I just learned that my father has been in the surgical intensive since Friday evening. Its a shame that I live in California and he lives in Florida, it would have been nice to find this out sooner than half-way through the week. Many thanks to my father's friend, Skip Bolinger, as he was able to track my number down through my father's cell phone.
I have been expecting my dad to pass for sometime now. He's 75 and never took great care of himself. My mother passed away in April 1995, and had read that most spouses tended to pass within 5yrs of the other passing. So I consider my father having lived a full life, and has managed to beat my expectations. Of course now that he is even closer to death, I am greatly saddened.
My dad has always been there for me. He instilled some great values in me, either through direct teachings or setting indirect examples. I am at a loss of words for now, I will just say that I may have to fly to Florida on a red-eye flight. he has requested me to be there, and I shall go.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
My Father
I just learned that my father has been in the hospital since Friday evening. He lives in Florida and I now live in California.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Gary Gygax Dead @ 69
Man, news travels fast and bad news travels faster. I just learned that Gary Gygax has passed away. For those that do not know, he helped create the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Together with Don Kaye, Gary published the first D&D books for TSR (Tactical Studies Rules) in 1974. The rest as they say, is history.
I have such fond memories of playing D&D with friends as a kid. My first game was in 1979, I was 10 years old at the time. The neighborhood kids use to gather at each other's homes for a game session, though most of the time we ended up at my friend TC's house. We played about every weekend, every free moment we had as kids. My first ruthless DM was Vincent, and he looked a lot like Tom Hanks in the CBS movie Mazes & Monsters. I use to save every scrap of my allowance and visit the neighborhood book store (Little Professor) almost daily, just waiting to see if they had anything new from TSR. Memories now, all good.
I owe a lot to D&D. I improved my math and reading skills, and my imagination and comprehension. I also learned a lot too, about friendship, lost acquaintances, anger, fear, betrayal, love, forgiveness.
Twenty-nine years later, I find I am still involved with D&D. I manage an online community of gamers (http://www.gathis.com). I'm sure if nothing else, our love for the game that Gary built unites us all across race, sex, politics and national boundaries.
If you haven't played in a long time, you'll find the rules have changed, but the fun is still there.
I have such fond memories of playing D&D with friends as a kid. My first game was in 1979, I was 10 years old at the time. The neighborhood kids use to gather at each other's homes for a game session, though most of the time we ended up at my friend TC's house. We played about every weekend, every free moment we had as kids. My first ruthless DM was Vincent, and he looked a lot like Tom Hanks in the CBS movie Mazes & Monsters. I use to save every scrap of my allowance and visit the neighborhood book store (Little Professor) almost daily, just waiting to see if they had anything new from TSR. Memories now, all good.
I owe a lot to D&D. I improved my math and reading skills, and my imagination and comprehension. I also learned a lot too, about friendship, lost acquaintances, anger, fear, betrayal, love, forgiveness.
Twenty-nine years later, I find I am still involved with D&D. I manage an online community of gamers (http://www.gathis.com). I'm sure if nothing else, our love for the game that Gary built unites us all across race, sex, politics and national boundaries.
If you haven't played in a long time, you'll find the rules have changed, but the fun is still there.
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