by Storytime with GamerDude
GamerDude's stories this time are about his obsessesion with cars, and driving. He talks about the first time he ever drove - at age 11! He talks about his first car, a 1970 VW Bug, and his efforts to get it road-worthy. He talks about "trading up" for a 1969 Plymouth Fury II and his adventures with speed in that car. He tells the tale of the Volvo with the flyaway hood, and talk about the freedom you get driving your own car, and why he objects to self-driving cars.
On "A Very Special Episode" of StoryTime, GamerDude gets very personal about his early life. He shares stories about what it was like to grow up as "the fat kid" in school. He shares stories about how he grew to be that "fat kid," what is was like in school, how it affected him, and how that "fat kid" experience stays with you. He shares the story about how he decided to make the change in his life that allowed him to lose the weight and change his outlook, and he also shares the story of how knowing we're not alone in our struggles makes those struggles easier to handle.
GamerDude has some stories about games from the good ol' days, before consoles, computers and hand-helds. He talks about the first card game he ever learned - Go Fish! - that he played with his great-aunt Freedie. He touches on the other toys he played with, including his Lionel trains, before talking about the board games he grew up on. He tells stories about Monopoly, Parcheesi, Sorry, Trouble, Billionaire, Stratego, Money Card and Risk, which are only the tip of the iceberg of GamerDude's collection of old board games.
In this episode, GamerDude talks about the power of radio and the imagination, and demonstrates how to use it to create images, places, things, and even people, bringing Mister Agador from his Twitch stream to the engineering booth in the process. GamerDude first experienced the power of radio when listening to the broadcasts of the late, great Jean Shepherd, whose stories were the basis for the classic movie A Christmas Story. GamerDude talks about how he would curl up under his covers and listen to Jean's stories, and how those stories influenced him, and his life. As mentioned in this episode, many of Jean Shepherd's original radio broadcasts are available on YouTube, including A Christmas Story, The Great Indiana Blizzard and Paperboy Stories. He also wrote several books, including The Ferrari in the Bedroom and Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, both available on Amazon.
GamerDude's stories about phones start with Andy Griffith's "candlestick" phones and his calls to Mt. Pilate, to Grandma's vintage dial phones that weighed as much as a ship's anchor, to the kitchen phone that was the focal point of the house, to the bedroom extensions that Papa GamerDude added, and the prank calls to California. And let's not forget the shared party-line with the neighbors that Mother GamerDude never let the kids take advantage of.
In this pilot episode of Storytime, GamerDude talks about the inspirations behind this podcast. It started with his story-telling during his live Twitch streams, expanded as he worked on The GamerCat Show with ReactiveCat, and traces it roots back to his days as a radio broadcaster. He also talks about his inspiration from the late Jean Shepard, iconic radio broadcaster in New York, and the author whose work inspired the classic movie A Christmas Story. GamerDude's plans for Storytime include stories about growing up, games, bullying, parents, kids, siblings, relationships, love, friendship, and many other topics. Storytime is simply going to be stories about life.