Rook Van Winkle
My blogs
| Location | Michigan, United States |
|---|---|
| Introduction | Hello, my real name is James. I live in Southeast Michigan with my pet whippet puppy. She’s not really a puppy anymore but that’s the way I think of her. :-) I am a former “information analyst” and Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. For the last several years, however, I have been on long-term disability due to work-related injuries and some other serious health problems. So although I may not be as chronologically old as Rip Van Winkle, there are times I feel like he is my junior. :-) Taking up chess again and creating this blog is actually a form of therapy for me in order to halt, or better yet reverse, a serious decline in my cognitive abilities. You know - certain essential skills like thinking, learning, concentrating, reasoning, and remembering, etc. The medical advice I have been given is “use it or lose it.” Good advice. But it was only in just the last couple months that it dawned on me that chess is just the right prescription! I hope you agree, and that you will enjoy this blog... |
| Interests | Dungeons and Dragons, Chess, Music, Ragtime Piano, Tablet PCs, Ghost Stories, Myths, Legends, Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, Computer Access for the Disabled, Small Boats |
| Favorite Movies | Mysterious Island (1961), Gargoyles (1972-TV), All the Fantasy Adventure Movies of Ray Harryhausen, Lord of the Rings Trilogy |
| Favorite Music | Classical Chamber Music, Ragtime Piano, Popular Music from the 12th century up to the 1970s, Sacred Harp, Shape Note Music, Organ Music, Accordion Music, Celtic Music, and much more... |
| Favorite Books | The Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood, M. R. James, E. F. Benson, J. S. LeFanu |