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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The_Universe" data-source="post: 2460862" data-attributes="member: 8944">My name is Kennon, but there are times in real life when I actually do refer to myself as "The Universe." This stems from the fact that referring to myself as the Game Master can easily sound like I'm calling myself the Gay Master (not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess - it's just not my cup of tea)...and Dungeon Master sounds like I'm into bondage (which I am not). But I digress. I was born in rural South Dakota in late January of 1981, and spent most of my childhood life on the farm. My parents were (and are) married, and over time I gained a sister and a brother (both of whom I love dearly, and remain as close to as distance and schedule allow). Farm life wasn't really my bag, but I find myself missing the rural mindset more and more with every day I spend in a large metropolitan area. Basically, people are just less crazy at home - and I miss sanity. Because of my upbringing, I find myself (and others find me) to be unusually pragmatic, which is not to say that I don't have my flights of fancy. I was raised to value creativity, humor, and good common sense - in addition to life at home, I was involved in extracurricular activities from grade school through college, and most of them served to enhance the values my family had tried to engender in me. I was in Odyssey of the Mind (an intellectual/dramatic/creativity activity) for 10 years, and as the opportunities presented themselves, I was involved in sports (briefly), drama, debate, and oral interpretation. My fascination with RPGs began in Middle School (reading the ads for D&D on the backs of comic books) but I never really got to play until my Freshman year of High School. We played AD&D 1E briefly, and then moved on to the Star Wars RPG. I loved it. I still love it, in fact - but I've moved on to playing and running different things. I loved school in all its incarnations, and was a good student until college, when I pretty much stopped being a good student, and started getting better at slacking off - doing just enough to keep the GPA respectable (I graduated with a 3.6). On the personal relationship front, I had the same girlfriend for 5 years (through most of high school and half of college) who I was devoted to, but not in love with (in retrospect, I see the difference). We broke up at the end of my Sophomore year of college...badly. Fortunately, for the most part I kept the friends, and though I wish her no specific ill or harm, I don't think I could ever bring myself to even *like* her, again.  I met my wife the following summer (no, she wasn't a mail-order bride. She wasn't my wife, then) and we became close as we learned more about each other over msn's instant messaging service. Despite coming from completely different familial histories (my family is close - like a 50's sit com family. Hers is like watching the aftermath of a train wreck for the most part; imagine that Megatron and Optimus Prime had been married, and the ensuing Cybertronian war was a result of their split) we had a lot in common. Common interests, common dreams, etc. Plus I thought she was a hottie. I still think she's a hottie. We started dating, and by the second date I knew that I wanted her to be my wife. She graduated, came to college, and we made it official - we got in engaged, and eventually married (12/27/03). As of the moment, we have no children, though we're going to try, eventually. We moved to the east coast, but we desperately want to move back "home." We're midwesterners through and through. Friendship is extraordinarily important to me, and through a strange set of circumstances I ended up with high school friends that are nearly as close as family. Most of us went to college together, and there's an (apparently) uncommon loyalty between us. A few friends of that caliber were added during college, but I've never found a friendship to compare outside of this core group. Of course, I tend to expect that kind of loyalty from other friends, but that kind of expectation had led to be getting burned badly by less than exemplary friendships. One of my chief flaws is that I often expect (and see) Gold in people where there's only Iron Pyrite. But slowly, I learn. I love to read, I love to GM RPGs. I like to write, and I hope to someday make a career out of it. I love family, I love friendship - but most of all I Love God, and I Love my wife. That's me.</blockquote>

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