Author: Ava Lambert

Hi guys. Welcome to my last blog post. Today I’m kind of just going to talk. Not really about anything specific. I’m not sure how I feel about my time at MSA, but I know there have been changes made for the better too. I came from LCHS barely passing to here and having straight A’s, which I am thankful for after going through the college application process. I got good opportunities as well. I feel like I can maintain my grades and do well in the future too. I guess what I could talk most about are the people I met here. I met A LOT of people. No matter where I looked there was someone who was supporting me or being kind, which I enjoyed a lot. I had several friends and people looking out for me. There was a good support system here which was nice if you looked at the workload. Even with the higher workload I still managed and managed to have free time to go out. Going out was one of the best parts. I loved going out to eat and shopping with friends even though we didn’t go out as much. But staying in was fun in its own way. My roommate and I watch movies together a lot and we play games together or watch each other play. She loves it when I listen to her yap about her interests, but she does the same for me. Having a roommate and living in the dorm was probably my favorite part about being at MSA. I love it when people come to my room, or I go to theirs. Hanging out in the dorms was always fun. Especially the time we all got together in someone’s room to play Twister. I made plenty of good memories with the people I met here. I’m sad I didn’t get to know a few certain people more though. I have been trying not to think about the “should’ve.” I just want to think of good memories and embrace the sweet part of a bittersweet thing such as graduation. I’m trying to save the bitter for after lol. Some of the staff here have also made my experience easier. I loved Ms. Malone and Ms. Cathy will always be my savior. Ms. Cathy listened to me rant every night and always gossiped with me. Ms. Malone was just one of the best teachers I have had and I loved her because we were very similar people too. I know right now I’m so wrapped up in graduating and getting everything done so I haven’t really gotten to think about my time at MSA and in high school in general. I know I will miss it eventually, but right now I am very excited to move on from this part and go to the next. Bye bye high school.

Inside my brain holds vast amounts of knowledge that is absolutely useless to me in reality. This is where I share my information since people don’t like when you yap for hours about overwatch 2. So, let me get my yapping out of my system with this post. Basicalllyyyyy, I made a tier list of all the overwatch heroes from S (best) to D (worst). This is my list and a synopsis of my thoughts. 

I guess this is where I break it down….so

S Tier

In S tier I have Dva, Lucio, Ball, Ramatra, Zenyatta, Sombra, Kiriko, Junker Queen, Sojourn, Baptiste, and Zarya (in order on the tier). D.va is kind of hit or miss depending on skill. If you have a very skilled tank player on your team then yeah she is S, but if your Dva is terrible she’s going to drop to a C or D. This is because she has a kit thats very useful for the team if you know how to time it all. Lucio is a very good support pick right now. He is in the meta at the moment. He takes a decent amount of skill though making it hard for lower ranks to have a meta team composition. His speed boost is just very useful, his ability to hold overtime, and his heals. Ball is a very hard character to play. If your tank is just playing ball to play him your team is going to get rolled. When you play ball, you have to know map layouts, good aim, good use of your abilities, timing, and any other tank skill. He just requires a lot of skill, but if your tank is a skilled ball, you 100% will win. Ramatra is another tank I’d class similarly to ball. He doesn’t require as much skill mostly knowing how to utilize your kit, but I love having a good Ram because he is harder to play against. Next is a support hero, Zenyatta. Zenyatta is also a part of the meta right now in lower lobbies and higher ones. I wouldn’t say you need crazy skill, but you need some. Mostly game sense and aim. His discord ability is so useful in winning fights and his heals are decent. I wouldn’t usually class sombra so high, but she is in the meta right now as well since she got ANOTHER rework on her hero. She is in absolutely every single game I que into and she absolutely destroys the teams back line. Kiriko, also meta right now, is a support who has one of the best kits for survivability. She has immortality, teleportation, and fast healing. 10/10. Junker queen is just unkillable. If you know how to play her kit she is very hard to kill. Sojourn is also meta right now for damage players. She just has good utility and shes a value to have on your team. Baptiste is another support in meta due to his high damage output and great healing. Zarya is a good tank to play but she is not meta at all and I would only suggest playing her if your are a skilled Zarya player. 

A Tier

I’m going to talk about A tier more as a whole because most of what I have to say can be said about all of these heroes. First, let me tell you their names in order of the photo. Bastion, Genji, Winston, Reaper, Symmetra, Reinhardt, Tracer, Widowmaker, Moira, Mauga, Sigma, and Orisa. Almost everyone in A tier provides so much value to your team if played right. Almost all of them are heroes that require a lot of skill to provide any value. Some definitely aren’t like Mauga, Orisa, and Moira. The rest of these heroes you have to have game sense, know flanking strategies, know your kit, have good aim, etc etc. BUT if you are good on them they are very very valuable to your team. 

B Tier

B Tier are the heroes who just aren’t very in meta, kits aren’t that great right now, and I’m just losing matches with these people on my team. We have Junkrat, Mei, Pharah, Soldier 76, Roadhog, Torbjorn, Lifeweaver, Ashe, Brigetta, Doomfist, and Ana. I don’t mind having these heroes on my team but they typically don’t provide a lot unless played well, and they typically just get counter picked. There is one hero in here i would put higher in the tiers though. Ana. Her kit is amazing and so useful, but unfortunately we are only human and everybody’s aim sucks. Ana is a support sniper. You can play her close or long range but your aim has to be good or you might loose the whole game for everyone. A skilled Ana player I would throw to S. 

C Tier

I only have 5 people down here because there aren’t really any characters who are truly terrible. You can win with any comp if you have any skill. In C I have Cassidy, Hanzo, Mercy, Illari, and Echo. Cassidy belongs in D tier honestly. He has no value to the team, his kit is bad, and you have to have good aim to play him. Hanzo is in C due to his recent nerf. He used to could 1 shot people if it was a headshot, but he can no longer do that, so he just isn’t too great anymore. Mercy is a good support she just is not in the meta at all right now. Her healing is way to slow to the point of when you play her you have to ONLY heal. No damage. No damage boosting. Only healing. The meta right now is fast, hit scan, etc. so mercy doesn’t quite do the job. Illari is another support who doesn’t have great healing or dps and isn’t meta so no one is playing her right now. 

After making the tier list and typing this out I want to move Echo to A. She is very good at getting important picks if you know her kit well and have decent timing and aim. I think she is good to have if the person playing her is a good Echo. 

Thank you. 

Heyyy everyone. I could not let this topic go untouched. I’m kind of late doing this but I figured why not do it anyway. I wanted to give my honest insight on the new FNaF movie. It became very controversial among the fanbase because half of them hate it and half love it. So, I’m adding my own two cents. 

Casting

This is the one thing I feel they did great on. I absolutely loved Matthew Lillard being casted as Afton, and Josh Hutcherson as Mike. Elizabeth Lail was also a nice pick for Vanessa. I also enjoyed how they included fan favorite YouTubers in the film as backing characters. People loved seeing MatPat and CoreyxKenshin in the movie. 

Characters

There was only one character in the film that was somewhat accurate to the lore and played well, Afton. I enjoyed Afton and his part in the film and I thought it was decently accurate (50%) compared to the others who aren’t accurate at all. I did not enjoy Mike or Abby very much. Mike was 100% not accurate and Abby did not even exist. Vanessa is one of my favorite characters in the books and games but in this movie they changed her so much it did not even feel like Vanessa anymore. I thought the animatronics were alright. The movie decided to take a different perspective on the animatronics that I would still consider decently accurate. They head first dived into the fact that the animatronics were haunted by children, which is true, and the movie decided to really embrace that aspect of the lore. Mike, Abby, and Vanessa end up drawing and building forts with the animatronics as well as making friends with them in general. Embracing the robots “inner child.” It shows how much the children were manipulated and I cannot say I enjoyed this but I won’t bash them for taking that route as it was a PG-13 movie.

Plot

The plot line for this movie was my least favorite portion. It was very inaccurate to the lore but that is my last concern. I understand that I am watching this movie from a different perspective. I know the lore and I have been in this fandom for a few years. Naturally, I did not enjoy the movies plot. I would have loved to see an R rated film, accurate plot, gore, and the whole nine yards. Instead we got a kid friendly spin off. If you were someone seeing this movie unaware of any of the lore, I could understand why you enjoyed the movie. Typically, those people were the ones enjoying this film while the lovers of lore were on the outside side eyeing it. I just would have loved to see something a lot more similar to the games. The movie shares almost nothing in common with the games besides the animatronics, they looked wonderful. I also understand that the lore is NOT set in stone. Almost all lore is what the fan base put together after studying the games and books. Some has been confirmed but not all, so who knows if the lore is what Scott Cawthon actually wanted it to be. To me, the best part of this movie was the end credits. Thank you.

The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp is one of the lesser-known cryptids in American folklore, yet it has captured the imagination of cryptozoology enthusiasts and curious locals in South Carolina. This creature is said to inhabit the swamps and woods around Lee County, primarily in and around Scape Ore Swamp. This area is located near Bishopville. The legend of the lizard man dates back to the late 1980’s. The Lizard Man is often described as a reptilian humanoid. He is said to be around seven feet tall. He has scaly, green skin, three toes on his feet, and three fingers. People claim it has glowing red or orange eyes and sharp teeth as well. Some people mention it having a tail. The legend of the Lizard Man has become an integral part of local folklore in Bishopville and the surrounding area. It has inspired books, documentaries, and even a local festival called “Lizard Man Festival.” This event attracts enthusiasts and curious visitors looking to learn more about this cryptid.

The first notable sighting of the Lizard Man occurred in the summer of 1988. A local teenager named Christopher Davis claimed to have been attacked by a creature matching the description of the lizard man while changing a flat tire near Scape Ore Swamp. Davis reported that the creature damaged his car and left scratch marks on the vehicle. His account, accompanied by photographs of the damaged car, gained widespread attention. Following Christopher Davis’s report, numerous other witnesses came forward with their own stories of encounters with this creature. Some claimed to have seen the lizard man in or near the swamp, while others reported damage to their vehicles or property, similar to Christopher’s experience. Skeptics have given various explanations to everyone’s encounters saying witnesses may have seen misidentified animals or were influenced by the media attention generated by Christopher Davis’s encounter. However, believers in the Lizard Man’s existence point to the consistency of eyewitness accounts and the relatively remote location of the swamp, making it less likely for hoaxes to persist.

The Dover Demon

               The Dover Demon in an American cryptid that came around in the 1970’s. It is associated with a series of sightings in the town Dover, Massachusetts in the course of 2 nights in April of 1977. The Dover Demon is described as small and humanoid. It stands around 3-4 feet tall, thin limbs, and hairless. It has peach-colored, pinkish-grey skin. It is described as having large, glowing, orange eyes, a melon-shaped head, and long fingers. The Dover demon remains a legacy in American folklore and cryptozoology. Although the sightings in Dover are isolated to a few nights in 1977 we can talk about that.

               The first reported sighting of the Dover Demon was on the night of April 21, 197. Three teenagers, Bill Barlett, Mike Mazzocca, and Andy Brodie, claimed to have an encounter with this creature while driving in separate vehicles. They gave a description matching the one above saying it was walking along a stone wall. The nights after these many other sightings were reported by different witnesses. There were no documented photos, but the sightings became a local interest. Some believe it as a teenage lie for attention, others say it was a moose or fawn. 

                Hi. Back to blogging. Over the summer I did a lot more reading than writing. Everyone has their favorite genres including myself. I like horror, romance, and mystery books. Some people ONLY like their favorite genres. I wanted to talk about why reading more than just 1-3 genres can benefit us as writers. I see an extreme growth in my own writing because of the amount of reading I did over the summer. I dove into genres I thought I would absolutely hate like Sci-Fi, humor, action fiction, and even a couple biographies. It can offer a very large range of benefits for us as writers.

                Reading different genres exposes you to different story telling formats, structures, and perspectives. Especially if you pick up a fantasy novel or Sci-Fi. Being exposed to these forces a creative stimulation for us to think outside of the box. It can broaden our creative thinking I would say. Writing isn’t always about emotion, though, it is some people’s favorite thing to add to writing. Reading books that explore more than you think inside a box is eye opening.

                Reading a diverse genre can also broaden your perspective on writing. Think of it like this, each genre and novel offer you a unique lens for us to view the world through. Different genres can expose you to different cultures, time periods, and topics to write about. They can show you different ways to write about certain subjects. You can even get a new perspective on your favorite thing to write about. Maybe you write a horror story, but you read someone else’s horror story after. They may show you a whole different perspective on how to show fear in a story.

                Now, you will also get to improve your own personal writing through exploring literature. You will get to read different tones, styles, voices, and narratives. All of which can improve your own writing skills. You will see how different genres employ different pacing, language, dialogue, and imagery. These are all very versatile as well. Once you apply them to your own writing, they don’t have to be exactly how the other novel used them. You make them your own as well. You can also make them engaging.

                New genres can expand your vocabulary by miles. Diverse genres have new words, phrases, and terms specific to their genre. You would be able to enrich your vocabulary, which will enable you to communicate more effectively in your writing. I noticed that my recent flash fiction and poem I wrote had a very wide vocabulary I never saw in my previous writing.

                You will improve your adaptability as a writer. If you are skilled in multiple genres, you will be able to adapt to new projects. This is extremely handy for us because we are literary students. We get new projects very often that aren’t in our comfort zones, or we may dislike the prompt. If you’re experienced in more than one genre your adaptability to these projects will be improved. The dynamic of your work can improve as well because of your ability to draw from different genres.

                Different genres evoke different emotions in the characters in the story. When you read a horror novel you read the characters in fear, romance novels show them in love, and a scientist in a Sci-Fi novel may show them focused. You would experience a wide spectrum of emotion and many new ways to describe it. Every author describes these emotions differently as well as every genre. Reading new authors more often and more genres will show you so many new ways to have your readers feel the same and connect more with your characters.

                Empathy also plays a large role. If you read different genres you will read about different characters from so many backgrounds and situations. This helps you develop empathy which will give you a broader understanding of human nature. How will this help your own writing though? This will enrich the authenticity of your characters.

                I hope my blog may help some of you who are in writers block or just like to read in general. From my own personal experiences, I recommend reading many novels on every inch of the spectrum.