My friend James had a very... interesting father, Jerry. He scared me. I could go into details about what a mean guy this was, but I just don't have the time. We'll just put it this way... he didn't hit or attack you... he would just stare you down.

But who wouldn't like little old me?

Anyways, it was James' 10th Birthday, the BIG 1-0! He had a sleepover, and after a long night of playing "hide-and-seek," "Atari," and "Break stuff in his sister's room", we woke up for breakfast.

His dad had been making pancakes, eggs, and bacon for us kids, and we all sat around the "breakfast bar" eating our food. One of James' friends was such a Kiss Up to James' dad, and one thing that he said to him has stuck in my mind for years now.

"Jerry, you make a MEAN stack of pancakes!"

God, can you suck up anymore then that? What 10 year old uses the word MEAN to discribe pancakes!

To this day I can't make, or see someone make Pancakes without thinking of that one sentence. And perhaps neither will you...

I'm a big believer in the idea of a collective unconscience. Take this little tale for example...

One day while in film school I was hanging out in the student's commons, when a few guys from another class walked into the room. One of the kids was humming a tune, but I couldn't quite place it. I didn't think much of it...

UNTIL... a guy in my class came into the room a few minutes later, and was singing a song under his breath. It was "Holiday" by Madonna. AND I then put it together that it was the same tune that the other student had been humming!

HOURS LATER...

I'm working on some forms, when another guy walks in an bursts out in song, "HOLIDAY, CELEBRATE!"

Had I entered the Madonna Twilight Zone? I asked if the song had been playing on the radio earlier, but no one had heard it. I was left without a clue...

... and a song stuck in my head.

My friend James was the only kid I knew who had a pool when I was in grade school, and we go to his house almost every day during the summer to swim.

He lived up on top of a BIG hill, and riding our bikes up it was a pretty big workout for a 9 year old. The trip was worth it cause the whole time you're riding up, you're thinking about how great it will be to just jump in that pool!

We get to his house, change into our suits, and I jump into the pool! It was one of those above ground one, and had a deck built halfway around the pool on the shallow end. We would always walk along side of the pool to the other end to jump into the deeper end.

So just second after I had jumped in, James got read to jump, and then...

Fell backwards about 7 feet onto the ground!

He was ok. Especially considering that he almost implaled himself on a lawn sprinkler. Well, he didn't want to swim anymore... so after that long, long, long hike up the hill (on a hot day), all I got was 15 seconds in the pool.

We went inside and watched M.A.S.K. and other assorted TV shows that were popular at the time.

It was Christmas time, and I had been invited to a Birthday party for my first grade friend Emily. She was having her Birthday party at the all mighty Chuck E. Cheese, and things were good!

All night they had been having fun little games in spirit of Christmas, and while I wasn't playing in the jungle room (which was THE coolest part of the old Chuck E. Cheese), I was up playing all the fun games for the cool prizes!

Over the loud speaker came the question, "who can name all 9 reindeer." I knew this one by heart! I had been singing that song all week in anticipation for Christmas! I ran to the booth, but there were three other kids ahead of me.

AND YOU KNOW WHAT? I was the only kid who could successfully name all 9 reindeer!

I won a special Chuck E. Cheese wallet, and a handful of tokens! And to this day I still have that wallet! AND I can still name all 9 reindeer!

Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixin, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph ("the most famous reindeer of all...: )!

Hide and seek was such a fun and classic game for me while growning up; as I assume it was for everyone else.

When I was 9 my friend James lived in this very large house in the richer parts of the valley, and he had this basement that would go on, and on, and on... there had to have been some 15 or so rooms in this one section that we played in all the time!

James would often have big sleep over parties with 6 or more guys, and at night we would play Hide and Seek all night! You'll never know the true meaning of fun until you've played Hide and Seek for 8 hours straight!

My favorite place to hide was under his dads train table. His dad had a big train set on top of a plywood table, and no one dared go near it cause they didn't want to knock over the train set... SO, while carefully hiding under there I could stay hidden, and no one would approach the table.

Hide and Seek is still a very fun game to this day... but it just isnt the same in a three room apartment.

Back in the Kay Bees days, I would continually run into "regulars." And by this I don't just mean the evil toy collectors that dig through the new shipments, and steal all the good toys, I mean the moms who take their kids to the store once a week while she's at the mall, and the families who are always stopping in for birthday presents for somebody.

But, there will always be one lady that will forever be burned into my memory. She had two little brat twins that everyone dubbed "The Wonder Twins." They were such brats that they constantly talked to their mom in baby talk so that they could pretty much whine and cry for everything.

Sound like you average little boy right? WRONG! These kids had to be 13 or 14 years old! And, they would come in about every two weeks, get their mom to buy them useless toys (which she would return broken), and this went on and on for the entire time that I worked there.

But, the mom had this little "joke". Everytime she and the kids came in, after they had trashed the store, she would come up to the register, and in an sad attempt at "smugness" she would say, "Can I interest you in two boys?"

Now, the first time I laughed... the second time I smirked... but the third through eighth times I just didn't pay attention.

Then sometime around Christmas, I saw her up in line for the register. I went behind the counter cause I had bet another employee that she would say her usual "joke." Well, she did, but this time I jumped in on her and said, "now, now, you say that everytime you come in here!"

All the other workers started laughing because they knew exactly what I was talking about! They lifted me up on their shoulders, and carried me out into the mall as I pumped my fist in the air triumphantly!

Ok, so all that didnt happen.. but everyone did laugh. STILL - as far as I know, the lady still uses the "joke" anytime she goes to the toy stores, or other stores where I know people...

Some people never learn.

It was one of those times when I laughed sooo hard that my sides hurt for long, long after.

Danny and I had gone to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show with my sister; we were both about 10 at the time.

I guess we really didn't know what to expect, but we were ready for just about anything! While hanging out in the lobby before the show we got to look at all the crazy people who had come painted up, and "dressed" for the event.

One such couple was a guy and girl who were dressed as some sort of cat-people. They asked us if we were there to see the Rocky Horror (what else is playing at midnight?), and I jokingly said, "nah, we're here to see "Mr. and Mrs. Bridge" (an art film that had recently opened).

The girl stepped forward, holding her man's hand, and said, "Well, we're Mr. and Mrs Bridge." And that just got me... I wasn't rolling around laughing at first, but that had stayed with me all night, and whenever I thought about it, I just kept laughing, and laughing.

If you don't think its funny, you had to be there. Ok?

I was at the movies (imagine that), and after a show I had stepped into the bathroom to do what little boys must... especially after a large iced tea.

The lobby had the Grease soundtrack blasting, and the video on the large video screens. It was very easy to follow along to the music, even down the hall and in the bathroom.

And as I was drying my hands in the little hand dryer, could hear a female voice singing along to the music. As I stepped out of the bathroom I saw a lone female employee dancing around with a mop, and singing into it as if it was a microphone.

I don't know who was more embarressed... Her for getting caught singing, or me walking out of the bathroom with a big smile on my face.

While working at Kay Bee Toys after high school I came across a matter of galactic proportions!

I started noticing something that would happen at least five or six times a day. At first I thought nothing of it, but as time went on, it became something that I had to look into.

For a while I would keep getting customers who's purchase total after tax was exactly $27.00... Not a penny over... It was so strange to me that there would be so many people kept coming up with this total.

It seems that if at that time, if you bought three items with the following prices: Two items at $9.99, and one $4.99 item... you would end up with exactly $27.00 after tax.

If thats not cool... I don't know what is.

One day I was on the phone with a friend when all of a sudden Chris and Barry came to my door. I waved for them to come into the house because I was on the phone. They came in, and once they got to the kitchen where I was, the strangest thing happened... The line on the portable phone got disconnected, and right as it shut off, the phone rang. So... it must have appeared to Barry and Chris that i was too lazy to open the door - so I just picked up the phone to pretend that i was busy. As for that mysterious phone call... we may never know where that person disappeared to...

When I was ten I was making Pizza. I followed the recipe very closely, and thought I have everything perfect. I popped the pizza in the oven, and as it baked, it started rising up like a mountain. Now, it wasn't like those bubbles on the crust... it was as if the pizza was growing up from the middle.

I let it cook that way, imagining that I could pop the big cyst in the middle, and it would all go back to normal. BUT - to my surprise, the mound in the middle was all crust! Where did all that dough come from? Another dimension perhaps?

I guess we may never know...

It was another one of those weird days. Two days before my sister's wedding, everyone from all over was in town for the Gala event. People were singing songs of Joy!

One such person was my dad. I remember him coming into the room once singing "I want Pizza in the morning, Pizza in the evening, Pizza at suppertime!"

Me and Chalo just crack up over that, and to this day we enjoy singing the "Pizza on a Bagel" song, and thinking of that one day.

One day I was sitting in Danny Caveny's front yard. Danny, his Brother Corey, and I all sat around for a good three hours making jokes about Freddy Krueger.

The day turned into night, but we still sat in the yard making these stupid jokes, and we just kept laughing and laughing.

The next day, around the same time, we all went out into the front yard, and we started making more Freddy Jokes. Only this time we realized that Freddy jokes just aren't all that funny. We got bored after about 3 minutes, and we went inside to play Nintendo.

I had been called to go in and interview for a job at Kay bee Toys. I was told that it would happen around 5pm, but there was some confusion as to if that would be a good time. I suggested that we start the interview at 5:20 so there would be no problems. So, the interview was set.

Now, why did I pick 5:20? Well, Power Rangers started at 4:30, and that way I could watch it til 5pm, and still have 20 minutes in order to get ready, and drive over to the mall.

I schedule me work around Power Rangers... pretty cool huh?

Me and Isaiah used to watch the Ninja Turtles movie on a daily basis. On special occasions, we would act out the movie as we would watch it. I would Play Michaelangelo and Leonardo, Isaiah would be Raphael and Donatello.

Isaiah got all mad at me because he thought the line "Yes dudes and Dudettes. Major league Butt kicking is back in town," was said by Donatello.

He started screaming at me saying.. NOOOO COREY FELDMAN SAYS THAT LINE! I KNOW IT IS HIM! He even ran to his room, and slammed the door shut!

I proved it to him by showing that Mike's shadow on the wall is actually speaking the words.

I don't think Isaiah ever forgot that... and neither have I.