TheIpex wrote on 2026-02-18, 23:14:

OzzFan wrote on 2026-02-18, 19:05:

My wife is very supportive of my hobby, and I hers. No need for hiding anything.

Well said. I won't lie and say my wife is hugely interested in this hobby, but she at least listens and is supportive when I talk about it.

Oh, my wife isn't the least bit interested but she listens to me talk all the time about it. It's mostly Greek to her, but she's polite enough to listen. Just as I listen about her Pokemon obsession.

At least we're both gamers, and that's where we really connect.

Repo Man11 wrote on 2026-02-19, 00:33:

My personality is the most effective form of birth control on the planet.

Oh my! Please join me at https://www.personalitycafe.com

I have a feeling they will make you laugh, and what could be more important than laughing?

MattRocks wrote on 2026-02-18, 16:06:

Hezus wrote on 2026-02-18, 07:56:

I wasn't familiar with the term SWMBO. Honestly, I find it a bit pathetic if you have to refer to your significant other in this way. If your relationship is that skewed, you should do something about it. Talk about it, set boundaries, make arrangements or just split up. You don't need more retro stuff, what you need is some personal growth. Otherwise: stop reveling in your victimhood. There are plenty of men who can't keep a household or even their own arses clean, so I don't blame your wife for getting upset if you litter the entire house with your hobby.

In my part of the world SWMBO (pronounced swimbo) is common. It looks like you are also unfamiliar with the term loft room as being a small portion of a house.

But, I don't think this is the right forum to complain about how other people speak or use the English language.

Sorry for coming on a little strong in my response if SWMBO is more of a tongue-in-cheek thing. For the uninitiated, it feels like a derogatory term.

TheIpex wrote on 2026-02-18, 23:14:

I won't lie and say my wife is hugely interested in this hobby, but she at least listens and is supportive when I talk about it.

Mine is the same way.

She feigns interest for 30 seconds and moves onto something she gives a crap about.

I have a "husband" room, and she has a "she" room... in the middle there is a hallway... 🤣

I mean, if she can deal with my 50s pinup magazine collection what is an old 386, video cards and a workbench going to do?

Hezus wrote on 2026-02-19, 09:25:

MattRocks wrote on 2026-02-18, 16:06:

Hezus wrote on 2026-02-18, 07:56:

I wasn't familiar with the term SWMBO. Honestly, I find it a bit pathetic if you have to refer to your significant other in this way. If your relationship is that skewed, you should do something about it. Talk about it, set boundaries, make arrangements or just split up. You don't need more retro stuff, what you need is some personal growth. Otherwise: stop reveling in your victimhood. There are plenty of men who can't keep a household or even their own arses clean, so I don't blame your wife for getting upset if you litter the entire house with your hobby.

In my part of the world SWMBO (pronounced swimbo) is common. It looks like you are also unfamiliar with the term loft room as being a small portion of a house.

But, I don't think this is the right forum to complain about how other people speak or use the English language.

Sorry for coming on a little strong in my response if SWMBO is more of a tongue-in-cheek thing. For the uninitiated, it feels like a derogatory term.

Not a problem. Noted 😀

My wife is actually the one who nudged into biting the bullet and finally buying a C64. While she isn't a retro enthusiast, she actually wanted to go to VCF Montreal with a friend and myself on the second day and she actually had some fun.

At the same time, she also helps keep on my toes about organizing and culling my hoard computers and spare parts, which is a very good thing.

I love that woman to bits.

OzzFan wrote on 2026-02-19, 00:40:

TheIpex wrote on 2026-02-18, 23:14:

OzzFan wrote on 2026-02-18, 19:05:

My wife is very supportive of my hobby, and I hers. No need for hiding anything.

Well said. I won't lie and say my wife is hugely interested in this hobby, but she at least listens and is supportive when I talk about it.

Oh, my wife isn't the least bit interested but she listens to me talk all the time about it. It's mostly Greek to her, but she's polite enough to listen. Just as I listen about her Pokemon obsession.

At least we're both gamers, and that's where we really connect.

That's awesome. My wife and I have a shared interest in history. While our spheres of interest on that often intersect, we each have our niches of predilection.

Interestingly, a new term for me too, despite wife / partner being a boss isn't an unknown concept to me.

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-02-18, 03:34:

Don't have one, makes life far more simple, you lose a few comforts but gain significant freedom and peace. […]
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Don't have one, makes life far more simple, you lose a few comforts but gain significant freedom and peace.

Thankfully the comforts can be replaced fairly quickly with alternatives that don't impinge on your freedom or peace.

The hard truth is even I find myself difficult to live with ...it would only be a matter of time before any SWMBO would either kill me or leave and take half my shit with her.

I like my shit, so easier to not have a SWMBO.

*At least I have enough self awareness to know my faults and eccentricities and to accept that I am not marriage material.

I'm curious about what do you consider as alternatives. I do understand your dark outlook, considering all craziness happening out there. My brother made the habit of commenting on every marriage he hears about: "They'll divorce soon.".

I've had this theory that if I am, someone else like me must be out there. But maybe somewhere far away or maybe not even in present time.

UCyborg wrote on 2026-03-19, 07:59:

Interestingly, a new term for me too, despite wife / partner being a boss isn't an unknown concept to me. […]
Show full quote

Interestingly, a new term for me too, despite wife / partner being a boss isn't an unknown concept to me.

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-02-18, 03:34:

Don't have one, makes life far more simple, you lose a few comforts but gain significant freedom and peace. […]
Show full quote

Don't have one, makes life far more simple, you lose a few comforts but gain significant freedom and peace.

Thankfully the comforts can be replaced fairly quickly with alternatives that don't impinge on your freedom or peace.

The hard truth is even I find myself difficult to live with ...it would only be a matter of time before any SWMBO would either kill me or leave and take half my shit with her.

I like my shit, so easier to not have a SWMBO.

*At least I have enough self awareness to know my faults and eccentricities and to accept that I am not marriage material.

I'm curious about what do you consider as alternatives. I do understand your dark outlook, considering all craziness happening out there. My brother made the habit of commenting on every marriage he hears about: "They'll divorce soon.".

I've had this theory that if I am, someone else like me must be out there. But maybe somewhere far away or maybe not even in present time.

I don't comment on others marriages, I find it in bad taste. I simply decided to not go that route in life but I wont stop others from doing it and possibly having the best time of their life. My parents were married for 50 years before my father passed but they were from a different time and marriages like theirs was are a very rare thing now.

I also find my own eccentricities to be hard to deal with and I wouldn't want to place them on anyone else.

By alternative, well there is the oldest profession in the world if all you want is release, but there are also a lot of people who are not looking for long term relationships or marriage or any in-depth emotional connection that don't mind having a person they can go be with when they feel the need to be around someone. (These are not purely sexual relationships)

Are such relationships fulfilling . .that's entirely up to the people involved but many make it work and seem to truly enjoy that kind of relationship.

Oof, that is heavy stuff.

The trouble is we each have only 4000 weeks, if we are lucky. So without going into too much detail... just start the way you want to finish!

MattRocks wrote on 2026-03-19, 10:59:

Oof, that is heavy stuff.

The trouble is we each have only 4000 weeks, if we are lucky. So without going into too much detail... just start the way you want to finish!

Heavy . .not really.

I'm going to go out like my Grandpa did ..at 99 on my own terms yelling at the nurses that I've earned the right to smoke a cigar and drink scotch and no Doctor is telling me otherwise !.

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-03-19, 09:24:

I don't comment on others marriages, I find it in bad taste.

I think the same in general. My brother just tends to use humor to light up the mood somewhat using whatever current events as the source at the time. Not picking on any married couple deliberately, just those that journalists happen to shout about on TV.

I remember there was a show couple of years ago with singers in masks and the group of people that had to guess who's under the mask. In one episode, two soon to be married in that group had to hijack the show for their drama related to their marriage.

Could've been intentionally staged or whatever, but you can guess what happened few years afterwards. 😀

Trashbytes wrote on 2026-03-19, 09:24:

My parents were married for 50 years before my father passed but they were from a different time and marriages like theirs was are a very rare thing now.

My mother thinks people today are very intolerant.