Oh, man. I looooved playing Donkey Kong. It was one of those games I never tired of playing, no matter how many times I got stuck on the same level or kept making the same mistakes. (Unlike playing Q*Bert, which stressed me out for some reason.)

I also really enjoyed Pitfall and Tetris. I love me some Tetris!

What are your favorite old-school video games?

Did you ever play with paper dolls? I never really had “official” paper dolls, but I spent hours cutting out people from the Sears catalog, outfitting them with all kinds of clothes and even arranging their tiny hands around lawnmowers, patio furniture and tool sets. When it came to paper doll-making, the Sears catalog was the way to go, man.

Anyone else want to tear their face off when they hear “Feliz Navidad”? No? Just me?

What’s your least-favorite Christmas song (and your favorite)? My favorite is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” or “All I Want for Christmas is You” (the version from Love Actually).

Hey, let’s talk about artists, huh? Who’s your favorite artist or painter? Mine is Caspar David Friedrich, a German Romantic landscape painter who favored spooky trees and shipwrecks. I only stumbled across his work because of a screensaver, of all things. It was this image, which I spent years tracking down to find out the artist (this was well before the Internet, kids). (It also didn’t help that it’s titled differently depending on the website.) I finally found it, bought a cheap print and mounted it on foam core. While I usually display it at work I currently don’t have the space. But I just decided that I’m going to make the space because this print makes me super happy.

Last year was the first time we didn’t give out Halloween candy. The neighborhood we’re in doesn’t have a lot of younger children anyway, but two years ago, the majority of the people that came to our door were teenagers without costumes holding gigantic pillowcases who grunt-demanded candy. Forget that.

How about you? Are you staying home and giving out candy this year?