GIVEAWAY contest. Prize = HTM Gunhammer!

[harkamus]

GIVEAWAY contest. Prize = HTM Gunhammer!

Prize: new HTM Gunhammer with assisted radian blade, non-glare blade finish, black handles.

Restrictions:
*Must be 18 years of age or older
*Must live in the continental United States, excluding New York City.
*Must have been a member of bladeforums for at least 3 months
*Must abide by all local, state, and Federal knife laws.
*Must be a carbon based life form
*Only one entry per person
*Submit entries no later than October 30th 2011, 11:59 pm EST.

Post a picture and explanation of what you consider to be the most important thing in your life right now. We know family, friends, pets, and knives are important to us, so pictures and explanations of these ARE NOT eligible as entries.

This is not supposed to end up turning into a post where everyone just posts their favorite knife, which is why we chose to exclude those. It's a knife forum already, so most people are gonna be tempted to post knives. Posting a pic of a favorite knife is just silly too, because we all have different tastes.

People are supposed to post what they value in life other than what we've mentioned. For example, it could be health in which case they can post, I dunno, them working out or something. It could be anything like that. The other exclusions like family, friends, etc are obvious. The contest would be too easy if people just posted pics of family or friends. Plus then it would be us voting on a pic of someone's family that we don't even know.

Pictures without descriptions will be ignored. Descriptions without pictures will also be ignored. Darrel, Dirk, and myself will vote on the winning submission. As to why I will have a hand at voting, it is because Darrel is in the process of making me another moderator for the HTM forums.

Good luck, have fun and get to thinking about those submissions. Oh, and keep it clean. No tig ole bitties.

NOTE: It should look like the bottom knife.

If you need help posting pictures: [youtube]guM6eMKyDAs[/youtube]

MISCELLANEOUS fine print: Winner agrees to abide by all local, state, and federal laws regarding knife ownership. We will not be held responsible for any injury or death caused by inappropriate use of the knife. The knife is not a toy and should not be treated as such. HTM knives are sharp and can cause injury if mishandled.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

What a great contest! Here's my entry. I hope I don't get disqualified for having a knife in the picture, but I think you will understand when you read my description.

This picture is entitled "Creative Spirit," because that's what I value most in life besides the things that aren't allowed in the contest (my family being the most important thing to me, of course, but this comes in a close second). I thought about this one all day, and actually, I realized that this is really a topic I have given much thought to recently. I realized that the act of creating something, through my own creativity, hard work, and passion, gives me more joy and fulfillment in life than almost anything else. I am happiest when I have a creative outlet that I can direct my energies to. For my picture, I included some of my favorite creative endeavors.

One of my first intellectual and creative loves was philosophy. The book in the picture is a book that I wrote on ethical theory, entitled "Living Well in a Social and Emotional World," with rather limited publication. I have a copy in my college library, but I don't think there is another copy out there. I will spare you the details of what it's about, since I'd probably never stop talking.

The rifle stock in the picture is actually an airsoft rifle stock. I have always loved modification, and airsoft is one of my other major hobbies. I designed several modifications to improve range on an airsoft sniper rifle, and developed a Do-It-Yourself method for creating a composite-style stock similar to the stock used in an M24 or M700. I also taught myself to do effective camouflage paintjobs.

At the bottom of the picture is my springform pan, which symbolizes my love for cooking. I taught myself to cook after my college cafeteria gave me food poisoning 5 times in two weeks. Over time, I have learned to make a wide variety of different dishes, and cooking and making desserts is still one of my consistent creative outlets. It's honestly surprising to me sometimes that my wife and I are not horrendously fat yet, as we tend to eat very well every night. No microwave dinners for us!

The knife in the picture is my very first knife, ground from a file with handles that I made myself as well. It's my most recent project, and one that I am enjoying very much. I hope this doesn't disqualify me, since it's an example of the whole. I hope to some day include a picture of a child as well, since that is the ultimate creation.

I also put my hand in there, because it is important to me that I do something with my hands and my head. I like to be DOING, and as you may have gathered from the rather eclectic variety of creations in my picture, I like to do whatever catches my fancy.

Creating something, particularly something that speaks of art or craftsmanship, is something I aspire to, and something I value very highly. As long as I have a sense of creativity, and the will to put that spirit into action, I feel that I will be able to lead a fulfilling life. It's not just my own creations. I also love to appreciate the creations of others. One of my favorite parts of this forum is just looking over the creations that people put up in the Custom forum, and honestly, the custom Damascus Gun Hammer on Darrel's site is one of the things that got me into knife collecting in the first place. I believe that creative spirit (imagination put into action, if you will) is one of the central characteristics that distinguishes our species, and hence, is my entry for this contest. Cheers!

-edit- My t-shirt size is large (medium's sometimes fit as well). Thanks again for a great contest!

 

[lava_lamp]

Not most important, but Ah-nold explains here what is BEST in life:

[youtube]V30tyaXv6EI[/youtube]

Actually, looking more like Arnold is pretty important to me right now. After way too much inactivity and weight gain, I've lost 56 pounds and put myself back in shape to run 3 to 5 miles regularly, pound the dogpoop out of a heavy training bag, and add back some muscle in the right places.

 

[harkamus]

Crimsonfalcon07, great entry and perfectly valid.

I love Conan the Barbarian, lava_lamp. I quote him quite often for ghits and shiggles.

 

[killteamTRS]

Values tend to be very cliche in the world we live in. Although many of the values have been twisted wrongfully and many just overlooked. The one thing that every American should value is freedom. In today's world and society, think about how often you forget why you're able to live the life you live and why you have all the liberties that you do. Moreover, freedom is not the only thing I value, it is the men and women fighting for our freedom as well as the future of this country which I love. As any member of the military whether Army or Navy, Marine Corp or Air Force, Reserves or Active Duty will tell you, the things they value most are: God, Their country, Their men, and their families. Although I cannot take credit for this picture, value the sacrifices of those who have gone before us.

TSHIRT: SIZE M THANKS ALOT! This is definitely a nice gesture!

 

[mystro]

My honest answer to what would be the most important thing in my life right now besides the items listed above would be my health and to do the things I love, like hunting and getting back in the woods... I was in a bad accident that left me crippled for a long time when I was a teenager. The reality of life comes very clear to a teenager when the fun of the simple joys of life are at risk. After long years of rehab and several surgeries I managed to get back to almost as good I initially was. The ordeal taught me discipline and patience I never would have thought possible. You hear it all the time but, without being in good health, the everyday tasks you take for granted become a challenge.

My size is XL

 

[harkamus]

snip

Glad to hear you're back on your feet and great picture.

 

[Dirk]

This is starting out quite well with interesting submissions. I am looking forward to seeing more.

 

[hughewil]

The outdoors, I love being outdoors walking, hiking, camping, everything

xxl

 

[BladeChick777]

I'll Be Posting Here In Just A Moment, I Know We're Only Allowed One Entry, But I'm Posting A Few Pictures, And My Reasoning Will Be At The Bottom. Thanks.

 

[BladeChick777]

NOTE: Not Sure I'm Doing This Right, So Bear With Me Please.

Okay, So My Reasoning For The Above Photos... The First Three Are Pictures I Drew.
First Is A Skull "Contemplating Craziness", The Second Is "Peace Love & Art", The Other Is A Girl Saying "You Can't Fix Me, I'm Not Broken"
The Other Two Are Of Me, First Is Me And My Two Friends At The Gay Pride Festival, I'm The One In The Middle With The Hat. The Second Is Of Me With My Old Dog.

Here's My Main Reasoning For These Five Photos....
Each Photo Is Something Important To Me, The Most Important Thing Is Represented In All Of Them.

The Most Important Thing To Me Is The Art You Have Inside Of You, The Love Of Something, The Peace You Feel Because Of This. And The Pride You Have Of This.
You Are An Artist, Everything You Do Is, Your Inner Art, Whether It Be Drawing, Expressing Yourself, Loving And Caring For Animals, Expressing Your Inner Beauty.
You Love What You Do, And You Love Yourself, You Have Shaped Yourself Into Your Own Work Of Art.
And Overall This Makes You Feel Love For Yourself And What You Do.
You Then Feel An Inner Peace That You Are All You Can Be.
And Then, You're Proud Of That.
I Know This Isn't Making Much Sense.....

Okay You Have Inner Pride Of Being Who You Are. You Have Inner Pride In The Things You Do. The Things You Do Is Your Art, You LOVE what You Do, And You Take Pride In It. And You Feel At Peace.

I Am Proud Of Who I Am, Being A Gay Female, I Am Proud That I'm An Artist With Drawing And Doing Modifications To Things, I Am Proud That I'm An Animal Lover. I Have Formed Myself Into My Own Work Of Art. I Love Animals, I Love Myself, I Love Who I Am, And I Love What I Do. And Because Of This, I Feel Inner Peace. I Am Proud Of All Of This.

So The Most Important Thing, Is Loving Yourself For Who You Are, Doing Your Own Art No Matter What It May Be, You Are Your Own Work Of Art, And Being Peaceful Inside Because This Love And Art That You've Put Into Yourself Makes You So Happy You're At Peace. And Then Overall, Being Proud Of That Fact.

I Hope This Makes Sense.

Thanks For The Chance To Share, And The Chance To Be In The Contest.

*Tee-Shirt Size: Large*

 

[harkamus]

Great submissions so far. I did understand the above submission. To me it reads, "Be true to yourself. Only then can you learn to love yourself." That is advice I often give to friends, that you have to learn to love yourself first and foremost.

 

[eneyman]

This is obviously not a picture from my life, but I think it represents myself and my family best. We have had some super tough times over the past two years and I am not going to make a list of struggles, but rather what I think is most important to me.. and that is our will to to survive, our gladiator like spirit. I am very thankful for my strong spirit and will to go on and fight through life. I value the mindset that my family has passed on to me, and that is a never give up attitude. We have had many unfortunate events but right now the most important thing in my life is my spirit and will of a gladiator. Obviously this is a metaphor because I am not trying to survive waves of men swinging at me with swords, but life is very similar if you think about it. We live in a VERY cut throat society right now and some concepts we face are being the best, competing for jobs, competing for your livelihood, and simply trying to feed your family, and for these reasons, I am so damn thankful that I have a relentless spirit inside of me that keeps on swinging no matter how hard I get hit.

 

[harkamus]

Another great entry. I understand fully. Been there myself. Some days I've felt like just giving up, and I actually did at one point, but then I realized everyone has to fight, so I got back on my feet.

 

[Cynic2701]

This is a great idea for a contest.

This is a picture of the cover of arguably the best translation of Immanuel Kant's 1785 work, Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, which is titled Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (and sometimes translated as Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals). To say that it changed my life would be an understatement.

I first encountered this book when I was younger--I was in a wild and rebellious phase which was grounded in my own strong conviction that morality was a shallow and false social construct. Nearing the end of my undergraduate career, I felt serious unease about not only my future, but also whether or not suicide was an attractive idea.

I experienced an epiphany in Kant’s philosophy: introduced to Kant by the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, I proceeded to devour Critique of Pure Reason. From Kant’s philosophy, more specifically his moral deontology, emerged my own moral imperative to intensively study literature and literary theory—this epiphany is what drives me to excel. Like the epiphany experienced by Stephen Dedalus in Chapter IV of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Kant’s philosophy inspires me to be successful in academics, civics, and to strictly adhere to my own individual moral code grounded in Kant's deontology.

The deontology expounded by Kant makes the existence and structures of morality "real" beyond a shadow of a doubt. They exist with profound logical certitude.

Notions of the Christian idea of God, or of the ideas of religions as a whole, are considered separate from the concepts of morality and its structures. Although Kant was critical of the soundness of faith-based synthetic judgments, he himself was a Pietist, and in the penultimate sections of Critique of Practical Reason he makes a declaration that although it is logically impossible for a rational being to ground individual morality on faith, it is also logically impossible to argue against the position of an individual who freely chooses to do so--and further that Kant himself was one such individual.

I believe that this picture best exemplifies what is most important in my life--my unshakable and logically tenable moral imperative: to always do what is morally good.

Edit: My T-Shirt size is Medium.

 

[harkamus]

Having studied philosophy and even written about it here and there, I welcome your entry.

 

[crimsonfalcon07]

Kant and Mill were my introductions to philosophy also. I've gone more Greek since then, but it's nice to see some other philosophers on here also! And yes, great contest. I'm enjoying seeing what other people toss in the mix!

 

[mdc5162]

This is a photo of me taken 4 months ago, almost to the day, May 27th. Its 2:30 in the morning and my team had just won the NCBA National Championship. We were down 11-3 in the 3rd inning but we fought back and after 3 rain delays we finally won. Everything we worked so hard for had been realized. 25 collegiate athletes, acting like kids, jumping on each other behind the pitchers mound. My team and I were Champions and nobody can take that away from us.

To me this picture represents pride, determination, and what I can accomplish when I dont hold back and am not afraid to fail. It relaxes me to a point because we won, there was nothing left, we had done it, it was over and we could exhale. It also reminds me of what I can overcome. During this season and school semester my father was diagnosed with Parkinsons and MS disease and my mother with cancer. I went home as often as i could, I studied for exams as much as I could, and I left everything on the field that year. By the time I had a moment to take a breath and look around, I was a National Champion and had a Penn State Diploma. This reminds me that even in the darkest hour greatness can be achieved. Thanks for having this contest, I could have said more but sometimes its better to be short and sweet. Especially when you have to read every single entry! Good luck and I hope you dont go cross eyed!

T-shirt size is a LARGE.

This is a great surprise!

 

[Trail Edge]

College is important to me, and it has been for quite some time now. I’m already an FAA inspector by trade, and I have my Airframe and Powerplant certification(s). Once I get my Bachelor’s Degree in Operations Management I hope to combine the two and work for an aircraft company in the North Western USA (I’m hoping Seattle, WA). I think I’ll buy a few knives while I’m in school, but they have to be investments as well as my treasures. I hope this qualifies me to enter. I really could use a new knife.

 

[HAKnPocket]

Ok after contemplating this for many hours I have chosen a picture that was snapped in haste but really does show what is important to me. This is a swing that I built for my son at the beginning of the summer. Why is it important??? Well I am an agriculture teacher that not only loves teaching but learning and doing. My ability to DO things is what this picture symbolizes. It was built by my own two hands and while I should have asked for help my pride wouldn't let me. The FFA Motto still speak worlds to me.

"Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve."

The second picture is of my tattoo. It was taken from the New Testament:
Mt 18:21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

I had a pretty crappy childhood and forgiveness is something I struggle with. This reminds me in time when I need reminding. It also symbolizes my faith in the Lord. Another thing that is important in my life.


P.S. I get a ton of enjoyment watching him swing. and THANK YOU for the opportunity.

Xxl shirt size. Awesome thing you guys are doing.