Storytime with GamerDude

Storytime has always been about GamerDude sharing stories about his experiences growing up, and in life. This week, he talks about how he kept a diary when he was a kid, which, unfortunately he got rid of years ago. He talks about the value of keeping a journal or a diary to record your day-to-day life so that you can keep those memories, and re-visit them in the future. He talks about how memorie...

As long-time listeners know, GamerDude grew up when things were very different in the world. Some of the things that he accepted as "normal" when he was growing up would undoubtedly seem "weird" by today's standards. Some things, like kids having household chores, ice cream trucks, and riding on the front of shopping carts in the supermarket, is part of the evolution of parenting and society. Othe...

GamerDude grew up in a world without home computers. While computers did exist, classes for them were taught in college, and using a computer involved having to go to a "computer lab." The PC (which literally means "personal computer") simply did not exist. GamerDude talks about how doing something like writing a letter and keeping a copy of it - a process that has essentially been replaced by ema...

In this "Best of" Episode, GamerDude goes back to Season 2 for some stories about winter activities, playing outside in the snow, and why he doesn't ski.  He also talks about his days as a runner, his best time running a mile, and running against one of the track star sprinters in high school. He also talks about his love of basketball, how much pick-up ball he played in college, and how he was al...

In this week's episode, GamerDude talks about family. He talks about his "blood" family and the family you choose. He also talks about the connections he had with his immediate family growing up. He talks about "extended family," like cousins, and aunts, and uncles, and how he really didn't have much interaction with his extended family when he was growing up. He shares some of the "family stories...

Like so many kids, when GamerDude was growing up, he was not a fan of baths. He talks about bathtime when he was young, when his mom would bathe the kids together to save time and water, and avoid naked kids running up and down the hall unsupervised. He talks about how Mr. Bubble made bath time at least tolerable, and he explains how, as he got older, he started avoiding baths as much as he could,...

As anyone who follows GamerDude's Twitch stream knows, he recently had a flood in his basement, which inspired this week's episode. He first talks about what it was like growing up on a house with a constantly wet basement. He talks about how he and his siblings had "squeegee duty," which involved pushing the water out of the basement, through the garage, and into the driveway. He also talks about...

This week features another "Best of" episode, with stories from Season 1. First, GamerDude shares part of his "very special episode" about bullying, and talks about what it was like to be bullied as a child, through middle school. He then switches gears, and shares some lighter stories about his love of music, and how his mother tried to teach him piano. He also talks about how manners are so impo...

Long time listeners know that GamerDude loves TV, and grew up watching a lot of different shows, including cartoons.  He talks about the "packages" of classic cartoons from the '40s and '50s the local channels put together when he was a kid, almost always featuring Bugs Bunny. He also talks about the kid-centric cartoons that began to develop in the '60s and "70s, including Quick Draw McGraw and B...

As a New Year looms before us, GamerDude talks about the weird little period between Christmas and New Years, where some people (as in retail) work like crazy, and other people try to do nothing at all. He talks about a serendiptous trip to New York City to see the Christmas decorations after Christmas, and how it still felt Christmasy even a week after the holiday. He also re-visits some of his f...

This week, GamerDude visits the Christmas Room once again, to talk about how every family seems to have its own "Christmas stories" about things that have happened in the past.  He then re-tells two of his favorite family Christmas stories.  The first involves hearing sleigh bells one clear, dark Christmas Eve. The second involves Uncle John and the Christmas Puzzle. GamerDude also talks about giv...

Christmas time has always included traditions, like fruitcakes and Advent calendars, and hanging garland on the tree and going caroling. This week, GamerDude talks about all of these traditions, as well as several others that used to be just as familiar, but have disappeared over the years.  He talks about the Feast of the Donkey and the Lord of Misrule, and how those were regular things hundreds...

This week, GamerDude talks about his love for Christmas music. He talks about playing traditional Christmas carols during the holiday band concerts (which were called Christmas concerts when he was in school), and he talks about singing Christmas carols in music class. He also remembers singing Christmas carols around the piano at home, and how much the prospect of having to sing "O Come All You F...

GamerDude has re-mastered some of his favorite Christmas stories from Season 1 for this "Best of" episode.  He has put together some stories about Christmas shopping, and how important it is to give gifts that actually have meaning. He talks about some of the Christmas decorations he grew up with, from a two-foot tall stuffed Santa, to a green flood light, to his dad's prohibition against "fake" C...

Even in 2020: The Year of the Pandemic, GamerDude talks about the importance of being grateful for the things we do have. He talks about how, even in tough time, even in angry times, there are still things that we can be grateful for, and we should remember that, this year and every year. GamerDude also talks about how everything we thought we knew about Thanksgiving is probably wrong. He talks ab...

Regular listeners know that GamerDude loves his TV shows.  This week, he talks about some of the sillier shows that he grew up with, like I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched. He also talks about some of the fairly ridiculous plot points he found in some of the shows he loved as a kid, like Starsky's "girlfriend of the week" who always seems to wind up dying. GamerDude also shares some more of his fav...

This week, GamerDude is celebrating President-Elect Biden's win! He talks about the relief he felt after the election was called, and how he didn't realize how much stress he'd been carrying around for the past four years until the results finally came in on Saturday, November 7, 2020.  He talks about his happiness and spends some time chair-dancing! GamerDude also talks about how he has always vo...

GamerDude has shared a LOT of stories over the three seasons of Storytime and sometimes, a story may not make it into the final episode. In this week's Storytime, GamerDude has compiled six stories from a variety of different episodes over the yeears that didn't make the final cut of their episode, whether due to time constraints, or focus, or topic, or whatever.  GamerDude has stories about grill...

For Halloween, GamerDude talks about scary stories and authors he's read over the years, from Stephen King to Peter Straub to Edgar Allan Poe. He talks about why he finds scary books and stories even more terrifying than movies - because your imagination can make things so much worse than a movie can depict. GamerDude then takes us back to "the Halloween Room" to read Poe's classic tale, The Tell-...

With Halloween just around the corner, it's the perfect time to talk about horror movies. This week, GamerDude talks about the various genres of horror movies, from the disturbing gore-fests and psycho killers, to the paranormal and psychological thrillers, to the ever-popular monster movies.  He explains why he doesn't watch the gore-fests like Saw and Hostel, why home-invasion movies bother him,...

In this week's "Best Of" episode, GamerDude revisits some stories from Season 1.  He talks about some superstitions that he actually believes (and some that he doesn't).  He shares a story about one of his favorite words - balderdash.  He talks about wasting energy worrying about things that are beyond your control.  And he shares one of his favorite Halloween stories, about his exploits on "misch...

Eating out was always a rare treat when GamerDude was growing up.  In this week's episode, he talks about the various - and different - options for eating out that he grew up with.  There were lunch counters in the back of Woolworths, and restaurants in the local Macy's department stores.  He talks about how those eating places gave way to food courts as stores left downtown areas to take up resid...

GamerDude's recent first viewing of the classic movie Taxi Driver prompted this episode about making the "good guy" choices. He talks about how society in general, and he in particular, used to focus on the good guy - Superman - as the hero in films, stories and life, and how the world has evolved to the point where now, the Joker is the hero. He talks about how Taxi Driver, one of the first anti-...

Long-time listeners know about GamerDude's love of language. In this episode, GamerDude talks about words that he grew up hearing, and using, that we no longer use in everyday conversation.  He talks about old expressions, like "fiddlesticks" and "whippersnapper" and where they came from.  He talks about words that had short but significant lifespans, like "groovy" and "phat." GamerDude also talks...

Long-time listeners are aware of GamerDude's love of travel.  In this week's episode, he talks about how travel used to be when he was growing up, and how things that used to the norm simply no longer exist. He talks about the difference between hotels and motels, and how he used to stay in little mom-and-pop motels, both as a kid and as a broke, hungry college student. He talks about his first "c...