Fragment Flood

Well, all the cool kids are doing it and I have soo much to say here, it's a pity that people read this and I can't be as honest as I want to be.

Three qualifiers in 1998 in the Tatooine Regional. Denver had two Joshs in the finals. Salt Lake had two Jeremys. And Phoenix had two Mikes. Luckily, I was the Mike that won.

I remember trying to figure out who this pompous windbag was that was writing for Scrye. I mean c'mon, do you know how many holes were in that Hoth clouds deck?

I remember getting my couple of boxes of special edition. Sitting at Jester's Court cracking them with Jeremy Lamere and trying to find the most broken deck for Worlds 1998. Then meeting Gabe Alonso on a plane from Atlanta to Norfolk. Then watching Gabe ambush the Japanese player and getting him to trade with before anyone else had a chance. Then saying "sure I have those 6 commons, who is going to play with these anyway". Then 3 hours later, trying feverishly to find 6 Bothuwai operatives.

I also met Tom Lischke, Chuck Kallenbach, Joe Alread, Tim Ellington at this DecipherCon. I have many pictures, one with Chuck and Tom pointing and smiling at the SWCCG glossary.

Two players that were in their 3rd straight world championship, playing at the last table because they didn't want to play operatives/or didn't know about it.

Walking up to Tom at Origins 1999 and asking him to sign my Yub Yub because it canceled Empire's New Order which canceled the Droid Merchants gametext. Boy did I get a look.

"Put your deck on the table"..only in Australian, so deck sounded like a part of the male anatomy. And this was on the speaker.

I remember getting a phone call at my cubicle in mid 1999. It was Tom Lischke wanting to know more about this Maelstrom deck. I almost pissed myself with glee.

Fastforward

I remember getting a phone call from Tim Ellington asking if there was, hypothetically, a job open in the Game Studio would I be more interested in that than the job in Sales that I was applying for. Again with the giddyness.

I remember meeting Kathy for the first time and thinking to myself "where does this lady get off" and I remember that was the last time I ever thought.

Game nights at Chuck. Watching and waiting to see if my color'ed guy was the least amount to fall out of the tower and how would that affect the eastern block that I had so masterfully worked. Playing Mario Kart and being good at it. Using the puppet strings on Sandy to sell stuff so I can shove a coffee in the trading house. Hey it was good for him too, he got to sell a sugar before anyone else.

Car trip to Origins. And listening to that random book on tape about some witch and checking for...oh never mind.

I remember having a discussion with Brad. One of many, but this one in particular was different and it would be the last disccusion we would have like that. So many more discussions resulted in so many great cards. I miss Brad.

I remember every time the design/develop relationship worked and watched the fruits of the labor.

I know what not to send to Helge

I remember Chuck and Cheryl being good to me all the time, especially on holidays.

I remember that fateful day when I got a phone call at the sports bar and ran home. Evan's games were never the same.

I remember almost every time that I wheeled around the corner to talk to Brad and him *always* having a smile on his face and happy to engage in conversation.

I remember the first time that Brad and Evan bestowed their knowledge on me and thinking to myself "what do these guys know". And I remember never thinking that again.

I now know that there is value in DVD extras.

I feel tempted to divulge secrets and save my entire crew to this interrupt that sits on the table.

I liked talking sports with Tom. He would always listen and actually know what I'm talking about. And would always know when I was trying to pull a fast one. Not that that was particularly often.

I like to think that I learned what "elegant" design is in the time that these influential people were my co-workers.

I remember when I used to design cards rather than do paperwork.

I miss Tom's "encouragement"

I remember when it was fun to come to work and I looked forward to each day.

I do know one thing, I have made more friends and learned more in the past 2 years than probably the previous 5-10. Up until about 4 months ago, this was the funnest job I have ever had and it's what I wanted to do with my life. I wish I could still say that.

Each and every one of you has touched my life in a unique way and I hope that I can stay in touch and continue to learn from the experts.

There is no way that this is everything, but it took a struggle with the psyche to get all this out...ooo...pretty colors.