I was surprised to see that tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the video game Pac-Man.

It was almost exactly half my life ago -- I'm 60 now, I was 30 then -- and I wasn't having the best year of my life. My first wife and I had separated in January and I was dealing with the debris of failure in the most significant relationship I had ever attempted. I was working pretty hard, with a full-time job, a part-time job and 10 or 12 credits of college work.

I was dealing with dating for the first time in more than five years, and it was definitely a weird experience. I was getting myself into trouble by spending more money than I was making.

I should have known. In my final job interview for my first full-time job as a reporter, the managing editor asked me what I expected as far as a salary. I told him I didn't care, as long as it was enough to live on.

<em>"How about </em>almost<em> enough to live on?"</em>

That was when I should have run out of the office screaming, straight to truck-driving school.

[caption id="attachment_391" align="alignright" width="260" caption="Pac-Man"]<a href="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-391" src="http://mikerappaport.net/onevoice/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/pac-man-260x300.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="300" /></a>[/caption]

I never had enough money, but it was surprising how often I found a few quarters to play <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pac-Man">Pac-Man</a>. It was a fascinating game, the first real video game that didn't involve shooting at something or playing some type of sport.

All you had to do was move your man effectively enough to keep from being eaten.

It was the first video game that seemed to appeal to girls as well as boys, and after all these years it remains the game with the highest product identification. There were numerous descendants, with Ms. Pac-Man the best of them.

I was never that great at it, although I know there were times I tried hard enough that I saw the characters in my dreams. The same thing used to happen to me after playing Tetris.

It has been a long time since I've played it, although I do remember putting a quarter into a Ms. Pac-Man machine some months back while I was waiting for my car to be washed.

Some kids never grow up.