The Best Laid Plans Part 2

My life has certainly not been going according to plan.

When I was just a boy, I dreamed of great things. For example, I thought I might be the first person to ever attend the California State Science fair seven years in a row. I was among the first group of young minds to get in starting from the sixth grade, then I returned in 7^th, and won first place in my division in 8^th. I was pretty proud. When I got to high school, I was gung-ho to be a scientist and continue my perfect science fair attendance, maybe add another newspaper article to my collection of silly childhood achievements that inexplicably get written about in local newspapers. Then, I met my science teachers, and all my dreams of becoming a scientist were dashed by a couple of incompetent asses. Actually just one, dude didn’t even know that .5 rounds up, c’mon.

After I gave up my scientific ambitions, I next imagined becoming the valedictorian. Something about giving that graduation speech had a very Gilmore Girls badassesness about it. I wanted to be just like Rory, except with muscles and male genitalia. Things were going smoothly until I transferred schools. At my new public school I was already so far behind on my AP course load that I wouldn’t even make it into the top five. I even had the balls to try and get into Yale with those grades. “HA, with those pathetic scores,” you might say. I was optimistic until I met the interviewer and I was politely informed that unless I could play the violin with my feet, or something equally amazing, I was most likely not Yale material. I ended up at a little private school. DUMB IDEA GREG. I’ll be paying it off until I’m forty – or at least my parents will be -and the weight of that degree is literally the same as the paper it’s printed on.

So, after all those life goals being shattered, you’d think I’d be pretty flexible by now. I’d like to think that I am. In 2011 under marital pressures I succumbed to the sad fate of having my blog put on the back burner. Then, in 2012, the doctors in Japan gave me some pretty bad news: The Crohn’s disease that I had been diagnosed with when I was a kid had come back with a cruel desire to fuck my life up. I’d been in remission for so long that I frankly had forgotten how sick I was way back in the fifth grade. But, this time was different. Things were really, really bad. They put me on medication immediately, chemo, the good shit. Actually that ended up making everything worse and began my life of surgical disembowelment which has continued for the last 4 years. I’ve now lost about 6 feet of intestines to Crohn’s. I’m not sure how much bowel I have left to be honest. It keeps me up at night.

2014 - Me at 120 pounds ready to get my guts cut out.

As you can imagine, with my busy schedule of injections, work, a kid, and wife, I was not getting a lot of gaming, or writing, done. In the midst of all this I even had to prepare to change jobs due to my contract with my high school ending in 2015. The doctors that diagnosed me originally in Japan scared the living hell out of me and my family when, in 2014, they said I could literally drop dead at any moment and that I should write a will and get my affairs in order. I told them to screw off and I’ve been doing my best at living for the last 2 years. The job change didn’t go well, considering I was living under the fear of death, but I received offers from here and there. Unfortunately I was forced to take one for the fam, and I ended up with a 5 hour daily commute from one side of Tokyo to the other so that my son could live near his grandparents. That commute, combined with my crappy job and my Crohn’s almost nearly killed me. They found that I had ruptured my guts and was bleeding and leaking shit internally. Things were pretty bleak. To top it off, my family was no longer willing to stick around and watch me wither away, so I ended up signing my divorce papers from my hospital bed. Fall of 2015 was good times.

I’ve been back in America now for a year. It’s been a roller coaster. I’ve had two surgeries and several more hospital stays. It’s been pretty rough. I’ve gained weight, lost weight, gained it again, and lost it again. I’m sitting at a calm 200 pounds now if you’d like to know. Respectable, yes. I could probably use some more muscles, but I’ll deal. The one big plus side to my new disabled way of life is that I’m living back at home, with family, and all of my RPG BOOKS!!!!! Not only that, but there are friendly local game stores around here that host events. In fact, I’ve got 3 local shops that have DIFFERENT RPG nights. They’ve also got Magic Tournaments and board game days. After being on a forced leave from my gaming world for the last 4 years, it feels pretty good to have access to this part of my life again. My friends nearby have stuck by my side both literally and figuratively. We’ve been bonding over board games and beers. I’d have to say that I’m having a pretty good time now, especially when the Crohn’s flares haven’t kicked me on my ass.

So, to conclude, life doesn’t always go the way you want it to. Mine certainly hasn’t. My plans have all gone down the toilet, like the fierce excrement my body likes to vomit from my body at a frightening pace. Now, I’m making new plans. I want to get back to the game blog world and write about what I love. I want to write about my ongoing war with Crohn’s disease. I’m planning on writing a couple books down the road. Hopefully, at least a few of my wonderful schemes will actually go from planning to execution. I would love it if you’d subscribe to my site and stick around to find out. I can guarantee at least a few posts a week. I hope that you’ll read them, mull over all of my hair-brained ideas and off-the-wall comments in my reviews. I’d be tickled if you left a comment so that we can connect. So, take care, and catch you tomorrow internet people.