Like them or not, they're talented!

My little brother has succeeded in corrupting me further when he introduced me to Avenged Sevenfold. The first I heard from these young men was Bat Country from their City of Evil album that was released back in 2005. My first impression was that it was a pretty catchy tune, but I didn't expect to hear much more from these guys in the future.

When my little brother decided to pursue playing the guitar around the same time, he was doing really well and had been learning Avenged Sevenfold songs to show off when I came home from college. On our Denver trip earlier this year, him and I decided to play the listening-to-each-others-cd game and he, of course, chose their self-titled album which had come out last year. The point of this story is...

I really like them.

Not everyone will feel the same way, I realize this. But the thing you have to admit, at least, is that they are pretty talented. Synyster Gates (the lead guitarist) has turned out to be quite the powerhouse when it comes to his creative and fast moving solos. M. Shadows is a pretty talented singer, and aside from the occasional screaming in their music, he has some great range and does things with his voice that I didn't expect with this type of band. They are all pretty talented, and I'm just ... impressed.

Now, album music is all fine and good, Felicia. But do you expect us to believe that these guys can actually play live and sound good? Good question. I was sceptical myself. They are pretty darn good live, people. I mean, singing is hard. Especially if you have to sing loud like these guys. Shadows belts it like there's no tomorrow, to be completely honest. And the other guys sing too, so that means there are beautiful harmonies on the album and live. If you know me, you know I love harmonies. They make my heart happy and give me warm fuzzies.

Moral of this story is: like them (the type of music they play, them personally, etc.) or not, these boys are talented! Period. And I just want to thank my little brother for keeping his older sister up-to-date with what the kiddies are listening to these days. Keep in mind, he is 6 years younger than me. I would highly recommend going to youtube and listening to this band, especially Almost Easy, which has a really cool harmony in the bridge.

Tchussy!

a rough draft of a possible story?

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kate?"

"Yeah, who is this?"

"It's Michael. How are you doin'?"

"M-Michael? Wow... I'm good. H-How are you?"

"I'm great, Kate. Listen, I'm moving back to town here in a few days. I was wondering if you might be able to meet somewhere and catch up tonight."

"Oh, sure! Moving back to good ole Franklin, huh? I mean, that sounds great. What did you have in mind?"

"Well, how about we meet at the coffee shop and go from there?"

"That sounds wonderful," Wonderful? Really?! "Uh, what time did you want to meet?"

I could hear that smile in his voice, "How does 6:30 sound? Then we can grab a bite too."

"That sounds great. I'll see you then, Michael."

"Okay, see ya."

Click. In the course of the phone call, I had managed to open every piece of mail on the table. Catching my breath, I began to calm down and absorb who had just called me. Michael. Michael Boyle. I caught the smile on my face in the mirror in the bathroom and quickly removed it while inspecting my appearance. My color was looking a little better, now that the days were getting longer. I had been getting more sun and didn't look quite as pasty. Lack of sleep the last few nights hadn't helped the hint of grayness beneath my eyes, but that was nothing a little makeup couldn't fix.

Oh, who am I kidding? I haven't had a decent nights sleep for years! How can I show my face with Michael...he can see right through my facade.

Remembering back, I could recall every conversation we'd had on the back of his old green Ford pickup. Every crush that had been discussed, every evil teacher out to get us. I had shared everything with Michael. He was my best friend. But I would never have admitted that my heart jumped at the sound of his voice. Or the fact that no one had been able to understand me like he had. Admitting those things would be risking the perfect relationship I'd had with him, and that was not something I was prepared to do. We'd both been interested in history, but differed in my musical endeavors and his defensive spot on the varsity soccer team. After graduation, we had headed off in different directions and continued emailing and calling for weekly updates. Weekly updates changed to monthly, monthly turned to once a semester, and then stopped altogether. There was no "falling out" or disagreement. It was just understood that we were busy and that we would catch up "next week". By the time Ambrose and I had decided on a date to be married, he had moved out of his dorms and his parents said he had moved in with a girlfriend. Not wanting to interrupt, I had just sent his parents an invite, assuming they would inform him, and called it good. Now, after six years of nothing, Michael had tracked down my number to drop back into my life again.

Let's move forward!

"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that." -- Sen. John McCain

--
He may not have won, but I was very impressed with his concession speech. It was very eloquent and humble. I have been pretty disappointed in some of my acquaintances these past few days; disappointed in their reactions to the election, disappointed in the hateful remarks I've heard, and disappointed in their inability to act as the United citizens our forefathers dreamed we'd be. I hope and pray that the Lord will help us move on and work towards a better America. We are so lucky to live here and enjoy the freedoms we have.