The Mind and Deep Thoughts

     It fascinates me how fragile the human mind is, and how easily its mood can be changed. I've been listening to the musical introduction to Stephen King's movie Red Rose for about two hours; the music alone has put me in a very solemn state of mind. Maybe it's just that I'm very feeling-oriented, or maybe it's that people have something deeper than just a mind. We humans feel things very deeply. Some people feel things, emotions, that come from such a deep place inside them that there has to be something more, like a soul.
  
     After a while of playing flash games, I went to find a picture of a "sad" rose on Google. Something came up, a story that I wasn't expecting. It was about a young woman whose father died of cancer. The father was a very esteemed reactor physicist, a so-called "brilliant man." The cancer was found only just before he died. As you can imagine, the disease was a huge surprise to the family... a very unwelcome one at that.


     It may seem quite odd, but I just started crying then and there (as I read through the story). Something in the words reached out and touched me. Whenever I think of death, I can't help but relate it to my own life somehow. I started thinking of my father dying, of the other loved ones in my life disappearing before my eyes in a matter of months, weeks, days, hours -- or even minutes. I could come home one day, and find that my mother had been killed in a car accident, or that my father had been a casualty of an attack by someone. Although something like disease could also strike a deathly blow to my brother; he could get painfully ill in a matter of days, and I would never see him again.




     Do everyone you love, and yourself some good. Tell them every day how much you love them and how much they mean to you. When you get in arguments, take some time to cool down. When you've done that, go back and apologize or try to smooth things over. Just think how horrible you would feel if one day you and the person you love most in the whole world had a dispute that was never resolved - and the next day, before you could talk to them about it, they were killed in a horrendous car crash. Or maybe they died due to a terrorist attack (like 9/11, Pearl Harbor, etc.).

Never stop living

Never stop forgiving

Never ever stop listening

Never stop pursuing your dreams

Never give up at anything, especially if it's difficult

But this, I cannot stress enough

Never stop loving

Never stop caring

~ by Rachael Abrams

Random picture taking... Again :)

Ok, now I've got some pictures of me!  They're edited, most of them are black, and some of them are creepy - they're all meant to be like that :]  I was listening to some music, namely some of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's stuff, to get some mood in my face & eyes.  I think it worked rather well!

Here's the link; I'll stop rambling on...

Click *here* for the slideshow!

Oh, and if you don't mind... Tell me what your favorite picture is!  Just give me the number after the "CIMG" at the bottom left of the picture.

Have a great day everybody :]

Just a Little Something I Wrote for Our Veterans ~

11/11/10  Veterans Day

   On this day, thoughts come to my mind that almost bring me to my knees weeping.  Men and women, young and old, different races and from different backgrounds have fought ~and are fighting~ side-by-side for our country.

For Freedom

Justice

Peace

Love

Friends

and rights that we take 

completely for granted every day.

   Some day, we may not have the choice to wear jeans and a tee shirt to school or out in public.  We might not be able to play the video games that we hold so unnecessarily dear to our hearts.  We too often forget that while we sleep, people are fighting for us; they are lying their lives down so that we don't get killed for what we choose to do - or not to do.

The question I'd like to ask you is this:

How will you repay them for what they've selflessly given to you?

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    Thanks for reading; I hope this reaches your heart like it did mine!

A walk on 17/10

Well, I'm getting into the habit of carrying the camera around with me on walks... And here are some nice pictures I just happened to find :)

These two were just spur of the moment type pictures. Wait, when is photography not a split second decision?

This is a view up the street where I live... I love seeing things from different perspectives :)

 This one seems to be a favorite of my camera. And my eye! Looking up at the sky through some tree branches seems calming to me, for some reason or another.

 Haha! Here's another weird perspective I caught. I have no idea what those little red berry-type things are, but I know they're pretty... And very sticky if you step on them  >_> 

 Ah, the pink rose. This was actually a few feet away from me; I had to use the zoom on the camera (which isn't that amazing). Just by chance, this picture came out clear enough to see the detail in the flower & some of the brick. Quite lovely, if I do say so myself.

 Yet another, "let's look up a tree!" picture :)

 Somebody was having fun in those air planes ;)

 Another picture of some interesting looking cloud-trails (?)

Guess what!!

   Hello everyone & anyone who's reading this! If you've read any of my bio, you'd know that I play the guitar. Ever since January of this year (2010), I've been saving my money until I can upgrade my guitar. My first guitar was a Fender Squier Strat, and I'm still playing that, but not for much longer!
  

   I took a bike ride over to the music shop at which I ordered my upgrade, the Ibanez RG370DX. The trip was originally to return some CD's my guitar teacher lent me; I figured I could check when my upgrade would arrive at the studio. They said it should be here on Monday!! (October 4th) I'm SO happy! As I already said, I've been waiting since October, about 8 months, for this! I do have a picture of the RG370DX in the column on the top right, but it's so small I thought I'd just upload a larger one for you. Here it is:

   And since this is, after all a picture-blog, I'll upload a picture of my Fender for you :)

Spiders in the back-yard!

One day, very early in the morning, I was walking down the side-walk and I saw this huge spider. It looked like it was just floating in mid-air! It was probably about 1 inch (2.5cm) long. Here's the picture in which that devilish little thing looked like it was hovering.

 And in this picture I had the flash on, so you can see the web and everything. I'm pretty sure the web was at least 1 1/2 ft. (.45 meters), if not a little larger. Let me know if you like looking at these creepy-crawlers, or if you're freaked out by them, like me!

DragonForce, my favorite band :]

Ok, so I've gathered some of the best pictures for this post... The band is *epic drumroll please*, DragonForce. I love this band because of their blithering speed and charmingly melodic playing. And because they're handsome , of course. Their amazing accents don't hurt either. Haha :]] They play power metal... And power metal it surely is!

So anyway... here they are together first.

This is one of the more amusing pictures of them.... Usually they're all quite serious looking and staring down the camera :) Left to right, back row first. Sam Totman (rhythm/lead guitar), Vadim Pruzhanov (keyboard, theremin), Herman Li (lead guitar), Frédéric Leclercq (bass), Dave Mackintosh (drums), and in the front... Former vocalist ZP Theart. Information on the split of DragonForce and ZP Theart was released on March 9th, 2010.

Vadim Pruzhanov (keyboardist)

I love this picture because of the precise, powerful way it's captured. The way Vadim's hair is flying up in the air... It leads my eye to his face, and the concentration of playing the music. Which also leads right down his arm, to the technical and controlling way his hand is playing the keyboard. [That was quite a description] :) I've also seen quite a few interviews with Vadim... And his facial expressions are awesome! I love them! x)

ZP Theart (former vocalist)

This is my favorite picture of ZP, because of the passion he seems to be putting in to that certain song. That or he can't quite hit the note :] But from another aesthetic point of view... His hair is amazingly curly, And I love it :)

Dave Mackintosh (drums)

I can't say much about Dave, other than his drumming is purely epic. I hope to god that they don't speed up the drums in the studio, because this would be some extraordinary talent if they didn't. Other than that, from interviews, he seems like a really cool, fun guy.

Frédéric Leclercq (bass)

Well, as you can [hopefully] tell from his name, Frédéric is from France :) I love the stage presence this guy has, it's friendly and funny. His expressions are, in my opinion, completely priceless... And of course the way he plays the bass is also ...*wait for it*... epic! He completely owns the instrument. Also, his hair is poofy. Which is... awesome x)

Herman Li (lead guitar)

Herman's hair in this picture reminds me of one of the poems I recently wrote. Eternal Abyss. If you look at his hair the way I am, it kind of looks like the enterence to a very deep hole. Anyway, hair stuff aside. His playing is phenomenal; I absolutely cannot wait until I can play that fast... Standing up ;)

And last, but certainly not least, Sam Totman (rhythm/lead guitar)

I've heard that Sam writes most [or at least a lot] of the music that DragonForce plays. I love the way Sam talks; it reminds me of a friend my brother used to have for a long time. Come to think of it, the friend's name was Sam too! They both mumble quite a bit, but because I'm American and Sam's British [originally from New Zealand], that just makes it all the harder to tell what he's saying. But he's still cool x) His playing and songwriting is completely amazing, in my opinion. Some people would disagree, but that's ok. I love his signature guitar too... The Ibanez STM1 [Sam Totman Model 1]. I've heard rumors that he and Ibanez making one similar, except blue. So I'll keep a look-out for that, for sure!

Well, there's not much more I can say about them... Without going into huge detail about all their songs and what I like most. Which would be pretty much everything! All I have to say is, if any of them or one of their friends reads this... If you would, please tell them:

They do have quite a few girl fans. Me and some of my friends really love the music :) [and of course the musicians themselves!] DragonForce should come to the US again. (duh, right?) Specifically the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania area. Btw, come sometime in the summer of 2014-2015. Quite a ways away... But I know I'll be there!

Thanks for reading this, whoever you are! I hope you enjoyed my view and thoughts of this great band, DragonForce. If you don't know them, I hope you take some time to check out their songs on youtube or somthing :) And please, don't download songs illegally. All musicians deserve appreciation and respect; because they're working hard to entertain you!

Thanks again!!