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HG was such a vibe ngl any csgo HG players that used to play jailbreak comment up i wanta see who still thinks about these days.
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revive HG... revamp rules, start a squad server. get a community discord going, make it a hangout spot and let the casuals come.
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i have no experience at all with any of it. whoever is still around in leadership and of course you would like to get in discord and think of a "new" HG i would for sure sit in on it and give input. we have the foundation and the name, times are changed with communities imo but i think its more than possible to have a gamer friendly discord/website where people come around and play games together. tarkov, league, etc... everything just needs to be appealing. i see games like squad, foxhole, and hell let loose be REALLY good with getting returning and a loyal crowd.
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Ramblings with DoZY: My Music Journey
Over the years, I've noticed my relationship with music changed a lot. I know that's like saying a square is your favorite type of box, but I want to give my take on my own perception of music and how it has changed me as a person.
Understanding Music (from the perspective of a toddler)
From birth (Yes, I am going that far back), I really just listened to what my parents liked to listen to at the time, as well as what was on the radio. I don't remember a lot of it because I didn't pay attention much to music at the time. All I do remember is mainly pop hits of the 2000s that would play in the background while my mind was elsewhere. Toddlers have their own ways of entertaining themselves, and music wasn't one of those ways for me. I mainly just made art and used my imagination to make infinite scenarios in my head that, to me, was so much more entertaining than listening to an MP3 of Linkin Park on my dad's desktop computer. To my understanding, music was just another medium, and was completely inferior to movies, TV shows, and my own imagination.
Understanding Music (as a human with a developed frontal lobe)
As I grew older and my synapses connected, I began to understand music more. I found out music was much more than background noise I would use so I wouldn't draw my art in pure silence. I began to grow a liking to listening to music as its own unique form of entertainment. Since I was still a kid, I didn't listen to music as a sophisticated art form. I listened to stuff that made me feel good. I listened to music like this for practically all of my elementary school years. My earliest memories of me genuinely enjoying music on its own was, ironically, Linkin Park. Specifically the (at the time) new album, One More Light. In retrospect, it's easily the worst Linkin Park album in my opinion, but I was still listening to music just for enjoyment. One More Light was in that lane of pop tunes that made me feel good on my way to school. During my drum lessons and my mom's music tastes, I would be introduced to bands like Weezer and Gorillaz, which introduced me to the concept of a band. Yes, really. I thought Linkin Park was one dude before I found out the idea that multiple people could play music, specifically rock, in a group. My dad once recalled me saying that Chester Bennington was the greatest artist ever. But as my days in elementary school ended, my entire perception of music changed.
Listening to Music as an Art Form
By the time I reached middle school, I became a music freak. I tried learning as much as I could about bands, and I collected music like the world was about to end and I needed a perfect soundtrack for it. I'm still not quite sure why, but my first guess would be on a few key groups that would turn me into a music loving geek. The first band I truly got into was Queen. I was introduced to them by my mom and her playing me Bohemian Rhapsody. I could not believe that music could even sound like that. I was so accustomed to modern music that my little mind melted when I first heard the three part epic (in a good way of course). From the panning at the beginning, to the admittedly goofy "Galileo" part, to the heavy and and bombastic ending climax, everything about it changed my view on what music could really be. I then was introduced to other Queen hits, like Another Bites the Dust (which I played in a music competition held by the place I took drumming lessons), We Are the Champions, Don't Stop Me Now which was my favorite Queen song until I listened to Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (and because of watching Shawn of the Dead, so now I can never listen to the song without thinking about hitting zombies with a pool cue), and Under Pressure which would introduce me to David Bowie, but I wouldn't really get to know him until much later. Queen is still a very special band to me, and without them my journey into becoming a professional music listener would've most likely started way later.
Don't You Know That You're Toxic?
During my obsession with finding music, I delved into more "quirky music". Music that made me feel like I'm superior to others since it wasn't the latest rappers. You can't spell crap without rap after all! Lemon Demon and meme music became my musical taste. While all the other kids were listening to mind numbing pop music, I was listening to sophisticated music like The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, a-ha (but only Take On Me), and Panic! At the Disco. One band I was a pretty big fan of was CAKE, who I was introduced to by, once again, my mother. I still listen to them from time to time since they are a very good band. Where Would I Be? is my favorite song from them. At this point, I became pretty toxic when it came to music. If I caught someone listening to a genre I thought was for low-IQ jackasses, I would give them a funny look and keep them on a mental register. Looking back, it's really embarrassing to see myself act like that. Especially since I listened to music that would be considered "mainstream", the same branding I used for music I didn't like. I acted like I was a professional music critic. Only knowing the best music that was reserved for intelligent ears only (while I also listened to a song about two trucks having sex). For most of middle school, I was like that. I listened to quirky music and I scorned anyone that didn't. I also got big into Vocaloid for a bit but I'm not getting into that.
Tidbit: Queer Awakening
Admittedly, it is a bit crazy to go from me being a pretentious dickhead to going straight to the beginning of my entire journey of my queer identity, but it does somewhat coincide with my music tastes. I'm not saying that music that I listened to made me like men (even if I do like the joke that it did). There's just specfic music that I discovered and listened to during this time of my life that remind me of those feelings that I had early on. Mr. Brightside by The Killers is a song that immediately springs into my head (as well as Somebody Told Me but not as much since I knew about the song before this). It's a song that I instantly relate with my feelings, mostly because of the lyrical content and the overall vibe of it. While I know the song's meaning doesn't relate to queerness, I do sometimes view it as such, mostly because of my attachment of it to this part of my life. The vibe of the song to me was filled with angst, and I was very angsty at the time. Combined with the lyrical interpretation, this song quickly became an anthem for me. A song that is more easy to understand is Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen (they're back!). This is my favorite Queen song not just because of the sound of it, but because of my connection to it. It was basically a song of my fantasies that I was really confused about. Just being with a boy romantically. I used to imagine myself dancing to this song with an old crush I used to have that I kind of didn't realize was a crush until this period. Doing the tango described in the song. While this period didn't really affect my overall outlook on music, it still is deeply important to me for reasons other than music. It did give me my favorite Queen song though, so that might be the most important thing to come out of this.
Overcoming Toxicity and Doing Deer Dances
Time to move on from the tidbit that is longer than all of the actual sections before it. As I going into high school, my music tastes would quickly change. I stopped listening to my quirky tunes and started listening to some REAL and HEAVY music. From the beginning of 8th grade to the transition to freshman year of high school, I started getting really big into MCR and other acts of the same lot (this was during my gay angst phase). I had a darkness within me, and nobody understood me...Probably because nobody took me seriously. But this was indeed just a phase, as I soon found the perfect combo of the heaviness I was listening to and the quirkiness of my past music tastes. I became a HUGE System of a Down fan. It really did come full circle. I started off with Linkin Park and now I was at System. Weird how the world works, huh. I was aware of Chop Suey before I started raving over them, but it was hearing Violent Pornography that got my truly introduced to them (which would definitely not be my default song to show someone who wants to get into SOAD). I went on a spiral of listening to every single track made by the band, and soon I was blasting them daily. It was the first band I can remember that I truly was a super fan in. I would maybe count CAKE or Queen as being my first but I wasn't completely obsessed with them as I was with SOAD. They were the first band I really did a dive into their discography instead of just listening to the big hits. Unfortunately, I still was a bit smug during this era so I thought me liking metal now was a sign of superiority. "You like generic pop music? Well, I like real music that you probably don't even know about! It would probably hurt your ears because you're too used to soft baby 'music' made for people who can't handle heavy songs with thought put into them!" This is probably something I would've said. It is a bit of a stereotype for metalheads to be a bit pretentious about their favorite genre of metal, even to other metalheads. While I was once of those pretentious metalheads for a short while, something changed in me. I began to look at other musicians and their music, even rap and hip-hop artists which I had previously lambasted, and discovered something pretty obvious. While some of this music clearly isn't for me, they all have their own talents and skills that make them appealing to others. Maybe people want to listen to music like I did as a kid: just for pure enjoyment. Even though that sounds like a diss against them I would've seen it as that, I didn't anymore. I saw that some people flat out didn't want to listen to music because of its artistry and/or as an art form. They listened to music because it made them feel good. Sometimes I wished I could do that. Instead of my brain now being fine tuned to look at the artistry and emotion in a piece of music, I could just go back to listening to JAMS to JAM. It finally clicked. I still wouldn't listen to music like they did, but at the very least I could expand my horizons to the vast world of music. And so that's what I did.
Tear Down the Wall
While I still consider myself a metalhead, I'm no longer as crazed about it as I used to be. I'm definitely no longer a SOAD mega fan since I don't listen to them much anymore (I do still enjoy them from time to time). I moved on to other genres of metal. I got big into djent and progressive metal. Meshuggah, Gojira, Animals as Leaders, and Vildhjarta (THALL) are currently some of my favorite metal bands. I also dabbled in black metal. Gorgoroth is another favorite. Deafheaven has to be my current favorite metal band though. Though black metal purists will call it "not trve kvlt", I really don't give a shit. the combination of black metal and shoegaze is absolutely euphoric to me. Going back to the reason why I'm not longer as big as a metalhead as I used to be is because of my expansion of my musical horizons. The band I've been crazed about for an incredibly long time at this point would be Radiohead, the funny Creep band. While they aren't quite there, they are pretty damn close to capturing the same feeling I got when I first listened to Bohemian Rhapsody. They craft such gorgeous songs that I genuinely cannot describe or even begin to put into words. Kid A is, at least for right now, probably my favorite album of all time. It speaks so deeply to me. Another band I love is Pink Floyd. While that isn't a groundbreaking statement, you still cannot deny they are incredible. I mean, I named this section after them for Christ's sake. The Wall is another album that is up there in my top albums with other albums by Pink Floyd (One of them is about a moon or something. I don't know). And as I foreshadowed way back, I got into David Bowie as well. I also relapsed on my quirky music enjoyment. I got big into Will Wood (which was another big obsession of mine), and got back into Lemon Demon as of late. My greater research on different artists and bands also gave me a wider look on music. Finally, I can say that I caved in and started enjoying and listening to hip-hop. Younger me would murder me.
Final Statements
I'm not sure if there's any real takeaway from this hasty description of my history with music listening. This was really just an impulsive thing I did since I couldn't sleep. I guess if there is any takeaway from this, I would say that it is to enjoy music how you want to enjoy it. If you want to listen to music for deep insight on the human consciousness, do it. If you want to listen to music because it makes you feel good and you can party to it, do it. No one way of listening to music is the definitive or correct way. Also, don't impose your ideas of music onto others. Don't judge people for what they listen to or how they do it. People like what they like and that's final. Plain and simple. If you are so hellbent on getting people to stop listening to the music they like because it's "not real music" in your eyes, then you are going against the whole experience of music. Music is supposed to be enjoyable for everyone, no matter what it is. Let people enjoy things, asshole. That's really all. I hope you enjoyed this little story about this specific part of my life. I'll see next time, if there is a next time.
P.S. Make sure to iron your clothes. I've seen way too many people with crinkly clothing and it makes me mad.
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man oh man has HG changed, been awhile since I was last here or even on Steam. I went through my Steam friend list and everyone that had HG tags are all gone except one person: imason.