For my aunt

Wednesday, March 19th, 2014

Sorry folks, but this one my get a little sappy. It’s been a rough month for my family and I.

About three week ago, I lost my uncle a little unexpectedly. He used to live with my family and I when I was growing up. Were we close? Like an uncle and his nephew, but nothing special beyond that. He was in the Philippines when he passed away. Nonetheless, seeing my mother upset at the loss of her brother is never a sight I like to see. Neither is the thought of losing a loved one, especially a sibling.

That brings us to Tuesday, March 18. That’s when I lost my aunt. I was a lot closer to her than my uncle. In fact, she was probably the closest thing I had to a second mother. When I was younger, she lived in the same apartment complex I did. In fact, I used to walk to her place to hang out a lot.

One of the main reasons I would visit her was because she was one of the few people I knew, at the time, that owned a computer. I remember those experiences well. Some of the games I played a lot were “Monopoly,” “Classic Concentration,” and “Jeopardy.” Who could also forget “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

My aunt was one of the best “Scrabble” players I knew. It wasn’t hard to be me though. My vocabulary was terrible. Actually, it still is. Sometimes I wonder how I get through these blog posts without repeating the same words over and over again. She excelled in “brain games.” Games like “Mindtrap” and “Trivial Pursuit” were her specialties. I got into the whole European board game fad a little too late to share them with her. By then she had gotten sick and I wasn’t able to play many games with her anymore.

I’d like to think she would thoroughly enjoy them. I could definitely see her as someone who would love “Carcassonne” or “Settlers of Catan.” Not only would she be good at them, but she would most likely kick my butt at them. It’s thoughts like these that make me enjoy playing games more.

Now that she’s gone, its time to get ready for the services. When my uncle died, one of my aunts went back to the Philippines to be with the rest of my family. I guess you could say she represented the family that is here in the States. She doesn’t come back until Tuesday, March 25. The services for my aunt will be held once she comes back. Until then, it’s tradition for my family to hold prayer services for the next nine nights starting the night the person passed away. Now that I am an adult, I should, technically, participate in them. However, those of you who know me, know that I have a terrible tendency to fall asleep through many things. Unfortunately, praying is definitely one of those things. I mean no disrespect, but it happens. When my dad passed away, we had prayer services for him as well. As you may have guessed, I was on the sideline not praying…not snoring. It’s okay, can you laugh. I did.

With all these things happening, it means that family will be getting together soon. It’s a sad time, but we understand that these things happen, and my family and I have been through a lot. So with everyone in town, now is an excellent chance to play board games with each other. It’s not like we sit around being sad all the time.

With my aunt passing away, I think playing games will mean a little more to me from now on. I’d like to think its another way for me to keep her memory alive.

In other news…

I have yet to receive any donations for the Extra-Life fundraiser, but I am not bothered by it. In fact, if I’m friends with you on Facebook, some of you may have noticed an event invite to the fundraiser event on October 25. While I understand this is a while away, I want people to know they can donate before then. In fact, I encourage people to do exactly that. I am confident that once we get our first donation, things will begin to snowball and the donations will start to flow in.

I’ve also been thinking about doing mini fundraisers within the fundraiser. Maybe something along the line of a give away to raise donations. For example, maybe I could give away a playset of cards. I could do a board game give away as well. I’ll take a poll and see what is the popular choice. With the actual event many months away, I should be able to do more.

International Table Top Day

Speaking of board games, April 5 is closing in on us. Those of you who don’t know, the fine folks over at Geek & Sundry have put together a small celebration of table top games called, wait for it, “International Table Top Day.” Battleground Games & Hobbies in Abington, Ma will be hosting the event at their stores. However, they have yet to send out an invite on Facebook and/or put out other advertisement for it. Someone needs to get on the ball (I’m talking to you if you’re reading this).

This will be the second year that the event has been held and Battleground Games & Hobbies has hosted it both years. Last year was a lot of fun. There was a plethora of games to try out and many people to try them. If my memory serves me right, there were also a lot of giveaways as well. I plan on being there this year and, hopefully, you’ll be there as well. If you look below, I’ve even left a small memory of the event.

Well that’s it for this week. If you’ve got any ideas for a giveaway, let me know in the comments. Also, if you’d like to donate something for a giveaway you can contact me via e-mail at BGExaminer@hotmail.com. Thanks for reading!

About the author

Simeon is an avid gamer who loves to play board games and video games. He graduated college with a degree in Political Science, and now serves the public by writing about games. You can check that out here. Don’t forget to “like” him on Facebook as well. It’ll update you on all of his newest content. Best of all, you can follow Simeon on Twitter (@SimeonCortezano) for some real time hilarity. Thanks for reading!

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Tags: Carcassonne, extra life, International Tabletop Day, Simeon Cortezano, the settlers of catan
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