Inspired by pizza pie.
Primo84 is a family man, a graphic designer, a college student, and a frequent poster here at Bungie.net. And he still found the time to answer some of our questions. Pretty awesome, eh?
Q. Who are you and what do you do?
A. My name is Chris, I’m 20 years old, and I work for my city’s parks and recreation department. I am also an art major (with a concentration in
graphic design) at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. Well, that’s not 100% true; there was some kind of computer glitch and I was accidentally given the wrong major, so technically I’m a fashion design major until I can figure out where to turn the proper forms into.
I immediately regret sharing that last part.
Anyway, I just transferred to WSU this semester. Before Wayne, I attended Olivet College, which is a tiny, overpriced liberal arts college located way out where people tend to marry their siblings. I went there for two years and was chemistry major with a pre-medical concentration. I also played defensive end on the school’s varsity
football team; I was actually the starter before I realized that OC just wasn’t for me and left school a month into last semester.
Aside from being miserable at that school, the major factor in my leaving was that my girlfriend of five years, Amanda, was pregnant with my child. (Don’t worry, she didn’t pull an ‘itz yo babay!” I knew she was preggers going into the school year.)
Connor Richard was born February 14, 2010 at 12:35pm. He is a perfectly healthy baby and weighed in at 7 pounds 6 ounces, 21cm long, and sporting a 14cm head diameter.
7lbs? 14cm? 21cm? Coincidence? I think not!
Anyway, the baby, my girlfriend, and I are doing great and are happy as can be.
Q. Awesome. And Congrats! Now that we know more about you and your family, tell us where your B.net name came from.
A. Well, when I first made an account on B.net, I couldn’t think of anything I wouldn’t come to regret once it was final.
There was a menu from a local pizza place sitting next to the computer; for reasons I still don’t understand, I picked up the menu seeking some inspiration for my username. The pizza place called their version of cheesy bread “primo bread.” I remembered that one of my great uncles’ name was Primo, and me, being the half-blooded deigo I am, thought it fit.
Keep in mind that I said "deigo," not "guido." (I’m not one of those Jersey Shore jager bomb drinkin’, fake tannin’, blowout hair wearin’, bro’d out fake Italians.)
Oh, and 84 was my football jersey number from sophomore year of high school until I hung up the cleats this past fall.
Q. So, if you're not hanging out on the Jersey Shore, where might people find you around these here parts?
A. For my first few years I mostly stuck to New Mombasa, or as it’s now known, The Halo 2 Forum. Every now and then I’d check out the Universe/Underground Forum, and once Halo 3 came out, I started lurking the H3F. Once the overall topic of the H3F seemed to focus more and more on multiplayer, I started posting in the Septagon and Flood. I’ve always enjoyed the theories and speculation in the Universe Forum. Also, I recently started lurking The Gallery Forum, and I’m pretty impressed by how talented a lot of my fellow members are.
Q. So what keeps you gaming? Do you schedule game nights with your friends and family?
A. Put simply, it’s fun. It’s also a great way to blow off steam and relax.
As for gaming with friends and family…eeeh…not so much. Most of my loved ones, even my siblings, still haven’t accepted gaming being mainstream, and look at me like I’m performing witchcraft when I’m using my Xbox LIVE headset.
Q. Well, people do shout some pretty bizarre stuff online. What was the first Bungie title you played?
A. A buddy of mine back in middle school held a LAN party for one of his birthdays. Guess what we played? Yeah, I guess you can say Halo: CE got me into gaming as a whole. Sure, I owned a Super Nintendo and N64 before I had ever been owned by a Warthog turret on Sidewinder, but I had never really played anything on those systems as addicting as Halo multiplayer. Congratulations Bungie, you’re my ambassadors to Nerd-dom.
Q. We're okay with that. Are you? Are you surprised by how involved you've become?
A. Oh yeah; my 5th B.net anniversary happened this past December. I didn’t realize it until someone brought it up in the IRC. Sure, I’m not involved in many of the community projects or gatherings like some guys are, but 5 years? That’s a quarter of my life! I mean, during that time I’ve graduated high school, started college, dropped out of college, started college again, grown a beard, got a girl pregnant, and some stuff in between.
Q. Yeah, that's a lot of stuff to juggle. Do you find time to visit any other online communities?
A. Hmm, let’s see. I’ve created plenty of accounts on various message boards across the interwebs, only to forget about them a few days later. I think the only sites I still actively post on are Bungie.net (obviously), IMDB, YouTube, and MLive. Well, those and the standard stuff like Facebook.
Speaking of Facebook, URK! ACCEPT MY FRIEND REQUEST FOOL! (Just kidding.)
Q. You probably just want to bug me incessantly about FarmVille. Anything you would like to add?
A. Can I make a #BungieNet plug?
Q. Um, yeah?
A. Hey everybody! Go visit #BungieNet, Bungie.net’s (unofficial) internet relay chat channel! We’re awesome, just ask us.
Q. Any shout outs you’d like to make?
Tons.
I guess I’ll start with my moderation staff from #BungieNet: True Underdog, BreadofWonder, flowers/Halo_Tru7h, Primum Agmen, elmicker, and Nerd Boi. As for #BungieNet regulars (in no particular order): Anelf3, Scapegoat, Kapura (Collonade sucks dude), Spiderbait, Stung, Eliper, CornettoGospel, Impurity, Wolf, Count Blinkula, TrooperCooper, Kenny, Butane (you suck), Top Gun, Qbix, Aeternae, Badballer, Bahamut, Mahcks, Sy, Squee, Useless0ne, Rampancy, Brute, and TOM_T_117.
Oh, and the guys from #Moap who still refuse to join #BungieNet.
From around B.net: DieByMyHand, Skibur…and that’s about it.
If I forgot anyone, then t(o_Ot). (Just kidding.)
Thanks to Chris for being a good sport and a valued member of the community. He had some additional pics of his beautiful wife and baby, but we're gonna hold off on posting them. If he still wants to share them with everybody, maybe he'll link them in the discussion thread attached. (Maybe he won't if I remind him that people around here are experts with photo manipulation.) Either way, you should sound off and let Primo84 know how awesome he is in the thread attached.