Somehow, she has stuck with me – mostly through thick and thin. (Mostly thick – have you seen me lately?)
There have been times where, without ever realizing it, she’s been my pillar of strength. I look at her and think of all the things she has to endure in this life – and how she’s somehow remained strong. Even somehow remained sane.
Her name is Amiee Logue, and she is my wife.
First and foremost, Amiee saved me. When she met me, I feel like I was walking down a very dark path of alcoholic bliss. My father had just passed away, and I moved from San Diego (California) to Tennessee. This is nothing against Tennessee, but Tennessee life just wasn’t for me. I met some wonderful and incredible people through the BBS Community there (Marti, Theressa/Spyce, Carl/Blade, Shane/Schieben, Kelly/Tyu, and so many more that I couldn’t go on naming). But, over all the “Country Life” was not in my life – I was definitely a “City Boy” – and though I moved to Tennessee because I couldn’t afford San Diego (and my sister lived in Tennessee, and got me an apartment in the same complex she lived in for an insanely cheap price – well, compared to Tennessee). But despite having my sister, and some of my family with me – I just couldn’t find happiness in Tennessee.
When Amiee came into the picture, she gave me a sign of hope. She took me out, and showed me that there was more out there. She continuously planned things to keep my mind busy and moving.
After Amiee had moved in with me, a year or so later, I proposed to her and she said “Yes.” (Little did she know then, what she was getting herself into).
A medical emergency brought us back to San Diego. Charles and Tammy (see the thanks on 11/22) opened their arms to us and let us live with them while we got on our feet. We eventually both landed jobs, got on our own two feet and landed our own place. On April 19th, 1997 we were married. Not only was I getting married to the woman I loved; but I was also surrounded by my dearest friends and family. It was such an incredible event. (And such polar opposites; with Amiee’s side of the family being very quiet, very reserved; and then there was my side of the family – namely my mother’s table, with all her Spanish friends – being as loud and crazy as humanly possible). Fifteen years of marriage. We’ve had our ups, down, and side ways days.
But somehow, she has always been there. There are entirely too many memories to go through – because of all the years we have shared together. But she has stood by me. She has endured me. (And I promise you, that is no easy feat. People think I am easy to get along with – you’ve not seen me when I get bored. I promise you, given the chance, Amiee could fill your ears with tales that would strike horror in the hearts of people like Stephen King or Clive Barker. You’re shaking your head not believing it – but I wouldn’t even wish myself upon my worse enemy when I am in a state of boredom).
Amiee has also tolerated my obsessiveness. My uncontrollable collecting of various things (like comics, Star Wars, an assortment of books, Star Wars Legos, figures, and so much more!) And she never shakes her head at me. She just lets me do it. I am not sure there’s many that could endure me.
She’s the strongest woman I know. The weight she has often carried on her shoulders; on those rare days where she broke from it – it never kept her down long. She would rise up again, reborn with renewed strength, like a Phoenix or rising sunrise, as bright, warm and beautiful as before.
So today, I am thankful for Amiee Logue. My wife. She means the world to this old, broken heart of mine.
And not only am I going to thank her today – but, today happens to be a special day. There’s another reason I picked her for today. I am thankful for this day, as well.
You see, this day, some many years ago (though apparently not too many, since she still gets carded!) – Amiee was born.
That’s right. Today is her birthday.
So not only am I thankful for her. But I am thankful for this very day for the world giving her to us.
Happy Birthday! <3
Amiee first appeared in Neverending Nights - Episode 8: On Borrowed Gold.
There is no way Neverending Nights would have ever been made had it not been for Bioware – the company who produced the amazing game. Not only did Bioware give us an incredible game with Neverending Nights, they also developed a toolset that allowed users to create their own content. With this toolset you could create towns, quests, specific weather conditions, wilderness, NPCs (Non Player Characters), weapons – the toolset was virtually limitless with what it could do.
It was through this toolset within the game, that we were able to successfully create Neverending Nights.
Because of Neverwinter Nights (and a lot of determination on my behalf to get us recognized), we appeared in PC GAMER UK. Then got interviewed by Jay from Bioware on the Bioware site. Then we got nominated for an award for the 2005 Machinima Film Festival (we didn’t win; but the experience in New York was so absolutely incredible that night). We then got the attention of Atari, who contracted us through Obsidian to work on promo video/machinima pieces for Neverwinter Nights 2, which was an amazing experience. We got to go up to Obsidian’s office and sit with them, and see how the game worked, got Alpha/Beta copies of the game to make the pieces. The entire experience that has been Neverending Nights has been so incredible. It became bigger, did more than I ever hoped or thought it would. You can read about that on our ‘ABOUT’ page on the Neverending Nights website.
As for Bioware, here’s a list of games I also enjoyed from them:
Neverwinter Nights (NWN) is a computer game set in a huge medieval fantasy world of Dungeons and Dragons. This role-playing game (RPG) puts you at the center of an epic tale of faith, war, and betrayal.
As a player, you are able to choose what skills and abilities you will develop as you voyage though the complex and dangerous fantasy world of Forgotten Realms. Be a deadly and dangerous Rogue moving through the shadows using stealth and secrecy, be a scholarly Wizard and wield powerful magic against your enemies, be a hulking Barbarian whose lust for battle is matched only by his terrible rage, be an armor-clad Paladin who protects the innocent and vanquishes his foes, be a crusading Cleric who heals the sick and defends the helpless… be all this and more.
Neverwinter Nights allows you to create your own worlds. This revolutionary game will come with all the tools needed to construct your own unique lands of adventure. The Neverwinter Nights Aurora Toolset allows even novice users to construct everything from a quiet, misty forest or a dripping cavern of foul evil, to a king’s court. All the monsters, items, set pieces and settings are there for world builders to use. But do not stop there; construct traps, encounters, custom monsters and magic items to make your adventure unique.
But the Neverwinter experience is not just for one person- adventure with all your friends. Neverwinter Nights can be played online with up to 64 friends, all sharing in the adventure. You can organize and run your own adventures through the role of the Dungeon Master and control all the monsters, creatures and characters your friends meet as they journey on their quest. A powerful piece of software that is included with Neverwinter Nights, the DM Client, allows nearly unlimited control for running your own adventures for your friends.
Engage in this saga set in the Golden Age of the Republic – over 4,000 years before the first Star Wars film, when both Jedi and Sith number in the thousands. With the Galaxy reeling from a recent conflict with the Dark Lords, the ongoing battle between the Jedi and the Sith rages on. Your actions determine the outcome of this colossal galactic war – and your destiny as a Jedi.
Your struggle is timeless. Your enemy is immortal.
Step into the role of an aspiring martial arts master and follow the path of the Open Palm or Closed Fist. In this multi-award-winning action-RPG, your choices and actions will determine the fate of an empire. Will you prevent the destruction of this beautiful land or crush it beneath your heel? Are you a warrior who uses strength and fighting mastery to bring peace, or will your power bring pain and ruin?
In my previous post, I thanked Greg Johnson of Toejam and Earl fame – and thanked Charles and Tammy Stevens for introducing me to Toejam and Earl. There’s no way I could make it through this month without thanking both Chuck and Tammy for everything they’ve for me.
I met Chuck in the 4th grade. I had long hair and apparently looked fairly girly, because when the teacher first brought me to the class to introduce me, Chuck had said that he thought the class got another girl. (I can neither deny, nor confirm this, but I am pretty sure my mother dressed me in like my sister’s hand me down jeans! Talk about embarrassing!) So needless to say, he was shocked when I was introduced to the class and I was actually a guy!
Well, the charming personality that I have, I had done something to clash with a fellow class mate (I can’t even remember what it was). Said class mate wanted to throw down after class, and I don’t remember how or why it happened – but Chuck ended up stepping in on my behalf. Needless say, Chuck laid the smack down on said person – which sealed Chuck’s and I’s friendship. Ironically, this wouldn’t be the only time this would happen. In the 8th grade, once again, my charming personality apparently rubbed another person wrong who insisted on fighting me – only to have Chuck, once again, step in and beat the snot out of them. (And people say I have a great personality? Really? Then why did everyone seem to hate me in my youth!)
Granted, I had a pretty rambunctious attitude in my youth and probably deserved to have my rump handed to me at some point.
At any rate, Chuck was like a brother to me. We were staying the night at each others house, either reading comics, talking about Heavy Metal, or “air band” jamming out with crutches and clothes hangers (as our flying V electric guitars)! Ah, youth, thou art so blissful.
Chuck was the reason I initially got into my comics when he gave me Uncanny X-Men #121 and Avengers #159. (So now Amiee knows who to blame for my massive addiction, and Southern California Comics knows who to thank). The world of comics opened wide to me, as I became enamored with these colorful heroes who strive to do right in the world.
In return, I would drag Chuck into all kinds of trouble and adventures. Most of those said adventurers happened “Behind Mervyns” (which in hindsight, sounds much dirtier than it really should). It’s just there was an outside mall, where there was a Mervyns (are those even around anyone? The kids of today will be like, “What the heck is a Mervyns?”) – and there was a large forested area. Already infatuated with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, going back into the woods sparked my imagination of adventuring through Mirkwood. We used to ride our bikes out there and wander into the woods and just do utterly stupid things, letting our imagination tell us there were orcs and goblins and such back there. We also used to ride our bikes up the Silver Strand and back, for no other reason than to go to the beach for a little bit and ride back. I remember also riding to Plaza Bonita from our place. Which, these days, being in the shape we’re in, I am not sure we’d even make it out of our neighborhood.
Chuck was the first one out of the Wallgroup (Chuck, Myself, Eddie, Shawn, and Mike) to get a car. I remember when he got the car – our bicycles became utterly obsolete. “What? Ride our bikes to Plaza Bonita? Why do that? Let’s drive!” Chuck was also the first person out of our group to own a computer (if you don’t count Shawn’s father who had a pretty tight computer network – you know, for back in the day!) I remember playing the text based adventure game on his computer (where the “disk drive” was an actual cassette drive!) I remember breaking the code and running a list command and seeing how it was made; and then teaching myself how to do it and creating my own little text games through BASIC.
In High School, Chuck met and began dating Tammy. How Tammy ever tolerated me – or any of us, come to think of it – is clearly beyond me. I won’t even go into detail about the poor things Tammy had to endure at our hands – but if anything, she certainly loved Chuck to tolerate his friends and still stay with him, rather than running away (which any sane woman would have done – of course, her lack of sanity was clearly a good indication that she was a good fit for Chuck and the group as a whole; since back then we were very much like a wolf pack). You didn’t just date the person you were dating; you dated all of us. (Of course, I don’t mean that in the dirty, sexual type meaning – what I meant was, that we were always pretty close to one another, and tended to do everything together. Well not everything – listen, you know what I mean!)
When my father passed away, I ended up moving to Tennessee for two years, to live in the same complex as my sister did, because I couldn’t afford life in San Diego. It was there that I met Amiee, and we eventually moved back to San Diego. It had been Tammy and Chuck, who with open arms, welcomed us into their place, until Amiee and I could get on our own two feet and get a place of our own. (“Hey, is that smoke coming out of the monitor?” So many good memories while we were living with them!) I remember the four of us playing Sierra’s “Phantasmagoria” together. We were glued to the computer.
These days, it’s tradition that Aim and I go to Palm Springs during the summer with the Stevens, to just get away together and have a good time. It’s a tradition I look forward to, because with them – they have known me for so long. I have no need of wearing a mask or acting a certain way or being afraid of offending them with something. They know me, and love me, down to the core of my being.
They had two wonderful children; Sammy and Matt. Sammy, to me is very much like my own daughter. There are no words to ever describe how much I love her and how much she means to me. She was the real first kid I had around me that I knew from infant and onward. I am, admittedly, very protective of Sammy. I have repeatedly told Chuck and Tammy when we go out, that if anything happens to her – they have no fear of Chuck, because they won’t survive me if I get to them first. Sammy is beyond beautiful. She’s intelligent. She’s funny. She’s everything that is wonderful about Chuck and Tammy combined into a single person. And then there’s Matt, who I feel like is like my own son. He’s a gamer, has a love of swords, and loves comics. Granted, somehow he got misguided and doesn’t like American Comics (like Avengers, X-Men, Nightwing, Batgirl, etc) – but he digs those anime comics. I keep hoping to one day correct his view on this. And when it comes to games one of my favorite things to do is challenge him in the various Wii Sports games (especially the archery one)!
This is probably one of the longest thanks I have done, because of the amount of love and memories I have with Chuck and Tammy, and their two now grown kids. I feel so very fortunate to feel like I am a part of their family, as they are very much a part of mine. My heart is richer for the love they give me. My life is richer for the friendship they give. And my soul is richer for the strength they have given me, whether they knew it or not – by always being there, even if I didn’t ask for it.
Charles appeared in Episode 58: VisionQuest.
Matt appeared in Episode 60: But I’m A Lover, Not A Fighter.
Tammy and Sammy appear in Episode 61: Reunited And It Feels So Good (Wait, Didn’t We Use That Title Last Season?)
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