tagwyn wrote:All: I guess I'll have to give myself a medal!! Most ofter disrespected? t
Aphrodite Mae wrote:[...]Your humor made me grin, Tagwyn!
At least, at first.
But then, I began thinking about what's behind what you posted, and you know what? I felt sad. I felt sad, because there is truth in what you say.
I'm going to make an exception to my self-mandated rule of not making special medals for my personal friends. That's because Tag's contribution to this forum has been a unique one, and so I believe that a unique medal is in order! I promise all of you: this medal will be one that will make most of you grin and say "yeah!"; it will be something which Tagwyn will be proud to wear; and it will reflect Tag's unique contribution to our community.
Trust me on this one, gentlemen!
Let's get straight to business, shall we?
To be awarded this medal, you must be Tagwyn.
I hope that the rest of you who aren't Tagwyn will stick around, because this is an unusual medal, to say the least. To begin with, this has been the most difficult medal to design, yet.
You already know that each of my medals tells the story of what it means, if you know what to look for. A color, its width, and where that color is displayed on the medal are all things that have a meaning. Furthermore, I've kinda been hoping that all of that symbolism will give a whole bunch of depth to what you've accomplished, if you've been awarded a medal.
Kinda make you think about it.
Be proud of it.
Maybe make you think of how to learn from your mistakes, and do what you've done,
even better, next time!
[SIZE="1"]Can you tell I'm a mom?[/size]
So this medal has been tough. I want it to be perfect, and I want it to say what I want it to say, in a way that doesn't need words. Isn't that what's expected of a true Southern Belle?
[SIZE="1"]@ MarkShot: I hope you're taking notes.[/size]
Anyway, the first thing that I want to say is that this medal has a lot of stuff that's obvious, and a lot of stuff that isn't.
Kinda like its awardee.
Take a look, and see what you think.
The rest of this post is all about explaining the symbolism of the medal and all that, so if that kind of stuff doesn't interest you... the show's over, folks! You can go ahead and move on.
The base color of the medal is "Commission Paper White". That's because Tagwyn became an officer, a long time ago. In the middle of the medal is a broad black stripe. That's Tagwyn.
Black is the color of the elite. From my perspective, the "elite" among us are those people who have made lasting contributions to the games of AGEod. Volunteer efforts made for either the love of the game, the love of the company, or both. Go ahead and take a look at Tag's record. He's alumnus, of Betas, for development of a game. That deserves respect, folks.
But I've chosen black as the "central pillar" for another reason, too.
It's the main reason, really.
OK:
It's a trite cliche of every war movie that you've ever seen: our heroes are crossing a street in the middle of a village, when suddenly one of them collapses.
"What the...?! ...Where'd that come from?!"
The
Sniper!
There usually follows a lot of slow motion stuff with sad opera music playing while everybody's dying in slow motion and everything, but I'll gladly skip all of that stuff so that we can get to the point, OK?
Tag is our forum sniper.
Think about it.
"What the...?! ...Where'd that come from?!"
But: have you ever considered that his non sequiter post may be something other than what they appear to be?
There was once a Greek philosopher who carried a lamp in broad daylight, looking for "an honest man". Everybody thought he was crazy. Nothing he said made sense! Unkempt and disheveled, he lived in a box near the gates of the city where he dwelled. For some reason, he had a lot of visitors.
Kings. Philosophers. Those kind of people. All of them shared one thing in common: they always came out of the box after a visit slightly wiser, and grinning.
Interesting Tagwyn fact: part of his email address is the name of that philosopher! Even more fascinating: that email address is older than this website! [SIZE="1"]But let's not jump to any conclusions, OK?[/size]
Anyway, we have a sniper among us, so beware!
Flanking the centrality of "the sniper" are bands of "elephant gray". That's because Tag is a veteran of these forums. He's been here for a really long time, and so he's "seen the elephant".
Out on the flanks of the medal, there are red and gold bands that I'm hoping will make you think of the "Gallantry" medal. That's because Taywyn is gallant. He is a staunch defender of the people who he gives his loyalty to. There are two "Gallantry" bands. One symbolizes Tag's friends, and the other symbolizes our community. Tag defends both, with no thought for himself. If Tag sniffs the faintest whiff of "threat", I'm tellin' you, it just isn't pretty! Think "Extremely Annoyed Rottweiler", and you'll have the beginning of a clue!
Maybe you've noticed that flanking the "Gallantry" bands are what appears to be two blue bands. Actually, there are threads of purple which run down the middle of each. Each blue band is the color of the "Valor" medal. And maybe you'll remember that purple is the color of "pain".
Tag has taken a lot of abuse from people on these forums (the purple thread), and yet he sticks around. (The blue of valor!) Maybe it hurt his feelings when people have said unkind things to him... but you'd never know it. Tag's tough, and so that's why there is only a single thread of purple.
In this way, he sets an example for us all. For his tenacity, for his toughness, for his gallantry, and for his unique contributions to our community, I have created this medal, the "
Tagwyn Sniper Medal"!
Congratulations, Larry! We might be exasperated with you sometimes, but I, for one, am honored to call you my friend!
And to all, I say:
Respect his medal. Respect the man. There's more to him, than you know.
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[SIZE="1"][CENTER]Aphrodite Mae chats with Diogenes[/CENTER][/size]
[SIZE="2"]
Diogenes of Sinope[/size]