Originally Posted by
Byrthnoth
I returned home from the Korean War a changed man. There was little light in my life, but the strong social pressures of the 50s still forced an unfortunate woman to shack up with my sadsack ass and whelp some children.
The malaise lasted until the late 80s, when Japanese semiconductors became cheap enough that interesting electronic gadgets were everywhere and computers started getting more accessible for personal use. I retired around then, but picked up a part-time job at a Fry's Electronics to keep busy. I was so good at it that the manager convinced me to go full-time. They called me "that old wizard" and would send me all the elder customers with tricky TV problems.
Through my pensions and Fry's discount, I got a 2400 baud modem, paid for my CompuServe digits, and became an early form of what would eventually come to be known as a shit poster on the early BBSs. My kids had long since left home at this point and my wife divorced me, so I had plenty of time for making elaborate, offensive ASCII art. I feel deep regret about the dark years and my subsequent relationship with my family, particularly my wife, but apologies don't fix the past and it is kinder to let them all forget me. I wish her and Larry the best.
Anyway, Fry's eventually became too much for me, but before I left one of the young whippersnappers turned me on to video games. They aren't good for anything, but I'm not good for anything anymore either. It's perfect!
I started FFXI around the PS2 release just shy of my 70th birthday. I met good friends and told them all I was "like 12", which was only a couple decades off. It felt like I was back at Fry's without leaving my house! Anyway, my reactions weren't the best and sometimes people suspected that I was old due to my precise spelling, grammar, and punctuation, but no one ever got me onto Ventrillo or that Discord thing to confirm it. I wasn't a swift typer and had pretty slow reactions, but FFXI was forgiving and my friends and I made it to endgame anyway.
As I reach my 90th, I can truly say that the electronics boom brought light to my life and FFXI kept it burning for the last 20 years...
What was the question again? Haha! Just kidding. Old man humor. Anyway, I have been on BG since idk (I don't know) when but idk (I do know) why. I came here to read salvage strategies because the community sites were updating too slowly and salvage was too complicated to figure it out alone.
Hope you fellas have a nice day!