Noelio's Blog - 8 bit garage sale in the clouds.

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I figure that for my first entry I will reveal just one of the mental problems that I have...

 

THE "ATARI DELUSIVE DREAM" - Ever hear of a 650XL? A 250/2500 disk drive? Well I have!

 

This latest dream involved driving up to a house with a garage sale sign on the lawn though it was more of a moving sale as items throughout the house were also open to offers. A neatly organized series of shelves containing all sorts of Atari, Commodore & Apple hardware caught my eye. It resembled a nicely lit record/reel shelf like some of our parents had set up on the opposite to the floor model stereo and the all in one fake fireplace/stereo/liquor cabinet that you would find in a 70's sears / roebuck catalog.

 

As I looked at the (of course) top shelf it was like angels started singing and a harp gently in the background. It was lit up with a fog that only the ether could produce. There, in all its unattainable glory was the 250 or it might have been the 2500XL that got me. This machine was simply stunning in appearance but functionally was as stupid as the mind that created it in its dream world. It was much like the 1050 although it was modular and had a large cartridge with the disc mechanism built in, much like a caddy system. For some reason you could take the cartridge with the disk and mech in it and relocate it to the back. During normal operation it would mount in the front with actual hand access to the side. An uncomfortable operation for sure.

 

I offered to buy the drive for $50, sure that this man was stupid enough to not know that he has the only one on earth. Of course, he was skeptical about my reasons for wanting to buy this particular one so fast and consulted with his wife. While he was in the back room talking to the boss, I looked around and to my surprise there were all kinds of vials and medical looking gear. When he came back carrying yet another Atari XL looking device I asked him what he does.

 

He was a home based scientist for Nasa JPL as well as other agencies. He used Atari XL gear & a few transputers to map extraterrestrial substances in a sort of spectrometer. Oh GREAT! He's going to be too smart to sell.

 

The device he had with him was the Atari 2500 hard drive / cpu system, like a mid 90's 386 at case but with the indulging look of an XL motif. My ears and eyes were peaked on yet another unheard of curiosity that I had to own.

 

I offered to buy all the xl stuff he had and cracked a joke that I'm probably the only nutbar willing to buy that crap these days but that I wanted it all, even stuff I already had, plus there was YET ANOTHER curiosity in the corner in a box with just the keyboard dangling out just enough to taunt me, like a stripper doing the leg thing behind the patented stripper blanket / slow song combo. It looked similar to the Commodore sx 64 executive computer but of course there was something unique about THIS ONE.

 

The guy's wife came out and ruined my hopes by saying they had to verify and catalog everything they are selling as they don't want to sell sensitive equipment or equipment that is illegal to sell as it was mostly one off stuff. She told me to come back tomorrow and pick it all up provided it all passed final check. I was pissed, but I paid up front half just to make sure they don't sell to anyone else.

 

As I drove to the place the next day and pulled in the driveway, my phone rang (in the real world). I woke up and clinched my fists at the wrong number that has constantly been calling me the past couple weeks at insane hours.

 

Today I would like to (in a perfect world) hunt and kill the wrong number caller. They are the scheming little leprechaun keeping me from my pot of Atari XL gold after all.

 

Anyways, I've heard other accounts of non existent stuff or extremely rare stuff in people's dreams. One of the best stories I've ever heard that captures this wishful/imaginative mind of collectors is the "Reef Store" dream.

 

From Atariage glossary:

 

"Reef Store Dream Generic term for a videogame collector's dream in which he/she finds a fantasy store filled with prototypes, rare games, and other unusual items. Experienced by hard-core collectors. No kidding. Derived from one of the first descriptions of such a dream in which the dreamer visited a store simply called 'Reef Store'."

 

I think the next step is to take apart the reef store dream in a Freudian sort of way.

Obviously hard core collectors have an obsession but it is a strange desire to own all of it, experience all of it rather than to flip & flog their collections. It's something attached deeply to their psyche like a cigarette addiction and what have you. I think Atari (hardware especially) tickles the reward center of the brain and that function of the brain likes to be stimulated, even in sleep it seems.

 

Simply amazing! I've had at least a hundred of these sort of dreams related especially to Atari gear. Mostly XL series "dreamware".

The ST lineup has a lot of stimulation to be found in the form of numerous models, specs and functions too, however, I'm an XL fanboy and it gets my attention a little more. Maybe it is the Freudian inner boy as well as the longing for happier / brighter and more innocent times that Atari accompanied in my childhood. Who knows! The "resistive force" metaphor of the wife wanting to check everything out, I think, comes from the smart goodwills / junkstores of today employing Ebay in their research before adding a price tag. Some things are just not making it to the retail shelves anymore. I believe there are some staffers at some of these places taking some goods for their own sale too. There's one particular place in my home town that has an unusually high retention rate in staff. It sure can't be the minimum wage pay!!! That's my paranoid thought for today! Though I did witness stuff coming in the donation bin one day and never making it to the shelves within that week as I would go back daily to try and score it! Whatever!

 

Do we have any psychologists on AA? If so, you could help us collectors out!

 

Have a peaceful weekend and try to play just one 8 bit wonder on some real hardware!

Noel

 

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