Tutti siamo bambini

I need to clarify something after my last post, now that I've had some time to cool down.

Though you might not know it to read my posts, I am a mostly optimistic person. I just... well, I'm also a realist. This is a bit strange, I know, but I attribute it to my faith. Things are bad, and they're gonna get worse, but it'll be all right in the end.

Anyway, though most everything I posted just before is true, I also want to say that despite all that is wrong with society and the world, I wouldn't trade it for a thing. Sure, there is hardship and trials, but those are really what make life worth living. You see, that's another reason why I am against the search of hedonistic pleasure. Sure, it can be nice, but in the end, you're just deadening yourself to true pleasure and joy. If you go through hardships, and practice self-control, your joys and pleasures are all the sweeter. Just like how candy is sweeter after eating something bitter, so are pleasures after self-control.

Anyway... I'd just like to quote the words of William Henry Hudson when he said: "When I hear people say they have not found the world and life so agreeable or interesting as to be in love with it, or that they look with equanimity to its end, I am apt to think they have never been properly alive nor seen with clear vision the world they think so meanly of, or anything in it - not a blade of grass.

todos somos niños

So, I got an interesting e-mail this last week, a complete stranger complimenting me on my blog. That's cool. But they also asked me to comment on the mess over in the middle east. I'm guessing that the person who e-mailed me either didn't read all of the archives or missed what I have said earlier about politics, (it would be easy enough to miss.) Basically, I'm going to say it again, but more in-depth this time: I hate politics. I get very over-worked when it comes to politics and start rambling like you couldn't believe. I have very strong political beliefs, but I like to see all sides of the story before making any decision, but I find that 99.9% of other people don't care about the truth at all and just look for the stuff that "proves" thier preconcieved notions and then proceed to ignore anything and everything else. Those people believe that they are "fair" and "un-biased" and anyone else is a raging (right/left)-winger who won't listen to reason, when the truth is that THEY are.
It's for reasons like this that I abhor talking about politics, despite the positions that I take so strongly. So, that is why I do not talk about politics on my blog, because I would rant... on and on... about how stupid people in general are. (Because, really, people are sheep.)

So, I've been tip-toeing the line of politics, so I'm going to place this post firmly into the confines of social commentary. It's going to be about the closest to politics I ever get. And as far as I'm concerned, it's too close. But I've already written so much I'm not going to just let it go to waste.

I was thinking a bit today. Yes, I actually think, believe it or not.

Anyway, I was thinking about my brothers two children, and how they, like all children, really only need the logic of "I want to" and "I don't want to". That's all the argument they ever use, and in their minds, probably will ever need. Children are impulsive: everything they do is done without thought and done "because they want to do it."
As we grow up, we learn to use more varied and complex reasons for doing things. At least, that's the theory. But more and more these days, society tells us that self-restraint is bad. We are told that we need to "do what we want" because that's what society wants us to believe will help us become a well-rounded individual. The search of pleasure and trills has become more important that the search to become and adult, and take responsibility for one's actions.
That's another thing that society teaches us we shouldn't do. Responibility for our own actions has no longer become our responsibility, but that of the government. A man kills another, and it's not HIS fault, oh no... it's society for leting him grow up in a manner that would cause him to kill another man. Forget freedom of choice. A man smokes his whole life, knowing that it's probably going to give him cancer and kill him, but when he dies, it CAN'T be his fault, it's the cigarette companies for selling him the product. People these days do what they want, yet they don't want to recognize that actions bring with them consequences. These people are freeking imbeciles. They are morons. They are stupid. Son tontos. They are idiots who not only believe what our society is telling us, they are believing it because, you guessed it, they WANT to.
Now, I'm not saying that we aren't all like that at times. I know I do plenty of thigns that I know I shouldn't. I eat too much candy, and not enough fruits and veggies. My body would be a fat, blobby mess if I didn't have such an active job. I do all sorts of other things that I shouldn't, but I want to do them. Thing is, I never excuse myself. I understand fully that any negative consequences that arise from my poor self-control is my fault and mine alone. The problem is with people who do things that they know they shouldn't, (or at the least, should know that they shouldn't,) suddenly feel that when something goes wrong, it automatically MUST be someone else's fault. Usually the government's.




DAAARRR!!! YOU SEE??!!?!?




Okay... okay... I'm going to force myself to stop, because if I go any further, this sham of not being political will go from tenuous to non-existant. But you see what I mean. I don't just ramble. I RANT. A lot.

Anyway. Enya is cool, I like her music. Bill Cosby is realy funny as well. He's one of my favorite comedians.

There: I've done some more normal-like stuff. Now be satisfied dangit! And please... DON'T EVER ask me to talk about politics again. I hate it. Thank you in advance.

Nada que contar

Meh. Not much to report. Missed my chance to watch Nacho Libre in theaters. I guess I'll just wait until it comes out on DVD. City of Heroes/Villians had a "Double XP" weekend. That was cool. I got another paycheck, so I have money in my account. I'm considering buying the next couple of Fullmetal alchemist DVDs as a celebration, but I also am thinking that I should hold off on that, so I don't have to leave quite so much junk up here.

College stinks that way: When you return home for the summer and go back down for the winter, you basically have to divide your stuff up into "Home storage" and "College storage" so you never have full access to all of your stuff. Even if you just want to sell some of it, you can't because it's on the other side of the country. Argh.

Oh well.

More to come when and if I think of it.

Quiero una cabeza nueva

Have I ever mentioned that I want a new head? The one I have is defective.

I get cluster headaches. They are nasty suckers which creep up on me every couple of months and make the next 7- 14 days a living infierno. They are anything but fun. And I hate them.

This is all. I will now go back to praying that the headaches have passed and that I don't need to take another Excedrin in the next few days.

Oblivion

Well... It was a tiring week this week. Yesterday wasn't so bad. Got the day off of work, and a friend of mine just returned from a two-year mission in Argentina. Gonna have to help him re-integrate into normal society. Church was good today. I kinda feel like I need a nap though. Probably since I never get enough sleep. But that's my own fault.

So, yeah. Oblivion. Truth be told, I honestly don't know where to start. It's just such a freeking awesome game. Great graphics; amazing story; HUGE game world; the radiant AI was incredible; there are (seemingly) bazillions of side quests; and the ending in-game cut-scene.... =0 Holy Crud! it was so freeking awesome.
I really enjoyed that the game could be played in really any way you wanted it to, as certain skills increased as you used them more. And some of the guild quests... oh wow... they were great. I especially loved the Theif and Dark Brotherhood guild quests. Man those were just plain FUN. I would say more about the quests, but I don't like spoilers, so I'm sorry if you were expecting more.
The game world is just so BIG. You can wander and wander and wander, if you want, and keep running into new stuff. Shrines, inns, even small towns. But really, it's all of the little small touches that the guys at Bethesda did that kept me hooked. Physics-based traps, unique quests, (heh) not-so-random attacks when you least expect it, the list just goes on and on.
I have only two gripes: The first one, really isn't a gripe, but I wish that there was more variety in the voice acting. There's only about 6 voice actors for literally hundreds of NPC's. But, truth be told, that never really distracted me from the game. The second really is a gripe, and that's how omniscient the city and imperial guards are. There were so many times when I would do something that there was no possible way to have been seen or discovered, and 5 seconds later, here runs the city guardsman to arrest me. Ugh, frustrating.
Other than that though, the game is just... so amazing, in so many ways. I really, REALLY hope that they have a true expantion in the works, and not too far distant in the future.

Other than that... not much goin' on. Trying to write more. Also trying to compile a list of great evil laughers. (List includes but is not restricted to: Mojo Jojo; Murray, the evil, demonic skull; and Dr. Evil.)

Las hermanas son muy molestosas.

Again, a relatively uneventful week. My niece had a birthday, she's now seven years old. This is my OTHER niece. The one that doesn't want to take over the world. (Why she doesn't I'll never really understand.) I went and saw "Akeelah and the Bee." It was a really, really good movie. Good messages, funny and it broke basically every Hollywood convention. There were at least 3 places in the movie where I was thinking to myself: "Okay, this is going to happen, because it's what always happens in Hollywood movies." And, to the movie's credit, it did something else. Go watch it. It's worth it.

4th of July is this week. The holiday to celebrate why the U.S.A. is better than everyone else. LOL! Seriously though, it's a great chance to celebrate a great country. Sure, it's not perfect, but despite all of its flaws, it really is one of the best, (if not the best,) countries out there. Plus, I get part of the day off of work! It's hard to beat that.

My birthday is Saturday. I'll be 24.

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Dang. Being 24 and unmarried is practically a sin in my church. I mean, it's NOT a sin, but there are waaaaay too many freaks out there who treat it that way. My sisters aren't among that crowd, but that's not a blessing since they have some sort of need to see me married anyway, and they WON'T. FREEKING. LEAVE. ME. ALONE. If the conversation gets even anywhere near dating or relationships at all, they start getting on my case and try to get me to let them set me up with complete strangers. (Urge to kill, rising.) I just want to yell at them: "Listen, it's not that I don't want to get married... I do. But I want to do it on my own fraking time. And that includes actually knowing someone, and not just marrying them because my sister wants me to."
Ugh.
*frustrated sigh*

Anyway. I should stop ranting in case one of my sisters is reading. So... that's the reason I try and avoid such conversations with my sisters.

On a happier note... ummm... uhhh... hmmm... Yeah. I reached level 20 on my main character for City of Heroes. I also beat Oblivion. Oh, yeah. I need to talk about how freeking awesome Oblivion is. I'll do it this coming week.