Soo, where to really begin. I hate doing this is a public forum, but perhaps in sharing Ill find some level of catharsis. I found out this morning that an individual that played a role in my life passed away. He was the manager at the hometown movie theater, and I had the distinct honor of working for him from 86 until 90 when I came out to San Francisco to finish up with college. He patiently tolerated my coming to hit him up every few months to see if there were any openings, and it was one of those evenings that I was giving him my pitch in his office that the announcement of the US had begun its bombing of Libya came over the radio. We spent the next few hours talking about the geopolitical and military history of Northern Africa. He was a lifelong military history aficionado and miniature wargaming pro. Not Warhammer mind you, but if you wanted to go through every naval battle of the past few centuries, its likely that hed run those scenarios any number of times. He tolerated my love for RPGs, and all the while coaxed me towards trying my hand at Napoleonic wargamges. Got me into playing the early era of PBM MMOs (Epic). But more than all of that, he was a rough around the edges individual that became a friend and mentor. When I left Emporia to come to San Francisco, his advice, and really our relationship, echoed profoundly closely that of Alfredo to Salvatore in Cinema Paradiso. Sure, that probably reads as silly, but to me it was and remains very real. Today hearing of his passing it struck me entirely as the opening scene does. Therell be no hidden reel, but my thoughts today/tonight are very much with the man who for no reason reached out and helped a lost kid find his way forward. Heres to you Mike. I expect youre setting up the board for another game with Gygax and complaining that hes taking too long to place.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 03:32:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015