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I've been thinking about some comments that Bacon
made early in the month at nugacity.com. Specifically
about being thrust into the financial doldrums of
parenthood and the resulting need to scrounge bargain
bins to support his video game habit. Since our children
were born not 3 hours apart on the same day I can
say that we encountered the same situation. My initial
response to the sudden lack of finances was very similar.
"I guess I'll just scrounge the bargain bin for older
but good games that are probably a few years old."
A very prudent response. However, despite my love
for my daughter I knew that I needed my entertainment
and time to recharge and relax my soul.
Starting a few months into my wife's pregnancy I
effectively reduced my video game budget to a big
fat Zero. Why would I do such a thing? Quite possibly
because I found some magic video games seeds in my
entertainment center. These old seeds were still in
pristine condition and would get my new entertainment
garden started. But where to plant my garden?
I could have taken my seeds and planted them at the
mall. Gamestop, the video game selling equivalent
of using a desert as a garden spot. Where all your
hard work, watering, pruning, and tending six seeds
may only yield a small piece of fruit that you scarf
down to quench your hunger. You're one piece of fruit
does manage to yield one seed to plant next season,
but in that infertile ground the odds of it producing
anything are pretty slim. Even worse than a desert
for planning seeds, the garage sale garden, laden
with it's chemicals, old paint, and tools strewn about,
would probably not get me more than a slice of fruit
for my efforts. Equally bad is the toxic waste dump
of the pawn shops to plant my seeds. Finally on one
of my daily pilgrimage down the information super
highway I stumbled upon the answer. I noticed some
plants sticking up through the cracks in the pavement.
What I found was some of the most fertile soil I had
ever seen. I found The Garden of eBay.
Through a little experience, education, and mistakes
I learned how to cultivate, how much to water, and
some patience. My first crop was modest but it was
enough to get me started. I had ample finances to
purchase some shiny new games but I opted instead
to return to my local pawn shop. The reason I liken
it to a toxic waste dump is that most everything that
grows there is rotten, deformed and mutated crap.
But sometimes, the chemicals mix together in the right
way and produce some fantastic results. One vendor
was actually selling a copy of Suikoden II for the
Playstation for $8. In a hurry I snapped it up and
sold it at the Garden of eBay for a whopping $76.
What started out as a little venture has now turned
into a self fulfilling business to support my video
game habit. Joy!
To give some facts behind what I have managed to
do over the last 12 months I have cataloged EVERY
video game transaction I have made. Until I read Bacon's
thoughts I never really looked at it that closely.
I have actually been pretty depressed about the time
and energy I've been able to put into video games
but when I look at what I've actually done in the
last year I'm quite surprised. Here is the result:
In 12 months I have bought and sold over 75 video
game items with a total value of over $1000. Alone
that fact is kind of staggering but what it doesn't
tell you is that of those 75 games I still have 20
of them in my collection, 10 of which I haven't even
played yet. It also doesn't tell you that I have managed
to acquire a Gamecube with Gameboy Advance player
as well as a Gameboy Advance SP.
Even as a parent I still managed to review 23 games
over the last year. Nothing compared to the days in
my past where I would play 23 games in a month, but
we all have our priorities, right? Still, had I never
became a father I quite possibly would have never
found out about any of this. It's spring time again,
have you started your garden yet?
-wileee
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