Sinus Headache. So bad. Eyes are throbbing. Even my teeth hurt. Ugh.

Doesn’t help I’ve been staring at Word docs for the last … ugh, very long time.

But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. I caught a meme today that I kind of like:

To start the new year off on a positive note, comment to this post, and I’ll post one reason I think you’re cool. I may not be the best or coolest thing I can think of, obviously, because I’m sure there are many things — just the first thing that pops into my head.

And if I don’t really know you, then I’ll make something up :)

Go!

Here's my post. Where's my candy? :)

Why I like Doyce:

1. Best damn GM I ever met and the only one besides my old pastor that kept me excited to play.

2. His blog entertains me.

3. Just a damn good person with damn good values.

4. He tells me what shows are going to be cancelled.

Happy New Year D.

It speaks volumes for how much I like Doyce that I am able to overlook his totally inexplicable apathy towards cats. That sort of wrong-headed thinking normally makes me dismiss someone in a heartbeat, but I am willing to overlook this gaping character flaw in Doyce.

Have a happy, healthy 2005 kiddo.

You make me laugh!

Actually, I think you're supposed to comment here and Doyce says nice things about *you*, not the other way around.

Though I suppose it's nice to say something nice about someone who's going to say something nice about you. Or else it's a desperate and rather pathetic pandering for external approval. Nah, it's nice.

Anyway, Doyce rocks. I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

Just flawed enough to avoid being really annoying.

'Cause the glare off a halo would give me a headache.

His home improvement stories entertain me!;->

Ok I'll play cause I read the instructions:
Doyce is cool because he puts up with me. Percy is cool because he married De and takes good care of her. Captain Rooba is fun because he doesn't take himself too seriously. Marn is cool because she makes me feel like such an underachiever. Dave is just about the best human being I know. Randy makes me appreciate that Doyce is sane about the number of books in the house. Stan takes a joke very well.

Okay, the idea was that You just say "ME! Gimme!" and I praise you... only Lee understood the one-sidedness of this arrangement, of course. :)

But I like y'all's version of it :)

Now, from the top (I've decided to go for coolness factors that are not the most obvious):

• Percy (Lee) possesses an undeniable joy in fatherhood that would surprise those who know him in only cursory fashion.
  
• Captain Rooba is bilingual, and for a very cool reason. Also, he has excellent taste in 4WD classics.
  
• Marn sees grand, glorious vistas composed of humble things, and works to make them happen.
  
• kmsqrd really turns a fine phrase as a writer. "The black and white world of technicolor" indeed.
  
• Dave always tries to wear a t-shirt that matches our weekend activities.
  
• Randy is the only person I know besides myself who can explore a topic of debate from different angles for years, which is a great comfort to me, as a devoted dead-horse-beater. Also, my obsessive interest in $current_topic doesn't bother him.
  
• Stan drives down from Boulder at least one time almost every weekend to spend time with us.

You want summa this?!? Huh? Speak up! :)

Jackie gets her own post:

Jackie is cool because she doesn't wear makeup or stupid shoes. (And she only has one more pair than I do.)

I think Doyce is one of the smartest and well written person I know. He also points out cool tv shows and movies, that I can get addicted to briefly before they are canceled or removed from theaters.
Plus he's married to Jackie, which makes him cooler, because she rocks.

Amanda has a shocking knowledge of 80's music. :)

Doyce and Jackie are *both* way cool! Down to earth in so many ways!

John has a head for strategy that leaves me thinking I should go back to grade school.

Also, he brings pistachios over. :)

Jackie: Great fun to be around, and she loves to bake tasty treats.

Randy: Knows tons of stuff, and great to have long discussions about about all sorts of ideas and concepts.

Dave: Jean Val Jean.

Marn: A pleasure to read, and I wish she lived here.

Percy: Entertaining, and would love to see him in another game besides Nobilis.

John: Best Amber GM evah! Plus his ability to plot long term strategy as both a player and GM are just on this side of scary.

Doyce, among the many nice things I could say, I'll select this, since few will appreciate this the way I do.

Not only are you a good writer, you are one of the few people I know who can eat criticism for breakfast. You not only treat what I have to say politely but professionally. Also, I'm impressed by your terrible, terrible focus. Who knew that obsessiveness would be such an asset?

(Besides Jackie, who will say something like, "Duh," because she already knows. I also admire her pre-emptive strike gift-giving. She plots.)

(And Randy's ability to remember. I'll say something. Six months later he'll bring up the conversation, because he just thought of that one thing I needed to know.)

(And Stan's ability to laugh. At himself, at Doyce, at anything. Some people just mock when they laugh. He doesn't.)

(And Jon's ability to let go. He runs into something new, he doesn't gnash his teeth and pull his hair until it turns into something old again. No longer than can be humanly expected, anyway.)

(And Dave's puns, which are bad enough to make me laugh, but not so bad I have to leave the room, a nice distinction. He also eateth of the constructive criticism before noon.)

(And I appreciate Lee's ability to stop just short of that last, final, divorce-decree cat hairball noise. If you've heard it, you know. This is important: to be able to annoy your spouse just enough to make them laugh about it later.)

You've already said something extremely nice about me, so I'd like to go ahead and add to the compliments about you, despite what the entry said. One: You write the world I live in, which is somewhat scary, but even better, it's very _very_ engaging to read. Two: I have regularly passed on your blog stories to friends and family because they're very relateable. Three: I am constantly amazed by your sensible views on parenting issues. You seem to strike through a lot of the social garbage to the real point.

De is cool because she is, without one doubt or reservation, making me into twice the writer I am. Truly.

And I'll tell you something cool about Meera (MT): one time, she GM'd a game using rules that I had written. She let me play in that game. She ran that game so seamlessly that *I* didn't even recognize when the rules made an appearance -- it was just pure *play*. She ran it better than I would have.

Without Doyce, my knowledge of Colorado would date from 1974.

Oh, Oh...what about me! If Lee gets candy I want some too!

I am going to throw something out about Doyce just because I want a golden nugget back. I have know Doyce since I was born - he is generous to a fault. Many of you have probably been receivers of the generocity but I doubt any of you have been a part of the sacrifices that he has made for me.It goes way beyond monetary or food, this is a guy who, when we were kids would repeatly take the heat for me so that Dad wouldn't yell at me. Dad was typically pretty laid back but when he bellowed the building shook and Doyce simply did not think I could take it and would always and I do mean always stand up and say it was his idea and that I had nothing to do with it. It has probably made a bit of a baby ever since but I will always appreciate the love you give!

Bonnie is cool because she makes up nice things I did during our childhood. :)

Okay, more seriously.

I think TC is cool because he lives life pretty much on his own terms. Single guy, computer work, photography, indie film stuff, playing music, and he speaks Chinese beyond fluently. That's bad ass.

Abeladoni, aka Dale, has a GIFT for telling the most embarrassing, horrifying stories about stuff that's happened to him in a way that makes you laugh so hard tears run down your face. He is also, judging from the stories, entirely invulnerable to physical damage of any kind.

Bonnie...

Wow. What to say about Bonnie?

You know, I like the way she says "yes".

Not just that she says it to anyone who needs help, or that she says it without reservation or doubt -- though she does do those things.

I like the way she pronounces it. It cheers me up every time I hear it.

Doyce...
Is someone that I have lost touch with but will always cherish.
Made me feel welcome and at home someplace that wasn't. Forgives me of my ramblings. Saw me through a very hard time. Does not (I hope) hold my family against me. Was also there at one of my highest moments. Is one of the few people that I have to check on everyday because I love to see people I know succeed. Forgives me of the fact that I will dig in my heels and resist his latest craze until my curiosity gets the better of me. (Firefly) And I like the fact that he still has a picture of me to use as a "why NOT to drink vodka" example.

Jackie and Bonnie and the rest of his family are cool too.

Unfortunately I believe I've lost the "invulnerability" part of my stories. Take last August for example. I was walking home from the bar on base at Ft Gordon. I was on crutches mind you, recoveringfrom knee surgery(having rolled down a small cliff and tearing said knee out), when this humungous tree branch picks the exact moment lil ol' me was walking underneath it to let loose and try to fly. Needless to say the branch didn't fly too far, I was nearly knocked unconscious, got a concussion, and broke one of my crutches *sigh*. The nice paramedics estimated the weight of the branch at about 70 lbs, and they even took a nice picture of it for me.

Dude!

A branch just FELL on you? For NO REASON?

Jeebus, did you boil live babies in a past life or what?

Actuallly I think it's some sort of weird Karma transference. Lee does all of the bad stuff, and I take the cosmic grief for it! The bastard!

Hey, this looks like fun.

Me! Me! Do me!

Virg (Fontroll) looks good in heavy sideburns -- don't say that about many men, and even fewer women. Also, I think it's really cool that he has THREE sons... he so deserves that. :)

Ian is cool because he manages to control his dosage of City of Heroes -- I look to his example for hope in the future. Also, he's bad ass at Fantasy Football.