Edit out 90% of your life

[shmuppyLove]

Seriously though, when was the last time you saw me post outside of off topic or shmupmeets?

or play a single credit

Lol, that's true. Have you ever seen me play? You only started coming out to my meets recently, so probably not.

I'm pretty sure you've played Guwange pretty recently.

It might have been the meet where I got smashed.

[null1024]

So, what if the whole apartment was smaller than my bedroom right now... oh damn. I actually don't get rid of too much though.

Things I can keep, period:
1TB external HDD [maybe I should buy 2 500GB external drives instead]
PS1 and PS2 controllers [2 of each kind]
slim PS2 + FMCB memory card + my other memory cards
TV [small CRT]
Laptops [11in netbook, 15in main that's too weak to be a desktop replacement but I use it like that anyway]
my pair of $4 PS2->USB converters, my Xtokki PS2->360 converter
all the things I carry on my person anyway [3DS/PSP/phone/MP3 player]

I'd also need to get rid of like 50% of my clothes, irrespective of anything else, I've got way too many to actually move.

I have a bunch of things that are gathering a fair bit of dust. If I really needed to downsize, I could get rid of just about everything except the above things. I sure wouldn't want to though. That list is extremely worst case, as in 81 square feet.

Drop the TV and PS2 at 64sq ft. I can live still.
If PS2 emulation wasn't so iffy [and if I had a better laptop], I'd get rid of it and the TV anyway, keep my PS2 games and run them from the drive on a computer, easy.

My bookshelf [full of stuff]? Gone, I'll get a Kindle. My recliner? Gone, damnit.

I could keep my PS3 maybe, it's the largest console I've owned, what the hell. I only have one game for it right now though...

---

A Kindle, a laptop, a USB saturn pad and a fast net connection. That is all.

Yep. That's my post-apocalyptic entertainment setup for sure.

Now we're down to a 42sq ft why-am-I-living-in-a-large-closet scenario. Maybe not the Saturn pad [and I have one and a USB converter!], I like my PS1 controllers, as irrational as that must seem [the Saturn pad really is godly, why the hell would I pick a PS1 controller? I got way too used to them, that's why!].

The only thing I'd really, really miss is the ability to play Virtual On if I don't get to bring my PS2 [SSF doesn't run it on low settings, bleh, Model 2 emulator would be single-player only and either way the controls seem screwed up, I can't jump for some reason, and there's no way in hell my laptop is running PCSX2 at a reasonable speed].

[Ruldra]

Scenario

I like how by far the most valuable resource in that list (library) is only 4 points. And Internet is 16. Priorities man!

[GaijinPunch]

..and I even have a horny girlfriend.

How did you find a non-Asian in Tokyo?!

The same way I used to do it back home...
Went to a club and pulled my pants down.

[Ganelon]

I've done this type of minimal living for a couple of years in the past, not because I had to but because I have a strong distaste for moving. Beyond essentials (a bed, a desk, a chair, clothing, toiletries, basic writing supplies), I had a computer, flip phone, and arcade stick. Earlier in college, I made do with just a computer and never found myself wanting.

Of course, that was thanks to storage space available elsewhere for my games. Besides games, I don't have much else that would take up space. I've carefully limited my movie, music, and book purchases. Would I give up games if I had to? Maybe if it was essential. I find myself asking that question—apparently a common video game old man occurrence—more often in recent years.

[dcharlieJP]

I've been downsizing drastically the past year or so and my video games colleciton has been utterly decimated to around 10% it's size, but i'd still have to bin
a whole bunch of stuff to fit into a bedroom rather than sprawled across a house. Nuked the arcade set up ages ago, got rid of the 29 inch profeel a year or so ago, planning to sell off all my arcade boards again etc

Hmmm - so lets see .... if down to a small bedroom worth of space :

x2 Laptops - dual booted MBP so i can do heavier work on that (video editing, music, PSM/XNA, etc) , DM1x as a retrogaming center would be the absolute first thing to keep
I have a thin and light monitor so that could possibly stay
main focus would be on small stuff :
Vita/3DS/DS/PSP would all be keepers - i've already binned off most the physical games so that works in their favour
phone + ipad + pocketwifi + raspberry pi + apple tv

I have a pretty nice record bag that perfectly fits all my portable stuff in it - use that for storage and road trips

luxury item : probably take the Filco Majestouch 2 - given the amount of time i spend at a keyboard, having a nice mechanical keyboard is glorious. I'm not sure why people don't splash out more on these when making $3000+ machine builds. But anyways....

painful to go : projector + 7.1 set up


Everything else can basically go i guess - everything else takes up too much space to be comfortable in one room. Have to say though that when i first got to Japan and i literally had my set up in a laundry closet (albeit a 2 jo one) then that was when i was having the most focused fun in terms of gaming

[CMoon]

Is a studio something else where you guys are? Like is it a tiny one room bachelor apartment? To me a studio is a big open space, generally with high ceilings.

Yeah, we're talking an efficiency with a bath and kitchen. No high ceilings. I'm trying to get one with a balcony/patio though. I know what you're talking about though and wish I could get something more like that.

[CStarFlare]

Two years ago my parents' house flooded. I evacuated them, moved them twice, and then myself twice. I've shed some of my stuff with each move, and I'm much leaner now than I used to be. I'm practically to the point where I don't have enough games left to justify owning a PS2 of either region any more. My new attitude towards "stuff" is very nice - I would probably have dropped a ton of cash on PC Engine stuff over the past year if I were still in amassing mode.

I'm pretty sentimental about a lot of things, so I only shed them in small batches. But if I had to let go of 90% of if, I'd just as well get rid of it for good than deal with storage. I'm financially comfortable enough that if I let something go and want it back, I can just buy it again.

What I'd keep: my records (not a large number of them), most of my cartridge-format games and a system to play them on, my US 360 and some games, and my laptop. As much as I love owning physical copies of things I love, digital is just about the greatest thing in the world.

I would like to get rid of most of my furniture, though. It's all handed down, and it's heavy and a bitch to move. If my family would let me, I'd probably leave it where it is when I move out of my current place.

[Ed Oscuro]

luxury item : probably take the Filco Majestouch 2 - given the amount of time i spend at a keyboard, having a nice mechanical keyboard is glorious. I'm not sure why people don't splash out more on these when making $3000+ machine builds. But anyways....

I didn't spend $3000 on my PC, but the main reason is sound. Even a bubble dome keyboard can be rather loud, and I haven't really been able to find the magical combination of NKRO (or at least better than the Saitek Eclipse) + silent + good feel. I actually don't mind the feel of bubble dome at all; it doesn't seem hard to know how to make keypresses without using too much force (thus seemingly invalidating part of the pro-mechanical camp's chant, "you don't know when a bubble dome engages").

[hail good sir]

way

[Skykid]

..and I even have a horny girlfriend.

How did you find a non-Asian in Tokyo?!

The same way I used to do it back home...
Went to a club and pulled my pants down.

Ha ha ha!

[xbl0x180]

Is a studio something else where you guys are? Like is it a tiny one room bachelor apartment? To me a studio is a big open space, generally with high ceilings.

Yeah, we're talking an efficiency with a bath and kitchen. No high ceilings. I'm trying to get one with a balcony/patio though. I know what you're talking about though and wish I could get something more like that.

NOTHING in Los Angeles or Orange County is that cool. It's not as bad as SF and NY, but it's really bad considering the amount of space we have in SoCal. I'm in the same boat, CMoon. Well, right now, I am living in a cramped space that is choke full of stuff - thousands of DVDs, CDs, books, video games, a closet stuffed full of clothes, a CRT with all kinds of shit h00ked up to it, and a queen-sized bed (the bed was a bitch to fit in... I had to trash my desk).

With home prices the way they are, I don't think I'll ever own a home. I'm starting to look right now and stuff isn't pretty out there. I need at least 450K for a decent starter house. Otherwise, I'm relegated to spend 350K on a 1BDR apt. in Irvine (the cheapest area). With 5% down, the 30-year monthly mortgage payment is well over 2500 bucks (including HOA fees and PMI, which go towards nothing). I might just end up renting for lyfe. FML

[shmuppyLove]

I've actually been looking around for something bigger.

Need space for a small CRT and a decent space for electronics work and maybe some model building.

And who knows, maybe a cab? That's some serious dreaming at this point though.

[xbl0x180]

To rent or own? I can rent a bigger space, but I'd have less money saved in the bank or to spend on hobbies. But the more I spend on a hobby, the more space I need...

[shmuppyLove]

To rent.

It actually might not cost me any more, since my wife doesn't actually pay 1/2 the rent now, but soon she'll be able to afford more, so we could actually get a larger place and I would be paying the same amount of rent I do now.

But we may stay put if we don't find anything better. We have a pretty sweet deal where we are, so if we stay I'd actually be paying a bit less for rent, which of course means a bit more spending money which is always nice.

Or, you know, get some debt paid off. Either way.

[moh]

To rent.

It actually might not cost me any more, since my wife doesn't actually pay 1/2 the rent now, but soon she'll be able to afford more, so we could actually get a larger place and I would be paying the same amount of rent I do now.

But we may stay put if we don't find anything better. We have a pretty sweet deal where we are, so if we stay I'd actually be paying a bit less for rent, which of course means a bit more spending money which is always nice.

Or, you know, get some debt paid off. Either way.

eliminate bed. add cab.

[shmuppyLove]

eliminate bed. add cab.

Gotta have a place for sexytime!

But if we did get a 2 bedroom, I would make it my goal in life to get a cab in there.

[drauch]

Hook a cot in between two cabs: problem solved!

[moh]

Hook a cot in between two cabs: problem solved!

make drauch a mod.

[Frenetic]

Hey CMoon,

I think there is a movement like this called "minimal living." Here are some links that I hope will get you started and find helpful!

http://boingboing.net/2010/08/16/articl ... xtrem.html
Website featured: http://cultofless.com/

http://www.everydayminimalist.com/

http://www.missminimalist.com/

Hope you still can find a little time for homebrewing though...hehe

-F

[CMoon]

Everyone will hate me, but actually I chickened out on moving. Seriously, I'd packed up half my stuff and somehow things got bungled and they rented out the place I wanted to someone else. I should have been pissed off, but I went back and did all the math. I knew I wasn't looking at huge savings, but was hoping maybe I could manage 3 or 4 thousand extra. With a new security, cat deposit, moving costs, other bullshit, the figures had changed from 3-4K to maybe 1K. My enthusiasm dropped through the floor and I went and renewed my yearly lease.

Ultimately I like the whole minimal idea. I do feel really weighed down by a lot of property. At least the record label is gone now, but I can't quite let my music collection go.

Don't worry though, the brewing is goddamn full force. Teaching a class on brewing next weekend and...you guessed it...coming home with another 5 gallons of beer.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I think there is a movement like this called "minimal living."

There's also a condition called "poverty". One guy told me the other day about a scene he witnessed in one of rural backwater areas of Eastern Europe: a man ploughing field with a woman harnessed to the plough. Sounds like some lifestyle.

[Ed Oscuro]

a man ploughing field with a woman harnessed to the plough. Sounds like some lifestyle.

Ouch. Isn't that the way it usually is though? Like this old Flintstones commercial.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Heh, unearthed some bones and pottery dated ~IXth century BC yesterday. At least we have hoes and shovels of steel in this day and age.

[Frenetic]

Guys, let's all move to Japan and live in these:
http://kotaku.com/want-to-live-in-a-lar ... -471469513

[Ed Oscuro]

Dibs on 11!

I think this one is pretty, well, not stylish, but interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakagin_Capsule_Tower

[hail good sir]

up

[null1024]

I'd totally live in that aluminum box. When I'm at home, I barely leave my room anyway, and from the picture, it seems quite reasonable for single person accommodation. Sure, no big stack of videogames in a corner, and I'd sure have to weigh the costs of having a not-completely-tiny CRT when space is at such a premium in that kind of environment, but hey, it looks nice, and my laptop handles most of my needs anyway.

[Skykid]

Guys, let's all move to Japan and live in these:
http://kotaku.com/want-to-live-in-a-lar ... -471469513

How do I buy?

[ancestral-knowledge]

..and I even have a horny girlfriend.

How did you find a non-Asian in Tokyo?!

bwahahahaha!!! omg