Man, I was already old (50) but fascinated with the ability to match my wits with others. The ability to customize each mission and challenge each other led to many "it's time to go to bed" comments. Thank you. :Kaleun_Cheers:

Hmmm.

Peering back through the fog of ages (and hoping not to find myself afoul of an oncoming tanker), I believe I was:

1) Enjoying the high point of my career as a rock DJ.

2) Playing the best cricket of my life.

3) Trying to find a decent day job.

4) Trying to stay alive in an S class boat off the coast of Luzon in SH1 long enough to actually sink something.

Happy times, for sure.

In January of 1997 I just turned 54 ! Married for 29 years and thought we would live in the house we bought in 1968 forever. We moved to an over 55 community. We didn't want my son who was just married in November of 1996 to return home!! October of 1997 my first Granddaughter was born. I was Thrilled !

In 1997 I was 18 until the 18th of July. I was working 2 jobs (1 full time and 1 half time) while finishing my last year of high school (was home school, but that did not make it any easier) and taking a few classes at the community college to get myself a head start on that. McDonald's was the full time job (I was a closing crew chief) and my part time job was custodial work at a local private school to pay for my siblings' tuition since we were actually quite a poor family. I would get up at 5am, go clean the school for their day before they started. Come home and do my school work as fast as I could so I could have some time before my shift at McDonald's. Then I would work till around 12 to 1am. I had a lot of reading to do because I had to finish a book a week and write a synopsis and a report on it.

I was on the varsity basketball team for a local school, but I preferred to play chess and quake (team fortress, FVF, and other mods for it). Up till that time my only experience with subsims was an old game we had on the 286 called 688: attack sub (Made in 1989 by John Ratcliff). I was still playing that because at my house we still only had the 286. My friend had the Pentium that we played quake on at his house. I was still using DOS 6 while he was on windows 95. lol

Other games I was into at that time were Duke Nukem 3D, Descent. Shadow warrior (later that year), a lot of Nintendo 64 games. I also bought myself my first used guitar and started to teach myself how to play that year. It cost me around $30 at the local pawn shop (acoustic).


I also spent a lot of time on the beach during the warm months (about 5 minute walk from my house) skim boarding all the time. This was one of the great benefits of being home schooled. When I finished enough work I was able to do whatever for the rest of the day, and so I worked fast.


All of this happened in one of the small towns on the Oregon Coast.

Welcome aboard!
 

Congratulations Neal. 20 years of Subsim is an awesome feat.:up:

1997 was nothing special for me. Playing pinball and watching that Hale-Bopp comet in the sky.


PS. I'm with Dowly for not takin part in the raffle.

Happy Birthday
 

Back in Jan 1997, was in college and in love :O:

In 1997 I met my beautiful wife to be, gained three more children, which currently brings the grand total to six children, twenty two grandchildren and three great grandchildren! It was also the year I started playing Silent Hunter........Now you know why:k_confused: ALARM!!......Take her deep number one :O::Kaleun_Periskop:

In 1997 I had no computer of my own and was jealous of my older brother's Gateway PC, which could run SimCity AND Microsoft Flight Simulator 95. I wouldn't get a PC for another 3 years but started early with flight sims.

I was in high school, and I think I handn´t even stumbled upon silent hunter 1 yet.....I found it on a bargain bin a couple of years later.

:woot:Happy B-Day Subsim :Kaleun_Cheers:

Back in '97 my family had just gotten our first computer. The schools in the area were starting up with them for classes. That's when I found SH1. This Compac 1550 used an SIS 530 onboard graphics. I spent a long time trying to get SH1 working on that computer. I finally found the answer here on Subsim in early '98. Thanks to a very generous person who helped me setup and run the game. I played SH1 every night for the next year, that's how great SH1 was and still is. :D :up:

Let's see. 1997 means I was 14. I probably thought I was in love. I think I was a freshman in high school. Blah, blah, blah...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUBSIM!!! :subsim:

1997
 

I was knocking holes in walls with a sledgehammer in our newly purchased house from 1888 at all times of day and night! People thought it was because I was in the middle of a great restoration project....but it was actually because I didn't have internet at the time:03:

20 years on and we are living in another house, with a damned good internet connection:)....... and no holes in the walls.

Thank you Subsim for all the hours of entertainment you have given through the years. Happy birthday:Kaleun_Cheers:

I was 47 back in 1997. Didn't even have a computer back then. I said I'd never want one or have one. Yeah, just like I said I'd never have a cell phone. Never say never James Bond said. LOL

So, Happy 20th Anniversary SubSim and Neal. You've done a terrific job... along with your moderators... to make SubSim one of the best and longest running websites on the net. :up: Even longer than Bombs-Away.net where I started from with B-17 Flying Fortress "The Mighty 8th" back in 1999. There's a couple of friends here that also came from there.

Here's to another 20 years Neal. :yeah: And may the 25th Anniversary be just as great.

:salute:

Like it was yesterday...
 

Congratulations Neal; quite an achievement these days. Your dedication and continued efforts in support of this unusual community is certainly worthy of everyone's respect and admiration.

1997...I was facing the end of my youth...well, finishing my 49th year of life anyway. Just entering "middle age" in my view and had some wonderful people...wife, kids and two grandkids already...to "help me through the 50's" as some of them put it; I thoroughly enjoyed my 50's!

I was working for Naval Sea Systems Command on new ship propulsion plant designs and particularly on fixing propulsion plant problems with the Minesweepers (MCM-3 and MHC-51 classes) home-ported at Ingleside TX.

Travelling there for one or two weeks out of every month from home in Alexandria, VA (practically had a reserved suite at the Omni Hotel in Corpus Christi). Freshly retired from Active Duty but still getting "4 bells" coming aboard or going ashore every time I crossed a quarterdeck and showed them my ID...wishing they wouldn't do that...I felt that I had to apologize to the COs/XOs for getting them running (sometimes actually running) to the quarterdeck just to find out it was only me and one or two helpers coming to do some tests and/or work on their engines...oh well.

I wasn't yet into computer gaming/simulations...no time to spare. My younger son, 1yr out of High School and with a lot of time on his hands before he decided to go to Annapolis, had Silent Service II, Silent Hunter II and SSN-21 SEAWOLF, as well as an old Commodore Amiga with a shelf full of submarine games/simulations (Silent Service, Sub Battle, Destroyer, Das Boot, 688 Attack Sub, Hunt for Red October, etc.). He had just discovered SHIII and I inherited all that stuff when he left home for "Boat School".

It was a couple years later that I started playing SHIII and discovered SubSim...a couple more years of "lurking" before I joined and began using the MODs provided by this unbelievably talented group of enthusiasts.

So, a big THANK YOU to all the Modders and a huge CONGRATULATIONS to you and everyone who supports and contributes to SubSim. May we all enjoy another 20 years together.:salute:

BTW...as with Dowly, I don't need to be included in the raffle.