I’m not sure if I’m part of Generation-X and Generation-Y; possibly somewhere in between. Maybe I’m both. Maybe I’m neither.
Lately though, I’ve come to call my generation something new… Generation Pong. Why? Cause Pong, one of the first video games, also happens to be one of my first memories. And I truly believe that if I make it to old age, I will probably die with a controller in my hand (and to be honest, I actually find that thought kind of comforting).
In fact, a great deal of my “memorable” memories are actually video game related. And here is one of them… one of my very first memories:
I remember being in my parent’s room. I have no idea how old I was… Two? Three? My sister (9 years older then myself) and my cousin (her age) were standing in front of me – I vaguely remember being behind/between them.
I remember they were facing the TV, this small television that was on the dresser (thinking back, it was probably a 14” or something). I remember this part vividly, because it felt like the dresser was as tall as the ceiling and the TV was all the way up there. In retrospect, this was obviously cause I was a child, looking up at everything.
I remember that familiar “doop”… “doop”… doop”. And I remember my eyes just following the little square “ball” back and forth, wondering if the “line” would catch it in time.
That’s basically it for that memory… more like a vague snippet. And granted, at that age it was around 1981, so I’m not sure if it was the original Atari, or a later version of it – but this memory is amazing to me. Not only because it is literally one of my first, but because it coincides with one of the first video games ever. And considering how much I love videogames now, to me that memory is almost symbolic.
I’ll have more memories to share in the future, but until then, feel free to share you own; because like us here at DFAT, you Towelites are probably part of Generation Pong as well!
~mozeus
