WHAT A WEEK….
I was planning on writing up a bigger post, and it’s still in the works, but I decided both rushing it and trying to start off with a big post was not the best idea. Work my way up into it. Works for me, and IT’LL WORK FOR YOU, DAMNIT!!!
Earlier this week, me and my friends made a trip over the state line, to the dark side of Kansas (also known as Kansas). What was going to be a two hour or so trip to a few stops became a 6-7 hour marathon, but I’ll be dipped if it wasn’t a fun time for all.
We started off with a trip to Nerd Nation, probably the best mom-and-pop videogame store in Kansas City (haven’t been to ALL of them, so I can’t say for certain). The selection in this store is incredible, and the staff is fantastic. I’ll have much more to say about this place another time, (hence why I’m not divulging too much about how the trip went). I really do owe it to them. And if you’re into retro gaming on any level; looking to pad out a collection or just hunt down a random classic from your childhood, this is the place to be.
After that, we also visited Fred’s Train Shop. One of our friends has had a fascination with model/toy trains since he was little, and we decided to treat him with a trip here. We were thinking it’d be some little dinky shop. OH HEAVENS NO. This was a time capsule in store form. Model trains are an expensive hobby for sure, and this store enforced that (though I came to find most of the prices were more than reasonable considering what they actually go for). I don’t know a Lionel train from a TYCO train, but to see a friend of mine geek out and gasp and get excited so much was so awesome. Catching the secondhand smoke from their own joy vicariously was worth the trip all on its own…..even if I had no clue what he was talking about. I just wish they had a Kansas City Southern shirt in his size, I’d have totally paid for it.
Our final stop was to the Pan-Asia Market. I’m always a sucker for foreign goods, even if just to try out stuff that’s not familiar to my palette and getting to see so many different goods that we typically don’t see stateside outside of snack challenge/weird food tiktoks was great. I also grabbed me some takoyaki and a brown sugar and salted caramel boba tea. Good stuff, even if the combination of those two items probably wasn’t…..proper. If you know, then you know why I don’t need to explain dairy products and “fried squid ball” is a bad combination. And if you don’t know, then….ya know…re-read that last sentence and ask yourself if that combination would play nice in your stomach. Ahhh, the mistakes we make when EVERYTHING on the menu sounds yummy.
All in all, it was a fun time to go with friends and dive into these super-specific niches we all share.
Own that weirdness and find people that’ll abide in it with you, and abide in theirs as they abide in yours. Abide. Abide. If you’re reading this post out loud in your head (just as I’m hearing it out loud in mine as I type), that word is starting to sound funny. Abide.
You are loved, you are appreciated, and you matter.
Check out Nerd Nation at:
6224 Nieman Rd.
Shawnee, KS 66203
https://nerdnation.us/
And check out Fred’s Train Shop at:
8909 Santa Fe Dr.,
Overland Park, KS 66212
https://www.fredstrainshop.com/
Just Ed Things 