Funny thing happened today, as usual, i posted my bi-annual email to all the company to mention that i was buying/cleaning/fixing/selling pinball machines and arcade related stuff as a hobby. I even added a nice picture of my current lineup...

Asked them to pass the word around, of course, in case some relatives wanted to get rid of a game, you know the deal.

Half an hour later, a woman came to tell me that she was VERY happy that i was not her husband or boyfriend... according to her, pinball machines should never be allowed in a basement, they take too much space !! DOH ! Yeah, for sure it takes space, at least as much as the fourth couch you would want me to buy if i was your boyfriend...  

So once the day is over, i was putting my boots on and another girl came to tell me that when the "others" (women, of course..) besides her saw my email they all said that i should live alone for having such a hobby...   They asked if i had a girlfried ?? To what she replied that i was married and had 2 kids, i think that scared them even more  

So, wtf is it with liking pinball machines ? Should i be shy ? Should i hide ? Should i just keep it for myself ? God, i can drink, and go out with the boys 5 times a week but i cannot own a pinball machine and be married ? Too funny

Ah well, maybe they will help me unload these F#@*#@# pinball machines their boyfriends have in their basements for cheap

Same women that have 1800 pairs of shoes. Stay far away. Very far away. And they have the nuts to tell you your crazy?

Ask them how many pairs of shoes they have tomorrow. Then ask them how much space they take up and how often they wear them all.

I had a similar situation with my wife 5 years ago. My wife was openly complaining to my mom (who lives in my basement) that I was spending lots of time on the hobby, and that it was stupid. My mother said this:

"Is he out drinking with buddies often?"

"No."

"Is he cheating on you?"

"No."

"Is he gone gambling?"

"No."

"If you need him for something, does he come up from the gameroom to help when you call him?"

"Yes."

"So let me get this straight... you have a husband that is home pretty much every evening, is happy overall due to his hobby, is not drinking, not gambling, and is available whenever you need him?"

"Yes."

"Then WTF is the problem?????"

...To put things in context, my biological father was a mean drunk at the time my parents were married (he is ok now, no more booze), cheated on my mother left and right, and was barely home.

My wife pretty much stopped complaining loudly at that point.

I see where you are coming from though, Az... I have noticed the same thing with many women today. I don't know what it is, but many women today seem to think that whatever is not OK according to them should be bad. My wife loves cycling to the point of biking 50 kms just for the hell of it. I am happy for her that she has a pastime, but she looks at me crooked because I don't bike. She now respects my hobby, but won't go near it. I have seen her play pin 4 times in 5 years (3 times on my Haunted House, once on Tales From The Crypt).

My mother on the other hand, loves the hobby! She has become my pin-tester! But she never forgave me for selling her favorite, Getaway.

Long story short, anyone who disses on someone elses hobby is an a**hole. If you do an activity that makes you happy and makes you release the tension of the daily grind, whether that be pinball, videogames, biking, needlepoint, collecting pet rocks or going ape-mess on Beanie Babies, if it makes you smile, and meet new people on top of it, it is all good!

When the subject used to come up, I would just offer to sell everything so I could buy some project cars, to put on blocks, in the driveway.  And of course I would also have to store a new boat on the front lawn.

Everything in perspective

- or -

Lesser of two evils

(You decide)

Quoted from Sparky

My mother on the other hand, loves the hobby! She has become my pin-tester! But she never forgave me for selling her favorite, Getaway.

Now your an a**hole Ian. Making me feel bad for keeping your mother away from her pin.

I'll get over it... Ok, I am over it.

My mom still comes over and asks what happened to FH. She liked Rudy for some reason. Too bad she didn't say anything before he left.

Makes me love my wife even more. She is very supportive of my new hobby. I have 3 pins and a MAME cab int the (not very big) basement. She doesn't play much but she loves seeing me beam when I come out of the basement (not so much when I am cursing losing another screw in the cab (why do they always roll under some imovable part on the bottom with just enough gap?

My brother in law has old cars (on blocks) in front of his house. He makes me look good.

Pins Rule!!!

WOW...I think if you tell your co-workers about me they'll likely put out on a contract to have me killed for the benefit of all womankind!!!!  Then again I think my wife has already done that...

    As I said yesterday my wife always calls me an "enabler"....I say, yes I am, I enable many people to experience the pure pleasure of playing Pinball!!!! I'm sure to some wives out there I'm like the drug pusher or the pimp....hey theres a new name..the Pinball Pimp!!!  I'm gonna get myself a nice big Cadillac and fill the backseat with IJ's, cruise around town and start breaking up marriages wherever I go!

Quoted from 265

  I'm gonna get myself a nice big Cadillac and fill the backseat with IJ's, cruise around town and start breaking up marriages wherever I go!

At least my wife is now very understanding..

That just pissed me off today.

Can't believe you would email every one in the cie to fish for pinball...

Are you paying with cashier checks too ?!  

I've been working for 11 years there and pretty much knows everyone... just not talking pinball everyday with them

This is a great topic.

At first my wife didn't understand the hobby one bit, and my new found obsession with it when I bought my fist pin (FH).  That was mainly because the whole time she;d known me I had never really set foot in an arcade, but what she didn't know is that I pretty much grew up playing pinball through the 80's and was obsessed with it then.

Now after 5+ years of the hobby and MANY more games through the doors, she is a little more understanding.  As much as she pokes fun at me sometimes, I know that she's cool with it all as long as we have a roof over our heads, food on the table and clothes on our backs.  I've even caught her explaining it to some of her friends and the benefits of having games @ home when it comes to entertaining.   And I can confirm she definately likes this hobby a hell of a lot more than my last, which was cars and anything to do with performace.  (I shake my head when I think about the amount of $$ I've put into my car and the collection I could have had...... OH THE COLLECTION!!!)  At least this way everyone gets to enjoy my hobby, where with the car, only I did.

The part of the hobby I don't enjoy is having to defend myself (and the hobby) to ignorant people.... (you know... the type described in the first post, and not just women either!)  I have no patients for ignorant people.

D.