Everyone else is sharing, so I will too -- but not an appendix surgery story, just a generic surgery story - and how it lead to pinball!

First, I analyze EVERYTHING before spending a penny. I knew I wanted to buy a pin, but I always researched everything to death, and then spend weeks going back and forth with myself on whether I should spend the money or not. We all know pins don't last weeks, so I had never bought one.

So anyway, early last year I had to have surgery on my ankle -- I had a tendon that was ready to rupture. Not life threatening like an appendix, but it made walking difficult. The surgery was no big deal - but I had to be off my feet for a few weeks and on pain meds for the first week. I was told I should take the pain pills every few hours, even if it didn't hurt -- because if I stopped, the pills wouldn't be able to stop the pain anymore. So I did. And was pretty loopy in general on them (hated it).

The day after the surgery, I was on Pinside and saw a T2 on sale for $1900, and they were willing to ship. It was in decent shape considering the age - had some playfield wear, but everything worked. It was in NY, so would have to be shipped to me. I was super excited and told my wife (who was home, taking care of me) and, all drugged up, said, "Should I buy it?" She said, "Sure, go ahead." And I literally bought the machine about 5 minutes after it was posted, without any thinking at all, thanks to the pain pills. In hindsight, I probably should've waited for a local one because the $400 shipping ate into the good deal, but since I was high, I didn't analyze it at all. And I don't regret it as it's helped me learn a lot (although I have a LONG way to go)..

If not for the surgery, I still might not have a pin to call my own because I was too scared to pull the trigger on anything. Now I have 3.