Hey, with USAF last week, F2 and Nations this week, and B-17II and F-18 just around the corner, I feel like a kid just opening gifts at Christmas. So USAF has a few bugs (they all do), it's fun.

That's why we do this over and over. The people who do this flight sim thing (guilty as charged) are fortunate beyond other people's belief. We have found a "fountain of youth" so to speak. No matter what hobbies that your friends or family have, how many of them can get that fuzzy feeling of anticipation right before the release of another sim (good or bad).

Playing games does not make us young, but we have that same feeling that we had as a child, something that 99% of people on the planet lose and never regain and the best part is that if they keep releasing them we get to have Christmas (or Hanukkah or a birthday or whatever) every few months. What is even funnier is how history repeats itself just for us. We got excited when we got our model airplanes and trains and Big Wheels those are the Christmas days that we remember. Then we "matured" and started getting jackets and underwear and socks. I do not remember those days as much because I never had that feeling of anticipation.

Now at 32, I get Flight sims, rudder pedals, and RAM for birthdays, Christmas, and Anniversaries. I FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN !. Not only do I feel like a kid again, you friends and family will notice that you have regained something. They do not know what it is and they may even resent you for it. If they do, give them time and they will come around.

Last year, my 78 year old mother gave me EAW for Christmas, and I noticed her giggling with my wife about their "grown up" kid. How cool! Slip in a CDROM, stretch out your throttle fingers and laugh at all those people getting old out there.

Diver Dan

October 1999