For me it is computers. When I was a teenager I always had computers that were several generations old. No money to buy anything better. I couldn’t play the latest games and was very jealous of my friends that had better machines.
Today I have enough money to buy any computer I like yet I have one that’s a couple years old that I got second-hand. I don’t care about games anymore so I do not need a powerful computer
In the winter of 1979, when I was 12, I went through about a 3-day phase where I was full-out obsessed with ice fishing. For some reason, cutting a hole in some ice and waiting for fish to come just seemed like the greatest idea ever.
For one reason and another, I never went. I don’t even know now why I wanted to.
At some point between the time I wanted a brachiosaurus (kindergarten) and the time I wanted a velociraptor (4th grade maybe), I wanted a horse. And or ballet lessons. Too much girly influence at school, I’m guessing.
At any rate, that didn’t stick. Now, it’s hard to think of a large animal more boring than a horse, except for maybe a sheep. (Although let’s see someone make a sweater out of a horse!)
I think I had wild ideas of becoming fabulously wealthy like the people on the infomercials, finding priceless rings that people had lost on the beach and gold coins and other nonesuch items that would make me wonderfully, swimming-in-pools-of-money rich.
I never got around to thinking exactly where I would do this metal detecting. I lived on the west side of Detroit, for heaven’s sake. Weren’t no beaches around my house. Especially not ones where anyone would be dropping diamond rings around. Nor were there any gold coins just lying around, casually buried under six centimeters of sand.
I never figured out what I would DO with said precious items once I got them. Besides automatically convert them into, I don’t know, gold bullion or something.
The sight of a nine-year-old wielding a metal detector bigger than she was would probably be cause for massive hilarity among my parents, friends, and relatives.
An Easy-Bake oven. Oh, I would have killed for one of these when I was a kid! Now it just looks like a lot of time spent baking a cake that isn’t even big enough to taste.
A Baby Alive doll. Who needs it? I’ve had the real thing three times over, and have changed all the diapers I’ll ever want to. And anyway, an old doll could never fill my heart the way my kids have.
A Pontiac Fiero. Before I could drive this was my dream car. I loved, loved, loved this car. Once I got to a place in my life where I could have one I hated them.
A huge salt water fish tank. Nowdays it just says “high maintenance” to me.
I really really really wanted a dog when I was a kid.
I begged and pleaded with my parents, but I was never allowed to have any pet larger than a hamster (and even that took months of wheedling to achieve).
Now that my parents don’t have any input on which pets I can and can’t have, I could theoretically adopt a dog. Thing is, I don’t want to have to run home right after work because the dog wants a walk, and I don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding a dog sitter or a kennel whenever I go away for more than a day… so I’d be a pretty crappy owner at this stage of my life (and besides, the cats would NEVER forgive me for it).
It’s not to say that I couldn’t make it work if I really really really wanted it, but I just don’t want a dog that badly anymore.
A really good telescope. I went through a several-year phase in which I was obsessed with stargazing. I had a very low-end refracting telescope (the kind that was the least expensive in the Sears catalog), but was sure that if I had a really top-of-the-line reflecting scope with one of those motorized altazimuth mountings I’d really be SET.
Other than occasionally checking out the night sky to see which constellations I remember and surfing to APOD daily, I don’t even really think about astronomy anymore.
I remember when I was a kid loving the 4th of July and begging my parents to buy the big expensive fireworks (at the local huts). They’d always buy some, but they pointed out that the professional show at the fairgrounds was far better than anything we could do at home, and it was free, too.
I was absolutely sure that as soon as I was 18, I was going to buy myself all those awesome fireworks to set off. Turns out that my parents were right. The professional shows are way better (and still free).
A swimming pool. When I was a kid, owning your own personal swimming pool – a real in=ground ce-ment pond – struck me as the height of luxury. Now, as a homeowner, having to maintain a pool strikes me as a major pain in the ass. Don’t have one, don’t want one, thanks.
I’m with Jodi on the swimming pool. My parents bought a house with a swimming pool 5 years ago, and they curse it on a regular basis. Speaking as the person who longed for a pool during childhood but has to deal with helping to clean one (when I’m at the house) in adulthood…I don’t think it’s worth it unless you live in a year round warm climate and away from trees. I don’t know what moron decided a pool in New England on land that is surrounded by extremely tall pine trees would be a good idea.
Someone–possibly on this board, but I’m not sure–once said that the huge irony of life is that, as a child, you want all the candy you can get but are not allowed to eat it, and as an adult you can eat all the candy you wish but don’t want to anymore.
The reason for that may well be that we want what we can’t have. Once we can have it, we don’t really want it because we only wanted it because we couldn’t have it.
Now I couldn’t be bothered with the expense, the upkeep - any of it. I suppose if I was stupid-freakin’ rich it would be something I would end up acquiring along with lots of other silly bling…but even then, maybe not.
A horse. I so extremely badly wanted a horse but was never allowed one. I remember making plans for ages and ages about how we could fit a horse into the back garden and how I would look after it around school. I think I gave up on this dream when I was about 15. Now I can settle for riding other people’s horses until I win the lottery.
However, I didn’t ever want anything as a child. I neeeeeeeeeded things. “Mum, I neeeeeeed that Barbie Doll, pllleeeassse?” Thankfully I have also grown out of that and can now recognise the difference between a need and a want.
And even if you want to, you’ve grown to recognize the all the reasons living on candy is a bad idea.
I wanted a horse. I still love them, but I think even if I was extremely wealthy, I’d probably go to a stable and rent someone else’s horse to ride, rather than getting my own.
I don’t think I’d be able to give it enough attention.
A trip to Disney World. I was completely obsessed with the idea of going to Disney World. I knew all the rides, would fantasize about meeting the characters, and thought that Epcot Center looked like the coolest thing on the planet. I would have killed to go.
Now, meh. It seems like an overpriced vacation. I’d rather go someplace else with our limited vacation time.