How Josh and I Met and Became Friends - or - "Poker Face, Josh"

I started working at Hollywood Lights around March or April of '98. I was brought on to help get ready for their 50th anniversary. I wouldn't actually meet or get to know Josh for another 2 or 3 months after starting there. It seems odd that it took that long given what i know of Josh from the past 10 1/2 years. I'm guessing it's just because there was the 50th stuff happening, and I'm guessing around that time there was probably also inventory going on.

When we did finally meet i think it was sometime around the end of May or beginning of June that year. My cousin Ryan and I were into playing Magic: The Gathering and he was working at Hollywood then too. During lunches we started playing games in the break room. One of our coworkers took note of this. I don't remember who exactly. At any rate they introduced me to Josh and told him i played Magic. Josh also played Magic and suggested we get together sometime and play.

Sometime shortly there after we did. I don't really remember much about those first games. But I do remember that he had been out of the game for a while, that i had been playing a lot, and that i trounced him a bit in the beginning. I also remember that when he happened to draw a card he needed his face would light up. Since we shared our decks with one another i usually knew what he had drawn when i saw his face light up and would say something like, "Pulled that Serra Angel you needed, huh?" He would smile and then feign ignorance and say something like, "Whatever do you mean?" This evolved to "Nice poker face, Josh." And eventually, "Poker face, Josh." His response then being to laugh or smile.

This went on all summer. This was because I kind of took advantage of Josh and because he was a sweet heart of a man. You see, my crappy little truck had only one working door and only one of the windows rolled down about an inch or two. So driving home at rush hour in summer heat was brutal. Most every work day that summer i went to Josh's after work and we played Magic or hung out until sundown, and then i would drive home.

I think this one of the main reasons that Josh became so important to me. We both knew i was taking advantage of the situation, but Josh knew that i needed a refuge until the sun went down, and most of that summer was willing to let his home be that place.

A Josh Self-portrait

Back when Josh and I were in college together we played a lot of roleplaying games. For one campaign the GM actually had us playing ourselves rather than the usual fictional characters. Both Josh and I liked to draw various subjects from our gaming adventures and so on one occasion Josh decided to sketch himself. While going through some old papers I found this drawing from 1992.

You'll note that Josh decided to put a frame around himself. He is wearing his tree frog T-shirt that he owned at that time and he also has knee pads on just in case he got into a fight with the bad guys. It's funny how he looks so serious here when my memories of Josh are mostly of him smiling or laughing.


-Swinebread

A little more about Josh's painting...

I was there on and off while Josh was painting the minis in Swine's post below. I wish i could remember more about when Josh painted them. Every time Josh and I - and sometimes our friends Ed and Trevor - got together to paint it was a really good time.

Myself and Ed at first were the ones who taught Josh how to paint. I remember it started when Swine and Josh came over with a handful of minis as props for a game we were playing that day. They had painted a few, and a few were in various states of being painted, but most weren't painted yet. (At least that's how i remember it. Swine may have to chime in and correct me.) Even then i noticed Josh - and Swine - had a good eye for picking interesting sculpts. I mentioned that i painted minis as well, and Josh being the caring and interested person he was, asked to see some of mine. They were impressed with with what i had done and asked me how i did what i did. I explained to them my technique and how easy it was to do, and said i'd be willing to show them some time.

Sometime after that Josh and i started to paint together. Josh learned my technique and saw that it was indeed relatively easy to learn and a good way to make minis look good. And Josh, being the avid hobbyist he was, in just a couple of years became a much better painter than i. I loved that about Josh. That when he became interested in something, he put his heart and soul into it. Whether, it was acting, stage craft, photography, painting, or games, he gave it everything he had. And as far as i can tell, never failed.

I remember one time Josh, Ed, and i had an emergency painting session. Ed works at a local hobby store in PDX and had promised to paint an army of miniatures for one of the games the store sold. They had to be done by a certain day though, and Ed had been busy with his other job as well. He asked Josh and i to help him paint this army in one night before it had to be back at the hobby store. We all met at Josh's around 8 pm that night and painted until 5 am the next morning. Each of us worked on almost every mini together. Me dry brushing the base coat. Josh cleaning up my mistakes and adding some detail. And Ed finishing the detail and working on the trophy pieces. That army is still down at that hobby shop. It's an undead army of skeletons on the bottom shelf of a display counter by one of the cash registers. I won't give anymore detail because Ed was supposed to have painted it all. ;)

As good a painter as Josh was, he had one issue that was really hard for him. He had a hard time understanding when to stop. Knowing when a mini was finished. Ed and i tried to explain to him that there would always be something that needed to be fixed or a detail missed, but at a certain point you had to let go or face ruining all the other things you had done right on the mini. Josh had a hard time accepting this though. And because of this, he did not finish nearly as many miniatures as most people would in the amount of time he painted.

And so i come to a point.

If you are somebody who is lucky enough to have a finished miniature that Josh painted, hang on to it/them. It is a rarity. And it was painted by someone who was truly good at it.

Love you Josh...

A Birthday Present From Josh

Josh was an avid miniatures painter and collector the last decade of his life. He had many painting sessions with his friends but he often liked to work alone. I think he found it very relaxing. I was amazed at the level of skill he achieved and how far he pushed himself to improve his art.

Josh was a not just my friend but he was a friend to my whole family. He often came to my niece’s birthday parties over the years and one time he brought two Egyptian figures he’d painted as a gift. While I was over at my Sister’s house today, I found both figures on a shelf in my niece’s room. I picked them up and noticed how lovingly detailed they were and I thought: “here’s a real piece of Josh’s spirit.”

My photos don’t do justice to how well the figures were painted but you can get the idea. Notice how Josh attached each miniature to matching bases. It’s interesting that Josh chose Anubis and Bast. He loved cats and dogs so it makes perfect sense.




-Swinebread