The Reserruction of Jason Matthew Lundgren

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JML101582
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Joined: 17 Aug 2008
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 905
Location: Mukilteo, WA, USA

23 Mar 2017, 10:09 pm

Introduction

I have met Jason Lundgren for two years as an eager courtesy clerk who helped clean, face, and take care of the customers at our Safeway in Lake Serene, WA. He was ready to move up and ready to do something new. I could tell he wanted to do something different at the same store he worked at for fifteen years. I knew in my heart that the bakery department is the best place for him. He has the personality, motivation, and intelligence for baking and cooking. He quickly moved up and now is the store’s cookie and bread person at the department. He does a great job and keeps that bakery department so clean and safe for his fellow bakery co-workers. The pride and dedication he has shown is so appreciated. He has come a long way since I first met him during the summer of 2015 and he is only going to get better as time goes on.

                                                                                                                                                                                   Staci Marshall
                                                                                                                                                                                   Safeway Store Manager
                                                                                                                                                                                   Lake Serene, WA
                                                                                                                                                                                   Store number #3523








The Resurrection of Jason Matthew Lundgren 
By Jason Lundgren

   For the past two years, I have the most successful run of my life after years of dealing with autism, depression, and anxiety. I have broken many arcade records, promoted to better jobs, and meeting celebrities both locally and internationally while enjoying the best two years of my thirty-four years of life. The primary reason for my recent successes was due to having great supportive people which are included, however, not limited: Eric Wilkinson (from KING 5 news in Seattle, WA), Staci Marshall (my boss/local store manager at the Lake Serene Safeway in Mukilteo, WA), and Craig Willey (the former owner of the arcade/sports bar nearby that Safeway called Replay Café). I have had great years before, however, it is nothing like what I am currently having right now and it all started on my break from my shift at Safeway in September 2015.

      Craig Willey, whom was the owner at of Replay Café at the time, introduced to me to the place through a friend from Facebook. I thought about going there and the next thing I knew I was hooked. The first game I played there was Pac-Man (1980) and although I was pretty good at the game, it was Final Fight (1989) that really took my competitive retro arcade playing on the map. When I first got over two million points on the game, I thought I had the world record until Bryan Schillo from Brookfield, IL had the world record. I spent months trying to break the record and it didn’t officially happen until September 2016 at Replay Café (just exactly the year after I first stepped into the bar). Ever since that fateful day in Labor Day of 2015, I have become real serious about breaking high scores in arcade games ranging from N.A.R.C. (1988) to The Simpsons (1991). My first official world record was the former when I set the record at the same place. My second world record was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time (1991) with 363 kills breaking the record of David Price from New York City, NY with 214 back in 2009. I also have the top scoring records on G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1992) and The Simpsons (1991) which are also licensed games from Konami. For the first time ever, I have something that not only I am good at, but I also can dominate the world in. If it wasn’t for Craig Willey, I would not be the man I am today with the arcade games. He gave the ownership to the cafe to Steven Hienkina and currently resides in Lake Chelan, WA.

        Staci Marshall was hired as the store manager at the Lake Serene Safeway store sometime around late 2015 when Lori Gruber went on to manage another store. At first I didn’t quite trust Staci considering I had a strong working relationship with my then store manager Lori. Then, I started to get to know her very well as time went on. I have been working at the same store as a courtesy clerk for over fifteen years and I was fed up of working the same job and doing the same thing repetitively. Luckily there was a job opening at the store for bakery clerk and I didn’t hesitate to apply for the job. In August of 2016, I got hired as the bakery clerk working alongside great co-workers. I am still currently working as a bakery clerk as of this essay I am writing and I could not be any happier working than I am right now. Not only do I consider Staci a great manager, but also a wonderful friend. This is the first time in my working career that I am actually good friends with my own boss.

      Eric Wilkinson is a reporter for Seattle’s National Broadcasting Company (NBC) affiliate, KING 5, for several years now. I first met Eric when he was over at the Replay Café doing a report of my attempt at the Final Fight highest world record score. He’s a much laid back guy and is very good at his job reporting of how I attempted the world record with a positive attitude and humility in January 2016. Since that encounter, I have met all sorts of celebrities including the majority of the KIRO 7 (Seattle’s CBS affiliate) crew which includes Dave Wagner, Jesse Jones, Linzi Sheldon, and Michelle Millman to recently meeting legendary professional wrestler Ric Flair at the 2017 Emerald City ComiCon. I met him again at Another Castle Arcade Edition just nine months later only this time as a five time arcade high scoring champion demonstrating my skills with Eric with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time and The Simpsons. Eric and I keep in contact as we update each other on how we are doing via texting. I’d say Eric is a good friend to me.

        These three people I have mentioned really changed my life in the course of two years. I don’t think I am ever going to reach the heights of these two years; however, I can always capitalize on the success by continuing to be the person I am today with a positive attitude, outstanding outlook on life, and going above and beyond. Prior to 2015, I had a handful of good years, but nothing extraordinary. Since 2015, I have been to a lot of great places, met new and important people, and got promoted to bakery clerk all in the matter of two years. Here are my plans for the future: First, I would like to become a baker at Safeway someday. I’m also thinking about taking local cooking and baking classes whenever they are available at either the Mukilteo Rosehill Center or the Lynnwood Recreational Center. Second, I would like to have a romantic relationship with the woman of my dreams (whoever it might be). Third, I would like to become the best arcade player that ever lived even surpassing Billy Mitchell whom is considered the greatest arcade player of all-time. Mitchell is a professional vintage arcade player and hot sauce salesman from Hollywood, FL who was the first man to reach the perfect score of Pac-Man with 3,333,360 points and was featured in the 2007 documentary, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, alongside fellow Washingtonian Steve Wiebe. With the way things are going right now, the things that I am going for right now could very well happen due to my hard work and positive attitude. Fourth, I also would like to meet Valerie Perez. She's a cosplayer whom is best known for portraying Wonder Woman and Lara Croft. She is one of my biggest influences to show my geeky side in public although we both have our different ways of showing our nerd pride. Lastly, I like to throw the first pitch at a Seattle Mariners (or throw one at a Everett Aquasox game, Mariners’ Single A minor league affiliate) and raise the 12th Man flag at a Seahawks game at CenturyLink Field. The best is yet to come for yours truly will only continue to ascend into life like a shooting star.






Bibliography

Pac-Man; ©1980 Namco
Final Fight; © 1989 Capcom USA
N.A.R.C.; © 1988 Midway/A Time Warner Company
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time; © 1991 Konami/Mirage Studios
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero; © 1992 Konami/Hasbro
The Simpsons; © 1991 Konami/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/Matt Groening
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters; © 2007 Picturehouse Films/A Time Warner Company
Wonder Woman; © 2017 DC Entertainment/A Time Warner Company; created by Dr. William H. Marston
Tomb Raider; © 2017 Eidos Interactive