EPTThe wedding was phenomenal. The resort was gorgeous, the Dominicans were so fantastic, friendly, and fun. Spending a whole week with my friends and family made the wedding that much more special. We debated over a standard wedding with hundreds of guests and a quick ceremony that often leads to forgetting the small things, but ended up settling on the destination wedding. For anyone that isn't big on traditions, and wants to walk a path in life while not following a map, I sincerely recommend it. Here are a few pictures for those interested.
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Over the past twenty seven years, my brother and I were never close. We are very much alike, but in very subtle ways. Our personalities have common traits, but we have usually had very different interests, goals or ways of expressing ourselves. This caused a somewhat chaotic childhood coexistence, often leading to fights and disagreements, resulting in us growing apart at a rapid rate. He is three years older than me, and was always much stronger than me, so he never lost any of our physical confrontations. After high school, we both went our separate ways, him working in the hunting and fishing profession, me pursuing computers and technology. Fast forward ten years, to my wedding. My wife and I settled on two people each, standing up with us at the ceremony. For me, I've always pictured the most influential people in my life standing up there with me. In this case, it had to be Richard and Steve.
Richard, my Starcraft friend from my previous blog, was obviously my best man. Twenty three years as best friends, never missing a beat when I needed him the most, he was always there. At times I've wondered if I was actually a good person, and questioned my decisions in life. So many times I came to the conclusion, if a person as kind, genuine, honest, and awesome as Richard could be my best friend, I clearly can't be doing too much wrong. His friendship kept me strong more often than he could ever know.
Steve, a person I met when I moved to Regina from my small hometown, was an easy second choice. He was co-worker, a roommate, and will be a lifelong reliable friend. Richard has worked on the oil rigs in Alberta, often with long absences, and of course I wasn't close with my brother. Steve was the rock I needed time and time again.
This unfortunately, meant I couldn't have my brother up there with me. Some people may question my choice in not including my brother, but I am surely glad I didn't. One night on the trip, a group of us were walking back to our rooms late at night, and it finally happened. Fifteen years overdue, my brother and I finally talked. Boy did we talk. Easily two hours at two in the morning, we talked about everything. We cried, we laughed, we plotted. My father and his brother don't talk much, and we can see the pain it causes my dad, and my grandparents. We both agreed, that wasn't going to be us. Part of me believes that if I would have included him in the wedding party, the heart to heart talk may not have happened, just continuing on assuming nothing was wrong. His wedding gift to us, was bringing along a professional photographer to follow us around the whole week, and helping organize and pay for our wedding dance at a Vegas style night club on our resort, with a private area and bottle service. An experience to never forget. Thank you Clayton.
Alexander Graham Bell once said, "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us".
For me, my prolonged gaze fell on Starcraft 2 and casting. I wanted it for so long, that I often ignored other games. Richard had tried numerous times to get me to play Dota 2, but as many of you know, it has a rather large learning curve. I had tried Dota in Warcraft 3 a few times, but never thoroughly understood it. I tried league of legends once or twice with some other friends, but it never grabbed me. I finally gave in, found a beta key, and jumped into Dota 2. It was a whole new experience. Almost one hundred heroes to learn, crazy game mechanics, and so many items. It didn't take long to pick it up and really enjoy it. Even April tried to join in on the fun, she played Windrunner most of the time, but after one game where our teammates were making fun of her for being new, she said, "How do I type to these fuckers to fuck off". It was right there I thought this game and community was a little too volatile for her, and I didn't want it to change our relationship. I had never heard such an aggressive tone from her.
After my wedding, my brother saw my passion and interest for it, and figured he would give it a try. On a spare computer, he jumped in, and has been hooked ever since. Week after week, he visited me, and we played Dota. It accelerated the rebuilding of our long lost bond. Eventually I decided to buy parts and build him a computer that he could play Dota on, as he really only had his Macbook. We played hundreds of games, and we became friends. It was really heart warming to see what a simple video game could do for us. To this day, we talk more, visit more, and I can honestly say if my wedding was this November instead of last, I would have forced April to find a third person to stand up there with her. Maybe one day my brother and I could be a Dota 2 Casting Duo.
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My first anniversary is coming up next weekend, but unfortunately I won't be home with her. I will be in California, at Blizzcon! After years and years of trying, Richard and I finally got tickets! It was partially Aprils idea, she wanted to surprise me, so I don't feel absolutely terrible about missing the anniversary. We will be staying at the Hyatt, and I look forward to meeting/partying with everyone! Anyone that is going, and maybe staying at that hotel, please feel free to send me a message. I'm sure it will be a blast. My dream now is to meet up with Day[9], or some of the other casters I've idolized. I still have Artosis on Skype, but he is too busy. Day[9] has responded to me and hopefully we have some mutual free time. I didn't think he would reply, but when he did, it gave me the sickest nerd chills! I offered to take him out for food or drinks on my bill, it would be such an honour.
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With not being around for our anniversary, we randomly decided to get a kitten! Well not completely randomly, April has been bugging me and toying with the idea for awhile. I love cats, and had one when April first moved in. Unfortunately he passed away from a urinary infection... but here is the new addition, CeCe! (April named her) She absolutely loves watching Dota with me, it's kind of funny! (See the video) She also got me this decor sign for our anniversary, for my office....Love her so much.
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