I'm A Little Kid!

Everyone who really knows me well understands that I have never finished growing up. There is this big kid in me that is always eager to come out and play. So you can understand why I'm practically giddy this morning.

First, plans are coming together for our family to join my dad on a 4-day Disney Cruise in May. As I mentioned the other day, my folks took our kids on one of these cruises several years ago and they all still talk about what a great time they had. My favorite vacation of all time was our 2-week stay at Disneyworld with my folks and Margo's mom, and my second favorite vacation was the cruise with Celebrity that Margo and I enjoyed a few years ago. I've always thought that Disneyland lives up to its "Happiest Place on Earth" slogan; I never got tired of the place. And if you haven't guessed by the abundance of tropical shirts in my wardorbe, beaches are a Good Thing!

So I'm getting really excited about this trip. What a great way to spend some time with my dad, to soak in some sun, to have fun as family, to hang out on a couple of beaches, to eat great food... all served up Mickey style. It's gonna be a blast!

Of course, I'm looking a bit like a beached whale these days -- you know, white and blubbery --and it's a bit chilly to stretch out and get some color (one of the things I miss most about Arizona). Oh well. If my abundant pearlescent flesh blinds the other tourists, I'll live with it somehow.

The other thing that has me a bit giddy is the announcement of Cryptic Studios' new computer game, Champions Online. You have to understand that I grew up loving comic books. I'm sure some psychoanalyst would tell you it had something to do with my propensity towards escapism and fantasy, but the truth is I just always wished I could fly. You know, up up and away style. And I soon found myself drawn into the epic, mythical tales of guys and gals in tights battling aliens, criminal masterminds, and other costumed kooks.

When Hero Games released a role-playing game based on comic books in 1981, I was there for the big release and even played in one of the first demo games with the game's creator. I was immediately hooked. It was like being able to create our own comic book characters and play out their adventures. In the years that followed, I forged some terrific friendships with other players, developed my own storytelling abilities, and had hundreds of hours of fun. Eventually I went on to become a freelance writer and artist with Hero Games, publishing several books and magazine articles and providing a handful of illustrations for more recent works.

When Cryptic Studios released City of Heroes -- an online computer game that allowed players to create their own heroes -- I created a character and leveled him up to the max. Our kids also created characters and have had fun dinking around during the summers. It's a really fun game. So now that Cryptic and Hero are coming together for Champions Online, I couldn't be more excited. Admittedly, Margo's probably a bit hesitant that I'll get sucked in and spend way too many hours playing (and she'd be right to be cautious; I'm going to have to be really careful to stay balanced about this). But I would love to schmooze someone into letting me contribute some content to the game -- a character or two, a storyline for a quest, or whatever. I just think that would be so amazingly cool.