First of all, I'd like to wish you happy holidays, regardless if you celebrate Christmas and the New Year or not. Lately, I've been quite busy trying to turn my life around and this will last for the next months. At least I'm felling happier than I was last year and hopefully these recent changes will bring something good throughout 2016. I've made a rather big decision and I've been working on it for the last few months. Once I'm done with this, another stage on my life will probably begin.
I obviously didn't stop buying games, although I must say that the number of stuff I have been buying recently has greatly decreased. For instance, my retro purchases are totally stopped right now and I don't know when I'll be able to resume getting older games. There are no longer good deals lying around and I'm just focusing on newer editions. I'm already missing the old stuff anyway, so I'd rather not miss the newer stuff still coming out as well. When there's no money, there is no serious collecting. Sadly, this means I've missed some important items but at least I was still able to afford the editions I wanted the most. Lately, I didn't have much patience to update the blog with my latest purchases but I just felt like writing something, so it's time to resume the story of my life (as a collector' at least). So, here we go again...
So, the end of my 2nd year at the uni was pretty rough. I was facing a lot of problems at home and still taking driving lessons while doing the finals. I don't have many good memories of those times because I was literally exhausted. I was obsessed with the university, afraid of failing, working my butt as much as I could. I still think that was the most stupid thing I did,
One good thing that actually happened that year was me getting my drivers' license. That happened a few days just before my birthday. Despite all the problems at home, my parents still prepared something that I certainly didn't see coming. One day, I came back from one of the finals in the middle of the afternoon and I was so tired that I immediately fell asleep on my bed as soon as I arrived home. Shortly after, my parents came into my room and and tried to wake me up to take to a used car seller. At that exact moment, I was so deep asleep in a completely different state of mind that I briefly woke up complaining before resuming my sleep. It's only natural you don't want to be disturbed after spending so many days with little to no sleep...
I woke up later that evening and I vaguely remember my parents entering my room but I was not sure if it was me dreaming or if it really happened - I was that confused. But it did happen. The following day they took me to a used car seller so I could try the used car they were planning on buying me for my birthday a few days later. It was a really green '98 Toyota Starlet. I just couldn't believe what was happening. It was a small car that belonged to an old guy who barely drove it, so it was as new as a used car could be. At first I wasn't fascinated by the colour but I eventually became fond of it. And who was I to refuse such an offer... I had just received my driver's license a couple of days before and I had never driven a car by myself without the support of a teacher or someone by my side. I wasn't even expecting that my parents would allow me to drive alone at the beginning, let alone actually own a car. However, as we were about to leave the car dealer, my restrictive and overprotective mother gave me the keys at me and told me: "you're on your own now, see you at home". Just what the heck was happening? I admit I was a little scared to drive alone. In a very short period of time I realized I was feeling too confident with my brand new driving skills but I knew it was a fake overconfidence. I was still an unskilled driver.
It took me some time to get used to the fact that I had a car. But this gave me a sort of freedom I never had before and that was important for me. Shortly after I successfully finished my last exam and cleared the second year, I spent the summer break still working for uni in order to improve some of my marks at some classes instead of spending a month resting and preparing for the next year. That was the dumbest, most stupid thing I could possibly do at that time...
I eventually started the 3rd year and that was the moment I finally began collecting videogames more seriously... Sort of. It was definitely the early beginning of my collection before it became what it is now, and all because I finally found out about this amazing website called eBay.co.uk. That was in April 2003. Well, it was amazng at that time but I really can't say the same right now...
I really didn't know what to think about eBay when I originally created my account. Back then, eBay was something completely different than it is today. It was that place where most people were selling their unwanted goods for a small profit. Right now, eBay is basically where the scalper scum spend most of their time.
Back then, I was only focused on buying most of the PS1 games that I wanted to play a few years before but never really had the chance to get them (no money...). Those second hand games would sell for ridiculously low values. Most of the common games that I wanted would go for as low as 0.99 to 3 pounds. I thought that was just BS. How could a 30 euro game (second hand price) be available on eBay for 0.99 and nobody placed a bid? And there was this feedback system where everyone was talking wonders about sellers and buyers. To me, that all seemed very fishy but I was very tempted to give it a try. I wasn't very fond of buying second hand games but for such prices I couldn't say "no". After a short time I decided to place a bid on one game that I wanted very much but never had the chanced to get: Dino Crisis 2. It took me a while to find someone who would be willing to post internationally. At that timed the pound sterling currency was much more valuable than the euro currency. One pound was almost two euros. However, international postage costs by registered mail were a hell lot more cheaper than the insane prices that are practiced today by Royal Mail. About three times cheaper for a regular videogame or dvd... Nowadays, even with a smaller difference between euros and pounds, the postage costs from the UK are truly atrocious.
I still lost a few auctions but the day came when I won my first game for 0.99 pounds plus postage. I had absolutely no idea what Paypal was or how it worked but thankfully the seller understood I was still a n00b and gave me some time to pay. I eventually managed to have a fully active Paypal account with a provisional credit card and I paid for the game using Paypal for the first time ever. Back then, there was only an american version of the Paypal website. After about two weeks later the game arrived at my home and it was as good as if it had never been played. I immediately thought: "holy crap this is real". I couldn't believe it. I had just found a gold mine and it was time to finally buy all those favourite PS1 titles that I left behind years before!
At the same time, I started visiting second hand stores to see what I could find in there. I know I've said before that I always avoided to buy second hand games, but if I wanted to get some of the older ones I had no other choice but to buy them in used condition.
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I obviously didn't stop buying games, although I must say that the number of stuff I have been buying recently has greatly decreased. For instance, my retro purchases are totally stopped right now and I don't know when I'll be able to resume getting older games. There are no longer good deals lying around and I'm just focusing on newer editions. I'm already missing the old stuff anyway, so I'd rather not miss the newer stuff still coming out as well. When there's no money, there is no serious collecting. Sadly, this means I've missed some important items but at least I was still able to afford the editions I wanted the most. Lately, I didn't have much patience to update the blog with my latest purchases but I just felt like writing something, so it's time to resume the story of my life (as a collector' at least). So, here we go again...
So, the end of my 2nd year at the uni was pretty rough. I was facing a lot of problems at home and still taking driving lessons while doing the finals. I don't have many good memories of those times because I was literally exhausted. I was obsessed with the university, afraid of failing, working my butt as much as I could. I still think that was the most stupid thing I did,
One good thing that actually happened that year was me getting my drivers' license. That happened a few days just before my birthday. Despite all the problems at home, my parents still prepared something that I certainly didn't see coming. One day, I came back from one of the finals in the middle of the afternoon and I was so tired that I immediately fell asleep on my bed as soon as I arrived home. Shortly after, my parents came into my room and and tried to wake me up to take to a used car seller. At that exact moment, I was so deep asleep in a completely different state of mind that I briefly woke up complaining before resuming my sleep. It's only natural you don't want to be disturbed after spending so many days with little to no sleep...
I woke up later that evening and I vaguely remember my parents entering my room but I was not sure if it was me dreaming or if it really happened - I was that confused. But it did happen. The following day they took me to a used car seller so I could try the used car they were planning on buying me for my birthday a few days later. It was a really green '98 Toyota Starlet. I just couldn't believe what was happening. It was a small car that belonged to an old guy who barely drove it, so it was as new as a used car could be. At first I wasn't fascinated by the colour but I eventually became fond of it. And who was I to refuse such an offer... I had just received my driver's license a couple of days before and I had never driven a car by myself without the support of a teacher or someone by my side. I wasn't even expecting that my parents would allow me to drive alone at the beginning, let alone actually own a car. However, as we were about to leave the car dealer, my restrictive and overprotective mother gave me the keys at me and told me: "you're on your own now, see you at home". Just what the heck was happening? I admit I was a little scared to drive alone. In a very short period of time I realized I was feeling too confident with my brand new driving skills but I knew it was a fake overconfidence. I was still an unskilled driver.
It took me some time to get used to the fact that I had a car. But this gave me a sort of freedom I never had before and that was important for me. Shortly after I successfully finished my last exam and cleared the second year, I spent the summer break still working for uni in order to improve some of my marks at some classes instead of spending a month resting and preparing for the next year. That was the dumbest, most stupid thing I could possibly do at that time...
I eventually started the 3rd year and that was the moment I finally began collecting videogames more seriously... Sort of. It was definitely the early beginning of my collection before it became what it is now, and all because I finally found out about this amazing website called eBay.co.uk. That was in April 2003. Well, it was amazng at that time but I really can't say the same right now...
I really didn't know what to think about eBay when I originally created my account. Back then, eBay was something completely different than it is today. It was that place where most people were selling their unwanted goods for a small profit. Right now, eBay is basically where the scalper scum spend most of their time.
Back then, I was only focused on buying most of the PS1 games that I wanted to play a few years before but never really had the chance to get them (no money...). Those second hand games would sell for ridiculously low values. Most of the common games that I wanted would go for as low as 0.99 to 3 pounds. I thought that was just BS. How could a 30 euro game (second hand price) be available on eBay for 0.99 and nobody placed a bid? And there was this feedback system where everyone was talking wonders about sellers and buyers. To me, that all seemed very fishy but I was very tempted to give it a try. I wasn't very fond of buying second hand games but for such prices I couldn't say "no". After a short time I decided to place a bid on one game that I wanted very much but never had the chanced to get: Dino Crisis 2. It took me a while to find someone who would be willing to post internationally. At that timed the pound sterling currency was much more valuable than the euro currency. One pound was almost two euros. However, international postage costs by registered mail were a hell lot more cheaper than the insane prices that are practiced today by Royal Mail. About three times cheaper for a regular videogame or dvd... Nowadays, even with a smaller difference between euros and pounds, the postage costs from the UK are truly atrocious.
I still lost a few auctions but the day came when I won my first game for 0.99 pounds plus postage. I had absolutely no idea what Paypal was or how it worked but thankfully the seller understood I was still a n00b and gave me some time to pay. I eventually managed to have a fully active Paypal account with a provisional credit card and I paid for the game using Paypal for the first time ever. Back then, there was only an american version of the Paypal website. After about two weeks later the game arrived at my home and it was as good as if it had never been played. I immediately thought: "holy crap this is real". I couldn't believe it. I had just found a gold mine and it was time to finally buy all those favourite PS1 titles that I left behind years before!
At the same time, I started visiting second hand stores to see what I could find in there. I know I've said before that I always avoided to buy second hand games, but if I wanted to get some of the older ones I had no other choice but to buy them in used condition.
