Everywhere I look, I see reminders of the retirement I pissed away

And no, not on booze, smokes and dumb whores. (that was later). No, as many faithful blog readers know, I was an only child. And a bit of a spoiled only child. Not the "silver spoon," yacht club type, but more the "upper middle class I was a good, smart kid with good grades who stayed (relatively) out of trouble and generally got what I wanted as long as I didn't set my aim too high" type.

I was also a bit of a geek, which led to a vast accumulation of new "classic toys." Slot cars. Hot wheels. Models. Wargames. RPGs (and that used to mean something other than terrorist weapons). The Atari 2600. Comic books (literally thousands and thousands of them, all poly bagged). And action figures. Good lord, how I loved the action figures. From GI Joe (classic "war era" types to kung fu grips) to Big Jim to Major Matt to Steve Austin to Stretch Armstrong to Johnny West to Micronauts to Marvel superheroes to Star Wars -- I had every single frakkin' one of them. And not just them. I had their jeeps. And cars. And planes. And boats. And stations. And spaceships. And horses. And friends. And accessories. You name it, I had it. I ran across this item today on the Trek Movie Report, about the Trek action figures. Yep, I had those too. (And the Enterprise bridge diorama). And I remember wondering at 8 or 9 years old, why the phasers were some goofy aqua color, instead of the Starfleet black, too.

Since "retro" is so in vogue and the geek counterculture has gained a firm place in society, I keep seeing how collectors just love all the stuff I played with as a kid, and how much it's worth. Granted, to make a mint off this shit you would have had to keep it hermetically sealed in its original package. Which I didn't, because I actually played with it. Still, I kept it all in good condition (except for the occasionally deranged GI Joe who wanted to see if he could fly utilizing duct tape and bottle rockets) and organized in labeled (I loved the Dymo! they still make these things!) tupperware containers. Sectioned off by type and era/millieu (war, space, superhero, western, etc) and always put up with their various accessories when not actively in use.

Damn, if only I had kept these things and put them on the ebays right now, I'd be sitting in a mansion bathing in Cristal and having someone in my posse put in another Trek DVD. Instead, I'm blogging about James T. Kirk toys, drinking whiskey and wondering why the ciggies a few hundred miles north cost twice as much. Keep your toys, kids!