“Where does he get those wonderful toys?”

Standing. I’m at Costco standing in front of the video games. I’m thinking of all the reasons why I shouldn’t. And they’re not very compelling. I pace. Not enough to get away from it and break its tractor beam pull, but enough to look awkwardly deep in thought and racked with conflict to any passerby. Like a kid in a candy store. A kid in a candy store with a wad of dollar bills. Dang, it would be so sweet to own it. Have it and re-live it all over again. But then again its not something I need, exactly. I could get by and live without it. But would life be very enjoyable without it? No, you know what? I am working hard and I just want to take a piece of that and give myself a little slice of 1990 heaven. Yeah, I’m doing it. I’m buying it for my Gameboy. I’m buying Super Mario Bros. 3

Go ahead and write that one down. Another of my many impulsive buys. Even my Gameboy itself was a sort of a rather ‘spur of the moment’ buy a couple months back. As a matter of fact I think all of my purchases are impulsive. Thank goodness for eBay. If I had to pay full retail price for everything, I’d probably be in debt. Or maybe I would just not buy these things. Maybe eBay is not a savior but a facilitator. Because a 50 dollar slightly used, fully functional camera cellphone is much easier to rationalize than a 200 or even 100 dollar one. And when I see a DVD burner on ebay for 45 bucks, my mind grabs hold of that and goes wild, readily identifying jillions of reasons in the affirmative.

-Cue financial conscience-

This is what I’d like to thank my Dad for. For most of my life this part of me was all but non-existant. My Dad was the voice of reason saying, “Do you really need that?” or “How are you going to afford that?” Flashbacks to the 2,438 or so times I had to negotiate with him the purchase of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure. Now the voice is still my Dad’s, it’s just in my head now rather than over my shoulder. Unfortunately, voices in your head are usually quite neglectable and always negotiable. Well, most of the voices anyway.

While some may disagree, I think here lies a complication to being single and trying to save money. When I want to go out and buy something, I don’t have to get anyone’s approval. That seems like a great thing and sometimes it is, but after awhile you realize that when it comes down to making decisions in your household, there is a committee of one. The only person to submit any proposals is also the only one who votes. It’s like if the President of the United States got whatever he wanted...

I guess sometimes I need someone to say, “No, you don’t need another holster for your BB guns and it doesn’t matter how good of a deal you can get it for on the Internet.” Like when my Mom, as I approach with a king-sized bag of Skittles, lovingly saying “No, go put that back.” I know I wouldn’t get them but I still tried. I guess that’s why I wait to go grocery shopping until my mom is in town.

23 years old and I still love toys. DVD players, video game systems, even light-up lightsabers from time to time, I don’t know why, buy I am a sucker for them. Add to this my impulsive nature and you’ve got a recipe for a room full of toys and gadgets. I’ve got my Xbox that I had modded and is now more of a computer and complete entertainment system, playing movies, music, and about 75% of all the video games ever made for consoles. I’ve got a device you plug into a headphone slot to broadcast on to the radio. I’ve got portable, personal DVD player. I’ve got loads of Legos, a box of Star Wars action figures, a snowboard, two air-soft BB guns, a Mini-Disc Player, a replica Colt Peacemaker with real leather gun holster, and an electronic Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary with Oxford dictionary and Cambridge Encyclopedia.

“We're consumers. We're by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty -- these things don't concern me. What concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy's name on my underwear. Rogaine, Viagra, Olestra.”

Everyone always says, “Wow dude, you’ve got so many great toys.” But at the end of the day my commercialization and consumerism gets to me. Why do I need all this “stuff” these things that are little more than versatile solutions to modern living, totally non-essential to my living and existence. And yet they bring me such joy and excitement. Well maybe not joy, just fun. And the excitement of thinking about buying it and even buying it can be better than actually having it. The day after Christmas is never as exciting or fun as the day before Christmas. And when I buy my next electronic gadget or video game, I think, “That’s it, that’s the last video game system I’m gonna need. No matter what else happens, I’ve got that video game problem handled.”

...you know they have the original Legend of Zelda for the Gameboy now.