From The Heart

A Salute To Our Soldiers

 

I see you standing among them all,

Standing so strong, proud and tall.

The world looks at you, but does not see

Everything you sacrifice to keep us free.

 

I'm here to say, to let you know

That you are loved, even if it doesn't show.

You fight for our hopes, dreams, and liberty.

You fight for our freedom....a hero to be.

 

I want you to know, you're never alone

For we are waiting for you to come home. 

But the hardest thing for a person to be

Is you.. a solider,

Fighting to keep us free.

 

Thank you.  Those two little words are not hardly enough, but the meaning and feelings behind it are real.  I thank you.  I thank all of you who are military.  I thank any and all of those who are serving our country, but not just them.  I want to thank all the military families out there as well. 

 

I have a very deep appreciation for the military.  My mom teases me because she says I have an "army obsession".  It's true.  I do.  I don't know why that is or how it came about, but it's there. 

The only person I have currently serving in the military is my cousin in the Air Force.  I have family that used to be serving in the military.  People think it's strange that I'm so big in to the military even though there is no one in my immediate family enlisted right now.  It's not strange though.  Not hardly.

 

Our military deserves so much more support and appreciation than they receive.  They deserve everything, yet they don't receive hardly anything.  They deserve to know that they are appreciated.  These people deserve to know that we are grateful.  These people deserve to know that they are heroes, they are my heroes.  These amazing people deserve to know that they are loved, not only by their families but by this country, by me. 

 

These people inspire me.  They are so selfless in the sense that they give everything for this country and its people.  So in turn, they are giving everything for me.  They are giving everything for you.  How can you not be grateful for that?  If everyone took just a minute out of their busy schedules to think about it, I think they would be thankful too. 

 

I'm no saint.  I will admit to allowing myself to think that my trivial problems are more important than others.  I allow myself to forget that there are people out there who don't have access to all of the simple things that I take for granted.  I allow myself to forget that there are people out there, serving this country, who don't get to see their families.  I allow myself to forget that there are people out there who might not make it back, just so we can live life the way we do.  I feel sick with myself when I realize this.  I feel sick realizing that I had the nerve to think like that.  If you're military or you're a military family and reading this, let me be the first to apologize for being so selfish and allowing myself to forget. 

 

Thank you to all of you serving in our military, no matter what branch you are.  I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.  I don't think I can express how deeply I appreciate you and what it is that you do.  You are the reason that I am able to be who I am.  You are the reason that I live the way I do.  Free.  I am eternally in your debt.  I'm so proud to be able to say that all the service men and women are my heroes and my inspirations.  I know that there isn't really all that much I can do, but maybe someone out there that is serving our country will read this.  Then they will know that someone out there does care, that someone out there does appreciate them and everything they are doing and sacrificing. 

 

I don't want to thank just our service men and women though.  I want to thank those that are just as important, but aren't always thought of or appreciated.  I want to thank their families. 

 

Military families are heroes in their own right.  They have to deal with and go through so much.  No one bothers to think of them and what it is like for them to have to go through this.  No one bothers to think what it is like for them to have to deal with a beloved member of their family gone all the time.  Military spouses and military kids have to put up with so much.  I thank them for all that they do and all that they give.  I thank them for being amazing people. 

 

I have gotten to know a military family, and all I can say is that they are some of the most amazing people I have ever met.    He is enlisted in the army.  I don't think I've ever told him because I couldn't find the words, but I'm so thankful for him and what he does.  He's a really awesome person, like a really cool guy.  I'm honored to be able to know him in his family.  As for his family, his wife is an amazing woman.  She does so much for her family.  She is truly an amazing woman.  I thank her for everything she does, but not just that.  I want to thank her for being so sweet to me and my family.  As I've told you guys in previous posts, I'm kind of a shy person.  I have a hard time opening up to people and speaking to them.  Somehow at some point I opened up and began speaking.  I have come to really enjoy talking to her and her husband.  They are both such kind and amazing people. She's always so nice to me and always happy to talk to me, and that means a lot to me.  Well, at least I think so anyways, sometimes I think people don't mind talking to me but they do.  I'm pretty sure anyways.   I really can't express what amazing people these are.  I want to thank her for everything she does and goes through.  She's really an incredible woman.  I don't know how she manages with the crazy schedules she has to deal with and everything else on top of that.  She manages it beautifully though, and on top of that, she's just a really amazing person.  She's actually the reason I decided to write this.  The other day it really hit me all the things that she has to do and put up with.  The fact that she handles it so incredibly is something she should be thanked for and appreciated for.  I'm thanking her.  She, as well as her husband, are some of the most fantastic people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.  They are some of the most fantastic people I have ever met.  They also have four kids.  Their kids are some of the most well-behaved, respectful kids.  I've never really met their eldest child, but I'm sure that he is just as respectful.  Their two middle children are right around my age.  I've never really spoken to them before.  I'd really like to, but like I said, I have a hard time talking to people for the first time and my shyness always gets the best of me and I get nervous and can't do it.  Maybe one day I'll finally be able to.  Both of them seem like really amazing, genuinely good people.  As for the youngest child, the manners that child has are impeccable.  She is so sweet and such a funny, good mannered kid.  All of them, all of their personalities, are amazing.  I thank them all for all that they have to go through, and I hope that they all feel appreciated as well.  I don't know if this will seem like much to them, even if they read it, but I hope that it at least lets them know that I appreciate them and that I think so highly of them.  I really am so grateful that there are people like that in this country.  These people are the people that I can't even begin to express my gratitude for, no matter how hard I try.

 

If you're reading this and you're military or a part of a military family, I thank you.  I thank each and every one of you.  This post doesn't even begin to express how thankful and appreciative I am.  It's something I have a hard time putting in to words, but I think I did my best.  If you're reading this and you aren't military or you have no one in your family who is military, then I hope that you're thankful too.  Thank you.  Thank you so much.  I thank you from the very bottom of my heart.  I'm so grateful that I can live in a nation where there are people like our military and their families.  I'm so grateful that  I can live in a nation where my heroes can be normal people, not celebrities or movie stars.

 

                                                                THANK YOU.



 







The Death Of A Friend

Hello everyone.  Just recently a horrible tragedy occurred.  I recently lost someone who, I felt, was very close to me. 

That's right everyone, I lost my Skyrim character.  It's awful isn't it?  I had been working on that game since the beginning of July, so practically 2 and  half months now.  Something happened on my last save and the files corrupted.  I had no way of getting back all the time and effort I spent trying to perfect and raise my character. 

I was heartbroken.  I now to get to start again....from the very beginning.  All of my titles and weapons and property...all of it is gone.  It's tragic.  I know I seem horribly strange and disturbed for being this bothered by the events that have come to pass, but you try working that hard and for that long on something for all of it to just be gone in a second. 

Rest in peace, Jessamine, and may the new Jessamine I have created be even better than the first. 

Check back later.  I should hopefully have a new, not tragic post up. 

Introducing The Greatest Band Ever.

Hello everyone!  This post is really important to me and I won't put up for any trash anyone has to say about it so don't even think about it. 

I would like to introduce all of you to the greatest band ever.  They're from Washington, North Carolina and they're going to make it big one day, but if they don't for some crazy, insane, possibly apocalyptic reason they don't, I don't care.  They're big to me and that's all that matters.  This band consists of four of the most amazing people in the entire world.  Now for the big reveal.  This band is...........Everember. 

Everember.  Everember, Everember, Everember.  The name that now means so much to me.  Everember is a Christian, their name coming from the Book of the Prophet, Isaiah 6:6-7.  It states, "Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, 'Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.'"  Henceforth, the name Everember was chosen. 

This band is fantastic.  Like really fantastic.  Everything about them is fantastic: their music, their morals, and the members especially.  I don't think there is a single thing I dislike about this band.  That really means a lot because according to a lot of people I'm really skeptical.  There is not a flaw I can find with this band. 

Okay, for starters, they're talented.  Like really talented.  Their musical abilites are astounding.  Not only that but their stage presence is phenomenal.  They put on a great show.  Their vocals are amazing, their keyboarding is phenomenal, their guitar is flipping fantastic, and their drums are killer.  Right now on Itunes they only have six songs: Moonlight, Inconsistent, Three Years, Products of Circumstance, Saving Unity, and Everytime.  All of these songs are fantastic and definitely worth buying.  I don't mean one of them.  I don't mean a few of them.  I mean all of them.  They're all fantastic.  The tracks are beautifully done.  You can pick out every instrument used, yet it all blends together in a perfect harmony.  They are fantastic musicians and amazing performers.

Now, while all that is fantastic and wonderful, there's another aspect to Everember that I really love.  That would be the four people in Everember.  Everember is made up of, as I have said, four people.  Those four people are brothers Andy and Alex, Chelsea, and Kevin. 

Andy is the lead vocals for the band, as well as playing guitar. He's a fantastic guitar player, and he has an incredible voice.  He's a really awesome guy. This is off topic but every time I've seen him he plays this really stunning guitar.  I don't know why I felt like sharing that, but I always think it.  Chelsea plays keyboard for the band and she sings as well.  She plays a double keyboard a lot, and I think that is so flipping awesome!  She also has a really fantastic voice.  On top of all that, Chelsea is extremely pretty, like very very pretty.  She's amazing.  Andy and Chelsea just got married recently, so a very happy congratulations to them and may they have a happily ever after!  Alex is Andy's brother, so now he's Chelsea's brother-in-law.  Aside from that though, Alex is the bands drummer.  Okay, this guy can kill on the drums.  He's freaking fantastic!  Alex really is an awesome drummer, and he's a really cool dude.  Did I mention he's a killer drummer?  Last, but most certainly not least, is Kevin.  Kevin used to play bass for them, but now he is their guitarist.  Let me tell you that he is an amazing guitarist.  He's really fantastic.  Really, really fantastic.  Kevin is not only an incredible guitarist, but I have to credit him with putting up with me.  He typically runs the Twitter for the band, and uh I might have hit up that Twitter a lot.  He's a really good guy, Kevin is.  He's so amazing.  He's a great guy and a great guitar player. 

These four people are just amazing.  They leave me speechless, which is why this is really difficult to write.  They reach out and touch all of the people they encounter.  I saw them first perform at Youth Day at Campbell University.  I was stunned by them.  I got ahold of them at a later date and I've been hooked.  I think I became hooked the moment they took over the stage at Campbell.  Then I was only hooked to the music.  Then as time progressed, I got to know the actual people, and I adore them.  They are some of the most amazing people ever.  They're the shining examples of how everyone else should strive to try to be.  They are just so --- I really don't know how to even put my thoughts in to words right now.  It's really impossible.  I'll just get to my point and say that this band is fantastic.

There is nothing wrong with this band.  They're talented, they're amazing, and they're all fantastic, wonderful people.  This band is my favorite band, without a doubt, no contest.  I really just want to thank them for being who they are and doing what they do.  So go check them out.  Everember.  Nine letters, six songs (Only for now, their album comes out very soon.), four people, one story.  I love Everember.  I like to think I'm their biggest fan, and if not, at least one of their biggest. 

I really hope that you didn't find this stupid because they really mean a lot to me.  They've done so much for me, more than any other band, and many people, would.  They're the kindest, most amazing, most fantastic, most incredible band ever.  I owe them for putting up with me for being such a pest.  I love them.  I want you to love them too, just not as much as I do.  So go check them out.  That's Everember: E-V-E-R-E-M-B-E-R.  Go check them out.  The links will be right below this for you to look them up.  Please give them a listen.  They're definitely worth it.  My next post should be up tomorrow so check back then!  Comment and let me know what you think or if you gave them a listen!

Here are the links to find this amazing band:

Everember's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/everember

Everember's Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/#!/everember

Everember's Website: http://everemberband.com/

The Wonderful World of Skyrim

Oh, Skyrim.  Where do I even begin? 

Well to start, Skyrim is the latest installment in the Elder Scrolls series.  Skyrim is a game with a completely open world and a varying storyline.  There's the main storyline quests that don't really change much, and then so many other quests!  You're given so much freedom to do as you please! 

When you start the game, after a cut scene that flaunts the stunning graphics that Bethesda has put in to this, you design your character.  You get to choose from a freaking ton of races of characters to be, and you can really detail the appearance of your character.  All of the races are really awesome, but I've only ever played as an Imperial, and I just recently made a Nord out of a request from one of my lovely friends.  While each race has its perks, it doesn't really matter in the long run who you choose.  When you level up, it doesn't really matter what race you are.  You can go from there. 

Now the main storyline follows the trail of you, a character of your design and liking, discovering that you're a dovahkiin.  Dovahkiin is a word in the ancient dragon language.  Dov means dragon, dovah means the race of the dragons, and kiin means kind or kin.  So dovahkiin literally translates over into dragonborn.  Alduin, known as the Souleater or Worldeater, has returned, along with all the other dov.  Alduin returning fulfills the prophecy as told in the Elder Scrolls.  Alduin has return signifies the end of the world for all human races.  It is the Dovahkiin's job to stop this from happening. 

Now that you get the gist of Skyrim, I want to talk about finer points of it, and why it is that I spend so much of my free time playing it.  Let's get down to it then!

There are four main guilds you can join: the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood (a group of assassins), the Companions, and the College of Winterhold (which is practically a mage guild).  I do highly suggest joining all of these cause they're freaking awesome!  I personally like the Dark Brotherhood the best, not because I want to be an assassin or anything, but I think the whole armor set and quests are flipping awesome.  Although, I will credit the Theives Guild with having the gauntlets I like best, and if you don't give the skeleton key back then you're set with all lockpicking. 

Anyways I really like the whole open world thing.  I can't stand confined, circuit games.  I mean I can, but I don't prefer them anywhere near open games.  Out of all the free world games I've played though, Skyrim is definitely the best.  The graphics are really, quite nearly flawless.  There's also the limitations that do keep it as realisitic as possible, you know, minus the dragons and most other things.  You can't fall from incredible heights and survive.  You can't hold your breath forever out of water.  You can't just sneak past someone in full daylight, in their line of sight and they won't see you.  It's really fantastic all the little details in the game as well, like the animals that wander around.

Now weapons are pretty different and customizable.  I mean like there are all kinds of weapons from swords, to daggers, to war axes, to war hammers, to bows.  My absolute favorite type of weapon is a bow.  It is what I favor.  I tend to enchant mine, which is a way to customize any of your weapons.  Lately I've been using a Forsworn Bow with a fire enchantment.  Wow.  That sounds really lame, but you know, oh well.  No changing it.  Other than a bow I have one sword that I believe is called a Dawnbreaker from Merida's Beacon quest that I got after completion of said quest.  It is a daedric quest but I really like the sword. 

I don't really know how to even explain or describe Skyrim to you.  I know I did an extremely sucky job on this post, so you can just ignore this one if you like.  I wanted to talk about Skyrim but realized as I tried to write this that I just had no words to describe any of it.  I just suggest if you have an Xbox, go buy it and  play it.  Right now.  I mean like RIGHT NOW!  Go, and once you're back from buying it, you can check back for my next post!  :)