I cannot explain why I was drawn to this instrument since day 1.  I guess I was captivated by the vastness of information that it can extract and the scale at which it does so.  Also, I had the best-est mentor! I felt like I could answer so many questions if I knew how to utilize it. AFM became my magic tool box. However, operating AFM was a steep learning curve for me.  Even after 5 years, I know AFM only at a 101 level,  but I am learning every day.  And I take immense joy in learning new (physics-backed) tricks and applying them to my experiments.