Hi, it’s Chuck. I have an encouraging YouTube channel called âVintage Retromanâ where I post encouraging videos and my own original Christian music to help people. If you have 10 seconds today, I’d really appreciate you subscribing to my channel and hitting the âbellâ notification for new videos. All of my content is free. God bless you!
Category: sega
Give Yourself Permission..
Take a moment and imagine if you could go back in time to a specific year for one day. What would you do? Who would you see? How would you live during that one day? I would like to think that we would all seize that day! I would go back to Christmas Eve, 1991 and spend some time with my sister at KB Toys again! I was 8 years old, and will never forget the feelings of nostalgia when I saw 2 video game kiosks. One contained the newly released Super Nintendo Entertainment System with Super Mario World. The other contained the newly released Sega Genesis with Sonic The Hedgehog! Pure nostalgia! The 1990’s was an incredible decade!
I started to think about a conversation I had recently with a co-worker. She was born in 1996 and had questions about the 90’s culture because of course, she was a baby in the 90’s. I told her how long a decade seemed to take back then, and how the year of 2020 felt like an entire decade in one year due to the number of major events we had. We all know what happened in 2020, so I will spare the details. I began to think about how much the human race went through last year! It is no wonder that mental health issues have skyrocketed since the start of 2020!
My co-worker had been struggling with anxiety and other issues. I struggle with the same and told her that I have learned to give myself permission to do certain things for my sanity. I give myself permission to go back in the past in my mind. I give myself permission to enjoy a cheat meal sometimes. I give myself permission to feel emotions, even sadness. I give myself permission to be silly at times, to dance crazy, to sing loud, and to live in the moment. I gave myself permission to become a Christian music artist, better known as “YOUR Neighborhood Hope Dealer!”
My question to my audience is this: When was the last time you gave yourself permission? Permission to do the things you like to do? Permission to live for today, not tomorrow or yesterday? Remember, we have lived a decade in a year with the number of events that happened in 2020. Don’t be so hard on yourself. If you struggle with anxiety like I do, take time out to watch 90’s sitcoms, 80’s rock videos, or 70’s movies. Sometimes I watch videos on YouTube of the “Roaring 20’s”. Yes I am talking about the 1920’s and how they lived back then! Whatever makes you happy, take time out to invest in your mental health. Life can’t be serious ALL of the time! We have all been through a lot, and we are all in this together! I hope this short post encourages you to give yourself permission.
Signing off,
V.R.- YOUR Neighborhood Hope Dealer!
New Song- âDim Forestâ Released 01/31/2021!
I hope and pray you all are inspired by my new song! It’s poetry to music, intended to uplift and relax. Enjoy!
My New Services Page!
Check out my new services page on my website. If you need help with inexpensive quality designs or written content for your business, school, church, or blog, don’t hesitate to contact me at https://atomic-temporary-134384354.wpcomstaging.com/services/. Thank you!
Tuesday Nite Live, 01/26/2021
Join your neighborhood hope dealer this coming Tuesday, 01/26 on Facebook Live for an open and honest dialogue on what’s on the flyer! If you can’t stay on the full hour no worries, just plug in for 5-10 minutes or however long you can! đ Bring your questions and your prayer requests! Who knows, I may even perform a verse live or something, lol. đ See y’all on Tuesday evening! -YOUR Neighborhood Hope Dealer!
Feels So Good! (Mental Health Therapy) *New Encouraging Song 2021.
Everyone, be encouraged with my new song, âFeels So Good!â Remember, God loves you and life is worth living! – Your Neighborhood Hope Dealer!
I Celebrated my 4 Year Blogging Anniversary on 01/15/2021! Happy 4 Year Blog-A-Versary To Me!
Greetings friends and fellow bloggers, it’s me C.P. The Vintage Retroman, YOUR Neighborhood HOPE Dealer! It’s so hard to believe that it has been 4 whole years since I started my blog, http://www.vintageretroman.com on 01/15/2017! I started this mission with a vision: To bring the cultures of the past to the present, to spread hope and encouragement, and to educate and entertain through writings, poetry and songs. I am happy to report that despite the challenges of life, God has sustained me to still be here in 2021!
Recently, I have been thinking alot about the future. My children are now 17, 14, 11, and 9 years old, so much of my time has been invested in making sure they have everything that they need. With the current turmoil going on in the United States, I am hoping for a better future for my children. With that being said, this past year with COVID-19 we have connected on a level that we have never been on.
During the time I was working from home, I introduced them to a lot of classic music from the 70’s and 80’s, and I started making my own music and using samples from the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. All of my music is on my YouTube channel, free of charge! (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCllZ2c5bmKo_qwoHbzLguJQ) I believe that my kids have gained a greater appreciation for the cultures of the past. I know I have. Sometimes it is an escape from what we have to deal with.
My wife blessed me with a Nintendo Switch for Christmas 2020. It’s funny, because I have found myself playing more of the older NES and SNES games in comparison to the newer games. It’s something about the way they make me feel. They take me back to a simpler time in life. A time before hardship, before responsibility. A time when I didn’t have to be a serious teacher of youth called my children. A time when my biggest fear was if I would get picked on by girls for my haircut, or my parents buying the wrong video game because it was cheaper in price!
One big change this past year was the birth of my nickname, “YOUR Neighborhood Hope Dealer!” I got this name from the Friday night Christian Hip-Hop parties I was hosting on Facebook live from April 2020- August 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer. I started thinking, “People need hope like fiends need dope”, so I ran with it! It has really caught on well! My audiences on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube love it! I love music of all types, so I am glad that God blessed me with a gift to help people with it!
I will end this blog post with some original lyrics from one of my songs, entitled “Some Real Talk” ft. my oldest daughter Zaria, aka Z Bank. đ
“Cause’ Hindsight’s 2020/ I’ve got the Spirit of God that’s flowing right through me/ I know my worth when the enemy is lurking/ I push up, hands in the air, so they call me burpee!/ and surely, by now yes you know what I’m all about/ Your Neighborhood Hope dealer coming out the south/ A hybrid of hip-hop, the old with the novel/ A fusion of the past and present, call me time travel!”
If you would like to listen to “Some Real Talk!” ft Z. Bank, here is the link: https://youtu.be/QrcKJeoMLRA God bless you all in 2021! đ
Watch “A Feeble Attempt..(New Song 2021) ft. Adele (Adele âAlwaysâ Sample Credit to Psychosoundsbeatz)” on YouTube
Have you ever felt like you don’t measure up? Check out my new song “A Feeble Attempt”. I hope this new song touches the people. -Your Neighborhood Hope Dealer
More Than A Game- 8 & 24
Thinking back to the summer of 1996. Cassette tapes of 2pac Shakur’s “All Eyes on Me” and OutKast’s “Elevators” were inserted into my older brothers boombox’s, with the bass turned up. I was 13 years old at the time. As the music played in the background, I was intensely playing the newly released Super Mario 64 for the Nintendo 64, thinking how amazing the graphics were! I was still playing Madden 95 for my Sega Genesis as well as a host of other 16 bit retro games, including Mortal Kombat III and Sonic The Hedgehog 3. That summer was an amazing one full of pure nostalgia. I remember the NBA finals that year when my favorite player, Michael Jordan, led my favorite team, the Chicago Bulls, to an NBA title. It was my final summer living on the north side of town with all of my friends from Mineral Springs Middle School, and may have been my favorite summer to date.
Then the fall came that year, a time of great transition. After the intense snowstorm that swept across the Carolina’s in 1995, my dad decided in the middle of my 8th grade year that it would be a good idea to move because our house on Mineral Ave. was out in the middle of nowhere. So we did and I ended up switching schools mid year. I remember first attending my new school, being such an introvert. I always loved video games, and I found myself leaning on them much more since I didn’t have many friends. That Christmas was a rough one, but I ended up getting one of my favorite basketball games to date. That game was NBA live 97 for the Sega Genesis, featuring rookie sensation #8, Kobe Bryant.
At the time I was still a Chicago Bulls fan, but I was impressed how Kobe was playing as NBA player straight from high school. I never was a Los Angeles Lakers fan, but I always saw highlights of Kobe growing up on ESPN. As the late 1990’s and early 2000’s passed, I was in college watching Kobe rise to greatness. Throughout the early 2000’s, I remember being a student at WSSU and watching the dominance of the dynamic duo in Kobe and Shaq, as they won multiple NBA titles. I remember shortly thereafter when Kobe changed his number from 8 to 24. It was as if Michael Jordan had passed the torch. Still, I had a hard time accepting that reality.
As the decade came to a close in 2010, I saw Kobe Bryant extend his dominance after the Michael Jordan era as he won championships in 2009 and 2010, in the middle of a new era where Lebron James rising to dominance. Even as Lebron James began to take the torch, Kobe continued to be in discussion for the greatest player of all time. As the years went on, I paid attention to NBA basketball less and less, but I always respected athletes that worked hard and did not quit.
When Kobe Bryant retired, I was honestly shocked. It took me a couple of years to believe it because he was still such a great player. I believe his last game he scored 60 points! Then I realized that maybe he needed to invest more time in his family after overcoming his personal failures. Kobe was human. He made mistakes in his life. He was a flawed person that seemed to have grown up from certain behaviors off the court. I may not have agreed with everything he did, but I always respected him for striving to correct his wrongs, especially concerning his wife. Fast forward to the end of the 2010’s, and there was not much coverage in the media concerning Kobe Bryant. Then it happened…
At 3:30 pm on January 26th, 2020 I was sitting in my living room enjoying a Sunday afternoon on the couch. It was like most Sundays, with church in the morning and lunch after service, then football. As I watched the 2020 NFL Pro Bowl on TV, my 16 year old daughter came in the living room. She said “Hey mom and dad, did you hear that Kobe Bryant just died?” My heart dropped! All I could respond was “What!!!? No way! No way!” As I frantically searched on my phone for my news app, I remember when I first saw the AP news report. I got emotional like many of us did on that day. I felt like I lost a brother. After all I am 36 years old, and he was only 41.
There is an old saying that only the good die young. If this is true, the world truly lost one of the most influential young ex-athletes of all time. To hear the news that Kobe, his daughter, and a host of other individuals passed away in a helicopter crash is simply a tragedy beyond measure. As a man with 2 daughters myself, my heart goes out to Kobe’s wife Vanessa and the rest of the Bryant family. I believe that this is a lesson that all of us can learn from. We have to learn to cherish every moment on this earth that God gives us. Cherish each relationship, cherish the memories. Kobe’s nickname was the Black Mamba, which I researched and found out that he achieved that nickname from watching the movie “Kill Bill” during the lowest point of his life. When you look at how much good he did later on in life outside the basketball arena, it is truly a story of inspiration. I hope and pray that as we navigate through the pain and reality of him being gone, we remember that much more than just his basketball legacy lives on. Mamba out….. đŚ
V. R.
Pace Yourself When Running The Race
As I sat playing Sonic The Hedgehog late last night, my oldest daughter who is now 16 actually took a moment to watch. A break from being the cool teenager, the varsity cheerleader, and the bookworm. Iâm delighted to see her spending time with me! As parents with teenagers know, those moments are few and far between!
As she looked on, she let me know âDad, I donât like Sonic.â âWhaaaaat! How could you not like Sonic?â I said. Heâs the fastest thing alive? She said (in her usual sophisticated teenage voice), âThe game is messy, too much going on. Between his speed, moving patterns in the background, too many enemies, I canât keep up.â Then she went back upstairs to her normal teenage routine.
As I continued to play one of my favorite childhood games, I started thinking about my life as Vintage Retroman. Could there possibly be a lesson in what she said? I believe there is. When we are going so fast in life that everything becomes a blur, life can become messy. Remember that you canât be everything to everyone all of the time.
When running your race, focus on the goal and pace yourself. Remember that you should never run the race of others. Eliminate the background noise of busyness and focus on what is truly important. Remember that it is possible to be the jack of all trades, yet the master of none. One of my favorite characteristics about Sonic The Hedgehog is that as fast as he is, he paces himself to conquer each zone, one at a time. He never leaves his friends behind (well, occasionally tails but whoâs countingđ) and he always keeps his eyes on the prize, which are those Chaos Emeralds.
I have been guilty of running the race of others. At times I still struggle with trying to do everything. When I think back to Christmas of 1991, my first time playing Sonic The Hedgehog on the Sega Genesis, pure nostalgia sets in. Back then, life was much slower. As an 8 year old kid, the only race I ran was with my friends outside in the neighborhood before the street lights came on. Times have changed, but principles donât.
I encourage you all to run your race and pace yourself. Try not to get so caught up in the pressure that you canât focus on your goals. Give yourself grace from time to time as you push to do your best. Remember that life is a vapor, it goes so quick. Lastly, take time to invest in yourself and your health, so you can be your best for everyone else. Signing off for now, V.R.
Welcome 