A Life of Learning

I don't think I'm ever going to get tired of learning. Something way, way back in my childhood is probably to blame for that, but I really don't mind. My life has been a series of lessons learned both the easy way and the hard way, battles won and lost, and - of course - a bit of fun whenever I can manage it. I learn, I use, I teach, I repeat.
While I might not know the entirety of the reason for my overly energetic spark of curiosity, I do know this: at least one video game is partially to blame.
I wanted to be an Astronaut for the longest time. This is not just because my dad was around 10 when the first moon landing took place and he painstakingly described it with a few more-than-appropriately-dramatic tears welling in his eyes, but also because he installed Microsoft Space Simulator on our first PC. I didn't play it a lot, and I didn't really understand what I was doing for most of my time playing it, but I do know that it got me interested in astronomy and exploration.
Later, when MS learned how to make a true physics engine, they made the first flight simulator games. While we all probably had fun with those cherished childhood memories, I was aghast to learn more recently that Microsoft's software is used by pilots to learn, master, and hone their skills. From combat pilots to those little men in hats who fly little jets for rich businessmen, the fliers of the world and I have shared a common experience.
Flight simulator is one of those games that slowly became more than it's purpose as more people found out applications for it, and while few games eventually scramble their way to this standard, countless many are nonetheless excellent learning tools. Throughout elementary school, a myriad assortment of edutainment titles were forced upon me by my educators (and were, with few exceptions, well-received). We ALL remember packing up, trading, hunting, fixing axles, fording rivers, and losing oxen on the Oregon Trail, but we don't remember going home to our parents afterward and being able to recite the names of every single trading post the settlers would have stopped at on the way. The list goes on: I avoided the demonic Troggles and expanded my vocabulary with Word Munchers, flew through space on the power of long division in Math Blaster, and saved a museum full of assorted yet intriguing exhibits in Museum Madness.
That said, however, there is one game (well, a series of games, but you know what I mean) that made the most difference in my life of learning. This game is also the reason I was resented for being smarter than everybody else in school until I hit the sixth grade.
I am speaking, of course, of the Magic School Bus.
Whether I was trying to find my teacher - lost among the planets in an asteroid collision - or trying to escape the human body after being accidentally swallowed, I was exploring. That's really what learning is all about: exploration and learning to apply what you've explored to other things.
Perhaps the reason I tend to lean towards entertainment with decent writing or art or at least a good message is because I seek knowledge in everything. The games I play now, while not mainline education, stimulate my creativity. I'm the kind of person who will read/listen intently to every line of dialogue and every detail of backstory, lean back and say "...I need to try that sometime."
So to those out there who would say that video games have no lasting educational or cultural value, I must respectfully disagree. You may have done all of the research in the world on the subject, but none of it can hold up to the fact that I have lived it.