I remember as a kid playing Pokémon and thinking how it was not fair that I didn't have the link cable, as some Pokémon only evolved if you traded them with another player.
Oy, how I wish I couldn't used that precious brain space for something more worthwhile, instead of filling it with such narishkeiten that I still remember so clearly today.
...
(I can't write out the first 386 Pokemon (not in order) from memory anymore, but I could probably still
do the first 151 (still not in order). Parents should perhaps be warned about letting their kids get into
things that can become obsessions. Perhaps it's a matter of personality, but maybe that tendency
would be turned towards something Yiddishkeit-related in the absence of competing subject matter.)
I remember asking Rabbi Berkovit's advice regarding how to deal with an electronic game that had snuck into my house. When the Rav started telling me how terrible they are in general, he looked at my face and interrupted himself, saying, "You obviously know what I'm talking about already. From personal experience?" Yes, indeed.
At this stage, I look at it as part of the setup for my life's nisyonos. But it was bad.
