Unexpected Appreciation

My FIGHT! days during New Worlds Alliance conventions

Today was a day of unexpected appreciation.   I was reluctant to post this at first because I didn't want others to think I was humble-bragging or the like.  But my partner and love, Rocky, reminded me that I should learn to embrace and be grateful of such moments and mark them down so I don't forget them.  And he's right.  Often, we remember the bad things others say about us, or the painful actions or words others might lash out at us in the past.  And we too easily forget the good days and the wonderfully unexpected happy moments.

So this is me marking these two events that happened today down.

First, was a very touching message that I received on Facebook from someone who messaged me this:

Hi Tobie. You don't know me, but the work you do for the RPGcraft is valuable. Would just like to say I'm a fan of your work, and hope to see more of your work in the future. Sincerely, Paul Given the nature of privacy online, I will withhold from giving the full name of the person for now.  But I must admit receiving this message out of the blue was such a heart-warming moment for me.  I messaged back and tried to express how grateful I was only to learn that the appreciation was one larger than I expected.  Turns out there are people, some of whom I've never really met, who have been able to get a hold of either my work, or my blog posts, or have heard stories of me/my games and have been nice enough to see my efforts as something worth praising.  To be considered "one of the driving forces of gaming in Manila" is such an immense statement, I shall admit to feeling a bit shy that I am seen as such.  And that I was seen as a trailblazer in some ways, and while I do believe there are others (such as Jay Anyong and BJ Recio) who have trailblazed far more than I have, I feel tremendously happy and grateful for the appreciation and I truly wish there was a way to thank you all for the support.  

My second surprise for the day was when I responded to a post by Mark‌∙Rein Hagen on Facebook on a call for creating a small circle of people who will work on an out-of-this-world project.  I threw out a message admitting I'd love to help out and to my surprise, there was a comment in response from someone who said:

Nat:  I'm sure Tobie Abad can come up with a good story or two for this universe. The tone of his stories would suit perfectly. smile emoticon

The response was admittedly a very pleasant shock for me.  I went all squee and even gratefully shared the post with my partner.  I guess all the attempts to share my ideas and works aren't for naught, and there is some visible hints of talent in the stuff I've been contributing to the gaming community.

To Paul, Nat, and by extension to Bo, and so many others who have made today such a memorable day for me, thank you very much.  You have helped fuel the fires of my inspiration today and I only hope to continue to be able to share more and hopefully even inspire others as I have been inspired to give back to the gaming community.

Thank you so much.