Quick Catch-Up

First things first: I'm sorry to have been silent for so long.  After the death of our friend, things got quite busy.  There were numerous times I wanted to type up a post, but either had to force myself to sleep or wait until I got home.  Then I would be sitting at my computer trying to figure out what the hell I was going to type for the post.  I know I planned to get better and April I almost managed to post only to have RL(real life) work get in the way.  I did try to participate in Camp NaNoWriMo with a goal of only 15,000 words, but only succeeded on hitting 9,000, I think.  I really don't feel like looking it up.  The point is I didn't even hit 10,000 words that month.  I managed to hit 10,000 words last July, so maybe I'll hit 15,000, though I can't promise any updates like I plan for November.

Besides work, we lost another friend.  This time, it was thanks to a drunk driver instead of a heart attack, and recently another friend lost his unborn niece.  It would have been his first which is what makes it so heartbreaking.

Second, it's been a year since I started this blog!  I know, that's nothing compared to some well-known and loved bloggers and vloggers, but I've always been a little technology-challenged and/or impaired.  It's not as though I didn't think about way back then.  I remember setting up a yahoo account in middle school.  In high school, it had somehow managed to disappear from existence.  I don't know how nor did I use the same user name, but I did create a new account.  I've had accounts on some sites for a long time, however not all, in fact most, aren't used.  

I admit it.  I'd much rather read a good story and live within the realm of my imagined world of recreation than keep up with deadlines and the like.  Speaking of which, I should admit that I've almost reached the 1000 word mark for Camp NaNoWriMo, which is great news because it means I've actually had time to sit and type which I plan on doing later today as well.

I thought I'd better give at least a minor update on some of my thoughts, though with everything going on, I have plenty of thoughts.  The question I keep asking myself is...Do I wish to exacerbate a situation I'm not truly knowledgeable on?  So I put forth a question to you.  Just because we read one story and hear folks talking about and making assumptions based off the one story, does that give us the right to tell those within the story that they are wrong or that people need to take a stand?

Circus Peanuts, D&D, and the Loss of A Good Friend

This post isn't really a rant so much as a memorial post for a friend who recently passed away and whom a close friend is planning the memorial gathering seeing as he was cremated and his family has decided that he didn't have enough people that would attend a memorial in his honor.  Obviously his family doesn't understand just how many lives this one man has managed to touch.  For those who knew him, it's a heart-rending loss that he wouldn't want them to feel.

I even remember him saying numerous times that he didn't wish to cause others to get upset.  He was a kind man who was willing to help whomever needed it whenever he could.  He was severely overweight and though he tried to get it under control, it never seemed to work.  Just as things seemed to be turning around for him, he has a heart attack.  But instead of dwelling on the loss, I want to remember the things that made him so great.

He was always sharing whatever he brought to D&D sessions, and that was always a lot of things.  He was always willing to try new foods as well.  The number of things that were bought on a whim because they looked or sounded either good or downright strange.  This man had a huge heart.

There was one thing though that he came up with.  That candy circus peanuts?  He and another friend tried to figure out why they were so good.  This man had a strange sense of humor, a little macabre at times, and his description for circus peanuts fell right in line with it.  See, he and another friend decided they were the souls and tears of clowns.  Because of this, every time one was eaten, it made a clown cry.  So have some circus peanuts, and make the clowns weep.

His interests varied, but one of the things that made us enjoy D&D sessions was how he could take the most simple things and make them bad-ass.  His favorite was using a fighter, especially in gestalt campaigns.  He'd create a double fighter human that could take on a mage of the same level as though the magic were negligent.  He wouldn't be covered with magical items either.

The number of stories that could be told about Eric are numerous.  He was a man who touched the lives of many and will live on in the memories of his friends and for those of us who play D&D the characters that we create.  We will never be able to recreate some of his best or most unique characters, but perhaps we can tell the stories of the campaigns he was a part of to others and they will.  Perhaps his unique outlook on life will be found in the outlooks of others.

I do know though that Eric Reynolds was a great man and friend as he laughs his ass off watching as we play D&D and tell stories about him and how he was to our friends and family.  May he live forever in our hearts and continuously watch over us from his observer's space.