It’s always a bummer to wake up and find out you inadvertently lifted a joke from some other source. In this case I’m being told that today’s gag also appeared in a recent Big Bang Theory. I have to admit to only seeing the episodes that had my friend Wil in them. I’m not sure exactly what their version of the joke is but I can tell you the origin of ours.
This past Saturday I was at my son Gabe’s soccer game. There is a group of older brothers that are forced to come watch their little brothers play soccer and they tend to hang out together and look bored. On this day however they were playing Magic the Gathering. These are 7th graders and they were just learning the game. I sat down with them for a bit and helped with a couple rules before leaving them be. I thought it was really cool to see a new generation of kids getting into the game. Because of my rad job I have a house full of games and stuff that I get for free. In fact I had a box full of unopened MtG booster packs just sitting in a drawer. I told the boys that if they wanted to come over sometime they could have a “box of cards”.
They all live in the neighborhood so they decided to walk over that night. I retrieved the box and when I handed it to them they were shocked. “These are new.” one of them said. “Yup.” I agreed. They looked at each other and then up at me then back to the box of cards. I realised they must have thought I meant a box of my old cards from when I was a kid or something. “How many can we have?” he asked. The question was quiet as if he was afraid speaking to loudly might break the spell. “Open them all.” I told them. One of the boys looked at me and in what I could feel was the most sincere thing he had ever told anyone said “Thank you so much.”
They fell on the box like a pack of wolves. Wrappers and cards were everywhere. Thier joy was contagious. They continued to heap thank you’s upon me as they piled up their cards. They traded back and forth amongst each other for nearly an hour before I gave them some grocery bags to carry their riches and sent them home. I love creating scenarios like this. Whether it is taking my son to NASA to watch a rocket launch, Introducing him to his hero Notch, giving out free video games to the neighbor kids, or letting them tear into a brand new box of Magic cards. I’m lucky enough that I’m in a position to get all these amazing opportunities. Sharing it all with kids, even if they aren’t always my kids is a blast. Tycho said that for these kids it must be like a wizard lives in their neighborhood. All these normal houses and then there’s that one house on the corner with the guy who hands out free toys and built an arcade in his garage. I explained that when you say it like that it sounds a little creepy. Like I’m inviting them over to drink winecoolers and wrestle.
So that’s the impetus for today’s comic. I can assure you that any resemblance to a Big Bang Theory joke is purely accidental.
-Gabe out
