End game
This is a bit late obviously, but yesterday was well...I'll just explain...
Actually a little background is needed to fully understand the nature of this particular entry into the weblog. When I first started out my mad journey on the Internet, I used to be a part of this newsgroup called alt.tv.game-shows. Basically, this is an online forum for fans of game shows to discuss game shows of the past and present. One of the L.A. game show bretheren who posted frequently on the group, Randy Amasia, passed away yesterday after a bout with cancer...
Now, I can't say I was really close to Randy at the time of his passing. In fact, one could say we had a bit of a falling out. My best memory of him was when I first visited L.A. as part of my internship during the summer of '98. Randy was one of the first people to welcome me to L.A. Being thousands of miles away from home in a town with no relatives or friends nearby, it was cool to have somebody to visit and especially cool to meet one of the alt.tv.game-shows regulars after having posted on it for years. Unfortunately, after I moved out here permanently a year later, there was a bit of a distancing between us. This was partly due to my working on shows which he had some choice words for in his posts to the newsgroup. I was brought into the mix of one particular long thread of posts about the new version of "Card Sharks." Now, I would be lying if I said his comments didn't piss me off a bit. It even ticked off my friends more than it did me!
While he may have been a pain in the butt some times, it was jarring to hear how he had fallen ill and even more of a jolt when I heard he passed away yesterday. I must admit that I've never really dealt with death well. There's always been this air of uncertainty. What do I do? What do I say? In the past, people whom I've known personally who have died were relatives, all of which had had long battles with illness and where the death wasn't unexpected. However, I have never been in a situation like this where somebody who I was at one time in close contact but had grown distant due to a little bad blood passed away. I must admit, I honestly did NOT know how to react when hearing the news.
I eventually did a little reflecting (self-reflecting and othewise) in light of the news. While I was upset about all the criticism on the newsgroup, ya know what? It's just minor bullshit...words...that's all...somebody's opinion...no harm...no foul...Stuff like that shouldn't matter. We had our differences, but he was still one of the hard-core game show fans, and his death is big loss to the game show family (dysfunctional as it can be sometimes). I hate to turn into a "let this be a lesson to all" speech, but something like this was another reminder that getting angry and holding grudges is just wasted energy. It's just not worth the effort to get upset at others over little things. As hard as it can be, if you find yourself wanting to scream or chew someone out about something, step back for a second and think about what you're getting upset over. Is it worth it? Is it worth raising your blood pressure and stressing out over it? 99.9% of the time...probably not...
In any case, I raise my mouse to you, Randy. Here's hoping you're in a better place kicking butt in the Aftergame of Life...
This is a bit late obviously, but yesterday was well...I'll just explain...
Actually a little background is needed to fully understand the nature of this particular entry into the weblog. When I first started out my mad journey on the Internet, I used to be a part of this newsgroup called alt.tv.game-shows. Basically, this is an online forum for fans of game shows to discuss game shows of the past and present. One of the L.A. game show bretheren who posted frequently on the group, Randy Amasia, passed away yesterday after a bout with cancer...
Now, I can't say I was really close to Randy at the time of his passing. In fact, one could say we had a bit of a falling out. My best memory of him was when I first visited L.A. as part of my internship during the summer of '98. Randy was one of the first people to welcome me to L.A. Being thousands of miles away from home in a town with no relatives or friends nearby, it was cool to have somebody to visit and especially cool to meet one of the alt.tv.game-shows regulars after having posted on it for years. Unfortunately, after I moved out here permanently a year later, there was a bit of a distancing between us. This was partly due to my working on shows which he had some choice words for in his posts to the newsgroup. I was brought into the mix of one particular long thread of posts about the new version of "Card Sharks." Now, I would be lying if I said his comments didn't piss me off a bit. It even ticked off my friends more than it did me!
While he may have been a pain in the butt some times, it was jarring to hear how he had fallen ill and even more of a jolt when I heard he passed away yesterday. I must admit that I've never really dealt with death well. There's always been this air of uncertainty. What do I do? What do I say? In the past, people whom I've known personally who have died were relatives, all of which had had long battles with illness and where the death wasn't unexpected. However, I have never been in a situation like this where somebody who I was at one time in close contact but had grown distant due to a little bad blood passed away. I must admit, I honestly did NOT know how to react when hearing the news.
I eventually did a little reflecting (self-reflecting and othewise) in light of the news. While I was upset about all the criticism on the newsgroup, ya know what? It's just minor bullshit...words...that's all...somebody's opinion...no harm...no foul...Stuff like that shouldn't matter. We had our differences, but he was still one of the hard-core game show fans, and his death is big loss to the game show family (dysfunctional as it can be sometimes). I hate to turn into a "let this be a lesson to all" speech, but something like this was another reminder that getting angry and holding grudges is just wasted energy. It's just not worth the effort to get upset at others over little things. As hard as it can be, if you find yourself wanting to scream or chew someone out about something, step back for a second and think about what you're getting upset over. Is it worth it? Is it worth raising your blood pressure and stressing out over it? 99.9% of the time...probably not...
In any case, I raise my mouse to you, Randy. Here's hoping you're in a better place kicking butt in the Aftergame of Life...
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