Storytime with GamerDude

After a bit of a hiatus, GamerDude is back with Season 8! This week, GamerDude talks about the need for a break after 6+ years of weekly episodes, and what prompted him to fire up the podcast mic for another season.

This week's episode is inspired by an idiom that GamerDude heard on the game show, "The Floor." One young contestant couldn't complete the phrase "Carrying ____ to New Castle." (The answer is "coals," which GamerDude explains in this episode.) That answer got him to thinking about many of the idioms and "old sayings" that we use today, but we may not know where they came from, or what they actuall...

For the first episode of 2024, GamerDude talks about his "brushes with greatness," which is times in his life where he as met, or interacted with, or at least seen, someone who is famous. GamerDude first talks about how he was a very minor celebrity back in his radio DJ days, and how the people he encountered then shaped how he handled encounters with famous people when he got older. GamerDude's f...

The end of the year got GamerDude to thinking about the post-Christmas sales his dad used to take him to the day after Christmas. He remembers the deals his dad was able to negotiate, and how the annual "getting Christmas Stuff on-sale" trip was another family tradition. GamerDude also talks about the end of the year, and how New Year's resolutions can set you up for failure. He prefers looking at...

It's GamerDude's annual Christmas Episode (one of many, actually!) and this week, he's talking about the non-denominational aspects of Christmas. He talks about how the feeling of Christmas is supposed to be about getting together with family, and friends, and loved ones, and sharing love, and food, and gifts to close out the year. He talks about how that's not necessarily tied to any religion but...

For this week's episode, GamerDude decided to go back to Season Three, when he first did this episode about Christmas music, and shared 10 of his favorite non-traditional Christmas songs. GamerDude's stories this week include stories about the holiday concerts in school, and learning to sing Christmas carols around the piano with his mother. He shares the story about having to sing "O Come, All Ye...

This week, GamerDude talks about how we all tend to react to the approach of the end of the year, as we take stock of what we hoped to accomplish, what we did accomplish, and what we plan to do next year. He talks about how his decision to take early retirement came at the end of the year, and how and why he arrived at that decision. He also talks about how the things he does now are done at his o...

GamerDude has gone back to Season 1 to remaster the episode with his stories about setting up the Christmas decor between Thanksgiving and Christmas when he was a kid. He talks about his dad's four-foot tall Christmas star, his mom's candle-powered angels, and her NOEL sign, and his parents' stuffed Santa. He also remembers the one year his dad added a "snowmaker" to the family tree.

GamerDude is talking about Thanksgiving again this week, with another reminder of how important it is to be thankful, especially in these days of tough times and a world seemingly suffering from a global case of COVID-related PTSD. GamerDude revisits the topic of "family politics" and how they influenced his Thanksgivings as a child. He talks about alternating Thanksgivings between his grandmother...

This week, GamerDude is talking about being thankful for Thanksgiving. He talks about how Thanksgiving used to be a calm period of time between the excitement of Halloween and Christmas, and he talks about why he always tries to remember to be thankful for what he has. He also talks about some forgotten foods from Thanksgivings in the past. He talks about the days when passenger pigeon was a main...

This week, GamerDude talks about the stories he tells, and why he chooses to tell the stories he does. He talks about preserving his dad's stories, because they are not only his dad's stories, but they give insight into his dad, and into GamerDude. The stories helped form the basis for the kind of person GamerDude is. GamerDude retells the tale of his dad posing as a botanist to get some plants on...

This week, GamerDude is talking about some older technology and devices that he believes we should hang on to. He talks about his wired headset/ear-phones, which inspired this week's episode. He discusses how inexpensive they are for what they do, and how much of a hassle ear buds can be. GamerDude also talks about the value of an old fashioned pen and paper, and the simplicity of the old school c...

GamerDude goes back to Season One to re-master his favorite Mischief Night story, about the time he was TP'ing the new neighbor's spite fence. He also brings back his Best and Worst Halloween Candy list because, well, it's Halloween time!

GamerDude has gone back to Season One to remaster the stories he told back then about Halloween when he was growing up. He talks about what Halloween was like, and trick-or-treating in his neighborhood, from visiting with Charlie Chips to the family that gave out copies of the New Testament every year. He also talks about the various costumes he had over the years, and also talks about the importa...

This week, GamerDude talks about how the cost of everything continues to go up, and rants about the gouging that's become normalized due to the pandemic. He talks about the Big Mac index, and how the price of a Big Mac from McDonald's has changed in the nearly-60 years since its release. He talks about everything from the price of gas, to the price of tortilla chips, to the price of coffee, to the...

This week, GamerDude talks about how Halloween has evolved in his lifetime from a holiday about kids going out to get as much free candy as they could, to a holiday where everyone seems to compete to see how much gore decor they can fit on their front lawns. (Yes, it's basically an "old man rant" about how things used to be in the old days!)GamerDude also talks about some of the candy that he grew...

GamerDude has remastered another episode from Season 1. This episode originally released for Mothers' Day, but GamerDude wanted to share the stories again. In this episode, he talks about how everyone has different relationships with their moms, and every mom has her own unique issues. GamerDude talks about his mom, and how he knew very little about her life before she was "Mom." He also shares me...

This week, GamerDude is re-posting a "Best of" episode from 2020. This is one of the first episodes where GamerDude started re-editing and cleaning up some of the sounds and glitches from episodes in the first season of Storytime. In this "Best of" episode, GamerDude talks about his love for radio, and (with the help of your imagination) creates the podcast studio in New York City, and introduces...

This week, GamerDude got to thinking about how our view of things change as we get older. For example, riding roller coasters used to be a huge deal; GamerDude would actually plan trips around amusement parks and locations where he could ride a roller coaster. But as he's gotten older, the aches and pains of a day on the coasters has changed his view on them. GamerDude talks about several other th...

This week, Gamerdude has more "life advice" to share with you. This week's episode was inspired by the recent prevalence of the phrase "When someone shows you who they are, believe them." GamerDude talks about the importance of paying attention to the way people actually act, and believing that their actions truly do disclose the type of person they really are. GamerDude also talks about learning...

This week, GamerDude talks about how life rarely ever turns out how you expect it to. He talks about how he had plans when he went in to college, and how he wound up changing majors five times. He also talks about how unreasonable it is to actually expect anyone in their late teens or early 20s to be ready or able to plan their entire future careers. He also re-visits the various jobs he had after...

This week, GamerDude is talking about experiences that used to be an ordinary part of peoples' lives that no longer are. He talks about the experience of reading a road map (as well as folding and unfolding one) and how the entire road map experience is no longer necessary. He talks about the Sunday paper, and his ritual of reading it, and the advertising flyers in it. He talks about Service Merch...

This week, GamerDude decided to go back to Season 2, when he first did this episode about his Top 15 (plus one Honorable Mention) movie music themes. After giving it a listen, he decided not to change a thing, and instead wanted to replay it because he had so much fun putting it together. So, if you haven't heard the list (which includes several old movies, several new movies, several John William...

GamerDude is stepping back into the way-back machine this week and revisiting some more things that used to exist that have just faded away from our lives. He was inspired by memories of his grandmother's Grandfather Clock, and how he remembers those big clocks being a fixture in so many homes. He remembers tube TVs, and all the controls for vertical and horizontal holds, and for color and tint. H...

GamerDude decided to go a little more "current events" in this week's episode. He first talks about the writers'/actors' strike going on in Hollywood. He looks at some of the history of writers' rooms and actors' residuals. He talks about summer re-runs, and DVD sales, and how the business model that gave us those things has changed, which has lead to the current strike in Hollywood. And, to be cl...