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This post will be a bit long, a bit emotional, a bit personal and very sincere. But on the plus side, it will contain video footage of Ola dancing. You have been warned.
A short backstory - As some of you might know, I have been moderating during closed beta before NA/EU, on EU and NA after the release, and now here. That is a timespan of more than 3 years. I started playing sometime around July 2010 during the closed beta, and became a community contributor Moderator and Translator during that time. During the 3+ years I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people online, members of the community and staff alike, both in battles, chatting in the garage, on the Skype channels, and on the forums. Some of these people you might know from blogs, like Overlord and Vallter, from Videos, like the bubbly and beautifull Ola, from this server, like Tanitha and KaZanova, and some of them you might never have heard about.
This post is a personal thank you to all these people, AND a personal thank you to all the members of the world wide World of Tanks community I've been fortunate enough to have had contact with over the last 3 years. (Yes, it also includes those who I have banned on all three servers over time ;) .)
Well, on with the back story : Shortly after release on NA/EU, around April 2011, I was diagnosed with cancer in the stomach, and after a chemotheraphy and radiation session, followed by a surgical procedure which left me offline for the better part of May and June 2011, I thought I had beaten that.
During my absence from WoT, the Support staff, Community staff and Developers in Minsk, and the Moderators on the EU server where I was one of the Lead Super Moderators, took the time to send me a 4 page letter with greetings and well wishes from all those I had been in contact with. People high and low in WG, players and community contributors were genuinely worried about me and my battle with the Big C.
This show of support, I believe truely helped me on my way to recovery back then. It also showed me, that the people making up the company, are people with heart, empathy, and the ability to care.
Something that IMHO has been reaffirmed time and time, not just in my case, but in their general attitude towards the members of the World Of Tanks community. This goes for the community as well - Dispite different nationalities, ages, backgrounds and cultures, everybody in general are here to have fun, to enjoy the Corps d'Esprit that exists among the players of the game while playing the game.
Even though the community rages at times against WG as an entity, as well as against fellow members of the player community we belong to, please remember that the people representing WG, which you come into contact with really DO care about you, as players, as members of the community, and as human beings. And that the fellow members of the player community really are here for the same reason as you : To play and have fun..
Now you may wonder - Why is he babbling about this, and where is that video with Ola - All in good time, all in good time.
This summer, I started to fall ill again. I have been through another round of chemotheraphy and radiation sessions, but alas they didn't have the desired effect. Unfortunately there is no possibility for a surgical procedure this time. A couple of weeks ago, the verdict was final, and the only option the doctors have for me is pallative care, to ease whatever pain there is laying ahead of me. The expectancy given was 3-5 months.
This has given me time to get my stuff in order, and the chance to do some of the stuff I have on my bucket list. Stuff that mainly involves my closest family - enjoying what time there is left, with quality time, travel and experiences, as well as trying to express my gratitude to those I have been fortunate to have been influenced by and whom I hopefully have influenced myself. This involves, as you might gather from my babblings above, the people in WG across EU, NA and here on ASIA, but also you, my fellow members of the player community.
When I told Tanitha, whom I have worked with across 3 servers now, and who have become a good friend even though we never have met face to face, things I never expected got set in motion.
Ola, whom I have known since she worked in support at Minsk HQ, and allways teased that she should dye her hair red (I am preferential to redheads, being married to one), actually dyed her hair red for me.
Overlord contacted me, and said he would try and get one of my crazy babblings from back in 2011 implemented, in case I didnt make it - an easteregg with my ingame name (AALG or ArmsAndLegsGuy), placed somewhere on a map in the game.
Motherhen WG NA (JewelThief), compiled a "carepackage", which included homebaked cookies, personal gifts and various WG merchandise, and got that shipped off from San Francisco here to Copenhagen where I reside. Unfortunately, due to the combined tardiness of the U.S Postal Service and the Royal Danish Mail, it hasn't arrived in time for Christmas, but just the knowledge that they went through that effort, brought tears to my eyes.
What prompted me to this post, and which really blew my gasket, including making me cry for a full hour, was when this video popped up in my inbox yesterday :
Again, IMHO it shows that the people that works for WG have a lot of heart, and that shines through in the whole philosophy of the company - They give back where they can (examples are multiple - donation drives for vets and relief organisations, support for excavating and salvaging wartime icons for posterity, etc etc etc).
So to you guys I have the following to say :
Mods, GM's, CM's, IM's, Devs, and everybody I have been in contact with over the years at WG, are absolutely awesome. Thank you for having enriched my life for the last 3½ years now.
You lot showing how much you all care, and the support you are giving me - I can not tell you how much it means to me, and how touched I am by your empathy and sympathy.
Just know that I am forever thankfull for having had the chance of having you guys in my life, and being part of the WG WoT experience.
I won't single anyone out specially, just saying that you all prove that WG is a company comprised by people with heart, and not just a big corporate entity just interested in the profit line.
YOU guys are what makes WG a great company, Your attitude towards your players, community contributers, and colleagues, is what defines the company.
I am honoured, having had the chance to be a part of it.
To my fellow members of the player community, thank you as well, for all the laughs, the battles in game, the "fights" in the chats and on the forums. Allways remember that there are human beings behind each nickname on the forums, and in game, that they are all part of YOUR community, and that at the end of the day, everybody are here for the same reason : To enjoy the game, and get the most fun out of playing it.
Now with the emotional part done, and the promised video showing Ola dancing, don't think that just because I am saying my goodbyes early, that I will be soft on the forums or in the chat. As long as I have the energy for it, I will be playing and moderating here on the ASIA server, but as things go with this illness, health status changes PDQ, and I just wont be online.
Also, when I have passed away, just be aware, that if you don't behave on the forums or in the game, I will then have the ability to get up from down below (yes, I will be going downstairs, I am a Moderator afterall), and haunt your accounts as a deux ex machina, ensuring that the "Jinxed and Spooked" flag will be forever set.
Babling over, comments on Ola's dancing abilities are wellcome
/AALG/ArmsAndLegsGuy/J.D.
), I wish you the best and I hope you get better. Remember, your second family is the World of Tanks Community. Hope you get well soon! 
