313BBS.com
Nostalgia
/ User Memoirs :
BBSers List
Home to Strawberry
Fields
: Guestbook
: About
Strawberry Fields : Detroit
MP3 Downloads @ VisualNoiz.com :
MySpace.com 313BBS Group
| It's kinda weird. I
remember this guy, Pete, giving me a copy of Telix. It was across one of
those small, uncomfortable desks high schools are notorious for, before
Mr. Dove's class started. I think it was second hour, although we had first
hour together as well, so I was probably late getting to school that day
or something. I recall him telling me how to use the program, what to expect
when I logged in to a board, and that I needed to come up with a handle.
But I cannot for the life of me remember what class Mr. Dove taught. I'm
thinking it was some kind of algebra... Not that any of this matters now,
but it's bothering me. I guess it goes to show what an impact BBSing had
on my life as opposed to Mr. Dove's class.
He and Jaimie pestered me all morning, asking me what name I would use. I didn't know. I couldn't think of anything at all. They offered suggestions to me, more things I can't remember. I was still blank when I got home, installed the software, and dialed my first board -- Paradise City. The name appealed to me; I feel comfortable admitting that I was a Guns n' Roses fan at one point. Yeah, bite me. So there I was, with the Paradise City ANSI up on my screen and an insistent cursor blinking next to 'Enter your name or handle:' ... much like my cursor is doing now as I think back on the stress the moment caused. Then it hit me, I knew who I would be. With an amused smirk curving at my lips, I very deliberately typed "Vamp" and expected to see that the name was taken. It wasn't. The jailbait mistress was born. There are so many handles and BBS names flying around my mind right now. Suzze, Ford Prefect, Guardian Angel, Babe, Doom Frog, Holmes, Centaurian Jixra ... Yeah, I think that's spelled wrong, but you know exactly who I'm talking about, don't you? The Crypt, Squire's Guild, Toad's Pad, The Forgotten Lands, Vampire Junction ... It goes on and on. The list of five or so boards on the copy of Telix Pete gave to me swelled quickly to ten, then fifteen. I don't know how many I had at my highest point -- I'd venture to guess maybe thirty, but it would be just a guess. I remember falling into it quickly, rushing home from school to set the attack dial, as though something drastic might have happened since the last time I'd logged in. I was strictly interested in the message bases at first, and the suspense of waiting for replies was sometimes excruciating. I realized, of course, the more time I spent online the less time other people had to get online and reply, but it was just an intellectual realization; it didn't actually affect the way I operated. It didn't take long for me to want a board of my own. Didn't everyone? We all thought we could do it better, make it cooler, give it that little sumpin-sumpin that would make it stand out. I didn't put one up immediately though, much as I wanted to, even though I had the resources to do it. Why not? I've never admitted this, but I was afraid that Jaimie, the friend from school who also BBSed (Pete didn't do it too much anymore), would think I was a nerd. But see, then Jaimie put up his own board. He was Air, and again, for the life of me, I cannot remember what his board was called. Allow me to pause for a moment, ICQ him and ask... Nice, he doesn't remember either. We're getting old, old. Whatever it was called, he'd put up a board, and I felt free to do the same. With his help and Lankhmar's, who ran The Elysian Fields, I put up ENGLiSH ACiD and became the area's first "SysOpette". The name had nothing to do with the ANSI group -- wow, there's a strange memory... ANSI groups. ACiD, iCE .. What did they all have against using a capital i? ...Anyway, the name came from a club in Los Angeles. I'd never been there, of course, I was only 15 or 16 at the time, but it appealed to me. I don't even know what kind of club they were... S&M? Rock? Something else? ...Didn't matter. No one in Livonia, MI had ever heard of it, nor had they ever been there either. It was mine. Wow, I feel like I'm leaving so much out, so many people. I just can't remember the order any of it happened in, I don't know who knows what about whom... Fuzzy, fuzzy. Lankhmar was the person who helped me out the most in the original set up of my board. I think he was user #2 -- remember how coveted those low numbers were? But just about everyone was a Co-SysOp on my board at some point or another. I don't remember call averages or anything like that, but I don't think I'm boasting or remembering incorrectly when I say that ENGLiSH ACiD was fairly popular. |
[Last Updated April 8, 2000]