Excuses, excuses, excuses

Excuses, excuses, excuses........

I enjoy many things, I collect very few. I've never really had a hobby that I stick with to be honest. I tend to get "really" into things but the romance often ends with not really caring. I'm very motivated by things that play into my sense of style and general aesthetic appeal. Sometimes I think if my basement were finished and I was a space that I frequently visited that I would have many more projects and perhaps most important completed projects. But as is my basement is simply "that space" in the house that doesn't get used. I'm sure like it is for many people it becomes the burial ground for junk, and a wasteland of crap. Things we won't use, yet can't part with.
Right now my basement is home to a Tekken 3, a Neo Geo 2 slot, the MOSTLY finished MAME project (a.k.a the reason for this blog), and my Japanese style slot machine.
I also have a few more projects set to make the move from the garage into the basement.
I recently picked up a ton of Japanese parts that included 5 Sanwa joysticks, 40 or so Sanwa buttons, and 8 extra Sanwa ball tops. I was also able to get an awesome deal on some new Jamma harnesses and three 48-in-1 boards. The "future" project includes converting the bar tops into 48-in-1's. Two of which I'll sell,the other I'll keep.
In addition to the bar top project is my Jukebox build......known as the "BossBoxx."
The computer side of this project is complete, all be it the album list is ever expanding. A friend of a friend who is a carpenter has offered his services to help me this build. He was rather stoked on the whole idea, which is a huge bonus for myself. Concept wise the jukebox has taken on a few forms, but I'm not really going to sweat it at this time.
I get a lil flack for my blogs and the fact that I start one thing without completing another. And to be honest I understand, in fact it sort of bothers me that my MAME stays in the state it is. As mentioned many a time on this blog I truly feel its like %90 of the way there. In some respects I often question, is this hobby a good hobby with a guy that has no truck,no tools,really no ability to do required work needed for some of these projects. I haven't found an easy answer to that question because honestly stuff gets done.......it just takes long!
I guess if I were to look really hard into things I could say that I don't love the hobby, I enjoy it. I don't make it a priority, its just something I thought could be cool. It's something that when my basement gets completed I think I will use often, but like my other cabinets right now they are just taking up space. But for all my mixed views on these items one thing remains constant, they make me happy.
It gives me something to do when I choose, it keeps me out of trouble, for the items that interest me it really hasn't been expensive. My brother also recently began collecting and has got what I think to be some decent buys. He has his foosball table, his 48-in-1 contained in a nice simple all black showcase cabinet, his Tekken 3 in a showcase cabinet, his Street Fighter Alpha 3 showcase cabinet, and newly acquired Neo Geo 111-in-1 in a Dynamo cabinet. It was at his house that something became very clear to me, it isn't about how often you play that justifies this hobby or this waste of space as my wife would call it. It's about how much you enjoy it when you do. I've found that it brings my family together. It was an awesome experience to play a game of foosball against my father. Or have my wife join me in a heated battle against my brother and his wife. In reality how many things that we do are a waste of money ? How many things hold our interest for years to come ?