Crossing through the 1990 mark, my bridge from childhood to adolescence was marked by video games and board sports. My collection of video game systems, games, and multiple TVs (because TVs had single inputs back then) to which they were all rigged for immediate play, had grown out of control. I had put major effort into improving my gaming skills. My first ever entrepreneurial venture came when I was nine years old in the form of selling passwords to kids at school so they could jump ahead in the games where they were stuck.

I took those talents to the first Nintendo World Championships in 1990, where I was a semi-finalist. This was the year for NWC. The movie, "The Wizard", was released in 1989 leading up to the inaugural event, and the NWC was a match to what was in the movie. I got to play on one of the big screens from the final scene of the movie and everything.

As much time as I put into video games, I also put into hiking, bushwhacking, exploring, karate, and board sports. My father, a general contractor, ensured we always had a half-pipe and other skateboarding features available to us at home on our chaparral-covered mountain in the sticks. This would lead to a short stint in surfing, and a more committed hobby career in snowboarding. I have zero photos or other documentation of any of this. Not a priority at the time.