Your 1 thing

[Splain | 2,581]

3 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

I pretty rarely will tell anyone about my collection.  I have yet to have that conversation where it wasn’t awkward as hell.  
-Oh, you‘re a gamer?  Me too!
-Not, really.  No.
-Huh?

-Well, I collect them but it’s pretty rare that I play them.  Rare like my Little Samson Plebian!  
 

I collect mostly to soothe my neuroses not for public consumption.  So it’s even awkward if someone catches a glimpse of it and says something.  I just don’t know how to properly handle it.  I mean there’s not really usually much depth there.  It usually goes to something like “oh I had dr Mario as a kid!”  Eyes instantly glaze over with much more detail than that.  “Oho well these are complete in the box not just cart only!”  

My wife and I had dinner with one of her friends, so I was meeting her husband for the first time. He said "do you play video games?" and I knew that saying "yes" would be... misleading, because there was no way he was talking about Bomberman 64 and Donkey Kong Land 2.

[KokiriChild | 1,644]

I have a collection of over 500 PEZ dispensers.

Or that I'm a certified TV Steadicam operator and worked with dozens of household name celebrities.

[Link | 2,726]

23 minutes ago, KokiriChild said:

Or that I'm a certified TV Steadicam operator and worked with dozens of household name celebrities.

Do you work in New York?

[KokiriChild | 1,644]

9 minutes ago, Link said:

Do you work in New York?

Florida.

[AirVillain | 490]

5 hours ago, Hammerfestus said:

I pretty rarely will tell anyone about my collection.  I have yet to have that conversation where it wasn’t awkward as hell.  
-Oh, you‘re a gamer?  Me too!
-Not, really.  No.
-Huh?

-Well, I collect them but it’s pretty rare that I play them.  Rare like my Little Samson Plebian!  
 

I collect mostly to soothe my neuroses not for public consumption.  So it’s even awkward if someone catches a glimpse of it and says something.  I just don’t know how to properly handle it.  I mean there’s not really usually much depth there.  It usually goes to something like “oh I had dr Mario as a kid!”  Eyes instantly glaze over with much more detail than that.  “Oho well these are complete in the box not just cart only!”  

Well if it's not for public consumption at all, then how do people find out you're a gamer? 

But anyways... I know social interactions can be difficult for some people, but there are some "better" ways you could handle these situations potentially. 

For example.... instead of replying with "Not really. No." with such a definitive "no" answer, you could provide some context to make it less awkward.

"Well, it's pretty rare that I play my games, but I enjoy to collect them because of those rare occasions as well as X, Y, and Z. What games do you play?" 

Or

"Yeah.... I still like Dr. Mario and enjoy having it complete in box like this. I like X about the boxes."
 

2 hours ago, Splain said:

I play the bagpipes.

He said "interesting".  

Jokes... I would find it interesting to have a friend who plays bagpipes. I'd get baked and ask them all sorts of random questions and learn about how the bagpipes actually make sounds. 

 

2 hours ago, Splain said:

My wife and I had dinner with one of her friends, so I was meeting her husband for the first time. He said "do you play video games?" and I knew that saying "yes" would be... misleading, because there was no way he was talking about Bomberman 64 and Donkey Kong Land 2.

Again, just like I said before.... Why not answer the question as well as provide a little bit of context?

For example....

"Yes, I play video games but more of the old school ones like N64 or Game Boy. You?"

Depending how dorky you want to get about it or what you know about their gaming....

"Yeah, I play video games, but not the modern ones, more so the older consoles from the 80's/90's. I prefer to play on the original consoles like Nintendo 64 or Game Boy. How about you; into PC gaming or consoles?"

I mean.... You can't be sitting there at the dinner table just answering with JUST "Yes." or not saying anything at all.  Expand on it, my dawgs!!!

Just talk about the N64 and Game Boy, hahaha, shit. Unless they're major assholes they're going to say "Oh, that's nice" and then move on. Likely they'll say "Wow, that's really cool, I don't think I've played N64 in like 20 years. Sweet!"

Give it a try. You may be surprised when buddy takes you into the basement and has Donkey Kong Land 2 all loaded up and ready to go. 

Edited April 6, 2023 by AirVillain

[Splain | 2,581]

Oh I did, I told him I played older stuff, and just a tiny bit of new switch stuff, and he was taking about Call of Duty or whatever was new at the time. He wasn't interested in talking about it past that but we're still buds.

[TDIRunner | 2,768]

It really depends on the crowd I'm in, but I typically mention one of the following:

• I own a huge video game collection (that is fully playable)
• I do a lot of woodworking as a hobby
• I enjoy working on cars as a hobby
• I've ran a marathon (I don't really use this one anymore since that was many years ago, and I can't really run anymore due to my knees)

[AirVillain | 490]

8 hours ago, Splain said:

Oh I did, I told him I played older stuff, and just a tiny bit of new switch stuff, and he was taking about Call of Duty or whatever was new at the time. He wasn't interested in talking about it past that but we're still buds.

Well at least you tried, haha. 

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

I have a few, so take your pick:

• I wrestled a bear in college (and lost miserably)
• I beat a Stanley Cup champ/Olympic Gold medalist at NHL 96 on the Genesis
• I won an Xbox Series X from Taco Bell

[Hammerfestus | 3,880]

9 hours ago, AirVillain said:

Well if it's not for public consumption at all, then how do people find out you're a gamer? 
 

I mean it’s not not for public consumption and usually the only people that ever see my collection in person are service people (the guy replacing my water heater thought it was pretty sweet) or that one time my hopefully soon-to-be ex-sister-in-law  went and hung out down there after I explicitly told them not to .  I’m actually socially capable if I have to be and there is a pretty bro-y chunk of my personality so that’s easy enough to play up in the right situations but my interests don’t really align.   As a man of a certain age and disposition I really just interact with humans who are not my family if my partner makes me.  You guys generally give me all the collector banter I need  

[Reed Rothchild | 9,572]

I've shared pics of my game room with certain people on my team at work.  If it made its way into the company-wide chat I'm sure it'd make a ruckus 

The nerds would be on board.  Everyone 40+ would disown me.

[G-type | 2,503]

14 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Please tell me you were Jesus in Meat Sandwich

No I was in one of their full length movies: "It's Sleazy"

One of the "It's Sleazy" babes dropped out on the day of the shoot, but I was able to get my friend (the girl on the left) to drive down at the last minute as a replacement, so they were very grateful and introduced me to everybody as "the guy who saved our ass".

Afterwards, Dave Brockie let me borrow one of his X-Cops uniforms for a short film I was making.

[Brickman | 4,009]

I like to build and paint garage kits. Garage kits are resin models that come in pieces and you build and paint them.

We’re in a pretty exciting time in the GK community because 3D printers are now powerful enough to create amazing looking resin models instead of using moulds.

Here’s a few I’ve painted:

[Reed Rothchild | 9,572]

@Brickman Nice riser.

[Brickman | 4,009]

5 minutes ago, Reed Rothchild said:

@Brickman Nice riser.

I did notice that after I took the pictures. Great art book and useful for monitor risers! Haha.

[AirVillain | 490]

On 4/6/2023 at 10:54 AM, Hammerfestus said:

I mean it’s not not for public consumption and usually the only people that ever see my collection in person are service people (the guy replacing my water heater thought it was pretty sweet) or that one time my hopefully soon-to-be ex-sister-in-law  went and hung out down there after I explicitly told them not to .  I’m actually socially capable if I have to be and there is a pretty bro-y chunk of my personality so that’s easy enough to play up in the right situations but my interests don’t really align.   As a man of a certain age and disposition I really just interact with humans who are not my family if my partner makes me.  You guys generally give me all the collector banter I need  

I get it. I can't be bothered to go out of my way to discuss things with people that's for damn sure. 

 

On 4/6/2023 at 1:09 PM, Reed Rothchild said:

I've shared pics of my game room with certain people on my team at work.  If it made its way into the company-wide chat I'm sure it'd make a ruckus 

The nerds would be on board.  Everyone 40+ would disown me.

40+ disown you because they're jealous...? 

[FireHazard51 | 2,047]

I was in a two page photo shoot spread with Tyra Banks in the fashion magazine Elle Magazine.  And no I wasn't a face in the crowd.  Tyra was the focus on the one page and I was on the other side.  She did end up walking right in front of me.  Probably because she was jelly of my Ohio winter tan I was rocking on Spring Break in Miami.  Trying to get me out of the spotlight....

Spoiler

 

My default is I'm a retro video game collector.  My new flex is that I own 9 VR headsets