That Age Thing

> on 2/19/01 14:03, David Reeves at davidar@nortelnetworks.com wrote:

> Hey Glenn,

I know what you mean (he says in a tone of expected reminiscing). I'm 36 and
my wife is 24 so I have a constant reminder that I'm not a spring chicken any
more. Confidentially though I haven't been happier in my life
and thus I'm not really complaining.   ;-)

WOW?!

I'm really in minority here with my 10 years of different gaming and 23
standard earth years _old_... =P

I'm really in minority here with my 10 years of different gaming and 23
standard earth years _old_... =P

///magnus

Yep, I picked up Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe about 25 years ago....

I am 53 and have been gaming in some form or other (board games first,
followed closely by historical miniatures) since I was 13 and discovered a
newly published "Midway" Game from Avalon Hill while visiting my grandparents
at Christmas time in 1960 or 61. That makes me roughly a 40 year old gamer,
and I am an active supporter of the "Old Farts Gaming Club".

Scott

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Kevin Walker wrote:

> I know what you mean (he says in a tone of expected reminiscing). I'm

I'm 26 and I've been gaming (starting with my first RPG, Star Frontiers)
since I was 12.    Most of the pepople I game with are around my age,
with a couple of teenagers and fellows in their 40s thrown in to make a rather
reasonable bell curve. Naturally, the rest of civilization considers my
interests in gaming--not to mention science fiction, animation, and
toys--to
be "childish." When I explained what miniature wargaming is to one of my
co-workers I was told "you are the only grown man I know who STILL plays
with toys."  Although She-Who-Is-Not-To-Be-Named originally thought
gaming was interesting, she eventually used it as one of her reasons for
dumping me. ("Your 24... These games are for children. You've got to grow up
sometime, or else...") My father will shake his head saddly whenever he sees
me painting or packing my stuff togther for a night at the local game store.

I have just one question: What's the age limit on having a good time in this
society? Where is does it say (beside that stupid St.Paul quote) that I can't
have a little "childish" fun? Huh.... HUH!!! ANSWER ME!
<sob.... sob....>

Later,

Hang in there Mark!

Some day, unless you are lucky enough to get a spouse that games like Derek
and Beth, you too will be able to hear "More ships? When are you going to have
enough?"

I cut my loses and try not to answer the question.

I always loved games. I started by playing Candy Land (at 3? 4?) and
progressed through the other board games. Around 7th grade, I started playing
Dungeons and Dragons (this was also about the time I started to read for
pleasure). I did this through College, doing other RPGs like Gamma World and
Star Frontiers (Scifi being a first love). In college, I was introduced to
Risk, Nuclear Armageddon and Ogre. Turning my attentions toward Wargames. I
got married about this time, and gaming took a back seat to putting food on
the table. I was still in a GOOD RPG (home grown role (not roll) playing).
After we got back on our feet, I started to play Battletech. I was fortunate
enough to get into a good 2 year campaign (its still running the last I
heard). I then began to look for a shorter game. Full Thrust was just the game
I had been looking for! I am now 37.

-----
Brian Bell bkb@beol.net
-----

> -----Original Message-----

> on 2/20/01 11:38, Mike Stanczyk at stanczyk@pcisys.net wrote:

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Kevin Walker wrote:
I'm 36
> and my wife is 24 so I have a constant reminder that I'm not a spring

Only two months. Truth be told we've met just over 4 years ago. All I can say
is she let a simple bit of misinformation I had about her age stand for
several months before she corrected my misperception and by then I was
smitten. And yes the misinformation was I though she was several years
older than she was.  ;-)  (just had to add that just in case people got
other ideas).

> WOW?!

Oh I dunno. 29 with sixteen years of gaming, so I guess we started at roughly
the same time (in our lives)...

JS
---

In a message dated 2/20/01 12:05:24 PM Central Standard Time,
> siefertma@wauknet.com writes:

> .

I've always thought that a sign of manhood was to do what seemed right no
matter what others might think. My wife and daughters think it is a little
silly, perhaps, but I stand up for my right to do it. "Those are MY toys,
damnit! Don't use MY brushes, you'll ruin them!" are some of my more
frequently requested arias.

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Mark A. Siefert wrote:

> I have just one question: What's the age limit on having a good
*Pat on back* It's ok. The sad majority of people seem think that "childish"
fun is limited to those under twelve.

The rest of us know better.

If you feel the need for camifolge(sp?), recruit some young players. The
threat of a swirly or being duct taped to a chair for the evening will keep
them in line...

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Kevin Walker wrote:

> > Ok, I just have to ask: How long have you been married?
Well I was going to use you as an example to my friends in similar situations
but...

I have several married friends who have an interesting difference in their
ages. They've all been married at least 5 years and there aren't any signs of
it changing.

Good luck to you.

> I'm really in minority here with my 10 years of different gaming and

And I picked up the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set about 17 years ago, and I
am almost 26 now.

> I have just one question: What's the age limit on having a good
that
> I can't have a little "childish" fun? Huh.... HUH!!! ANSWER ME!

Some people have good times throughout their life. It's just what you make of
it and how much you can get away with.

I myself am 47 now, started as a boy with home made 'rules' and Roco
Minitanks. Also remember some pirate battles with big galleons made from card.
'Serious' wargaming started in the early 1970's, with Airfix plastic figures
and with boardgames, everything from 'Risk' to SPI.

Still have some of those Minitanks.

Greetings

Hi folks I am 50 plus. Crazy and will play anything that one makes me happy
and two is challenging. If others think me stupid, who cares. When I die I'm
the one who has to die happy. what others think will not ease my
passing...?=0)
[quoted original message omitted]

[quoted original message omitted]

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Magnus Alexandersson wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----

Their marriage. They can't change the age difference between them yet.
Cryogenics isn't that good yet...  ;-)

> Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 12:05:26 -0600
[snip]
> I have just one question: What's the age limit on having a good

I believe the quote you are looking for is:

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood."

if that doesn't work, try:

"I'm learning military history. How do you think they train West Point
officers?"

it's all about how old you think/feel/act.  I never wanna be one of
those
overly mature, can't-have-fun-types.   I'm 39 and have been wargaming &
minis since I was 12 -- before that it was army men/boardgaming.  my
kids are play some of the oldies from my childhood (originals).

my kids 10 and 7.5 (and wife of 15 yrs) have all learned a good bit of
military history and game theory.  my 10-yr-old son never tires of
wargaming!!! my wife says that she rather have me game than "cause trouble and
chase women".

man, this really turned into a nostalgic thread. I've enjoyed reading about
everyone's background. it kinda helps get to know folks you correspond with.

In a message dated 2/20/01 5:54:43 PM Central Standard Time,
> stanczyk@pcisys.net writes:

> Their marriage. They can't change the age difference between them

My mother's parent were separated by 12 and a half years. They managed to make
sixty years together. They were quite a pair, "frankness" was invented by them
I think. They could fight like nobody's business but they were absolutely
devoted to one another. He spent the war years being one of the comptrollers
for the Manhattan Project.

Scott

> Jeremy Seeley wrote:

> Bell, Brian K (Contractor) wrote:

LIFE IS GOOD!!!:)

On Tue, 20 Feb 2001 12:05:26 -0600 "Mark A. Siefert"
> <siefertma@wauknet.com> writes:
<snip>

When I explained what miniature wargaming is to one of
> my

Sports Cars anyone? Golf Clubs? Season Tickets? Hunting licenses? Trophy
wives? Ten bedroom houses for a set of DINKS? A Lexus SUV?

 Although She-Who-Is-Not-To-Be-Named originally thought
> gaming

An excuse, not a reason I expect.

My father will shake his head saddly whenever
> he

So, the military does it with computers and printouts (b-o-r-i-n-g) and
that makes it 'adult' to spend gazillions of dollars to find out that the last
guy to run out of beans, bullets, and beer wins? That bigger Battalions have
some advantages? That advancing precipitously into fortified positions is
costly? That Artillery does the killing and Infantry does the dying? That
Urban Warfare is incredibly bloody? SPI's Sniper! game could tell you that
last one... That logistics and reconnaissance are better then tactics?

My wife won't play war games but she was a heck of a nasty gnome PC in my
years long D&D campaign. I think she should have kept notches in sword handle
for all the knee caps she busted... plus all the nasty things she did with
illusions... "Fair, I have to fight 'fair'? Okay, you, Dwarf, cut off their
legs and we'll start at 'fair'! Stupid Paladins! 'Fair'
for someone my size  is a flame-thrower! Get a life, preferably in this
one!"

She patiently listens to me excitedly describe the monthly game day sessions,
smiles, looks in my eyes and says (and means it) "I'm glad you
had so much fun."  Then she tells me about her latest Quilt/sewing/cross
stitch project and I listen. Or she tells me how my other hobby (making bead
jewelry) has given her an idea for something I could make her
and/or
the girls. Give and take. Accepting others (as much as we can) for what they
are as they were created.

Sorry to hear your loved ones haven't caught on to that just yet. Maybe
someday. Maybe.

[gets off soap box and puts it away]

> I believe the quote you are looking for is:

I'm in sales, so I long ago learned how to spin this kind of thing. I smile
and say "That's my hobby, I'm looking at a spreadsheet to determine the
effects of variable high energy accelerations among opposing bodies in a
gravitationally curved space." You may want to practice a few times so it
rolls out smoothly.

If anyone asks me about the minis--doesn't happen often--I say "The
artwork? That's a set of miniature sculptures that I imported from

> Their marriage. They can't change the age difference between them
Cryogenics isn't that good yet...  ;-)

I was 24 when I got married to my wife, who was 39 at the time. Today's our
anniversary, entering the fourteenth year of our

[quoted original message omitted]

Andrew, I had my fill of Inquisitors when, as practicing evangelical
Presbyterian attending a small Nazarene (very white middle class) church, I
commented that one parishioner's fear of D&D was based his "God being too
small" if he was threatened by a dice rolling game played with 25mm tall metal
figures and one's imagination. Took several years to finally convince a few of
them that any evil in the game was (in a paraphrase of Galadriel's words)
brought in by the participants, not the game.

It's about as much fun as trying to convince someone that this (war games,
especially miniatures) is a game suitable for adults. Only longer. If that's
possible.

Gracias, Glenn/Triphibious (American Mongrel)
You don't have to be French to be a 'frog', or even human!
Nektons - Real Marines! (Die, Ralnai, Die!)
Starguard, Dirtside 2, Ratner's Space Marines, Stellar Conflicts
and Uprisings, and Full Thrust/2nd.  Resistance is everything!

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001 16:37:30 +1300 "Andrew Martin" <andrew@wxc.net.nz>
writes:
> And **no** apologies. If war was good enough for God (Joshua 10:11,

This is not out of context. Just a slightly skewed (and not much IMO)
application. I will keep that one on hand...

> On 21 Feb 2001 09:06 GMT KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de writes:

On Tue, 20 Feb 2001 22:29:25 -0600 "Mark A. Siefert"
> <siefertma@wauknet.com> writes:
<snip>
> I brought up the Saul of Tarsis quote only because it was the only

Sigh.

I expected that was the root. I apologize for some of us Christians not having
the grace to act like it.

To everything there is a season.

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001 16:37:30 +1300 "Andrew Martin" <andrew@wxc.net.nz>
writes:
> And **no** apologies. If war was good enough for God (Joshua 10:11,

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001 17:10:48 +1100 Beth Fulton
> <beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au> writes:
<snip>
> Hey you got one of those too! Well mine's my Dad.....
Love them, respect them (and their opinions,) treat them civilly (even if they
don't return the act,) truly consider and evaluate their words, but continue
to live your life. The only judge of an individual's life is
God.  And his position has been grossly mis-represented by all sides.

Funny - you can be an adult but your Mom (or dad) is still that... your
parent.  Sometimes you never outgrow the parent-child and replace it
with
adult-adult.  Not that that is always bad but the latter is more likely
to increase the relationship.

My grandmother (age 92 and still going strong) has always maintained that the
best age difference between men and women in marraige is that a man should
marry a woman of half his age plus seven years and that no man should marry
before thirty. (a little old fashioned but interesting, heh?)

Pat Connaughton

[quoted original message omitted]

> Glenn M Wilson wrote:
your

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001 19:43:10 -0500, Nyrath the nearly wise
<nyrath@clark.net> wrote:

> As my wife says: "You are always 11 years old to your mother..."

As my friend Lorna, head librarian of the Merrill Collection of Science
Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction, says, "Science fiction is
14." I'm
not sure who quoted it, but it's fairly well known.

> At 10:38 PM 2/21/01 -0500, Allan wrote:

Aw, shucks. And here one of my favorite quotes from eluki bes shahar's
Butterfly & Hellflower trilogy is, "I'd been 14 once. Fortunately, it
hadn't been permanent."  (Used that around my (then-14) stepsister once,
to
good effect.... ^_^ )

'Course, I suppose I could move on to 15 *sometime*.... ^_-

Okay, I have to ask - anorak?  My Webster's seventh New Collegiate
dictionary only defines it as a 'parka' and I don't want to wake the little
one just yet by digging out the "new 20th Century unabridged"...

Oh, and my inspid spellchecker chokes on anorak..

Gracias.

Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Laguage, Unabridged,
Second Edition, 1973

anorak *sorry, can't do diacritical marks* n. [Eskimo(Greenland) anoraq.] a
heavy leather or cloth jacket with a hood, worn in the cold north.

I'm fairly certain it's similar to coats warn by Lapps and other northerners.
Has the advantage of allowing one to pull the front out and allow a chimney
effect to dump heat and moisture during work periods, and is fairly quick off
and on for prolonged work, to avoid dangerous, in frigid conditions, sweat
buildup.

True geeks can go on for hours about them... ;->=

> On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Magnus Alexandersson wrote:

> WOW?!

Don't worry, there are a few of us in the not-fossilized-yet category of
gamers...

I'm 22; if you want to count chess I've been gaming since I was nine or so;
RPGs since 12; I only got into minis four or five years ago...

Later, (building a bunker after that fossilized gamer crack...)

> Okay, I have to ask - anorak? My Webster's seventh New Collegiate

Yup, that's it - a particularly nasty sort of (usually nylon) parka, the
finer (!) examples have a fur-edged hood.
The slang useage comes from it being the garment of choice for many
trainspotters and similar hobbyists who are perceived as "sad" by the mundanes
in the general populace.

> Ground Zero Games wrote:

Then I vote for "Full Metal Anorak" for the FMA game name.  :-)

> On Fri, Feb 23, 2001 at 07:58:57AM -0500, Glenn M Wilson wrote:

Best defined as "the thing that Kenny on Southpark wears".