Hey folks. n00b here. Well, to the forum, anyway.

Name is KD, and I've been around in the gaming community for about 30 years. Like many of you (probably), I grew up on BBSes and MUDs, PC adventure games, point and clicks, FMVs, all that good stuff. I found this forum yesterday by accident. I was a friend of Roberta, and I stumbled upon the beautiful tribute/blog post that ya'll put together. I thought that I'd make an account here, as it's been decades since I used a forum, and I'm becoming more and more disillusioned lately with social media as a whole. I haven't used Facebook in many years, and I'm getting sick of IG and Reddit at a rapid pace due to the constant depressing political algorithms, time wasting reels, and AI garbage. I thought that maybe now is as good of a time as ever to go back to my roots and try to find a community with similar interests, and maybe make a few friends.

I collect mostly console games, but I have been getting back into collecting PC games as well over the past year or two. Last year, I finally acquired an older machine that works really well (A Gateway 450, Pentium III) and have fallen back into collecting my old favorites (mostly Sierra stuff) -- I still have my original copies of GK2 and Phantasmagoria, which I will always cherish!

I collect NES, Super Famicom, PS1/PS2/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, Switch, and a little oddball stuff here and there (the occasional Wii and Gameboy classic title.) I have also been collecting VHS for many years, mostly specializing in Japanese imports of US titles, which I find interesting because of the alternative artwork. I only have maybe 120-ish games in my collection, and I'm really only into physical media; not really big on digital.

Anyway, it's nice to meet everyone. I am stoked to see some of your collections, and I will post some pictures from my own sometime in the near future.

Nice to join you all. Cheers.

Hey there KD, I’m guessing from your username that you’re from my neck of the woods in PDX. If so, hi neighbor!

Hey there KD, I’m guessing from your username that you’re from my neck of the woods in PDX. If so, hi neighbor!

I am indeed! Smol world. We live in NE. It's nice to meet ya.

SE for me, really more SEEEEE.

SE for me, really more SEEEEE.

Hahaha, gotcha.. I've lived in SE, but not as far east as you, it seems. Used to live on Hawthorne when we first moved to the city, years ago. I liked it there!

What kinda games do you collect? Or are you like my wife (also a Jen!) who just plays tons of games but hates "hoarding" (I've told her countless times that it's only hoarding if the collection is dusty.)

I don’t collect games. Or anything, really, except maybe dust bunnies. I’m kinda like your wife, I get weighted down when I have too much stuff.

...I'm becoming more and more disillusioned lately with social media as a whole. I haven't used Facebook in many years, and I'm getting sick of IG and Reddit at a rapid pace due to the constant depressing political algorithms, time wasting reels, and AI garbage.

Yes! Exactly this. I’m with you 100%. Nice to meet you, kdsynthpdx! (Try repeating that name five times rapidly!) 

I don’t collect games. Or anything, really, except maybe dust bunnies. I’m kinda like your wife, I get weighted down when I have too much stuff.

Fair enough. I know it definitely isn't for everyone. Nice to meet you, regardless. 

For me, there's something comforting about owning these stupid things, lining them up, touching tangible stuff. I can see how it could be the opposite for many people, though. I've met some minimalists who hate "stuff". My sister gives away every book that she reads rather than putting it on a shelf.

---

...I'm becoming more and more disillusioned lately with social media as a whole. I haven't used Facebook in many years, and I'm getting sick of IG and Reddit at a rapid pace due to the constant depressing political algorithms, time wasting reels, and AI garbage.

Yes! Exactly this. I’m with you 100%. Nice to meet you, kdsynthpdx! (Try repeating that name five times rapidly!) 

Hahaha.. yeah, I suppose it's more of a description and less of a handle. My name is kd. I play a synth (sometimes..I need to get off my ass and start being creative again..) and I live in Portland. 20 years ago, I would have spent ages trying to think of something more clever.

At any rate, I'm glad to be here. Roberta was always really insistent that I meet all of her friends, telling me how much I'd like everyone, etc etc. I guess when I saw this forum, something hit me that I was supposed to be here. I started thinking about how sick I am of social media and how it makes me feel. I really only use Instagram to send DMs to friends at this point. I hate the new style of just endless algorithms and scrolling and accomplishing NOTHING. Maybe going back to forums is the answer? I remember the days of using forums fondly. The connections that I made in places similar to this were more genuine.. the information was more useful.. everything about it was better. 

Being on a forum like this in 2025 *should* feel weird, but it actually feels cool. Like I never left.

Nice to meet you as well, thx for having me.

20 years ago, I would have spent ages trying to think of something more clever.

Same here! I already regret just using my name as nickname. I didn’t even try to come up with anything!
I love that you play synth, by the way.

Anyway, on to one of my many obsessions – the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843–1907).
Behold, my growing collection of 138 CDs, 18 biographical books, 21 sheet music books and 30 vinyl records:

   

Obviously Grieg is the most famous Norwegian composer, and his music is a huge inspiration to me. But not surprisingly, it is often the lesser known works that are the most interesting. Not only was he a prominent voice in late 1800s romanticism and creating a «national» musical language hugely inspired by Norwegian folk music. But what is not as commonly known is that he also paved the way for the early 1900s impressionism, with some of his later works being a radical departure from the romanticism and actually a huge inspiration for impressionist composers like Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. What is also lesser known is that he was a fantastic writer of letters – his way with words were almost as sharp as his skills as a composer. His strong sense of justice, social and political views, and his poetic musings about everthing in life, combined with that impressive work of both earth-shatteringly beautiful and groundbreaking music, all add up making him such a fascinating character.

Chances are that if you ever have a question about Edvard Grieg (and why wouldn’t you?), you can ask me first. The same applies if you want to listen to a certain work by Grieg, but don’t know which performance to check out. I have multiple versions of all his 72 opuses, and have quite strong opinions on many of them, so I might have some recommendations. 

(And I only buy the recordings that I actually want to own. If I had no filter at all, you could probably multiply the 138 CDs by quite a few.)

Chances are that if you ever have a question about Edvard Grieg (and why wouldn’t you?), you can ask me first. The same applies if you want to listen to a certain work by Grieg, but don’t know which performance to check out. I have multiple versions of all his 72 opuses, and have quite strong opinions on many of them, so I might have some recommendations. 

(And I only buy the recordings that I actually want to own. If I had no filter at all, you could probably multiply the 138 CDs by quite a few.)

That is impressive Eirik. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about Classical music, let alone Grieg, but I always admire someone who has a real passion for a subject, any subject, but particularly music and literature. Nearest I get to a collection of a single artiste is that of Leonard Cohen - music in his case, not literature although I do like some of his poetry - as I have every album of his that has been released on vinyl plus some bootlegs that, obviously, weren't released in that format. And vinyl over CD every time.

I don't really have a collection of anything but, for some weird reason, I'm thinking of starting a collection of Temu vouchers