Iron Shield

I have several high school memories. For a year I was on the Rugby team, for someone with no previous I was told I did good. The next year, my final year, we didn't do Rugby because we didn't get enough practice in time as we were kept off the fields still recovering from last winter. But that year I became a member of the athletic council. I also tried out and made it on the badminton team to keep busy, but I'm not so proud of that because I stunk, I should stick to rugby. I was very often sitting in the athletic council booth during lunch and my free periods, doing homework, selling merchandise or just lending an ear to others. I also played a huge part in keeping the place clean with a broom and stuff as janitors wouldn't for some reason. As an athletic council member I was a part of the organization and staff of the teacher vs. student hockey game as the local rink. Manned the BBQ grill (a part of a car! where the engine would be!) and did lots of heavy lifting and other services when many public schools came to use our fields for track and field athletic events. And was a part of the staff for the Walk for Cancer marathon and did lots of walking around the track myself all night long. At the athletic banquet I was awarded the "Special Effort" award. Over in the music department I had no previous experience but with two guitar classes and lots of practice I was doing really great. Great enough to be made a music ambassador to public school kids and to take part in two Christmas parades with the high school music department float. Waving out to the crowds and giving out candy. I had some favourite classes, like geography of war, guitar, history of Canada in the 20th century (mostly about the wars), creative writing (I'm a bit of a poet), history through Hollywood (watch movies based on true stories then rip them apart for their inaccuracies), and fitness (I became one of the strongest in the class, the earlier year I could max bench press 157lbs, the end of the next year I could max bench press over 245lbs). I guess my final memory is Remembrance Day. I was an army cadet (youth organization) in which I aged out a Sergeant. Anyway, on Remembrance Day I was allowed to go to school in uniform and wore the black beret of the armoured reconnaissance with pride. At the assembly I marched up to the stage from the other side of the gym with a wreath, placed it on the stage, then marched off after my salute. I guess that is where the favourite memories end.

Well, I learned guitar in two high school classes with no previous experience and later got my own personal guitar as a gift. I use an acoustic. What advice I can offer is repetition, repetition, repetition. If the first time you don't succeed, keep trying again and again. I had no previous experience, but with high school classes I could later ace both the written and playing exams two years in a row. I'll admit I'm no "pro", I have much to learn, but I at least went in the right direction. Sadly, I put my guitar down for nearly 2 years after high school ended because of a "perfect storm" in my life. But very recently I've started picking it up again a bit, broke some strings in the process but I fixed it on my own, good thing I kept spare strings around. Whether you go with acoustic or electric (you're choice), I wish you luck.

Casual shirts, black socks, blue jeans, plaid shirts. Most importantly of all my black cowboy hat, never go anywhere without it.

Fancy mathematics. The reason I didn't get into the Canadian army not once but twice. In my math class in college I got 50/100 which means I passed right on the button. Shyness. I am not very shy compared to others, in fact I can be confident. It's mostly when I'm genuinely attracted to a woman, they become virtually unapproachable because of my shyness. This is coming from someone who was the soul person to keep their cool, "stay frosty", while everyone else is losing their shit at the news on the radio we had on us. We were in the middle of the bush around midnight, and a hostile bear was in the area that had already mauled a girl that same night. I was very afraid, I won't deny that, but losing you're cool won't help either. That is some weaknesses that come to mind.

"What is you're quest?" "To seek the holy grail." "What is you're favourite colour?" "Blue." "Right, off you go." "... oh thank you." (Monty Python reference)

Canada - My own homeland that I love, there is no place like home. I've never been outside of the province Ontario, but it'd be neat to see the world. I've lived by Lake Simcoe since I was 5, have been as far up as the Ottawa River to ride on the white water rapids (Greyhound Bus Eater was beastly), and have been as far down as Niagara Falls, to enjoy the view as well as ride a jet boat through some rapids more down river. The Netherlands - (big history alert) Canada and the Netherlands share a special relationship which my great uncle was a part of it's forging. My great uncle was a corporal in the Toronto Scottish regiment, and he was in the Battle of Britain in 1940 as his regiment was the King's Guard at the time. He came out of it with a Air Defence medal, but would keep fighting with the 2nd Canadian Division from Dieppe to the Invasion of Normandy to the Battle of the Sheldt. After bloody fighting in the Battles for the Rhine in 1945, the 2nd Canadian Division went north to liberate the Netherlands. April 05, 1945, my great uncle at 25 years of age was killed in action on Dutch soil. But from April 14th to 18th Arnhem was liberated and the 2nd Canadian Division was victorious in the Battle of Groningen taking over 5,000 prisoners. Then May 7th German forces surrendered in North-West Europe. Because of the rapid deployment of food to the Dutch people even when the land was still occupied by the enemy the Canadians were not just seen as liberators but as saviours. Following the liberation came the joyous "Canadian Summer" and deep and long-lasting bonds of friendship were forged between the Netherlands and Canada. As a gift the Dutch people and the Dutch royal family send thousands of tulips to Canada yearly to this day, which later resulted in the Canadian Tulip Festival and is the largest in the world with over 1 million tulips to show. One year, when I was a teen, my Dad received a message from a grateful Dutch family and it contained pictures of my great uncle's resting place today in Holten Cemetery with flowers and a little Canadian flag and some night pictures where all the graves had candles to light them up in the dark. I have loved the Netherlands since. Now that the long history story is over (I have a soft spot for history)... I also have a fondness for Ireland, Scotland, and England, as I am part Irish, Scottish and English by ancestry. Also have a fondness for the U.S of A, Germany and Finland.

Howdy! I'm Iron Shield. Today I decided to browse some forums and joined this one to do some exploring, to get out of the same old internet "fort" of mine for a change, expand my horizons. Iron Shield is a name I came up with Skyrim and Friendship is Magic in mind. It, shall we say, "echoes" my real name. My first real name's meaning is "Strong Leader" and with thought I came up with "Iron" as it is firm and strong. My last name means "Home Protector", and with thought I came up with "Shield" and so Iron Shield was born. Anyway, I've been a fan of Friendship is Magic since August of 2011, and still going strong. Looking forward to seeing what comes up in the future.