Monthly Archives: November 2016

Blog

What I’m Thankful for This Year 2016

Happy Thanksgiving, True Believers!

By now you should know this was coming. Every year I list off the many things I’m thankful for. It is, after all, what Thanksgiving is about, right? It’s not just food, family, and football. Admittedly, this holiday season is a bit more melancholy for me what with the death of my Grandma Ruth, but it is my determination to practice the holiday.

So, with that, here’s my list for 2016.

  1. God the Father
  2. Jesus Christ
  3. The Holy Spirit
  4. My salvation
  5. The Bible
  6. My wonderful family
  7. That I’ll soon be an uncle again
  8. That my Grandma was reunited with Grandpa in heaven and is no longer suffering (though I still miss them)
  9. My amazing friends
  10. My equally amazing writer friends
  11. The Fort Wayne Ballroom Company (FWBC)
  12. My “dance family” at FWBC
  13. That I got to perform at FWBC’s showcases and at a charity event with two wonderful instructors/partners
  14. Ballroom/social dancing
  15. For all the conventions I attended this year
  16. My car, which I named Silver Sable (206,000 miles and still going!)
  17. My church
  18. My gaming consoles and video games
  19. My book collection
  20. My movie collection
  21. My laptop
  22. My music collection
  23. My day job
  24. That I’ve paid down my student loan debt by nearly half in almost two years
  25. My cosplays
  26. That I’m a published author
  27. Hades Publications/EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy, which published my first novel and still has me under contract
  28. CreateSpace, which publishes my self-published books
  29. That I published by first short story collection this year: The Worlds of Nathan Marchand
  30. That I’ll have a new novel published in 2017 (more on that later)
  31. My strong sense of justice
  32. The house I live in
  33. My talent for writing
  34. all for One Productions (afO)
  35. Volunteering for afO
  36. My YouTube channel
  37. For being part of the team writing at Children of the Wells
  38. That I’m creative
  39. My intellectual mind
  40. My poet’s soul
  41. My warrior’s heart
  42. That I can read
  43. My iPhone 5S
  44. That I’m an American
  45. That I’m a Hoosier
  46. Summertime
  47. October (the “sweet spot” of autumn)
  48. Changing seasons
  49. Christian Gamers Guild
  50. GameChurch
  51. Theology Gaming
  52. My sense of humor
  53. The North Webster Community Public Library
  54. The Constitution, which lists my inalienable rights.
  55. My “superpowers” (rarely get sick, my “BS” sense, look much younger than I am, heal fast from injuries).
  56. My health
  57. Netflix
  58. That I got to meet some awesome celebrities this year (Brent Spiner, Ian McDiarmid, Ray Park, etc.)
  59. My camera
  60. My knack for photography
  61. Pretzels
  62. Exercising at the gym.
  63. My comic book collection
  64. Chimp’s Comics
  65. B.E. Comics
  66. My board game collection
  67. My nerdiness
  68. The police and their service
  69. The military and their service
  70. My journal(s)
  71. My website (NathanJSMarchand.com)
  72. My fandoms
  73. Gen-Con
  74. The family pets
  75. Bookstores
  76. Spaghetti
  77. Highland toffee (the family recipe)
  78. Amazon.com
  79. Movie theatres
  80. My college degree
  81. Running water
  82. That I’m tall
  83. That I still have all my hair
  84. Football
  85. That I got to play kickball with great co-workers/friends
  86. (Most of) My coworkers
  87. The generosity of others
  88. The TUFW Alumni and Friends Center
  89. That I attended TUFW
  90. The YMCA
  91. For living in the countryside
  92. Plumbing
  93. The Internet
  94. That I somehow won the “fantasy bowl” when I tried fantasy football for the first time (beginner’s luck?)
  95. That I’m on the verge of starting my own podcast
  96. My big tax refund
  97. Facebook
  98. The freelance writing gigs I had this year
  99. Holidays
  100. And lastly…THAT THE ELECTION IS FINALLY OVER!

What are you thankful for this year?

Vlog, Video

Ankle Pickers, Episode 2: DLC Debacles

“Ankle Pickers”
Hosted by Nathan Marchand, Sergio Garza, and Bill Miller

In this episode, we discuss the often obnoxious DLC practices that plague modern gaming, and in several fighting games in particular. While Nathan tries to defend some, Bill and Sergio have choice words for those games.

What are your thoughts on how some developers are handling their DLC?

Ankle Pickers: where if you don’t like what we say, start blocking low!

Please comment, subscribe, and share!

Blog

The End of the Election

I don’t usually get political in this blog or on any of my social media sites. It’s not because I’m apolitical—I’m a staunch conservative, in case you didn’t know—but because I have no desire to join the firestorm-beset wasteland that is “internet discourse.” I’ve been a troll magnet in the past, and let me tell you, while I can endure the abuse (and even laugh at it), it is tiring.

Regardless, the strangest election cycle, well, ever, finally came to an end Tuesday night. Or rather, Wednesday morning at 2AM. I voted, but it was with reservations. I wasn’t excited about either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. I was a Ted Cruz supporter during the primaries. Heck, I even attended one of his rallies when he came to Fort Wayne, Indiana (it was the first political rally I ever attended). If he hadn’t won, there were several other candidates I would’ve gladly voted for. I was disappointed to see Trump come out on top, and thanks to my state, no less. I honestly thought his appeal was largely a cult of personality (cue mandatory reference to the ‘80s song) fueled by angry people fed up with the government. Although, admittedly, it did give me some reassurance to see him nominate my state’s governor, Mike Pence, as his running mate.

There was a period in my life where people seemed to assume I was a Republican in my political beliefs, and they put me into the “box” they’d constructed for what that meant, most of it based on inaccurate stereotypes. Even when I tried to explain that I considered myself a conservative, not a Republican, that didn’t always seem to stick. For me, one’s political beliefs should be based on ideas and philosophies, not party affiliations. Just because I, or anyone else, tend to identify with one more than the other because they usually espouse similar ideas doesn’t mean my first loyalty is to that party.

I'm not the only nerd who made the connection. :P
I’m not the only nerd who made the connection. 😛

That’s why, especially in the last few months, I’ve tried to make it clear that I was interested in the truth above anything else. I’d defend Trump if I felt someone was regurgitating misnomers that were being spread about him, but again, that didn’t mean my loyalty is to him. (I’d have done the same for Hillary, but, well, the truth is either hard to find about her or it’s unpleasant). I had no pretensions about who these candidates were. I was never all-in with Trump. He’s not the pseudo-messiah some of his supporters seem to think he is, nor is he the reprobate his haters think he is. I, like the majority of Americans, I think, was somewhere in the middle.

There’s a reason I joked on my Twitter and Facebook that this election could use the same tagline as the first Alien vs. Predator movie: “Whoever wins, we lose.”

Now all we can do is pray for President-Elect Trump and hold all of our leaders accountable for how they govern.

In meantime, enjoy these Star Wars memes I created for whoever won the election. 😛

1dqtor 1dqu0y

Blog

A Tribute to My Grandmother

1 Comment

Normally I’d blog about my experiences at Fantasticon Fort Wayne last week. Unfortunately, tragedy is postponing that.

My grandmother, Ruth Sitton.
My grandmother, Ruth Sitton, with her dog, Pebbles.

On Monday, October 31, 2016, my grandmother, Ruth Sitton, died of natural causes at the age of 94. She was my last living grandparent.

A large portion of my childhood was spent at Grandma’s house in Arcola, Indiana, growing up. She and Grandpa Max were my first babysitters. Mom and Dad took me and my siblings there almost every Sunday after church. Whenever a new baby arrived in our family, we went to their house. If any of us wanted a little getaway, we went to their house. Every Halloween we went to Arcola for trick-or-treating. When Christmas Day rolled around, the family always gathered at their house for gifts, food, and fun. When I started college, Grandma, now a widow, gracious let me live in her house and commute to school for the first three semesters I was there.

Ruth, like a typical grandmother, always spoiled her grandkids, especially us, it seemed. We were never allowed to be hungry at her house. She always made sure we ate our meals and was generous with snacks throughout the day (she had an endless supply of Skittles). It was at her house I discovered the joys of video games, cable TV, and the internet, much of which I didn’t have at home. I have fond memories of her driving me into video stores in Fort Wayne, which I would explore looking for new video games and movies to experience.

But it wasn’t just media that made visiting Grandma (and Grandpa) great. She lived by a hill, which was great for sledding. She and Grandpa took me on a special trip to the Oshkosh air show. We went on bike rides throughout Arcola (although that was more of a Grandpa Max thing). She usually had some eccentric animal—whether it was her cats Fluff or Theodore or her Yorkshire Terrier, Pebbles—to keep us entertained.

Grandma Ruth has always been there. Even when she moved to the nursing homes, I had the comfort of knowing she was around. Now, for the first time in my life, I have no grandparents. I’d hoped that, whether in person or not, she’d be around to see me get married. I guess that was always a fool’s hope.

Thank you, Grandma Ruth, for all your generosity, kindness, and hospitality! I miss you so very much, but I know you’re happy in the house you dreamt Grandpa Max built for the two of you in heaven.

Until we meet again.