When I was younger I always wanted to build my own computer. I'm old enough to have grown up through the full and mid-tower PC years, and the notion of building my own box fell square in the center of my nerdy interests. And this had nothing to do with gaming! I was a kid that played almost exclusively with LEGO and loved computers, so the idea of finding and choosing all the right components to make something which suited my personal needs? Irresistible.
But I didn't grow up in a house with money. Nor did I have a lot of discretionary income in college. So at best, I would pour through computer magazines and catalogs (and eventually discount component retailers online) pricing out power supplies, cases, motherboards, etc., fantasizing about a future when I could finally build my dream machine.
As I neared the end of college, my computing needs and preferences changed. I wanted to switch to Apple's macOS ecosystem, and once I could afford it after graduation, I bought my first MacBook Pro. My next machine was an iMac for better performance scanning and processing photos on a larger screen, and that was that. I’ve never become much of a gamer, and I'm not such a tinkerer that I’ve considered putting together a Hackintosh (and the potential software complications that entails), so my youthful desire to build my own computer sort of faded.
Of course now there are bikes. Yeah, I know, I don't shut up about them. But I'm finding that working on my own bike (and hopefully, someday soon, trying to build some of my own) seems to scratch that itch from the past. Trying out new components, experimenting with different setups and configurations, tailoring the ride comfort and capabilities, etc. There are so many things to learn and research and improve that I feel like I'll never run out of things to play around with. I can can build and refine bikes to suit my needs and aesthetic preferences until I'm too old to ride!