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Monday
Mar222010

Birthday Weekend

Today is my daughter Gillian’s 12th birthday. It is crazy to think that she is already a dozen years old. We had a crazy Fiesta party on Friday night with several of her screaming friends and even 4 boys. Yikes.

I was DJ Ninja all night, laying down the funky fresh, jammy jams. It was actually a lot of fun to see Gillian having a blast and being the center of attention. Surprisingly enough the cops didn’t show up. I had the music cranked and luckily all of our neighbors were cool about it. We all had a blast!

Tomorrow is my 37th birthday. It is crazy to think I am going to be 2 dozen plus 1 baker dozen worth of years old. ;) So on Saturday I received an envelope in the mail.

 

When I see an envelope address with “Ninjabetic” on it I always wonder what the heck the mailman must think. Anyhow this particular package was from my friend Scott Strumello. I finally got to meet Scott last Summer at the Roche Summit and I was so happy that I did. He is a smart, funny, down to earth, great guy and being able to call him a friend is something I am thankful for.

In the envelope was a Post-it explaining the origin of the package. A friend of Scott’s has a 12 year old daughter who was telling him about these great books (as if they were new) that he should read.

She mentioned a title and well…

 

I guess I came to mind!

The cool thing is that I LOVED these books. LOVED! I remember having a bunch of them when I was a kid and somewhere between moves and yard sales they all disappeared.

I have never read "The Secret of the Ninja" but with 29 different endings, I am sure to be entertained for a long time!

So thank you so much for the early birthday present Scott. I know that was not the reason you sent it but I am calling it my first present of the year!

Reader Comments (6)

Those Choose Your Own Adventures were AWEsome! Had multiple different ones back in the day. What a cool gift.

Looking them up online, came across a list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Choose_Your_Own_Adventure_books.

You'll see that Secret of the Ninja came out in 87, followed by a sequel in 1989 Return of the Ninja. There were also Master of Karate, Master of Kung Fu, and Master of Tae Kwon Do.

Sweetness. Think I'm about to make a trip to the half-priced bookstore in search of some of these classics, for 50 cents or so!

March 22, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHoskins

There is this awesome book festival that comes to town every year that sells books for about 50 cents a pop. All kinds. It's held in a giant warehouse. There is a line to get it. It is amazing. ANYWHO, I was in the YAL section buying books for my classroom library and there they were, a plethora of choose your own adventures. So I own about a dozen if you ever want to borrow any! LOL! No Secret Ninja though!

March 22, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterAndrea

I couldn't let this opportunity pass to say happy birthday, even if I had no clue it was coming!! If you recall, the formula for these books had been copied, and there were effectively knock-offs, some good, others lame. But a few years ago, the original authors then bought the rights to the book titles and resurrected them a few years ago, thus their resurrection, including "Secret of the Ninja". Perhaps in our free time we can develop a "Secret of the Ninjabetic"!

March 23, 2010 | Registered CommenterScott S

Choose Your Own Ninjabetic Adventure: A. Ninja goes to Roche Summit in Indy. B. He doesnt, but goes to Orlando for CWD Conference instead. C. Doesn't go to either, but launches campaign to host D-Meetups nationwide.

Ultimate choice: Bacon, or ... Wait. There's a choice that's NOT bacon????? That must be a quck-ending route.

March 23, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterHoskins

That's an awesome DJ Ninja picture :) hahaha.

March 25, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterMeghan

Dude, I bet that party was a BLAST!!! I totally wish I could have been there rocking out with you guys.

Man - that book looks awesome!

March 28, 2010 | Registered CommenterScott K. Johnson

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