As long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the vibey.

Long before I was ever diagnosed as being hard of hearing, I can remember being enthralled by immersive environments and quirky gadgets. My deficiency in one area resulted in an affinity in another. This continues to this day and is a big reason why The Hidden Haptic exists.

One memory I have in particular relates to visiting the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. In this mall, there used to be a store called DAPY. Think of it as a predecessor to Spencer Gifts or Waterbeds N’ Stuff. I don’t think there were adult toys… but maybe my parents just didn’t let me see them.

It was shortly after this time frame that Dexter’s Laboratory became a thing on Cartoon Network. I used to fantasize about making my own lab. But it wasn’t really about the science. It was about creating my own private immersive universe with an unlimited supply of Lava Lamps, Neon Clocks, motion machines, strobe lights, colored lights… you get the idea.

But anyway… DAPY was a store that as far I knew at the time, was only in this specific mall in southern Florida. I had my routine down. A visit to the Discovery Channel Store. A visit to DAPY. Getting candy from Sweet Factory. Truly a vaporwave fever dream in retrospect.

Over time I built a collection of apparatuses. I included some below. Do you remember any of these?

Who remembers the perpetual motion machine that kind of looks like a model for an atom? I had one of these on my dresser growing up.

The Christmas morning I unwrapped a blue lava lamp, pictured above, was one of the best Christmas mornings ever. I got a lot of mileage out of that thing.

Who remembers the color disco ball light? I had no interest in dancing to this. I have a distinct memory of listening to a Now That’s What I Call Music compilation in my room, in the dark but with this thing on. Just completely zoned out to Everclear’s “AM Radio” playing at full blast in my headphones. And then being embarrassed when my mom found me in my room whilst zoned out.

At some point I added a neon yellow colored strobe light (pictured above) to my zone out in the dark routine. I remember convincing my parents to buy me one at DAPY and then eagerly testing it out in the bathroom in our vacation condo.

Did you do anything like this growing up? Can you relate to the above? What gadgets did you own? Let us know in the comments.