Matt Maldre

dont know nonwe but he seems to have life..i like it

I would like to retitle this entry as follows:

The last time I saw Matt Maldre, Man of Action!

I gave Matt a call on a Thursday about a plan for Friday night, to see if he indeed was the Man of Action I took him to be when we first met. He seemed to me to be the type to be ready to do just about anything that sounded good to him at any moment, and he would come packing an aplomb of excitement and fun. (not certain aplomb really works in that sentence, but if it doesn’t in terms of meaning, it works in terms of it’s graphical resemblance to bomb, and that it’s something he comes packing.)

I asked, hey, are you up for a hybrid kung-fu-matial-arts-narrative dance performance?

He was. He did. He’s awesome.

It didn’t hurt our evening that the show itself was pretty neat, like nothing that I had seen before. The Matt-time I got was limited to the minutes before the show which included learning a quick kung fu move, doing the wave, and being entertained by the silent ‘house staff’/performers. Afterwards we had lengthy talks on the train ride north.

A good time, a good man.

Ah, a fellow designer, geek, and Chicagoan! Well, I’m not a Chicagoan anymore, but I’ll always think of it fondly!

So who introduced me to Matt Maldre? The interweb, of course.

Wow. Angie is on 43thingspeopleplaces! I’ve known Angie since what? like the year 2000 or so. She’s a really great designer. Very nice and friendly and helpful and smart. :-)

Because he’s so funny that even thinking about him is making me giggle a little bit right now. This is a guy I need to sit down with over a couple of beers. Matt – having seen your art skills – you definitely need to make som ATC’s. Anyone who can draw that horrendous sentence michal gave you has a true gift.

Making the trip to my second Chicago 43T meetup was much more relaxed than it had been to make the trip to my first one. This is most likely because I relied on public transportation. I was looking forward to seeing RuthG’s domicile, and it turned out to be just as tasteful and charming as I had thought it would be. When I walked into the dining room where everyone was gaming, I do believe Matt greeted me at least a fraction of a second before anyone else did, and his enthusiasm continued throughout the night.

In many ways, Matt reminds me of a jolly, eager, frolicking puppy. I was not surprised to discover later that he is a “dog person”. He talks boisterously and moves in the same manner. I don’t think anyone has ever laughed at my jokes as loudly as he did, which was quite pleasant once I got used to it.

The meetup happened in two parts; there was the gaming, and then a smaller group of us went to a nearby bar. Matt was one of the ones who went to the second part of the meetup. One of the most vivid memories I have of the evening was how, when standing behind me and asking if I were going to the bar too, he reached out and gave my shoulders a nice, friendly squeeze. It surprised me a little bit but the familiarity of it was touching (literally! hah, I crack me up).

It’s my understanding that a second gaming meetup is going to happen again before too long. I definitely hope Matt will be a part of it.

Much like a Snoopy novel, it was a dark and rainy night when we all gathered to play board games at RuthG’s. Everyone there was friendly and fun (totally expected since they’re all 43thingers for the most part), but Matt gets bonus points for bringing dark chocolate covered espresso beans.

Oh another thing about wembleyheads, she draws an incredible penguin and monkey right off the bat. Monkeys and penguins! Yes!

We played board games. She has a great spark to her along with being very compassionate and interesting. :-)