Re: Some sad news to report
Dark I really enjoyed your post! This paints a very different picture of Tom than I had ever seen, and that's a good thing. This is the type of description you hope to hear about someone when they pass, because it helps you understand more about the guy and who he was.
I never got to see this brighter side of Thomas, probably just because we clashed heads almost immediately. When I showed up on the audio games scene, he took actual offense to the techniques I used when making my games. We had multiple off-list arguments, when he'd go out of his way to send me insulting/condescending rants. Haha! I know I'm walking a fine line saying anything that seems so negative, given the current situation, but talking about the small dark spots still helps people understand who he was as a person. When I die, there are going to be quite a few co-workers who saw me as nothing but a jerk who wouldn't give them the time of day.&n
bsp; I've led a few programming teams who would probably pee on my grave too!
Reading Thomas' obituary was so surprising to me mostly due to his age and education actually. When he was hammering me for doing things differently than he wanted, there were times he threw age and education up as reasons why his views were superior to mine. Without going into specifics, he presented himself to me as being much older than he really was. I'm only 4 years younger than him as it turns out, but went all of this time thinking he was somewhere in his late 40s. I was "almost young enough to be his kid", so I had a lot to learn about how things are done. He also claimed to have university degrees at the master's level, which I guess he didn't get during 2 years of community college. Knowing what degrees I have he was willing to say that if I had the degrees he has, my views might be worth as much as his. Basically I only got to see the "Internet Thomas", who was running on the anonymity of the internet to puff himself up.
Now again, I know I'm on thin ice here, and I'm not meaning to upset anyone. For years it hasn't been a secret that I didn't like Thomas very much, and believe me I had good reasons for feeling that way. What I am enjoying, and the reason I've shared a bit about his darker alter-ego, is to contrast who he "really" was. The world sucks when you run into bad people, and any time you find out that one of those bad people is actually good, it brightens everything. I finally get to read about this person and see him in a whole new light! It's a shame it happens only after he is gone, but isn't that always how it works out?
So Dark, I once again thank you for your insightful post. When my co-workers start peeing on my grave, hopefully someone will explain to them the real me with as much success as you've done with Thomas above. I guess that's all I can hope for.
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