Originally posted by Sofia Hariz
Before I let you dive deep into an utmost personal confession, a declaration to a lover most sacred (which will be posted next week), I need you to consider me a good person first, which is what I shall try to do with this post.
My name is Sofia Hariz (pronounced Harris, like HARRISon Ford), but people call me Freebird because I told people I liked that song one time, and happened to wear flared jeans whilst saying it, so they were like “dude, you’re like a super hippie and a girl so you’re gonna be FREEBIRD from now on…” Cool story, I know.
Born on a cold, harsh winter’s day in the depths of an ancient forest in Norway, I still remember Thor’s hammer raging across the desolate landscapes, lighting up the midnight sky as I entered this world – that, or they were fireworks since I was born on New Years Eve.
But that isn’t of any importance – what is important however is that I was raised among wolves….okay, so that’s a lie. I did however have two older brothers – interpret as you wish. As a young viking raised amongst these savage men I began adapting to their guilty pleasures, immature meanderings and just dumb bullshit that they spent their childhood days with. These included Playstation, action figures, Garbage Pail Kids and a tank top-wearing vigilante fighting Severus Snape in a skyscraper on Christmas Eve.
Growing up I kept holding on to these precious time-wasters, and once the wolves decided the opposite sex was more interesting than a dragon named Spyro, I took advantage of these technological marvels they kept hidden in their caves. Making my way through filthy laundry and a strong fog of Axe – the horror – I came back from those hunts victorious. Tekken 3 became my go-to game for life-lessons and fashion advice, and even now, decades upon decades later, I once in a while power up my PS2 to play it (I’m actually just 24 years old, but I like the drama of the word “decade”).
Once I became filled to the brim with teen angst and My Chemical Romance however, I started enjoying living my life elsewhere – in the land of Sims (because there PEOPLE UNDERSTOOD ME!!). Aaah, how the music from those days of removing toilets and ladders in pools still linger in the back of my head – for who didn’t enjoy that Building mode song and BoSIM Nova? Then I graduated from years of finger gloves and a strict band t-shirt only dresscode and began my days as a university student.
It was once I moved to the UK that my flatmate at the time one day invited me into his room to play Left 4 Dead since zombies are the best things ever, and also friendships. The rest is history… we have a child named Tank now. No, we don’t. He hasn’t really talked to me since. I think he got tired of me sneaking into his room and borrowing his Xbox 360 without permission. Sorry Carl. Not sorry.
Left 4 Dead made me realize how much I love games – or as I like to call them when interacting with the youth, VIDEAOO GAAMZ – which is more than sleep and, occasionally, getting up from the sofa and putting on jeans. It even led to me deciding to be a “video game journalist”, alongside being a professional sarcastic asshole. So, dear reader, maybe now you realize how much this life companion and lover named Video Games means to me.
I hope you will side with me as I let my heart out for this magnificent and most important character in my life in my next blogpost. Please don’t judge me – we all make mistakes…
Let’s get excited about life!
Freebird
