That month I left active duty military after 11 years, moved my family, and got licensed in my home state to do my job. I had prepared quite a bit and had family help, but it was still a rough life transition for all of us.

By that spring when everything started to settle down and go a bit smoother, the housing crisis set in. Everything got more expensive quickly. I remember worrying I wouldn’t be able to afford fuel for my long commute. I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to support my family.

Somehow we held it all together, but it was a stressful fucking year. Despite all I never regretted leaving the military…it was either that or go back (again) to secure Halliburton’s oil interests in Iraq.

7-yo me hated the original Ghostbusters game on NES. So much so that I devised a plan to get my birthday money back.

Toys R Us would only refund unopened games, but you could get an even exchange if a game was ‘defective’. So I made up some mumbo jumbo about how something didn’t work in the game, and my mom got it swapped for me (she was nervous for some reason). Took the unopened game to a different Toys R Us location and got my money back. I felt like a criminal mastermind.

I can’t really remember what I didn’t like about the game…probably I had a certain expectation as a big Ghostbusters fan that no NES game could meet.