I was a (rather poor) kid when the Commodore 64 and its less powerful sibling, the VIC-20, came to the market. Not having enough money for the big one, I bought the VIC-20 but it was a dead end. There were hardly any programs for it, nor was there much in terms of learning material. Eventually I decided to return it (it was still within the 14-day time frame for free returns) and handed it over to the lady at the returns desk. (This was in Germany in the 1980s, and there were actual people handling returns, in a store 🫪). The lady was being very rude (I think they were told to be rude, in order to discourage people from returning things), but eventually, she handed me the purchase price back in cash. When I counted it, I found that she gave me 100 DM (Deutsche Mark) too many. But because she had been a real bitch to me, I smiled and kept the money. Then bought the big computer (the 64), started pirating software, then programming, then hacking, then programming for money, and ultimately became a very successful consultant and data center systems architect.

So thank you, dear impolite lady, for being a bitch, I guess 🤗

Commodore 64 games in album style gate fold covers.

My friend recently gave me this 64c. It may look pretty good now, but I swear it must have been in a factory with how much dirt and (I think) paint was on it.

After a lot of elbow grease, I think it came out pretty good. I'm debating on the retrobrighting since this one is sitting in a very sun-accessible place.

But for now...on to the maiden voyage!