What is your retro video game spirit animal?

[noiseredux]

I'm starting to feel that JT has taken notes on us for years and is just going to his archives and digging through his massive tomes of research. It's as if we're all part of JT's personal Truman Show. Wow.

[foxhound1022]

Please divine my spirit animal, O wise seers.

[Sarge]

By the way, sorry your religious experience wasn't so great earlier in your life. I know there's not much we can do about the hypocrisy angle, because the standard we need to meet is so high, but pious Christians are something I can do without. As my Dad says, there are saved sinners and lost sinners, but we're all sinners. I hope that there are some Christians in your life now that treat you better regardless of your beliefs.

[Ack]

As much as I have enjoyed you admitting I'm pretty much a grue, I gotta say, the Sarge one has been my favorite so far.

I still intend to eat you though.

[J T]

Thanks Sarge. At this point in life, I'm oddly grateful for my early experiences because I see how they shaped who I am today. It was just impossible to have that understanding back then, so it led to a lot of confusion and angst when I was younger, but it forced me to answer a lot of tough questions about morality, the self, community, and truth. That journey was necessary to become who I am today. When that door was shut on me, I began to notice the walls, and once you see the walls, you realize there are doors everywhere. I've thought about making a more detailed post about this in mjmjr's 'share your faith journey' thread, but just haven't for reasons.

[Exhuminator]

[TEKTORO]

This thread is amazing, JT knows what he is doing and it's changing lives even its small or big, quick or gradual, while improving his skills. Very special dude.. Grand Zen Master from another dimension thank you for the good reads and awesome energy!

[J T]

Hahaha. Kumail Nanjiani is one of my favorite new comedians. He makes me laugh every time he does something, but his Dhalsim was particularly great. It ranks up there with his appearance on the X-Files reboot.

Sorry you didn't get a better Dhalsim story Exhum. I hadn't really worked out my formula at that point.

[J T]

I be the Owl no need to elaborate how awesome it is, part of the mystique.

"That's not how this works!" Dhalsim admonished. "You don't choose your spirit animal; your spirit animal chooses you!"

Okay I'm interested.

My front door swung open wide and Dhalsim burst in with an excited smile on his face. "JT! Get in the car! I got us two passes!"

"Dhalsim, I have a lot of work to do today. You can't just bust in here like this and expect me to..."

"Yes. I can. I just did. Your work will be here for you when you get back. You do not want to miss tonight! Trust me!" He shoved me out of the house and into the passenger seat of his Mercedes that had a door dented in by Ryu's fists during a bonus stage. "Here!" Dhalsim threw some hand-written directions on my lap, along with two rectangular tickets that read 'The Other Side' in a large metallic font laid over a psychedelic purple background with an artificial lens flare hovering just above the words.

"What's this? Who or what is 'The Other Side'? Where are you taking me?"

"You ask too many questions JT. Can't you just go with the flow? We are on a quest to find TEKTORO's retro game spirit animal, so it must remain mysterious. Just know that you are about to have an experience you will never forget. Now, read me those directions!"

"OK. Head north on the interstate. We'll be on that for about 40 miles before you have to exit." We followed the step-by-step directions, which had us on the road for about an hour before we finally got far out from the city, traveled through farm country, and ascended a winding road up the mountain canyon. My ears felt pressured from the change in altitude. "OK, I guess you turn left here, and we'll be on this little one-lane road for another 20 minutes."

The sun was going down, and it was particularly dark on this road because there were no other cars and the road cut through a dense forest. The longer we drove, the darker it got, until the only light in view was from scattered stars and our two headlights. "What's the next direction?" Dhalsim asked.

"The last thing it says is to stop at mile marker 27 and ask to see 'the other side.'" We counted the mile markers until we reached 27, then parked the car. Out of the bushes appeared two tough looking guys with intimidating faces. One was wearing a black bandana around his head and the other one was wearing a tight fitting tank top that showed off his muscley arms and tribal tattoos. "Oh geez." I muttered "What the hell have you gotten us into now Dhalsim?"

Dhalsim craned his head out the window and announced "My friend and I would like to see the other side." as he held up the passes above the car for the guys to see.

The guy with the bandana leaned over and eyed us through the window, noticing Dhalsim's skull necklace and inspecting our passes. He turned to the muscle and said "It's cool. These guys look legit." Then he pointed to a dirt road. "Take that road for about 5 miles and park where you see the other cars. Get out and walk from there. You should be able to hear the thumpa thumpa. Just walk towards the sound until you find the tunnel. Walk through the tunnel towards the light. That's The Other Side."

The bumpy road jangled my teeth and in the blackness of night, I wasn't even sure we were staying on the road. "OK Dhalsim, this is getting too freaky. Who were those guys? What on earth are we doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

"Most of the universe is unknown to us JT. If you can't be comfortable with that, then you will never live comfortably. Respect the mystery." It was becoming increasingly clear that he wasn't going to answer my questions.

"I just don't want you to get us killed or something!" I spurted out in anxious outrage.

"Hahaha! Oh JT. You worry too much. Life. Death. It's all the same cycle." Dhalsim was being particularly enigmatic tonight and it wasn't helping to ease my nerves. As I was beginning to question his sanity, my thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a muffled THOOM THOOM THOOM THOOM that was rattling the car windows. Dhalsim parked the car.

We got out of the car and walked into the tunnel where the deep noise was funneling outwardly from. The sound clarified and intensified as we walked further in until it became a more pronounced UNS UNS UNS UNS. Then it all became clear to me: the photoshopped passes, the map point, the thumpa thumpa...

"Oh my God Dhalsim! Are you taking me to a rave!" I suddenly recalibrated my anxious feelings into sheer giddy excitement. "I thought the rave scene was dead!" Strobe flashes and spinning beams of green lasers streamed into the tunnel. We walked towards the light. "What gives though? The other day you dragged me out to a Christian church, and now we're suddenly going to a rave in the mountains?"

"Spiritual experiences are not confined to the designated holy spots of religious institutions JT. Tonight, the dancefloor is our temple, the DJ is our minister, and we worship the beat!"

"WOOOHOOO!" I screamed loudly, though my voice was imperceptible in the overpowering noise of the music as we entered the party. There were hundreds of people here dancing on a dusty camp site. Strands of colored Christmas lights were strewn through the trees surrounding the crowd. Round paper lanterns hung from branches. A light-staging setup cast red, green, and blue hues over the dancefloor. On the right side there was a rhythmic judo demonstration happening. On the left side there was a half-pipe and I saw what looked like Dave Mirra doing BMX tricks in the air. A girl with long blonde pigtails rolled up to us. She was wearing gold bikini bottoms, thigh-high rainbow stockings, and roller skates. She handed us some glow sticks on our way in and greeted us with a gum-smacking smile. She had been giving these to everyone as they entered and the mass of people was now emitting a kinetic neon glow from the flurry of multi-colored sticks bobbing about. It was a crazy wild scene.

"Welcome to the other side!" She beamed before blowing a pink bubble-gum bubble.

I looked to the DJ, who had an index finger on one headphone and was bobbing his head to the groove. I recognized him instantly. Frankie Knuckles! He was laying down some incredibly funky house music full of bubbly bass lines, conga drums, and disco strings. We made our way towards the crowd. Steam was floating into the night air from the heat of the dancing bodies. A sexy Puerto Rican girl locked eyes with me as she bobbed to the groove. She had a jet black ponytail and was wearing a pair of flare pants and a tight fitting tank top. "Oh my god! I love your hair!" she exclaimed with wide-eyed excitement as she ran her fingers over the shaved parts on the sides of my head. I was disarmed by how immediately forward she was, and blushed as I smiled at her. Her friend, who looked a bit like a dark skinned Tara Reid, leaned in and said something to her in Portugeuse and they both giggled while making eyes at me.

"This one's sexy too!" the friend said, as she ran her fingers over the curves of Dhalsim's left bicep. "So, do you guys know how to dance or what?"

"Of course!" Dhalsim exclaimed with a giant grin on his face, then proceeded to sway his body slowly from side to side, while his head bobbled about on his shoulders, and he made long slow claps in wide arcs above his head. I laughed, but the girls applauded and woo'ed. It drew attention and the crowd organically formed a circle around him to watch. That's when Dhalsim started to do some crazy dance moves, sending rippling waves of energy wriggling through his stretchy limbs. Even I was impressed now. A b-boy in a Kangol hat then leapt into the circle with a spiraling forward flip to begin a proper dance off. He strutted in a posteuring six-step pattern, and then hit the floor in a flurry of helicopter spins with his legs whirling like a cyclone. He somehow corkscrewed upwards from the floor and onto his feet, landing in a perfect cross-armed b-boy stance, then grabbed me by the wrists and pulled me into the center of the dance circle. I gulped and forgot how to move. The speakers pumped heavy 808 kicks into my chest, and thankfully, my body suddenly remembered what to do. My feet started to glide like liquid along the floor as if gravity didn't apply to me. One arm would lock in place while the other carved out sine waves in the sky, then I'd pop with my shoulders, and they traded roles. "That was so awesome!" shouted a cute black girl with white lipstick who was wearing an Elmo backpack and had her hair in neat corn rows. She had a sleeve of candy bracelets lining each of her arms, she squeezed all three of us in a messy group hug, and then put a bracelet on each of our wrists.

Suddenly, the record scratched to a halt, everything went dark, and a beam of light shot down from the night sky. David Bowie slowly descended in a high collared glittery space suit, strumming a guitar as he began to sing:

"I'm an alligator!
I'm a mama poppa comin for you!
I'm a space invader
I'll be a rockin' rollin' bitch for you!"

The beat kicked back in and suddenly Frankie Knuckles was live-mixing deep house renditions of Ziggy Stardust songs with David Bowie on vocals! Drum kicks thudded through the speakers. Synthesizers squealed and whined. Long swaths of white noise washed over the crowd in waves, raising the energy to a fever pitch. I turned to Dhalsim in disbelief and said "Wait a minute. Dhalsim, have you noticed something? David Bowie... Dave Mirra... Frankie Knuckles.. aren't all these people dead?"

"Nothing is dead if it is remembered and cherished. These people matter to TEKTORO, so they are here. It's best not to get lost in too many questions though JT. They say house is a feeling. Does this party feel dead to you?"

"No!" I laughed "I feel utterly and completely alive right now!"

The music was pounding. It was trance-enducing and euphoric. Everyone was dancing. Every face was smiling. Every dancer was picking up dance moves from everyone else in a collective co-creation of style. Shy guys suddenly showed their confident side. Tough guys suddenly showed their playful side. I saw Breetai and snowkitty shaking their asses to the beat off in the distance. Frankie had been slowly raising the intensity of the mix for the last two hours, and when he finally let the heaviest beat drop, we all simultaneously jumped up and down with a hand in the air. If there was a roof, we would have torn it off. Instead, we rattled the stars. It didn't matter who you were, where you came from, or what you had to do later; in that moment we were one people, united in the groove. Joy was alight.

The party carried on throughout the night and into the morning. Dhalsim and I were sitting on a fallen tree with some of the girls we had met that night cuddled up next to us and sleeping on our shoulders. We were all keeping warm by a campfire and the smoke smelled rich and homey. The sun began to rise over the eastern mountain tops and we all looked up in awe at its orange beauty. I was exhausted but never more satisfied. "Dhalsim, thank you. Seriously, thank you so much. This was amazing."

He smiled, the morning sun lighting up his face. Then the sudden fluttering of wings could be heard as TEKTORO's retro game spirit animal flew overhead. It was the owl-like Pazuzu from Final Fantasy Mystic Quest.



Pazuzu is protected by a PsychShield, so you might not instantly understand what TEKTORO's psychology is about. In Assyrian and Babylonian mythology, Pazuzu is a scary demon, but one who drives away other evil spirits, and is therefore complicated and not easily understood. They say house is a feeling. TEKTORO is a feeling too. I guess, you kind of had to be there that night to get it. Embrace the mystery.

[TEKTORO]

You got it, I thank you and hope one day to cross paths JT that related to me very much. Perfectly.