awesome awesomeness that is too awesome

a lifetime ago, when the baron was young, she thought she'd grow up to be an academician of the lit-crit variety, reading lots of fiction and theory and writing lots of insightful things and papers and essays (for publication and conference presentation, of course, because that's how it works when you choose the ivory tower route).  she decided this for herself after reading 'the great gatsby', but before realizing a number of things about the world of literary criticism: that everyone, BUT EVERYONE, had done some kind of scholarship of fitzgerald; that 'gatsby' was the most well-mined of all of his works; that literary criticism is a hard racket to break into; that sometimes the best and most interesting cultural commentary isn't necessarily reflected in the fiction written by entitled white men.

so.  that dream.  out the window.  ahem.

the baron, though, still has a thing for 'gatsby', and for fitzgerald.  (tangentially, on one of their first dates, the husband took the baron to see fitzgerald's grave.  she knew then he was a catch, but a CATCH!)  she rereads 'gatsby' every so often - her well worn high school edition - cringing a bit at her nascent literary critiques.  it still gets her, the story, the writing, the sadness, the ending - that damn green light.

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sometime in the 1980s, the baron and the brother were gifted a nintendo gaming system.  the graphics seemed, to the baron, light years more sophisticated than the atari she had previously played.  they had, maybe, three games?  super mario brothers, tetris, and something else... she can't remember exactly what.

over time, the brother became quite good at those first games, and over the years has become a very, very skilled player of video games.   for the baron, who has painful memories of playing against her  brother during his late adolescence, the original nintendo system remains her favorite. 

(painful memories you say?

the baron: i don't want to play.

the brother: come on.  come ON!  mortal kombat is great.

the baron: i don't want to.  you always kill me right away.

the brother: i won't.

the baron: really?  ok.  how do i make my person jump?  or kick?

the brother: [starting the game] it's easy.

the baron: how?

the brother: it's easy.  figure it out.

the baron: but. how.

the brother: dude.  did you see that?  i just pulled your spinal cord out.  cool.)

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someone else likes 'gatsby' too, and some old school nes.  the baron's been at it for two days and can only yet get past level 1, but reader?  it's kind of awesome.