March 2017 – Ryagas.me

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A to Z Challenge – April 2017

ryan

| March 27, 2017

I believe I’ve found my blogging focus for April. 🙂

I had seen last year a lot of my fellow bloggers doing A to Z Challenge. This April I am giving it a go and have plans to finish all the 26 on time, with best possible hopes. The challenge is about…

Source: A to Z Challenge – April 2017

The Challenge itself: Blogging From A to Z April 2017 Challenge

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Stories

ryan

| March 24, 2017

I like stories. In all the various forms they come in. I’ve been this way most of my life. I think it started with books, but I appreciate a good story, even when it’s wrapped in a lot of fancy technology.

It began with a live for books. That came once I got basic reading down. It only expanded once I got into a grade in school where “story time” was a thing. I secretly longed for this part of the day a bit more than recess.

I listened to The Hobbit, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and Watership Down. I was hooked. School libraries were somewhat small, so I quickly moved up to the local public library and my library card was an essential, everyday carry item.

It wasn’t just books though. I loved TV shows and movies, as well as video games. Still do.

Now, storytelling is usually a key aspect of many games (sometimes in sports video games as well.) Some games are even just basically interactive stories, with the player only making minor branching choices, or even being in nearly complete control as the main protagonist, or sharing that with other players, in small to massively multiplayer online role-playing games, like World of Warcraft.

In all cases, it’s whatever story is being told (or guided towards) that draws me in. The awesome thing about loving stories is there are so many to experience. Running out is simply not an option, and it’s as easy as listening to another nearby human being.

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#MicroblogMondays 134

ryan

| March 20, 2017

Pete via Compfight

After a wonderful weekend, Mother Nature has decided to take a chill pill. That’s what I think from here in southern California, at least. My apologies to my fellow Americans in the eastern part of our country. It’s far from the pleasantness we have here.

OK, there is a bit more seriousness out there. Check out this post for deeper insight:

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too. ******* I read an interesting thought from Abraham Twerski (The Enemy Within).&n…

Source: #MicroblogMondays 134: Fish Love – Stirrup Queens

Aside

ryan

| March 17, 2017

As I write this, it’s Saint Patrick’s Day again. What a coincidence that I’d choose this topic on this holiday. 🙂

I don’t really believe in luck. The scientific side of me definitely sees “lucky” events as just very low-probability occurrences. I’ve seen evidence that that’s all such events are.

For example, I read a story that, years ago, a group of people bought a huge number of lottery tickets (5 million!) in a drawing since it was guaranteed by probability that many potential winning tickets would be in that batch and they’d make a profit. Them winning wasn’t lucky at all, just smart application of math. It also forced a rule change to give such investment groups a harder time at winning.

The lotteries of the world aren’t the only such gambles to get such attention. The bottom line though is that probability says something that’s possible is likely to occur, and with enough tries at some event, it will.

I suppose that when I feel lucky, I’m really feeling glad that the odds worked in my favor, but it’s often due to taking measures to improve them, so what’s really happening is the result of some focused effort. Being in the right place at the right time does matter. We make our own luck, in other words.

What do you think? Is there something you feel lucky about?

Daily Prompt: Luck

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ryan

| March 10, 2017

Ian D. Keating via Compfight

If there’s one thing the entire world needs more of, it’s empathy. There are too many people who are completely unwilling to put themselves in others’ shoes, too often. They’ll dish out crappy treatment to others around them because they feel more important, or are afraid of them, or any other reason that overrides the basic emotion of empathy.

They forget to think to themselves “if somebody did this to me, would I be happy with it?”

So, if I had the epic power of worldwide emotional improvement, that’s the one I’d boost in all humans. It won’t instantly solve all the ills of the world, but perhaps it would ease the struggles of quite a few groups of people who don’t seem to be getting a fair share of love.

The realist in me knows that it starts with myself, though. I’ll keep trying my best to boost my own empathy, as much as safely possible. Now, it’s your turn.

If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be? Why would you make this change?

Source: 180 Journal Writing Prompts, #59

Aside

ryan

| March 9, 2017

Mics make me nervous – Photo by Kane Reinholdtsen

Being nervous. That’s something I know about. It happens basically any time I’ll be in the presence of any person who I value or care for. It also sometimes happens when around complete strangers, especially when I’m unexpectedly put on the spot.

I think that’s normal. I also think it’s normal to feel nervous when she is about to arrive. This is even after longing for the moment to arrive very badly because the nervousness vanishes nearly instantly these days.

Even when I think I’m calm and relaxed, sometimes my body will give away subconscious clues. The bouncing leg, the cold sweat, or any other manner of fidgeting are things I sometimes need to be more mindful of.

I’m aware of exercises or meditative tools for dealing with this, but I usually just try to breathe and speak slowly in order to fight it. It works pretty well, most of the time. I don’t think I’ve ever panicked, but perhaps I’ve been rescued and didn’t know it. Who knows?

How about you, dear readers. What makes you nervous? Let me know.

Prompted by: Nervous | The Daily Post

Aside

ryan

| March 5, 2017

Photo credit: comingsoon.net

Here are a few of my thoughts on the movie, Logan. It’s super difficult to avoid spoilers since this is a movie seeing the end of two iconic characters from the Marvel universe (or, one of the multiverses, to be more specific.)

Logan, The Wolverine, goes on a journey, both physical, and emotional, to help out a girl, who has similar abilities to his own. At the same time, however, he’s suffering from a side-effect of his own. His body is poisoned and slowly deteriorating due to the adamantium in it, which is a material known to be lethal to him.

He’s battling not only those after the girl but his inner demons. He’s on a quest, however reluctantly, for redemption. He’s not alone, however. Charles Xavier, Professor X himself, is also along for the ride. His body is also, coincidentally, slowly deteriorating, with dangerous effects. His mind, his super weapon, is breaking down, and that’s a huge risk to all who are near him but in a much larger area. Logan’s got a tough set of tasks on his plate: protect his mentor, the child, and the larger world around him.

That’s the setting for this action-packed adventure. This Wolverine is not the spandex-clad one from some of the comics (and one of my favorite cartoons as a teen.) Jackman’s Logan is a much darker, grittier almost anti-hero. Logan’s far from perfect, and, as an artificially-created mutant, so aware of what can be wrong about weaponizing super-humans.

He’s also, in a way presented with a way to not make up for his misdeeds, but to help another with the potential to become like him to understand that it’s the choices made that matter most, and not how one’s “created,” or what purpose their creators might have intended.

I thoroughly enjoyed the action. It’s a movie with a long trail of sometimes grisly fatalities. Logan’s not the most graceful fighter, but he’s hard to take down. The only one who Logan needs to fear is himself. He’s got an antagonist here that’s human, but “enhanced” in a manner more like what’s sure to come in the near future.

Logan is certainly an action adventure, but it’s also a story of redemption. It’s easily a contender for the best comic-based movie, ever. It’s also an excellent story. I have not seen all of the Hugh Jackman Logan/Wolverine films yet, but it made sense. I feel like I’m OK at this point.

If you like action movies, see this movie.

If you like westerns, see this movie (if you like Shane, especially.)

If you like Hugh Jackman and/or Patrick Stewart, see this movie.

If you like stories of dark heroes seeking redemption, see this movie.

If you have little ones, get a sitter and see this movie.

You should probably see this movie.

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Weekly Wrap Up #7-9

ryan

| March 3, 2017

It’s been a few weeks since the last wrap-up post. Things have happened. Quite a few things. I’ve seen a few more movies and even reviewed one that was excellent.

This week, however, saw a few things I hadn’t expected or that I forgot were about to come up. The first was that I saw the launch of a YouTube channel. This one’s special because it’s dedicated to gaming, but even more important, the person starting it (Peter Saddington) intends to pursue the great dream of many gamers (myself included): to play games as a full-time occupation. Take a look:

As you can see, Peter’s got quite the passion for gaming and for doing what’s super scary at its core – committing publicly to being serious about making a living pursuing his passion. He even is sharing that with nearly complete strangers like myself. He feels like he can make an assessment of a game in the first 15 minutes of play. I think there will be a few exceptions, but that might just be due to how some games are designed.

I had the chance actually to chat with Peter on the phone briefly this evening. You can feel the seriousness and energy he has, even on a short call. I can’t help but want to see him succeed, and I’ll try to help as best I can. I didn’t mention this blog, but I might bring it up at a later time. I’ll probably share more of his videos on social media, however. He’s currently reviewing gaming PC configurations that fit his budget, which is a good idea, since a very high-performance rig is a necessity, especially for somebody that hasn’t been deep in the gaming scene for multiple years.

The next thing I hadn’t reminded myself strongly about was the US premiere of the Sword Art Online movie. I purchased my ticket quite a few months ago and set a calendar item. I got a couple of reminders from the ticket company, via email. That helped me to get a bit hyped for it. I’ll probably see it again once it’s in wider release this coming week.

That’s all for now. There are some fun and festivities this weekend, but that’ll be for another post. I hope everyone else’s weeks have been good. It’s March! Things are warming up in the northern hemisphere. Let’s enjoy the changing season.