Speed, Wicked Speed...
Yep...you can tell that the holiday season is gearing up by the flood of commercials for toys, games and other knick-knacks for the younger set. Every imaginable version of Barbie is being bombarded at one's daughter, robots and flying things are flashing before my boy's eyes as he watches Sponge Bob. Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, Geoffrey can't contain himself!Now, I don't want to sound like a cynical ol' coot who hates the commercialization of Christmas...that will be a later post when my job has worn me down and there is no more Christmas spirit left in me. I want to reminisce about gifts that I really, REALLY, wanted but Santa came up short...
Okay he did score when he set me up with Battling Tops. This was a game that involved several little plastic tops that were wound up with a string. Each top had a name like Dizzy Dan, Super Sam, etc....okay, it did not take a lot to entertain me. You would let them go as they "battled" each other. The only problem was that this was a multiple person type game. So unlike the box top that showed a family enjoying this little spinning gladiator stadium, mine was devoid of parental or sibling attention. It was Neil with one lonely top spinning by itself...Now Santa did fill up my toy chest with plenty of other stuff, so I don't want you to think I only received socks for Christmas. Christmas morning I was always greeted with ample supplies of Hot Wheels, Legos and other stuff. However, there was never my two dream toys under our tree.
Rock'em Sock'em Robots...a boy's fantasy...two inanimate objects pulverizing each other. I think that's why I had such a fascination for Battling Tops as well. What is it with little boys (and sometimes their adult versions as well) and their appetite for destruction? I desperately wanted these guys. Nothing was worse as when one of the neighborhood friends got RSR as a gift. I spied them on his closet shelf jealously. For about a month I continually pestered him to play with them.The funny thing is, if someone gave me the Robots now, I WOULD LOVE IT!!! Okay, sometimes boys don't grow up. There is something deviant and hilarious when your robot's head pops up from your opponent's devastating uppercut!
But the mother of all desired gifts for me, was the Big Wheel. For the under seven set, the Big Wheel was it! For a little Neil, the Holy Grail was a Big Wheel. I imagined myself tearing up the sidewalks of the court that we lived in. I remember the kid skidding to a stop in the commercial, I knew that I could do that only better.Yeah, speed, wicked speed. That's what this plastic three wheeler would do. I mean, check out those racing slicks in back! I was going to make my mom sick from the daring do's that would come from my Big Wheel and me. Neil "Mario Andretti" and his Big Wheel.
But alas...like the Robots...it would never come to pass...
Now somewhere in there, there is a great lesson about greed and not always getting what one desires...but dang I would have looked cool with the wind blowing through my hair popping someone's head up...
posted by LoneCactus @ 6:45 AM
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