PigLick on 7/2/2024 at 17:54
Ok so I know I've posted a few more new threads than usual of late.
And this is another one!
So noticed a few people come back into the sweet neural bath that is ttlg.
Sp4f lookin at you, also Duat dude.
Got me thinking, you know a lot of us have been here a good chunk of time, like for me it's been 24 years!
So i started here as a callow, insecure dude in his mid 20's, 24 years later I am still callow. But more secure cos I dont give a fuck.
But jesus those 24 years, so much has happened, and I still keep coming back here. It's my place.
Ramble over, I was just wondering if people could like chime in with...
Where are you now?
I have actually kinda come full circle in a way, now that my kids have become adults, I have delved back into music education, which is what I used to do when I first joined up here.
It is more rewarding now because I have mellowed in my fervor, and as a result teaching is a lot easier.
Also during the pandemic I separated from my partner, lived my life like a bohemian maniac, got blood cancer, alienated my kids for a preiod of time, but then reconciled.
The blood cancer is still kicking around unfortunately.
But life lessons were learnt.
DuatDweller on 7/2/2024 at 20:16
Well ancient history first, when I came back from Europe 36 years ago, I had to adapt to the way of thinking in here, down under, not Australia though, the other American down under.
In here people used to party every week day / week ends, and most were of shallow thinking. Fast forward to 1992 when I worked for a big electronics store, I was in the tech service, second floor where the merchandise was also stored. We were selling Teac brand electronics. Including Tascam equipment.
There I met her, she was perfect for me, that is until she showed up with a small kid (5 years old or so), he was her son, I freaked out, I wasn't ready to assume paternity for kid, less for one that wasn't mine, I was 24 y.o. back then. So I got away from her. There were other girls after I got away from her, but I believe I really should've stayed with her no matter what. I think I missed the train right there.
Jump forward to 1994, this time in a tech service for brand new Technics / Panasonic electronics. (warranty service). In here I used to change the micro-controllers in those stereos and laser optical units (CDs), also maintenance for cassette decks, cleaning pinch rollers and capstans also playback / record / erase heads. Amplifiers, tuners, record players, CD carousels (3-5 discs), mini and micro stereos. :bored:
As of note first psychotic episode (real bad).
Skip ahead to 1996, computer repair company (they were servicing Compaq and custom made computers), I started repairing computer monitors, back then they were heavy and bulky, the Sony ones were lined with thick aluminum panels and had two fly-backs, this ones were for the Sun Sparc Unix stations (we had one for testing monitors) and had separated RGB shielded pins inside the rectangular connector (this beasts were heavy 30Kilograms / 66 pounds or more). It was also the year when I connected to internet for the first time, and discovered Winamp, Quake shareware, Duke Nukem 3D demo.:bored:
A cousin from Italy and my aunt came for a visit back then.
Also I started building custom computers for the first time and I built my second PC, a Pentium I 133MHz, 4MB of RAM, 127MB of HDD, 2x CD-ROM, diskette drive, Sound Blaster 16 and a Diamond video card, a 14400kbs dial up modem (speak about slow connection speed).
Back then Windows 95 was available as a diskette and CD-ROM (the diskette version was 35 disks or so)
For clients I had to install Windows NT 3.51, NT4.0 and Windows 95.
For servicing we had licenses for PC Tools, Symantec, Norton and Dr Solomon AV.
It was here when I was asked to design a keyboard(PS2)/video (VGA) switch up to 4 computers.
After it was done I was paid handsomely.
Most servicing was bad HDD sectors a format solved it, if that didn't work, new HDD.
Also bad RAM or adding more RAM. :bored:
Well if you're still awake, I doubt it, I had a bad knee dislocation and required an operation. After recovering from that, I entered a depression. I had to quit.
After that I couldn't pass the psychological tests anymore.
So I had to be working on my own.
I found several forums at the time Deus Ex came out, but only one survives to date.
Yes you're reading it now.
Sorry for the side tracking its a... well ... side effect.
:sweat:
sp4f on 7/2/2024 at 23:59
y'up PigLick (and everyone else of course). Long time no see. Very sorry to hear about the blood cancer, hope you kick it's arse.
Tis nice to see this place is somewhat lively still :). I do intend to be lurking about more often. This place means quite a lot to me, doubt I'd have coped well with so many things I was dealing with if not for here.
I started here as a confused, depressed, insecure & nerdy teen who was never able to understand how the world worked. That stuff only started making more sense about 8 years ago after I was diagnosed with having ADHD & autisim. Also borderline dyslexia for a bonus reward. This place really did help keep me sane(ish) & mostly stable for many years.
As for where I am now. Well, compared to a few years ago, I'm somewhere so much better that I still find myself disbelieving it sometimes. Many years ago mutual friends introduced me to my ex & I ended up being in a very unhealthy & genuinely abusive relationship for 13 years (the friends have apologised wholeheartedly to me since). Getting out was... interesting. Very highly recommend not having stress induced arrythmia/tachycardia while at your desk in work, being ambulanced to A&E then coming out hours later only to be met by your partner immediately gaslighting you as to why you were hospitalised.
Was estranged from my family for many years but been mending fences recently. Turns out I actually rather enjoy being an uncle. And may not be too bad as one. I hope. Have 2 nieces & a nephew. A is my sisters daughter and E & L are my brother-in-laws daughter & son from previous relationships. A is 16, E is 17 & L is 22. Makes me feel a bit old (was ID'd buying beer yesterday, flattering when you've turned 41). A, E & L have this notion I'm some sort of competent, responsible & savvy adult. Perhaps because I live in fairly bustling city and not a slowly dying seaside town in an area nicknamed 'God's waiting room' due to the number of retirees who move there. I digress.
Other than that I'm plodding along in what likely seems a dull job (finance assistant) apart from the fact that I work at a student focused organisation so every day brings at least one new challenge/problem to solve. Learned some odd skills here & there over the years (not quite sure when I'll ever be needing to lay a boundary hedge around a field using traditional methods but I know how to) and starting to be more sociable. Slowly getting back into gaming & reading after a long time as well.
mxleader on 8/2/2024 at 00:56
I was 30 years old when I joined TTLG and discovered there were forums for the Thief games I had been playing and struggling through. I finished T1,TG and T2 before discovering help on the forums in 2002. Then I discovered Thief FM's.
Back then I had been working at bicycle shops as a mechanic after leaving the US Navy in 1993. Then I started taking college classes thinking that I wanted to be a computer programmer after talking with some programmer on a white water rafting trip. I really got into cycling and white water rafting for a number of years Then I added photography and home-brewing beer to my list of hobbies. At some point I decided that I didn't like the idea of working in the computer industry but had no direction at all, but I still had the GI Bill to use up. So onward I went and earned a bachelor's degree after eight years of part time college. Then I got married and had a kid. I thought that I would leave the cycling industry after graduating college but just kept moving up into manufacturing. After thirty years in that industry I got laid off again and am now changing industries to something that pays more and where I don't have to be in shape all of the time to fit in. I also made two fan missions that I released years ago and have dabbled in making new ones but have never gone very far.
I'm still here.
David on 8/2/2024 at 16:32
sp4f! :thumb:
I was a 16 year old teenage idiot when I joined TTLG.
Twenty four years later I'm still an idiot, but now I'm married, have a daughter, and while I do a nerdy job in an office, I do occasionaly travel to cool places and stand on stage and talk to people about electric vehicle stuff.
I've been pretty lucky on the whole, over the last quarter century - I just have a much slower metabolism now, and have to work very hard to keep the weight off.
PigLick on 9/2/2024 at 10:20
yeh I feel you my man. One KFC meal and I've gained like 3 kilos.
Medlar on 9/2/2024 at 21:04
Hi all, still occasionally browsing TTLG, good to see old names coming up. Big changes to my life in the past 10 years, divorced, sold my Cornish home, fished California for a while, met my very first girlfriend from my school days in San Francisco, made our way back to Blighty, bought a house near Oxford, got married!!
Turned 70 last year!!
Life is good
Tocky on 10/2/2024 at 03:08
It is good to hear from many of you. I've no idea why you can't be as blurty mouthy as me.
There likely isn't a lot people don't know about me. I was around 40 when I joined here. That getting carded thing? Enjoy it. You have six or seven more years of that until the lines start digging in. That is also how long you have until your eyesight begins to go a tad. I'll let the rest be a surprise.
There was a time right after joining that I wasn't sure my wife and I would make it. The reasons are personal but I felt I had borne a burden for a long time and was tired. And I had but I had asked for that burden. I needed to be a hero for someone, I just didn't realize how much and how long that testing of mettle would go on. I began to think I needed peace. Someone here cared for me and in their way taught me that I never stopped loving her. I am at heart a constant sort. Then my daughter graduated. She was my constant. I felt I had nobody to sympathize then. My friend here had gone. A girl on my route wanted me. I almost messed up. I didn't. But I was depressed and angry. I covered it in liberal doses of alcohol.
So I doubled down. I decided we would go on lots of vacations. It helped. Getting medication for my wife's bi polar condition helped more. We began to laugh with each other again. She seemed to decide that I wasn't her enemy after all. Eventually she realized I never was. We became friends again. We laughed a lot. She began to see herself and how she had been and was ashamed. Life became good again except for work which was always the most awful grind from the very beginning. That was helped when I got blood pressure medicine. A little. Then more when my boss retired due to his dad dying and leaving him millions and the new boss just wants me to sit at a desk all day which is easy peasy.
I'm breaking down anyway. My old football knee is worse. I have diabetes now but the medication works. I can still handle heavy shit. I'm okay. I don't give a shit if I gain weight but I do want to be around for the grands. They are freaking spectacular and I never know what will come next with them. Lana's voice amazes me. What does it matter when you are old and ugly how long you have? For one it's liberating. No longer in the game. For another, now that I am ugly, I realize I wasn't before. I was sort of good looking even. No matter. I've always loved my wife and she treats me so well now. I'm happy. I still drink but because I like to. I control it. Only weekends as if it matters. I don't care if I die soon really but I feel an obligation to stick around. Life is a marvel and I'm happy to have been here.
It would be nice if I could write a book about my life and all I have learned... if only I could figure out what that is and have a point.
Edit: ooooo Medlar! You are near Oxford! What part? Which direction? I know Oxford more than most places in England. What pub do you call home?
Medlar on 10/2/2024 at 16:55
I live in Bicester, a small town where I attended secondary school. A bit odd at first after so many years living on the Cornish coast. However the transport system is really good and Heathrow is less than an hour ��
As for a local, I'm no longer a drinker. Medication gets in the way...
Tocky on 11/2/2024 at 00:32
I had a buddy in Bicester. It's not that far from Upper Heyford or Haystack as we used to call it. I spent the night with him a time or two there and we went to a pub nearby where we had to claim to be from the girls school up the road because those from the airbase were not allowed in. Something about fights in the past. I wish I could recall the name of the school. It always got a laugh when Jack said it so they left us alone. O'Hanlon was a funny guy. I wonder what happened to him.
But yeah, excellent rail system and double deckers.
