A few days ago, I was hit by a large wave of nostalgia, as I discovered that Tamagotchi, the hand-held virtual pet that was very popular back in the 90's, is now a smartphone application.

When I was 7 years old, my dad, who worked at a drug store at the time, bought one of those (above), unaware that they were becoming popular. Let's say it became my first "pet", granted I never had a dog or a cat at the time (or any animal that required me to feed/play/etc). So, I started my first Tamagotchi, waited about an hour for the egg to hatch, and boom, I was well underway to taking care of it!

I took it to school every day, despite disruptions, and took it with me everywhere.

Then it died two days later of excessive sickness. At 7 I didn't know what the Injection symbol meant. So I ignored it, and well... it died. I cried when it died, I didn't even want to go to school on that day. BUT THEN, my dad got a pencil and restarted my Tamagotchi device and it was reverted back to an egg. I didn't want that to happen, I just wanted to bury my device and pay for a funeral.

Afterwards I owned up to 20 Tamagotchi devices. I didn't lose one by one, or bury one by one. I collected them. To this day, at 22 years old, I wonder why I did NOT keep at least one. I was such an irresponsible kid back then.

After discovering the Tamagotchi app, I downloaded on my tablet (since my phone has an older Android version and isn't compatible *cough* Froyo *cough*), and immediately got hooked. I literally felt I was seven years old again. Sitting in the corner of my room playing "Look This Way" (Rock Paper Scissors in app version) and living like it's the 90's again. My, THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MAN.

Currently, my Tamagotchi is 3 years old and weighs 28 ounces. He is just like mommy, actually: heavy sleeper, loves to eat, very competitive in games, and loves to be spoiled. I call him Blob. Here are some baby pics.

To this day...I feel more responsible now. xD