Hypatia_PA
This is Leesburg Executive Airport, located a reasonable distance from my home.
First off, an apology to my Santa for taking a few extra days to get this posted to the thread. Business travel for your end-of-year meeting while simultaneously rolling out a major product release leaves one with little time for a proper Gift Get post and, believe you me, this one deserves it.
So, without further ado ...
So, my Santa had previously bestowed upon me some awesome games from the Humble Bundle but had, before that, taken notice of my interest in (aircraft) simulator games, for which I had recently (and finally!) got a TrackIR system. Totally a game changer! He sent along a premium plane pack for War Thunder, which gives you a kick-ass airplane to tool around in (in my case, a sexy P-51) and some premium time, making your progress through the game's other planes and tanks much faster. (This last one hasn't been redeemed yet because your premium time starts counting down immediately, and [see above] I won't have a chance to play much of anything until post-Christmas.)
Taken together, all of that would have been a damn fine Secret Santa present, and I would've been extremely happy.
But my Santa didn't stop there.
This is one of two locations at which a local flight school teaches aspiring pilots how to fly.
They say [citation required] that the best gift you can get for someone is something that they've always wanted, but would never actually spend the money on for themselves.
Many, many years ago, a much younger, much less wise Elvenshae had a chance to go to flight school and be a pilot - and to be perfectly frank, if not a little maudlin, that had been his dream since he was an even younger, even less wise Elvenshae. Unfortunately, he managed to ruin it for, in retrospect, some pretty trivial reasons. Bad decision piled upon bad decision, and the chance was gone.
In the many years since, I've thought about going back and trying again, but intense jobs, a wonderful wife, beautiful kids, looming deadlines, mortgages and down-payments happened, and there was just never a right time. When life would settle down from one thing, another (to be fair, frequently related to my job) would raise its head and I'd think, "Nah - no time for that right now."
It's been not-the-right-time for 15 years.
So, yes, my Santa got me an introductory flight lesson, based on my gaming history. But, completely unbeknownst to him, he forced me to look again at a dream I had pretty much given up on.
I don't even know how to say thank you for that.
Merry Christmas, @Bloodycow
I'll find a way to record it for posterity. I may or may not edit out me giggling like an idiot the whole time.
This is Leesburg Executive Airport, located a reasonable distance from my home.
First off, an apology to my Santa for taking a few extra days to get this posted to the thread. Business travel for your end-of-year meeting while simultaneously rolling out a major product release leaves one with little time for a proper Gift Get post and, believe you me, this one deserves it.
So, without further ado ...
So, my Santa had previously bestowed upon me some awesome games from the Humble Bundle but had, before that, taken notice of my interest in (aircraft) simulator games, for which I had recently (and finally!) got a TrackIR system. Totally a game changer! He sent along a premium plane pack for War Thunder, which gives you a kick-ass airplane to tool around in (in my case, a sexy P-51) and some premium time, making your progress through the game's other planes and tanks much faster. (This last one hasn't been redeemed yet because your premium time starts counting down immediately, and [see above] I won't have a chance to play much of anything until post-Christmas.)
Taken together, all of that would have been a damn fine Secret Santa present, and I would've been extremely happy.
But my Santa didn't stop there.
This is one of two locations at which a local flight school teaches aspiring pilots how to fly.
They say [citation required] that the best gift you can get for someone is something that they've always wanted, but would never actually spend the money on for themselves.
Many, many years ago, a much younger, much less wise Elvenshae had a chance to go to flight school and be a pilot - and to be perfectly frank, if not a little maudlin, that had been his dream since he was an even younger, even less wise Elvenshae. Unfortunately, he managed to ruin it for, in retrospect, some pretty trivial reasons. Bad decision piled upon bad decision, and the chance was gone.
In the many years since, I've thought about going back and trying again, but intense jobs, a wonderful wife, beautiful kids, looming deadlines, mortgages and down-payments happened, and there was just never a right time. When life would settle down from one thing, another (to be fair, frequently related to my job) would raise its head and I'd think, "Nah - no time for that right now."
It's been not-the-right-time for 15 years.
So, yes, my Santa got me an introductory flight lesson, based on my gaming history. But, completely unbeknownst to him, he forced me to look again at a dream I had pretty much given up on.
I don't even know how to say thank you for that.
Merry Christmas, @Bloodycow
I'll find a way to record it for posterity. I may or may not edit out me giggling like an idiot the whole time.