I’m addicted to window shopping apparently. As I crossed into my 50s…yeah…I had a lot going on in life. Still do. But in my “downtime” I now find myself sometimes (lots of times) just sitting at my computer browsing things I’d LIKE to play…but can’t seem to find the energy to INVEST in learning to play. Yesterday I spent an hour browsing the Arma Steam Workshop looking at missions and add-ons and just…endlessly scrolling. Similarly…last week I spent much of the week looking through the Steam sale (I actually did purchase two things)…and reading reviews of things…and watching videos on mods. Same with Flight Simulator 2024 - boot it up…spent an hour perusing the online store. Why? I have like…a hundred things I could play/fly/learn.
And Facebook Marketplace. Don’t even get me started. Things I’m apparently in the market for:
Kite surfing gear
Gaming PC
Cobra sand wedge
Fish finder
Airplane (???)
Windsurfing gear
Thankfully…I appear to only be addicted to LOOKING for things as opposed to compulsively BUYING things.
Then last night I fired up DCS World (miracle of miracles) and by some miracle of PC stars aligning I managed to find the correct order of operations to get into the game in VR without any issues (I had a cursor, no lag, no dead batteries, etc…etc…) and spent a glorious hour tooling around in an old module that I wanted to revisit…and then got offline and spent another hour researching mods for it, kneeboards, missions… LOL…
Hopefully exercising my brain will pay dividends later in life. (Pssst…you are later in life…)
Any-who. Woke up at 5AM and had coffee and now you know what I’m already thinking about this morning.
Feels quite familiar. Last Sunday I watched a twitch stream on Campaign Series: Vietnam. When the air support rolled in on this hex based wargame, I couldn’t help but notice that Napalm sounded exactly the same as a regular bomb drop.
Now this led to a wild search of Napalm sounds on the Net, but didn’t yield anything convincing. I then reached out to a friendly sound developer, who supplied me with an appropriate sound, but restricted it to private use. Too bad, would have been a nice addition to the game…
I also find myself looking at my steam games collection and then decide to play another round of Carrier Deck… kind of the default game for some relaxing fun. Even if it comes with a sore mouse click finger at the end of the session…
You kite-surf? How cool! Years ago I flew with an FO who wanted to teach me. He and some friends booked a house on the Outer Banks and I chipped in. But some event (wedding, death) cancelled. Later I was in San Juan and took a lesson. At the end of the day I was sore, exhausted, disgusted with myself, sick from salt-water and jet-ski fuel, and no better at it than before we started. That’s a skill I really regret not pursuing further.
No…not yet. All my old windsurfing crew have switched to kite-surfing and they are pressuring me to do so as well. Old dog…new tricks…trying to figure out if I can do it. So I’m looking for a full rig that someone is ditching on FB Marketplace. I’ll give it a whirl…
I’ve got days when throughout the day am thinking about what and where to fly in the evening… and am looking forward to it.
Then the evening comes with dinner, putting kids to bed, cleaning the kitchen, maybe finishing something in work… And when I fire up the PC around 22h00, I scroll through the hangar and a map for some time… only to realize that it is already 22h45 and therefore not much time left to actually fly.
It is your time. Spend it as you will. But yeah, I am also finding the motivation to do things that in the past would keep me absorbed for hours, like like PC gaming, waning as I get older. e.g. I have probably spent more time reading Chuck’s guides than actually flying some of the modules…
inspired by the BMS 4.38 discussions , browsed old games , which I will never play , like A-10 Cuba! , F/A-18 Hornet 3.0 , F15 SEIII , Falcon3.0 , Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat etc. I just dont have the nostalgia itch , never played them in the past .
even started downloading BMS 4.38 for the DC and Harrier to try , but stopped it half way through , because I will never play it anyway .
ended up firing DCS yesterday and spent some quality time flying training circuits in Spitfire ( bought it on last sale ) around some airport on Nevada map … and then also got offline to try to find Chuck Yeager’s Air Combat handbook which contains kind of role-playing campaigns , with dice involved , so I can try them with DCS missions . found only the one for P51 which was featured in CGW magazine .
regarding marketplaces and eshops , atm I am in the market for quality shorts , polo shirts , shoes and socks . seems like I am not able to find what I am looking for . bought some shoes , returned some shoes . bought some socks , not happy with them , wanted to buy some polo shirts but hesitated etc. etc.
I’m the wrong side of 50, since we’ve had the farm and I’ve thankfully moved away from my full time IT job, I find I have so many things that can occupy my time.
I’d say browsing (what I perceive your doing) is one of life’s guilty pleasures.
Through Browsing/surfing/perusing websites I’ve self taught myself most things to keep the farm running. During summer months I find myself reading up on this and that, be it Welding, shearing, best way to grow grass (not that type). Winter I’m more inside but the browsing tends to indoor ways of burning time… sending Mav’s to the bad guys off the A-10, or how best to paint architrave. (Hey, I used to work in IT)
What’s the point of what I’m saying…. I’m not really sure, but feel I’m happy in my life so long as i’m learning things and keeping mentally and physically active, it’s all good. I think the older I have become, the more I’m prepared to research/learn and then do, rather than have at it and see what I can accomplish.
(All this should probably have been in the mental health thread)
If I might hazard to speak, I would propose some of you might be so skilled at sims and the particular planes you choose to fly, that the challenge may be gone.
For people like me, with so much still to see and learn, the hobby might seem relatively more vibrant.
Perhaps mix it up a bit and fly something completely different than your comfort zones, in unfamiliar areas of the world, yet unexplored?
I think @keets post clarified it a bit for me. When you live on a ‘farm’ even if for us it isn’t a commercial enterprise (we still have two Galloway steers, but only because they have too much personality to turn into steaks), there is a lot to do… every day.
I guess there must be a correlation between physical energy and ‘mental’ energy, because at the end of most days I am just damn tired & it is an effort for me to do anything that isn’t passive; such as look at funny cat memes, browse ebay for stuff I have no intention of buying or watch some mindless TV/Entertainment that I don’t have to think about and can just let wash over me.
If you will excuse me, now that the morning chores are done, I am about to have lunch and then head off on what will be at least a 5km hike through reasonably rugged terrain to check fences and see if I can thin out a wild/feral pig problem a bit more.
Oh God no…it HAS to be the opposite for me. I am not “proficient” at a single DCS module. Not even the old Ka-50 anymore. I think my problem is more paralysis by choice. Just last week I thought about learning the JF-17…then thought about the Gazelle…and then remembered I had never really finished the F-16 training. Then I really really really wanted the Kiowa (but it never goes on sale)…and then…I bought RotorSim and played that for a couple hours… LOL… I’m all over the place.
And then there is that whole FS2024 “ecosystem” (oh God…I used that word again) that I feel I’m missing out on. And X-Plane 12 which I have and just haven’t had the time to really explore.
And with all of that…my true love and desire (VTOL VR) is always calling to me.
So no…I’m not an expert at anything. I’m just terrible at EVERYTHING.
I guess thats the reason why I fly WWII birds , easy to learn , hard to master .
but yeah , I am afraid of more complex stuff but quite happy with my recent msfs purchase of Learjet35 . very cool , but still , I saw it as complexity downgrade from Learjet45 .
btw the recent sales cost me a fortune . I just went off the chain a little
MSFS Learjet35 ( because of the Polar track )
DCS Spit ( because of one friend )
DCS Mossie ( because of another friend )
DCS Corsair ( because of everyone else )
Wow. I rarely fly these days. I’m either surfing the net and following news cycles, or researching things to do or build. My hand-eye coordination is not what it used to be, so I find myself playing CRPGs or turn-based tactical games most of the time. When I do fly, I load up a plane and fly around with no real purpose but to enjoy the sense of flying in VR.
I’m not sure if it’s an age-related issue or something else.
That’s what I did last night. Hopped in an Su-33, found a public “training server” and just went out and flew out to a tanker with minimum fuel to try my hand at refueling. I managed it…then went to drop some bombs on a target and ended up pushing my nose over to far and the bombs hit my own plane…
Such a joy to just fly around in VR though. I’m always amazed by the technology of it. I’m pretty close to pulling the trigger on the Kiowa because I stupidly watched Casmo’s video about the release of it. It looks pretty darn fun and approachable. I imagine it is pretty fun in VR…
but quite happy with my recent msfs purchase of Learjet35 . very cool , but still , I saw it as complexity downgrade from Learjet45 .
