SevenEmeralds (Sara) introduction.

[SevenEmeralds]

Hey all of you beautiful people! My name is Sara H (sevenemeralds), I am 34 and I live and was born in England. 
 

(I am very aware that that intro seems like a cringe open line for a dating profile)

 

I don’t really know what to expect from writing this. I do hope to make friends on PS and have people to play with!
I guess I will use the introduction to kind of tell my life story (short version!) and go from there.

PART ONE- 

 

i started playing games as a young girl. Like 2 or 3 I was sat with my face against the warm staticy tv attempting to work the megadrive controller to play sonic ( a hugely important game to me!). The early 90’s for me went through the usually sega classics. Streets of rage, columns, toe jam and earl ect. 

When I was about 8, while I was at school I began to find it really difficult to walk. Like one of my legs was really heavy and difficult to move when a dull pain when I did walk. These symptoms continued and got steadily worse over the next few weeks until I couldn’t walk. It turned out I had a condition called perthes disease. A painful disease where the ball in your hip starts basically disintegrating. 

boo, boring I know. But for me I had to spend the next 2/3 years going through surgery followed by at least a year in a lower body cast. Almost completely unable to move as a child (as all kids can be quite resilient and adaptive) I continued exploring games more than ever. 
i followed sonic to Nintendo and with the sonic adventure titles but for me a standout moment was in Stanmore hospital when I had my cast removed. I had to stay there for about 2 months to do physio to recover. I tried to stand immediately after my casts were removed, excited to be upright again and my legs had absolutely no strength in them and I feel so painfully! 
but yeah. The stay. Six weeks-2 months. It sucked. Until I found out that this children’s hospital had a PSONE. 
it was amazing. The staff used to bribe me into walking by letting me play crash bandicoot or klanoa. My mind was blown. That definitely set my path with games over my teenage years.
 

As tough these years were I had found new games to fall in love with. Tomb raiders. GTA. And most definitely the resident evil series and silent hill series. 
while the sonic games entered their (less than amazing) era i was sucked in to everything horror on the PlayStation. Though I did really suck at the time. I had like a million save files on each game that I had no idea where I left them or enough of an understanding of these games to be able to redeem it. Remember the internet wasn’t an option and I didn’t have like £20 for a terrible guide from the game store. 

around 16 I moved out of my parents house and the new stresses of working and affording to live pulled me away from games. Not completely. I had a ps3 that I would play sometimes but I was so poor that I would end up having to sell it and then buy it again and then sell it again ect..

This was further changed when I was 17 and found myself pregnant. This was terrifying. The new challenges it would bring me were beyond me. But despite I was so happy.

 

i will leave this story there. My pregnancy was such a terrible time of my life with challenges that I cannot put in a few sentences but I will continue with part 2 beginning with the birth of my beautiful daughter Amy Rose. 
 

Thank you for reading!

 

Sara (SevenEmeralds)

[DrBloodmoney]

Hey Sara, welcome, and nice to meet you! 👋

 

That’s some rough go of it you had, sorry to hear that - but it’s always nice hearing about how games can help someone get through a difficult time - and that can often make a gamer for life out of someone!

 

Hope you have a great time here, and I’m sure I’ll see you around the site 👍

[SevenEmeralds]

Hey Dr. (I love the pic! Lmao)

 

thank you so much that is very kind. It does seem very silly writing these things now. Especially that the way the story carries on is so much worse. And I am 100% not looking for sympathy. It is just nice to get events written for me and as I am desperately lonely right now I thought it may start some conversations! 
I hope you all have a great day. 
 

Sara 

[Breakingthegreen]

Welcome to PSNP Sara, 

 

I hope that you do make friends on this site, there are bunch of fine folk here. 

 

Might I recommend joining a challenge, the Doc above is hosting a event were you complete a literal rainbow of games, it's a great way to get new game recommendations.  

 

Hope to see you 'round ✌️

[SevenEmeralds]

13 minutes ago, Breakingthegreen said:

Welcome to PSNP Sara, 

 

I hope that you do make friends on this site, there are bunch of fine folk here. 

 

Might I recommend joining a challenge, the Doc above is hosting a event were you complete a literal rainbow of games, it's a great way to get new game recommendations.  

 

Hope to see you 'round ✌️

Wow thank you so much for the invite. It definitely sounds up my street! 😊

[TrophyChief]

Welcome! Glad games allowed you to find the strength to pull through and bring enjoyment. 

[RoastedPeanut]

Hi Sara, it's great to have you here!

 

It's always great to have another Sonic fan join, especially someone who also got to experience the joys of classic Sonic on the Mega Drive. Have you got an ultimate favourite Sonic game? It's hard for me to pass on picking Sonic 2

 

 

[SevenEmeralds]

Hey! Lovely to meet an other sonic fan too! That is such a difficult question! 😂 

personally I feel I love sonic 2 and 3+knuckles equally. They are both amazing titles that I can’t pick between them!

 if I had to choose a 3-D game things become controversial. My favourite is sonic adventure 2 (please don’t hate me any fans that disagree 😆)

[LC-Fraggers]

Welcome Sara, looks like we've got a lot of the same things we're crazy about. Three questions to get to know you better:

1.) How easy do you find it to get time to game while being a parent? I include my two as much as I can but being a massive horror fan means I've got to sneak in my Texas Chainsaws and my Resident Evils when they're not looking. Don't want trauma counselling eating into my games budget. 😂

2.) Does your love for horror extend to movies too?

3.) I see from your profile that you've played a fair bit of Rocksmith. Do you still play guitar or any other instruments? I used to teach guitar back in the day. Frustrating experience. 😅

[SevenEmeralds]

Hey LC-Fraggers! 
 

These are 3 great questions that I would love to answer for you hun! Though they may take a bit of background to explain but I will try my best! 
 

1.) so very fortunately for me and not for others I don’t work. Well I can’t work. Long story short when I was about 21 I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and a very active form. It meant every now and again I would get one or more of a crazy amount of symptoms. I went blind. I lost feeling and the ability to move most parts of my body. Lost the ability to talk. Plus like a million more crazy symptoms which really do suck but I am kind of lucky because any thing that I’d lose in my body would eventually return. It might be after a week, or a month or two but it would always come back. So I go through treatment every 6 weeks to this day but generally I am ok and avoid having any of this symptoms if I avoid any kind of stress, any kind of overdoing it. 
So I haven’t worked consistently for nearly 15 years. I have had a few jobs that I enjoyed for a few months or even a few years at a time but it has always ended up putting me in hospital so I have just decided to give that up. Which in itself kind of sucks. I get money from the government but it’s barely enough to live with. Have never been able to get a driving licence or drive a car. I have always live quite minimally and my days can be quite boring. So to (eventually) answer your question. I have so much time to play that I tend to play them when the kids aren’t about. It’s not that they are scared. I have a 15 year old daughter and a 14 year old son. My daughter is dark as fuck 😂 she loves scary things but as a 15 year old most of the games and films I’m playing she says look boring. Though she has her own PS5 and has spent thousands of hours only playing sims4 which I will never understand! 
My 14 years old is basically the same. If it isn’t the latest fifa then it is stupid and I just like old people games 🥵

 

2.) yes definitely. I have spent a lot of time recently trying to fill my knowledge of horror movies too by watching old classics for the first time. (This has resulted in me watching some crappy but amazing films!)

recenly watched the evil dead series. But I have always loved horror films. When I was about 14 I feel in love with the nightmare on elm street films, followed by the alien titles. I loved reading horror too. I read IT when I was young and really enjoyed the recent films!

 

3.) a great question that I didn’t expect! Yes I played locksmith and yes I do play a few instruments but it is mostly guitar. I have played since I was 12. Started with bass guitar. Spent my teenage years in a punk band with my friends. (We sucked!). When the lead guitarist left ( got kicked out ) I had to learn guitar to step in. 
All of this has resulted in me now with my not working spending a lot of time trying to improve my playing so I can begin teaching too. I have currently gotten to grade 6 on electric guitar though it is challenging and I probably don’t spend enough time practicing effectively.
But to answer your real question 😆 I have 4 guitars and a keyboard. Plus an enormous amount of effects pedal and amps. I have

2015 Gibson les Paul Studio in midnight manhattan 

Slash signature Gibson les Paul Classic in anaconda burst

Eric Johnson signature American Fender Stratocaster.

and an Ibanez (I have know the code like it was like £600 and it is blue and pretty 😂)

 

now everything I’ve said about me not ever having money and being desperately poor doesn’t seem to fit in with my owning something like £10,000 worth of guitars but it is true. I tend to not spend a lot of money on anything. My guitars have all been paid off on finance over years but beside them I do a lot of collecting. Games. Merchandise. Collectibles. I buy them. Keep everything boxed. Often bubble wrap and put in another box out of the way and just leave it. Growing up so poor has really sucked but I have also had to deal with watching on tv somebody getting Rich from their old Pokémon cards on a furby or something. So my plan has always been to buy stuff, wrap it up and then maybe (just maybe) in like 20/30 I can sell it all and then I’d be able to give the kids something big. I don’t know maybe pay off a deposit for a house. Or something…

 

anyway thank you for the questions. Tell me do you still play guitar? I mean I know you say teaching was frustrating but surely you still play?

 

[CaptainMonkster]

Hey Sara, welcome to the site! 

 

Sorry to hear about your struggles! Very brave of you to speak out about them. I'm always willing to make new gaming friends so feel free to add me on PSN, I won't be offended if you don't!

 

PSN: CaptainMonkster

 

I'm a new parent, with my son been born on 18/12/23 so if you have any advice for how to balance parenting and gaming that would be appreciated x) what sort or game genres are you into? 

[SevenEmeralds]

Hey captain monkster! 

Congratulations on having your son! 🥳💕

please do not worry about my troubles! It is every that got me here and I am happy with everything I have! 
advice for how to balance parents and gaming? I can try but I’m hardly an expert!

 

the perfect scenario is everything in yours, your partners and his life goes flawlessly. I hope that for you.  But you should always be prepared. Problems may occur. Unexpected expenses. I won’t pretend that being a new parent you will have a hell of lot less time for gaming but if I learned anything from being a parent is that if every challenge that comes only stresses you out. Is only addressed negatively it will become to much eventually.  It can hurt your own relationship with your parents and start teaching your son how HE should deal with issues as he grows. 
make sure that the time spent with your boy is positive. Take the worst things that happen and always try to find a positivity when dealing with them. When your son is old, at your funeral or something he will remember a smile on his dads face instead of anger.

2023 is a great time to have a kid as far as technology is involved. It won’t take a lot to introduce gaming especially if you are a gamer yourself. Little kids love being involved. They love feeling like they have the same interests. Let him hold a controller that isn’t connected 😂 show him the games that made you fall in love with gaming. 
please remember as a parent your son deserves everything that I am sure you are giving him. Though you and your partner are equally as important. You need to make sure you both stay happy to give him the best childhood 😊

[LC-Fraggers]

Wow, I'm really sorry you've been through such a rough time with your health your whole life. I can kinda relate; I have an autoimmune disease that gives me a good kicking whenever it feels like it which means, just like you, I have a hard time with being able to work long term. I think I'd probably go crazy if I didn't have gaming to retreat to as a happy place. I ended up selling my Xbox 360 when my son was born in 2013 as I just didn't get time to play it anymore and then basically didn't game again until I got a PS5 at launch. Basically single-handedly cured my depression which makes me think I wasn't really depressed, just really liked gaming. 😂

I've been crazy about horror since I was a kid too. I'm 37 now but I remember back when I was little, Channel 4 used to run a triple bill of creaky old horrors at the weekend, Janky stuff like Zoltan, Hound of Dracula and The House of Seven Corpses 😅. I wasn't allowed to watch them but I figured out how to set the VCR to record them on tape and then watch them when everyone was asleep. I used to love going to Blockbuster and looking at all the creepy ass video covers in the horror section too back when Blockbuster was a thing. 

Man, you have some beautiful guitars that I won't pretend I'm not incredibly jealous of 😂. Yes, I do still play a lot but thankfully the only person I teach nowadays is my daughter who is 8 and incredibly happy to just sit back on knowing power chords for now which means lots of punkified covers of Taylor Swift and Disney songs 😂. Suits me for right now. Like, if I ever have to try and teach another child Romanza or In the Hall of the Mountain King again, I will just take up the kazoo instead, I swear to god.   

[BlackRogue187]

welcome to the forums

 

[SevenEmeralds]

Don’t be sorry hun! You can understand how much an autoimmune condition can suck. It’s awesome that games helped you with depression, it is always good to have something to enjoy and distract from when your body decides it hates you! 
 

There is something about being in your 30’s (at least for me) that takes video games, music, films, (usually very sociably pastimes) where you find yourself doing everything alone. I took my son through his grading on guitar until grade 4 where it has gotten a bit difficult for him so he hadn’t played for a while. It’s great you still play with your daughter! I really should spend more time practicing myself. This time 10 years ago I was polishing off and perfecting crazy difficult tracks. Cliffs of Dover, for the love of god by Steve vai, loads of satriani. Now after so many releases from MS ( I always lose feeling/mobilty in my hands first) I still feel like I spend most of my time relearning how to play. My time is generally spent 3 or 4 months playing guitar quite intently and then I lose my body and if I’m lucky I still have enough dexterity in my hands that I will switch my obsession back to PlayStation. It’s easier to control that my guitars though there are so many frustrating trophies in games that I am always fighting to control my hands to get! It does make me wish I had a friend here to do the bits in games that I just can’t manage! It’s like I have 97% or all trophies in most games I’m interested in but there is always stuff that’s way to much for me. 

there was a man a few weeks ago that said he could help me in resi 4 remake. I had put like 120 hours into it. Did everything except get one gun that required me doing to shooting game or mercenaries (which I suck at). First he tried using SharePlay only to find he couldn’t because I had bad internet. So he suggested that if we swapped details he could log into my account and get the gun for me so I can carry on with the game. At first it seemed ok. He did get me the gun! What he didn’t say is that he deleted my entire save game and left me with a fresh game and only that gun 🥵 what is worse is he then used my bank card to buy a copy of the new star wars game on my account. It was only £45 to him but that was all the money I had for Christmas. When I messaged him like ‘why did you do that?!’ His reply was ‘haha you just admitted your broke’ and mocking me!

So lesson learned. I deleted him, changed my passwords. Tried to get a refund from Sony (which they said they would do although I still have access to the game and no refund) so now I am left in a way worse position that I started in! 😂