The facts are in

Well, I guess I can count on two things by evidence in Samara's post:
a: I'll never be as good with a CS knife & I will always remember my humiliation at the edge of her blade.
b: She'll always be a better writer than I.

I've always been quite impressed with the way Samara is able to put thought and emotion down on paper. Samara has not met much of my family yet, but I will say this is one gift that seems to flow for many in our tree. My Grandmother had a way with words that was passed onto my mom, aunt and uncle, and for each the gift is used in different ways. Now further yet, in the form of poetry, my cousin Catherine will conduct a symphony of words with seemingly little effort. I wish that were true for me however writing is my Goliath, my thorn. It is an adversary I go into battle with each and every time I put pen to paper. People like my Grandmother, Catherine, & Samara are like David, that go into battle needing very little to conquer a monumental task. Their words are like simple, smooth stones that crush with impact and purpose, while simultaneously creating peace and understanding. It is an art I appreciate and see. A picture may be worth thousand words. But the pictures their words create for me are priceless.

written by: kyle

Well...I suppose it's my turn?

I am still laughing at Kyle's post about how we met. Here is my side of the story: To say we met in an unconventional way would be a huge understatement. You see, I had this love/hate relationship with a game called Counterstrike. I can thank my brother for showing me the game that would ultimately lead me to the love of my life.

In the game, I had just learned this new way of "knifing" players in Counterstrike (which is pretty humiliating) and thought I would try it out on this cocky guy named "sik" that I had seen around on the servers I played on regularly. So we were the last two alive in the round and I managed to knife him into oblivion. He thought it was a fluke and came back for more the next round. Time and again he would lose to me and my trusty blade. I could tell he was getting mad and the last I heard from him that day was a rather rude reference to women, knives and staying in the kitchen. I about fell out of my chair laughing, but somehow I knew wherever he was in the world he must have been just livid that a chick with a pixel knife worked him over good.

Days passed and I didn't see him around again, but I had previously made friends with some people that he knew and we played together regularly. I joined their teamspeak channel (A place where people playing games together can chat during the game using a mic/headset). and "sik" pops in. He doesn't say much and I don't have anything to say to him either. I carried on as usual just having fun with whomever was in the channel at the time, until he finally put two and two together and I get a message in the game typed: "Sorry for the kitchen comment thing - that was out of line". I think to myself: I can respect someone that apologizes. Because you see; in this game, the masses are mostly made up of adolescent boys or men who act like adolescents. The last thing you would expect to hear is an apology from anyone! So that was the ice breaker. We became friends quickly because we found that we had ALOT in common - aside from Counterstrike even (haha).

Kyle and I talked alot online over the period of a year or so. My life at the time was riddled with challenges, obstacles and depression (which many never knew about). He was a friend who never judged me and always gave me something to be optimistic about - most importantly he showed me how important it was to lean on my faith in God.

Kyle is a very special person and for me to try and explain how wonderful he is in just one paragraph would never do him justice. He has helped make me stronger, happier, and more confident than I have ever been in my life. I give my eternal thanks to God for him.

Today, it's been over 2 years since Kyle moved to California to be closer to me and when I look back on the past I regret none of it. I am thankful today for the hardships we faced and the challenges we overcame - both of which made us stronger together.

Written by Samara.

In Every Great Story there must be a Beginning

In Every Great Story there must be a Beginning... here is mine... how I met Samara.

Spending early childhood in the 80's had some great advantages from a young male point of view. These advantages were Atari, Nintendo, Sega, & Neo-Geo. Video Games. Yep the make-up of my brain was left right left right up up down down a b a b select start (a cheat code for some of you that were not blessed with NES or the game Contra). I enjoyed all sorts of games growing up. Focusing more on the sports genre titles as I got into High School. I know what you may be thinking about now, "I thought we were reading about how you met the love of your life?", and believe me - you are. No the love of my life isn't a video game named Samara, but interestingly enough Samara too loved liked Video games.

In 2000 I lived in Texas (Garden Valley) and a friend of mine showed me a video game called Half-Life. It's a game he played after work on occasion and did so using his computer. Once I got my hands on this game we were immediately planning all sorts of parties and strategy involving this game. This game changed my life - probably cutting it in Half by playing it all the time... convinced Valve gaming had accurately named the title. By 2001 I was good and getting better each weekend. Over the next few years I moved from TX back home to WI then onto AZ with a longtime friend growing up. He too was a 'gamer' but more casual, more disciplined to real life responsibilities. Often times he challenged me to 'grow-up', not with words but with his actions. At times I played follow-the-leader, doing other things with my time, but I consistently would find myself in a competition of some sort proving my skill on the virtual battlefield. This virtual battlefield over the years took new forms and developed new identities and is now known as Counter-Strike: Source. Some may know what I'm talking about, as it's now one of the best known Multi-player 'shooter' games available worldwide. I played against anyone that challenged, often times getting anyone to fill out the other 4 spots on the team. I was that confident in my 'skill' it didn't matter who was on my team... I'd win often times on my own. I didn't always play that way though, my official team was assembled from equally skilled men all over the U.S. - and we loved waging war in the virtual arena.

Late in 2003 I began playing on random servers (places online in which games were being played), trying to learn little things from every opponent. This is when one player really caught my eye... Aly. Aly was a 'gamer' for sure, but a girl gamer more importantly. She hung in there too. Rarely intimidated. So I made it a goal to 'shut her down' and show the skillz I'd developed over the years. Now is a good time to laugh. Please get it out of your system now. Because she made a complete fool of me in about 2 seconds. All gamers with experience in CS know the most humiliating thing to have happen while playing is to be "knifed". Let me explain... the knife is the most crude weapon in the game, the 'last resort', and can be difficult to use. It's difficulty is not because of game complexity, it's quite simple really... you're charging at your enemy with a knife and everyone else has guns, Big guns, the odds are you'll be shot and killed before you reach the enemy. Not Aly (Samara), she knew just when and where to pop out and shank me. Always. Perfect almost every time. It was in that frustration that urged me to talk to her more. Initially, because I needed to know her secret. But as we talked the game was less and less important, I had found someone I could talk to on a normal, real life level.

The End of the Beginning.... Stay tuned for more. (How the love of my life, Changed my life)

Written by: Kyle Hart