I setup the replacement Xbox last night and am finally sitting down and giving it a crack. I have Minecraft, knockoff coke Zero from aldi, a full belly, and a comfy couch. Life is good.
nostalgia trip
In 2016 (or maybe 2017), my mum surprised me with an Xbox from my birthday. It was an Xbox 360 E, and a copy of Minecraft. That was my first time on a console, and I stayed up all night playing it. Literally all night. Probably needless to say she was less than happy I was still up when she woke up, but she just let it be. I had a lot of fun, and also had a few cans of coke over night. That’s a core memory of mine that I’ve never really been able to recreate. There was such a feeling of carelessness and peace that night, a feeling I unfortunately very rarely experienced during my youngest years.
continuation, but less of a fun memory more of a historical vent, probably more sad
That was when I was really struggling with “school refusal”, as they call it, and mum was really trying to push me to go. It was a very difficult time, and led to such a feeling of helplessness, probably for both of us. That’s probably why I enjoyed the care free feeling the games provided - a little safe haven away from the constant chaos and incessant disappointment and despair of the real world. A world where the biggest concern is placing enough torches to keep the zombies away.
Interesting. The local library was my safe haven as a kid. Or any book really. I predate xbox and electronic games so there wasn’t a huge lot of choice. Nowadays my local library makes a big deal about being ‘fun’ and ‘lively’ and ‘inclusive’ - which to kid me sounds like hell on earth. So it wouldn’t be available as a safe haven now. I suspect we all need a safe haven in our lives - and find it in a variety of places. Another very unfashionable opinion of mine is that quite a lot of illegal drug use gets its root cause in the search for a mental safe haven in a hostile universe, albeit a temporary one with a huge downside.
I setup the replacement Xbox last night and am finally sitting down and giving it a crack. I have Minecraft, knockoff coke Zero from aldi, a full belly, and a comfy couch. Life is good.
nostalgia trip
In 2016 (or maybe 2017), my mum surprised me with an Xbox from my birthday. It was an Xbox 360 E, and a copy of Minecraft. That was my first time on a console, and I stayed up all night playing it. Literally all night. Probably needless to say she was less than happy I was still up when she woke up, but she just let it be. I had a lot of fun, and also had a few cans of coke over night. That’s a core memory of mine that I’ve never really been able to recreate. There was such a feeling of carelessness and peace that night, a feeling I unfortunately very rarely experienced during my youngest years.
continuation, but less of a fun memory more of a historical vent, probably more sad
That was when I was really struggling with “school refusal”, as they call it, and mum was really trying to push me to go. It was a very difficult time, and led to such a feeling of helplessness, probably for both of us. That’s probably why I enjoyed the care free feeling the games provided - a little safe haven away from the constant chaos and incessant disappointment and despair of the real world. A world where the biggest concern is placing enough torches to keep the zombies away.
Interesting. The local library was my safe haven as a kid. Or any book really. I predate xbox and electronic games so there wasn’t a huge lot of choice. Nowadays my local library makes a big deal about being ‘fun’ and ‘lively’ and ‘inclusive’ - which to kid me sounds like hell on earth. So it wouldn’t be available as a safe haven now. I suspect we all need a safe haven in our lives - and find it in a variety of places. Another very unfashionable opinion of mine is that quite a lot of illegal drug use gets its root cause in the search for a mental safe haven in a hostile universe, albeit a temporary one with a huge downside.
100%. Any form of escapism that makes us feel like we have some freedom… It’s a strong imprint in our formative years…
I think a lot of us still chase it, be it knowingly or unknowingly.
Hope you continue creating other good memories. Might not be exactly the same, but you can get pretty close. ✨
Thanks llabsy, I appreciate it. New memories will come, although sometimes it takes a few years for them to change from neutral into good