@soundwave I'm only a few years younger than you and I started using LaTeX about 2 years ago. I love it! It's awesome to be able to create attractive content using nothing but VIM. I use a combination of markdown and LaTeX for my blog (e.g. https://hideoushumpbackfreak.com/algorithms/math-asymptotic-analysis). I'll never go back!
@soundwave I didn't have the pleasure of using Word Perfect :( I feel as if I've missed out...
The good news is that with LaTeX, I've been liberated from the MS office suite!