Tuesday, November 12, 2013

My Time in Beyblade: Part 1.

My time in Beyblade: Part 1. As most of you know or should know, I’m an avid fan of the game Beyblade. I help run tournament for the World Beyblade Organization. It’s been a big part of my life since 2010. Some people have asked me why I Beyblade and why I’m so avid about it. Well here’s the story; Back in August of 2010, my ex fiancĂ©e and I broke up. Long story short it didn’t work out between us. After that I was severely depressed. I found the WBO a month or so after she left. Little did I know how much that was going to change my life. I found out they had tournaments, with no age limits. And if you grew up in the plastic/HMS era you know how big that was. But there were no tournaments around me. So I took this time to learn about the game and make friends online. Fast forward to May 2011, Deikailo came to North Carolina with Shippudenface and TheProblem. She hosted the first NC Beyblade tournament. I won that tournament. And that began my career as a Tournament organizer. I had a few tournaments where I didn’t run them so well. But at these tournaments I met Ziro, Hitsugiya, Defstamina88, & Axel Phantom. All people I still call my friends. We started having tournaments at Tier Zero Gaming on a regular basis. That’s where I met Primus & Stormscorpio1. People I count as close friends even today. Fast forward to January 2012, I made the decision I wanted to travel to Toronto Ontario Canada for Anime North and Beyblade Crusade 2. My parents greeted it with mixed emotions. But they gave me their blessings. I started saving up for it. In March I purchased my tickets for the event. Ziro and his mom decided to accompany me to Toronto. Toronto was an experience in itself. That’s a whole other blog. But the trip changed me for the better. It was amazing. And ultimately I ended up winning Beyblade Crusade 2. And that’s when things started to change… Part 2 will be up in a day or two… Howard Howell Dark_Mousy

Monday, November 11, 2013

Another Year, Another Day

Yes I know it’s been a really long time since I blogged, but you know what? I know hah. Anyway lets get started. I feel more blogs coming on in the coming weeks. This will be my way of venting and being a ministry. And it'll have some of my random thoughts. I know I’ll be doing one on self-harm much sooner than later since it’s something that I dealt with and still do to an extent. Now this blog is about my birthday coming up. I'll be 25 on November 18th. But until just a few days ago I felt like "Crap I'm getting old", but now I really don't feel that way. I look at it as a way of saying to the students and friends that "Hey I’ve been there and I made it” Now I'm not going to go all into the stuff I’ve been through in this blog. That will be another topic completely. But I want my life and the things I’ve been through to be a testimony that things get better. Now I look at where I was this time last year; this time last year I wasn't a WSYM Volunteer, I was the quiet weird kid, not involved in church half as much as I am now. I was depressed and feeling crazy this time last year. Now; I'm a WSYM Volunteer, involved in various ministries at Goldsboro Worship Center and Bethel Church, more outgoing, and doing so much more than I thought I ever could. I can say God put me in a unique position over the last year. Oh and another thing is God has given me the opportunity to teach Small Groups/Life Groups at both churches on a few occasions. That is truly awesome. And potentially the biggest thing is the WSYM Community Center. I now help with that. That is by far one of my favorite activities. I love helping students with their homework and investing time with them. And I wouldn't have it any other way. And I’ll go into more detail about the transition I went through in church in a future blog. I can say I'm so glad my Pastor at GWC and at Bethel Church are close friends. They both have no problem with me serving at both churches. At some churches if someone helped out at two churches they're called a "Church Hopper". Glad I don't have that problem. And really it’s not just about serving at GWC or at Bethel Church; it’s about serving in THE CHURCH, the church of Christ. That’s what I love about my churches so much. They are so involved in the community and love people. And that’s another big thing I will blog on, Loving people. Just briefly saying, Jesus loved everyone. We should too whether they are the “typical Church” kid or the outcast. And outcast covers quite a bit but I’ll cover that later this week. I feel like I could go on a tangent about this. And the other big thing is my life in Beyblade. Currently ranked #12 in the world and I have the second most battles in the World Beyblade Organization. I’ll do an entire blog on this one. But this time last year the Beypoint que was frozen and no events had been processed in a while. Now, que is up to date and there is a new leader board. I’ll have more in a blog on all this at a later date. IN the past year I can say God has saved my life and put new friends and old friends back in my life. And I'm so thankful for that. I look forward to another year, & another day. Now I feel like I’ve gone on a random thoughts tangent. L went all the way from God to Beyblade In a single blog, wow. But that concludes this blog. Feel free to ask anything, I’ll answer it. Or if you have suggestions post them. And on that note, stay pro. Howard Howell Dark_Mousy