My Dad

I mentioned in a previous post that my father was getting married again. When he first called me and asked me to be his best man, I was ecstatic. I obviously accepted, honored that he would choose me to do this for him. I also knew that I would get to write a toast for the reception as well.

I knew I wanted the toast to be special. My dad has been a huge influence in my life, and I knew this would be my chance to let him know what he has meant to me. I thought quite a bit about my life today, and how my childhood helped shape me into the person I am. While I mentioned some of this in my toast, I've realized I would like to expand on some of this a little more. I would like to dedicate this blog post to my dad and everything he has done for me.

As most of my readers know, I started this blog because I have dreams of being a writer. This blog is a tool for me to put my thoughts to "paper" and give me a chance to practice my writing. However, my desire to be a writer stems from my love of books. My love of books is in no small part thanks to my dad.

One of my earliest memories from childhood, is my father reading me the riddles that Bilbo and Gollum exchange in Chapter 5 of The Hobbit. I've always loved puzzles and these riddles also excited me. After hearing them enough times I had eventually memorized the answers, but I still wondered about the rest of the book and what part the riddles played in it.

Once I was old enough, I read the book on my own. This was the first fantasy adventure book I ever read, and I was hooked from the beginning. I have read many books in this genre, and several of them are very near and dear to me, but The Hobbit will always remain my favorite. I read it once a year as I was growing up and have read it cover to cover at least 11 times over the years.

My love of reading has never waned over the years, and I can't tell you how many books I've read. This is one of the only times in my life where I am not actively reading a book, and that's only because I'm focusing on my writing and game design. While there are several reasons books are such a big part of my life, I can still trace part of it back to those childhood riddle games with my dad.

My love of gaming can also trace some of its roots to my dad. I remember playing card games with my dad at a very early age. I learned how to count using playing cards, and I learned how to shuffle a deck of cards at the age of five. I wanted to learn as many games as I could and even remember trying to make my own games before I was 10.

In addition to playing cards, though, my dad and a couple of my uncles were the people who taught me to play chess at a young age. I still remember playing games with both of them and wanting to get as good as them. I was eventually able to get as good as them, and then even better. To this day, my dad will not play chess with me anymore.

My love of chess as a child is what led me to learning Magic. It was like a combination of the cards games and chess that I have always enjoyed. I don't play much chess anymore because I tend to focus more on Magic, but I still look back at those games with my dad and realize how much they have shaped my life.

My dad is a good man, and I have learned a lot from him in my life. My dad will go out of his way to help a friend. I have always looked to him as a guide for how to live my own life, and I know that I am a better person today because he gave me a great example. My whole life I have tried to make him proud of me, and I know I have succeeded. More importantly, I am also proud of him. He has taken a major step in his life, and I know it is the right step for him. I was very glad to be there by his side as he took that step. This is just another way for me to show him how much he means to me. I love you, Dad.

-Eddie

Moving Forward

Welcome back. I know it's been a while and I apologize for that. I continue to think about this blog and evaluate how it fits in my life. I started with the goal of doing daily posts. I quickly realized that was eating up too much time and preventing me from accomplishing the goals that this blog was supposed to detail.

Since then, I tried going to a weekly schedule. As you can see, that hasn't worked out so well, either. I'm spending more time on the goals I have this year, and this blog has fallen behind. So I have made another decision in regards to this blog. I am going to keep it, but I am not going to adhere to any sort of set schedule. Instead, I am going to use it to document updates in my life and the projects on which I am working.

I also do not intend to have a specific them for each post. Instead, it will more of a play-by-play of what I've accomplished since my last post, as well as what I have going on at the time. This will still allow the blog to retain its original function, which is to serve as a progress report of sorts, as well as a way for me to practice my writing.

Speaking of writing, I have been able to move forward with one of my projects this year. As most of you know, I play Magic: the Gathering competitively. Last year, I spent time writing strategy articles for a blog a friend of mine started. Toward the end of the year, my friend found himself lacking the time to maintain the blog, and he handed the reins off to me. Several of our friends were writing at the time as well. Together we decided we wanted to expand the blog into something larger.

Last week, we were able to launch our new site. For those of you interested in Magic you can find the site here. As of right now, I function as the editor and webmaster. I also produce written and video content for the site as well. It feels good to be writing about Magic again. It gives me the opportunity to practice my writing in a field with which I am familiar. In addition, as the editor, I get some helpful insight as well. I get to look at the writing styles of the other authors and learn from them.

In addition to helping my writing, I believe the website is going to help with my Magic play as well. I'm trying to play more so that I can create good content for the site. Even if I'm not playing, I'm still thinking about the game quite a bit more now than I have been earlier this year. Hopefully this will lead to better results in the events that I have later this year.

I've also been focusing more on game design lately. I've been listening to a podcast by Mark Rosewater, the Head Designer for Magic. While most of the podcast relates to Magic design, he does go over general game design principles as well. This has started me thinking about my own game design. I have an idea that I'm working on making a reality.

With the work that I'm doing on the new website, as well as the ideas I have for my new game, I'm pretty content right now. I'm finally taking the time to let me creative side accomplish its goals. I will continue to update this from time to time with new developments in my life. I hope you will continue to read it as well.

Eddie