Hey, y'all. Long time, no see. I told all of you that I left, which is true. However, I have been keeping up with some of my friend's blogs and decided I wanted to update you all on how my year's been. Note: This does NOT mean I'm coming back and am going to blog regularly. I just wanted to give you an update since I've left, both with my gaming life and more personal life.

I pretty much paid no attention to video games until about June, when I finally had the funds to get a PS2 and Guitar Hero 2. I eventually got Guitar Hero and then, when it came out, Guitar Hero 3. I have become pretty good at that game as I can beat all of Guitar Hero 2 except for Jordan on expert. On Guitar Hero 3, I actually had high score #22 for a short while on Miss Murder by A.F.I. Unfortunately, on Thanksgiving, my younger cousins were arguing over the guitar controllers and pulled my PS2 off the shelf. My PS2 still plays, but GH3 no longer works. I was ticked off to say the least, because GH3 had some amazing songs... Oh, well...

I've also kind of flip-flopped around on if I want a 360 or not. For a while, I decided I did. Then I decided I wanted a Wii and Super Mario Galaxy. Now I'm pretty much happy where I'm at. Besides, I kind of need to save my money for a couple reasons

On a more personal note, I've been doing great. I got a car back in October, and youth group has been amazing. Over this year, I've gotten really close to all the people I met last Christmas. One girl in particular. She became my best friend, because she was someone I could really talk to all about God. She has to be the most amazing girl I've ever met. Which is the reason why I finally told her I that I liked her over Christmas. She made me completely happy by telling me that she likes me, too. We have now been dating about a month and it's been amazing. I really like her.

I've gotten a ton more into music over the past year. I'm usually buying several CDs a week. Let's put it this way. I'm the BigC43 of music, lol. My favorite bands now range from Muse to the White Stripes to the Killers to Avenged Sevenfold, and the list could go on and on and on...

The point is, I'm loving life right now and, while I certainly don't want to put any of you guys off to gaming, but once I started taking my focus off of the next game I'm going to get and put it on the people around me and God, things just seemed to click and get much better. Don't get me wrong. The past year hasn't been all sunshine. But my life is so much happier now that I'm focusing my life on more than just things. It's not wrong by any means to like games. Even to love games. I love my music and probably spend more than I should on it, but I just try to keep focusing my attention on God continually. Just make sure you have you're priorities right. Meet some people, make some friends, get into your church. Just make sure you're not wasting away.

As a final farewell and a treat to you guys, I'll post a couple of pictures of my girl and me on our church youth retreat a couple weeks ago. Take care.

After the last few days, I've realized that I have lost interest in all of this. I just don't feel like doing anything on here anymore. This is kind of why I left the first time, but I have decided to do it right this time and tell you guys that I'm leaving just so you don't think I'm dying. I know a lot of you will try to convince me otherwise, but my mind's made up. I'm sorry if I'm letting some of you guys down, but I just have no interest in doing this anymore. Thanks to everyone who's ever become my friend, and a special thanks to a few of my best friends on Gamespot including...

    -BigC43: You were my first friend and we spent many a PM talking about Christian rock and the longest title we could find for a song It's been great knowing you. If I ever get Xbox Live, I'll contact you.

    -Gamespoting: Don't let the mispelled user name fool you This dude is awesome. His blogs are always cool and he's just a really cool guy. Thanks for being my friend and I will contact you, too, when I have XBL.

    -kellymae: The always-inspiring mom. I've always loved your interesting blogs about you, your family, and your gaming life. You've been a really neat person to know on GS, too.

...I know there are many others I'm forgetting, and I love all you guys, too. Please don't hate me for leaving. This just isn't something I really want to do anymore. So goodbye and God bless...

Long time, no see, dudes. I did leave for a while. I was kind of losing interest in Gamespot. I started to realize just how obsessed I was getting with gaming. That's one of the biggest reasons I left. I know this sounds really dramatic, but going on that Katrina trip and then a youth retreat a couple of weeks later changed me. I got closer to God and started reading my Bible more. I feel so much better after giving up the wants that would constantly fill my mind. I wanted a PS2 so bad that that was all I thought about in the coming days of the Katrina trip. I later realized just how selfish that was. God deserves more time than what I've been giving him. Sorry to be so preachy, but that's really how I feel. So I don't know if you've figured it out, but I didn't get a PS2. After the trip, I kind of gave that up. I thought it was selfish of me to pinch every penny I could to get it. I didn't even want to spend money on my dad for his birthday. Then, I knew I was going too far. So I didn't get it. Since then I've gotten more CD's and started loving music more. I've played my guitar more, I've listened to music more. It's just something that I really started to love. And to some people I know's dismay, I've become more of a metalhead I'm really starting to dig pretty much every band out of Solid State. I'm hoping to join the youth band at my church in a couple years. In time, if God wills it, I would love to be in a band and join a label. We'll see how that goes.

This may be just an reiteration of something you guys already know. I just thought I would give you the skinny about what was going on in my life. After I gave up Gamespot, I did check on periodically to check up on a few friend's blogs. Pretty soon, people started declaring me dead. I knew I had to say something to you guys. I'm sorry I didn't give you guys any warning about my leave of absence. I just wanted to give this up so I wouldn't get caught in the trap again of the never-ending want of more things. I hope you guys can forgive me. I don't know if I'll really use this site much more for gaming things. I've pretty near given that up (except for Guitar Hero. I'd still love to play that) I will use it for my personal blog, though.

Like I said, I hope you guys can forgive me for my unwarned absence. I just needed to get off for a while. I don't know how much time I'll spend back on here. I probably won't do much in unions, except for maybe the Christian Rock Union (Sorry, BigC. You can go ahead and demote me from everything except the CRU). If you guys have any questions, just PM me or leave a comment

Well... I'm back...

Ever since I've gotten back from Louisiana, I've kind of forgotten about getting the PS2. I'm still getting it though, and I might actually have some help. It seems my younger sister would like to play Guitar Hero a lot as well. Her birthday is next week and she's already gotten $35 for it. I've convinced her to save her money and help me get Guitar Hero II eventually, so then we'll have two controllers and both games. I now have $122 and my $80 to Best Buy, so I'm very close to getting it. I'm actually shopping around a bit. Chris (the same sleepy one on the trip) knows a guy who owns a Trade N' Games near where I live. I may be able to get a better deal on a PS2 there, but we'll have to see..

I will soon be done with the last-gen! Well, after I get a whole bunch of PS2 games I want. I'm already going to forget a lot of them, just so I can start saving for a 360, but I want to have a decent amount of good games. Here is the list of Xbox/PS2 games I still want. These may vary as I remember more.

...and that's pretty much it. Feel free to tell me what I missed or that something should not be included.

Sorry I didn't do this when I got home Saturday, but I had a reason. Anyway, I had a great time in Louisiana. I got to know a lot of people from my church youth group, so now youth meetings aren't going to be awkward. Since I don't have anything better to talk about, I'll tell you about the trip...

Day 1:
I had to get up really early Tuesday, which was about 4:30. I was really tired. We got to my church around 5:30 and left around 6:00. I slept on the bus next to my buddy, Chris. A few hours later I woke up and eventually, one of the girls behind me introduced herself to me, and then I actually started talking to people. It feels so good to have friends There was Ryan, who I knew from the Christmas play I was in; Lea, who was a really cool girl; Kalee, who wouldn't stop talking on her phone or talking about her boyfriend; Kate, who hung out with everyone; and Alex, a kid that was like me, going into this trip without knowing anyone. So we all hung out the rest of the bus trip. We played tag in Wal-Mart. We stuffed ourselves at Waffle House (Why did I eat that second waffle! ). Finally we arrived at the church in New Orleans, set the ground rules, and went to bed.

Day 2:
We got up and had breakfast. We then split up into work teams but didn't get started for a while. Finally we got to go to our work sites. We hung up insolation and stapled plastic sheeting to the studs. We only had a few hours to work, but we worked fast and got all the insolation in and most of the plastic sheeting. All this time, I was wondering where Chris was because I hadn't seen him. Two others and I went back to camp while one of the worship leaders from our church was making a music video. Whenever my church finishes it, I'll put up a link for it. Unforunately, I won't be in it, but oh well. When we got back to camp we ate, and I still didn't know where Chris was. After dinner, we left to go the French Quarter in New Orleans to see a concert by that same worship leader. It was a really awesome concert. After that we went around the city and passed out tracts, and then piled into the bus and headed back for camp. I still didn't know where Chris was, and it was starting to worry me a little. We got back to camp and then went to bed.

Day 3:
When I woke up, the first thing I saw was Chris. I sat up and almost started yelling at the guy. He said that the day before, while the people who weren't in the video were getting ready to go, he sat down on this couch by the house we were working by and fell asleep That's Chris, for you I guess. He said he got back late with the team leaders and missed the bus to the concert. Anyway, after breakfast, we split up into groups again and worked on putting up drywall that day. It seemed like a really short day, as dark came soon and we had to stop and go back to camp. For the next four hours, after dinner, Lea, Ryan, Alex, Kate, and I played a several different card games. We played Spoons (I hate that game! I'm so bad at it!), BS, and a game we called King of the Hill. Ryan kept winning at King of the Hill, and that was getting pretty funny seeing Lea's reactions At midnight, we were told we had to go to bed.

Day 4:
Last workday. I was both excited and bummed. Either way we did the same routine. We split up and headed to the same houses as the day before to continue putting up drywall. At five we left again, because of the dark. Fortunately, we got most of the ceiling done and all of the exterior wall. We got back to camp later and did some cool stuff. The leaders handed out a bucket of these things like drumsticks and there was a bunch of stuff like wheelbarrows and plastic tubs for us to bang on and have fun with that. Eventually a couple of older guys grabbed some acoustic guitars and they played worship songs for a while. Finally, we all went back inside and tried to play cards again, but it just wasn't as much fun, so I just watched the others play. I had the girls (Lea, Kate, and three girls I met later that week, Megan, Rachel, and Adrienne) to the left of me playing BS, while the guys (Ryan, Alex, my friend Stephen, and several others that I can't remember right now) to the right of me were playing King of the Hill. When the girls were done playing I talked with them for a while. It was kind of funny how Lea put my life once, as she said, "You like don't have any friends, do you?" Ahhhhhh. Lea, you made my day

Day 6:
This was one miserable day. We were leaving for home on our bus and all freakin day I was puking. I caught a bug from some kids those couple of days. When you're throwing up, it's bad. When you're throwing up on a crowded bus with no where to go but sit by someone and make them sick, too, it's miserable. That's why I didn't post a blog about my trip Saturday. Everybody kept telling me how bad they felt for me. It was just a really crappy day....

So, yeah. There's my trip, all laid out. I feel better now, and am happy I'm back. If you're still reading this, you're cool. If not, then... bummer, I guess. Thiry minutes of work for no one Anyway, peace and love, everyone. Enjoy New Year's Day!

...before I go to Louisiana. Just in case any of you thought I was going to leave It's been a great Christmas so far. My grandparents, aunt, and great aunt are still out in the living room, so I have to hurry this blog up before my dad comes in and gets mad at me for not spending time with the fam. Anyway, last night we went to my mom's parents house, ate, went to church, and then opened presents. I got three Best Buy gift cards at $15, $20, and $25. I also got a sweet black hoodie with a camo Superman logo on it. I still think Superman's a pansie, though...
   
This morning we opened presents around 10 O'clock. That may have been the first time I've ever slept in on Christmas Anyway I got two pairs of camo shorts, a nice pair of jeans, some sleep pants, Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Curse of the Black Pearl (Which I've watched about half of. It's awesome!), and some weird 24 Countdown game. My mom got it for me because she thought it was some kind of 24 trivia game and that me and my dad liked it. I hate it when she gets me presents like that, because you love the thought, but you don't think you'll use the gift at all, and you're trying not to hurt the person's feelings. But I think she took it OK. I actually wouldn't have minded trying it, but I probably wouldn't have played after that. She said she would take it back if I didn't want it, so I might have a bit more cash in my pocket.
Later my dad's side of the family came over and we opened presents. I got $20 of a Best Buy card from my grandparents, so now I have more than enough to get a PS2 and then Guitar Hero, and maybe if I can get a little bit more, I could get Resident Evil 4, too. We'll have to see how it goes.

Well, anywho, merry Christmas, everybody! I hope you have a great time with all your new gifts. Happy Birthday, Jesus!