________  ________  ________
   2018-04-30                                   /        \/        \/    /   \
                                               /       __/         /_       _/
   So,  the  80s  exhibit  at  LCM+L got  me  /        _/         /         /
reminiscing   about  Forgotten   Worlds  and  \_______/_\___/____/\___/____/_
circling back  on daydreams about setting up    /        \/        \/    /   \
my own retro den/arcade.                       /        _/         /_       _/
                                              /-        /        _/         /
   The  biggest  problem  I have  right  now  \________/\________/\___/____/
that's stopping me doing  anything at all is
a lack of space, we live in an apartment that's hardly much bigger than  an RV
with no yard  at  all, I also rent so can't really do anything drastic to what
little space I do have.

   For a  little while  I  thought  about trying  to  rope some friends into a
shared  workshop space  or something, a blank canvas that we could turn into a
communal  "den"  but it  never eventuated.  A couple friends were  kinda  half
interest but the we started talking  about how much  something like that would
cost,  even though it  was really  fuck  all  if we split it evenly,  interest
pretty quickly waned.

   True of many  friends I've made online  I guess, a lot  of  people  are all
gung-ho about ideas but  when it comes down to making proper plans and putting
shoulder to wheel everyone's suddenly no longer interested.  But whatever, I'm
not writing this file to bitch about that hahaha.

   Completely unrelated to that, for a while I've also wanted  a reason to buy
a shipping container. I dunno, they just seem like really neat things  to have
around  and I  like their shape,  and  while I was thinking  back over my home
arcade the other shoe finally dropped and it occurred  to  me; what if I build
my  home arcade  inside a  shipping  container? I'd  have to pay to  store  it
somewhere in the short term  but that will be cheaper than paying for any kind
of workshop or warehouse myself and then when I finally move and have space to
put  it, even if that move is  interstate or international, all I've got to do
is make  sure everything  is  strapped  down and then ship  the  whole cube to
wherever. Genius.

   I had a look around to see if anyone had done  anything similar and found a
couple "container  arcades"  that other people had  made but they were  little
more than someone's storage space that  just happened to have a machine or two
in it that they plugged in and switched on, they weren't planned spaces. I can
try to do better, let me paint you a picture, gophernauts.

   On  the outside, it  just looks like  a  plain old 20' container. I thought
about decorating it but it seems more fun to leave to leave it as-is. The only
give-away that there's  anything unusual inside is a power cord  and small air
conditioner attached to the back of the box.

   Once  you crack the doors, there's a pair of light-blocking curtains so you
can leave the container door open without letting much light in.

   Through the  curtains and into the arcade, the floor  is  dark green carpet
tiles, not all  matching but close  enough.  Along the  wall  to your left are
handful of arcade  cabinets, the  wall  behind  them and the ceiling above are
dark, smoky mirrors.  The wall opposite,  to your right,  is wood paneling and
sports a shallow, chest-high bench and a couple of barstools.  The top foot or
so of that  wall  has been left bare and a line  of neon tubes trace a glowing
sunset over the corrugation of the container wall.

   On the far  end of  the  machines,  a narrow  partition  wall separates the
arcade from the bar proper.

   Around  the  partition  is  a  payphone  in  a  small  woodgrain enclosure,
plastered with stickers and  scribbles, with a ratty phone book in the bottom.
Opposite it is a worn  old sofa and in the far left corner of the container is
the "bar" - barely larger than the glass-fronted bar  fridge beneath it, and a
single bar stool. Above the bar, in the top corner of the container is mounted
a blurry old  CRT television and VCR  combo. Behind the bar,  the back wall of
the container, is  divided in  half; directly behind the  bar is  a pin board,
covered in a bizarre jumble  of papers, posters, stickers,  buttons and knick-
knacks and on the right hand side, to  the right of the sofa is  a high scores
and tournament chalk board, lit by a black-light tube.

   Cozy and welcoming, I want to create a space that makes up with  heart what
it lacks in space.



EOF