Aftermath

Above, J D and Armand during better days.

The following was sent in reply to a friend as a Private Message at the Monster Zero Message Board. I liked the end result so much that I thought I'd post it here as it reflects my feelings of what transpired during The Christmas Day Massacre of yesterday:

Thank you very much for your kind words. They are very much appreciated.

Well, sh*t happens. There's no use in crying about it because it is plainly obvious who's the loser.

Besides being press officer for the convention, JD used my address for the convention's liability insurance as he's not a US citizen; I was the go-between JD and Toho for the movies (in fact, they seem to be ignoring him now and he was going to have me do the transactions); I did the music video contest (hated it, but I did it); and other misc. tasks. Poof! There goes all that!

When this came down yesterday morning, I was determined that the news would go out on my terms. JD's big thing was not to air our "dirty laundry" in public. So sacking me was going to help? It just brought everything out into the open. As I've said, this has been building for some time and "fearless leader" is going stand in the rubble of his demolished empire and ask, "What happened?"

I gave him my "John Dean "There's a cancer growing..."" speech some months ago. But my words went unheeded. He'll find out that he made a major blunder, if he hasn't already. I feel sad for him, not anger. My anger is directed where it properly should be.

JD made his rash decision without bothering to stop and think about what I was trying to tell him. My position was for the betterment of the convention, not to hurt it. He could have stopped to think for a couple of days, instead he hurled the ax on Christmas morning. That hurts. He also didn't think of the consequences that may occur when taking his action. Bridges to some prominent G-fans have been burned. The goodwill that has been built up since the end of the "fan wars" of years ago has been blown. It reminded many of the "bad old days."

The person whose troublemaking antics that caused all this is now gloating, or so I've been told, on his blog. I know enough of what was posted to confidently say that it says a lot more about him than it does me.

As I said in my announcement of The Christmas Day Massacre (my sense of humor did surface when I came up with that title), I hope that once this all cools down, JD and I can speak once again as friends. I truly mean that. I told him years ago that he reminded me of me in my younger days. I can be impulsive (still am to some degree) and stubborn (must be from the Swedish blood from my mom).

I am deeply appreciative over the overwhelming support I've received since yesterday morning. Some notes of support came from unexpected sources. Go over to the Nice To Know I Still Have Friends blog to see how the sentiment has been expressed. They were heartwarming and, occasionally, hilarious. Humor is the best medicine for times like this.

Again, thank you for your expressions of support and it's onward and upward to better things!