Hi there - long time no see... or write... whatever. Anyways, I'm back, to do a semi-rant on my state of gaming-product overload. I think I've gone too far. Okay, let me break it down for you...

I've been into gaming a respectably long time now - about 20 years, minus one or two temporary retirements - and it's my primary hobby at this point, the thing I like to do most when I'm not busy trying to be a good husband/father. Naturally, when I play a game and enjoy it, I try to pick up some of the stuff out for it: books, miniatures, props, dice, whatever. I never quite got out of hand with it, really, but I did manage to acquire a respectable shelf of games over time. Some things I bought, some things were given to me. Generally, the limited cash flow of my youth kept me under control.

The last couple of years, that's changed by degrees. Some things just seemed to conspire to expand my collection. Getting a respectable job, with a little more disposable income (even after the costs of being a good dad/hubby). The occasional gift. Not going out as often. A couple of clearance sales. Online discounts. Freebies. Used game stores. A friend moving away and dropping his games in my lap. E-books (non-protected only - HACK THE DRM!). Finally getting past my irrational distrust of Ebay. Can you guess where all this is going?

I'm not even sure if I've actually spent more money than before, or if I'm just making that much more out of every dollar I do spend, but that respectable shelf of games I mentioned? It now fills one of those 3-shelf folding bookcases, part of another one, 3 file folder storage crates, some CDs, and a full shelf of my closet. I have a portable gaming table (freebie), a full lunchbox of dice (don't know how that happened), and some other assorted items. Have I mentioned I live in a rather small apartment? It's a good thing my wife's a gamer too, or she'd murdalize me.

There is hope, however. I have singled out a bunch of stuff to get rid of, and I'll be able to replace some other items with ebooks as some publishers make their products available as pdfs (even if it means buying them over again, it's worth it for the space savings).

Then, I can go pick up some other items I've had my eyes on... uh-oh, here we go again...