Time For A Change In 2018,I Miss The NORTH Dartmouth Mall

70s/80s North Dartmouth Mall logo

Vintage North Dartmouth Mall sign

80s/90s North Dartmouth Mall logo

Mid-80s/early-90s North Dartmouth Mall sign

I have not written in this blog for the entire year of 2017. Why? There were a lot of things that happened that year,so much so that I am considering making changes in this year of 2018. First major change I plan to make is my job situation. Since 2014,I have hated my job at the Dartmouth Mall more now than ever before. Maybe it was because I had to sleep over at the mall a couple of times there,which was something I was not comfortable with. I am not blaming my bosses nor my co-workers for this. I am blaming myself for being like this. Sometimes in one's life things change and they become not the same anymore....this is how I am feeling right now. The Dartmouth Mall to me is not the same mall I loved going to from the 80s to my days as a dishwasher at the then-open Ruby Tuesday North Dartmouth. That was the NORTH Dartmouth Mall and I miss that. Today's Dartmouth Mall does not appeal to me anymore, a lot of stores that I liked shopping at are no longer there and fye will be closing at the end of February of this year. I rarely shop at the Dartmouth Mall anymore and my dream of working at the Dartmouth Mall has now been more of a nightmare than ever before. Working at the Dartmouth Mall was a childhood dream of mine and that dream has come true for 23 years (15 at RT,8 at the DM). For me,it is time that I would leave the Dartmouth Mall and work somewhere else but I will not do that until the weather gets a bit warmer and during my vacations I will start job searching. Every winter I get mad,freak out,stress out and have a bad attitude and that is not cool not only with me,but it is not cool with my family,my bosses and my co-workers. This job has stressed me out more than Ruby Tuesday during Saturdays. We hire people and then they last a month,a week or even 2 days there,it is RIDICULOUS!  I must do something,I must get a job where 1) I do not have to shovel snow. 2)I do not have to work on Thanksgiving  3) Have chemistry with co-workers since chemistry among my co-workers here is lacking 4)I don't have to constantly look at the weather every 5 minutes and 5)I don't have to worry about waking up at 5am just to get ready for work. Plus,since 2013,my attitude at work has not been top-notch,it has not been what people are expecting of me. Maybe it is because of the frustration with what people want to be as opposed to what I want to be. For the first time in my life,I do not feel the happy positive energy that I used to feel whenever I worked at Ruby Tuesday. Plus,there is a lot on my plate in my personal life right now. Changes will happen this year! My father made a change in his job situation,well so can I! Time to move on from working at the mall!

The North Dartmouth Mall back in the 70s....I see Woolworth and Child World and Brooks as well. 

RIP Dream Machine At North Dartmouth Mall (1979-2010) And welcome Tilt (Dec 2010-present)

 

                                                                   

                                                                    

Back in October of 2010, a major fixture at the North Dartmouth Mall has closed its doors. This place was known as Dream Machine. Since 1979,Dream Machine was a hangout for teenagers throughout the years. I remember first going there back in the day. It had games like Pac-Man,Ms. Pac-Man, and even Baby Pac-Man. Heck, I even saw Galaga & Arkanoid there! When I started my first job at Ruby Tuesday in the North Dartmouth Mall back in 1995, I try to do frequent visits over there at Dream Machine! I played games like Super Street Fighter 2, Mortal Kombat 3, X-Men:Children Of The Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, Mortal Kombat 2, & Martial Champion. But I never beat an arcade game even though I can beat games on consoles at home but I NEVER beat a game at the acrades until 1997 on an early work day at Ruby Tuesday. It was a slow day over there and my manager sent me home for the rest of the day since I came in early that day. The date was March 24,1997--the time --10:40 AM. After changing,I headed up to Dream Machine to take on the newest game from Capcom: X-Men Vs. Street Fighter. I used the teams of Chun-Li & Gambit and Chun-Li & Wolverine. It tooks me a few tries but on March 24th, I have finally beat the game! I was happy and I will NEVER forget that day! I went on to beat that game for a total of 20 times! How awesome is that?!?! Then 2 more games invaded Dream Machine: Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 & Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter. On Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter, I beat that game as well. I did it 15 times! I used teams like Chun-Li & Wolverine, Spider-Man & Captain America, and the thunderous team of the Incredible Hulk & Zangief. But the challenge was the end-boss: Cyber-Akuma--he was a tough customer! Then when the North Dartmouth Mall Food Court was put in Dream Machine's place, Dream Machine was moved across from the Food Court. While there,I only played one game there: Marvel Vs. Capcom. I wasn't able to beat it despite the fact that I used Chun-Li & Morrigan with fighters like Megaman,Gambit, & Wolverine. The end-boss, Onslaught, is the toughest boss yet in the game. But I managed to rank #1 in high scores,that was it. But once it was removed from Dream Machine,I never went back to play there again. Years later,I changed jobs to actually work for the North Dartmouth Mall and about 3 and a 1/2 months later I got the job at the North Dartmouth Mall doing exterior housekeeping,it was gone. After being the mall stalwart for 31 years, Dream Machine is no more. I will never forget Dream Machine,so many good times there. Farewell, Dream Machine---you will be missed. Now a new arcade has replaced Dream Machine and it is called Tilt and the arcade store is like the Dream Machine of old, featuring some of the old-school arcade games I played back in 1995,'96,and '97. It also included Marvel Vs Capcom 2. 

To commemorate my time over at the Dream Machine at the North Dartmouth Mall, now called just the Dartmouth Mall, here are some of the games I have played there: 

           X-Men: Chidren Of The Atom.....my first fighter I used in this game was Silver Samurai. 

         Marvel Super Heroes: In this game, the fighter that I use is Wolverine....which does help me in the future Marvel Vs. Capcom fighting game collaborations. 

          X-Men Vs. Street Fighter: Although, Marvel & Capcom did their first collaboration with the side-scrolling beat-'em-up game The Punisher, this was the first time that Marvel and Capcom did a collaboration for a crossover fighting game with new features that became a mainstay for future Marvel vs Capcom crossover fighting games. This was also the first arcade game that I beat at Dream Machine and I used the EGM2 magazine recommended team of Chun-Li & Gambit before I moved on with Chun-Li & Wolverine. 

Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter, this game I also beat with Chun-Li & Wolverine, thus being the 2nd arcade game that beat at Dream Machine! 

Before this game moved to Dream Machine in its final years, I played this game when it was at the AMC Movie Theater at the Dartmouth Mall. I used Chun-Li with three different partners: Wolverine, Gambit, and the newest memeber of the Marvel/Capcom collaboration fighting franchise: Morrigan Aensland from the DarkStalkers series. Of all the Marvel/Capcom fighting collaboration series games, I did NOT beat this one but I DID score #1 ranked in this game. 

Before this game came to the Dartmouth Mall via TILT, I played this game at the Millennium Arcade at the Harbor Mall in Fall River. I used the team of Cable & BB Hood (who were added to the game) along with Morrigan. I also used the team of Iron Man, War Machine & Mega Man and the team of Wolverine, Felicia (representing the DarkStalkers) and Sabretooth. 

Playing Cards- Once A Childhood Hobby

When I was a little youngster, I thought playing cards were the coolest things ever on the planet because I always find the face cards to be colorful and unique. I started collecting playing cards because of a game show that I watched back in the day called "Card Sharks" and it was hosted by Jim Perry. I bought my first deck of playing cards from a store that was once at the mall that I work at but the mall was called North Dartmouth Mall at that time and in that mall at that time was a store called Zayre. Now Zayre was the early-80s version of Wal-Mart where the prices were decent during that time. It was there that I got my first deck of playing cards called Standard. The Joker card was a hobo clown and the Ace Of Spades had a Joker inside the spade itself. The face cards were colorful and unique at the time. I had the red & blue back decks of the Standard cards but a lot of things happened and they were gone.......up until eBay happened. I found these same cards on eBay and bought them and now my child hood is complete!! Nowadays, I buy the decks that have red & blue backs and mainly bridge-size cards now. Plus, I play Solitaire with them now whenever I get really bored.....that is, when either the power goes out in my house or the Internet is not working. 

These are the Zayre Standard Playing Cards that I had when I was a kid, now that I found them on eBay, I can relive my childhood in a different way now. 

                      

                                The blue back of the Zayre Standard Playing Cards.