Vacation time

Going on a vacation often brings up thoughts of events that take place over the course of the vacation time or of just vegging out at home and not doing much of anything. But sometimes, going on a vacation means meeting up with old friends and not really planning much other than how to spend time with those friends to catch up on things that have happened since the last time you met or chatted.

Such is the case with me during the weekend of June 24^th 2011. For many years I have played games. The love for gaming started as a kid with an Atari 2600. Things just evolved from there to where I am today, playing online games. Playing a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (known as a MMORPG) is how I spend most of my gaming time and it has been that way since roughly 2001.

Over the course of 10 years, I have met a lot of people around the world and many of them I see as friends of mine. Some of them are not a friend that you could sit and talk to about life and things of that nature, but someone you enjoy playing a game with. Then there are the people that you really connect with. These are the people that you know on a level that is hard to put into words.

There have a few of those in my life and every single one of them I still talk to today. But when you meet one of those people, that you felt a connection with online, face-to-face for the first time, you can feel a connection stronger than you first thought. Almost like you have known each other for so long that you don’t have to sit and talk for hours to get to know them better because you already do know them. In the same sense though, you are disappointed that you didn’t take advantage of the time with that person to sit and talk about things you have wanted to talk about but only in a face-to-face atmosphere.

This leads me to my point of this blog today. As I stated above, the weekend of the 24 June 2011 was a wonderful weekend. I got to meet some people I have played games with online for years in person. Everyone was way better in person than the way I have known them in game. Having a common ground to which we could all speak kept us even closer as a group than some blood relatives get at their family reunions.

We had all sorts of different people there; some old timers of the “family” and some new faces that have only just joined us over the past year or so. Everyone seemed to hit it off nicely the affair was a great time to be had by all. Usually at this point there is a “but” thrown into the conversation, however, this time there is not. The only thing that was bad about it all was that it had to end. (At least for now.) I say at least for now because we try to have these get-togethers twice a year. The first we have in Florida in June and the other we have in Arizona in October.

This was the first one I have attended and I plan to attend as many more as possible as long as they are being held. The two days that we spent together were some of the most fun times I have had in a long time. Having two more days later in the year only enhances that time and builds anticipation for the next meeting.

Reading back at what I have written to this point, I notice that I have left out activities. I am pretty sure that you, as the reader, have noticed as well. This is purely intentional because those events were more of a gathering of friends and not meant for the general public to have intimate knowledge about. Everyone in attendance knows what went on, and each person has their own view on the events. While I could probably write a book on what transpired, I won’t do that. Instead, I will simply state that I had the best time I have had since I can remember and feel that I am much closer to everyone that was in attendance.

In closing, I will leave you with this little tidbit. When you are with close friends and family, always ensure they know how you feel about them because you never know when it will be the last time you see them.

I love you all. GH4LIFE!

Shiyan out!