Start Having Fun Guys

(TvTropers will recognize the title... those who don't know TvTropes, go there. It's a great site.)

Today I read the article aptly named "Stop Having Fun Guys". It's about the people who claim that playing videogames isn't supposed to be fun, but a serious matter that should be done only by the proper ways in order to be the best gamer that you can.

"Why the fuck are you smiling, Pac-Man? This is serious!"

There was a blog linked who supported this philosophy in such a jerkass and arrogant way that I shall not link it. Apparently, enjoying what you do isn't allowed, because it distracts you from doing worthwhile stuff. The memorable things, the important things, you cannot achieve this if you dare to have fun while you do them.

It was very interesting for me, after the week I had. Coordinating multiple events and taking a martial arts exam (the first one I took, which I passed), was stressful on many levels, and it tested me physically, mentally, and professionally. I gave it my all on the last week, and the results were some of the best events we've had in my work and a passing grade on my exam.

And a little tiredness.

Did I enjoyed it? FUCK YES.

You are allowed to not enjoy what you are doing. If you think having fun distracts you from the goal on mind, it's your choice to sacrifice it. Personally, I think that a person who thinks like that is a weak, sad, and boring individual, who will reach the end of its life questioning if it was worth it.

I might complain a lot about what I did last week, but I have no doubts: It was worth it, and I will do it again. Life is beautiful, and like the rain, ephimerous. Don't be afraid of getting a little wet.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day of the big event. Naturally, today is a nightmare of planning and last-minute changes. Just to give you an idea:

- I am calling every single faction that is going to be present to confirm their participation.
- I have to get a sound system somehow, because the guitar ensemble from the hosting school needs it.
- I need to get in touch with my martial arts teacher and confirm their assistance.
- I have to make sure my father arrives is time today so he'll be able to assist tomorrow.
- I have to coordinate a special van, which was first ordered, then canceled, then order again, to be in the school at the right time.
- I have to prepare the list of authorities who will be present at the inauguration.

All of this, I could have done weeks ago, had my bosses remembered! Argh!

Get off my psychic lawn!

Today, fourteen months after breaking up with my ex, and beginning a dork age of almost uninterrupted angst, I have obtained the answer.

I was scared. Of dying alone and loveless.

When you're fifteen, relationships are pretty much a game, of popularity and playfulness. When you're twenty, they become more serious, but nobody'll look at you funny for not having a girlfriend. When you're twenty-five and your close-age friends invite you to their weddings, and in some cases, their children's birthday parties, well...

 

Screw you all. I've got a PS3.

It's a little-known fact that men are more affected psychologically after a break-up than women. That's because while girls open up more easily to their friends about their feelings, the guy will most probably have his girlfriend as the only close confident.

Add to that the fact that I recently moved into another city, leaving most of my friends there, and beginning from zero. It's only in the last months that I have started getting the motivation for going out again, joining a martial arts class, and taking my job more seriously.

No, really.

I have met a lot of people. No prospects for a relationship yet, but I'm getting there. In the event next Wednesday, I expect to see pretty much all of my new friends and acquitances reunited for my sake, so I'll be sure to ake a lot of pictures, to remind myself that in blackest night, in brightest day, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

Cue the Spit Take

Remember that big event I have to coordinate for Wednesday 22?

It's been a toughie. I have so far successfully managed to pretty much ensure the presence of our main ponents, set most of te information modules, and add all the nice details that I could find. I'm a very quirky person, and just thinking about it gets me a bit nervous of messing some detail and screwing it up.

Then I saw today's newspaper, featuring an article about it. Mentioning the name and stuff that's supposed to include, its date and hour. And a big picture of me next to it.

"Pffff!!!"

The Fire Works

After my last post, I think a get-me-up entry is necessary. Today is the bicentennial anniversary of Mexico's Independence (actually, this is the most important mexican holiday, not the 5 de Mayo as widely believed).

The date isn't right, the heroes were flawed humans, a lot of the stories about the Independence are myths, and the results two hundred years later are debatable.

I have seen my country ravaged by war, its authorities and government stripped of all respect because of their corruption. Illegal immigration into the U.S. is still a huge problem. The youth in Mexico has to deal with very poor education and resources, and even worse economy and security. The value of respect and honesty is going down very quickly.

Regardless, we celebrate.

My country is not, has never been, and never will be perfect. But it has given me and many others a home, education, and work. I have met so many good people, I have seen so many good deeds, that I will continue working and fighting for this country, until I am forced otherwise.

This is Mexico's own Fourth of July, and as the fireworks illuminate the sky, we all have to see that light in the middle of darkness.

Fear, Violence, and Intolerance

This lines are motivated by fear. My home faces grim times, and I am afraid that the darkest hour is still to come.

As many of my dear readers will probably know by now, I'm mexican. Not mexican-american, not of mexican parents, not any of those funny titles racists stick on you so you don't get pissed when they start throwing slurs.

I am mexican-born, from the state of Tamaulipas. You probably saw it on the news tonight and shrugged about it:. Of course, every single day here are news of more executions by the organized crime, or shootouts in public places, or mutilated bodies found with drug-dealer messages.

The reason I am writing this is because I fear not only for my life, but also of my family and friends. Drug-related violence and crime is getting closer. Every day, there is another friend or relative commenting on a person they know being robbed, assaulted, or murdered.

Two months ago, a major politician, who would have most probably been elected new governor, was murdered in such a way that it could have only been an inside job. Weeks ago, the bodies of seventy-two central americans were found, having been executed after refusing to join the drug cartels. Barely two weeks ago, bomb cars exploded, blocks away from my office. Today, 85 inmates have escaped from a jail, by the front gate and without a single shot. Corruption is at an all-time high.

Even worse: the Bicentennial Anniversary of Independence is the next Wednesday. The drug cartels have left messages promising to kill and show the decapitated head of the Governor that day. The tension could be cut with a knife. Everyone in this city knows that something big, huge, is coming.

I search in the internet for uncensored information. All the events I mentioned were completely overlooked by the local news, except for the politicians' deaths, and that barely. Even more than the alarming news that I can find, what disturbs me the most is the comments.

I know that internet comments should never be taken seriously, but by God, they are bad. I don't mean just the "deport the illegalz" ones, but the "nuke mexico", "send troops, kill 1/3 of the people and make it the next U.S. state", "round up all mexicans and shoot them in public, that should send the ones down there a message".

Have we really arrived into such a world that such crimes against humanity are committed, and there is a vast amount of people that think the solution is to murder a race? What world is this, and how do I get out?

My country was never perfect, but it wasn't like this. Once, it was a place where you could live, not with the many luxuries and commodities that so many people take for granted and never appreciate, but you could live a long, fruitful life, with honesty and hard work.

I pray to God that if there are good people reading this, may you live a good life, in a better place than this. Honest and noble people deserve a life of peace and prosperity, something that Mexico has ceased to give for its citizens.

Thank you to all. May God bless you.

When you believe...

Yesterday we had a guest in my Haidong class: A paramedic named Joel whom I asked to give us a first-aid class

The class was alright -at one point including a not-a-drill moment when one of the younger members got a bloody nose and Joel cured him. Good thing he was there, our first aid knowledge is not precisely large.

In case of emergency, point and say "Ha-ha!"

After the class, the sensei and a few of us remained to chat, and Joel told us about how a lot of people were ungrateful or downright hostile towards paramedics.

"I earn more than you do, you jerks."

He said that nobody got into an ambulence for the awesome paycheck, and that he was lucky if he slept more than four hour a day. Then we surprised him: We had all pooled a little money to give him as payment for the class, and the sensei gave it to him, a little over 100 U.S. dollars.

 All yours, buddy.

The poor guy held his tears all the way as I gave him a ride home. When we arrived, he said that he had spent his last money of the month in a very expensive book for his classes at Uni and that this money was a blessing.

It was very moving to see that good things happen to good people, if you give them a little time.

It's on, bitch!

As a part of my job, I have to coordinate events called Health Fairs, that include giving prevention classes to an entire school, and setting up representatives of most departments of health agencies.

Just like World Fairs, except we don't appear in the Simpsons.

Last March, I had to set up one that included a school with eighteen groups, and over five hundred students. There was a vaccine module, arterial pressure check-ups, height and weight measurings, conferences, martial arts demostrations, etcetera.

This month, I have been tasked with organizing a much bigger event in a gargantuan school, with more than fifty groups and over 2500 students.

Metaphoric representation.

I can do this. Bring it on, bitch!

Jump in the Bandwagon! "Burn a Quran Day"!

A wacko's made the headlines again, by being as much of an asshole as he can.

In September 11, and in the midst of all the bigots vs. another religion event of the month, Saint Pastor Terry Jones is attempting to set ablaze as many copies of the Quran as he can find. 'Cuz, you know, burning religious stuff totally harms a religion and its worshippers. Must be some kind of shared psychic pain or something.

Those evil anti-Christians!....wait.

Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase. "I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts. "No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil."

 The poor kid has never had anyone to burn his holy books for him.

Of course, setting a bunch of books on fire doesn't exactly propels you to sainthood, but still. They've thought of everything. They even have a little army to protect them just in case someone tries to rescue a book from the flames of righteousness.

Bring the children and we'll give them pocket Quran books so they can burn them too! =D

I'd rather like it if the event has a big assistance. Hopefully all the bigots in the country will assist. With all of these sickos in one place and a burning going on... we can hope, right?

The Good, the Bad, and the Real

Recently I came across a very important book: MAUS, by Art Spiegelman.

Go read it. Highly recommendable.

It's always a pleasant surprise to find something that makes you think about your own work. In this case, it made me think about good and evil.

Most fiction makes it easy for the readers, by separating the cast in two easy categories, good and evil. Reality is not always like that. We know that the worst of crimes can be carried out with the best of intentions. So what happens when we put a fictional person in the "evil" role? How do we portray them as the villain we want to show?

That's actually a trope.

I have read piles upon piles of fantasy books that conform themselves with setting the bad guy in a dark tower, where he lives and does dark machinations, mwahaha.

Boring!

That'd be dealt with very easily in the real world. Either the bad guy's lair would be carpet-bombed to kingdom come, or he'd be elected president.

It all depends on Fox News, really.

I think that the real evil isn't out there, brooding in some dark fortress, commanding its minions to come and get us. That's just a little above the old boogeyman tale.

No, the real bad things happen from inside. From people we trust and love. From those you'd expect it the less. And inside every one of us, there is a surprising amount of darkness waiting to take hold.

Don't waste your time looking for the enemy who's looking to undermine your freedom and terminate your rights. You can face it in the mirror.

What are they waiting for?!

I have seen marvels beyond my imagination during my lifetime.

I have traveled over the clouds in potent birds of steel. I have become one with all the nerds in the world thanks to the internet. I have had lasers shot at my face to heal and not vaporize my eyes. I have had entire orchestras playing inside a device that fits in my pocket.

SO WHERE THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?:

- Something that'll help people park inside a painted square.
- Bottlecaps that won't break my fingers in the cold winter.
- A comic that'll automatically sensor if the reader's an adult and show (female only) nipples.
- A GPS that'll point me towards true love.

Perhaps I will see these things in the 80-something years I have left, assuming I don't die in a way that'll assure a violent revenge.

Shaping up the Novel

My novel is progressing, but it needs a lot of adjustments. For example, the title. Is there anything more childish and stupid than "The Magic Extinction"? And that's the overall trilogy title.

The ones I've come up with for each books are possibly worse. The first book's working title is "The Heirs of Magic". The second one, "Vigerens Fall" (I actually like that one. It's a wordplay). The third one I haven't even thought of. I'm putting all of my mediocrity batteries on the first book for the moment.

The novel, as you might have already guessed from the titles, is a fantasy. Not a medieval fantasy, though, which seems to be the standard for about 75% of fantasy novels out there. And it's not precisely an urban fantasy. The world it's set in has a little modern technology in the western continent, and much moe advanced in the eastern one. That's because of the two races living on them, mages and non-mages, respectively.

There are no elves, dwarves, dragons, unicorns or even horsies here. There are two "magic" swords, and both of them are destroyed by the end of the second book. There are no kings or princesses, o orphan farmboys, no evil chancellors, no dark towers of the evil, evil wizards.

It's the story of a world as it faces it's armaggeddon. It's also the story of a young man who learns his place in the world. There are but two characters I'd call "evil" in the entire story, and they're very human, cruel, and ruthless, and perhaps because of that, more dangerous and harmful than any dark overlord sitting on a dark tower. The true antagonists are forces of nature, beyond good or evil.

It might sound very pretentious, but I assure you that I just want to tell my story. I only hope it's written well enough so that few readers will put it down before finishing it.