Queen of Quarters

Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you'll have good luck.  I think this could be my mantra.  I should chant this while meditating.  I guess in reality, my mantra should be "Find a quarter, pick it up...".  This isn't because I feel unlucky, I just really, really like change, specifically silver change, and more specifically, quarters.
When I was kid, my parents owned a laundromat.  Every Monday morning they would count all the quarters from the week before.  They had to put all the quarters into $10 rolls.  The number of times that the total amount of quarters came out to exactly a multiple of ten was pretty much never.  The left over quarters stayed in "the tray" and became my spending money during the week.  The weeks when there was $9.25 left over were awesome!  I could ride my bike to Fast Eddies for penny candy, I could go to the BYU creamery with my friends for ice cream, and I could buy a cup of Kool-Aid from my neighbor's lemonade stand.  Not all weeks were $9.25 weeks, sometimes there were weeks with only $1.50 left in quarters.  Oh, the horror.  During those weeks, I had to resort to using the meager amount of dimes and nickles leftover in the tray, or just play with my friends at the park, eat Popsicles out of the freezer, and use my imagination to keep me entertained.  Times could be rough.
My love of quarters has only intensified as I have gotten older.  In fact, it has caused me to do a few things that could be seen as possibly unseemly.  Don't worry, its not like I'm involved in a secret underground quarter collecting society or anything.  And, I'm not involved in an above ground quarter collecting society either.  It's just, I'll do just about anything for quarters.  I will pick up a quarter from the restroom floor at my gym.  I won't even let my bare feet touch the floor when I'm changing my clothes at the gym, but I will put a bathroom floor quarter in my pocket, and I'll be excited about it.  And, my friend Jen knows that four dollars in quarters will get me to do pretty much anything, (which sometimes leads to Hot Latin heartbreak).
Loose change is not safe around me.  I'm serious!  Do not leave spare change unguarded around me.  I was in a friend's car a few months ago, and he was running into the store or something.  I stayed in the car, and while he was gone, I obviously needed to find some "gum", right?  I looked in the middle console, and what did I find?  Gum.  But, in the ashtray, jackpot!  Full of change.  I didn't take all of it.  That would have been totally obvious.  If I had taken all of it, when I got out of the car, my pockets and purse would have been jingling.  I am way more sneaky than that.  I probably took about $1.50 in quarters.  But, I did fill up the coin slots in the middle console, so he would have easier access to change when needed.  I think that was totally worth $1.50.  In fact, he probably owes me about fifty cents, because I think it was at least $2.00 in effort.
I re-watched one of my favorite movies last weekend, and I had an epiphany! My love of quarters can be channelled into something positive.  I am no longer going to let my love of quarters compromise my hygiene or turn me into a thief.  I can turn this destructive quarter behavior into something positive....a video game world record!  "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" is quite possibly one of the best movies ever made.  I love love love it, and it has inspired me to channel my passion into something positive.  This could change my life.  I think I could have a shot at being the Master of Miss Pac Man.  But, let this be a warning to everyone, do not leave your quarters unattended.  Quarters are no longer just a want, now they are a need to help me attain my goal.  And to accomplish a goal, theft is totally justifiable.