My parents are here.

Family, death, gumbo & scrabble.

This has been my weekend so far.  Let me begin at the beginning.

• A few months ago I made plans w/ my parents for them to drive up to Chicago for a visit (my mom loathes flying).  So they arrive late last night.  I'm totally happy to see them except earlier in the day, Roger & I received news via our friends Kim & Tony that a mutual friend, Mike, had died.  This was a huge blow to our community.

• I need to explain about how we know Mike & our circle of friends (the community).  About 6 years ago I was dating this guy who was as nerdy as I am:  he collected comic books, action figures, loved Sci-Fi, fantasy, table top gaming, video games...everything I have loved since my 1st "Planet of the Apes" action figure when I was 10 to playing hours of Pong on the God-given game system that was an Atari.  This guy said since I loved the Final Fantasy & Zelda games so much, I should try World of Warcraft.

          And so I did.

          I began in the middle of the 2nd x-pac called "The Burning Crusade" with a Night Elf Hunter & a Gnome Warlock. I raided, met some great people.  Then along came the

          3rd x-pac, "The Wrath of the Lich King" & I never looked back.  

• I was now a once-dead-but-now-alive-bad-motherfucking DEATH KNIGHT.  I wore plate armor & carried an axe larger than most people.  I was technically a Night Elf, but had a very pale countenance, bright pink hair, a skeletal horse, it's rotting flesh falling from its bones. And I could hit.  HARD. Very, very hard.  I could take damage like it was nothing more than a pesky insect.  I was nearly indestructible & I loved it.

• I joined a Guild, which is a balanced group of like-minded players who get along, band together & kill lots of things together.  I joined a guild called "Suspect Zero" led by a nice guy named Mike.  His Warcraft name was Shermann because his role in battle was a tank.  Tanks keep the monsters occupied, can tKe a SHITTON of damage and basically keep the baddies busy while the DPS (damage per second-that's what I do.  I'm melee which means fighting baddies up close & there are ranged DPS like Mages, hunters, priests & warlocks.  They do their damage with spells, so they stand back a ways.  We also have healers (priests, monks, shaman, druids, paladins) who keep us from dying.

• Anyway, as a group who has to basically anticipate each other's every move, you get to know these people VERY well.  Mike, our leader, is the one who introduced me to Roger, our Raid Leader & Holy Paladin (healer) & long story short?  Roger & I have been together for 5 years & are planning on getting married.  I'm 44 & he is 48.  Most of our guild is between 35 & 50.  It was just such a blow when Kim & Tony called to let us know Mike died.

• More on this next time.  I was going to talk about mom & dad, but all I can think of are my fellow guild-mates:  Hal, Toni, Matthew, Kim, Toni, Kyle, Sammy, Chuck, Crixy, Danny, Dan, DJ, Al, Zack, Margo, Iggi, James, Remy, Eddie, Lucas, Amelia, Winter & Sage.

• Until next time, guys.  I am going to cuddle up with Roger, we're going to decimate a cheesecake & watch Sense8.