My Little Chun Li

Twenty-three years ago, a game called "Street Fighter" came out. I remember it well, because it involved a joystick and these two pads that you pounded: one represented kicks and the other represented punches. I vividly remember my friends Alan and Chad working with me to defeat the bad guys at a local arcade at Lakeshore Mall here in Gainesville. Alan used the controller, as Chad and I pounded the heck out of those punch and kick pads. We rarely connected, but if we ever did - it would really hurt. Of course, our fists were really hurting a while too! It was a novel game, but we had no idea the impact it would have on our lives a little later.

Fast forward to the nineties, and we all got interested in the sequel "Street Fighter II" very fast. I can tell you the first place I saw it: Cumberland Mall in Atlanta. We were hooked immediately. In fact, we'd all drive to Atlanta just to play against all the best people there at arcades like Green's Corner or Lenox Square. We weren't half bad. It became an obsession at North Georgia College, in between classes. Everyone would line up just to play, or watch us play. Even on our vacations, we'd go looking for arcades to challenge others with. At our job at the Alpine Amusement Park in Helen, Georgia, we'd play that game on all our breaks, and before and after work. Over time, we'd play other people in all sorts of places, from Texas to Las Vegas to Hawaii. Many times, we'd win. Some times we'd find some really good players, and sometimes - like in Vegas - we'd find some particularly frustrating players!

Of course, when the game came out on home consuls, that was all the rage for a while too. My friend Danny constructed a joystick system with buttons, just so he could recreate the Street Fighter experience at home. And Daddy even found a stand-up arcade version of Street Fighter for $200, and you didn't even have to put quarters into it. It still rests in the garage, and maybe soon I'll be playing it with Madison!

Just like this blog entry could go on and on, we could play this one game for hours! We can tell you all about these characters, as they are just like characters from a novel or a movie, and ones we've known for twenty years or so. There's E. Honda, Ken, Ryu, Dhalsim, Zangief, Vega, Balrog, M. Bison, Sagat and quite a few others. And, of course, there's Chun Li.

Chun Li came back last year, right after we came back from China. "Street Fighter IV" was released in February of 2009, and it was huge. It brought us all back to a time when we were younger, and evidently had more time on our hands! One exciting new thing: when "Street Fighter IV" came out last year, we were playing people online in Japan, which was huge for us, as that's where the game came from. How we've always wondered what it'd be like to play someone from Japan. Daddy could even still win a round or two!

Street Fighter is just a part of Daddy's culture growing up. I picked the big wrestler character Zangief a lot, and Dhalsim, the mystical Indian with seemingly elastic arms. But my favorite character was always the Chinese girl, Chun Li. She was fun - she still is. In the nineties when I was playing this game so much, I had no idea at the time that China would be playing such a huge role in my life to come.

But it did. And when it came to be when we let everyone know we were adopting from China, that the others told me I was going to adopt "my little Chun Li." It was funny, and true. I was never seriously tempted to name Madison that, but that would be humorous. She really is my little Chun Li. Just to illustrate this, we wrestle all the time - she even is getting good with her kicks! Although she can't do that helicopter kick yet...

So why post all this today? Partially because it was a work day and Daddy didn't get to spend too much time with Madison. Mommy spent most of the day with her, down in the prop room at our church trying to clean it up some. But a little later on, Daddy went to pick up a few groceries and brought Madison with him. His primary purpose was to pick up a few things at Publix, but he couldn't help but stop by a video game store called Gamestop.

The reason: today was the release date of "Super Street Fighter IV." The fun continues! As part of the incentive to buy at this one location, Madison got her own little thumb cover, which has on it a picture of Chun Li. These little thumb covers are so you can put them on and have thumb fights, which Madison and I promptly did in the parking lot. Round One... Fight! She was Chun Li and I was a newer character, and of course, Madison's thumb ruled the day with some sharp combos that had Daddy's thumb all dazed and confused. But everyone knows I'm under her thumb all the time anyway.

One Halloween, you may see Madison in a Chun Li outfit. It would look very cute on her, and I would immediately have to send the photo off to all the guys, who would get a big kick out of it.

She's my little Chun Li!