Time – Page 9 – Robot Claw

When Will I Be Famous?

April 3, 2021

For seven years between 1982 and 1988 I competed in an annual mathematics contest for high school students. In the earlier years this was held at school, but later on we went to a different location to take the exam. I recall in 1988 (when I was in 11th grade) we all sat in an indoor stadium somewhere.

I was awarded commendations in every year I entered, and actually won prizes three times. The first time this happened (in 1982) I made the newspaper:

Yes that’s the original cutting, which I still own. I placed second the following year (year 6) and in 1985 – when I was in year 8 – I won! Neither achievements apparently warranted a mention in the papers, although the prizes were better.

If I remember correctly I got $50 for second place and $100 for winning. The winning prize was given in the form of a bank account, which was my first bank account and the very same one I used until the day I left Australia!

Alas despite my photo being in the paper in 1982 I was not recognized on the street and hardly showered with respect and adoration from strangers. Celebrity, I was learning, was an elusive beast.

Luckily I had a second shot at stardom in the works, and for several years also competed in a young writers contest. Once again I received commendations for all/most of my short stories (which were no doubt awful) and in 1988 I was again in the paper:

This was a small big deal at my school if I recall, and netted me lunch with the principal (which perhaps influenced me becoming captain the next year?) but this measly name drop in the Newcastle Herald didn’t lead to free meals at fancy restaurants or designers sending me their clothes for free. Once again I learned a lesson on how difficult it was to become famous.

I also recall once competing in a spelling competition at Garden City mall, probably when I was in primary school. My memories of this are extremely vague but I think I won a gift certificate so I must have done well? There was a crowd watching but I doubt it made the papers.

Anyway after two appearances in the newspaper it had become clear to me that television was the true path to stardom, and that became my next goal. To facilitate this I became school captain (in 1989) and leveraged my newfound political power into appearances on local TV. But that’s a tale I’ve already blogged, and you can read about it here.

After two newspaper mentioned and three spots on tv I yet remained an average guy with nary an atom of celebrity to his name. In late 1989 I realized there were only two more paths open to me if my goal was superstardom. I rejected motion pictures as unfeasible, and instead looked seriously at a political career. But that’s perhaps a blog post of its own (if not one I already made)…

This tale would be incomplete without mentioning Bernards brush with stardom. During one of our weekly library trips in early 198X he posed for a photograph that featured in a story about Teletext. It was printed in a local paper and I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a lovely shot:

He still has the newspaper clipping, alas not the text that went with it. In terms of column inches his newspaper appearance dwarfed my own, but I can assure you that he still had to pay for his movie tickets and his Big Macs. Even a feature story photo as large as this wasn’t enough for him to become a star!

Arcade Memories

January 20, 2021

I’ve been thinking about memories a lot recently, and how most fade and change over time whilst some remain sharp. Recent discussions with mum have shown me some of my childhood memories are flat-out wrong, which makes me wonder about others.

Spend enough time thinking/talking/listening about arcade gaming and you’ll invariably think/say/hear about how most people that were big on gaming in the arcades usually remember exactly where or when they first played a given game. This is true for me as well, be it Exed Exes in a Pacfic Highway fish’n’chip shop in Charlestown or Xain’d Sleena in the grubby foyer of that cinema on Hunter Street that became an evangelical church (and is now closed?) just to name a couple. I spent innumerable hours in arcades in those days playing every game and I can fondly recall so much of it.

But what about the arcades themselves? One of my favourite Youtubers grew up in a British seaside town and – like me – spent his youth in the oceanfront arcades. He has more than once mentioned how he has very specific memories of playing the games but no longer has clear memories of the arcades that he played them in.

Do I? How clearly can I recall the arcades of my youth? Let’s find out.

I’ve picked three for this post: one in Newcastle city and two in Charlestown. These were probably the three I spent the most time in and – one would imagine – the ones I have the strongest memories of. There were of course many others, as well as countless hours spent playing video games in shops/cinemas/malls etc. For each arcade I have attempted to sketch the floorplan and list some memories. I’m relying on BS, AW and MMC to correct me where I (certainly) make mistakes. Let’s go…

Orbit 100 (Newcastle CBD)

Of course we start with Orbit 100, the king of Newcastle arcades in its prime. Even from the very start I will admit a slight tinge of haziness in my memory, since I conflate Orbit 100 and Orbit 600 these days and can’t be sure which was which. But I am 90% sure the Newcastle one was 100 and the Sydney (George Street) one was 600, so I’ll stick with that. (Interestingly in my ‘book’ about my return visit in 2000 I called it Orbit 600!)

I don’t know when it opened, but it was definitely very active in the early 1980s. I regularly visited when I was in high school since it was within (more or less) walking distance. It still existed when I left Australia in 1993, but by my visit in 2000 had become ‘Playtime’ and when next I visited Oz (in 2005) was gone for good.

As you can see in my sketch the arcade was two levels with two doors onto King Street very close to the Tower Cinema (which is now also gone). In the early days the arcade was mostly just standup cabinets with a few pinballs, but by the mid 1980s they had dedicated the areas on the inner front wall to cabinet games (large driving games mostly) and the pinballs had moved from the top level to the lower near the left door. Orbit was a very dark, smoky and noisy place, with small circular windows (like portholes) with darkly tinted glass. And yet it was a welcoming arcade, probably because it was slightly farther from the Hunter Street shopping and therefore only attracted enthusiasts.

A on my diagram was where a massive black & white Sprint cabinet seemed to sit for years. It was an ancient and often broken beast, rarely played, but probably kept as a curiosity. B was the showcase spot – the first game a customer would see – that was for what seemed like forever occupied with Dragon’s Lair. I recall they had a TV sitting on top of the cabinet so people that couldn’t get close could watch: this was how popular Dragon’s Lair was when it was released. Other games I recall taking this position included Gauntlet and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game.

C was where I would often sit on the top level and play imported Japanese cabinets. Of course I had no idea at the time that’s what they were, but Orbit had quite a few untranslated units they must have imported from Japan. These were often shooters, but I recall Tower Of Druaga and (a Japanese) Pac-Land as well. My fondest memories of sitting in the top level included playing Time Pilot and Star Force, both of which I loved in their day.

D was where I sat in 2000 and played Mars Matrix, possibly with AW. This was (and still is) the only time I ever saw or played the arcade version of the game and I remember it was right next to the door since every time someone opened it and walked in the bright sunlight shone onto the screen and irked me 🙂

The ? in the above pic I am unsure about. I think they had cocktail (ie. sitdown) cabinets there, but for weird reasons I also recall Orbit selling snacks and drinks and maybe having a seating area? I know pinballs used to be on the top but eventually moved to the bottom, but I’ll admit I have vague memories of the part of the arcade where I now drew pinballs.

Timeout/Timezone? (Charlestown Square)

Given how I virtually lived in this arcade in Charlestown Square you’d think I’d at least remember the name! The planets aligned in 1989 when I both lived in a house within walking distance of this arcade and one of my best friends (MMC) worked here. Even better, the manager was mum to another friend! While I very often did pay for my games at this place, equally common were the games free, and those few years were the platinum years of my arcade gaming. (Fun fact: the manager trusted me so much she more than once had me walk the bags of coins over to the bank for donation!)

But… my memories of this floor plan also start to fade. Once again it was two-level, and given it was at a mall the front wall was all glass so the biggest and flashiest cabs were at the front to attract players walking by. It was a very bright and colorful place with the game volumes up loud and a family-friendly atmosphere. I expect I – ‘goth’ that I was in those days – was about as unsavory a character as that place saw. Mind you this was many years since the arcades had shed their reputation as hives of villainy.

A was where Bernard and I sunk dollars into Narc to beat it. We got better and better and while the game was as unfair as they come eventually were successful. B was where I played an arcade installment in the Thunderforce series to completion while some girl about my age watched silently. I was aware she was there but given it was an intense shooter didn’t get a good look at her. When I beat it I glanced around to see her and she was no-where in sight! Was she a ghost? I’ll never know. C was where I often beat Black Tiger, Slap Fight or Tiger Heli on one credit. I was very good at arcade games!

When KLS visited Australia in 1992 I took her here (more than once) and on one memorable occasion as I was playing SF2 (at D) some young goon stuck joined in, picked guile, and pointed to my character on the screen and said (out loud) “Your arse is grass.” I thrashed him mercilessly and he shuffled off without a word. It was probably the game superiority I demonstrated at that moment that convinced KLS to marry me 🙂

I can recall that very shortly before I left Australia, possibly the day before, I was in this arcade playing SF2 (as I always did) when I just… stopped and walked away. I could effortlessly beat the game at that point with every character but the urge had left me and I just left the machine mid game. I think I had gone for a distraction from the giant step I was about to make in my life and even the familiarity of my favourite arcade wasn’t distracting enough.

Hilltop Arcade (Charlestown, next to the cinema)

I have no idea what this place was called, nestled as it was between the Hoyts cinema and Sizzler restaurant, but it was – between about 1990 and 1993 – the biggest arcade that I frequented. And the emptiest, which was one reason I liked it!

While it had a lot of games the floorplan was massive with lots of empty space and given that when I visited I was usually the only person there except for the employees it often felt on the edge of insolvency. I recall it had a lot of pinball machines, all lined up against one wall, and I routinely ignored these in favour of the arcade games. This was the early 1990s so of course the place was dominated by fighting game cabinets (Simpsons, TMNT), shooting games (Operation Wolf etc.) and large driving cabinets but – as with Orbit years earlier – they had their fair share of Japanese imports as well (probably Sega Aero City JAMMA cabs if you’re interested) and it was these more than any other reason which attracted me, since I was able to play all manner of weird and wonderful – and often untranslated – games at this arcade.

A was where I first played Street Fighter 2, which would have been 1991 when the game was released. The arcade had a bunch of machines arranged in a circle and I’d ‘shop around’ for good joysticks before playing. I played SF2 here a lot since the place was so unpopular and – for a time – this was one of the few places you could enjoy the game on your own without some goon joining in to grass your arse!

B was a narrow hallway which led to an exit to a car park. People rarely used this exit, and when I sat in this hallway to play games I was usually alone and undistracted. This was where I played Snow Bros enough to eventually beat it, and also where I played a lot of In The Hunt, R-Type Leo and Cameltry. I also recall trying many weird Japanese action games that I had no idea how to play!

One specific memory I have of this place is when an attendant asked me to keep an eye on things while she (I assumed) went to the loo. It must have been just me and her in there at the time, and I think she just asked me to tell anyone that came in that she’d be back soon. She gave me some credits in whatever I was playing (Golden Axe: Return Of Death Adder perhaps?) before she left and once I had finished – which took a while – she still hadn’t returned! I waited for a while longer before I had to leave myself, and eventually I did. I wonder what she though when she came back!

Even though I’d stay there for sometimes hours at a time I have unusually vague memories of this arcade. The ? on my floor plan are a complete mystery to me, and the wall opposite the pinballs is equally unknown. What was this place called? When did it close? Is it perhaps even still there?

Did it even exist at all?

I could write a post a day on arcade memories and fill a year, but this is enough for now, and it’s time to turn this over to fellow arcade lurkers to correct me and fill in the blanks. I don’t doubt their comments will trigger further memories of my own…

Postcard Sorting

August 16, 2020

About a year ago I started thinking seriously of sorting my postcards. I’d been storing them completely unsorted in a plastic tub, and while I wanted a better solution I had a feeling the job would be a difficult one.

Then in January while in Oz/Japan I bought some postcard storage albums. Interestingly none of these were intended for my own use (they were gifts) but when I used one to sort some of mums postcards I became impressed by how great it was to have them all viewable at a glance, and knew them I’d certainly get around to it sooner or later.

Fast forward through the pandemic, and a couple of weeks ago I helped JAF sort her postcards into a binder using postcard sleeves. They looked wonderful and at that moment I knew I’d found my solution. Within a week I’d bought binders and ordered sleeves enough for over 1000 cards, and these past few days I sorted and sleeved them all.

I’ve kept every single card ever received, with the earliest being from SMC back in mid 1994. They’re now all sorted chronologically (as best I can) by sender and for the ones sent by me I’ve sorted by country as well.

This process has allowed me to catalogue the collection. In total I’ve got over 850 postcards, about 530 of which I’d sent myself (or KLS did), and about 330 of which was sent to us by someone else – probably one of you!

Unsurprisingly the most cards are from Oz: over 300 in total (220 of which I sent myself). These past few years I’ve sent KLS at least one per day during my trips and I’m sure I’ll continue to do this whenever I can visit again. With so much from one country you may expect repetition but there’s surprisingly few cards represented more than once.

From within the USA there’s cards from many states with the most represented (outside of NY) being CA, FL and HA. There’s lots of cards from Japan, the UK and Ireland and a handful from countries including France, Germany, Canada, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Korea, China and other exotic locales. (Incidentally I’m not including Postcrossing cards in any of this; I’ve got over 220 but they’re still loose in a box!)

These cards are overloaded with memories. When I first started sending postcards to myself (over a decade ago) I didn’t write much – the goal was the card, not the message. But these days I write a lot and over time the cards have become ‘trip diaries’. Reading them brings back all the memories from the various vacations we’ve taken over the years.

That’s an example card from 2017, written in a Kyoto hotel room after a day trip to Nara to see the deer. I was well into using stickers on cards and the simple description of our day contains details that would have certainly been lost had I not written them down.

There’s an example of a card I sent from Scotland. The card itself is amazing – metallic and shiny – but the message on the back is sublime in its mundanity, and when we read it today we had a good chuckle remembering the (true) event. I daresay there’s no chance we would have remembered this had I not written it on the card in that Inverness B&B! (Incidentally I bought two packs of candy and got a second sticker that I put on another card. Who did I send that to?)

When I travel alone the messages (sent to KLS) are more introspective and I have noticed I have a tendency to dedicate entire cards to moments, as you can see in the example above (and yes, that’s a Ganesh watercolour I painted). I never run out of stuff to write, and in fact last Oz trip I sent an average of two cards a day. Sometimes when unusual or notable things happen I make a note on my phone so I remember to write it on a postcard 🙂

Here’s a similar example from my last stay in Japan:

Each of these cards is a little time capsule and having them all easily readable like they are now is something I should have done years ago. If you’ve got your own collection (and I know many of you do) then I suggest getting them out of a shoebox and sleeving them yourself. Yes it’s a little bit of an investment up front (the supplies cost me under $100) but it’s absolutely worth it!

Oh and send me some postcards! I’ve received almost none in 2020 due to you-know-what but just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you can’t send me a funny/interesting message on a card. I’ve still got empty sleeves: give me some cards to fill them!