A rant that goes from angry to not

My life's taken a nosedive. It sucks. It's only 2 days after I graduated high school and it's been the worst 2 days of my life.
I'm going to post the entire story, which is also part of a message I sent to The Material on myspace.
"On June 4th, my Grandpa who was diagnosed with cancer got medivacced out of the house and has been in ICU for the 2 weeks since. My mom, who is his primary caretaker, then got mono and couldn't go to work for those 2 weeks. My grandma has been falling farther into dementia, and my brother had to drive out from California (3000 miles) to take care of him, because I had finals I needed to take to graduate.
All this was going on for the 2 weeks before my graduation, which was on the 16th. On the 17th, I found out that my favorite dog who is only 6 has a terminal type of cancer and probably only has 2 weeks to live. My mom also found out that day that she didn't get her job back next year, and my grandpa was in a deteriorating state and also had a resurgence of some of his cancer.
Then today, he got discharged from the hospital, and now has a nurse coming in to help him at home. He can't walk more than a few feet without needing to rest for a while, and he is in constant need of oxygen. We don't know how long he is going to live, and it's really tough.
On top of all this, my girlfriend who I've been dating for over 2 years and have been planning to marry, found out that she'll be moving to South Carolina (about 1000 miles from here) in a little under a week.
I feel so drowned in all this. I've never had this much stuff happen at once, and I had no idea what to do about it.

Then I remembered your new music, and I really sat and listened to "Before This Ship Goes Down." I've had it on repeat and I've told my girlfriend to listen to it, and I feel like we can do this. I don't know why, but it's given me this strength I didn't think I had, and I really really want to thank you for it.
I don't know if you guys believe in God, but I sure do. It's amazing that your release of a song corresponded so directly to my life in timing and in theme. I don't believe it's coincidence at all.
I know I've never met any of you, but I love you guys. Without even trying to, you're helping me push through the hardest time in my life. I wish I could thank you with more than a myspace message, but it's the best I can do. I wish I could hug you all."


If you all couldn't tell, it really did turn my life around even though it's only been 2 days. I was really desperate, and one song helped. This also adds to my end of the religion debate, because the release of this song coincided with my life perfectly. Now read the response:

"Nick,

Let me start off by saying that we are honored that you have been touched by our music. The message that you sent us ranks at the top that we have ever received.

I know that I, along with many of my friends have had some very rough patches in our lives. And for you to share what is going on in your life with us, is awesome, and reaffirms one of the few reasons why we make music. For some, music is that release, that thing that gives you the strength to go on, even when you think you cant. I know that I have had many dark days, and the sole reason I made it through was because of music. Your story made my heart hurt. I cant imagine having everything stacked against you like you described.

We believe that everything has a reason for happening. We dont think that it is by chance that this song has touched you. There is a master plan for everything and everyone.

We love music, we love our fans, and at the top of this list, we love having the opportunity to help people get through the darkest days. You are now part of the family. And we are extremely blessed to have people like you in it.

Thank you for writing us, thank you for sharing your experience with us, because we will not soon forget it.

You are in our thoughts as you go through this trying time.

Please take care of yourself."

Now you may be wondering what all this has to do with anything. The point of this is, maybe we all shouldn't be on the rant forum ranting, but maybe looking for the things to pull us through. I know I used to be the biggest ranter out there, but this one thing changed me. I don't know how things aligned the way they did, but I now believe that, if we stopped complaining about everything, we could spend more time helping ourselves and those around us.
Thank those who make a difference in your life. Appreciate everyone who's good to you. Forgive those who do shitty things, and live your life to the fullest. Next time you feel like ranting, instead spend that time thinking of ways you could improve your situation. All this shit in my life has restored my faith and set me on a new path in my life, and I'm wondering if I can translate that to everyone else to.
This will be my last post on the rant forum, and maybe it can help some others not even need to rant. I'm hoping this huge heap of text helps at least one person on here, and thank you to anyone who is still reading at this point

Wow. This changes my perspective on everything. That was incredible.

A rant against rants. Interesting.

This thread reminds me of a dream my friend once had. He was in his house, when all of a sudden a tornado picked him up and started throwing him around. He knew that his death was inevitable, so he stood up(I have no idea how; he's in a tornado) and danced. And then he died, but still, that's not the point.

Wow dude thats horrible and I don't rant much anyways so ya.

KermitForPrez wrote:A rant against rants. Interesting.

This thread reminds me of a dream my friend once had. He was in his house, when all of a sudden a tornado picked him up and started throwing him around. He knew that his death was inevitable, so he stood up(I have no idea how; he's in a tornado) and danced. And then he died, but still, that's not the point.

Sig Quote.

NYRangers, I don't think ranting is bad, what's wrong with ranting? It gets your feelings out, right?

I'm going to have to agree with BlueDude here. Ranting's not a bad thing, and I actually think that this is one of the BEST ways to get out feelings. Why not rant to people who you can't even see? It's just like the age old strategy of writing a note to someone and not sending it.

On the topic of your letter: Rush has the same effect on me, even when it's small, and even more so, just thinking about them can get me un-depressed. Neil Peart has been through hell and back, and he's still going stronger than any other 60 year old I've ever met or heard of. Search for what happened to him, it's terrible, and he lived through it.

Yeah, BFMV doesn't do shit for me.

Now Limp Bizkit - Break Stuff is another story.

bluedude426 wrote:

NYRangers, I don't think ranting is bad, what's wrong with ranting? It gets your feelings out, right?

I'm not saying ranting is bad, I'm just saying, like.... Next time you're about to, think of what you could be doing with the time instead. In the 5 minutes you can take to just list what's wrong, you may even be able to take 2 steps towards fixing the problem.

Ranting really is a great way to get out stress, but I've also found that you can skip the middle step and actually take direct action to help fix the problem in just as much time.

This is just the little turnaround I've had in the past 4 days

I heard that song, and I know how great it is. I'm not exactly going through the greatest of times, but I'm trying to keep most of it out of the rant forum and take care of it instead of posting it and not doing anything about it.

That's awesome that they were honored by your message. Veronica moving, your mom and her job, and your grandfather... I can't imagine what that's like. All the best from me.

I'm gonna try to meet with them sometime. My bro lives in San Fran and if I go visit, I could take a train down to San Diego. I'm waiting on a response message on that now

That's good. Just remember: If you need time off from here, we understand.

"Don't kid yourself, you said to me/We'll pack our bags but never leave this room/We'll never leave this room"

The line that made me love this song so much was "You and I won't get pulled under, when the waves crash down we'll stay afloat"

I <3 that song so fucking much it's not even funny. I haven't felt this way about a song in a LONG time... since 2006. That was WAY back.

I'm still waiting on their response and I'm kind of scared

NYRangers360 wrote:I'm still waiting on their response and I'm kind of scared

Don't be. From what the last message said, they would probably love to.

OHMYGOD they just asked me to coffee!

edit: ....why is my fanscore 1?

For both parts of that post:

Your fanscore is 1 because EVERYONE starts out with 1 point. I could never earn a point on my own like that

You just have to post in the Frets on Fire section.

I just realized what my FanScore is.

That's so horrible, I'm sorry. I don't know if funeral doom is your thing, but check out Evoken. It really helps. If you like darkwave or ambient, early Mortiis is really great too.

NYRangers360 wrote:OHMYGOD they just asked me to coffee!

edit: ....why is my fanscore 1?

Awesome!

(You probably posted in the FoF/GH/RB section)

See, that's what sucks about being a metal fan. They usually wouldn't give shit. And the only pop singer I ever liked died yesterday (not like I would want to hang out with him in that stage thought anyway).

Lucky people know cool bands like VersaEmerge and the Material >.>

Electro Tomato wrote:Lucky people know cool bands like VersaEmerge and the Material >.>

Who?

Electro Tomato wrote:See, that's what sucks about being a metal fan. They usually wouldn't give shit. And the only pop singer I ever liked died yesterday (not like I would want to hang out with him in that stage thought anyway).

Lucky people know cool bands like VersaEmerge and the Material >.>

We get to them before they're big. We're lucky as hell. I know a few other bands that are notable too. Cull Brew, Sore Eyes (Fox got some neat stuff from them ), and others among them.

Metal bands are usually to busy/egotistical to do something like this.

Electro Tomato wrote:See, that's what sucks about being a metal fan. They usually wouldn't give shit. And the only pop singer I ever liked died yesterday (not like I would want to hang out with him in that stage thought anyway).

Lucky people know cool bands like VersaEmerge and the Material >.>

What Death Metal Band has a song about not killing yourself, killing someone, or impending death?