Habits you have because of anything Spectrum

[worcestersource]

We have an under-the-counter fridge in our kitchen and whenever I open it, I crouch down to the death tune of Mr Wimpy being killed. Somehow in my head, I’m shrinking into the floor.

My teenage son asked me why I did this and thought I was crazy at my explanation.

But it got me thinking what else, at the age of 46, do I apparently do because I still think I’m a kid playing Spectrum games? Turns out I like jumping up kerbs, either legs outstretched or walking in the air like Henhouse Harry and, of course, making noises as I do it.

Son says this isn’t normal. Is he right?

[flatduckrecords]

Hahaha. I’m not sure it’s from any specific game but it’s a lot ^* of fun, when you are taking a swig of some juice, to make cartoony glug-glug noises as if you’re drinking a magic potion. Throw a hero pose for maximum effect. I do it all the time.

* a bit

[stupidget]

When faced with stairs I have to be really careful. If I walk straight towards them, I’m ok, and continue upwards, but if I decide to do my signature ‘jump’ before them I fall straight through!!!

[R-Tape]

It's not quite the same, but I often absent mindedly press F1 when a piece of software is running slower than I'd like. It's a shame my laptop doesn't have an option to speed up the processor a hundred times like my Speccy emulator.

[Alessandro]

Typing quickly without looking at the keyboard. So many text adventures played in my youth.

[zup]

I'm unable to remember where the symbols are placed in my mobile keyboard (it doesn't help that every Android mobile puts them on different places). Strangely, I always try to obtain * from the b key...

[R-Tape]

I'm unable to remember where the symbols are placed in my mobile keyboard (it doesn't help that every Android mobile puts them on different places). Strangely, I always try to obtain * from the b key...

Yep, and also I keep wanting to use 8 and 9 for brackets, not the bloody 9 and 0!

[ionut76]

When I am walking on tiles I always expect one to lower a bit and something to open. Also, I collect tapes, all kinds of cables, various parts of computers etc., they have to fit somewhere for sure.

[Timmy]

I've learned English from playing text adventures. So every time I read on this site it's because of that.

[1024MAK]

Hmm, collecting. Because I occasionally ran out of blank tapes back when I originally used my Speccy everyday (well, almost everyday), I developed a slight tendency to, err, always have plenty of spares.

This continued with VHS tapes, recordable CDs, DVDs, CF cards, SD cards, USB memory sticks, HDDs etc…

Although my backup routine is, err, far from routine , I do have backups going back over twenty years. As I don’t reuse the backup media or HDDs. It’s just easier to buy a new, larger HDD…

And all because the lady loves Milk Tray, err, sorry, and all because I hated losing my latest, err, masterpiece of programming!

Mark

PS, I’m currently enjoying a chocolate from a box of Milk Tray

[Waldroid]

Yep, and also I keep wanting to use 8 and 9 for brackets, not the bloody 9 and 0!

You know, I can touch-type pretty quickly, but when it comes to punctuation on the top row I always stop and peer along the number keys to find the symbol I'm after.

Perhaps that's why?

[worcestersource]

You know, I can touch-type pretty quickly, but when it comes to punctuation on the top row I always stop and peer along the number keys to find the symbol I'm after.

Perhaps that's why?

I think I’m the same. I commented to my students how I hit the wrong keys for brackets and now I know the reason why!

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Thanks to the Spectrum I learn to write on a typewriter soon by typing up so many BASIC lists from the magazines.

[SteveSmith]

BITD Sinclair User had a "Next Month" feature one month where they wrote some words phonetically in the style of some mutants. I've recenty realised that when I'm idly talking to myself, I'll often say something like "[something something] as usual", but instead of saying "as usual", I say "as uzjarl", taken from that article.

[catmeows]

1) Wearing t-shirt with stripes when loading car.
2) Walking in mid-air when I jump
3) Changing in werewolf in night
4) Pretending work and hoping my boss will not cast disbelieve



I strongly prefer paper with squares to make notes or when I'm just doodling. I guess I designed too many UDG characters in school.

[Joefish]

I strongly prefer paper with squares to make notes or when I'm just doodling. I guess I designed too many UDG characters in school.

Definitely this! It just makes so much more sense, as even when just making notes you can rotate the page and you still have lines to write on! the squares guide you when you're sketching outlines and are perfect for copying down passwords and email addresses, one square per letter so you don't mistake them.

There are a couple of us engineers at work insist they keep a couple of squared logbooks next to the lined ones in the stationary store. A lot of European school notebooks use squared paper, some alternate between ruled and squared paper. I buy them up whenever they show up in LIDL.

[PeteProdge]

Being so used to getting pretty damned good games for just two quid back in the day, I'm notoriously frugal with buying new games. The most modern console I have is a PlayStation 3, and I can count the amount of games I have for that on the fingers of one hand. I bought Grand Theft Auto Five second-hand from CEX, and a few other titles via re-release labels (the modern day equivalent of The Hit Squad or Kixx).

(That's not to say I didn't spend upwards of £60 on the very latest Call Of Duty last year for the PS5, but that was for my nephew's Christmas present and now he thinks I'm awesome.)

[bluespikey]

It could play all your Spectrum games as well.

[1024MAK]

Is that a Hobbit (Хоббит)?

Mark

[bluespikey]

Almost forgot. I played a lot of Feud back in the day. One day I had a walk out into the overgrown fields that were marked for a housing development with my aunt. She pointed the weeds that had started to grow with pretty flowers, like ragwort. I got quite excited that ragwort was an actual thing and not made up just for the game. Snapdragons, fox gloves, burdock. I became an amateur botanist at spotting scratty weeds.

[worcestersource]

Not into classical music, but I can recognise classical pieces thanks to many a Speccy game. Hall of the Mountain King, Greensleeves, Four Seasons, Radetzky Marsch etc.

Could be a good quiz? Match the piece to the game. More than one answer!

[Lee Bee]

My mum's disabled and I have to stretch her legs up and down every evening. This motion is often accompanied by my rendition of the Manic Miner jumping sound

[jpnz]

The equipment I test has a quick setup command called the Jump Start Wizard - I use this pretty much every day

[zxbruno]

Certain numbers are stuck in my mind forever and I use them in various things. Numbers such as 16384, 23613, 23658, 6912, etc.

[TMD2003]

Certain numbers are stuck in my mind forever and I use them in various things. Numbers such as 16384, 23613, 23658, 6912, etc.

That sounds like a number that should be stuck in my head but isn't. Consulting the manual now...

...ERR SP. No, I haven't got that far with machine code programming yet.