Personal Narrative: Week 1 Gamescape Simulation

Four, maybe five German soldiers surrounded me. They were moving in faster than a pack of starving wolves, and I was their downed prey. There were flying bullets, dark smoke, and explosions everywhere. I was oppressed and knew that this was finally it. All my hard work was about to disappear into a plume of smoke. I commenced raising my rifle, and then in the midst of this chaotic scene there was this ever so subtle giggle over the headset. I look upwards dumbfounded to see a firestorm of bombs hailing all around me, and enveloping my entire section of the battlefield obliterating everything. It was my brother Chase piloting this monstrous desert-sand colored beast of a bomber, which just unleashed utter devastation on the opposing

December 17th, that is my birthday. Having switched school counties in middle school my birthdays always had to find the best of both worlds between two different groups of friends. Well, I had recently discovered the magic of social storytelling in games like Dungeons & Dragons. At this point three of my friends and I would meet up every two weeks for a late night session of fantasy tabletop role-playing. These nights were the high points of our social lives; it only made sense that I wanted ALL of my friends to experience this awesome game. So, I invited everyone asking them to come over around 6:00 p.m. and expect to be there until around midnight. I loaded up on snacks, came up with an adventure for us all to go through, and actually cleaned a little. Everything was set up for everyone to have fun, eat snacks, stay up late, and hopefully find a new hobby. Unfortunately that is not at all what happened.

When I was working at The Steam Project I had to be a counselor of around 10 kids. One of the most difficult things about being a summer camp counselor is overseeing kids that do not listen or are rude to their fellow campers. These kids break the chemistry of the group, as a counselor I had to take action to subside these rowdy kids. At some points during the camp one kid would get insulted by another and they will start crying as a result. To try and take care of the situation my fellow counselor and I would separate the two kids apart and talk to them individually. Firstly we try and calm down the first camper as it is harder to maintain a distressed camper. After that we start a conversation with the guilty camper; we try and decide on

As the first days of high school began, the first practices of the freshman football team quickly followed. In just several weeks, the coaching staff had prepared us for our first game against Arcadia. However, no one seemed to be perturbed about them. Instead, Liberty’s following week’s opponent was the cynosure. We would face off against Sunrise Mountain, our rivals. It was no doubt the biggest game of the season. If we lost, we would disgrace Liberty, but in our minds, losing was never an option.

May 8th 2014, a Thursday night on a school night. At the time, I was 13, nearly finished with middle school and soon to be graduating onto high school. On this particular night, I sit at my kitchen table across from my older sister, both grasping our 3DS's playing our favorite game at the time: Animal Crossing. In the midst of an intense competition of catching fruit as we race against the clock, my mom moseys into the kitchen and sits between us. She demands that we put down our consoles. My sister complies, whereas I ignore her and attempt to finish up my game. My mom then forces me to end my game, explaining that she desperately needs my attention. She gathers herself and thinks for a moment, finally spitting out the words “I'm moving out”.

It's been an interesting year so far, and it looks like it is about to get even more interesting (more about that in a moment). What I wanted to write about in this here journal of mine is a new brand of shoe that I just purchased; they are called Nike running shoes, and I love them. They fit well, are comfortable and seem like they will last quite a while. I just had to have a pair (I think I'm the first one here at school to have them most of the other students have never even heard of them; Neanderthals, I know!). I predict they will be a big hit in the future. Okay, enough about shoes, let's move on to more serious matters, my love life! (just joking journal I have no love life right now). Oh well, I haven't written in here for the past few weeks, I guess I better talk about the events of the month. Let's see, it's October 1962 and a number of events have taken place; some here at the University of Mississippi, some in the United States and some internationally. Many of these events will likely have long-term impact on some very serious matters. Of course, I did not think any event would foreshadow James Meredith being admitted into the University, but, the first Negro being admitted into a higher education institution is an event that has only national implications, while the missile crisis in Cuba, could lead to death to thousands or even hundreds of thousands of citizens in both the United States and in Russia.

I was born on April 30th, 1981, in the small city of El Progreso, Honduras. Honduras is a country located in Central America. I regret that I don’t have many memories of my childhood, but I do have one fond memory. I remember my next-door neighbor would grow chickens. He had an incubator that he used to hatch baby chickens and I would play with them. I believe I had a good childhood growing up in Honduras, however, everything changed at the age of five. At the age of five I began having complications with my breathing and after a while my mother decided to take me to the hospital. The doctor’s discovered that I had a benign tumor between my lungs. My mother often tells me the memories of the events that transpired next: visiting hospitals in El Salvador, buying medicine from “herbal doctors,” and

It was record breaking temperatures on this July 4th day. Red, white, and blue filling up the stands. Fans and umbrellas protecting spectators from the heat of the sun. It was about game time and I was getting ready to take the field for the last home game. Butterflies in my stomach, but I had to tell myself “it’s just another game”. Even though in my heart I knew it was not just another game.

Like everyone else, I was very nervous for my first simulation experience mostly because I wasn’t sure what to expect. Before the simulation started my partner agreed he would focus on administering medications and that I would focus on doing the assessment and helping with whatever else the patient needed at that time. After talking to the patient for a little, we discovered that he was having difficulty breathing. What we did first was elevated the head of the bed. He said he was still having trouble, so I ensured his nasal cannula was working properly and asked him to do some deep breathing exercises with me. That still wasn’t helping so I knew that albuterol, a fast-acting bronchodilator, would need to be administered before any other med.

My older brother used to tell me about all the fun simulations that he got to do when he was in challenge. I was very envious because I had never done a simulation. So, when my 3rd grade teacher announced that our class was going to take part in a simulation, I was very excited. We had started learning about how in the olden days, native Americans didn’t use dollar bills to pay for things. They traded things like food, weapons, and clothing for things they needed.

Go back to a time, when smart phones, and laptop were as thick history textbooks. To a time when a whole gallon of gas cost a little more than a dollar. The year is 1998 and in this year I was born. I was given to a very loving mother and father, that with their extraordinary love gave me the unextraordinary name of David. I grew up in the wonderful city of El Paso, Texas.

Everyday, in one place or another in the world, people have crazy experiences. Those experiences contain different emotions for different people. One person may express the feeling of sadness, while another may view the same experience with joy, e.g. school. Glancing back at this specific memory in my sophomore year, one word appears to mind that would summarize the senses I felt that day, “exciting”. Who would have thought that an act so bad, would feel so exhilarating? Despite the fact that I was a thief for that singular day, I perceived myself as a modern Robin Hood.

You know one day my friend hit me up to play some Minecraft. And you know I was an oldie and was a veteran so I was like "you know what? ok on for the road," SOOOOOO I played some Minecraft on your wonderful server being like wow, this is SOOOOO FUN I LOVE MINECRAFT AGAIN bu then my bad internet messed up and I started lagging in the game :( I got bored in bridges and decided to build up as HIGGHH AS THE EYE CAN SEE!!!!! since I was lagging there was no height limit. Then I SUDDENLY GOT BANNED, I WASD LIKE

I felt nervous when the speaker walking into the classroom. Although a couple of my classmates and I had some role play practice before the actual simulation, it was a different experience from what I expected. I felt there was a lack of flow in my interaction although I had tried a few open ended questions. On one hand, I wanted to get more information from her; on the other hand, I was worried about if I was using the right question without making her feel she was being judged or offended. I also realized how important making a good rapport is.

Most teenagers look forward to summer for long lazy days and nights curled up next to a crackling bonfire, I however look to it as the beginning of stampeding around the woods in elf ears with foam weapons in hand. Live Action Role Playing (LARP) is a collection of people from all different walks of life who come together as adventurers to exchange everyday struggles for fantastical ones. When I tell my friends how I sometimes sport elf ears instead of a cheer bow, they look at me as though I had turned into a werewolf right before their eyes, or even worse, a necromancer. For this reason and how annoying it is to explain all of the mechanics of a very complicated game, my passion for the mythical world is kept hidden.