Comings and Goings

Usually when our doorbell rings, it's Patrick, a guy with Down Syndrome from across the street. He has his own signature style of ringing the heck out of it, which lets us know that it's him by the tell-tale, rapid-fire bell impacts that never quite have time to reach the "dong" in "ding-dong". We're never sure quite why he's coming over, and it can be fun to try to guess. Sometimes, he just wants to say hello and remind us that he's a good neighbor. Agreed. Other times, the requests turn exotic in a mundane sort of way, such as taking photographs of our dining room table.

So, when the doorbell rang last night, it was an initially tense situation. The bell rang once and completely, the "dong" actually having time to decay to nothing. I was downstairs watching television when Amy answered the door and her reception of the visitor was surprised and happy. So, curious as ever, I went upstairs to see who it was. Steve, who last visited us in early June with his wife Ellen, was standing on the porch! So, we invited him inside and he told us that he was making a road trip to Lincoln, Nebraska to deliver his father's car. We chatted for a couple of hours and then he continued on his way. He wanted to visit the Field of Dreams and I believe that was his next official destination. It was nice to see you, Steve. Farewell for the remainder of the trip.

However, not only has a reunion occurred but a separation as well. I have decided not to renew my membership with GANG for the coming year. While it is a professional organization, the parting is bittersweet simply because I was able to meet and become involved with many great and interesting people who also work with audio, video games, and multimedia. Unfortunately, while the people I met continue to be great, the organzation itself seems almost completely static. While much hoopla has been generated by and about events like Video Games Live, things like that don't generate concrete benefits for the membership. I haven't really seen anything new regarding concrete benefits like that in almost two years with the only exception being the addition of a Grammy catagory for music in an interactive medium. And all things being what they are, I don't think most of the membership is really gunning for a Grammy quite yet.

Why is GANG becoming stagnant? While there are probably many reasons, I think it may be partially due to the fact that the board of directors isn't democratically decided. In essence, the same people, with a few exceptions, are voted in every year and as a result, new perspectives are rarely introduced. That process also indicates that the same few people bear the extra burden of running GANG and maintaing their current workload of their businesses. That can be an incredible burden, I'm sure, but I don't think that it serves the paying membership of GANG in the best way possible. So, this is primarily why I have left the organization for now. I will gladly return if some revitalization occurs, but until then, I'll keep my membership money.