I'm not BOY

You can't go back in time, but sometimes you can get a second chance. The Neo Geo Pocket was a portable console that I was really interested in during it's time. I've always been into portable consoles... long time readers have probably figured that out. Still am, though these days they rarely leave my house. Normally they're played in bed or in the living room while listening to the TV. Though back then, one with me at all times. On break at work, visiting my parents, eating lunch by myself... anytime I had a moment, there I'd be. You can see why I'd be interested in a cool new system. The Neo Geo Pcoket was definitely cool.

Initially the system was a black and white unit like the Gameboy, though a color version was soon introduced and that was  released here in the states. I wanted one pretty bad, but never pulled the trigger. Why you might ask? Well, let's talk about financial responsibility and trying to make good decisions. At the time I was in college and living on my own. Money was tight... honestly money was near mythological. We're not talking living check to check or some weeks being better than others, we're talking non-existent. My crappy job didn't pay enough to make ends meet as is, so when it came to fun stuff... I had to make some hard decisions.

When you see me talking about a toy, I bought it or my wife did usually. Maybe a random gift from a friend. It wasn't provided to me like those bigger sites who are constantly asking for your money (how does that work?). If I'm buying a game machine, no matter how much I want it... I'm making sure it's a good idea (hard learned lesson from the Virtual Boy). At the time I had some extra money (somehow) and Walmart had Neo Geo Pocket Color systems right there within grasp... and that's when I noticed it was always the same games and few systems in that display cabinet every time. Another store and ... the same thing.

It wasn't selling. So I decided to hold off and see if some more games come. I read gaming magazines and sites. They tend to side with sponsors and if you see something being covered... it's probably paid content. That's a marketing tactic used to keep certain names heard over others. These day's it's usually done viral on social networking... like when a game suddenly gets hate from nowhere. I hardly heard a peep about this cool new system, and it clearly wasn't getting any new games. Before I knew it... those Neo Geo Pocket Colors weren't on the shelves anymore. It was so fast, I've had to actually convince people that it existed.

Thankfully with emulation and compilation releases the games can be played now. I would have loved owning a Neo Geo Pocket Color at the time. Admittedly that probably would have made the burn of it getting canceled so quickly sting more... but it would have been my jam. It's a shame such a cool system didn't work out. Of course there was no stopping the Gameboy at the time. Pokemon was relatively new and printing money... I had it too. I also had a few pair of boots like the guy in the commercial is wearing... do they still make those? In an alternate reality where it was successful... which color do you think I would have went with? Been leaning towards the aqua blue or anthracite ones since 1999. Really like the stone blue one.

Another time, Another Place

 

Having almost every show I want to watch availible on in demand is pretty awesome. Things like TokuSHOUTsu and the Transformers Channel on Roku is amazing. YouTube... YouTube is pretty great, I mean, look at all the content I put on this site using YouTube. All this stuff is available pretty much any time of the day and any where (we've all watched Voltron on the toilet). It got me thinking though, just how much we take it for granted and the things I did prior.

I've mentioned before that I worked at Office Max in college. I had rent, a car, and school to pay for while only having McDonald's as work experience. It wasn't easy. Fortunately at 20 you're more willing (and able) to live off ramen noodles. I still was able to enjoy my hobbies, even if it could be pretty limiting due to funds (or lack of). I might not be able to order those Car Robot toys from Japan, but no problem, they're getting released here next year as Robots in Disguise. Gonna prop up with my laptop real late at night when traffic is pretty light on dial up internet and download pirated episodes in Real Media format. 

The video quality is horrible, but hey, I can actually watch it. I'd often make VCD's from them and buy other VCD's online. They usually were pretty cheap, even though the quality was iffy and sometimes there would be a wrong show stuck in randomly. Usually The Tick or TMNT. I also had bootleg tapes thanks to a roommates arrangement with a nearby comic/anime/gaming store. They rented out bootleg and legal gray area sub-titled imports. My roommate had a part time job there and he was allowed to make copies of shows for us as part of the deal. I'd hit up the thrift store and find some G1 and G2 bots. Missing the gun, yeah, but it's a buck. Big Lots has some cool bootlegs. Animorphs are on clearance. I had my fun.

That Office Max I spoke of, well, it was a terrible store. Badly ran and unwisely opened up next to a Walmart. However, it had a copy center. There was a Staples and an Office Depot in the shopping center across from the highway. However mine had that Walmart, Target, Belk, Home Depot, and many other popular stores a person would go to on the weekend. They'd often pop in our crappy store to make copies so they wouldn't need to leave our shopping center. This meant that despite working in the electronics section, I also helped in that copy center. What's a shit head kid with disks full of images going to do with unlimited printing resources? 

Every poster on my wall, every flier for an event, even home work was printed right there in that copy center. If I ever would have made any of those zines I wanted to make (which this site is the ultimate culmination of), I probably would have made them there. In hindsight, I probably should have helped other zine producers out.

One poster I had made for myself somehow survived all this time. It was a promotional image for the Beast Wars 2 movie. One side had Lio Convoy and Optimas Primal, the other side was Galvatron and Megatron. I thought it was awesome. I blew up the image and printed out a poster of it. That poster was stuck on every refrigerator I had for years. Every apartment, there it was. Eventually it did get retired. I still have it though, in a box. Folded up and sorta acting as a liner. It's a little dingy from the years and has that old paper smell. Like it came from a library, not something I made with a floppy disk and a color copier in the 90's. Guess that was over 20 years ago.

Tales From Medical Hell Prt.1

To say this week has not gone as planned would be an understatement. It's night 2 at the hospital and I've gotten a little too used to the TV system already. So far I've put in viewings of Gozilla, Godzilla Raids Again, and the original Star Wars trilogy. Not counting various reruns of Golden Girls and Family Guy. I had planned to do some gaming or more updates to the site, but with doctor's in and out all day... it didn't happen. I did manage to pre-order T-Wrecks, so go me! 

I've got more doctor's work to be done before they let me go home. Going to be on some medication for awhile and a low sodium diet. Not forever, just for a while. So here's hoping I don't make any mistakes in the next few months. Don't feel like a heart transplant later and would rather not spend another week in a hospital. I'm finally in a room and not in the ER. So much cozier accommodations for the rest of the stay. Though the ER had a ghost that moaned the entire time. When I say ghost, I mean crazy old woman moaning non-stop. She may be a ghost.