See reflections on the water

Day 25

And just out of the blue Nintendo and Microsoft announced that Goldeneye 007 is dropping this Friday on Nintendo Switch Online and Xbox consoles, and I couldn't be happier or more excited for this re-release.  You see this game originally came out in 1997 and it was the game that proved many things back in the day like that First person shooters could actually work on consoles or that couch multiplayer was here to stay.

After Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007 became the second-best and popular multiplayer on the Nintendo 64 and not only the multiplayer was magnificent, the single-player mode introduced and adapted many concepts in such a great way, that 26 years later, many FPS games still follow.

Back then I was barely 12 years old, in my 3rd year at this new school I was in and that then I felt very weird.  I did not necessarily feel unwelcomed, but I did feel like I didn't fit in.  I was not part of the popular kids, I was not looking to be one either, I was a bit of an introvert also and many social situations caused me high level of anxiety up to the point that during playtime at school I preferred to stay in the classroom clowning around.

I did however become really good friends with Liu and Enmanuel (who I will call Nando from this point on), we all shared the same passion for video games which was an easy click for us, but we also studied together, participated on the science fair together, etc, all around kind of nerdy kids but in a sort of cool way.  Liu used to have a Nintendo 64 and his mom would bring him and Nando home fairly often where we played many games together, including but not limited to: Goldeneye 007.

This game was fairly mature for us (at the end of the day is a shooting game) based on a James Bond movie with fairly realistic graphics for its time and definitely not kid-friendly like Mario Kart 64.  In this game we spent way too many hours, and if Nando and Liu were not around, I would be playing with my cousins or neighbors, ah the simple times.

This Friday will be an opportunity to relieve these times in an official way: no emulation around and with online multiplayer to boost.  Too bad Nando and Liu are not gamers anymore, or at least that's what I think.  As time went on, we continued to be friends during the high school years, college and after. And not counting Johann, these 2 were definitely the first ones that made me feel welcome in a sea of unknown that school was for me then.

For whatever reason Nando and Liu are not active at all in social media, and Liu has been away for quite a while already, the last time I saw him was back in 2010 one time he came to visit me in Miami but I know that him and Nando keep close contact so I ask Nando about him, and if I anything I do get to ask his sister Yuri about him.  Nando has visited me a few times, and every time I go back home, we do hang out, hopefully I'll see him soon.

Before being at this school, I was at a smaller school that the highest grade was 8th grade.  When my older brothers needed to go to high school my parents decided to get them into Colegio Calasanz, Gaby got in, when it was Mandy's turn, he didn't make it (ended up in a different school called Escuela Nueva) - the next one in line was supposed to be me but:

1- My younger brother, being the pretentious person he is, wanted so badly to go to Colegio Calasanz that they made the effort to get him in ASAP - so he got transferred first!

2- It didn't make much logistical sense to my parents to have their kids in 3 different schools, so I was eventually transferred from Colegio San Miguel Arcangel to Colegio Calasanz.

I started in 5th grade all the way up to high school and I still remember my first day as if it was yesterday.  I remember clearly asking this kid "Which line is this one?" he answered, "4th grade" and I said "cool, can you tell me which one is 5th grade" and he said, "This same one duuuh" - I honestly thought "Where the fuck did my parents brought me to with this dumbass answering like this?" (Actually, my thoughts were a very sanitized form of that question).  That dumbass was Juan Chalas, someone who I honestly didn't like much then (and for many years after that) but nowdays we are fairly close friends but in between not liking him much and being really good friends there are some good stories to tell, just not tonight.

Me at the Arecibo Telescope - July 2016 in Puerto Rico - main reason to visit this (besides being scientifically significant and a landmark) is because this was used as film location for GoldenEye (pretending to be Cuba) and also it was the final level of the game (Cradle) where you have to fight Alec Travelyan and finish the game. Sadly, in the real world, the telescope no longer exists.