Somethings just seem to stick. »

I've been really behind on posting this past week, mostly because I've been really behind on doing any sort of development this past week.

With spring here - our first in the new house - I seem to be spending a large amount of time doing chores. The other day I woke up to no hot water (the pilot had gone out on the water heater), the kitchen sink was backed up (the garbage disposal went out), and of course the kids were exceptionally grouchy (they must get that from their mother!).

Anyway, dealing with these sort of things seems to be eating up most of my days lately...leaving me with very little to actually post about around here.

All that being said, while doing some of these chores around the house my mind started to wander over my personal history...I found myself thinking about friends and people that I haven't seen (or heard from) in years and years.

One of the things about that reflection I found most interesting of all was the various insults that have stuck with me.

I mean, there are major events in my life that I can barely remember (or don't remember at all)...for example, I barely remember things like my high school graduation, the first time I actually drove a car by myself, or the first working computer program I ever wrote. But then there are some insults people have hit me with, often people that I really didn't/don't know that well...and for one reason or another, those insults still stick in my memory.

The one specific insult that got me thinking about all this came back in high school. It was from a kid (Donny) that I had no real problems with (in fact if questioned at the time, I probably would have said I thought the kid was cool -- before he backhanded me with the insult). All of that is probably why the insult especially urked me at the time...I really felt like it was coming out of nowhere (on top of being inaccurate of course).

Being older and wiser, I'm now pretty sure that there was some type of reason for the insult in the first place...most likely due to a third party or external event that I was unaware of at the time (ie. some girl liked me that he liked, or some variation of something like that). There's just no other real reason as to why the kid would bother to dish an insult anyway right?

The insult itself, especially looking back, was really just goofy...basically, for whatever reason, he decided to call my friends and I the "Nintendo Power Club"...which was in reference to the actual Nintendo Power Club that people could subscribe to back in those days...what made the whole thing strange to me was:

1. I was told that he came up with this name for me and my friends when he and some friends (including the person who reported this back to me) were playing Nintendo themselves. At the same time, my friends and I were actually out riding our bikes around (as we usually were when we weren't playing backyard football!). Though I was told via a 3rd party about this insult, he did stick with it and started calling me that in school all the time (which by the way I barely reacted too; and in fact this blog post is the first time/place that I've ever really admitted how much the insult actually urked me -- I usually just pretended that it didn't bother me).

2. My friends and I did play ninetendo sometimes, but usually that was reserved for sleep overs (ie. what we did late at night instead of watching tv)...we hardly ever played inside during the daylight hours (all our parents wanted us out of the house -- something that seems to have changed in today's world where kids never seem to go outside and play).

3. I was way too poor to actually subscribe to anything like the power club (and I wouldn't have even if I could afford it)...and honestly I never really played games too much by myself (and I still don't)...for me, half the fun of video games is hanging out with friends...a lot of the time I'm just as happy watching them play as I am playing myself...

Anyway, my point is that I thought it was an odd insult (out of nowhere) and I still do...but as far as insults go, you have to say whatever the reason, it seems to have done the trick as it's stood the test of time. Though I never really let him know it actually bugged me, you can plainly see that it did in fact get under my skin and stick with me...so much so that I remember that over things that should clearly be more interesting and important to me...

What insults have you been hit with that stuck? Isn't it strange that stick as much as they do? Oh and wow am I crazy or what? How did I go from cold showers and broken garbage disposals to insults and Nintendo power clubs?