The year was 1999, and phones were still phones. The hottest Christmas item (and then-current world record holder for smallest digital camera) was the Game Boy Camera. Fast forward 16 years and it's like opening up a time capsule.
My Game Boy is one of my most prized possessions. It has lasted through countless moves to new countries and states, many stages of life, a few Tetris addictions, and more than one corrosive battery. That's why, when it randomly stopped working a few years ago, it was tucked away in that one-moving-box-that-never-seems-to-get-unpacked for safekeeping. I happened upon it several months ago and decided I was capable of taking it apart and once again cleaning the contacts free of corrosion. The only problem was, I wasn't able to put it back together again. This weekend, however, an engineer friend of mine who's pretty savvy with a micro screwdriver was visiting and the first item on his to-do list was to fix my Game Boy. Little did he know what he would unearth.
Pictures! 30 to be precise, the max. capacity of the Game Boy Camera. There's Cleo, my beloved cat, who lived to the ripe old age of 18, and Gambler, my dad's horse who died about five years after I took his photo. There's a baby who is driving her own car now and grandparents who are missed everyday. My favorite picture though, has to be the selfie I took with my Paw-paw before selfies were #selfies.
I also discovered something else: the first selfie I ever took, as well as subsequent selfies taken at various points when I thought it was cool to pull out ye ol' Game Boy and play around with my remaining photo slots.
Selfie: 1. Year: 1999. School: High school. Hair: Long, straight, light brown (dirty blond?), middle part. Eyes: four. Expression: blank.
Selfie: 2. Year: ? School: High school? Hair: Same, in ponytail. Eyes: Demonic. Expression: blank.
Selfie: 3. Year: 2002. School: College. Hair: Experimental, the unfortunate growing-out-a-pixie-cut phase, side part finally. Eyes: Full-time contacts. Expression: Cheerful despite hair situation.
Selfies 4, 5, & 6. Year: ? School: ? Hair: Long, mousy brown, side part, swoopy bangs. Eyes: Oh, so mysterious. Expression: That of a 20-something discovering the fine art of the selfie.
Selfie: n. Year: 2015. School: Life. Hair: medium, bleach blond, side part. Eyes: Knowing. Expression: Content.
It's amazing what 16 years, dot matrix, and a hair stylist can do to a person. It's weird to think how far digital cameras (and I, myself) have come. What a fun trip down memory lane. Who else can date their first selfie to a Game Boy Camera? Also, who knows how to download pictures taken in .gameboy format? I need to clear up some space.
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