9/17/24:

   I've been replaying GTA: San Andreas recently, and also realized the 20th anniversary of its release is coming up. Playing it brought back a lot of memories from my high school years. Specific video games are imprinted with almost every formative moment in my young life they coincided with, and this one covers a lot of teenage ground. I remember choosing San Andreas over my first "girlfriend" (it later turned out that she was just using me to make her dope boy ex-bf, and my former bball teammate, jealous). She complained about me liking games more than her because all I did was play PS2 and basketball with my friends, and I realized she was correct, so I dumped her immediately. She ended up back with her ex, he later got shot several times selling drugs on the corner and they had a few kids in the hood together before I even finished college. So while I initially felt nerdy and especially annoyed that my first chance at having a girlfriend wasn't real, I also knew the lure of quick gratification was more likely to lead me wrong than biding time with my PS2, and I was correct.

   Anyway, San Andreas and related memories encompass enough stuff to write about that won't be boring, I think. So I'll try that out as I play and reminisce on simpler, yet weighty times. I have a few other things to get to first, including playing and beating San Andreas again, but I'll probably write something and post it up in October or November, 2025.