# Things you vowed you'd buy when you were a grown-up **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064 "2016-06-10T23:17:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/61 "2016-06-13T12:57:15Z")
We almost never had soda (pop for you Midwesterners, Coke for you Southerners) in our house, not because my parents thought it was bad for you, but because they deemed it a waste of money. I told myself when I grew up and got a full-time job, I was going to buy entire cases of 2L bottles of Coke from a beverage distributor so I could drink as much as I wanted whenever I wanted. Needless to say, by the time I reached even my early twenties, such a prospect was no longer appealing. I was also a computer nerd–my dad had bought an IBM PC Jr., and I got into computers through that, but then he didn’t wind up doing well financially in the ensuing years and thus all through the late 80’s and early 90’s, we could never afford to upgrade the computer. So I would pore over these computer magazine with ads for new PCs with hard disks, multi-megabytes of RAM, CPU speeds in the tens of megahertz range (!!!), EGA graphics, and dream of having one. That was the heyday of Moore’s law, and I imagined that if I were an adult with a good job, every 18 months I’d buy the biggest, fastest, most powerful computer money could buy at that time. Well, I last bought a desktop in 2012, and I haven’t even begun to think about upgrading. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/62 "2016-06-13T13:02:33Z")
Never got a robot unless you wanna count the Roomba (which makes a lot of noise but doesn’t talk much except maybe to R2D2), but I did want computers… 😃 > [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Cobra. Got it. > > Not much else major. Life stuff came to me as I needed it. Sooooo… what would you have if you were a professional barbarian, a stable of cobras with matching dancers? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/63 "2016-06-13T13:09:44Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Bonus points if you critique a Renault 2CV, too. You know “shock absorbers”? 2-horses don’t. Bloody uncomfortable to get into as well, even as a child, much more now that I can sit at the table without a riser. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/64 "2016-06-13T15:15:44Z")
Always wanted to play the guitar. Bought my first about 20 years ago, a cheap Fender Strat. Couldn’t play worth a lick. Had a chance to try a really nice Rickenbacher about 10 years ago. Found it much easier to play. I ended up buying it. I have since added a '62 Fender Telecaster and '88 Gibson Flying V. Haven’t spent much time playing them recently. Going to invest in some lessons when I retire at the end of this year. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/65 "2016-06-13T15:32:25Z")
I always thought when I was a grown up lady I would have a dressing table and work downtown. Never had either, although I interviewed and was offered a full time job “downtown”, where I worked already also offered me a full time job, had free parking, and a better schedule. I’ve had opportunities to own dressing tables but never really had the space for one. Also, obso seldom wear makeup. … its in one small case stashed under the bathroom sink. ---
**Author:** ![Whiskey\_Dickens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc348/32.png) [@Whiskey\_Dickens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whiskey_Dickens)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/66 "2016-06-13T15:57:37Z")
> [@seal\_cleaner](#): > > I was going to design my own house. I could afford to do it now, but seems like too much hassle and expense. Me too! Although I’m not sure that the indoor waterslide/missile launcher technology has caught up with my childhood plans yet. Probably never going to be a reality, but it would be fun to have individual rooms dedicated to each one of my hobbies, all connected by turbolifts. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/67 "2016-06-13T17:08:59Z")
There was a guy in our neighborhood that had a white Corvette with red and blue stripes with white stars. (Hey, here’s a [picture of one just like it!](http://www.corvettelegends.com/2015_corvette_mcacn_006.jpg)) I thought the guy that owned was Captain America and I vowed I would have a Captain America car when I grew up. ---
**Author:** ![Lowdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Lowdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lowdown)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/68 "2016-06-13T18:18:22Z")
A black Porsche 911 (930) Turbo. I was just revisiting this vow last week when we bought a new vehicle for my wife. It’ll be my turn for something new to drive when it’s paid off. I don’t think the Porsche is worth it, but my twelve-year-old self is kicking my ass over it. Of course, my twelve-year-old self also wants silver tinted windows on it, so his judgment is suspect. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/69 "2016-06-13T18:36:39Z")
Guitars and more guitars! I have over a dozen of them including a starburst '73 Les Paul Custom, a cream Fender Strat, a BC Rich Mockingbird, and a Fender EVH Wolfgang. Drumkit - Check A Chevy Bronco, I had a 2003 GMC Jimmy for about 10 years but now I’ve moved up to a Yukon XL. My kids have more Lego and/or Star Wars toys than I ever dreamed I’d have, including Light Sabre of every colour, the Millenium Falcon, X-Wing Fighters, Tie Fighters, etc. I forgot that I always wanted a Frisby dog ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Pabitel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbce88/32.png) [@Pabitel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pabitel)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/70 "2016-06-13T18:53:12Z")
Since I first used a PC back in the seventies ([Commodore PET](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET)) all I wanted was to own one. I’ve realized that dream 25 times or so. Not all at once of course. Starting with this beauty back in the early 80s =\> [ZX81](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX81) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/71 "2016-06-13T19:10:35Z")
Looks like I’m winning the pinball count, at 4, so that makes me the biggest idiot! 😃 I don’t care what any of you say, I _still_ want a Nash, an Isetta and a 2CV! > [@Sparky812](#): > > A Chevy Bronco… What’s that? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/72 "2016-06-13T20:00:47Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > I’m 48. When I was a preteen I wanted a go kart _really really_ badly. I never got one. ☹ > > I bought one a couple years ago. 🙂 I never got my go-kart either, I had saved up about $50 as a teen and that’s as far as I got. Maybe I’ll get one by the time I’m 48. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/73 "2016-06-13T21:10:51Z")
> [@ASGuy](#): > > Up until I completed college I wanted a pool table – big time. Four years later, when I had the money and space to get one, I realized it would quickly be relegated to occasional use and decided to pass. Never changed my mind. Funny—I’d always dreamed of having a house with a basement and a pool table in it. Last year, we bought a house and it CAME with a pool table in the basement. We used it a few times, but it took up too much damn room in the theater/gaming space. So now it has been shoved (with a great deal of effort) into a corner, and unless we end up finishing more of the basement at some point, it’s probably going to be given away. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/74 "2016-06-13T22:26:16Z")
I wanted all the things advertised in the back pages of comic books: Sea Monkeys, X-ray specs, a “lifesize” ghost, and the hovercraft. Somehow I couldn’t get it together to send in $3.75 + S&P (allow 18 months for delivery). ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2016, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/75 "2016-06-13T23:36:37Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I wanted all the things advertised in the back pages of comic books: Sea Monkeys, X-ray specs, a “lifesize” ghost, and the hovercraft. Somehow I couldn’t get it together to send in $3.75 + S&P (allow 18 months for delivery). Now that you have a credit card, do not even look at the [Johnson Smith catalog(s!).](http://www.johnsonsmith.com/) Or the [Accoutrements](http://accoutrements.com/shop/) site (by Archiw McPhee). Well, okay, you can look at the [UNICORN SQUIRREL FEEDER](http://accoutrements.com/shop/unicorn-squirrel-feeder.html). But then close that tab. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/76 "2016-06-14T01:46:35Z")
I really can’t recall anything as a kid. But… > [@JKellyMap](#): > > I recall being about nine years old and realizing that someday I could buy all the M&Ms I could eat. > > Funny how specific it was…not just any candy, but M&Ms. I was 22 or so, just out on my own (with my young son) for the first time ever, and I had an epiphany, right in the middle of the frozen food section of the supermarket. I had my own apartment. My own oven. I COULD MAKE TATER TOTS ANY TIME I WANT!!! We ate a lot of Tater Tots that first month. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/77 "2016-06-14T02:10:40Z")
When I was a young teen my ambition was to live on a houseboat. My 46 year old self still thinks it would be so cool but there are so many reasons why it’s impractical. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/78 "2016-06-14T07:57:24Z")
A large but tasteful house in the redwoods of Northern CA. Kind of like what Neil Young has done, but up along the coast. Of course, I was going to be filthy rich from inventing a fiberglass airplane using the Ragallo wing\*. This idea was formed in 1964 - about 20 years before plastic planes came along. I was wrong about the wing - it seems too twitchy and, I suspect, does NOT scale up. - - this is the simple, three poles and some fabric design seen in hang gliders and ultralights. It’s the triangular one. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/79 "2016-06-14T09:57:48Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I always wanted a model railway - and now I’ve got one running round the walls of my spare bedroom! 🆒 And here is a youtube video of my railway (doesn’t show the scenery that was added - perhaps it’s time for an update…) ---
**Author:** ![BrightSunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@BrightSunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrightSunshine)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064/80 "2016-06-14T10:35:39Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Who grows up wanting a 10k 3d printer? I didn’t even know those existed until a couple years ago. I don’t think kids who know about 3d printers are grown up yet. I knew about 3D printers in the late 80’s/early 90’s (from reading Scientific American where they are used for archeology/paleontology research or some such). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-vowed-youd-buy-when-you-were-a-grown-up/757064.md?page=5)