Nrshida being one of said skilled pilots.
I still remember, very fondly, the day that he saw me over the DA lake fighting (and flying) poorly. Nrshida then was so nice as to offer to take me to a private field and teach me some basic flying skills. He spent much time with me, was super nice and pointed me to some things to read up on.
Following his every instruction, I admit I was in awe of him, especially since he was a member of The Few, which I had heard was the BEST squad in Aces High. For a member of The Few to take the time to be so nice to me, a nooby, was just awesome. My eyes start watering thinking about it again.
I have a special place in my heart for Nrshida for this reason, and always will.
I was so honoured that he would take his time and be so nice to someone just out of the goodness of his heart.
Nrshida, I <3 you for that moment and making me feel special and welcome.
May others be as blessed one day as I was on that special day.
Nrshida,
PS: I will never let time nor events come between Nrshida and me and our special time together no matter what has happened since he and The Few parted. To me, Nrshida will always be a member of The Few and their great tradition and niceness.
I'll be perfectly honest with you Midway. After my son was born prematurely I was away from the game and normal life for three months - and it was a hard three months. I watched four premature babies die in our ward and thought ours was going to die on two occasions. I watched him puffed up on Morphine one night on a ventilator waiting for it. Sat up all night, couldn't look away. Life was no longer care-free nor relaxed. Everything was pressure, consequential and important.
When we came home and I was able to return to flying I embraced it as a sort of normalcy, something to balance my recent experiences. I also decided to try and learn some other aircraft and was derping around one night in a Bf109G-14 with a drop tank and everything. I ran into your high Spitfire Mk IX three times on climb-out initially afk I think. The first two times sub-e, heavy, unprepared and trying to fly the 109 like my Ki-84 I was slaughtered as one might expect.
Then you wrote on 200: 'I remember, when you taught me how to Immelmann. Now I can pwn you at will'. There were even comments from other players, telling you to steady on. The third fight went less well as I got a better position and you tore your own wings off in a very high G turn. Do you remember that incident?
Well I felt very betrayed and offended by what you said and regretted helping you to the point where I haven't helped anyone since.
It took me a year to piece my life and flying back together after the premature birth of Tiny Shida. I don't know that I've forgiven what I considered a rude and undeserved comment that evening. I have naturally learned a lot about other people through this game, what they think, how they think.
What I still find fascinating however about this activity, above all, is what you learn about yourself. Your comments bugged me enough to look into myself and see why. Since that night I have done nothing but disassemble and reassemble my ACM. I learned to not care about performance, the result, the victor or the loser. I no longer value shooting an opponent in a skill-v-skill fight. I discovered something more rewarding. That one learns more through defeat than victory, how to research and develop my own ACM, how to advance my technique, how to approach this activity with a sport psychologically.
I fly now with a liberation and serenity I never had before. I don't care to be quantified or evaluated against another pilot. AH flying is for me the Zen activity I wanted it to be. I am centred, alone, content.
So ironically I have learned more from you, than you ever did from me.