The damn moving companies lost my toolboxes. And it isn't like I had great tools in there or anything -- a few rasps, a multimeter, a cheapo soldering iron and supplies -- but what I had was tuned perfectly for arcade projects. I finally got my soldering setup like I wanted it.

The biggest loss, though, is the entire set of Japanese controls I had specially ordered:

• A Sanwa JLF-TP-8Y joystick (the identical stick used in the Versus City cabinets in Japan),
• Fourteen Sanwa arcade buttons to match Tekken and Virtua Fighter configurations,
• A custom 8-way joystick restrictor plate to provide smoother circular motion, and
• A 5-way harness for wiring the stick up.

You can't buy this stuff in the US; you have to get lucky enough to find somebody who is placing a bulk order with the Japanese manufacturer and get in with them on that order. I searched for nearly a year for this stuff.

And now it's gone. Daaaaaaaaaaammiiiiiiiiiiittt...