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My dad bets on the laser disc machine. He builds up an enormous laserdisc library. The machine is eclipsed by BOTH VHS and Beta Max. A pattern is begun, that will repeat iself over and over.
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We get an Atari. We live in Atlanta. My favorite game is Burger Time. You salt pickles and onions and tomatoes that chase you around, while you build a perfect burger. Superb.
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My dad finally gives in, purchases a VCR. He holds on to the laserdiscs, but starts buying VHS, even buying copies of movies we already have.
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We buy a Commodore 128. A much better computer than the 64. My favorite game is Bruce Lee. You kick a bunch of karate fools while dodging a giant green sumo wrestler. Amazing.
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I get a Nintendo and my life is changed. All the games are good, but my favorites are Super Mario Bros and Gauntlet.
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The SuperNintendo and it is super. My dad gets into the gaming thing, so we hae to compete. He prefers role playing fantasy, while I like the quest and action games. The Legend of Zelda dominates months of my life.
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I get it for my birthday. It is not a cell phone, but a portable, which is huge. It's also my own phone number; I'm in hog heaven.
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I use email for the first time. I also try dial up internet. Friends had used it for years, but this was my first intro into the world wide web. I end up on a website tracking celebrity deaths, replete with morgue photos.
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Upon graduating, I receive my own personal computer. It was a large, bulky off-white machine with a 40-pound monitor.
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I start my first job. I'm an editorial assistant for a publishing company, and I do all my work on a mac. I fall in love, almost immediately.
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The first dvd I watch and buy is, fittingly the Matrix. My compter pixelates, but the picture is still pristine. I see the end of VHS, and curse the money spent on my VHS library.
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And he's in hog heaven. He watches "Independence Day" half a dozen times.
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I buy my own mac, leave the company so I can branch out on my own, make a living as a writer. I was deluded, ambitious, and happy. Mac is rainbow colored and refurbished, but works like a dream. I start in with i-tunes and other Mac platform programs. The computer returns as a time waster.
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At least for right now. After a series of liasons with PCs, I return to my roots. I get a macbook and love it. I won't go back.
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And the process begins again. He already has a few blu-ray movies. He has, by my reckoning, spent over 20,000 dollars on movies throughout his lifetime.