Reverse Childhood & Other Ramblings

I don't own Jurassic Park. Not even VHS.

That doesn't sound like much to you, but this is a fact: Jurassic Park came out on tape October 4, 1993. Do you know how I know this? Because I had it marked on the calendar. I obsessed about it with an unhealthy fervor. I wanted to skip school that day so I could go buy it, but I eventually convinced my parents to pick me up from school so I could go get it.

I distinctly remember my mom and dad picking me up my classroom and apologizing to my teacher for me being such an irritating spaz all day. I probably disrupted the class a thousand because I just could not wait to get the movie.

So to me, it's very strange that I don't own it. I don't even know where my VHS went. It's just gone, in the magical pile of things that got lost when my parents split up. Also in that pile: my Stray Cats .45 for "Stray Cats Strut," She-Ra's horse, my TMNT Halloween costume, and my awesome Jurassic Park t-rex that had a chunk of flesh that could be removed from side for realistic battles.

I was the only fourth grader in my school that had read the complete works for Michael Crichton.  So suffice it say, I was a pretty awesome fourth grader.

I read Jaws by Benchley when I was eight.I read Terminal Man by Crichton when I was nine years old.  I read Cujo by King when I was ten, and subsequently went on to read most of Stephen King's books by the time I was twelve.

It should also be noted that I didn't start reading young adult books until I was an adult. I read anything I could get my hands when I was a kid, and I was into horror and sci-fi, I guess. So that's mostly what I read.

But I also wanted to make a point of reading books that I'd heard of - things that people talked about as classics. So I sought out Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Sylvia Plath, J.D. Salinger, Edgar Allen Poe, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, that guy who wrote Lolita who's name I can't remember and I'm too lazy too look up.

I read all of that stuff by the time I was sixteen. I do everything backwards, though. I didn't start getting into graphic novels and young adult books until I was in my twenties.

I grew up backwards, I think, and I like that better. It's much more fun being a kid now that I'm an adult.

And I really need to get a copy of Jurassic Park.



P. S. To all those who weighed in the Australia trip - I'm seriously looking into it. I haven't bought any tickets yet or made any official plans, but I'm in talks to get something going. Because Australia is fancy.

P. P. S. To those didn't understand my ABBA comment in the last post, it's because in the hit Australian film Muriel's Wedding, Toni Collette listens almost exclusively to ABBA, and it was my attempt at being funny. But I'm not always funny.

P. P. P. S. The Australian film Candy is actually a big inspiration for the My Blood Approves series, particularly Letters to Elise.

P. P. P. P. S. You should all listen to "My Body is a Cage" by Peter Gabriel. It's a cover of an Arcade Fire song, but I like the Peter Gabriel version better. To be fair, I love covers of songs though. They're my favorite.