An Essay for English

Taken for Granted

“Hey Taylor, come upstairs! Your dad bought you a bike!” I did not go upstairs. Instead, I continued to play with my videogame, unconcerned that my father had bought me a new bike. At the time, I guess the game was much more interesting than any bike my father could have bought for me; however, looking back on that now, I can never really grasp as to why I was so unthankful of my dad. He was possibly the greatest man I had ever come to know, and yet I was completely unaware. Maybe it was because I was a child, or maybe I just took things for granted. Either way, I will never be able to thank him now. After struggling for two years against colon cancer, my father passed away. I was only nine.
My father grew up in Tennessee, and had one other sister. After high school, he went to collage to become a doctor. Using his medical training, he joined the Air Force and went to Vietnam. He never saw combat, but he did spend his time saving lives and tending to the wounded on several bases. I guess he wanted to join the Air Force because his father, my grandfather, was an officer within the military during WWII. After Vietnam, my dad began a private practice within the medical world working as a hand and bone surgeon. He was married for sometime and had two daughters and a son, but later divorced. Then, sometime after that, he met my mother.
I was born on December 4, 1990, into a loving family, and was the youngest child, having four sisters and one brother much older than me. They were actually my half siblings, although it never seemed that way. Since my siblings were far older then me, some of them were already starting families of their own. Due to this, when we traveled, it was usually just my mother, my father, and myself. We would travel to my grandmother’s house in Tennessee every other weekend to visit, and we would also visit my father’s sister who had a brain tumor. After a few years, my grandmother became too old to be able to take care of herself, so my dad brought her back to Kansas with us. Sadly, a little while after bringing my grandmother back to Kansas, she died of old age, and a year after that, my aunt died of her illness. At that point, I had a slight grasp on the concept of death due to my grandmother and aunt both passing away; however, when my dad became ill, I had no idea that death was a possibility. Perhaps I was just too young to make the connection that my father was fighting a dangerous battle against a deadly disease.
When my father passed away, it left me in shock. He was the first person I had ever watched die, and being nine and it being my father, it hit me pretty hard. I remember I walked outside and sat down on the driveway as my neighbor rode up on his bike. I guess he could tell something was wrong because he asked if I was okay, and when I simply said, “My dad just died.” He just stood there, unable to say anything. Eight years later, and I can still feel the pain from that day. It affected me tremendously throughout my whole life, causing depression, anxiety, insomnia, and a strewn of other problems too. But I was not the only one affected by his death. Among my family, my mother was also hit really hard, understandably so. She had found her soul mate after years of searching, only to lose him years later to cancer.
Looking back, I wish I wouldn’t have taken things for granted. Knowing now how easy life can be taken away, I’ve developed a better sense of life overall. But still, I will always regret not playing catch when I could have, I will always regret not thanking him for when he gave me something I did not even ask for, and I will always regret for not spending as much time with him as I could have. However, my respect for my mother has grown over the years simply because of her willpower and strength to continue on despite what has happened, and to always lend me a helping hand throughout all of my problems. I cannot even begin to thank her enough for everything she has done for me. Without my mother, I would have given up a long time ago. Finally, although I may still have my own issues and problems, I’ve come to realize that life should not be taken for granted. From now on, I will always cherish and appreciate the loved ones around me, I will never take anything for granted, I will try to enjoy every day as much as possible, and I will live every day like it is my last, because you never know when your time might be up.







I don't like the end so much, seeing as how I make it seem like I'm happy or something, because that's far from the truth. It really only got worse after my dads passing; more people died, even some good friends, I was bullied a lot, life just really sucks sometimes.

Well, I'm back.

Hm, I probably wouldn't have ever come back to this blog if it wasn't for WoWWiki linking to it ( http://www.wowwiki.com/The_Legend_of_Stalvan ). I'm actually quite surprised. I had no idea The Legend of Stalvan did that well to be considered an accurate account of the Stalvan quest chain. Don't get me wrong, the movie had many flaws, but I am very happy about this. I dunno, maybe it's the fact that I've been given some recognition for doing something right. I don't get that a lot, so, it feels pretty good..

Anyway, I've been out of it for quite some time, and for that, I apologize. I'm just very... lazy. I do things at the last minute, or I don't really do them at all, and since I have no real push to make Machinima, I just procrastinate and say I'll do it later. It's a very bad habit that I wish to break, because if I do, I have some great Machinima planned. Perhaps I've planned to much and I'll let people down. If that does indeed happen, that I apologize wholeheartedly. I really do enjoy the fact that I have fans that love my movies. It makes me feel accomplished to know that someone is watching my movies, and having some sort of reaction.

However, for people who are unaware that I've made movies besides The Legend of Stalvan, here are a few:



Manor Mistmantle was a failed project. It had some cool effects and shots, but it fell short on everything else. The story was ill explained, and the main character did things that just did not make any sense. Also, the voice acting was sub-par. Apparently, I sounded like Keanu Reeves.


Elves was a movie that I just had to get off my chest. The idea was constantly on my mind, so I made it just to get the picture of nearly nude elves out of my head. And thus, Elves was/were born. Despite the many anti-gay comments of people who obviously missed the point, I think the movie did well.


A Cry for Player Housing, an oldie but goodie. I made this randomly one day when I walked into a house in Ironforge to find two people cybering on the bed. I quickly began to tell everyone in Vent, and someone said I should turn it into a movie. So, I did.


Video Log 1 shows to of my old works in progress, The Messenger & Vengeance, which will most likely be scrapped and remade. I suggest skipping to 2:22 to start watching the two movies so you can avoid listening to my pointless ramble. - I would love to keep The Messenger, but due to a bad render and a dead computer, it's not looking up. I'll just remake it. Won't be to difficult... if I ever get around to it.

As you can see, I like making Machinima. I don't know why, but to me, it's awesome. I guess I just enjoy full control. However, Machinima isn't the only medium of film I have worked on. Here are a few live action films I have made:



Can't Get It Right was my first live action film, and it was for my Boardcast I class in school. Our assignment was to make a music video, and I decided to go with an idea that was more serious and true to the small downsides of life, rather then the random silly music videos people made. I'm really proud of this video simply because I did everything in this video aside from the music. I wrote the script, I made the storyboard, I filmed, I acted, I edited; everything was done by me. I worked alone. I'm a control freak sometimes, but damn am I proud of it when it came to this video.



-- was made while I was in Italy. I was with a student ambassador group, and on our last two nights of the trip that took us throughout Europe, we stayed in a hotel that was far worse then a hostel. Now, this video was shot on a whim. I didn't plan any of it really, all but the end. And, the end is very cheesy and lame. I'll admit that. But, I love the video anyway. I find it hilarious just because everything actually happened, and I was apart of it. But, yeah. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don't, it's cool. (Side note. I named it -- because I couldn't think of a name.)



A Day at the Beach was actually made last night. I was in Florida for a week, and on our last day, I decided to pull out my digital camera and film. I was actually pretty stupid at some points simply because I was standing out in a thunder storm with an umbrella so I could get the shots I wanted and so the camera wouldn't get wet. Yeah, I'm a dumb ass, but, it was worth it. I'm happy with what I did with the footage I had.

Anyway, those are all of my movies that I think should have introductions for. I just really enjoy them, and I hope whomever reads this blog does as well.

I want to start talking about my plans for future movies, but I think I've made this post long enough, so I'll end it here for now. Maybe I'll make another blog post in a couple of minutes, hours, or days. I dunno. We'll see.

Peace,
SiletThePriest AKA Silet AKA Oeree AKA SyborgOp AKA Woody AKA Taylor.

I hate Myself

Woooooooooooooooooooooooo

Hello!

I'm Silet, and I'm the creator of Level 1 Biscuit Productions. I'm a huge fan of Machinima, and I also hope that one day people will see me as a vital member of the Machinima community. I create my own Machinima films, ranging from Comedy to Drama as well as Epic action, and my goal is to create a movie or series that can group all of those categories into one Epic Dramedy!

Anyway, I'll post a few videos up on this to help everyone get a grasp of what I've done, and what I'm going to do.

I have also entered a movie into BlizzCon. It is called "The Legend of Stalvan" and from it's title you can indeed say it is about the Legend of Stalvan. It's 9:57 in length, and I think this is my second greatest movie I've done yet... the greatest still and unfinished project I'm working on. Expect to see both in the near future.