Edeleth Week Day 5: Hot Springs

     Just a short, relaxing soak inspired by the paralogue in Fire Emblem; Heroes with the Hoshido and Nohr Princesses.

               Edelgard and Byleth were laying in the warm water, soaking their bodies in the hot springs, their nudity covered by the foam atop the spring.  Edelgard had a towel wrapped atop her head as she and Byleth sighed, lying back contentedly.  “This was much-needed, Byleth.” Smiled Edelgard as she lay her back against a jet.  “Ah, yes, right there…” she sighed contentedly.

 

               “Only the best for you, El.” Replied Byleth.  Edelgard chuckled.

 

               “Ah, sometimes, I feel you spoil me, Byleth.” She said with a little laugh.  Byleth gave a concerned look before speaking.

 

               “I just want you happy, I…I keep remembering that night at the Academy, when you told me about your childhood…that must have hurt beyond measure.” Replied Byleth, then turning away.  Edelgard turned to look at Byleth, who seemed upset.  “It was then that I knew, under the angry, militaristic exterior was a sad little girl, grieving over the childhood ripped from her and the siblings stolen from her right in front of her face.”  Byleth was still as a statue in the water, clearly hearing her wife’s trouble back then deeply affected her, too.  Edelgard cried a small tear, stunned from Byleth being so raw about how her own past had moved her, then moved across the pool and hugged Byleth, nuzzling her face with her cheek.

 

               “And that’s what convinced you to help me on my path?” she asked, touched by the previous statement.  Byleth nodded slowly.

 

               “I didn’t see anyone else helping you how you needed to be helped.  People who’ve been through the horror you’ve been through, they need someone who loves them, someone who doesn’t judge them or treat them wrong.” Began Byleth.  She turned to face Edelgard, stroking her cheek with one hand, hugging her tenderly with the other.  “And you’re a beautiful woman, El.  Inside and out.  You were the most altruistic of all the House Leaders.  You deserve happiness and freedom.”  Edelgard silently hugged Byleth, kissing her shoulder, kissing her in a line up her neck to her cheek.

 

               “Thank you.” She whispered, crying soft tears of joy.  Byleth hugged her wife, knowing she had done well with her past decisions.  Liberating a continent from draconic rule was one thing, but liberating a soul from the internal trauma and turmoil inflicted by villainous organization seeking to influence power was something she treasured infinitely more.

 

The End

Edeleth Week Day Four: FEH

     Based on a semi-recent event in Fire Emblem; Heroes (this was around when I got my ideas for this week).  Marth and Brave Eirika are there because Tara Platt, Yuri Lowenthal and Kira Buckland are three of the nicest people on Twitter.  I might be getting the box to send my laptop in for fan repairs today, so the other three will get posted today if that happens.

               Edelgard, clad in her golden Empress armor, was standing on another battlefield with her beloved, Byleth, at her side.  Near them was Eirika, a princess on a horse with her teal hair in a ponytail, and Marth, a legendary hero-king, though his young looks suggested he was merely beginning his long journey as Prince of Altea when he had been summoned.  A blonde Princess named Fjorm had asked them to help her and her divine dragon slay their ultimate rival, the dragon Muspell, deity of the Kingdom of Flame and responsible for the warlord Surtr and his daughters Laejarn and Laevetein.

 

               Muspell, a behemoth of a man covered in flames, stood in the center of the room.  Unsettling for Edelgard and Byleth, a familiar green-haired wyvern rider with a chinstrap beard and a blonde Knight of Seiros stood to his left and right, respectively.  He had resurrected Seteth and either freed Catherine from the dungeon, or both of them were from an alternate Fodlan.  A young green-haired mage named Nino also stood nearby, as did a dark-haired swordsman named Navarre.

 

               “Byleth, you’re in charge, what do we do?” asked Edelgard.

 

               “You handle Seteth, like you did when he attacked Garreg Mach.” Replied Byleth.  “I shall deal with Catherine.  Eirika, you attack Nino and Marth, you fight Navarre, we will then deal with Muspell.”  The other three nodded and headed forth.  Seteth struck Edelgard with his lance, but it had no effect on her armor.  She responded with her mighty axe, defeating Seteth with one stroke.  Catherine swung at Byleth, who blocked the sword with her own.

 

               “Why do you defend that-that usurper?!” asked Catherine as she swung again, Byleth blocking before lashing out again, striking Catherine.  “You could’ve been a great Knight of Seiros, perhaps even a Saint of the Goddess!”

 

               “I don’t need glory; I need to make a hurting heart feel better.” Replied Byleth firmly.  Catherine yelled and swung at Byleth once more, her blocking once last time.  “Allow me to demonstrate!” she cried out, swinging mightily.  She broke Catherine’s sword in half, defeating her with the sword strike.  Nino struck Eirika with wind spells.  Eirika’s horse leapt, getting her in close.

 

               “I will be your lance!” she cried out, striking Nino with the weapon, defeating him.  Marth and Navarre parried each sword lunge to each other, much as Byleth and Catherine had done, neither seeming to gain ground.

 

               “You’re good.” Panted Marth.

 

               “So are you, perhaps in another world, I’d be willing to help your quest.” Replied Navarre.  “But here, I serve Muspell!”  Byleth arrived, slashing Navarre with her sword, defeating him.

 

               “Looked like you could use a hand.” She said.

 

               “I appreciate it.” Marth replied with a smile.  The two approached Muspell, who turned into a ferocious, flaming dragon!  Edelgard stood before him, her armor helping her withstand his flaming breath as she assaulted his face with her axe.  Byleth ran in and stabbed the dragon in the side, Edelgard slashing once more to the front.

 

               “Ungh, absurd…” Muspell groaned as he fell to the ground in defeat.  Edelgard and Byleth hugged, Marth and Eirika deciding to give the two their space.  Hours later, the two sat together, cozying by campfire.  Edelgard and Byleth were very happy with each other and felt a strong need to be together.  Resting together, the two wives kissed each other’s cheek in turn, Marth and Eirika watching at a respectful distance as Edelgard and Byleth smiled in each other’s warm embrace.

 

The End

Edeleth Week Day 3: Summer/Beach

     Inspired by the summer paralogues in Fire Emblem; Heroes, as well as the work of IkaMusumeFan06 - Hobbyist, Digital Artist | DeviantArt who has models of Edelgard and Annette in bikinis and supports such a paralogue.

               Byleth sat in a beach chair in a black bikini, a red tropical flower in her hair, casual reading a book as Petra, in a white bikini, played beach volleyball with Shamir, who was in a blue bikini.  Nearby, Annette, who was in an orange bikini, was cooking steaks on a barbeque, testing each one with a spatula.  Sitting next to Byleth in a beach chair of her own was Edelgard, clad in a red bikini with a purple flower in her hair that matched her eyes.  Byleth smiled at her wife.  “Having a good time here, honey?” she asked.

 

               “Very much so.” Sighed Edelgard contentedly.  “The cool sea breeze, the lovely smell of Annette’s steaks, the hypnotic sound of Shamir and Petra pelting that beach ball back and forth, you right beside me...ahhh, it’s bliss.”

 

               “Glad to hear it.” Smiled Byleth.  Shamir and Petra approached the couple.

 

               “Hey, you two lovebirds want to join us for a dip?” asked Shamir.

 

               “I’m game, but…” began Byleth.

 

               “…I can’t swim.” Admitted Edelgard.

 

               “Do not fear, it will be my pleasure to instruct you on swimming, it is a great pleasure of mine!” smiled Petra.

 

               “Um, I’m a little worried, Petra…” confessed Edelgard.

 

               “El, I’ll help.” Said Byleth.  “Just swim by yourself for a bit, Shamir, I think El will need a good swimmer like Petra and someone like me if she’s going to learn to swim.”

 

               “All right, I’ll be waiting.” Sighed Shamir, turning around and dashing off.  The two led Edelgard to the water.

 

               “All right, just wade in slowly, hold onto our shoulders.” Said Byleth, her and Petra leading Edelgard into the water slowly.  Edelgard began hyperventilating and sweating nervously as the water moved up to her knees.

 

               “U-um, it-it is…quite cold…” she managed.

 

               “You’re doing great, honey, I bet you can go deeper.” Replied Byleth, giving her a kiss.  Edelgard gulped, summoning her courage, letting herself go as deep as her waist.  “Fantastic, you’ve made it up to your waist!” smiled Byleth.  “Now, lay down, let your body into the water.”

 

               “But then my head will be underwater and…NO!” screamed Edelgard.

 

               “We won’t let anything happen to you; we’ll hold onto you the whole way.” Replied Byleth.  Her and Petra lowered Edelgard to the water.  “Now, scoop your arms, move them like ice cream scoops and the ocean is a big tub of ice cream.” Instructed Byleth.  Edelgard did so, smiling a little, she did love her ice cream.  “Now, try to add kicking your legs, but keep them fully straight, it works better that way.” Said Byleth.  Edelgard added that, Byleth and Petra letting her go, the Adrestian Empress actually swimming in the ocean.  Byleth and Petra swam after her to keep an eye on her, glad their friend was working to overcome her fear.

 

The End

Edeleth Week Day 2: Smash Bros.

 `Edelgard and Byleth team up with Samus and Zelda atop Hyrule Castle against the four most ruthless in the Smash Bros. event.

               Edelgard gripped a duplicate of the Sword of the Creator next to her wife atop Hyrule Castle.  The two were participating in a unique type of combat called a “Smash Battle,” which they had started doing together in January 2020.  Standing on the other side of the stage was a team of four of the most evil fiends in the Smash Bros. event; Ganondorf Dragmire, who had terrorized this very land innumerable times over the Millenia, Ridley, the space dragon who wasn’t above killing small children’s parents right in front of them, Sephiroth, a half-deranged “science experiment” who claimed to be the last remaining male of an original sentient race that had colonized his planet and wielded an extremely long katana named Masamune that he once used to murder a woman named Aerith and Kazuya, a fist fighter with demonic elements who enjoyed tossing those he beat in a volcano.

 

               Edelgard and Byleth would not be alone in this fight.  The owners of the castle and primary beef-holders with Ganondorf and Ridley, Zelda and Samus, were on their team.  Like Edelgard and Byleth, the two women were in a sapphic/lesbian relationship, which had enabled them all to bond as friends early on.  “Ready…GO!” declared some invisible announcer.  Byleth leapt and slashed Ridley with the Sword of the Creator.  Samus hit Ganondorf with her paralyzer while Zelda used Din’s Fire, striking Kazuya with an explosive fireball.  Edelgard brought out a familiar spear, closing her eyes briefly in memory of her last brother, then lunging forth and striking Sephiroth with it in a rage.  Byleth followed the blow with a shot from Failnaught, sending Sephiroth further back.  Ganondorf zoomed up, grabbed Edelgard and surging her body with electricity before throwing her away.

 

               “Curse you!” shouted Byleth.  She also brought out a copy Dimitri’s spear, slashing the ancient warrior with it, sending him towards Sephiroth.  Ridley shot at Byleth with fireballs knocking her back.  

 

“You’ll not take another friend!” scowled Samus, leaping up and kicking Ridley with a drop kick.  She then hit her old nemesis with her paralyzer, knocking him backwards. 

 

“Foolish wench!” yelled Kazuya in Japanese as he fired an optic laser, knocking Samus over.  Edelgard rushed forth with Dimitri’s spear, wounding Kazuya.

 

“Leave her alone.” Edelgard stated firmly.  Kazuya smirked and punched Edelgard before knocking her over with a dizzying blow.  Byleth howled in rage and dashed forth, finishing Kazuya off with a copy of Dimitri’s spear.  She helped Edelgard up.

 

“You okay, honey?” asked Byleth.

 

“A little stunned, but I’ll be all right, never fought that fist-fighter before.” Replied Edelgard.

 

“Yeah, they usually have Dark Samus in that spot.” Noted Byleth as Samus and Zelda approached.

 

“I hear Kazuya’s more ruthless than Dark Samus, that’s probably why they’re trying him out.” Interjected Samus.  Ganondorf, Ridley and Sephiroth all approached the four women.  Ridley approached first and Samus stepped forth, using her paralyzer, sending him back.  Ganondorf punched Samus over just before Edelgard hit him with a copy of Failnaught.  Zelda struck Ganondorf and Ridley with Din’s Fire, Samus leaping to her old nemesis.  She used a rocket-boot assisted soaring kick, sending Ridley flying, defeating him, only for her to be sent flying across the stage from Sephiroth’s fireballs.  Sephiroth slashed Byleth and Edelgard, Byleth responding by slashing Sephiroth with the Sword of the Creator, moving him back.  Samus dashed back towards the fray as Zelda hit Sephiroth and Ganondorf with her Phantom, hurting them.  Edelgard got in range of Sephiroth and Ganondorf, knowing it was time to do her most powerful, yet most difficult, move.

 

               “A-MYR!” she cried out, swinging her massive war axe at the two psychopaths.  It struck with devastating force, the two flying off, Sephiroth defeated.  Ganondorf returned to the stage, zooming forward and grabbing Edelgard’s face, charging it with dark energy before dropping her to the ground.  Zelda leapt, kicking Ganondorf with an aerial kick.  Ganondorf punched the Princess of Hyrule away just before Samus blasted him with her paralyzer.  Ganondorf turned to her and grabbed her face, dropping her with the same dark energy charge.  Edelgard, meanwhile, had gotten up, and thrust out the spear quickly, striking Ganondorf right after he finished his move.  Ganondorf flew off the stage, defeated.  The four warrior women posed victoriously, Edelgard at the front, Byleth next to her and Samus and Zelda at the rear.  They had enjoyed cathartically pummeling these vicious opponents, almost as much as the friendship they had made with each other with matches like these.

 

The End

Edeleth Week Day 1: Fodlan

     A typical time for Edelgard and Byleth out amongst the people as they head on a post-marriage meal.

               The sun was shining that day in the Adrestian Capital, children playing on the sidewalk when a regal figure in a red, fancy dress and a tiara strode close, a green-blue-haired woman in a gray overcoat and fanciful tights beside her.  “It’s the Empress and Queen!” said a little boy.

 

               “Yes, we’re off to have lunch at that restaurant over there.” Said Edelgard, gently patting the young one’s head.

 

               “What is your name, young one?” asked Byleth.

 

               “Charles, this is my sister Bethany.” He replied, letting his sister walk up to meet the two authority figures.

 

               “Hi!” said Bethany, waving enthusiastically.

 

               “Always nice to meet the people.” Smiled Byleth.

 

               “Quite.” Agreed Edelgard, shaking their small hands, Byleth doing the same.  “You treat each other nice now, and treasure each other.” Added Edelgard.  The two got up from talking to the children and headed off, walking to the steak shop.  “Oh, I should’ve dressed more casually, I don’t want to attract too much attention.” Frowned Edelgard.

 

               “Hey, it’s fine.” Replied Byleth.  “You’ll be fine, El.  Maybe we’ll get some autograph-seekers, but I doubt anyone’s going to bother our meal.”  They waited to talk to the waiter, who seated them in a comfortable booth in the middle of the restaurant.  Byleth smiled at Edelgard as she looked over her menu.

 

               “What?” asked Edelgard playfully as she noticed Byleth looking.

 

               “Just…you.” Sighed Byleth.  “I’m just…so glad I get to see you happy and free like this.  I’ve…I was so motivated to make you happy, to make you feel good after I heard how horrible your childhood was.”

 

               “Th-thank you, Byleth.” Smiled Edelgard, dabbing at her eyes.  A waitress came by.

 

               “Ready to order?” she asked.

 

               “I’ll have mead and a steak, medium rare.” Said Byleth.

 

               “Chocolate milk and a cinnamon roll.” Stated Edelgard.

 

               “Ah, the usual for the royal couple?  Coming right up.” She replied.

 

“You do always order that.” Smiled Edelgard.

 

“It reminds me of Dad.” Replied Byleth, sighing wistfully.

 

“He was a good man.” Agreed Edelgard, inwardly cursing herself for allowing Kronya inside the Academy.  Still, Byleth forgave her, so she should forgive herself.

 

“And you?” asked Byleth.

 

“I didn’t have many sweets as a child, I always want to get them whenever possible as an adult.” Replied Edelgard.

 

“It’s part of your charm, El.” Replied Byleth.  The two giggled together, happy in each other’s presence.

 

The End

Special Updates Next Week

     I'm going to take part in an art challenge from Twitter next week, in which each day will feature a different art (story in my case) around a theme.  In this case, it's Edeleth week, featuring the lesbian couple Edelgard Von Hresvelg and Byleth Eisner from Fire Emblem; Three Houses.  Friends Petra Macneary, Dorothea Arnault, Annette Dominic, Samus Aran, Princess Zelda and Rise Kujikawa will make appearances, as well (the last three from other video games).  Each day was a free day, so I made up my own themes;

-Fodlan

-Smash Bros.

-Beach

-FEH

-Hot Springs

-Halloween

-Persona/Blazblue Crosstag Battle crossover

These will also be shared on Twitter in the hopes of being retweeted by the Edeleth Week account.

9/24/2021 Music and General Update

     Hi, all.  The laptop has not yet been taken in, so I thought I'd share what's happened in music releases last week and is known to happen tonight.  

    Sam Smith's duet with Summer Walker was released last week and the sample sounds Heavenly, I'm actually waiting to listen to it tonight.  Tori Kelly is also on the Dear Evan Hansen Soundtrack as well and her song will be released tonight.  

Miley Cyrus and Lil Nas X's duet was great, one of the best pop songs this year, and tonight, I'll find out if his other collaborations are just as good or better.  

Enuff Z'nuff also released the first single for their Beatles tribute album, which will also include songs from John and Paul's solo careers; the first single was actually a cover of John's "Cold Turkey," which was also covered in 2015 by the Hollywood Vampires, a group focused around Alice Cooper, Joe Perry and Johnny Depp, made due to Alice Cooper appearing in the "Dark Shadows" movie directed by Tim Burton.  

Styx also released an EP with a good live version of "Miss America," one of my favorites of their 70s incarnation not sung by Tommy Shaw and I think this is the best rendition sung by Lawrence Gowan.  

The Beatles also released four more tracks from their upcoming "Let It Be Super Deluxe," featuring outtakes of "Get Back" and "One after 909" as well as an alternate mix of "I Me Mine" by Glyn Johns and the album version of "Across the Universe," one of my favorite calming songs, and I bet a lot of other people feel the same way.

Ringo Starr's second EP of the year is to be released tonight, I am personally curious if the first single of this one had as much of an all-starr cast as "Here's To The Nights" did.  (Yes, that typo was intentional)

Solar, my favorite K-Pop singer, also released a single presumably attached to a movie.  She is a singer in the girl group MAMAMOO and sometimes she records on her own.  She has a lovely voice and I would love it if her group (and her in particular) got the same exposure in the West BLACKPINK has had.

Top 5 Favorite Video Games by System

 I decided to add more of my unique perspective to my online presence.  I don't have anything for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color or Game Boy Advance yet because I don't remember many of the games I played other than the frustrating licensed Jurassic Park and Godzilla games, the Pokémon games, a Mickey Mouse game, Super Mario Land 2, Wario Land and Godzilla; Domination which could make a top 5 between them, but not a top 5 for each.  I have either beaten these games, played these games a lot or watched my brother play them, and they were all fun.

SNES:

1.)    Super Mario RPG; Legend of the Seven Stars

2.)    Super Mario World

3.)    Super Mario Kart

4.)    Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball

5.)    Final Fantasy IV

 

Gamecube:

1.)    Super Smash Bros. Melee

2.)    Godzilla; Destroy All Monsters Melee

3.)    Soul Calibur II

4.)    Metroid Prime 2: Echoes

5.)    Metroid Prime

Wii:

1.)    Super Smash Bros. Brawl

2.)    Super Paper Mario

3.)    The Beatles; Rock Band

4.)    Rock Band 3

5.)    Naruto Shippuden; Clash of Ninja Revolution III

3DS:

1.)    Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS

2.)    Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

3.)    Lego Batman 2

4.)    Resident Evil; Revelations

5.)    Fire Emblem; Fates Birthright

Switch:

1.)    Fire Emblem; Three Houses

2.)    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

3.)    Fairy Tail

4.)    Blazblue; Crosstag Battle

5.)    Persona 5 Strikers

Music Highlights of the next Month

     I am optimistic that I will soon be in contact with the warranty people at Costco and will get my laptop sent in to get fixed.  As such, I decided to prepare Music Highlights for the next month, through to the 15th of October, since I don't know when I'll be getting it back.

September 17th: There is a Larkin Poe Live album, Lil Nas X releases his first full-length album, which includes duets with Doja Cat, Elton John and Miley Cyrus (and interestingly, 12 years ago on this day, (ie 9/16/2009), I saw her with Metro Station opening in the Tacoma Dome).  There's also a Melissa Etheridge album.  Highlights from previous week include an Ozzy and Lemmy mashup of their versions of “Hellraiser,” Eddie Vedder’s Single “Long Way,” which sounded like a 1970s Eagles or Lynyrd Skynyrd track, Green Day’s Version of “Rock and Roll All Nite,” Inglorious’ versions of “Queen of the Night,” “I Hate Myself For Loving You,” “Fighter,” “Uninvited” and “Bring Me To Life” (which featured Jeff Scott Soto doing the rap parts) and The Hu’s version of “Through the Never.”

September 24th: Ringo Starr’s second EP of the year will be released, Carrie Underwood is re-releasing last year’s My Gift Christmas album with two new tracks and the Dear Evan Hansen Soundtrack drops with Sam Smith singing a duet with Summer Walker.  Also, a live BabyMetal album drops on 9/29, possibly our last BabyMetal release for a while.

October 1st: Brandi Carlile’s new album "In These Silent Days" drops, KK Downing releases the first album of his new project KK’s Priest, Tune in With Chewie & GameChops release an album called “Samus and Chill,” like GameChops earlier “Zelda and Chill” 2 albums, it likely contains remixed, relaxing versions of game soundtrack music.

October 8th: Vanilla Ninja (all girls rock band?), Jeff Scott Soto (duets album), Gus G (Greek guitarist who used to work for Ozzy Osbourne) and Hiromi (Japanese pianist) all release albums.

October 15th: Judas Priest releases a 50-year celebration album with possibly newly released live versions of classic songs, The Beatles release the Super Deluxe version of Let it Be (includes Glyn Johns mix and two discs of outtakes and jams), Tom Morello’s new album of collaborations is released and the first Alcatrazz album with Doogie White singing is released.  Also, I go to my first out-of-town concert since BabyMetal (with The Hu opening for them) on 10/16/2019 by going to Seattle’s Neptune Theater to see The Dead Daisies with Glenn Hughes on bass/lead vocals, Doug Aldrich on lead guitar, David Lowy on rhythm guitar and Tommy Clufetos on drums.  Songs I'm looking forward to include "Righteous Days," "Like No Other," "Bustle and Flow," "Fortunate Son (A Creedence cover)," "Mistreated (A Deep Purple cover)" and Burn (Another Deep Purple cover)."

Music Update for 9/10/2021 and General Update

     I shared my last post on Twitter and Agape liked it, so that was pretty cool!  Unfortunately, my online presence is soon going to be muted for some time as my laptop's fan has been making an annoying buzzing sound since May and we've tried everything tech support has suggested, so it's now time to send it in and get the hardware fixed.  What I don't like about this is that I have no idea how long this will take or even when exactly it will start, as the warranty people haven't called yet.

    Tonight, there are a couple of exciting releases I'm looking forward to, The Metallica Blacklist and Inglorious' album Heroine.  The Metallica Blacklist is a four-CD album featuring various artists covering songs from Metallica's 1991 "Black Album," which contained "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters."  This is the project responsible for Rina Sawayama's cover of "Enter Sandman" and Miley Cyrus' cover of "Nothing Else Matters," which will also be released on Elton John's "Lockdown Sessions" album in October.  I've also bought two other tracks from The Metallica Blacklist, "Sad But True" by St. Vincent and "Nothing Else Matters" by Phoebe Bridgers.  The one I'm really looking forward to tonight is "Through the Never" by Mongolian Throat-Singing Metal Band The Hu.

    Inglorious' Heroine is a covers album of songs by women artists, they have released singles of covers by Miley Cyrus, Heart and Avril Lavigne.  The album itself will also have covers from Joan Jett, Halestorm, Evanescence, Alanis Morrissette and Tina Turner, so it sounds like a great experience.  I listened to some samples on iTunes and I am really looking forward to this.

    Saturday is going to be a hard day for a lot of us, including myself, as it will be the 20th anniversary of the day Middle Eastern terrorists killed 3,000 American lives, which fueled two decades of hatred of Islam and war.  Recently, the war came to an end, with us watching as the violent government that permitted this terrorist group to exist reclaimed government power in Afghanistan.  However, it is clear that our attempt to remake Afghanistan was too costly in terms of money and lives, and I stand by Biden's decision that we shouldn't have countless rows in Arlington National Cemetery over a country that wasn't willing to take care of itself.  Honestly, in these last two decades, especially in the last 11 years, a stronger threat to freedom has emerged at home, the people who do not tolerate the voices of racial or orientation-based minorities, the people who think God and Jesus should be exclusively Republican, the people who have brought fascist rhetoric to this country, and with it, hate crimes of violence.  We should remember September 11th, but we shouldn't get so caught up in it we forget that Islamic people are our neighbors.  We should have a military, but not get so obsessed with it that we want to kill in the name of 'murca.  Let us take the first step forward on this day and take a step forward every day. 

My Church Warmup Playlist

     In this time of distancing and watching services on YouTube, I get up early and listen to these songs before the service starts to get my mind in the right mood, quiet outside noise and get focused on God and justice.

Church Warmup playlist (iTunes)

 

1.)    Turn Your Eyes-Vicky Beeching

2.)    After Forever-Black Sabbath

3.)    You Say-Lauren Daigle

4.)    Yesterday, Today and Forever-Vicky Beeching

5.)    Great is Thy Faithfulness-Carrie Underwood Cece Winans

6.)    Face of God-Billy Ray Cyrus

7.)    Jesus, Take The Wheel-Carrie Underwood

8.)    I Love You This Much-Billy Ray Cyrus

9.)    Simple Man-Lynyrd Skynyrd

10.) Joy Invincible-Switchfoot

11.) Amazing Grace-Good Shepherd Collective feat. Liz Vice

12.) The Wonder of the Cross-Vicky Beeching

13.) Just As I Am-Billy Ray Cyrus

14.) Call to Worship-Vicky Beeching

15.) Stand Still-Billy Ray Cyrus

16.) Prepare Ye (The Way of the Lord)-Godspell Cast

17.) Under the Bridge-Agape

18.) Meant To Live-Switchfoot

19.) Guardians-Judas Priest

20.) Rising From Ruins-Judas Priest

21.) Hallelujah-Deep Purple

22.) Mask of the Great Deceiver-Kerry Livgren feat. Ronnie James Dio

23.) Holy for Tonight-Ozzy Osbourne

24.) My Arms-Ledger

25.) Day by Day-Godspell Cast

26.) The Other Side-Billy Ray Cyrus

27.) How Great Thou Art-Carrie Underwood

28.) Amazing Grace-Billy Ray Cyrus

29.) Captivated-Vicky Beeching

30.) Just As I Am-Carrie Underwood

31.) 35 These-Agape

32.) Completely-Ledger

33.) How Great Thou Art-Elvis Presley

34.) Amazing Grace-Elvis Presley

35.) God only Knows-for KING and COUNTY, Dolly Parton

36.) Beautiful City-Godspell Cast

37.) This Is Home-Switchfoot

38.) The Hope of Jesus-Hope Darst

39.) Softly and Tenderly-Carrie Underwood

40.) Amazing Grace-Carrie Underwood

41.) We’re Gonna Be Alright-Switchfoot

42.) You’re the One I Want-Switchfoot

43.) Song for Matthew-Agape

44.) Enough Outro-Agape

 

I hope some of you are able to do something similar, because right now feels like a constant barrage from the forces of darkness to make us lose our Faith in God.  Peace be with you.