The Forge

For those (all) of you who stumble across this and wonder what the title refers to, this is my third attempt to set up a blogger page and actually maintain a somewhat reliable stream of material. Since you've never read my previous blogs (don't worry, neither have I) now might be a good time to introduce myself.

You can call me the Empyreal Wordsmith. Let's explain the second part first, since that's the less complicated of the two. When it came time to find yet another new online alias, I wanted to find a word that suited me better than "cross," which really didn't mean anything at all. Since I will be attending Grove City College in PA next fall as an English major (and tentatively will eventually make writing my career), I figured why not jump the gun and call myself an author. But author is much too bland a word, and a short trip to the thesaurus later I had found the noun for my moniker. How, then, to replace the "jaded" portion of the previous pseudonym? I no longer wished to consider myself numb to the world around me, for if that were the case then what, pray tell, would I ever write about? This word, like the other, needed to be prophetic in nature, something perhaps not describing my current state but one I aspired to reach. I recalled the "cross" part of the old name, and that it was supposed to represent my Christianity, and my thoughts began to swirl around heavenly things. Sublime didn't sound quite right. Ethereal was closer, but not perfect. And then I found Empyreal, which refers not only to heaven but also "pure fire or light," which is not only a good metaphor for every Christian's goal in life but also just an awesome thing to call oneself. Finally, I had it. No longer the "Jaded Cross" of my past, I have become, and shall spend many years attempting to live up to, a new man: the empyreal wordsmith.


Now you know who I am, or at least wish to be. Perhaps you've figured out that my worldview is shaped by my faith (Christian as aforementioned, Pentacostal for clarification, Assemblies of God if you're particularly intrusive). This means that I'm conservative politically, but don't call me "close minded." My musings will most likely not be on Christian themes (at least most of the time) but rather observations made at work, school, or elsewhere. I also intend on reviewing music, something I've never done before. Then again, I've never acquired 20+ albums in a span of less than 2 months before, either. Expect a rather large number of music reviews over the next few months, which will eventually egress into about 1 a week, perhaps 1 every two weeks. I should apologize in advance for trying to be funny. It occasionally works, but then if you don't like my brand of humor you may feel like you're listening to a violinist who doesn't quite know how to play. If that is the case I hope you can endure the painful experience that is my writing, and I invite you to leave any comments or criticism (or cynicism) you have for me as often as possible.

Enough of all this. I am the smith, this is my forge. Prepare to be tempered.