God, I love being a turtle!

I've been on a Ninja Turtle kick, lately. I'm really not sure why. I think I may have suppressed my love of the turtles way back when, and now it's going through some resurgence. I had turtles before I had super heroes or video games or drinking.

And I'm talking about the toys and the cartoon, those turtles. Not the gritty independent comic from whence they came; I was a child. Maybe that's why I'm sitting on the sofa and posing the Michelangelo I "bought for my daughter" over and over, because I'm thirty now. I'm thirty now and I'm happy that I still get a kick out of TMNT.

Those quotation marks in the former paragraph don't really belong there. I really did buy the toy for her, I just wasn't giving you enough credit, Reader.

Michelangelo is her favorite, Leonardo mine. Of course I think everyone goes through a Raphael period, and when a girl says her favorite is Donatello, it's sexy.

We watched the TMNT movie the other night, then both stood up to fight the Foot Clan in the living room. Reader, if you haven't fought the Foot Clan with your child in the living room, well...that's something you might want to do.

There are two Ninja Turtles here. One, the new Michelangelo figure from the upcoming cartoon, and the other an old Michelangelo from McDonalds. They fight outside the Playmates Princess Palace. My daughter's Mikey, "the good one", will turn dramatically to find my Mikey (the older one) standing behind her. She'll say "Brother." like she's seen Enter the Dragon, and the fight will commence.
Where are all my turtles from when I was little? Once, a kid down the street let me borrow his turtles for the weekend, and my dog, Roxanne, chewed one up. I felt bad about it, and to make it up to him, I proffered my collection. And, it was quite the collection. It didn't have April O'Neil or anything, but still. He insisted he didn't want them, but my gesture wouldn't be denied. So, he walked out with my carrying case, bulging with all my toys. My parents were not thrilled. I thought they would be moved by my graciousness, my finally growing up. Instead there was more of a "let's see if you ever get anything else" vibe going on. I think that may be one of the major stones in the foundation of years of me keeping things.

Ok, now...was it a spartan existence from then on out? Hardly...I'm just taking a few moments to reflect.

My wife says I'm brainwashing my daughter. I am. I want her to like the same stuff I like. And I'll try to like her stuff, too. But in the mean time, we'll meet in the middle, and that's where the katana clashes against the nun chucks.

Reader, I hope you leave here thinking about your favorite turtle, Lord knows I'm thinking of mine.