[Announce] 10 years worth of SIMming... a Thank You...

[Suzanna Batenburg]

Greetings,

This month, I celebrated my 10 SIMming anniversary. And in some ways, it
amazes me that I'm still doing it. But I am, and I'm still having fun
wit hit.

But on June 14th 1998, I posted my first log. My my my... I was soooooo
green. I had soooo little confidence. And although I'd had the urge to
write and had even bought two books about writing fiction, until this
day I had never before written anything non-fiction before. This ad I
had seen in a Star Trek Newsgroup on Jun 12th.... had fascinated me. I
had replied, and was sent a Welcome letter with an assignment of a
position and instructions on what to do and where the plot was. I was
added to the mail string, and two days later, I plucked up all the
courage I could muster and wrote my first log. Jumping straight into the
plot with my half Vulcan/half human Science Officer (it was a 24th
century SIM).

For me that first log... I will remain proud of it... above all, that
first log was about me conquering my fear. It was the start of the
recovery of my self-confidence almost 6 months exactly to the date that
I had left a bad relationship behind when I was faced with the choice of
finally doing what was best for me, or having a major nervous breakdown.

About six weeks after that first log of mine, Hawke was given command of
this SIM I was on, and although I didn't know it at the time, his
presence, words, actions, and all those well-timed challenges he threw
at me, really kicked my recovery into high gear and was also the start
of our friendship. Over the years I made more friends through SIMming.
We did have some fun and especially in the first 6 months, with Hawke as
our CO, we did a number of great things.. Jon and I wrote the first ever
true joint log in the group. This was followed a few weeks later by the
first three way joint (we did know how to party :D) and by October 8th
we had the first ever 4 way joint log, remember that one Chris? Each of
them written in email. Over the years... it just all adds up... We had
friendship, action, IC romance, OOC conversations, snippets of which
will stay with me forever, even some of the email convos will too. A few
old ones that are still with me...

"All good COs have an ego, yours needs to grow a little bit more."

"You guys have made it look real good!!"

"Hmmm...foglamps, think we can mount those on the front of the Cortez?"
"Well, Sir... Everything fits, otherwise we'll make it fit, but I will
have to talk to the Chief Engineer about it."
-- During a refit, the ship was given a set of retractable Nebula
Running lights, that fitted just underneath the phaser array.

"Roger is a Betazoid, but he is a warrior."
"Ooh... Suzy's fallen for a Betazoid before."

"You know how to make a guy feel good and rub someone else's nose in it
at the same time...maybe I 'taught' you too well."

" You had them... And it was nothing that could be said... I was proud
of you. :-)"
"thank you :-)"
"You really got them good."
"I know."
"They know too. ;-)"

"Do you realise what it means for a Betazoid to have sex??"
"Do you realise what it means for a Vulcan to have a mind link? You
wrote that mind link in, I worked with that and used it for character
building, now you have to face the consequences."

"I am not really sure what I am supposed to do."
"Just be the natural leader you are, and follow my lead."

"Well, I know one thing, they couldn't have picked a more qualified
person."

*insert half hour rant*
"I just don't see why I bother"
"::smiles:: Anything else?"
"not at the moment. That's the gist of it"
"::smiles:: Well...I remember when I had my black period."

"A few things I want to say this week. It has been a mixed week for me.
A few things happened last weekend which rather upset me. I don't get
this upset very easily... but when I do...
::grins:: Most of you are fortunate enough not to have seen a rather
upset half Vulcan yet ;-).
But last Tuesday... when I was about ready to quit, I was lucky. Lucky
enough that a good friend of mine was online. Who proceeded to let me
rant and rave for about half an hour or so and then helped me to start
regaining my perspective on things again. "

"I'm glad I could help.;)"

"::nods:: I know... I wasn't worried about SF I was worried about you.
:-). I know how it is to take a public beating... Last night was a rough
one too."

"There is no one in the group I trust more than you."

"Stay the course, and be yourself."

"Get out of my head."

"Gee, I guess after all the emails I read today I should say something
meaningful, especially since I feel the size of an ant ;).... I learned
something just now when I got online. I learned the meaning of loyalty.
I *thought* I knew what it meant. Tonight I learned different. I said
some things in my email that I felt I needed to say... I meant every
word. What I didn't realise is how important you all are to me... Both
new and old crew. Epicticus said, "No man is free who is not master of
himself." What I found out today is that we are all bound together in
freedom, we are all each others masters. I could never be free if I
walked out on so many fine people... People who I've never ever meet but
for some reason mean more to me then some I have known my whole life. We
sit behind our terminals and write emails and chat IRC without realizing
that what we do is special. We have went past borders, race, religion,
and a number if other factors to be united for something as trivial as
Star Trek. I am proud to say that, and I'm proud to be your CO."

It is especially the quote, as written by Hawke in November 1998, that
says it all to me. I am reminded of this on a regular basis. This is
what makes me do what I do in TFE.

**** People who I've never ever meet but for some reason mean more to me
then some I have known my whole life. We sit behind our terminals and
write emails and chat IRC without realizing that what we do is special.
We have went past borders, race, religion, and a number if other factors
to be united for something as trivial as Star Trek. I am proud to say
that, and I'm proud to be your CO." ****

I couldn't be more proud to be fleet CO of TFE. We are one of the
highest quality SIMming organisations out there... and have been doing
this since November 2001! It is thanks to each of you, your dedication,
your drive, your writing that we keep doing this.

So thank you... and I hope to still be SIMming and having as much fun in
another 10 years!

Happy SIMming.

Suzanna

-- 
RAdm Suzanna Batenburg
Fleet Commander
Starfleet: The First Era
"Everything fits, otherwise we will make it fit."
http://www.firstera.net