Another deleted goodbye

[phyllis_p]

I started Simming when my son (then 14) asked for The Sims for Christmas and Livin' Large for his birthday in January.  My kids and I had always played computer games together.  I used to play the old Sierra games (Kings Quest, Leisure Suit Larry) on my Tandy, and the kids would watch.  It went a long way to teaching them to type and spell, because the commands were on a parser interface -- had to be typed in, and worded in a particular way in order to work.

As hubby and I grew apart (he's a knowledge Sim who's low on playful points), I grew more involved in online communities and eventually met my sweetie that way (on the TS1 BBS, as a matter of fact).  Sweetie and I have been together 2 years now.  Our computers are in the same room, and we are often Simming simultaneously and saying, "Hey, look at this!."  Something I think the method of our meeting taught us, though, is to always make time to spend with our hands on each other instead of the keyboard (and I don't necessarily mean that in a sexual sense  ).  We end each day cuddled on the couch watching Futurama or Family Guy or something.

P

[hyperCat]

When it gets down to just the two of you, the other person isn't always the same as on the chat/forum.

Very true, but it was a good thing in my case. I met my husband on IRC, in a channel for Neverwinter Nights. He was what I call a "jackass", constantly teasing and mocking everyone. I was attracted to that type of personality (and his English accent) and he was attracted to mine, so we decided to meet. Thankfully, his rudeness was just a façade and I found a sweet and romantic man underneath. Few months later, we were married and I moved to England. I got him into the Sims just last week when his computer broke and there was nothing to play but my games, bwahaha! It was that or Baldur's Gate and he was having none of the 2D animation, so Sims it was. He loves telling me what his elven romance sim has been up to--mainly shagging everything in sight.

[Brynne]

Am I the only one who started on Intellivision?
I went from being one of those people who just didn't understand the whole internet obsession (my mom and my friends would tell me I just *had* to get an email account. I didn't understand. Why? I have a phone.). My mom would try to sell me on the joys of internet surfing. Again, I didn't get it. I have books. It wasn't until some of my old college friends started emailing each other that I got into the fun. I met my husband in college (I was a little sister to his fraternity) and I was really excited to hear from my old frat guy buddies again. Even if it meant learning how to turn on the computer.
That evolved into cautious exploration of the internet, and many panicky situations such as the time I thought it would be best not to tell my husband I had just performed an illegal operation and caused Explorer to shut down. I'd just stoically wait until the feds came to my door. I would call hubby into the office in a panic "Jay! The toolbar is running vertically up the screen! I screwed up! I'm so sorry!" . And I once accidentally signed up for AOL, when I only meant to get AIM. That was a really bad thing to do. And while instant messaging one of my old college friends, I actually had to call Jay in to ask what "Rawfmalowl" meant. Jay ever so patiently explained it was actually "roflmao".
My parents gave me my mom's old Thinkpad 600E, so I got brave and started figuring things out. That machine barely met the specs, but I was able to have all the sims1 eps on it. But it was sloooooow.
Funny, because now my mom and my friends call me asking for computer advice. I'm self-taught, thanks to that old ThinkPad. I've made so many mistakes, but managed to figure them out all by my little self. Now I have my new Sims2 compatible laptop, and it hasn't exploded. Yet.

[Dark Trepie]

Wow, you people are making me feel pretty young.  Only 25 here.

I started out on an Atari 2600 when I was about 6 or 7 years old.  Once I got a Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers it was all over for me.   

A friend of my got me into TS2.  He's one of those giant computer geeks (Linux C programer and whatnot) with about five different computers in his house all sharing the same broadband connection and downloading movies, music, and pretty much anything else you shouldn't be downloading.  That's being said, he download TS2 and told me to come over to play it, so I did.

Shortly after I bought my own copy of TS2 (because I highly doubted that any expansions would work with a downloaded copy) and started posting some on the BBS.  Never really liked the place though, not only because of the idiots, but mostly because I felt like a 25 year old guy surrounded by a bunch of 12 year old girls.  Eventually I stumbled upon this place in search of these so called "hacks" to fix the bugs that were eating my game and the rest is history.

[laeshanin]

46. Soon to be 47... Ah me, where did my youth go?

Didn't really get into computers until the 90's when a 186 was THE best thing ever, and you didn't use Windows but DOS. Oh my, the games. Heheheh. Loading in cassettes (had a Commodore 64), and playing tennis because that was the best thing. As for the internet, I am so new to it you could mow me and use me for fodder.

[Bangelnuts]

46. Soon to be 47... Ah me, where did my youth go?

Didn't really get into computers until the 90's when a 186 was THE best thing ever, and you didn't use Windows but DOS. Oh my, the games. Heheheh. Loading in cassettes (had a Commodore 64), and playing tennis because that was the best thing. As for the internet, I am so new to it you could mow me and use me for fodder.

Rofl at your description of your shall we say ineptness with the internet ;DI can navigate the internet but I am totally inept when it comes to figuring out how to use features on my computer

[Lynda]

...Especially for those who think about getting together with someone they met online.  In a matrimonial sort of way...

...when two people get together it often ends badly for some reason.  When it gets down to just the two of you, the other person isn't always the same as on the chat/forum.

I completely agree that people need to be very careful about forming relationships with people they meet online, but I don't think meeting people online in and of itself is any different than meeting people at, say,  a bar.  The important thing is to take it OFFLINE as soon as possible. 

I met my husband online when I was 19.  We traveled in the same online communities and formed a friendship.  The moment our feelings for one another turned romantic, we started chatting on the phone.  At the time he lived in Ft. Worth and I in Atlanta, over 800 miles apart.  Two months after we started chatting on the phone, he flew out here to see me and the trip went wonderfully.  Six months after that, he uprooted from his home town and moved to an apartment outside of Atlanta to be with me and start a "real" relationship.  You know, one where we could actually go out to the movies and dinner and TOUCH one another.

Two and a half years later we were married and we're about to celebrate our third wedding anniversary this November.

I hate telling people how we met because they always look at me like I'm crazy and don't I know that he's probably not who he says he is and is just WAITING for the right time to murder me or break my heart?  (People have said this to me!  Recently, in fact!)   I'm no fortune reader, so who knows if we'll be together forever.  I do sure as hell know that if we ever divorce, it will have nothing to do with having met him online. 

[J. M. Pescado]

Very true, but it was a good thing in my case. I met my husband on IRC, in a channel for Neverwinter Nights. He was what I call a "jackass", constantly teasing and mocking everyone. I was attracted to that type of personality (and his English accent)

How do you tell if he has an English accent in an IRC channel?

[laeshanin]

The way we write is particularly English in tone. 

[hyperCat]

LOL no, we eventually voice chatted and then talked on the phone.

[Hook]

Two and a half years later we were married...

You did it right.  

As for telling people where y'all met, just make up the most outrageous story you can.  Once they've gotten past the shock, they'll be more receptive to the fact you met online.

Hook

[RainbowTigress]

I completely agree that people need to be very careful about forming relationships with people they meet online, but I don't think meeting people online in and of itself is any different than meeting people at, say,  a bar.  The important thing is to take it OFFLINE as soon as possible. 

I met my husband online when I was 19.  We traveled in the same online communities and formed a friendship.  The moment our feelings for one another turned romantic, we started chatting on the phone.  At the time he lived in Ft. Worth and I in Atlanta, over 800 miles apart.  Two months after we started chatting on the phone, he flew out here to see me and the trip went wonderfully.  Six months after that, he uprooted from his home town and moved to an apartment outside of Atlanta to be with me and start a "real" relationship.  You know, one where we could actually go out to the movies and dinner and TOUCH one another.

Two and a half years later we were married and we're about to celebrate our third wedding anniversary this November.

I hate telling people how we met because they always look at me like I'm crazy and don't I know that he's probably not who he says he is and is just WAITING for the right time to murder me or break my heart?  (People have said this to me!  Recently, in fact!)   I'm no fortune reader, so who knows if we'll be together forever.  I do sure as hell know that if we ever divorce, it will have nothing to do with having met him online. 

I agree with everything you said.  I always hated telling people we met online because of what you said.  I've gotten some of those looks.  I know that our divorce was not because of how we met.  We each had issues and it could have happened if we had first met each other in person.  We both needed something emotionally we thought the other could give us.  I wasn't a complete person myself and I was looking to someone else to complete me.  He thought he could fix me and my problems, but I didn't just go along with his advice.  Those are the basic reasons it didn't work.  But even now that it's over, if I tell someone how we met, they attribute the marriage breaking up to our meeting online, and that isn't the case.

[Brynne]

I met my husband online when I was 19.  We traveled in the same online communities and formed a friendship.  The moment our feelings for one another turned romantic, we started chatting on the phone.  At the time he lived in Ft. Worth and I in Atlanta, over 800 miles apart. 

Hey! Another Atlantan! I live in Woodstock, just north of Atlanta. Grew up in May-retta.

[Lynda]

Hey! Another Atlantan! I live in Woodstock, just north of Atlanta. Grew up in May-retta.

Woo!  I moved to Kennesaw from MD when I was 14.  Moved to Vinings (I hated it - too snobby and overpriced) and now I'm in Duluth, which I *love*. 

When my husband moved here, he moved to Marietta. 

I like the Woodstock area a lot, but as both my husband and I work just inside the perimeter, there's no way on Earth we could live there.

[J. M. Pescado]

I do sure as hell know that if we ever divorce, it will have nothing to do with having met him online. 

No, I'm sure it'll have everything to do with the fact that neither of you has any taste and hook up with random people you meet online, without even a proper application and screening process. Let me know when so I can point and laugh at you.

[Brynne]

Hey! Another Atlantan! I live in Woodstock, just north of Atlanta. Grew up in May-retta.

Woo!  I moved to Kennesaw from MD when I was 14.  Moved to Vinings (I hated it - too snobby and overpriced) and now I'm in Duluth, which I *love*. 

When my husband moved here, he moved to Marietta. 

I like the Woodstock area a lot, but as both my husband and I work just inside the perimeter, there's no way on Earth we could live there.

My husband works in Mid-town for Turner Broadcasting. That's a fun commute!

[Lynda]

No, I'm sure it'll have everything to do with the fact that neither of you has any taste and hook up with random people you meet online, without even a proper application and screening process.

Well, I was trying to keep my post brief, so I didn't detail the whole application and screening process ordeal.  His credit check came back okay, but his kindergarden teacher didn't like him very much.  Getting his bloodwork done without his knowledge was surprisingly easier than I thought it'd be.

[PlaidSquirrel]

I'm 30. (it's not right to see it written out there like that.)
I have loved to play games for as long as I can remember and actually own an original Pong upright that works. (although we never play it. what's the point.)
I have never met anyone on-line worthy of my precious RL time. (just kidding. they may be worthy but notheless i have never met up irl with an on-line aquaintance.)
The screening process is soooo important no matter where you met your SO.

[rohina]

So true. I chose my husband because he had 5 girlfriends when I met him. I thought he must have had some worthwhile qualities if he was that much in demand.

[vecki]

Wow, you people are making me feel pretty young.  Only 25 here.

I started out on an Atari 2600 when I was about 6 or 7 years old.  Once I got a Nintendo and Super Mario Brothers it was all over for me.   

I'm 26 - almost 27 (sob - how much longer can I claim to be in my mid-twenties?).  We had an Atari when I was little (probably too little to actually play) and then got a Commodore 64 when I was about 6.  Within days I'd learnt how to put on my favourite game (BC Bill on cartridge).  I was also a big fan of Summer and Winter Games (around the 1984 Olympic Games, simulating them was an obsession of mine) but it took me a little longer to work out how to type LOAD and know when to press play on the tape deck.

And then my dad discovered BASIC programming magazines and would hog the computer, endlessly copying in these games but never playing them.

My little cousin got me into Sims1 last year and I quickly bought almost all of the expansion packs, minus Makin Magic, then when I finally got an updated computer I bought myself Sims 2.  And the rest is obsession history.

[Brynne]

Hey, I know I responded right after you, rohina. I must have posted in the wrong thread, which would make me look like an idiot, being all random and stuff...
Where oh where did my little post go?

[Bangelnuts]

Hey, I know I responded right after you, rohina. I must have posted in the wrong thread, which would make me look like an idiot, being all random and stuff...
Where oh where did my little post go?

ROFL Brynne did you type it while under the influence of cough medicine?

[fff]

Oooh, computer nostalgia... makes me feel all warm and squooshy inside....

My first computer as a kid was a Spectrum, and it had a kick-ass 16K memory... I would spend HOURS typing in little programs (in BASIC, natch... those days pretty much marked the pinnacle of my ability to understand computers) and then I got an upgrade to 48K, AND THEN - ta dah!!! - a whole new computer, still a Spectrum but this time the 128K, which actually came with it's own built-in tape player, instead of having to bugger around hooking one up with my old one.

Ah, those were the days.... *stares meaningfully off into middle-distance, collects pension*

[Bangelnuts]

Oooh, computer nostalgia... makes me feel all warm and squooshy inside....

My first computer as a kid was a Spectrum, and it had a kick-ass 16K memory... I would spend HOURS typing in little programs (in BASIC, natch... those days pretty much marked the pinnacle of my ability to understand computers) and then I got an upgrade to 48K, AND THEN - ta dah!!! - a whole new computer, still a Spectrum but this time the 128K, which actually came with it's own built-in tape player, instead of having to bugger around hooking one up with my old one.

Ah, those were the days.... *stares meaningfully off into middle-distance, collects pension*

my first computer was a HP Pavillion with 63mb of Ram 5 years ago and I thoyght I had the state of the art model then LOL

[cwieberdink]

My first computer was a commodore 64.  My first video game system was an atari with Pong.  I'm almost 36.  My hubby does not in any way understand the Sims and thinks it's stupid.  He's incredibly resentful of the time I spend playing and even the time reading here, and I don't post much because of time.  I did manage to get a 55 year old woman from church addicted to the sims too.   

C