Someone similarly mentioned it to me in 2011. I remembered about it a few days or weeks later and did a little research and found Satoshi's paper. I didn't understand much of it the first time I read it, but I was curious. I downloaded the wallet and hit a couple of faucets and games, and played around a little with it. I re-read the paper another couple of times until I started understanding and making sense of it all.

Later in the year I meet Charlie Lee on IRC and learned about LTC. I've been studying BTC and LTC everyday since then.

I also wish I had bought a few BTC and LTC back then instead of just play and study them.