Bitmap Heaven

Snow flurries today, and I have a cold so any possibility of skating is a bust. Lately though, I've been honing my reflexes with my Gemini video game system. I've had it in storage for a couple of years, but I dusted it off, and the thing still works! I've got several different cartridges, but seem to switch between Megamania and Mrs. Pac Man, with a little Berzerk and Missile Command thrown in for diveristy. The Gemini, for those who remember, was one of the first of the Atari 2600 clone systems. It played all the classic Atari games, but was significantly cheaper than the original system. The Gemini I had as a kid is long gone, but a few years ago I was visiting a friend in Quebec, and his father picked up my current system at a garage sale. he talked the owner down to five bucks for the game system, twenty cartridges and a nifty cartridge holder! The thing even has it's original box and most of the pamphlets in case you forgot the rules to Space Invaders or Canyon Bomber. I love the sound effects. They put me in a sort of trance, and I forget for a little while that I'm an old schooler, that the eighties are over, and that Duran Duran are only surviving due to hair implant technology.