One of my achievements in life is a email exchange I had at around the same age with someone from Cray, a conversation sparked after a newsgroup post about the model of computers used in the book version of Jurassic Park.

It wasn’t anything as extensive as what op is talking about but it made a deep impression on me. Something like the nerdling equivalent to getting a baseball hat signed. The potential with email to speak directly with people working in rarefied places was eye opening. It also gave a real confidence boost that I could stumble on interesting things to say.