Independence Day

July 4th. Independence Day. I love this holiday. It’s bittersweet though.

My grandfather fought in World War II. He loved his country. He never talked about the war. My grandmother told us that he would sometimes wake up at night in a cold sweat. The only time he ever opened up to me about it was right before I moved to Germany. He told me the German people are a great people. He and his fellow soldiers were taught to hate the Germans in the war, but many of them could not.

The Germans they encountered were people beat down by the war. They were starving and penniless. The soldiers were commanded not to give their rations to the German civilians because of the need to keep up their own strength, but my grandfather along with others often gave what they could.

My grandfather was a great man. He died most appropriately on July 4th, 2001. I miss him.

So like my grandfather I’m a patriot of this great country. I don’t always agree with the direction she’s sometimes gone, but I support the ideals and freedoms she stands for. I love my country and this holiday is just a great way to remind myself of that.

I think all people should love whatever country they are citizens of. That doesn’t mean they should always be proud of what they do, but I believe a country is something to be proud of, something we should care for, something we can believe in. Even citizens of oppressed countries should be proud of their country, heritage, and where they come from. And hopefully they are proud enough to try and change things for the better in whatever manner they can. Even Americans. We certainly have enough to be embarrassed about as well as proud of.

I love my country. In fact, I love three countries.

I was born in Germany. My father was in the U.S. Army at the time. I was born with dual-citizenship. I returned and lived in Germany (mostly in the Rhein Valley) from ‘94-’96. I sorely miss it and hopefully will get back to visit some day.

My mother was born and raised in Hiroshima, Japan. She moved to the States to attend college and eventually met my father. I lived in Japan from ‘87-’88. I miss it there as well.

Be proud of who you are and Happy Independence Day! Love you, grandpa.

[Edit: After thinking about Deutschland, I started looking for mid 90s German bands and remembered "Die Prinzen" (The Princes) and found this video. Basically a semi-patriotic, albeit humorous, song about living and dying in Germany.]

And how could I not link our national anthem.

Guild Tags

It’s been a little while, but here’s a new list of guild tags I’ve seen recently on my server that amused me.

<Too Drunk To Raid>

<I Hate My Guild>

<Nerf Us>

<Cow TipperZ>

<Puggin Ugly>

<Train Wreck>

<We mess with the Zohan>

<Testosterpwn>

<Player Not Found>

<Home for Wayward Kitties>

<Social Butterflies> – ironically one of the higher ranked raiding guilds…

Dealing With Burnout

I think I have to face the fact that I’m burned out. Let’s face it, I’ve played this game almost every day for two years and it’s wearing on me. It’s reflective in my posts where I bitch about the game. Don’t get me wrong I still love WoW. I love raiding with my guildies. But there are nights I absolutely dread logging in…

Last night was our Ulduar run. Mach wanted to mix things up and get a few new people in that haven’t been before. I volunteered to sit out as I’m burned out in general. I feel quite selfish actually. Even logging in to my level 6 mage didn’t last longer than 5 boar kills.

But I noticed something last night. I hadn’t logged in to the game for a couple of days and aside from a short time to post a few auctions on Saturday, or maybe Sunday, I hadn’t logged in all weekend either. It felt great. I didn’t dread logging in last night and wouldn’t have minded going to Ulduar either.

What I have been doing is spending time just hanging out with the family and playing another game. I used to be a heavy console gamer. I’ve always liked PC games, but got tired of always having to upgrade my computer every so often. At least with consoles, I was good until the next model came out, which is way cheaper.

Anyway, I think I need more time away from WoW. That isn’t to say I won’t show up for raids, etc. but I think I need to forget about spending so much time going after little achievements, playing the AH, gearing up and leveling alts, and even blogging. So I apologize if my posts start coming fewer and farther between, but I’m running out of ideas. Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere, just taking a few breaks. Three more weeks until my vacation. Woohoo!

Anyway, yesterday was one of the best times I’ve ever had playing Call of Duty on the XBox. I was playing Headquarters in the Station. My team lost by a few points, which normally frustrates me to no end. For a guy that likes a casual and calm approach to WoW, I’m a guy that has to keep his headset muted for CoD. But I wasn’t frustrated by that game last night as I led the way with 92 kills and 33 deaths! Believe you me, I was L.M.A.O. when the game was over and saw my score! I’ve only gotten upwards of 60 kills a couple of times with an average more along the lines of 35-40.

It was a good day.

The Ice Stone Revisited

At least now I know what an Ice Stone is.