Today I read a post by a dear friend of mine, Athalus, the founder and previously a host of WCradio.com.
“I have cancelled my account, I have a new job working in the MMO industry at another respectable company, and I will be attending classes at a major California university very soon.” – Athalus
I have written many times in my bio and on many different formations of this site and in credits of old movies, of a name, “WCradio”, or in more direct and appropriate term, “Athalus”. Athalus was this stranger who through an instant messanger moved to a Skype conversation, turned a project I did for personal enjoyment with a few friends into a kick in the ass toward my career today. One could never express the appreciation one has for a person who kick started another’s career. No links to a website or lines of text in a bio could really explain it. Well I think I will try my best now for those who never looked deeper than a movie or browsed a credit line.
When I made I surrender Athalus a few days later messaged me and said, “Dude, when is number 2 coming out?” And I was like, errrr number 2? And he was like, “Well where is your website at least”. And i was like well I have a stupid website where me and my friends shoot the shit… Athalus in a dramatization of the event, “(sigh)Come with me my child! (BAM POOF SPARKS FLY FROM HIS HANDS)” I was presented with a domain host, a spot on a radio station to promote my current movie and he said, “Figure out what you are calling the website I am buying for you…”
For those of you who have ever had someone grab your hand and help you through something new it is really quite the experience. So much went on behind the scenes I could never express it properly or give credit where credit was due. But I can point out an area which has always been grey even in my mind: with every helping hand there comes a time when you must let go of the milk your mother can provide(shut up Darwin fans) and begin to find every possible way to provide. There was a point, even though Athalus was the one who kicked my ass through a door, when I needed to figure out how to build a second floor, and I think this is where in a public eye it can get muddled.
When I took the step from one movie during beta to 2 or 3 movies every 2 or 3 months I began having to balance soo much more. Athalus and his radio were expanding and he had to deal with that. We always talked about combining one day and perhaps forming a movie radio community but the push was for our separate fields of work to progress on their own, and so we began to do less and less building of our profiles together. I never helped him build his radio station and he never dictated to me a script for a movie. We were merely there to support each other in our efforts and to see the other person prosper.
We got to go to Blizzcon and meet up. We all took time from our schedules to plug each other, he gave me a moment on his radio station and I put him in the movie(with a picture of my grandma of course) and all was happy, between him and I. We never felt an obligation or even thought we stepped on each others toes if someone got more exposure than the other. And this is why I am writing this.
I am writing this because we were there for each other since day one. Although he may have kicked me in the ass first, I want him to know I never lost sight of who he was and what he did for me. I think we will continue to have our sporatic meetings and chats as always but I want everyone to know… Don’t ever let go of those people who help you. You never know, without being able to look back, what you may not have had if certain people were not there to say “Hey I am Athalus”.
Athalus’s post can be found here: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=86916308&sid=1
