Thursday, April 22, 2010

"As a whole, people suck. But a person can be extraordinary.". - Harry Dresden

I had a great night being with a couple of friends tonight, and I remembered something about myself. When I’m a part of a group setting, I’m an observer. Some of my friends might disagree with me, but deep down I am. I just like to watch people. And I’m also shy, which might have something to do with it. But, sometimes you can learn a lot about people by just standing aside and just observing them.
Being shy and liking to observe can make me come across as distant, lacking a personality, and not opinionated. I admit, I do have a mixture of those qualities. I’m distant, until I warm up to you. My personality doesn’t shine until we connect. And if I seem to be not very opinionated, that means 1, I don’t really care about the subject, or 2, I don’t have enough information to form a valid opinion.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that I use to judge people pretty harshly (especially in High School) on just first impressions, and Ive tried to change that. I think I might still do that occasionally, but I consider myself a pretty open guy now, willing to listen and try different things. When I don’t give people a chance, I try to catch myself, and realize people have different ideas and viewpoints than I do, and try to be more accepting of them.
But that’s the point of life, isn’t it? Continue to grow and learn. So live long and prosper.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

"A man might be thought wealthy if someone were to draw the story of his deeds, that they may be remembered" - Buliwyf: 13th Warrior

I really never had any gaming counsels when I grew up. So I never really played any of the classics that people talk about, like the Street Fighter series, any of the Mario games, nor any ot the countless Final Fantasies. Which I get crap for occasionaly.  And so a couple years ago, I did finally pick an Xbox 360. For the most part, I’ve really liked the games I have purchased for it. The “meh” ones I only paid under 20 dollars for, so I can’t stay mad at that.
As of recently, I’ve been playing Final Fantasy 13. I picked it up because of the good things I’ve heard about the others. For one, it a great looking game. You can spend hours just running around looking at the scenery. But the game play is pretty linear, which is kind of a disappointment. I really like the soundtrack to it as well. I can’t really nerd out about it and get all the inside jokes because I haven’t played any of the others. I would recommend it to anyone.

The more games I play, the more I realize that the games I love are the ones that would probably be considered party games. Games that can be played by 2 to 4 people. Such as Rockband/Guitar Hero, First person shooters that have a good online mode, Fighting games and the random fun stuff like Dance Dance Revolution.
Don’t get me wrong, I really do like other games such as Oblivion, Grand Theft Auto, and Overlord. But the problem I’m seeing is that I do play those games when I first pick them up and really enjoy it, but after awhile they just end up sitting on my shelf. I do still really like those games when I do get a chance to play them, it’s just I never finish any of them.
There’s just something I like about the social aspect of multiplayer games that make them my favorite. Be it the smack talk, the sudden spurts of rage people go into, or the accomplishment you feel when you finish a rather hard co-op. To me, they’re just more fun.
And since I can’t think of a clever segue; I’m just going to force this in here at the end. I watched The 13th Warrior the other day. Great movie, that. Makes me think I should’ve been a Viking. But I digress. I just wanted to share this quote from the movie that I liked:

'Lo, there do I see my father.
'Lo, there do I see My mother, and my sisters, and my brothers.
'Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
'Lo, they do call to me. They bid me take my place among them.
In the halls of Valhalla, Where the brave may live forever.