Challenger

 So, about to watch the Netflix series on the Challenger disaster. Not that this is going to be of huge historical interest or anything, but I thought, before watching it, I'd put down what I recalled then. 

I was in middle school - Oak Creek, at the time, had several primary (K-6,) then one junior high where I was (they're up to two now, sheesh - this one covered 7th and 8th grades)  then the high school (9-12.) 

Challenger blew up in the morning. I don't even remember my schedule - why would I? That was decades ago and I was a kid. I do remember coming into lunch and one of my friends saying "the shuttle blew up."

I just didn't believe him, thinking it was some stupid joke. Ate lunch, bought a mickey mouse ice cream.. thing (I have no idea why I remember *that,*) finished the day, came home. 

On the TV... yep, footage of the shuttle blowing up. I just remember going to my room, then, kind of in shock and, yes, crying. That was just... major. Especially to someone who loved aircraft and space like I did, it was just - for my tween-brain, hard to grasp. (Yeah, January 1986? 13.) 

I pretty much had to deal with it on my own. I don't recall it being talked about at school, despite this being the first flight with a teacher, a civilian, on the shuttle. And we didn't talk about it at home. I don't think it ever occurred to my parents that this was a shock to me. My dad was up, my mom would have been at work. Just didn't have that sort of ... thing at home.

(Don't get me wrong. Loving household, but this would have been "huh, that's a shame" without really thinking about it affecting the space nut in the house. Not sure I"d have talked about it much, anyway - this was pretty much an era of "A guy showing feelings? Pfft. Grow up, toughen up.")

Once I got past - or through, or tamped down, or whatever - the emotional shock, there was the waiting. Just - mostly "well, at least it had to be quick." Then the... part tech-curious, part just *curious* "what happened?" and watching with interest as everything was gathered, inspected and the like. And of course the morbid speculation that no, they didn't die right away, thinking of what it had to be like having the shuttle explode around you and falling, or tumbling in the cockpit, or getting slammed around while knowing you'd hit the ground...

Is it just me going "you know, the usual teens being morbidly fascinated" with that? 

City of Heroes musings

Yeah, I know. It's been a while again. I don't have that exciting of a life. :) And this is mostly me rambling for my own sake.

Everyone's dealing with Covid lockdowns - at least until mid month.  (Or unless you're in a state with a governor that doesn't believe in... I don't know. Health.) So people are doing indoorsy things, unless you're deciding going to the beach in Florida and getting sick sounds fun. Sorry, these people and those being goaded into protesting just *irk* me with stupidity...

Anyway. So one of the things I'm doing is... playing City of Heroes. I played it when it was live, from issue 3 in 2005 to shutdown in 2012. I played on the SCORE servers while things were being worked out in secret. And i am now playing on Homecoming.

Early shot of Therra

While not my first character, my first 50 was an electric/electric blaster named Therra Arcson. I remember almost deleting her early on because I'd accidentally managed to killsteal from someone. I'm glad I didn't - the way to 50 with her involved my first supergroup and good friends (and RP, with occasional awkwardness) - Shadow of the Storm, on Pinnacle, co-leading (sort of) with Adam Green, player of Agent Snow.

Oy, did we ever get some long, convoluted stories going with multiple iterations of those characters. Therra was thought lost in an enemy base collapse, captured, interrogated, turned into a Peacebringer to escape - while Snow's nanites tried taking over and didn't want to recognize her at first, later clearing them involved "quantum" energy which made him basically deadly to her... rough relationship, but Snow did eventually get a new (male, again!) body and they had their happily ever after.

Snow and Kamre, the other two musketeers... 

Snow didn't play on live for some time before the shutdown, so..

Therra artwork

Still. The differences ... get me thinking. The game was harder back in issue 3. The game was new. It was missing a lot - like content between 38 and 40, if you happened to be in a blaster, the AT known as "debt collectors" (you gain "XP Debt" whenever you die) and "floor inspectors." I think it took a few hundred hours to get her to 50, but I finally did, with Snow. And we continued RPing the characters - she was a live character, not a bunch of numbers.

Now? Played her as a new archetype called a "Sentinel." Still electric/electric, but this time describing the blast powerset and an armor set.

I don't have an agent snow this time. Sure, in my mind she's paired with another alt, to have some sort of a life, though she knows "something" is missing. But... not quite the same. She was just on random pick up groups here and there. And with all the changes since 2005... she made it in 58 hours.  I did have some supergroup (SG, other MMOs call them "guilds" and the like) mates from another SG help out for a bit, teaming from ... about 45 1/2 to 45 3/4, but it just wasn't the same.

Granted, I usually have one, maybe two, RP "mains" who get the attention - in this case, it's a little Brute called Ishku (took her name from mishearing someone say "is coo'" and it kind of became hers,) with Cat as my secondary, trying to figure out... what to do with her, as her erstwhile partner, well... isn't in the same place. And the feeling is there, more, with her.

Mm. Is it an issue? I don't know. Maybe it's just a thing.

Happy 50, Therra...

Homecoming Therra hits 50