Tuesday, April 18,1995 Page 12
I knew she was there. I tried
to find her at least 20 times.
Bullets shot out from nowhere,
so I dove down a pipe. My time
was running out.
My pupils dilated by the
lack of light, I made a last
ditch effort to find her. My
friends watched with brownie
breath.
And then, she was mine.
Well, actually, she was
Mario’s. A chorus of electronic
music blared and the princess
thanked me (Mario) for saving
her, and my entire summer was
over in one tell swoop.
It started with a few inno
cent trips over to my friend
Jennifer’s house. Jen’s mom
made the most wonderful mon
ster waffles, and I couldn’t
leave without trekking down
to the basement to play a few
games on the Nintendo.
This was Nintendo before
CD-ROM, before virtual real
ity, before interactive gloves
and three-dimensional images.
To three small-town junior
high girls with no lives outside
of Kone Komer, this was the
summer of 1988. Jennifer, Barb
and I sacrificed a tan and camped
out in Jen’s basement while the
summer sun boiled outside.
What started out as a few
shots at level one turned into a
major competition, and by the
end of the summer, Jennifer,
Barb and I were no longer good
friends. We were the Mario
brothers, Luigi and Mario,
caught in a vicious feud of sib
ling rivalry.
During the summer, we
worked our way through a can
ister of sunflower seeds, our
eyes glued to the set, too en
grossed to go upstairs for lunch
or dinner.
One day, after going on a
weekend vacation, I discovered
—to my horror—that Jen and
Barb had surpassed me and made
it to the fourth level.
I had to devise a tactic. I
bought my own Nintendo and
practiced hours into the night.
Once I stuck with Mario for
nine hours, breaking only to
eat lunch.
bo, to make the saga short,
I eventually found the prin
cess. And that was it, totally
anti-climactic, until I bought
Super Mario Brothers 2 and a
slew of other games and spent
much of my freshman year
holed up in the basement.
It scared me, really, and
when it came time to pack it up
and go to college, the Nintendo
retired into the basement until
Christmas, when I received a
7-Up Spot game.
Needless to say, my broth
ers and I were not seen until
New Year’s Eve. But then I
found a life. Or maybe I just
can’t afford the neat-o, new
computer games.
Anymore, though, I don’t
give a damn about some two
dimensional princess. Let her
rot.
Paata Lavtgne, sophomore new
editorial major and Dally Nebras
kan senior reporter.
Send your “D6j4 Vu” to the Daily
Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400
R St, Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448.
Submissions must not exceed 300
words and become the property of
the Daily Nebraskan. The Daily Ne
braskan retains the right to edit or
reject all submissions.
Band still having a barrel of fun
By Gerry Bettz
Senior Reporter
Math Sladky formed the Math
Sladky Polka Band about 42 years
ago. The band has changed quite a
bit over the years, Sladky said, but
die barrel keeps on rolling.
Sladky of Lincoln leads both the
three-piece and the five-piece ver
sions of the band.
“Back in the ’50s we had an
eight-piece band,” Sladky said, “and
we played on what used to be
KLMS, now KMEM.
“We were the KLMS Polka
Band, and there was a live broad
cast every Sunday, and the rest of
the week it was recorded music.”
The number and distance be
tweenjobs has changed also, Sladky
said.
“Used to be three nights a week,”
Sladky said, “Canada to Texas,
Ohio and Michigan to western Ne
braska and Kansas and both Dako
tas.
“Today, it’s about 50 to 60 jobs
a year.
“There’s people that get tired of
playing,” Sladky said. “I keep look
ing and finding new members.
“I wish I had a list of all the
young ones that I broke in and got
started, and there were lots of sea
soned ones.
“That would be one long list.”
One name that would be a part of
that list is Ron Havlovic, a junior
psychology major, who is both a
tuba and bass player in the band.
Like many of the people who
dance ta the music of the Math
Sladky Polka Band, Havlovic said
polka music was a part of his past.
“As far back as I can remember,
my dad always had polka music
on,” Havlovic said, “so you could
say I grew up with it.”
The heritage of the music also
draws people out to listen to the
band, Havlovic said.
“There are lots of Czechs and
Germans in this area,” Havlovic
said, “and that’s basically the mu
sic they grew up with.”
Being a member of the band has
been enjoyable, he said.
“You get to see a lot of the coun
tryside and meet a lot of new
people,” he said.
Future plans for the Math Sladky
Polka band include a two-week tour
of Europe this summer.
“It’s actually been in the plans
for the past 1 1/2 years,” Havlovic
said, “and everything was finalized
last month.”
Jeff Haller/DN
Junior Ron Havlovic plays a sousaphone along with the rest of the Math Sladky band
Sunday night at the Blue River Lodge near Crete.
Polka dancing can be fun for
everyone, Sladky said, not just for
the older generation.
“But it’s been put down like it’s
old fogey or something,” he said.
However, Sladky said, all hope
is not lost.
“I’ll play for someone’s 25th
anniversary, and the kids come be
cause Mom and Dad said so, but the
kids will come up later and talk to
us and say, ‘We had a lot of fun.’”
Go, shogi tournament will honor visitor
By Bryan Peterson
Staff Reporter
To honor a visit to Lincoln by
Takahashi Matsumoto, Consul Gen
eral of Japan, the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln will host its first
go and shogi tournament today at 2
p.m. in the Nebraska Union.
Matsumoto, an experienced go
player, will join 10 others in play
ing the game that originated in China
two thousand years ago and has
since spread throughout Asia and
the rest of the world. Shogi, a chess
like game from India, is not as popu
lar in Lincoln.
Kari Yanai, a sophomore eco
nomics major, began playing go
about six months ago.
“In Japan, go and shogi are
played primarily by older men,”
Yanai said. “Most of the players in
America are younger.”
As go’s popularity increases at
UNL, Yanai said she hoped the
tournament would become an an
nual event.
“We would also like to start a
UNL go club,” she said.
Go players take turns placing
black and white stones on a square
grid made of the intersections of 19
horizontal and 19 vertical lines.
Although go has far fewer rules
than chess, it is a much more com
plicated game, said John Ertl, a
junior French major who plays both
games.
“They are both strategy games
but chess has a more linear form
while go is more abstract,” he said
“Go begins with an empty, largei
board which is gradually filled with
pieces. In chess, pieces are gradu
ally removed as a certain ending i«
approached.”
Ryoko Sasaki-Shuss, a lecturei
in the Department of Modem Lan
guages and Literatures, contrastec
die games of go and shogi by saying
that shogi was like chess while g(
was a game centered on gathering
territory rather than capturing «
piece, as in chess.
In conjunction witl
Matsumoto’s visit, the public is in
vited to join Sasaki-Shuss’ Japa
nese language classes to witness
performances of the Japanese tea
ceremony in the Kawasaki Reading
Room, 1126 Oldfather Hall, at 9:30
r a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
The discipline of studying tea,
: sado, is only one of many Japanese
pursuits dedicated to the refinement
of the self, Sasaki-Shuss said.
“Games like go might be pur
1 sued in the same way,” she said.
; “We use everything for the refine
\ ment of the self.
; “The game of go is not for win
t ning and losing,” said Sasaki.
“Those are secondary. The most
i important thing is to refine and pol -
ish oneself.”
