An intro to me and my life

Well, I should get this started. They say that a man can learn from studying the past. Also, I've been told that my life, or at least the way I describe my life should be put down into words, and therefore I will share with you my random ramblings of the world. Hopefully, someone will enjoy them/find them interesting.

So, I'll introduce you to me, then my life.

I'm a college graduate with a bachelor's degree. I'm in my late 20's, and just recently got married. I enjoy fantasy/sci-fi a little too much for my own good, and am an avid gamer. What can I say, I'm a geek and I love it. That's a very brief overview, but you'll learn more about me as we go I'm sure.

Important people in my life:

MrsRileyScott: My wife, my love, my everything. She's the first thing I want to see in the morning, and the last person I want to see when I go to sleep at night. It's not that she's perfect, no one is, but as i always tell her "You're not perfect sweetheart, but your the perfect girl for me."
This is the girl who has played Dungeons and Dragons with me, Halo 3 with me almost every night, a girl who let me include lightsabers and wear sneakers at our wedding ceremony. I never thought I'd find a girl like her in a million years, and I'm never letting her go.

My Dog: My little fluffy dog that was given to my wife, and therefore to me by default. It's not the breed I would have chosen, or the color. But she is the sweetest dog, and has grown into a true member of the family who much to my chagrin I've grown to love. Probably has something to do with the overly adorable factor.

Darque: My best friend for going on 8 years. He was the best man at my wedding, my first dungeon master, my roomate for two years, and has single handedly cost me more money then anyone else in my life (wedding excluded). This is because since the first day he met me he's always managed to say one phrase. Whether it was Dungeons and Dragons, Heroclix, moving to Florida, Yu-gi-oh, VS. system, Final Fantasy tactics, Drafting on Magic Online, or forming a team on Halo with the wives. It's always been one phrase "What's the worst that could happen...you like it." It took me a while to realize, but liking whatever it was, was the worst thing that could happen to my amount of free time or my bank account. But while doing these things, and playing these games, I've had some of the greatest times of my life, with the greatest friend I've ever had. Along the way I've lived with his wife DD, and his three children, who have become a dear and permanent part of my life.

DD: Darque's wife who has become like a sister to me over the years. We definitely had a rocky start, but both Darque and DD are in every sense of the word my family. Their three kids are my kids, as much as they can be being so far away.

Hawk and Dove: Hawk is my good friend from college, and Dove is also my good friend from college. They were dating when i met them, and ended up married. They are both teachers, and recently moved to upstate NY for their careers. Hawk is the ultra reliable type, and is definitely a friend you can count on. His wife is very intense at first, but she's one of the nicest people i know. We've had a ton of fun hanging out with them at Applebees and playing Mario Kart. They come to visit every other weekend or so, and it's always great to have that couple on couple time with them.

Siblings:

My sister: Though we weren't as close as i would've liked growing up, in recent years our relationship has grown closer. We now text each other often when she's away, and I look forward to our relationship growing stronger as the years pass. She's the greenest of the green planet folk, and just in college has made more people aware, and worked harder then I've seen anyone work to get the message out there. She's been to the United Nations speaking on the environment, and already has a full time job offer, and she's not even graduated yet. She's going to go far, and fly high, and I couldn't be prouder of her.

My Sister-in-law- This one is hard to pin down. She's a wonderful person, and her heart is in the right place, but we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things. I think it's mainly because we don't have anything in common to talk about. She's a vegan, studying environmental science, and who likes bad reality shows. I'm a meat lover, who works in technology, and hates reality television. When we have had common ground we've got along great though, so I hope we can find more common ground to begin with.

Parents:

My Mom: I guess the easiest way to describe my mom is a nicer version of the "Everybody Loves Raymond" mom. Her children are her world, there is always food on the table (And if there's not there can be in ten minutes), and the holidays and special occasions are her domain. Growing up, she was the typical overprotective mom, but she raised two great kids. She loves reality-TV, especially American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. She ranks among the three women I know that can bring out my ugly side...I think cause we're more alike then I like to admit sometimes, and most of that is cause once someone gets to a certain age, it's harder to live with parents.

My Dad: At 6'1" my dad was always someone to look up to, that was until i got taller then him, :). He's worked two jobs to support his family for 28 years. He has two artificial hips from being a postal worker. He the biggest Yankee fan I know. He never wants to go on trips, or especially to family occasions...then again i don't think anyone really looks forward to those anymore...my dad's just more vocal about it. He's a real down to earth guy, loves movies, and sitting in his chair.

As I have matured in life, I've found that my relationship with my parents has improved dramatically. What can I say, teenagers(young adult twenties) and parents rarely agree, but once I worked two jobs, and had to decorate for xmas. Once I had to kiss that last customer's ass just a little more to make the phone bill, and eat ramen for breakfast and lunch cause I couldn't afford anything else...one can't help but get a sense of appreciation for one's parents. As a result, I think I'm more patient and mellow with them. One thing that annoys me about my parents is that they are very anti-change in technology. Being the gadget guru that I am, I've made several attempts to upgrade my parents, and bring them into the modern fold, but few have taken. An example of this is my Mom's Ipod which sits in an old tupperware container perennially charging. But no matter there analog nature, or sometimes old world traditions, i know one thing for sure. That my parents will always be there for me and come through for me in the end. This was made abundantly clear with all their help for my wedding this past summer.

Extended family: Let's just say this is an extensive topic, and we'll tackle it later.

In-Laws:

Mother-in-law: I live with my wife and mother-in-law in my mother-in-law's house, so we have a unique living situation. She's ultra healthy, and exercises regularly. She has a very empathetic personality, and is a really kind person at heart. As far as son-in-law's and Mother-in-law's go, we get along pretty ok. If we have friction it's due mainly to my former point of reaching a certain age and still living with parents (even if they aren't yours).

Father-in-law and step mother-in-law: My FIL is a pastor and a rather reserved man. I would like to write more, but honestly I don't know much about the man, even after 3 years. He cares about his congregation, and tries his best to improve his community. Him and I have never really been bosom buddies, but I chalk that up to the fact that we have almost nothing in common besides the love of his daughter. Since I have trouble relating to people I don't have things in common with, you see where this could be a problem.

My SMIL is a career driven business woman who is really good at her job. She's a new mom to an adoptive girl from China, and seems to be balancing her career and motherly responsibilities very well. She cooks a wide variety of dishes for us during our visits, some are better then others, but they are always with the best intent. This is a result of me being a picky eater, more then her cooking I think.

Online people: These are people that I don't see everyday, but who have affected my life greatly over the years.


Star Wars Epics: Located at www.starwarsepics.com, I've role-played with alot of groups, both online and off, and I can tell you that this place is among the best if not the best the net has to offer. The dedication of the Admins, and the quality of work coming out of this website is above and beyond anything I've been a part of before. I've been role-playing characters there for 8 years, and in that time they have changed and grown, and as such so has my writing. The Admins, consisting of Sam, Han, and Corran have been trusted friends over the years, helping me through hard times, and encouraging me when I was stuck on a post. This has been my creative outlet and my home away from home for many years, and I hope for many more to come.

Megz: She was my best friend in college, and one of the most influential people in shaping the direction of my life. Our friendship, relationship, fallout, aftermath, recovery, and current friendship has had drastic effects on both of us, but the lessons learned and memories retained were worth it. Our friendship has whethered its fair share of bad breaks, but now we're both happily married, and growing into our adult lives. We don't chat or email as much as we use to, but I think Megz said it best recently, when we do communicate it "...always makes me smile".

Ris: My only friend in High School, and one of the kindest people I've ever met. We've only seen each other 2 or 3 times in the last 10 years, but whenever we do connect it's like no time has past at all.


Things that are important to me: A short list of things and places that are important to my life.

My "Space": The little area in my MIL house where my wife and I have made a little makeshift home of our own. It's too small, and kinda chilly, but it's where we live generally. It has all the game systems, our dvr, dvds, all the other electronics that entertain us.

Iphone 3G: Best phone ever, never leaves my side

My Computer: Computer geek, hello


Activities that are important to me:

Playing Halo 3 w/friends
Playing Magic Online
Writing

These will be covered more thoroughly in my gaming blog.


My Job:

I work in the software department of a large multi-national corporation. So basically they've managed to cram 7 anti-social geeks into a small area to produce code. My job is to support the efforts of the other five. It's not much, but you have to start somewhere and I'm good at what I do. My coworkers can be described as follows:

Doc: The smart one, now keep in mind all these guys are pretty darn smart, but if you are wrong he'll tell you, and extremely bluntly as well. He's actually the most social of the bunch, and has many friends in the company. He's also said that he doesn't know why he is so short with me, but he can't help it. Once he described me as the "son he never wanted". We work together pretty well, when I'm not being talked down to. And it's during those times that I learn the most from him.

Grumpy: The boss, he runs the software department. He's actually a really good guy deep down, but you have to really get to know him to see it. Generally, he's crass, crude, just plain rude, dismissive, or some combination of all of those. We get along ok, it varies from day to day, and I know that we are similar in many ways. The advice he gives is very poignant, and he's hysterical when he's in the right mood, but I think a lot of the mood is that he's not happy with his life, or it's just very stressful. He's big on giving people nicknames, and they vary in tone, mine is stinkypants. This has no bearing on any smell actually coming from my pants, but it was just assigned to me through an undisclosed process of probably he felt like it one day and it stuck.

Neaty: The guy who is very twitchy, and generally keeps to himself. His desk is the cleanest in the dept., but even after 2 years i still don't know much about him.

Awesome: No, this is not a personal opinion, but the nickname given to him....told you they vary. He's the closest thing I have to a friend here, and the guy I eat lunch with generally. After a year of listening to "The adventures of Riley" he's encouraged me to write some of them down, and eventually I agreed that it might be a good idea. So if you don't like this blog, this is the guy to blame.

Graybeard: My predecessor who moved up to a programmer from my job. We get along ok when he's not stressed, and he's been very helpful with a few problems. We have a better work relationship now then at first, which I'm slowly beginning to appreciate. He's also the guy who can twist any joke just that extra little bit into the "dirty" area.

His Royal Highness: The guy who thinks that he's above it all. Gets frustrated easily, makes changes just cause, and generally thinks he's always right. At first he took great pleasure in trying to scare me, or fake threaten me. Now we tolerate each other pleasantly, probably cause I'm better at my job now, and we had to work closely together for 2 months.

The Boss: This is Grumpy's boss, and one of the more professional people I've worked for. She gets the job done, and does this very well. While I didn't understand how she worked before, I now have an appreciation of her disipline and skill. She actually got my back a few weeks back, and that has truly impressed me, as no boss have ever done that before.



So thats a basic overview of me and the world I live in. Buckle up, trust me, you're in for a ride