Just last week I went and bought myself a new toy. 

BEHOLD MY NEW TOY!!!

Before I go on about what it is, let me tell you a bit about my history with toys.

Growing up there were plenty of toys I wish I had. The fortunate thing was that yes… I did have a lot of toys to play with. The unfortunate thing though was because I am the 3rd son in the family, most of my toys were inherited from my two older brothers. 

So whenever I asked my parents for new toys, they would always say

So I had a hard time trying to convince my parents to buy me new toys (although they sometimes did buy me some new toys anyway).

While my friends had the latest Optimus Prime toys, I begged and I begged but I never got it.

I remember a time many many years ago when I was out shopping with my parents in Sunshine Square. Back then the Nintendo Gameboy (the very very first one) had just came out and I think it cost something like RM99 or something back then. 

I wanted it so badly but always as usual feared asking my parents for it. Eventually I did muster the courage to ask my Dad and the answer came and went as quick as whatever little hope I had to have one.

“No Son, you already have your computer to play at home (which was btw inherited from my elder brother)”.

So I grew up… dreaming of having so many toys but knowing that I would almost never get it. While my friends got into the phase of playing Nintendo and Sega consoles, I didn’t even bother asking my parents for one.

Today though, life for me has changed a little bit… just as how it would change for everyone when you start working. Sure, you hear a lot of people tell you stuff about working, that it’s boring and that you should enjoy your student life etc etc.

Well the good thing about working though, is that you earn money! And you can choose how you want to spend your money!

So once I started working, I started spending a bit on these little things I wish I could’ve afforded back then. A couple of years back I bought myself a Nintendo Wii that I ended up only playing a lot for the first couple of weeks and then neglecting it ever since.

And just recently, I bought myself…. AN XBOX 360, something I’ve wanted since my university days but couldn’t afford as a student. 

Yes as much as my dad gave me a very comfortable allowance I knew he would frown if I spent any of it on a game console so I resisted.

I know I know, I’m a little slow on the XBOX 360 bandwagon. 

Heck here’s the thing. I still love playing computer/video games. So I was thinking of either buying a supercomputer for gaming or an XBOX 360. So I did a little bit of research and called up my friend Jun King. Jun King told me that an XBOX 360 is just the bomb for playing games. That if I wanted to get a computer which could match its performance, I had to get one that cost four times more.

I thought about it for a few days and eventually ended up buying an XBOX 360 for RM1,280 though after you add in an extra controller, and a couple of games the damage was a total of RM1,700). I bought two games. Gears of War 2 and Halo 3 though I have to admit I’m still pretty hopeless at using the controller to aim (Can barely hit a truck with a machine gun to save my life).

The funny thing is that I bought it knowing that I wouldn’t really have much of a chance to play it given how little time I have these days but…. I don’t know, I guess the little boy in me just had to have it.

I guess I’m lucky I only crave toys that don’t cost more than a month’s pay. Imagine if I were a girl who craved LV, Chanel or Hermes bags…  man I would totally have no savings then.