Have you seen my highjump boots?

I have often wondered why I've always been so different from other girls. I'm girly in that I like pink and looking pretty and such. But, I also love video games (more than just MarioKart), GI Joe, Hot Wheels, martial arts, anime, action flicks (though I love chick flicks, too), science fiction, and so on. I've always felt like I could do whatever I wanted, that I could be powerful. And I realize now that a game I've played since I was a child had a big impact on how I felt about my possibilities. When I was pretty little, around 6, we had a Nintendo (the first one -- my roots are pure) and of course we had The Gold Cartridge, which was Zelda, and we had Metroid. My two brothers and I played it and played it. For any out there unfamiliar with Metroid (and tsk tsk to you), you play as Samus Aran, a character in a yellow-brown space suit and you fight evil alien-type creatures gaining new weaponry and better suits as you go, fighting Ridley and the Mother Brain, saving the universe. (Ah, the memories.) Well, my big brother finally beat the game and the two of us younger kids were there watching, enraptured as the music signified the ultimate glory of the accomplishment. Well, Samus walks to the middle of the screen and removes the spacesuit's helmet. And you realize that Samus is a woman. My brothers had some confusion at first, but I felt this amazing feeling that I could be like that. When the Super Nintendo came out we also got Super Metroid (and Zelda: A Link To The Past must not be left out). That game was even cooler and I was old enough to enjoy it more (and beat the living tar out of it). I would actually go to my game profile and travel to... I think it was Brinstar, and I'd leave Samus in a safe place and just listen to the music while I did my homework. (That was before I realized the game was timed and you got different endings depending on how fast you got through it.) Well, now they've had the Metroid Prime series, Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Fusion, and one for the DS, only some of which I've played ($). She impacted me because she could do anything. And she was smart, which you realize even more in the newer games. I yearned to be strong like that, to be that independent and capable and absolutely fearless. Since I'd grown up in a capsule of fear, you could imagine how much I wished to be someone else stronger than who I was. Maybe that's part of why I've needed school and want to work in my field (though I threw being an astronaut out the window when I found out that Ridley wasn't actually out there needing defeating) and to just BE something. So many people let video games be the scapegoat for their kids' stupid decisions, but video games can be a good part of a child's life; you just need to get the right games. When I hear the music for the gold cartridge's main screen, I actually well up because it takes me back to my old basement, sitting on the floor in a puddle of sunshine leaking in through the window exploring another world's creatures and saving the galaxy from the Mother Brain's sinister plans. Back when the future was bright and the world was big and I never had to think about who I was -- I just was. I was a hero. I mean, I saved Zelda! Those games helped shape me as a person and gave me examples of honor and bravery and selflessness. So, I guess I just wanted to appreciate a childhood hero for never letting me down. As for following in her footsteps... well, I'm almost to the varia suit.