When Did You First Meet Mike Jones?

[Eliahad]

When did you first meet Mike Jones?

In person, I first met Mike Jones in Red Cloud Nebraska at a showing of Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid." I was in the band. That was what, four years ago now? Nope. Almost five. FIVE!

BEFORE THAT. I first met Mike Jones on Shadowrun's Deep Resonance forums. That had to have been close to twenty years ago. TWENTY YEARS! It's crazy. Oh wait, it might have only been nineteen or eighteen. Carry on. I'll be back in a couple years.

[Cazmonster]

I have yet to meet Mike Jones in the flesh. That is a fact that I regret.

I too met Mike Jones on the Deep Resonance Forums just months before Barb and I got married in 1998.

[Mike]

Yes, I started on Deep Res in 1998 just after the birth of my second and the start of my current job. It's been 18 years.

[akiva]

I got to know Mike in 2008 (I think). Never met him in person. Someone (don't remember who) recommended Animalcast to me, so I started listening.


It's too bad the talented half of the Animalcast is no longer podcasting.

[Elle]

I'm definitely losing it because I can't remember for sure. Correct if this is wrong. I think it was November 1998 and that, having recently become engaged to Ron, I was on an out-of-town trip with him to a family Thanksgiving in a place near where Mike and Nadia live. Ron insisted that we go to their house WITHOUT calling first even though they had small children (had you just recently produced child #2? maybe... seems so. I remember holding child #2 and pronouncing him beautiful, which he was). Mike, Nadia: I just want you to know we argued extensively about whether to call first. It was really important to him that we shock you by suddenly appearing on the doorstep with no prior phone call. He also instructed me to go to the bathroom at some point and steal a particular picture if I saw it hanging on the wall. I was like, what? He specifically instructed me to steal it. I mean, we were engaged. What was I going to do? I wouldn't jump off a bridge if he asked me to, but it was like doing a trust fall. Steal this picture if you see it. Don't get caught. You know me, I'm down to ride. Everything worked out in the end and balance was restored. I believe we next saw one another at the rehearsal dinner for my wedding. And after that, a second completely surprise, unannounced drop-in visit to the home. I seriously do not agree with that philosophy and after this many years of marriage I resist it successfully. I will call first if it happens again, and it will happen again.

[Elle]

Oh my God, I am the stupidest person in the world. 17.5 years later it FINALLY dawns on me that the reason he insisted on my not calling first is because he wanted me to steal the picture and not warn you we were coming first so that you would hide it. Holy shit, I cannot believe I never realized that before. I am the most naive, gullible person on earth. Seriously. I always assume the best motives from people and it is so stupid.

[Tahlvin]

Never met him in the flesh. First met him online when I signed up for the AnimalBall forums in order to provide a playtest review of an adventure that Caz wrote and ran us through. I think that was sometime in 2002 or 2003, before my son was born and before I started traveling for work, back when I actually had time for regular face-to-face gaming.

[Stan]

2008? Animalcast had been going a short while and Mike and Kyle were pimping it hard all over the place. Often their methodology was to be somewhat rude and insulting to their potential target audience. Many of the forums I visited had either closed, drifted into lameness, or I had gotten sick of. I hung out on therpgsite some at the time. There were some good posters back then. But it was also out of stubbornness as I was part of the cohort that predated rpgpundit on the site. I found it funny when Mike and Kyle took jabs at pundit. I tried their podcast and liked it and started checking out the forum.

I started the day before Mimekiller who has a much better origin story - hopefully he'll come by and tell it.

I met Mike (and Eliahad and DMDarcs!) for the first time in person just last Fall and Gencon. All of them had such a nerdy magnificence that it's hard to look directly at them.

[TheMaster]

Haven't met in person, but met on FML a few months ago. We quickly became the best friends in the world... until about a week ago (my contract ran out)

[Zen]

I met him in person this past summer at Gen Con.

As for when I met him virtually, that would be when I joined the Animalball forums in order to play in a PBP Star Wars game that Stan (then known as Nicephorus) was running. I stuck around... (I don't recall the year...)

[DMDarcs]

I met him last summer at an airport. He took me to lunch at a fast-food restaurant. I can't remember what it was. Something like an Arby's. Roy Rogers? No, that's not right either. Regardless, I had to buy my own lunch. He brought one of his kids along. He didn't even drive himself, he got a friend to drive instead. Worst first date ever.

[Mike]

[Tahlvin]

Met him in a hotel lobby...

Well, you know how the song goes.

[akiva]

[Elle]

[Ronster]

Regretably never in the flesh, but I started listening to podcasts, and the "RPG Podcasts" podcast had a feed of several different ones. I first heard Mike's dulcet tones on episode number 50 and thus began my fascination with Nerd Pride Radio and I have been a fan ever since.