30 November 2023
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Its cold outside, really,really cold and very very 
snowy... perhaps this is going to be a "real" winter 
again after many eternal falls merging directly into
spring skipping winter. I would hope so, it would be 
great for junior experiencing his first real winter.

I would have never thought that i could "lose" myself 
in the "digital world" in the way that i experienced 
since i dabbled seriously back into the whole C64
ecosystem. Its not a week since i started to play 
around with the BMC64 emulator and now i can say with
certainty that i am back at the same proficiency level
as of my 10 - 12 year self hacking on the commodore.

Its fascinating: The moment wife and child are asleep 
i can go into my office, power on the system and before
i even notice it there are 2 - 3 hours gone, my back is
aching and i am sternly reminded by a still logically 
functioning part of my brain that i am now 40 and really
should go to bed. 

Is it nostalgia that keeps me hooked? Perhaps, the time 
i had an C64 in the early 90s was when i look back a
really great time for me... endless hours of playing,
programming and learning how to do stuff with this very
limited machine (from todays perspective), the 
anticipation of the arrival of the next issue of the 
monthly computer magazine, the next delivery of ehm...
"decentralised backups" of software i had ordered by 
the boyfriend of my sister who ordered them from some 
other guy who had a modem and access to some BBS systems.
It was a good time.

But the more i think i am sure its not only nostalgia
which keeps me engaged, i think its more the ... 
"realness"? (i get the irony, running the software on 
an emulator) of this computer system compared to our 
modern computers that keeps me hooked. You are not 
layers upon layers upon layers removed from the hardware
but can use everything easily with just a quick PEEK here
or a POKE there. I have no idea, perhaps it is just far
enough removed from my daily job that my brain can 
really enjoy it instead of comparing everything i do on
a computer to what i should learn or research to get
my grocery paying job done.

What i also really enjoy is the community that still 
exists around the C64, i would have never thought that 
there are still SO MANY people developing software or
hardware around a system that is now over 40 years old.
Hell, there are still (semi-) commercial games being 
released for that platform... its amazing.