Subtle Thanks from a Geek and a Father

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anniversary, blog, Comics, dad, Family, father, gaming, geek, kids, Madison WI, personal, two years, video games, wife, write

When I started this blog I never really planned on it being anything major. I was also never really wanted to expose myself too much. So rather than make a blog all about me and plaster my name all over it I came up with the name Animockery. Last week our lovely blog hit its second anniversary and I let it slip by quietly. I notice many blog writers have a trend of tradition of making a dedication during such event. Rather than celebrate it I chose to let it go by until now. There are a couple of reasons for this; the first one is that I have not accomplished all that much yet. After two years I feel that more could have been done and I also feel that I could have been in more of a grove by now. The second reason is that I took nearly a week to decide I would publish this piece. I know I started this whole thing with zero expectations but now I want more, I want to make my mark and to do that I need to put myself out there. I will not promise 100% of my time but since you wonderful readers decide to come here and take the time to read my words the least I can do is share a little more of myself.

To some degree I have always been the odd one out. I never had large amounts of friends and even before I accepted it I was nearly always a geeky kid. I liked art related things, I daydreamed constantly, when I discovered video games I was hooked and I always was handy with the technical stuff. I was fond of taking things apart to see how they work, I was too pre-occupied with taking apart something new, I rarely reassembled them. I enjoyed the company of others but many times I would rather tinker with an old stereo speaker.

Eventually I found video games and computers and that is when I started to realize I was a bit of a geek. Keep in mind this was back when geeks and nerds were not cool and were often outcasts and made fun of. Even though I tried to hide it when I was younger and if someone called me a dork or geek I would get mad and sometime this led to a fight. This didn’t happen too much since I am not a fighter by nature, but it did happen a few times.

Fast forward to my teen years and I see my parents split and I get to live in a new city and go to a new school. This was pretty lonely but it led to something kind of great. I started to draw a ton more and got into Anime, more video games, 70’s and 80s rock and learning how computers work. Eventually I started to meet other fellow geeks and for the first time I felt like a part of a group. In high school I even went to my first con.

After high school I mostly skipped college and spent most of my days working and gaming. Hit up World of Warcraft to the point where it was ridiculous. I built about four custom computers in my early twenties, some for me some for others. I never stuck with school at this point but I gained invaluable personal experience not only technically but socially too. Eventually my years of short relationships and most of my days spent gaming or going to the pub with buddies got lonely so I considered finding a mate.

Holding my first born Raeden in the hospital.

I met my wife Joyce the same way many lonely people who are awkward around the opposite sex do, on the internet. We did not waste time I felt something was there and apparently so did she, since she agreed to marry me. Since I was poor and had now college degree I figured I did not have to worry about her marrying me for the money. As things go with passionate love we had a baby by the time we were married 9 months…(grin).

You cannot see it but we are playing PS2 in this picture.

Before I ever had kids I knew I wanted to be a dad but when I met Raeden for the first time it confirmed it. I loved that boy from the very first moment I held him. I did not cry but I was full of pride, I felt like I would be able to do anything to take care of him and his mom. Of course all that meant was a job and arms to hold them at the time. I loved being a daddy and I still do nothing gives me more pride and meaning than my now three kids (Raeden 4, Harry 3 and Thea 4 months), that’s two boys and our baby girl. I also do my best to go beyond being a daddy since I need to hold on to my roots, the core of who I am as a person. This is all about getting into games, comics, art and tinkering with gadgets. I will continue this life of geekery and fatherdom for years to come and I will be happy to share with you all as time goes on.

Thank you for reading,

Tom Dorsey  a.k.a Animockery