As much as I loved the Lego sets I had, I also loved pouring over the catalog inserts and imagining the sets that I would never touch.

1: Monorail Transport System

What kind of kid doesn’t lust over public transportation– on the moon? The most interesting thing about it was the elevation, which kept the track from looking like a big oval. I mean, it was a big oval, but the idea of minifigures being able to hang out and work beneath the tracks had too many story ideas to ignore. Also, with some extra track, you could run it all over the place.

2: Metro Park & Service Tower

I can’t tell you why I wanted this set. Looking at it now, it’s a gas station and the world’s smallest parking garage. That said, the car wash brushes are pretty cool looking, and I do like the idea of the cars taking an elevator up to the top parking lot. Now if I could just figure out why the flowers are growing from concrete.

3: Forestmen’s Crossing

This was one of those sets that I wanted more for the individual pieces than for the intended model. There was a river, a bridge, a ladder, a Forestmen shield (still my favorite Lego castle insignia), and the only female Forestman (Forestwoman?). You knew she was a woman because she had heavy lipstick, an oddly curvy blouse, and she wore a rag on her head. I kinda understand the first two, but I could never figure out why she didn’t get to wear one of those cool Peter Pan hats.

4: Message-Intercept Base

Lego space stations tend to be sparse and impractical. They ususally consist of a few large glass panels, some computers that are open to the elements, and a landing strip of some kind. While this set had all of those elements, it also appeared to have some interior rooms and hallways. That’s important when you’re working for some kind of criminalistic CIA in space. Or at least that’s what I always assumed the Blacktron faction was.

5: [The Yellow] Castle

In high school, I was a frequent lurker (and occasional poster) to the rec.toys.lego Usenet group. Until then I had never heard of The Yellow Castle, which was the first Lego Castle set ever released. To be honest, it’s nothing very special. I could make it out of parts that I have lying around my apartment (excluding the minifigures), but it had the allure of being first and rare. I was also frequenting Magic: The Gathering newsgroups at the time (damn, I was a cool teenager) and I thought of this set in the same way that I thought of the Black Lotus. It was more a legendary piece of history than anything else. At least by my definitions of “legendary” and “history.”

As I’ve mentioned a few times, I never had an NES (or any video game console) growing up. That meant that my favorite games were those that I could easily enjoy while playing for a few minutes at a friend’s house. Here are my top five of those.

1: Tetris

I honestly believe that Tetris is the greatest video game ever made. It’s simple enough to be fun, even when playing against someone much better than yourself. Having played it at friends’ houses also helped me dominate the scoreboard when my family got our first PC, on which Tetris was the only game

2: Mega Man II

The great thing about all of the Mega Man games is the fact that any level could be the first level. This meant that, unlike most games, I got to see a lot of levels without ever playing for more than five minutes at a time. I couldn’t win most of those levels, but it was a lot of variety. It also helps that Mega Man II is often considered to be one of the best NES games by serious games as well.

3: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game

I knew this first from the arcade before ever playing it on a console, and that alone was enough to make me a fan. Add to that the fact that I could play as Donatello, and I could play along side someone who knew what they were doing, and you have a game that was always fun. I barely remember anything beyond the first level, but I think that all of the levels were basically the same, so that’s not a big loss.

4: Duck Hunt

This was the first game I ever played that had an element of virtual reality to it, and it’s the only game with a gun-shaped controller that I’ve really enjoyed. It’s abstract enough to not make the laser-pistol feel out of place, but the technique of flashing the screen and reading that in the gun is implemented so well that it really does feel like you’re shooting that duck. The NES Zapper is one of the rare bits of video game technology that feels more impressive 20 years later.

5: Super Mario Bros.

I don’t think I’ve ever played past level 1.2 without going to the warp zone. Getting to level five in a matter of minutes never fails to feel like an accomplishment. Of course, I usually died soon after I arrive, but at least I wasn’t dying on the first level.

1: Cheerios

We rarely had sugary cereal around when I was a kid, which was fine with me. I’m more fond of kid’s cereal mascots than I ever was of the cereal itself. Honestly, I’ve always preferred normal Cheerios over even the Honey Nut kind. I should also point out that I never fully understood the cereal in milk thing. I’ll do it occasionally, but I’d rather have crunchy cereal and a glass of cold milk instead of soggy cereal and luke-warm milk.

2: Microwave Burritos

My breakfast throughout most of high school was a microwave bean and cheese burrito and a cup of black coffee. That probably says more about me than it should.

3: Cold Pizza

Everyone knows that half the point of ordering and/or making pizza is the leftovers. What I don’t understand is why some people insist on reheating the slices of cold pizza. If there were a way to melt cheese and cook the toppings without heat, I’d insist that chilled should be pizza’s natural state.

4: Peanut Butter and Jelly

This was my standard breakfast the entire time I lived in Maine. Because of that, I have a hard time thinking of PB&J as anything other than a breakfast food.

5: Restaurant Breakfast-o-Rama

There are few better was to start your morning than a huge breakfast. Unfortunately, making one involves a lot of work before breakfast, which sorta spoils the point. That’s whay Breakfast is my favorite meal to go out for. Of course, given that most folks I know aren’t morning people, it’s also the hardest to arrange.