It all happened two months ago: my external hard disk drive started loose-threading, and my 3DS broke. The costs for buying and repairing these left me practically broke the next month, and I really would if not for the bonus that I finally got after four months.
A hard(drive) break
Then came the 25th of June when I couldn't seem to power it on anymore. My thought was that the adapter doesn't completely connect to its port anymore, I had to scavenge for another adapter to try turning it on at the risk of short-circuiting. When I was able to somehow get it to turn on, it was then that I decided to buy a new external HDD, and this time, a portable one, and the cost for buying it: P7,200.
As soon as I got back to the office from the mall, I formatted my newly bought 2-terabyte portable HDD and transferred all my files to it from my old one before it finally stops working. I still have it back in my place, and I'm still yet to give time to mount it on my old CPU for good.
P7,200 wouldn't have hurt if not for the flight I booked to Singapore worth approximately P11,000—That was an instant P18,000 gone poof.
Then just five days after that, my 3DS broke.
And I'm the reason for it.
Old habits die hard
It's because of these reasons that I'd broken a lot of PS3 controllers. Now, these same reasons are why I got my 3DS broken. Like they say, old habits die hard, but I should seriously try getting rid of the rage, before I start regretting more damages.
I went to two different repair shops to have it diagnosed. One said that it might be the upper LED screen that got busted, and I'd have to wait for a week for them to have a replacement part. The other one thought it was the main circuit board, so I readied myself on buying a new 3DS just in case he was right.
Because I was ready to buy another 3DS, I had Nintendo disconnect my Nintendo Network ID from my 3DS. Not only did they disconnected my NNID, they also deactivated my Club Nintendo account in the process. Now I'm trying to get them to reactivate it because I don't want to lose my points from the games I purchased legitimately just because.
Also I still pushed through with trying to have my 3DS repaired, and it took me three weeks of waiting for the repair shop to finally have a replacement part. The technician was able to make it somehow work again somehow, and I paid P4,000 for the repairs, but it's a fact that it was not 100% anymore. The volume switch had been glitchy that the volume mutes or blares out on its own, and everytime I access my system settings and close it, the D-pad moves by itself. I thought of putting my plan to buy a new 3DS on hold to somehow get used to playing on my newly (semi-)repaired 3DS, but it didn't take me a week to want to buy a new one.
I recalled that my nephew owned a 3DS that he rarely used, so I asked my sister—his mom—if he would be willing to sell it to me. He agreed to sell it to me for 30% less than the original cost, so I'll be paying him P7,000 by installment.
Since I had just shelled out P4,000 for the repair of my old 3DS, it's still as if I bought a brand-new one. My great regret in all this is that my old 3DS didn't even reach an anniversary and I was not able to salvage my saved game data from my old 3DS, but I was able to transfer the ambassador game that went with it to my new 3DS.
I have broken so many of my gaming paraphernalia, and it seems that I still haven't completely learned my lesson in handling my computer rage. At least, this time, I'll be forced to really keep my calm, and that's a challenge I'm willing to accept, lest I want to spend another thousands of bucks to replace my broken stuff.
But my new portable HDD and 3DS are not the only reasons why I got near-broke come July; I also had to pay my credit card balance worth at least P11,000 due to the flight I booked to Singapore.
I wonder when my wallet will get a break.