#so if you passingly see this blog and my nonsense. hi! thanks for reading.

[foragain]

1997. the year kate winslet became rose. tamagotchi hit shelves in the united states. princess diana had her light snuffed by greed. i was born.

i was born in november, a day before thanksgiving. being a baby in 1997 means i’d missed the console wars by a few years, and the rivalry between sega and nintendo was nothing but a story i’d go on to read via forums in the early 2000’s. despite that, i still led a crusade against my best friend in middle school — who was better? sonic or mario?

sonic, i’d say, because he was my favorite character at the time. i’d spent plenty of lazy summer afternoons playing sonic heroes at my cousin’s house to justify it, and mario never caught my interest. my friend said the same, just in the tune of red instead of blue. we’d argue our case against one another to a jury of unwilling participants at lunch, trying to persuade them to join our respective sides. none of the other members of our group of misfits played video games — passingly enjoyed them, sure, but never played — and so the importance of “sonic vs. mario” was lost to them. my best friend, lauren and i, kept on.

lauren loved mario the same way she loved all nintendo games. when the wii came out in 2006, she was the first in our friend group to get one, singing it’s praises throughout the hallways of our school after holiday break. the television in the living room of her house was broken, so the console earned a temporary spot in her mother’s room. we’d all collate in there, gathered on a bed with indentation on only one side, whiling away the hours with subspace emissary. while i loved video games, i wasn’t good at them yet; lauren would remind me to tie the strap around my wrist when holding the wiimote, lest it go flying (which it did. several times.)

mario’s favorite food is spaghetti, so lauren’s favorite food was spaghetti. one day in october, near her birthday, our whole friend group was invited to her house for dinner — a “spaghetti dinner”. i remember thinking it sounded fancy. what it was, really, was two pots on a stove (pasta and sauce) for self serve. a choice of apple juice or water. a collection of middle schoolers sitting at an old dining table, eating pasta together and talking about super smash bros. brawl, and higurashi, and youtube poops and sonic vs. mario. i told lauren that sonic was better because he was faster. she threw a meatball at my face.

when i graduated from grade six to seven, i became more interested in books instead of video games. i’d bring one with me to class every day, sometimes two, and read once i finished my course work. none of my other friends were as into reading and writing as i was, so i accepted my fate and found like-minded people on websites like gaiaonline instead. lauren and i had forgotten about our personal war. our friend group was satisfied to hear the conclusion to sonic vs. mario. it was the end of an era.

lauren came to lunch one day, after we’d graduated from grade six to seven, and handed me a piece of paper. her grin was as wide as a canyon — “it’s for you!” she said. printer paper, with a date on the bottom and a webpage url at the top. to the left, small, was a stock photo of sonic from super smash bros. brawl. to the right, lauren’s handwriting; to the bestest friend in the whole world! p.s, sonic rules!

2023. my husband and i made spaghetti the other night, and i thought about that spaghetti dinner in october. i thought about lauren. i thought about that piece of paper, tired and worn from the years, still tucked away safe in my office. lauren and i don’t talk anymore. i know she went to university. has her own apartment. a girlfriend, last i heard.

she may not think sonic rules anymore, and we may not talk, but that moment is still here in my home. it’s still in my heart, because there is no before and after what love is.

anyways. i love spaghetti. and i love mario games.