A legend in my mind

Yesterday Gary Gygax died in his home in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Any correlation between this and Brett Farve retiring has yet to be determined…

In all seriousness, for those of you nubs not in the know, he was the creator of Dungeons & Dragons. As I read the articles about his death I started thinking about my early experiences of D&D and what an awesome time it was. Freshman year in high school I discovered this wonderful game. Using the mighty number two pencil and any paper (never use a pen, almost sacrilegious) I could get my hands on my friends and I created avatars, monsters, encounters, traps, puzzles, drama, conflict, resolution, reward, and death. No computers, TV’s, joysticks, or consoles needed, we used our minds and created worlds.

I can’t remember all of the D&D clones I’ve played over my life time. Some of the more memorable ones were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG (I know that sounds corny but their pen and paper game rocked the house), ShadowRun (A sci-fi / fantasy post-apocalyptic world set on the west coast), Marvel Superheroes, and Twilight 2000 (A WWIII infantry RPG).

My friend Jason and I played TMNT constantly for almost a year. Using the “Road Hogs”, “After the Bomb” and “Mutants Down Under” source books we reeked havoc with our mutated animal heroes, hands down my favorite RPG game. During that time the Nightmare on Elm Street movies were big and together we created an entire system and rule set for a dream warrior type game. Each hero had a specific nightmare type and using a unique power set had to battle his nightmares to stay alive. We spent hours building and playing this game. To this day my father mentions how impressed he was at the amount of material and the complexity of rules we created.

A low point was when my parents came and tried to forbid me from playing these games. Apparently the church I belonged to at the time (I’ve since become a free thinker and actually make decisions based on what I think) decided to tell its followers that D&D and games of this ilk were satanic! Bullshit and completely unfounded. God forbid the little sheep begin to think for themselves and use our imaginations. Another scathing post for another time.

Since then I’ve followed the genre as it has grown and morphed into what we have today. Video games (World of Warcraft), movies (most of them suck but I am working on that) and the occasional table top game (Warhammer 40k). I play a lot of these games and to my wife’s horror my son has also caught the gaming bug a bit. I am so proud… tears of joy I tell you.

I think for me it opened my mind into what can be accomplished, literally, out of thin air. All of my early writings were rooted in my gaming experience. It taught me how to imagine. It taught me how to create an avatar on paper and actually fear for its life as I navigated it through perilous adventures. Laugh; call me a geek or a nerd if you will. But I challenge anyone that loves a good movie or book to tell me that that is not what deep down they are looking for when they experience a story.

So I wanted to give Mr. Gygax his proper due. Without ever having met the man, he had a monumental effect on my life. Thank you sir.

-Jim

A moment of deafening roar

Some day in the future I will be watching football with my son and Brett Farve will pop on the screen. When that moment happens I will tell my son that Brett Fah-verrr-ruh was one of the grittiest, hard working, toughest, highlight-reel-waiting-to-happen quarterbacks I've ever had the pleasure of watching.

That 4th down play in the playoffs this year against the 'Hawks where he underhanded the ball to the reciever as he was stumbling was heartbreaking but when I see it now I just shake my head and file it under "Vintage Farve". Thanks for playing Brett. I will miss you...

On a side note did anyone in Greenbay go to work today? How bad are they gonna suck next year?

Josh Brown can eat my ass. That's all I have to say about that. If the 'Hawks don't make some moves soon in Free Agency I suspect this will be the lame year heading into a rebuilding cycle. It was fun while it lasted but getting some young new stars from the draft will be exciting.

Baseball is in full spring training. Mariners are looking good. Baring any Mariner Moose incidents our staff should be pretty strong. Should be a good year. Got my six game package for me and my family. Out of sheer luck we have tickets for both Mother's and Father's day. Awesome!

Silvertips are rockin. Got tickets to their last home game. Playoffs start in a month or so. GO TIPS!

I love the Seattle area. So much sports... and culture. But really a lot of sports.

I purchased a mountain bike last week. Looking to get in shape. Went on a ride with the family and had a blast. They forgot to mention that the seats on the bikes these days are fairly hard, so as you can imagine I am sore as shit. Feels like I got fucked by a Rhino who went horns deep. I love it though. Riding a bike is so much fun, I am puzzled as to why I ever stopped.

Writing is slow. I have a lot of ideas but nothing that's jumping out at me as a great story. I am tinkering with a few lines so we will see if something gains momentum.

That's it.

-Jim

[Witty Title]

What a two weeks since my lost post….

I am on day three of my new job. So much to learn my head feels like mush. The people are nice and the projects are exciting. I’ve cut my one-way commute from 90 minutes down to 10 minutes. I have to time to hit the Y and work out. I am happy.

The writers strike seems to be over which is awesome. Here’s to everyone getting back to work and coming up with some great shows! Cheers!

Looks like Blu-Ray has come out on top over HD-DVD to win that war. I am so glad I waited until they sorted that shit out before buying any new DVD’s or a player. Somewhere in a secluded pawn shop a Betamax silently weeps…

I caught the last few episodes of Psych on TBS. That show is funny as hell. The season finale had me laughing out loud. I tried to watch Monk but that show is tired and I am still pissed at them for dropping the first blonde assistant. I don’t care for the new chick at all.

My four your old son is making his way through a PacMan adventure game on the original X-Box. When he gets stuck he comes and grabs me for help. Unfortunately I suck at arcade games. Here I am a grown man screaming at the TV cause I can’t make this double back flip jump twist or some shit and my son is calmly patting my on the arm saying “It’s ok daddy. Just try, try again”.

Aside from the fact that Lindsay has some nice Lohan’s I am not impressed with her comparing herself to Marilyn. To my knowledge Lindsay hasn’t porked a president or even been to the white house for that matter. Between her busy schedule of rehab and driving while under the influence I guess kudos to her for finding the time for a photo shoot.

When thing settle down with the new schedule I will work in a writing schedule. I am still holding myself to getting at least a first draft done by June. With all the major worries and issues solved for now I think I can devote some brain cycles.

Until next time…

-Jim

Thank god Eli is single...

Congratulations to the New York “Football” Giants! What a great game. The Giants took it right to the Patriots and smashed them in the mouth. Sure looked like an aging Patriot linebacking core lost a step or two in the fourth quarter…

Does anyone in this country like that fucker Belichick? I was SHOCKED to find out has a kid. Dear god my heart goes out to him. I think the Patriots and that ass hat of a coach need to be fined for not being out on the field for the final play. Hell I am not even sure they had 11 men on defense for the final kneel down.

Belichick completely disrespected the referee that was trying to tell him there was another play then he disrespected Coughlin and the Giants by leaving the field early. The guy is a prick and needs to be fined a seasons paycheck for his bullshit.

His players and organization must be so proud of him and his antics. A stain on an what I felt was one of the best Superbowls I’ve ever watched.

**News Flash**

New England has an APB out for this woman....

Do not approach her if you play professional sports. She is armed and dangerous.

Pitchers and Catchers report this month… Go Mariners!

Where the hell have I been? Well let’s see.

I start a new job on the 18th at a small software company about 15 minutes from the house. No more hour long bus commutes to downtown Seattle. No more corporate bullshit to deal with, just creating great software for customers who will use it. My kind of gig.

Writing has been sparse lately due to lots of distractions that I really can’t use as an excuse but will anyway. Things are looking up so I find myself wandering back to my stories and they take life again.

Talk of the writers strike nearing and end is good. TV is sucking horribly these days. I hope they finish out the Scrubs final season.

I will holler at you all later.

-Jim

Happy New Year and shit

My ‘Hawks are done. Blasted in the “..Frozen tundra of Lambeau field”. Congrats on a good run guys. I am rooting for Brett to go all the way. I think the Packers have a good shot and beating the Pats.

Holidays were good. I got very little writing done. I’ve been in a funk at work so my attitude and demeanor haven’t been the best. I find it hard to creating conflict on paper when I have real life problems to hammer out. I should probably figure out a way to marry those two, might come up with a half way decent story.

For awhile there I was consuming any and all information about the strike I could. It was kind of exhilarating, a war at home sort of thing. Now it just pisses me off. I hope everyone gets their shit together and starts treating each other with what used to be called respect. They keep fucking around and you’re going to see a whole generation playing video games and interacting online instead of watching TV and Movies.

My goals for this year are to get in shape, lose some weight and get at least one script done and have two or three more in various stages of development.

Here’s to all my reader(s) and wishing you a happy new year.

-Jim