aka Blog v4.0
What can I say about Toys R Us closing that hasn’t already been said?
Like many folks, it’s a place where I grew up.
It’s the place where I grew up.
The Colma location was where my parents took us for birthday and Christmas gifts, and the occasional time for doing a good thing.
It’s where my friends and I would stop on road trips, in our 20s and 30s, and for me, through my 50s.
It’s where I think we got our first home computer, the ViC-20.
The big Space: 1999 Eagle One Transport, a Christmas gift.
Micronauts.
Most of the Star Wars toys that I ever owned, including the Millennium Falcon that my parents bought for me after telling me they would if I cleaned the house, which I did from top to bottom, to their shock, er, surprise that same day when they got home from work.
Great Mazinga, a birthday purchase after my godmother gave me money in my birthday card. I saw a $20 bill held by a paper clip attached to the card, and when I handed the clipped money to the cashier, she handed a second $20 bill back to me, along with the rest of my change. Talk about surprised, that was more money than I ever had, prior to getting and saving allowance from my parents.
The first Jeff Gordon die cast car that I owned, still sitting in my workstation at the office.
Midnight release of toys for the Star Wars prequels, I think I went to all three of those. They had them for the last three recent Star Wars films.
G.i. Joes and other action figures, from Megos to Marvel Legends.
Fisher-Price Little People.
Plastic model kits.
Estes Rockets, which my Dad was reluctant to let me get into, until he saw a launch at Candlestick Park when my brother was learning how to drive and park. Dad took me to Toys R Us to pick up the Estes Rockets X-15 starter kit, later that day.
I’m not 100% sure it’s where I got the Six Million Dollar Man, or the first Battlestar Galactica toys, or even various early Star Trek toys.
I do recall getting the 12″ Indiana Jones figure there in 1981, but never seeing the original 3.75″ Indy figures.
And the last thing I got from Toys R Us?
The Infinity Gauntlet.
With time I could go on and on about other items acquired from TRU over the years, but I won’t.
I’ll just say that I’ll be sad when the stores close. But the memories will stay with me.
I’m a Toys R Us kid. And I always will be.
Finished reading “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”.
Picked up the Infinity Gauntlet (prop).
Sorted/organized Massive Darkness and Rising Sun.
Got a couple of Infinity War Pop! figures from my sister.
Watched baseball on TV.
Continued the 1967 San Francisco Giants season replay.
Did my taxes.
Watched the Oscars.
Finished reading “The War of Jokes and Riddles”.
I won’t embarrass her with pictures here, but today is my niece Regina’s 20th birthday.
Yikes.
—
The one memory I’ll share here is one day when she was maybe a year old, and my sister’s family had come by to visit.
I had set up the old Avalon Hill War at Sea game, and Regina sat on my lap as I played a turn. The British and German navies were attacking each other, and as I rolled the dice, Regina would say, “uh oh” whenever I rolled a ‘5’ (ship damaged/crippled) and exclaimed “oh no!” whenever I rolled a ‘6’ (ship destroyed/sunk).
I hadn’t even explained the rules to her.
—
In 1999 (I think), my sister called me shortly after the beginning of the Daytona 500.
Maria: What did you teach her?
Me: What do you mean?
Maria: We were watching the start of the race, they waved the green flag, and Regina said, “Go!”
Me (laughing): I didn’t do it.
Regina has always been a smart kid.
—
Last one:
In 1999, I was babysitting at their place, and Regina was sleeping on the couch. I left her alone until she woke up, sat up, and vomited all over her onesie.
Eeeek.
I quickly scooped her up and removed the puked-on garment, found another one, changed her diaper since she had also peed, and dressed her in the other onesie.
I then held onto her until she fell asleep again, and then her parents came home.
—
Happy Birthday, Regina!
I must have been busy. Or lazy. Both?
I spent part of my weekend cleaning stuff around the house, like the upstairs bathroom, among other locations.
I’ve been hitting my elliptical for about 10-20 minutes for the past week. I hope to make it back up to 30+ minutes, if not more.
I caught up with my TV watching, the CW DC shows are surprisingly keeping me interested. Black Lightning is good, so far.
I used my instant pot TWICE in one weekend, making some chicken in salsa thing, and pork ribs. Both turned out pretty good.
More games that I’ll (maybe) eventually play came in.
More porgs were acquired. And dice.
And it’s almost February. Yikes.
Spent the morning running around doing errands.
I pondered going to see The Last Jedi again, but decided not to.
I ended up picking up this, on sale, though:
Porg mug! And it holds about 24 oz. That’s a lot of coffee. Or 2 cans of Pepsi.
It is a bit freaky because it looks like it was lobotomized.
I bought Dad a new set of pajamas because his looked a bit beat up when I saw him this morning. I did ask him if he needed a new set, and he did say yes.
My last stop was outside JC Pennys, where my niece and her Girl Scout troop were singing Christmas carols for about an hour or so.
Once again I was tempted to go see The Last Jedi, but decided to go home.
It was great. And even better when you see it with friends and family.
Rankings:
I thought Rogue One was a better film. Maybe that will change after I see The Last Jedi again.
