Well, I knew the time would come, and I have dreaded this dastardly time in my life to come, but I think after over 20 years of PC gaming, I am almost done with it. Now, you did notice that I said “almost”, right? I am not there yet, but I have seen the signs that the moment it is just around the corner.
Please let me explain those signs a little further. For the past week, as normal, I have sat down behind my PC at about 6-7pm CST, as I normally do almost 7 days a week, and contemplate what I want to do for the evening. What games to play before 9-10pm CST, when two very good friends of mine normally appear on Ventrilo to play BF1942, and I sometimes come up a blank slate. I normally end up watching a couple of old television programs from hulu.com, which is normally “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” or “Babylon 5″. I watched the later series for the first couple of seasons, but lost contact after that, so I am starting the series from episode one and am going to watch them all. I sort of like the science fiction type of television programs that came out in the 70’s and 80’s.
After I watch about two episodes, I look through my wide variety of games to play and each and every one looks bland and somewhat unexciting to me. Is that being just bored with PC gaming OR something deeper? I also have caught myself not even signing onto the team’s Ventrilo till about 9pm CST, as well. But on the other side of the coin there on that, when I play single-player games I definitely prefer to “lose myself” into the game and action, without any type of distractions too. I have always been that way, and since I have been playing “Splinter Cell”, “Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow” and “HL2: Ep2″ single-player games a lot within the past months, that is the reason why all of my friends have not seen me around much until about 9pm CST. But now since I have finished those 3 games twice over, is when I have noticed my lack of interest in PC gaming. Is this because there is no good titles worth playing on the market or is the dreaded “change in life” I have been referring to? I still like playing BF1942, so don’t get me wrong here on that account, but everything else is unimportant to me and I catch myself watching more TV, on TV, more and more at night.
Now some of these signs might be considered a strand of being in a state of depression, and that is probably true in a couple of senses of the word. I have been battling with a roofing company to get started on replacing my 23+ year old roof, which has leaks when it rains, along with a household Air Conditioner which is on its last legs as well. The later, the A/C, is no problem, I have a contractor that has given me a generous offer, and he will be accomplishing the replacement of my entire A/C-Heating System, but I do not want to schedule the A/C guys when I am expecting the roofers to come. I believe they both would be in each others way, and the fact that I do not have that much parking spaces around my house to accommodate the amount of trucks or vehicles that are expected. I was advised on Wednesday, June 11th, from the roofing company’s owner that they should be able to start work on Monday or Tuesday. If that comes true then I can call and have the A/C work accomplished on Thursday or Friday, or even on the next Monday or Tuesday. I think that if I do not get a call from the roofing company by Monday afternoon, then I will tell them to not come around till the next week and go ahead and schedule the A/C Work for this coming week.
So is my lack of PC Gaming drive be considered a “change of life”, a sign of a strain of depression over my domestic problems, or a combination of both? I really cannot say myself, but playing PC games right now, other than BF1942, has almost grounded to a halt. I also will not play BF1942 unless I am playing it with my friends, because I will not play it alone. So what do you think?
For Our Troops
By Brooke O’Neill Emery
MEMORIAL DAY, 2008
FOR OUR TROOPS (both past and present, but particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan at present)
Though I don’t know your name
And I have never seen your face
I shed tears for you.
Though my memories don’t contain a time
We shared together
I miss you.
Though we are not related
You are in my thoughts.
When I’m eating, or taking a shower, or doing housework,
I think of you, knowing how much you wish you could be at home,
Your stomach full, doing mundane chores such as cleaning your house,
Clean from a fresh shower.
Though you are at terrible risk, and perhaps may not survive,
You are NEVER ALONE, and will always be alive
If only in our spirits, hopes and memories, our dreams for your future.
There are MILLIONS of people praying for you tonight
And throughout the day.
Praying for your safely and return as a whole person
In mind, body and spirit.
We are crying because we know. We know you are scared, and lonely.
And that you’d give anything to see your family, to hug you mother, father.
Your child, sister, brother, aunt, uncle.
To be showered with love and comfort,
Instead of sand and shrapnel.
We long for you too, with an ache so desperate as to make us insane.
To touch your face, see your smile; share your laughter and your tears.
We love you so much soldiers, you cannot know. You cannot fathom the swelling of pride in our chest as we think of you.
Of your courage and your sacrifice, the hope that you can come home soon.
And those that have returned, we have not forgotten you; you are in our prayers,
That you may recover from your experience and be healed.
No matter what anyone says, not matter the reason you are there,
You are a UNITED STATES SOLDIER, and you make us PROUD!!
Every day for that beautiful flag, for our great fortune to be Americans.
There are no politics, no scandals, no mistakes, NOTHING, which can diminish the sentiment we have for you.
And even as democracy permits free speech, as it should, which some may use to make judgments or cast aspersions,
Remember always, we know you’d rather be on the couch debating it with us than spending your days trying just to stay alive.
Let no “freedom of speech’ EVER make you doubt the American people’s faith in and love for you.
We are PROUD!
I’ve never met you, but I want you to know that I love you.
I’m praying for you.
I honor you.
I’m waiting for your return.
On this Memorial Day, 2008, and every day,
Please know that you are being though of.
WE MISS YOU.
GOD BLESS YOU and keep you until the day we can celebrate face to face.
First off my name is Tom , also known as the “NightCrawler”. For 33 years I was employed in the Law Enforcement & Security Fields, and just recently I “early” retired. I spent 20 years in the United States Air Force specializing in the Law Enforcement career field from 1972 to 1992, and after I retired from the USAF, I began work in the security consultant field. In November 2005, after spending 13 years with a major worldwide military insurance provider, I decided that after I had a very healthy “nest egg” saved up that I would “early” retire to spend more time with my family and do things that I prefer. What are those things, you might ask? Well it is writing about my experiences while PC gaming, developing websites, publishing news stories for websites like Gamedrome.com, SimHQ.com, and my own PCGameNews.net, that I like accomplishing these days.
I do not know the exact month back in 1988 I first started out playing PC Games, but I started playing PC games on the Commodore Amiga System. (**As a matter of Fact, I still have that old machine, and YES it does still work!**) Some members may have heard of this computer gaming system, some may not other than it probably is listed as a “father figure” for the modern PC Gaming and Graphics outbreak But my first on-line gaming experience, that I was “forced” to play by a friend and fellow co-worker of mine, was the original “Delta Force” via telephone modem. We had many hours of fun playing that game, along with several other co-workers, and neighbors, during the week off work.
The rest is history. In 2001, while playing the EA game of Medal of Honor, I joined my first internet gaming “Team” the [420thSS]. Then in November 2003, I moved on to another Medal of Honor Spearhead “Team”, the [MoRg] (Militia of Rogue Gunslingers). Then in mid-July 2004, I ended up joining the JGC, to play the game of Joint Operations. That group then reformed itself in March of 2005 into a group named the Allied War Gamers, or AWG for short. I was the leader there until I moved on to help a friend form another Joint Operations “Team” named the Joint Game Corps, or the JGC again. I seem to always go back to those letters for some reason, probably because that was some of the best times I have had in my PC gaming career.
Well I guess everyone in the whole gaming world has been waiting for my story to this subject, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the X-Men, I can promise you. I hope everyone has an hour or so to read my story, because I can assure you, that you will fall asleep before halfway through. So here it goes, along with first a little “history” of “The NightCrawler”:
My Gaming Name is NightCrawler, I have gone by that name ever since I have been playing PC Games. I came by that name in a way that is kind of hard to translate, BUT it has nothing to do with the X-Men’s Nightcrawler. Other players would say, sure right, BUT truly I did not come by that name that way. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even know there was an X-Man character of this name because I did not read comic books and didn’t keep up with them. Back in the mid to late 70’s, I had a CB Radio “handle” or Call sign of NightOwl for which I really don’t know how I came across that, other than that was what my mom called me, while I was in High School, because I stayed out late at night most of the time all week. Then sometime in 1981, when I was stationed in the country of Turkey, with the USAF, my friends on my Law Enforcement Shift started calling me Crawler for some reason. I guess because I had a “knack” of sneaking somehow up to people in the act of theft, or other violations of the law. So when I was brainstorming a good game name for myself back in 1988, I came to the idea of combining my two (2) nicknames that I had into ONE. Henceforth, the name NightCrawler came into being, for me anyway. There are MANY with that name in the gaming world right now, and I can bet that the majority of them are named that due to the X-Men movies. Even in Single-Player games, when I am able to create a character name, my name would and will still be NightCrawler.
And here we ALL are, in the present, getting ready to play Battlefield Vietnam and Joint Operations, and more as the JGC. What a future we have as a “Team”. May the JGC Rule.