario is Missing and Mario’s Time Machine. I would be down for Mario to teach me about history and geography if they weren’t so fucking boring.

I think I’m going to continue the Mario train with Luigi’s Mansion. I’ve never played it all the way through and I think that it’s going to be fun. Also, my boy, Luigi, does deserve a mansion.

Where I live in New Jersey got hit with a snowstorm yesterday and last night I was told that my job is having a snow day. I feel the exact same joy I did when I was a kid. Except that unlike when I was a child, I’m getting paid for staying home in my pajamas all day.

When I worked in the pharmacy, this would be much different. I worked at a long term pharmacy, which made me into an essential worker. So, no matter the weather, I had to go in. This job was never worth it.

It usually meant that I would have to go to one of the hotels that was in the same corporate park as my job. I would stay over through Saturday so that I could go to work on Monday. Just me, bored in a hotel room, trying not to lose my goddamn mind. Rationing out canned food because they refused to pay for meals for us. It was a miserable existence. This is far superior. It’s nice that they actually care enough about us to let us stay home after this mess.

On Friday, my boss and I were talking about the blizzard of 1996, where the skies dumped 20-30 inches on my hometown. I was ecstatic to have that much snow to play in. I remember digging a tunnel into the snow. It was a lot of fun. At a certain point, my tabby, Killer, came into the tunnel with me. We were hanging out, until I felt something shift. I remember being scared so I pushed Killer out of the hole. It was then that my tunnel collapsed and I was buried in snow. I had a few moments to think about it when a pair of strong arms jammed themselves into the snow and pulled me out.

My father told me he had been watching from the window when he saw the cat fly out of the hole that it was time to come get me. He decided that I had had enough snow for the day and it was time to hang out with him and we watched Dirty Harry. It was a good day and I hope that other kids are going to get a snow day today and to have fun. Those kind of memories are important.