Meet some Friends...

THE GREAT GIDDENSKI!
My last post was about my long-time friend Russ Adey who passed away on the 18th of March. I'm going to post another art-photo of Russ...but before I do that I'd like to also mention another good friend of mine who died two years ago.

His name was Ken Giddens.

I met him in the U.S. Air Force at Zaragoza Airbase in Spain. We were both 'weather observers'. A boring, thankless job.

Ken's nickname was 'The Great Giddenski'. He was a helluva nice guy and very intelligent. Together with another observer friend named Marty, we pretty much made the best of a boring situation. We went skiing in the Pyrenees and traveled to the Mediterranean sea. We threw great parties and solved problems together and recreated the 'Three Musketeers' in our own unique way. We kept the barracks alive with activity and fun. I myself created a 'Haunted Barracks' for the kids on base in October 1981 which was a great success. We often played elaborate pranks on each other and Ken taught both me and Marty how to juggle. Ken told great stories as well and was even then a great communicator and organizer.



After we each left the service, Ken wound up being a kind of internet marketing guru at 'Netscape' before branching out on his own. He was very successful at winning friends and always took the time to teach people what he knew. The glowing praise I have for him here pales in comparison to the praise of those he worked with over the years.

Ken was a tall man. Tall people are sometimes prone to brain aneurisms. Ken died from just such an aneurism before I thought to look for him on the internet. He was a multi-talented multi-millionare who was loved and missed by hundreds if not thousands...which is a hard thing to do.

Ken can still be viewed on YouTube teaching people about internet marketing skills. Here's a link:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=ken+giddens&aq=f



Rest in Peace Ken.







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STO-VO-KOR!
I promised to post another picture of my friend Russ. I think you'll enjoy the results.
Russ talked me into joining a 'Klingon Club' called "The T'mar" some years back. He'd joined months earlier and was having a lot of good times and wanted me to get involved too.

One of the more interesting things the members did was to hold a "Lazer Tag for Breast Cancer Research" event in Fife, Washington in the 1990's wherein those who paid could shoot it out with a gang of Klingons in the Lazer tag arena.

The kids loved it as well as many adults. Everyone had a swell sweaty time of it. I even enjoyed standing on the street corner with a cardboard sign that read:

'Will battle for food!'

A street lady started yelling at me for taking her spot away from her but decided to scoot when I growled at her.



I took a polaroid of Russ during the event and re-worked it on Coreldraw to create a 'Klingon-style Trek Poster' of him in his full Klingon regalia. Russ put a lot of work into his costumes and props. The fine quality showed.

The Klingon afterlife is called 'Sto-vo-kor'. It is a place of raucous feasting and celebrations of honorable lives lived and glorious deaths in battle. It reminds me of the Viking's Valhalla. To enter, one must have led an honorable life and died a glorious death.

The greatest enemy we will ever face...is ourselves. We must each of us face down the demons that lie within us all...the selfishness, the anger, the jealousies and dark demons of temptation and despair. The glorius battle within is won only by never losing hope.

My two good friends...K'Russ and The Great Giddenski...were very special. Had you known them, you would be writing these words in my place. They brightened the world around them with their presence and inspired others by example.

They have passed on now...into the great mystery...the hidden realm of our shared universe...that beckons to us all...and towards which we must all venture someday. Both of them lived joy-filled lives to the best of their abilities and insured that their friends and family and many a stranger standing nearby had a good time living it and learning it as well. I will celebrate their honored lives in the best way possible...

...by remembering theirs...

...and by trying to live one of my own.

Garth.