In November my DVD player crapped out and I decided it was time to make the jump to Blu-Ray by getting a Playstation 3. With the holidays around the corner and cash running low I decided I’d drop the hint to my parents that I wanted the PS3. My email to them read something like “my DVD player broke and we can’t afford another one so for Christmas I think Best Buy gift cards would be good. I want to get a Playstation 3.”

I was hoping they would simply read between the lines there and get me the PS3.

My parents have never, ever bought me a game console for Christmas. When I was a kid I asked for the NES once, the Genesis once, and the Ill-fated Dreamcast once (OK so maybe I was in college for that last one.) In all cases I ended up saving my money and buying it myself. In the case of the NES that was no easy task considering I was 9 years old. In fact my parents were so dead set against me getting one that they told me I had to buy my own TV if I wanted to set it up (as there was only one TV in our house at the time.) I mowed dozens of lawns that summer and got the TV and NES. It’s a damn good thing I didn’t wait until the summer of 1988 because that year was one of the worst droughts on record and there were no lawns to mow.

Anyway they didn’t get me the PS3 but I think I scored enough gift cards and cash (grandma is too old to shop so she gives cash) to get the PS3. I guess things never change.