1997 was a relatively good year for me. I was a HELL of a lot younger and and ZERO gray in either my hair or beard. I had been out of the Army for two years and was floating between jobs. I was working primarily as a night dispatcher for a towing company that ingrained within me a unique hatred for telephones that persists to this day.
I was, and still am, an avid gamer and 1997 was a hot year for gaming. It was the year I got my Playstation, along with Final Fantasy VII, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Resident Evil Director's Cut. I still have that Playstation, which still works like a champ
, and those games. What I really wanted was a computer, which I really could not afford. My only knowledge of any Subsims at the time was the port of Silent Service on the NES, which I only knew about because it was released under the Konami/Ultra label. I never even gave it a second thought. My interests were elsewhere at the time.
Despite being happy that I was out of the military, I was still pissed at the Clinton Administration for the downsizing and all of the UN crap related to Bosnia, which I missed being deployed on back in '94 simply because my unit was told to stand down at the last minute.
When I wasn't on the Playstation or raging over politics like sophomoric 20-somethings do, I was knee deep in Dungeons and Dragons. 1997 was a pivotal year for D&D because it was the year that TSR was bought out by Wizards of the Coast. I was NOT thrilled by the acquisition and expected the new owner to ass up the game. To be fair, 3rd Edition and 3.5 were great...then 4th came along in the succeeding years. Some of my trepidation from '97 was justified. I am still waiting for those clowns to make a GOOD next-gen D&D computer game.
1997 was a good year. While I had no idea this place existed at the time, having no computer and different interests, I certainly look back on it with some nostalgia...if for no reason than to wish to be a 22-year-old again.
Going gray sucks.
