Lots of things can be invaluable, but what’s invaluable to me? This is actually a tricky thing to figure out. Would it be something like my glasses, that help me to see without getting headaches from eye-strain?
Maybe.
Possibly, it could be something much larger, like the entirety of the internet. It’s a vast resource that often allows me to achieve feats of wizardry, as I pick up knowledge that would have been very fuzzy in accuracy back in the days before I had access to it. In those days, knowledge was primarily gained from ancient objects known as books, such as dictionaries and encyclopedias. Those were often bulky or far slower to find relevant information from. Back then, however, they were definitely invaluable, and their importance and continued existence and evolution are an important aspect of the internet.
A dictionary that pronounces words and has hyperlinks to synonyms and antonyms is super-awesome. That was an expensive way to go before the internet, which put it largely out of reach in any practical form for me.
That usefulness extends to my smart phone, an iPhone, and that also makes it an invaluable device to have. I literally have access to any part of the internet whenever I carry it and have cellular service or free wi-fi.
I do sometimes wonder when I encounter a person that actually struggles with finding information and yet, they also carry a similar device. Why don’t they try to use it to answer a question they have. Reliance on “group think” on the small scale (people actually present) can sometimes be error-prone, especially if nobody there has the relevant expertise or experience to properly field the question, so why not try getting the information from a larger, usually first-hand from those that deposit the information? Yes, sometimes bias creeps in, but, for the most part, for information that needs to be factual, with no room for opinions, there’s often no better source at hand than the internet.
I definitely don’t claim that sites like Wikipedia are perfect, but I do believe that sites like Dictionary.com, which pull from their traditional counterparts, can be very solid.
So, if you don’t look up information online first, or you still try to first memorize directions to a location without assistance, why is that so? Comment on that.
Well, well… It’s Thanksgiving again. I’ve yet to be away from home this time of year, so the routine begins again. Hopefully, I don’t read as ungrateful because, for me, being grateful has been something I’ve made a personal habit of fairly recently.
It’s been roughly a month since my morning routine has begun with more than exercising my phone’s multiple alarm clocks as I begrudgingly climbed out of sleep. For me, inspired by a post I came across somewhere that escapes me at the moment, I’ve made a direct effort to list out a few thinks I’m grateful for. I’ve done it almost every morning since mid-October. Today, I actually am sure that I’ve shared that task with many more people.
Just think about doing that if you haven’t been. If you think gratitude should be a daily thing, make it happen. Have a great day, even if you don’t celebrate anything today.
You’re out in the world, at some place, usually a social gathering or event, like a convention, or a concert; basically, any place you’ll see a lot of strangers. Suddenly, you see somebody that you recognize, or at least you think you do.
For me, I usually take a bit of time to wait and see if the person also recognizes me as well. If looks like they do as well, they a friendly “hey”, or “hey, [name]. How ya doing?” follows.
A few very, very rare times I’ve even spotted my own doppelgänger. Those moments make you get a little nervous because you wonder if that person also sees themselves in you. The former happens to me a lot more at conventions since I usually meet a few new people and add friends nearly every time and there’s a few cosplayers I say hi to when I get a chance to. The latter is super rare and its been a few years since it last happened to me.
Human tragedy is sad when it takes place in any location, especially when it is completely senseless and indiscriminate. Any similar act to this one deserves sympathy equally for the victims and their family and friends. This rant was not conceived out of lack of that, but due to the appearance of misdirected anger that often follows such an event.
The world is going nuts over yet another terror attack. This time, Paris was hit. Becoming the usual, the big media is helping to whip people into a frenzy of hateful attitudes.
You’ve got people saying things like “pray4paris”, or “pray4people”, and, on nearly every related post, others are saying “why not [country B, C, or a bunch of D’s]?” The problem with those is the classic assumption that those are intentionally being ignored by people who are actually awake.
I mean, has nobody been paying attention to the real refugee situation? I know I’m not the only one following stories like the Ghost Boat, am I?
That’s never the case, or hope would be lost.
For those feeling useless: you shouldn’t. There’s quite a bit that can be done, even to combat the ignorance and hate-fueled stuff out there. It doesn’t even take money to do so, and, as expected, organizations like the Red Cross has been in need and making calls. Other organizations, such as Doctors Without Borders could also use a hand in the war zones where, coincidentally, refugees are fleeing from, when they can.
Chances are, if you see this post, it’ll have been days or weeks after because, honestly, I thing some heads need to cool down a bit before they consider actual action, beyond knee-jerk reactions to a tragic situation. Bringing awareness is a good thing, but it’s never OK to trample on a fresh tragedy to bring attention to a slightly less fresh one, especially when their root causes are related.
I’ve ranted a bit, so it’s time to balance it with some relaxation and contemplation. Be good to one another. We’re all humans on a pale blue dot, after all.
For a change, and because I just received a culinary box from Quarterly, I’ll be trying this stuff that looks like oatmeal, called It was in the latest box, along with a Minnesota mug and pancake mix. Since it’s a bit chilly this morning, I’ll prepare it hot. Protein and fiber, I definitely could use both. 🙂
Had a weird dream, which is quickly fading. In it, I was hiding, for a reason I don’t know, from some group of people, who I think were a rock band that was using my own home for a rehearsal space, and were taking a break. I did eventually speak with one of them, but it was just before I woke up, so I can’t even remember what we said.
Also, I think I get the appeal of the ugly sweater tradition, although I don’t yet have one epic enough. I do, however, have a sweatshirt that wishes it was a sweater. Close enough, right?
Do you like weekends? Had any strange dreams lately? I’d like to know.
Another chilly morning in Southern California. I know my east coast friends hate us, but if I shiver any, I call it cold.
I’m pretty much hooked on WildStar. Had a moment last night where I actually lost track of time and got booted when scheduled maintenance began at midnight. I was actually sad that I had to stop before I was sleepy. 🙁
Read a post written a few years back by a friend I admire the made me glad that person is a friend and reinforced my admiration for the guy. Wish I could go visit soon, but life is throwing up the old roadblocks. I will make it happen before terribly long.
Your turn. How was your morning/afternoon/evening/night?
This conference is a nearly annual event staged by Blizzard, who make some of the most popular PC games. It’s all about celebrating them and the fans like me.
There’s usually some news given about upcoming updates or expansions, panels with questions and answers, game demo stations, and even pro gaming tournaments.
There’s also a bit of pin trading action, but I’m not sure how serious I am about that. If I get some pins, cool, but it seems like some time-consuming work to get all the new pins. For me, if it’s a choice between a line for making an “official” trade of a pin and a panel, I’m going to the panel.
Excellent Overwatch cosplay
This year, since the game that’s closer to its first release, Overwatch, is in its beta testing stage, I’m expecting more information for it to be released. Starcraft II has its last expansion out this month, and World of Warcraft’s Legion is not super close, but it’s close enough that perhaps not much more than perhaps a gameplay demo might be up, along with panels, but that’s still worth a look.
When I was initially composing this, I nearly forgot the most important, and memorable part: meeting up with, and hanging out with friends. Sure, that’s a highlight of most cons, but especially so for Blizzcon. You know that you’re not just fans of games in general, but that you’re fans specifically of Blizzard. After all, you’re going to see nothing but events, panels, demos, and merchandise that supports the franchise games of Blizzard. Making new friends as well as renewing current friendships, sometimes while unwinding between panels, or at the end of the show floor hours, are really good times to remember.
Those times approach again. Am I prepared? Maybe (say nothing, Illidan!)
With his muscular build and tall stature, Takeo Gouda is not exactly your average high school freshman. However, behind his intimidating appearance hides a heart of gold, and he is considered a hero by the boys for his courage and chivalry. Unfortunately, these traits do not help much with his love life. As if his looks are not enough to scare the opposite sex away, Takeo’s cool and handsome best friend and constant companion Makoto Sunakawa easily steals the hearts of the female students—including every girl Takeo has ever liked.
Basically, Ore Monogatari!! (My Love Story!!) is the story of how Takeo found a love connection, despite his own personal challenges to that endeavor. This is also while he’s learning how to deal with some basic situations of romance, such as dating and showing affection to his special someone.
Characters
Takeo Gouda – The main character. It’s his love story being told here. He’s a rather tall and muscular teenager at Shuei High School. He’s very good at sports, but also somewhat intimidating. He often is very selfless and kind, even to strangers. Sometimes, he’s unaware that his friendly actions sometimes contribute to that intimidation factor.
Makoto Sunakawa (Suna) – Suna lives next door to Takeo, is one of his classmates, and has been his friend since childhood. He’s considered good-looking and friendly, and, as a result, the girls Takeo had crushes on often fall for him. Take leans on Suna for advice and Suna sincerely helps Takeo in any way he can, to the point where he’s willing to put his own happiness second to Takeo’s.
Rinko Yamato – A student at Koizumi Girls’ Academy, whom Takeo encounters during a fateful subway trip they both were on at the beginning of the story. She is talented at baking sweet foods, which Takeo happens to enjoy. She quickly becomes Takeo’s love interest.
Ai Sunakawa – Older sister to Suna and a student at Ousaki University in Nagoya. Takeo is also friends with her and admires how kindly she treats others, just like her brother. Takeo sees her much like an older sister…
Plot
It all starts with a rescue. Take comes to the rescue of Rinko when she was being groped on a subway. It is then that he falls for her. Most of the remaining episodes deal with Takeo’s efforts and struggles to overcome his own perceived inadequacies, such as lack of romantic skill.
The story takes place from a bit of a mix of perspectives, floating through the thoughts of mostly Takeo, but also from his girlfriend’s when those shifts might make sense. Misunderstandings are often sorted out after those involved tell each other how and why they acted as they did. I’m thinking that this is likely a core takeaway of this series since it’s clearly applicable to reality.
It’s also clear that once those around him who are not his friends are able to understand that Takeo has a good heart, that he quickly begins to have better relations with classmates, gaining friends in the process. His large (for a high-school student) size and good fitness level are also, as he discovers, things that make him uniquely attractive as a person. This likely stemmed from a time where Takeo took further heroic action. After that, there was almost an immediate shift in perception of him. No longer was he seen as an intimidating loner, but as a very admirable member of the community, or even a hero.
It was shown to the viewer, early on, that Takeo was never a loner since he has, throughout this story, had a very good friendship with Suna, who had been his friend for several years. Takeo is, at first, very envious of Suna’s charm and approachability. Many girls are drawn to him and usually ignored or were afraid of Takeo, even after he tried to confess his feelings towards them. Rinko, after the rescue, sees that Takeo is a good person and becomes his best cheerleader throughout.
It’s Takeo and Rinko’s courtship and dealing with the bumps of the early parts of that that are the main focus of nearly every episode, with a brief aside for being good friends to Suna through an emotional struggle he also had relating to his own family.
Speaking of family, it’s also clear that Takeo’s personality is greatly influenced by his parents, with his mom being the strong parent, and his father being sensitive and supportive. Both parents were very supportive of Takeo’s and Rinko’s relationship, and this is while a new member of the family was on the way. Learning about Takeo’s parents was also a heartwarming part of the show. Take would probably not have been who he was if he wasn’t trying to model himself around what he saw as the best qualities of his parents as well as of Suna.
Thoughts
This story is complete and does have an ending that could very well lead to further adventures, but considering that what’s been told so far is very solid, it might (might!) be OK to have a break from this story, to let it settle in.
I wasn’t sure I’d like this upon first glance at the online synopsis (quoted above), and I was not even sure I could relate to Takeo, not being particularly athletic or tall myself. It was the honest romance that hooked me. This is a sometimes light-hearted, optimistic love story. It’s also a story of friendship and family. I think that’s really what makes it worth a watch, even if you aren’t a hopeless romantic like me.
Super Mario Brothers. It was, I think, the first video game I remember staying up really late while playing.
Even though I knew shortcuts to skip levels, warp zones, I was determined to play through every one of its 8 levels.
We (my brothers and I) had received that, as part of the deluxe Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) as a Christmas present, nearly 28 years ago. Before receiving this version, I’d only ever played this game for short periods of time at video game arcades, which I didn’t spend a lot of time in, before receiving the home version. Our parents were definitely more focused on our academic endeavors.
I was more excited to play this game than any other game I’d ever played up to this point, and I’d played a lot since our family also had an Atari 2600 system, with a healthy library. The NES really cemented my own lifelong love of video games.
I knew, even then, that this is something I’d be able to enjoy for a very long time, and even back then, I could not even consider that there would be a time I would not enjoy playing games. I still can’t imagine it.
There are, however, some games with the brothers Mario I have yet to experience. That’s mostly due to a few games being on my plate, as well as the hefty time investment it takes to finish current incarnations. Heck, I still have yet to complete Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii.
Mario Brothers games are also not the only franchise of games I lament being “behind” on. A franchise with another princess, whose name starts with Z, also challenge me to play, and I’m sad, being woefully behind. I would need a 3DS system to work on catching up there. Someday…someday…
Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads. -Doc Brown
The first Back to The Future movie ended with that line, as Doc, Marty, and Jennifer launch, in a flying DeLorean, to the future. Part 2 picks up right after this, and the future definitely looked different. Somewhat outlandishly different.
Clothing that would have been at the edge of fashion in ’85 was the norm in the imagined 2015 world. Advertisements were much more pervasive and even holographic. Athletic shoes had self-tightening laces. Hoverboards, for gosh sakes, were the latest fun way to get around, replacing skateboards. There’s even more, but those are some of the most memorable examples.
So, what’s a tech-savvy person to make of this? Well, there’s some things there that are nearly self-fulfilling projections of the technology of the time. Self-tightening shoes, for example, were really a giant leap and Nike will be releasing matching shoes, inspired by those in the film.
Hoverboards, however, as envisioned in the movie, are ever-elusive, although tech is in the works on, and some practical hovering-based things exist, but they’re mostly more practical things, like cargo moving gadgets, to replace wheels.
Great Scott! The future is now. Meet our Hendo 2.0 #hoverboard #bttf
Not quite as versatile as the ones in the movie, but evolving.
The heavy commercialization and in-your-face advertisement isn’t quite as obnoxious as shown in the film version of 2015, but it does continue its slow crawl towards it, from increasing product placement almost being expected, not just in film, but, TV (which still exists) and even video games.
In a way, I’m a bit glad it’s not such an exact match of the predictions, which usually fall short, especially in more whimsical sci-fi such as this. Things are, in some ways, arguably better (and, not just because the Cubs didn’t even make it to the World Series.) For example, the very wide-spread use of, and even existence of, the Internet. There was not even an inkling that such a communication network would be so big. It’s good that was not imagined since any guess would have been very far off.
Those are just my quick thoughts on this since it was really a summer movie that didn’t get me to thinking too hard on serious issues of the development of society. I was more focused on getting ready for the fall school year since my family hadn’t been in our new place in the suburbs very long while the movie was still new.
[On October 21, 2015,] movie fans celebrated “Back to the Future Day” since it was the day that the characters went to in their time machine. The vision they cast about what 2015 would be like in 1989 is quite different. What do you think about that?
Let me know what your thoughts were, or if you’ve already grown weary of the saturation, that’s fine too. 🙂
definitely more focused on our academic endeavors.