Preparations C.

Not much to report today on the moving-stuff-around-and-hooking-it-up front today; my lunch has been disagreeing with me vehemently for most of the day, and frankly, it’s winning the argument. I think the tipping point for my body to rebel against me, aside from just plain not having enough sleep, was moving the Kick machine. Even though it’s not currently in a playable state, I love that machine and strongly resist even the slightest urge to ever get rid of it. But much as I love it, I find that I live in a whole different continuum from some of my friends who collect arcade cabinets. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not down on that as a hobby – I just can’t figure out the whole space thing. Rob’s got an entire outbuilding devoted to them, but even then at some point one has got to run out of space.
For those who aren’t into even thinking about the hobby of collecting arcade cabinets, let me explain to you, in practical terms, what it entails for your spouse: “Honey, I just brought home another full-size upright refrigerator! Where can I put it?”
I can only imagine that if I pulled that stunt just once or twice, I’d be told where I could put it.
At the same time, I think it’s an Important Hobby, and I’m glad people do it. These are machines that otherwise would’ve been done away with, or converted into something else. Recently on Digital Press, there was a thread written by a fellow who got a non-working Gravitar machine, and was planning to gut it and turn it into a MAME machine. Which, you know, isn’t a total waste – at least the machine would find a new life, and hey, it’s his machine. But a Gravitar cabinet also happens to be a gorgeously illustrated and put-together few slabs of plywood and glass. Surely there’s another machine that could be maimed and then MAME’d.
But bless those folks who do have the space for a bunch of them. (And especially folks like Peter Hirschberg who have the means to really do it up – good grief!) These are the people who are preserving the history of an entertainment medium.
And putting their backs out every time they have to move.