Merry Christmas!!!

[Deslock]

From the Deslock family to the entire DSA:.

In this time of blessing and hope, my wife and I wish you all health, wealth, and happiness for the following year. In all these times of stress, hate, and disorder, take some quiet time to reflect about your life. Where you've been, what you've done, and where do you want your life to go for the future.

This is not a about a fake Santa that doesn't exist.

Nor hoping you get that new Ipod/widget you wanted.

This time is "supposed" to be a celebration of the birth and arrival of our Lord and Saviour: Jesus Christ. When everyone is laughing and having fun, just take a small moment to look around, and you'll realize that THIS is what it's all about. Love, fellowship, kindness, and happiness. The very four things Jesus stood for, including forgiveness. Count your blessings. For by tommorrow, they could be gone.

May God bless you all, my dear friends, and give you all the happiness and blessings I know you all deserve. Thank you all for being my friends!!! :D

For by being here, I know that I'm blessed.

Deslock.

Oh, and I hope Santa takes away all your 360s, and replaces them with wonderful PS3s. That way you can be blessed also. ;) Haw haw.

[Master_Ian]

Merry Christmas from Florida! I wanted to make a birthday cake and everyone thought it was a bad idea but i was sincere about it.

[Deslock]

We as a people, have allowed the retailers take over this truly blessed of holidays (Holy Days). It's not about the gifts you get, but rather the happiness you feel when others recieve theirs from you. It's not the gift, but rather the thought and love behind it. It's the smiles, happiness, and love that you feel. In German it's called "Gemutlichkeit", and it's damn near untranslatable in english.

One of my dear friends that's a member here gave me a new pipe. Now you'd have to know me to understand this, but I collect skulls and Grim Reapers. He went out of his way and gave me a pipe carved into a skull. It probably didn't cost him that much, but I've been wanting one for over 30 years, and I couldn't find an affordable one. He also gave me a rather expensive new Airbrush. And I was touched beyond words. It actually choked me up. And if you guys knew what a hard ass I am, You'd be astonished by that. It wasn't the cost involved, but rather all the thought and care behind it that got to me.

As Scripture says, "It's better to give than recieve". We don't do it for what we want, but rather the smiles, and love that we get in return. As I've always said time and time again, Time is the MOST precious gift you can give. I don't want expensive gifts from my family and friends. Sometimes I'd much rather have them be there for me when I need their support, and friendship.

Things I can buy for myself. Sometimes I'd much just rather have their understanding, and friendship. That's the best gift of all. let them truly know that you care about them, and be there for you when they need you, regardless of what a pain in the ass it is at the time.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever said on their deathbed:

I wish I could've spent more time at work!

God bless you all, and God bless the DSA.

Deslock.

[Ditch]

you must have your old job in site. dont let i get you down

[Deslock]

Ditch, it's not that exactly. Since I've come close to death several times, that somewhat changes your personal perspective. I've learned to cherish what's truly important.

It's so easy nowadays in our day to day lives, to lose focus on the "big picture".

Stress, anger, and fear pervades our sense of being.

But I promise you, when you're lying there in the ICU unit of your hospital, you do reconsider your priorities.I will never forget lying there in the hospital emergency room, with my heart literally giving me fits, with sooo many wires hooked up to me, and I matter of factly asked the nurse what my chances were, and if I should make my peace with God. And she looked me dead in the face and said, "Well, it wouldn't hurt."

You don't forget something like that. EVER. :(

When you're lying there, truly wondering if this is now your time to die, you very quickly reorganize your priorities. Nothing more, nothing less. I've gone through this personally three times. When the Doctor comes in and tells you that if this situation doesn't quickly change, that they're going to have to stop your heart, and "try" to restart it again, all of a sudden which gaming system is better is the farthest thing from your mind.

You see all the mistakes you've made and regret them.

You see what truly matters to you. With me, it was my family and friends, and how much I didn't want to leave them without my support.
I remember asking the doctor what would happen if they couldn't get my heart restarted, and he jokingly told me: "Well, if we fail, you won't know about it".

**** like that stays with you forever.

Work was the very farthest thing from my mind.

I remember looking at my Mother's face as she watched me with sensors all over my body, begging her to not forget me, as they rushed me into intensive care. The second time I remember calling her to come over to my house, so at least that way I wouldn't die alone.

The third time I lay there in bed, because I didn't have health care at the time, and was in bed looking in my wife's eyes telling her no matter what, I'd always be by her side. And praying that if my heart did stop, to make it quick. Those kind of hours give you plenty of time to think about what's truly important.

So no Ditch, I'm not depressed, nor sad. I was just trying to give everyone a head's up about what's truly important in this thing we call life.

What you have now, can be taken away in a blink of an eye. So give thanks to God for whom, and what, you have. We are born alone, and we die alone.

What really matters is what people will say about you after you're gone.

Make a difference. Be somebody. Love true and strong. And don't be afraid to tell the people in your life that they are truly important to you.

Deslock.

[Zabka]

Some great points there Deslock and I appreciate you sharing wisdom from experience (with no "Play B3yond" anywhere in there!" --on a side note, the fact that you would adopt any marketing catchphrase is always a bit jarring for me).

There are certainly those in the clan who have faced illness, death, etc--and many more who haven't. If you don't mind, I'd like to append a couple of thoughts onto yours.

First is the observation that you are consistent in the message above with prior posts. It doesn't matter if it is Christmas, Arbor day or May 14. You espouse the same lessons. That shows the conviction of your thoughts. But it also points out that for some reason, many people only consider this type of wisdom during the holidays. In truth, recognizing what is truly important should be done on a weekly if not daily basis, not annually. It's the one thing I wish the whole world (including myself) had more of--perspective. Perspective from introspection as well as observation of the world. Reading about assassinations of foreign leaders today, thinking about the upcoming elections, seeing the economy slowly sinking into recession---it just reminds me that we all need to maintain perspective to make our way through this life.

Deslock, I am glad that you saw my post in the Lucas Arts forums years ago about joining DSA. We may not game together at all these days, but your wisdom and honesty really make this community fuller as a result.

Jobs may suck, relationships may suck, RRoD may suck....but people always should remember that there is always plenty to be thankful for--if they are willing to see it.

[Ditch]

I have always believed people are more important than anything and to me my wife and daughter are the most important and my best friends,

[AndyPants]

I want to hang tinsel on all the words here...

[Deslock]

Some great points there Deslock and I appreciate you sharing wisdom from experience (with no "Play B3yond" anywhere in there!" --on a side note, the fact that you would adopt any marketing catchphrase is always a bit jarring for me).

Thank you Zabka, I appreciate it. The whole "play B3yond" is just good natured ribbing for you guys, nothing more, nothing less. Unfortunetly the web can't show good natured fun, or sarcasm, or that it's just a nice way to pick on people you care about, so it makes it very easy for people to misunderstand your true meaning.

There are certainly those in the clan who have faced illness, death, etc--and many more who haven't. If you don't mind, I'd like to append a couple of thoughts onto yours.

That I do not doubt, I was only meaning to share my own personal perspective. Because of what I went through, that doesn't mean I was trying to degrade anything else some here may have been though also.

First is the observation that you are consistent in the message above with prior posts. It doesn't matter if it is Christmas, Arbor day or May 14. You espouse the same lessons. That shows the conviction of your thoughts. But it also points out that for some reason, many people only consider this type of wisdom during the holidays. In truth, recognizing what is truly important should be done on a weekly if not daily basis, not annually. It's the one thing I wish the whole world (including myself) had more of--perspective. Perspective from introspection as well as observation of the world. Reading about assassinations of foreign leaders today, thinking about the upcoming elections, seeing the economy slowly sinking into recession---it just reminds me that we all need to maintain perspective to make our way through this life.

Zabka, what I posted is what I believe for every day in my life, not just Holidays, just as you posted. With life being so horrible today, it's SOOOO easy to get caught up in day to day events. You've had a bad day at work, the kids have been raising Hell and wrecked the house, you're worried about the bills that are due, and if your car breaks down, can you afford a new one?. That's a mind killer, that we ALL go through.

But stop for a moment to think, if your doctor called you in and told you you had cancer, or HIV, would you give a damn if your X-box had the RROD?

Oh HELL no!

When I worked at another store, a fellow manager went away on vacation.
When he and his wife returned home, he returned to a house that had completely burned down to the ground. Talk about a horrible suprise!!!

But what touched me when I was talking to him about it, that how horrible it was that he had literally lost everything, and now had to start over from scratch, what he said to me stunned me. He told me what was truly the most important to me. He looked me right in the eye and told me this:

"I really don't care that I lost everything I own. What hurts me the most was the 4 pets I had in the house. I don't give a damn about what I lost, but the thoughts that my poor dogs and cats burned to death haunts me. God only knows what they went through."

That gave me my first "reality" check.

Deslock, I am glad that you saw my post in the Lucas Arts forums years ago about joining DSA. We may not game together at all these days, but your wisdom and honesty really make this community fuller as a result.

Thank you Zabka for posting what you did. The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways. Everything happens for a reason. We may not understand it at the time, but over time we do notice a pattern. I don't know if I'm wise, but I truly do try to be honest. I just try and share what I've learned over time. Hindsight is always 20/20. I saw your post and even though I enjoyed being a "well known freelancer", I decided to give this "new" clan a chance. Because it stood for everthing I believe in. Fair play, honesty, fellowship, and friendship. I knew from the first practice I went through, that the DSA was the "right" place for me after all.

Yes, we've gone through many players, but the core ideals stay the same. And that's thanks to RaTix, and the High Council standing by him and what he stands for. Take a moment and look at exactly how many Clans have come and gone, and think for a moment why the DSA is still here, and growing better than ever. The truth speaks for itself.

Jobs may suck, relationships may suck, RRoD may suck....but people always should remember that there is always plenty to be thankful for--if they are willing to see it.

Truer words have never been spoken.

I think what you guys don't realize is that I'm a "consumer rights activist". I don't really care about which system is "better". It's just in my personal perspective, that with the X-Box, you're being ripped off. Badly. If you sat there and saw your friends being taken advantage of, you'd get pissed off. Not because of what brand they bought, but rather that you care about them, and don't want to see them get "used" like that.

Imagine if you had friends that told you that they love their new car, even though it keeps breaking down. And so you tell them, if it's so great, why does it break down so much? And they tell you :

Well, you just hate the brand name! You're fanboi!!, and besides, they fix it for free.

It's not that I hate the X-Box soo much, it's just that I hate seeing you guys getting ripped off. It's not because I don't like Microsoft, but rather that I really do care about you guys. And I DO NOT like seeing people I care about being hurt!, that and having this issue costing soo much money in the long run.

So I say in this closing. God bless you all. I really don't have any animosity to anyone here that has an X-box. I just miss the fellowship that we used to have in the past, and that's probably a factor too.

Des.