Re: An introduction (laserlight)

Now that the flurry has died down....

My name is Chris DeBoe, and I'm a gamer.....
     Age 36, residing in Virginia Beach, VA, US.  My first wargame was
Avalon Hill's Luftwaffe--rated, as I recall, at 12 on their 1-10
complexity
scale--which I bought because I saw it on a drugstore shelf when I was
12.
Various other Avalon Hill products through high school, and also the
edition
of Ogre with a monochrome map and everything in a plastic bag--good
illustrations, though (thanks, Nyrath!).  Went to Origins and was
introduced
to D&D at around age 16.  Studied D&D in high school--couldn't play,
exactly, since of the 1100 students, there was exactly 1, i.e. myself, 
who
was interested in gaming.
     At University of Virginia I met other gamers and quickly devoted
all my
discretionary time to muttering incantations over dice.  Bought all the
Traveller black books--including Trillion Credit Squadron which has
since
migrated away, to my regret.  Played Champions and more or less roomed
with
Rob Bell, who became the 4th Edition editor--he paid rent for a
different
apartment but spent all his time at our place; I still GM although it's
now
an e-mail campaign.    Also joined both the SCA and the university
fencing
squad.	Reality was not high on my list of priorities at the time.  : \
    Moved to Norfolk and found Campaign Headquarters--a *real* game
store--and consequently met DBA/DBM/HoTT as well as Full Thrust.  Also
in
Norfolk I found a charming Canadian lady who doesn't at all understand
the
reason for gaming but has finally come to the conclusion (after 10
years)
that I don't seem likely to stop doing it, so she may as well accept it
gracefully.  If you'd prophesied to me that I'd marry a woman who didn't
know the difference between a star and a planet, I'd have laughed in
your
face--and been wrong.  I still am amazed at how things worked out.
     I don't recall my geek-code block off hand, but I'm a conservative
(as
you might have guessed from Alarishi libertarian philosophy); I own a
business; I wear a tie; I listen to Mozart; but I'm still a gamer....