Heroes

In my time I have come across many great people. Great legends, great teachers and great heroes. Including my parents. Today I woke up remembering an old game from my past, Space Quest IV. It was mismashed with another game, Metroid. Why I dreamt about them might have something to do with my attempt to play Grim Fandango (still runs on Windows XP) and my Mac (there's a part in SQ4 in which you have use a sorta Macintosh interface).

But more importantly, each one reminds me of my parents. I remembered the cologne my father used to wear when he wore suits (when he did, he used his first laptops, both monochrome and VGA). I sneaked off with his laptop to play most of my Sierra games, but always the scent of his cologne was in his briefcase. Metroid was one of the many games my mother bought for me when we first got the Nintendo. I didn't know Samus was a woman at the time (and when I did, she wasn't blond). Anyway, the idea that Samus would be a maternal figure seemed fitting.

Of the heroes I've come across lately, there is Javier Otaegui. Much water under the bridge, but little of it is my fault. He is a big part of videogame history in Latin America, being the first one to publish a game for a console (Mazes of Fate for Gameboy Advanced). We've mutually lost a great deal in 2011. (proportionally I mean...he almost lost two studios)

I still remember him as a spiritual leader in my path, wherever I may end up.

Then there is Charly (mispelled on purpose). I learned a great many things about programming from him, but more importantly, he helped me. I was jealous of his prowess for a while, but now I know that our time together was a great big kick in the arse to get my act together. I am still afraid of the future...but I think we all are. I bid him the greatest of fortune in ol' Caledonia.

There is another...a heroine. For the most part she is spiritually my mother figure and the living quintessence of Samus Aran (though maybe too short for the part XD ). I love her more than she could ever know and it is my hope that I should never lose her. She pushes me to the brink, she makes me laugh and she cares about me.

Other people I know are less frequently my heroes. Some because they are already immortalized (rest their souls) and others because they are growing alongside me. But I owe them all my gratitude.

Love

Mein Mütter Mexiko

El cielo te cubre con sueños flotantes, sueños que alguna vez te bendijeron con el milagro de la vida. En tus montañas mantuviste el cielo cerca. Dificiles de escalar serán, tus montañas, pero no imposibles. Difíciles de tocar esos sueños, sutiles en su tacto, pero no intocables.

De lo que resta de sueños en la tierra, formaste tus lagos. Tus lagos los mantuviste cerca de mi, para probar lo dulce de esos sueños, no solamente para saciar mi sed.

Mein Mütter Mexiko. Tengo que convertirme en sol…en aguila…en serpiente…

Nunca me diste a entender que podia ser menos que el todo. A Kukulcan, a Huitzilopochtli y al Guerrero Aguila, les diste a escoger. Pero soy mexicano, victima de la realidad. En mi recae ser Dios, tanto el amor como el odio, tanto el dolor como la consolación. La fuente de los sueños.

Dare lo que puedo a mis hermanos. Compartiré mis sueños con ellos hasta donde tu me permites. Pero no esperes milagros - para mi no existen.

Mein Vater U.S.A.

For all your kindness of late…you left me. Forever distanced from the heavens were I once looked upon and embraced a never ending future.

Nevermore.

Never will you accept me among your children, for I am bastard. Bastard of two worlds. Never meant for your kind ways from dawn to dusk.

You speak of regret and redemption.

You ask for forgiveness.

WAKARIMASEN!!!

Mein Vater U.S.A.

What good is a bastard to you? What good is any bastard to you?

All your other children...

All American. All knowing. All young…and pardonable.

Some less than deserving of your forgiveness.

And you ask this of me?

You ask me to forgive? I was shunned from heaven. I fell from your grace. I had to find myself...the real heaven...by myself.

Self doubt, utilitarianism and Manifest Destiny where the only gifts you gave me - they accursed my soul.

If ever I should come back...then Babylon's tower should fall.