I might as well take a break about the usual stuff I talk about, and mention little ole me. I figure I have the right to do this since my one year anniversary is coming up.
This tale begins when I was around three years old. I was afraid of many things: eyes, commercials, cats, bees, heat vents; I swear I’m not making any of that up. Another thing that really creeped me out were the Looney Tunes. I had no good reason to fear them but I did. (Thinking Sylvester always ate Tweety is not a good reason.) The closest I ever came to seeing them was when I was at a friend of my mom’s house hanging out with her son. (He was a bit of a douchebag.) He wanted to watch “Space Jam” which sent me into hysterics.
Yet, curiosity got the better of me and I watched maybe the first 20 minutes. I can’t really say I enjoyed it, but it made calm down a little bit about the series as a whole. When I was 5, my family moved to a new location. (Mostly because our old house was on a street that I’m sure was a freeway.) At our new place I found new friends, a new school, and cable TV. Watching Cartoon Network, (and again I can’t stress this enough, that channel is garbage now) I realized how wonderful Looney Tunes could be.
With that said though, I still would not be into them for about another four years. Sure, they were entertaining enough to watch, but nothing I’d choose over shows like “Rugrats” “Chip ‘N Dale’s Rescue Rangers” and “The Powerpuff Girls.” Time passed and my parents decided I was too hooked on television. (Hey if CN was still GOOD, then I still would be today.) So they ditched it. Not much of a chance for me to get invested now. So, how did I become the Looney-tic I am today? I’m getting there.
Now at age nine, I was at a book sale at my elementary school. It was there. In the used section; two books. They were histories of Bugs Bunny and Tweety/Sylvester respectively. They were open, so somebody must have been looking at them before me. Probably wouldn’t have paid much attention if the picture on the page wasn’t of “Room and Bird” I’d seen that one before! What kind of book was this, anyway?
I began looking through the pictures myself. I found it quite a joy. And then? I put both books back on the shelf and moved on. Yep. Still not convinced. Or was I? Actually, I couldn’t get them out of my head. The rest of the day and night, I wondered: “Should I buy those?” It took some thinking but ultimately, my decision was this: I’d return the next day, and if the books were still there, I’d adopt them.
The next day came and lo, they were still there. A promise was a promise and I coughed up the coins. (25 cents each is underrated, but soooo worth it.) I took my new purchase home and decided reading them might also be enjoyable. (Kind of odd that it wasn’t my intent the whole time.) Those books changed me. I learned what wonderful, magical, precious entertainment these cartoons possessed. How could I not have gotten sucked in earlier?
Wouldn’t you know it, about a month later, I saw a Looney Tunes DVD set. I didn’t just want that, I needed it. I had to have it. My parents bought it for me for my birthday and, yes, finally I became the person I am now. (The Looney part at least. I love a good number of cartoons. Too many to list here.) My appetite was hardly satiated. More DVD’s would come, I’d request them every time I could and the cartoons continued to wow me. I’ve used them to teach; I’ve learned from them, and they entertained my friends too. (Wow. I used to have friends?)
That’s as far as we’ll go today. I don’t know what will happen next, but I can’t imagine who I’d be today without Bugs, Porky, Daffy and the rest. They’re role models, entertainers, heroes and buddies. Really, they mean this much to me, and more.