The Artist Formerly Known As...

|1-Freak Of NFA



                Speaks out on Life, Love and the Amiga.

                                by D!CK

I  used  to  be  famous  you know, people would follow my every move and
praise  my  work, my name frequently appeared in all the right magazines
and  life  was  generally a lot of fun.  Then the activities of software
pirates  just  caught  up with the output of the software houses and the
latter stayed away in droves, so no more games on the Amiga.

People  started  ranting about it, the pirates started ranting about the
demo  scene,  the demo scene started ranting about the PD scene, and the
PD  scene  just  sat and took it because there was nobody to rant about.
People  started  heckling anybody to make themselves look better instead
of  doing  what  they  used  to  -  i.e getting their heads together and
producing  some  top  quality releases - and so the scene fell from it's
respected place in the hearts of every Amiga owner.

So, no more software thanks to the pirates, no more friendship thanks to
the  whingers,  and I'm sat here with nothing to do and nothing to do it
for  as the Amiga finally goes belly-up.  It's a dead machine now, might
as well sell it and get a PC.

You're  right  to  complain,  I never wanted to get a PC, I was up there
with  the  rest  of  you hoping for the Super Amigas or at least the PPC
Board.   I had my £700 all ready and waiting, then sat and thought about
it,  was  it really worth it?  Will the softco's come back to the Amiga?
In  the  end  an  advert  in  the  local paper - a P120 for £500 with no
monitor  -  decided  it  for  me,  and  I  kissed  goodbye  to  my Amiga
activities.

The Word has been sent to Carnage for them to continue, they may keep it
as it stands or they may elect to provide a new engine, either way it is
their  project  now,  it will live or die by them.  Updates for Balls!II
are stillm possible and people can still register while the POBox lasts,
also  this  POBox  can  still  be  used  for  Word articles and Diskback
services,  I  will  honour  anything sent to it before it closes in June
next year.

From  Monday  11th  of November my Amiga will be in the local paper, the
dosh from the sale of it will be used to finance my PC adventures, after
all  everyone's got to have a hobby, right?  So my PC will keep me happy
for  the foreseeable future, I have a mate ready to sell me his 166 pro-
cessor  when  he's ready for his 200, so that's alright, and PC stuff is
coming down all the time anyway, I've already spent LESS on my PC than I
did on my Amiga, such is progress I suppose.

The other reason I'm quitting with my Amiga and selling it is a personal
one,  I  have  actually  GOT  a  life!   I  want  to  spend  money on my
girlfriend, Cherie, instead of on stamps, disks etc.  Early next year we
are  off to Paris for our first "anniversary", she means more to me than
any  Amiga  ever  could.  Wedding bells are lurking about in the future,
many  of  my  scene  contacts  have  said  "Bloody  hell,  you  must  be
depressed", and it strikes me that they are uniformly single, what would
they know about it?

And  what`s the point of me having three computers in the house (PC, Am,
&  C64)  when  the  biggest of them will run software for all three?  My
retro-  gaming  fetish  can  easily be accommodated by the C64 Emulators
that  proli-  ferate  on  the PC scene, and I can still work on Balls!II
using the Amiga Emulator to run AMOS to produce updates.  Yes folks, the
most  loved  computer  on the planet is now available on a disk, such is
progress.

So  now I have quit it, I will produce stuff on the PC and write for The
Word  under  the name of "D!CK" instead of Freak of NFA, I have no plans
to  join  another  group,  although I may eventually join the Carnage PC
section  once I get settled, and so the centre of my life is moving away
from my computer and towards my girlfriend, quite rightly so.

I'd like to thank all the people who made my time on the Amiga so bloody
enjoyable:      Deck/NFA,     Phil!/NFA,     Budda/NFA,     Kei/Carnage,
Wizzard/Carnage, Barney, Video, and probably loads of others who deserve
to  be  mentioned.   This  isn't anywhere near the full list, simply the
people  who spring to mind at the moment, they are the people who really
stick in my mind as those who made it what it was for me.

And now...  the end is near...  and I must face...  the final curtain...

People  always  cry at funerals, but as I say goodbye to my old friend I
don't  shed a tear because things were getting worse in the end, she was
dying,  that  was  plain  to see, and it probably came as something of a
relief  when  the  decision  was  made  to  switch off that life support
machine.   Now  I have to get on with my life with my new friend, and of
course my love, and look to the future instead of dwelling on the past.

-!-