Ross' misadventures in Texas!

Sorry it's been so long since my last update guys... I feel really dumb but I actually forgot my password for a really long time so yea...

But hey I remembered it! ^.^()

I've been back in Texas for about a month now. And if there's one lesson I've learned from all of this it's that. No matter where you go, you're going to miss people... I'm so glad to be back in Texas, close to my friends and family, and only an hour and a half away from my "little brother" but I really really do miss all of you wonderful people in Arizona... I wish with all my heart there was some way to move Anthem a bit closer to Pearland...

So what have I been up to? Well.... I know God was with me in my job search if only for the fact that the first job I applied for I actually got... there's a hitch though, but I'll get to that in a second....

I'm going to be working at a factory job for a company called Pro-Fax that's only a few blocks away from home. The pay's going to be slightly less than what I was making at Net G, but it's income... and I can always look for something better while I'm working there. At least I'm going to have income.

Now about that hitch... When I went to take the physical that was required for the posistion the doctor found a hernia that needed to be fixed before he would clear me for the posistion... (how do I get a hernia? It's not like I lift heavy things all the time or anything)

So on July 3rd I went under the knife for the first time in my life...

Knockout drugs are good, but not being able to move for 3-4 days without HUGE amounts of pain really sucks. But alas, I can at least move around and stuff now, though the area around the scar is still a bit swollen, but the doctor says that will go down soon enough, and that I can actually get back to running and jumping and ninjaing about and all that other crap I do within a few weeks here. So it looks like August 6th or so will probally be the first day of my new job.

I finally got to go to Beaumont earlier this week and visit my "little brother"... I had forgotten just how much I missed that kid. It was great to see him and as always I hated it so much when I had to leave. But on the bright side, after you've lived 2000 miles away, a simple 100 mile hour and a half trip doesn't seem at all as long as it used to... so mark my words, I intend on spending a whole lot of time in Beaumont.

My best friend Ian has just landed hisself a nice job running a soundboard for some hotel or something like that... I'm not too sure of the details at this moment, but we're toying around with the Idea of splitting the rent for an apartment or something... all that's still in the planning phase, but I hope it works out... I'm almost 25 and I really haven't been "out on my own" yet... It's WAY past time.

And plus... just think of the sweet gaming parties. ^.^



Anyways.... That's more or less what I've been up to as of late...

To those of you in Arizona, I love you and miss you all!

Keep in touch, I'll talk to ya later!

-Ross-

Heroes...

I'm such a sap.... That speech Aunt May has in Spiderman 2 always brings tears to my eyes...

After Peter Parker quits being Spiderman, a kid helping his Aunt move asks him where Spiderman has gone "He Quit" Peter replies... "But he'll be back... right?" the boy replies It's through that conversation that Aunt May goes into this particular line that gets me every time..

"He knows a hero when he sees one... too few characters out there... flying around like that. Saving old girls like me... Lord knows kids like Henery need a hero. Courageous, Self sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for them, cheer for them, scream their names. And years later they'll tell how they stood in the rain for hours, just to get a glimpse of the one that taught them to hold on just a second longer. I believe there's a hero in all of us, that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble, and finally allows us to die with pride. Even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most... even our dreams.... Spiderman did that for Henery and he wonders where he's gone... he needs him."


everytime.... it has be bawling.

Rarely have I heard truer words though. We all have the potential to be a hero, we all have the potential to be someone worthy of having others look up to them. All we have to do is become that person... and lucky for us, it doesn't even take a bite from a radioactive spider or anything! I know it's all I've ever wanted for my life at least... I may not know what carreer I want to persue, I may not even have a steady plan for my life yet. But the one thing I do know I want to be more than anything is a hero, a role model, someone worthy of following in the footsteps of. And to do that, I try to follow in the footsteps of my hero... well... besides Spiderman ^.^()

Like most heroes, he was more than met the eye. Who would have thought the son of God would come to Earth as a poor traveler born to a carpenter's family? He had the power to do anything, but rather than rule supreme, he gave up his throne, he gave up his heavenly majisty, he came into this frail fragile human form why? For us...

He traveled from town to town doing things for others, never a selfish thought in his head. He healed the sick, he cured the lame, he raised the dead... And the people hated him for it. But that didn't stop him for a second... he kept on healing and preaching, he came to save us all from hell... how was he repayed? They nailed him to a cross, they gave him one of the most tortureous deaths humanly imagineable, he could do anything, he had the power to stop it. He didn't have to take it. But he died on that cross... for us.

He gave his life as a sacrifice to save ours. I know the story has been told the the point it just comes off now as preachy and clichee... but stop, if you will. Take a moment to realise just what happed on that dark day 2000 years ago. And the light that we can now be a part in because of it. Forget everything you've heard about it in church, or what you've read about, and honestly stop and take it in... as if you're hearing it for the first time....

Realise what Jesus did for you, realise what he gave up, realise the kind of person he was.

That's my hero...

That's who's footsteps I try to follow in...

And I mess up alot, like all people do...

But I hope that, maybe one day, I too might be the kind of person that people can look up to. That I can be the kind of person that people want to be like.

And I hope that by those people, by following me.... will be following him.

Aunt May couldn't have said it any better... we all need heroes.

Who's yours?

God loves you and I love you!
-Ross-

5 Things You Don't Know About Me...

Well, Josh tagged me forever ago, so I guess it's about time I do this... lesse...

1. The Cross Necklace I always wear I wear because of a tradition me and my friends started years ago, where we all wore matching necklaces... as of right now my "little brother" in Beaumont is wearing the one matching this one.

2.Up until this year I had never really taken an official martial arts class, only had picked up bits and pieces of various styles from friends that actually had taken classes... though I do a pretty good job of pretending I actually know the official stuff eh?

3. I had a comic series that I drew from 8th grade through my Senior year... if I ever get the time and patience, maybe I'll try restoring some of them.

4.I don't like eggs, I eat my cereal dry for the most part, and I don't use ketchup on my fries... I have yet to meet anyone else who any of these apply to.

5. In 6th grade, we had a really lazy PE teacher that usually just let us have free time everyday. We played Soccer almost every day during PE that year, and I actually became somewhat decent at the sport.


I'de tag someone, but I think everyone's all tagged out.

Homesick, Depressed, Pessimistic, Whining... Enjoy!

Sorry for the huge lapse in posting... I really suck at updating things unless I'm depressed it seems, I hate it, but alas that is the case, so here's a bunch of depressed whiney banter...

I know it's all in my head but, I've had one of those weeks where I don't feel like I really belong here

I've been missing home alot lately, and have even been wondering if I've done anything worthwhile around here. I know I've touched lives, but it's just hard to see the effects of that in a short period of time.

I miss my family.... I miss my friends that knew each other so well sometimes we wouldn't even have to say a word to know what the other was thinking

And even the minor things like going to a burger place and not having to specify that you want mustard instead of mayo

I miss grass.... real, fluffy, soft grass

... I miss feeder roads dangit, they'de do wonders for the 101...

I've met so many great, wonderful people here that I would have never known other wise...

I came to touch lives, and that's what I plan to do !!!

but still... I know it's all in my head and total crap, but sometimes, I just don't fill like I fit in here anywhere... I suppose all that is just part of missing my friends who all knew each other so well.

We were inseperable...we'de been together since 10th grade... gone our seperate ways through colleges, Iraq, fights, makeups, and countless RPGs, knew each other backwards and forwards...and well... I knew I fit in there, without a doubt in my mind, and now they're 2000 miles away...

All this not even to mention Caleb, my little brother ( you don't need blood or papers to tell you who you family is) Even when I was in Pearland, Caleb was still an hour and a half away... it seemed so far at the time, but I'de gladly make the drive 5 times over right now to visit him and his aboslutely wonderful family right now.

... it all just seems so far away right now... like another planet, or a distant dream... or even another lifetime.

So yea, it snowed today.... come to think of it that might have been what triggered my homesickness ... I like called mom to tell her it was snowing

the simplest things can make my mom so happy sometimes... it's one of the things I've tried to emulate in my own life

she LOVES all things nature too... I remember we took her to Sedona when they were visiting, and she actually cried at the beauty... some people would call that sappy, but I think it's so awsome that someone can get that much enjoyment out of God's creation

yea... you think I'm nice, I'm a troll compared to my mom... I hate we have to be so far away.

Why does it seem I can only blog when I'm depressed? I hate that. I get on here and just whine to the internet... and when that's all you do you look back on your blog and think "man, I'm whiney" ... that's not how I like to look back on myself as, but maybe it's the truth.

I feel like my faith has been put to the test alot lately. I'm grateful for that in a way, because if you faith is never challenged, you never know why you believe in what you belive in, but still, it leaves you feeling beat up and tired in a way physical activity could never do.

Sorry for whining into this thing for so long ... if you're still reading this thank you.

I hate fishing for compliments more than anything else in the world but I need to hear nice things right now... help?

Have I made an impact on your life in any way? And if so... how?

I love you guys, and I'll talk to you later!
-Ross-

Setting off...

Well, everything I talked about in that "drained" entry is still lingering around in my mind, plus some. I'm not really ging through anything stressful at the moment, but I guess the best way to describe how I feel is stressed... but I think most of it is beyond my control anyways... so well, pray for me on that matter I guess....

Leaving to go visit home in the morning. Once again, a small part of me almost feels depressed about it... that doesn't even make sence... it's not like I don't want to go home or anything... I dunno... maybe that's a sign this place is starting to feel like home. ^.^() But I'm going to go home, have a great time, hang out with family and friends I haven't seen in 4 months, eat a ton of food and come back really fat on Saturday! Truth of the matter is that I will miss this place while I'm gone though, a blessing and a curse at the same time having two homes is...

ah well... I need to get to bed... I got a plane to catch!

See yall Saturday!
-Ross-

Enough is enough!

The PS3 hits stores today and Chaos insues... Nation wide there's a total of about 200,000 systems... that's right... All of America 200,000! This is quite frankly outrageous! Not only is that not nearly enough to meet the vast demand for the system but it's about half of what they promised would be out!
And thus, with the supply so limited we find enthuistiac people with way too much time and money on their hands camping outside stores nationwide to get their hands on what exactly? Well at this point and time a $600 paperweight. Were there actually any launch titles worth buying the PS3 for, I would fully have no probelm with these people camping out, heck, I might have even been inclined to join them. But not only has Sony launched the PS3 with a mockingly low supply, they felt they were perfectly justified with asking gamers all over America to frantically dash about trying to get their hands on one, and fork over $600 a pop (Which the president of Sony said was probally too cheap) when all the Launch titles are subpar at best!

And if I'm not enough to convince you of the disaster that is the PS3 Launch, get a load of this

http://blog.wired.com/games/2006/11/scea_vp_on_back.html

What ticks me off more than anything though is that Crappy system launches is by no means a new thing. Go back to the PS2? Sony was pulling the same crap they're pulling now back then! But at least the PS2 started with a $300 pricetag and had a decent selection of Launch titles, as opposed to the garbage they're launching with the PS3 (and asking twice the price for)

Remember the Xbox360 fiasciao of Last year? I knew people who reserved their 360's in November and didn't actually recieve one till April! No other way to say it that is unacceptable!

If this was any other industry the comsumers wouldn't stand for this! If this was a crop shortage, if this was a car shortage, heck, even if this was like a TV shortage or something trivial like that there would be an outrage! So why do we as gamers have to be walked upon by gaming companies as they throw a single steak to every store and watch the dogs fight over it?

Let's hope the Nintendo Breaks this trend.... With Gamestop alone getting about 750,000 units nationwide at launch, it looks like that might very well be possible. The Nintendo Wii, as well as being readily avaible at launch for first time in launch history in almost a decade, will sport a $250 price tag, and come with a game included as well as a launch library of many many worthwile games (Including the new Zelda game w()()7 w()()7!)

Can it be that in this day and age Nintendo is the only one who actually knows how to treat their customers? Personally I'de say that's about it as they orogionally all about gameing, whereas Sony and Microsoft were (and obviously still are) giant heartless corporations.

Frankly, as a gamer, I'm tired of having giant game companies push us around! Enough is enough!

I eagerly await the launch of the Nindendo Wii on Sunday and hopefully will be playing Zelda while the 3 people who actually got PS3s are staring at their $600 paperweight.

Drained

This last week has been... well Spiritually draining, I really don't know how else to describe it. Among various debates on and offline it seems a day this week hasn't gone by where I found myself having to stand up for what I believe in and why. And while in a way that's refreshing, it takes a toll on you as well. Stumbling around random internet sites I found a forum devoted to pratically militant athiests. Scanning over some of their threads, it's depressing how backwards some of these people have it. Calling God creul and uncaring for allowing bad things to happen. Calling him heartless for acts of violence in the Old Testament...

It really makes me sad how so many can take out of context, over anaylize to death and straight up ignore the teaching of God. It makes me mad that the United States don't seem so United these days. And it makes me sad that people very close to my heart are stuggling with things they don't even feel they can talk to me about (and that's about all I know about that one)

All of it has just left me feeling rather drained, physically and spiritually. How can one change the world and help to make it a better place when no matter what you say, no matter what do, someone is going to fight you tooth and nail? How can you help a friend when they felt they've done something so horrible they can't even tell you about it? So much pain sin and division is in this world it's really hard for it not to get to you sometimes I suppose. But this week I guess I just fill a little more battered around than usual.

One a brighter note, Thanksgiving is next week and I'm flying back home for a few days to see friends and Family I haven't seen in 4 months. As Liz said in a post I remember on her blog from a few months ago, I already feel kinda strange because I know that a part of me is going to miss being in Arizona with all the wonderful people there. Thus as glad as I'm going to be to be going home, I'm going to be glad to be coming back too... I guess Arizona is my home now too.

Next Month is Christmas and the end of another year... it's hard to believe how fast this one flew by and how much my life as actually changed this year. New home new job new friends new church new life. Maybe that's part of my drained feeling right now too. I've been here a little over 4 months now, that's a 3rd of a year!

Well, I guess that's really all that's going on with me at the moment... I'm going to try to do another comic soon, but as I'm currently torn between Final Fantasy 12 and Gears of War, and Zelda coming out next week, I doubt that'll happen anytime within the next few weeks...

Oh yea, and to all who read this... we need to bug Jordan about posting again... he hasn't had a new blog entry since I've been here... that simply won't do!

Love yall and see ya soon
-Ross-