I read an article about Sims 1 before it came out - on cNet or somewhere like that - and made a point of filing my tax return early so I would have money to get the game as soon as possible when it came out. I remember it was winter. I remember being so intrigued by the things I'd read and it was the first game I was seriously interested in enough to actually make a place in my budget for.
When I got it, I was so addicted that I was the last to bed and the first to rise, just so I could sneak to the computer and play Sims. I used to pretend I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, then go play and never go back to bed. When I heard the first alarm clock going off in the morning, I would save and shut down real quick then scoot into the kitchen to pretend that I was being nice and getting up early so I could make the coffee for everyone. I had the sleepy innocent face perfected!
When Transmogrifier came out, I discovered texturing and it was that magic moment where you suddenly realize that you've found your reason to live, lol. I became way, way, way beyond obsessed with retexturing sofas and chairs and beds. Then I learned how to make your own lamps and flower arrangements to add to the game, and between textures and images of things I wanted to make for my game I was always filling up my hard drive and having to delete stuff to make room again. I didn't bother pretending to sleep anymore, and my family had caught on anyway. Thank goodness I had my own computer. I sleepwalked through work many, many days, but it was worth it. I eventually had to upgrade to a 20 gig hard drive for it all that I couldn't wait to fill up.
Discovering the Sims awakened a creativity that I never would have even known existed. It's given me so many memories and helped me through so many hard times that it became like a part of me. In a roundabout way, it taught me things about myself that I never would have come to realize any other way. It is something that will always be a part of me, and those memories I will always treasure.
