Unlike many of my posts, this one is actually happy and (mostly) complaint free. Just wanted to post a list of my favourite things. Thinking about them makes me happy and realize how much I'm changing all the time.
FAVOURITE...
Food - avocado (in sandwiches, with nachos, and spread on bread)
Movie - The Christopher Nolan Batman series (EPICNESS)
Music - Billy Talent AND Bruno Mars (distinct genres but can't decide between them!)
Colour - Red (I know I had a purple fling, but that's over now...mostly)
Actor - Matt Damon andddd (not to be disloyal) but I'm starting to like Joseph Gordon Levitt (and not just for his acting ;))
Actress - Catherine Zeta Jones (always was, always will be...maybe?)
Online game - LoL (no brainer)
Board game - Clue (but Bang! is right up there, just need to play it recently, and I'm sure it will shoot to the top again!)
Drink - V8 Peach and Mango (sooo good, especially right after work)
Clothing store - Haven't been able to pick any clothes lately, but my largest most recent purchase was at Joe Fresh
TV Show - Dexter HANDS DOWN (my other shows Once Upon a Time and Arrow have been EXTREMELY disappointing as of late)
Friends: Alex and Justin (alphabetized)
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Taylor Oh-So-Slow
Yes, I'm still hating on Taylor Swift. Her lyrics have always aggravated me. I do have to (regretfully) admit that I have 2 of her songs on my iPod because the tunes are pretty catchy. Other than that, I would not consider myself a fan in any regard.
Recent minor aggravation #1: her most recent (I think?) song - We will never ever ever get back together (or whatever it's called). To start with, that's a horrible song title. Second, how did that song even make it to #1 anywhere ever? It sounds like it can't decide whether it's going to be slow or an upbeat song they would play at a club. There's a reason that type of song hasn't been done before. No, it doesn't make you unique, Taylor; it plain sounds bad. Third, the video was pointless and super been-there-done-that--particularly by a REAL MUSICIAN (i.e. Avril Lavigne). The black "nerdy" glasses and the walking around with attitude thing has been done in her Girlfriend video. Try coming up with something original for a change. Now THAT would be something original for her.
#2: The worn-out facade she tries to paint over herself in her lyrics and videos.
"But she wears short skirts I wear t-shirts...
She wears high heels; I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers"
Most of her videos portray her as the plain overlooked girl stuck in the friend zone. As much as I hate the girl, I have to admit she's above average looking--after all she IS a celebrity. Anyway, the point is she can't really identify with that type of girl. Why is she pretending to? Two words describe this perfectly for me: Marketing ploy. That's how Taylor became big. She pretended to empathize with the majority of the female population's problems. I don't find her voice outstanding or anything, and she has a pretty annoying personality as shown in interviews and in the movie Valentines Day (where I'm pretty sure she's not acting).
#3: Pretty much a continuation of #2. Her recent scandal as shown on the front page of celebrity gossip magazines, she was dating some guy and was caught cheating on him with his cousin. How classy, Taylor, but so unsurprising.
Something is seriously wrong with me because I really enjoy writing posts like these. Hate rant over.
Recent minor aggravation #1: her most recent (I think?) song - We will never ever ever get back together (or whatever it's called). To start with, that's a horrible song title. Second, how did that song even make it to #1 anywhere ever? It sounds like it can't decide whether it's going to be slow or an upbeat song they would play at a club. There's a reason that type of song hasn't been done before. No, it doesn't make you unique, Taylor; it plain sounds bad. Third, the video was pointless and super been-there-done-that--particularly by a REAL MUSICIAN (i.e. Avril Lavigne). The black "nerdy" glasses and the walking around with attitude thing has been done in her Girlfriend video. Try coming up with something original for a change. Now THAT would be something original for her.
#2: The worn-out facade she tries to paint over herself in her lyrics and videos.
"But she wears short skirts I wear t-shirts...
She wears high heels; I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers"
Most of her videos portray her as the plain overlooked girl stuck in the friend zone. As much as I hate the girl, I have to admit she's above average looking--after all she IS a celebrity. Anyway, the point is she can't really identify with that type of girl. Why is she pretending to? Two words describe this perfectly for me: Marketing ploy. That's how Taylor became big. She pretended to empathize with the majority of the female population's problems. I don't find her voice outstanding or anything, and she has a pretty annoying personality as shown in interviews and in the movie Valentines Day (where I'm pretty sure she's not acting).
#3: Pretty much a continuation of #2. Her recent scandal as shown on the front page of celebrity gossip magazines, she was dating some guy and was caught cheating on him with his cousin. How classy, Taylor, but so unsurprising.
Something is seriously wrong with me because I really enjoy writing posts like these. Hate rant over.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
OCD Diagnosis Confirmed?
Yesterday's Toronto Star had a front page article on nail-biting as a type of OCD. Seems I was more correct than I thought when I jokingly had my suspicions in an earlier post. Of course there is a range of nail-biting severity, but I think that I am pretty close to or (more likely) included in the OCD group. Just like the OCD-diagnosed individual mentioned in the article, I bite my nails, as well as the skin, which quite often leads to bleeding. Also, it has been an ongoing habit since as far back as I can really remember. Sometimes I am able to refrain from biting for a few months at a time (during which period I celebrate by painting them regularly), but the escape from the "habit" has only ever lasted that long at the most. Other symptoms they mention are superstitious or magical beliefs (sound familiar?) and tapping. As I might have mentioned before, I sometimes tend to type out lines of dialogue as I'm watching movies. Furthermore, I do other strange things like try to have an even number of steps between sidewalk slabs and parking spot lines. This last set of counting symptoms I never really took seriously because it just seemed like a childish habit that I couldn't kick. But in the context of these other "OCD-like" symptoms, I guess it might mean something a little more than that. Anyway, the name of this condition is onychophagia. Pretty awesome name, I must say. I wonder if this self-diagnosis means I need psychiatric attention of any kind? Weirdly enough, these possibilities don't frighten me in the least; they rather excite me.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
A-not-so Legendary League
If you haven't heard, whether from myself in person or from my latest facebook status updates and posts, my current obsession is a game. And yes, not just any sissy game like tetris or anagrammatic anymore (i.e. oldies but goodies) but one of those real-time strategy games. On the bright side, you might say that I'm getting closer to my Korean roots, since Starcraft is the same type of game. My friend Luke has also tried to get me into a similar game, DOTA (Wow).
Nerd Legend for the Un-Nerdy: DOTA = Defense of the Ancients; Wow = World of Warcraft
Anyway, the particular game I'm playing unfortunately isn't Starcraft or Wow, but it's supposedly the next best thing: League of Legends (LoL). How does it compare with its infamous predecessors? Well it's supposedly simpler and most importantly, it's FREE!
For those curious about what the game actually entails...
You choose a champion as part of a team of 4 other champions and you face an opposing team of 5 other champions. The objective is to take out the other team's nexus (base) by taking down their defending towers one-by-one. You accomplish this by helping your auto-spawning minions overwhelm their minions or by killing enemies champions and taking down towers yourself.
I don't have particularly great reflexes, and I get a little tense when I have to make reflexive, split-second decisions in games, so why in the world would I be interested in this game? Not to sound like a broken record, but it is primarily for the POWERS. Each champion has unique abilities that enable you to damage, stun, escape from, or defend yourself against enemy champions. Of course, you also get your pick of spells, boosters (called masteries), and runes! How much more magical can a game get? :)
Let me introduce you to a few of my friends...
Morgana
This is my favourite character because she is ranged and has lots of magic power! She's also supposedly a pretty easy character to play because she has a shield and a stun that often lets her support teammates and escape from enemies more easily. Doesn't her pallid, sickly body turn you on?
Tristana
This is my second favourite character. She is also ranged but does physical damage instead of using "magic". She is basically a trigger-happy little girl with a sizable toy.
Shen
This is not one of my favourites, but because teams need balance, I decided to learn one of the characters that have a lot of health and can thus take a lot of damage (i.e. a tank). I don't usually like playing tanks because I have this impression of them being slow and fat like army tanks, but Shen is bearable. Besides, as his description in the game says, "He's a flippin' ninja!"
So far, I've only really talked about the good parts about playing this game; however, like most things, it is not without its faults. Compared to most other games, the community of players is HORRIBLE. There is so much trash-talking, noob-hating, 12 year old girls, and other individuals with the maturity of a 12 year old girl. I was about to say humanity at its worst, but really it's humanity at its non-existence. Furthermore, outside of the bad players, the basic strategies required to win are immoral and without integrity. What exactly do I mean?
1. First, know this: winning is often achieved by killing enemy champions because you receive money for the kills. This money can be used to buy stat-boosting items. So how can I kill the most champions and thus win?
The best way to kill champions is not by valiantly challenging them to a 1v1 duel. Au contraire! you must gather a sizable portion of your team and jump the enemy champion when they are alone and unprepared! What kind of message are we teaching these 12 year old girls about fairness and self-respect? Certainly nothing about fighting fair; seems all's fair in love and LoL.
2. Staying alive is good. How do you do this?
Well, other than the occasional health potion, heal spell, or whatnot, the most effective strategy is to run away with your tail between your legs. In LoL, there is no shame in running away from a fight when you are dying--in fact, most of the game is spent "running away". Even from the measly computerized minions.
Note: But of course, if your trusty teammates come over to help, you should run right back into the fight so that you can kill the enemy 2v1. Where is the courage? The decency to die with pride?
3. White flag-happy. For certain situations (e.g. you have to go back to real life) I can understand why surrendering is an option but I still hate how it is an option. Even if the game isn't completely set, people are begging their own team to surrender for the whole game instead of actually playing it. Even if you truly have no hope, just play the friggen game! Don't give stupid excuses like "this is a waste of time". Lets be realistic; you're playing an online game instead of going outside, exercising, reading a book, eating amazing food, talking to real people, playing a live board game with your friends/family, etc. I could go on and on! The point is that by being on LoL you're already wasting time. In short, LoL hasn't taught these 12 year old girls anything about perseverence or accepting one's fate gracefully and nobly.
Nerd Legend for the Un-Nerdy: DOTA = Defense of the Ancients; Wow = World of Warcraft
Anyway, the particular game I'm playing unfortunately isn't Starcraft or Wow, but it's supposedly the next best thing: League of Legends (LoL). How does it compare with its infamous predecessors? Well it's supposedly simpler and most importantly, it's FREE!
For those curious about what the game actually entails...
You choose a champion as part of a team of 4 other champions and you face an opposing team of 5 other champions. The objective is to take out the other team's nexus (base) by taking down their defending towers one-by-one. You accomplish this by helping your auto-spawning minions overwhelm their minions or by killing enemies champions and taking down towers yourself.
I don't have particularly great reflexes, and I get a little tense when I have to make reflexive, split-second decisions in games, so why in the world would I be interested in this game? Not to sound like a broken record, but it is primarily for the POWERS. Each champion has unique abilities that enable you to damage, stun, escape from, or defend yourself against enemy champions. Of course, you also get your pick of spells, boosters (called masteries), and runes! How much more magical can a game get? :)
Let me introduce you to a few of my friends...
Morgana
This is my favourite character because she is ranged and has lots of magic power! She's also supposedly a pretty easy character to play because she has a shield and a stun that often lets her support teammates and escape from enemies more easily. Doesn't her pallid, sickly body turn you on?
TristanaThis is my second favourite character. She is also ranged but does physical damage instead of using "magic". She is basically a trigger-happy little girl with a sizable toy.
Shen
This is not one of my favourites, but because teams need balance, I decided to learn one of the characters that have a lot of health and can thus take a lot of damage (i.e. a tank). I don't usually like playing tanks because I have this impression of them being slow and fat like army tanks, but Shen is bearable. Besides, as his description in the game says, "He's a flippin' ninja!"
So far, I've only really talked about the good parts about playing this game; however, like most things, it is not without its faults. Compared to most other games, the community of players is HORRIBLE. There is so much trash-talking, noob-hating, 12 year old girls, and other individuals with the maturity of a 12 year old girl. I was about to say humanity at its worst, but really it's humanity at its non-existence. Furthermore, outside of the bad players, the basic strategies required to win are immoral and without integrity. What exactly do I mean?
1. First, know this: winning is often achieved by killing enemy champions because you receive money for the kills. This money can be used to buy stat-boosting items. So how can I kill the most champions and thus win?
The best way to kill champions is not by valiantly challenging them to a 1v1 duel. Au contraire! you must gather a sizable portion of your team and jump the enemy champion when they are alone and unprepared! What kind of message are we teaching these 12 year old girls about fairness and self-respect? Certainly nothing about fighting fair; seems all's fair in love and LoL.
2. Staying alive is good. How do you do this?
Well, other than the occasional health potion, heal spell, or whatnot, the most effective strategy is to run away with your tail between your legs. In LoL, there is no shame in running away from a fight when you are dying--in fact, most of the game is spent "running away". Even from the measly computerized minions.
Note: But of course, if your trusty teammates come over to help, you should run right back into the fight so that you can kill the enemy 2v1. Where is the courage? The decency to die with pride?
3. White flag-happy. For certain situations (e.g. you have to go back to real life) I can understand why surrendering is an option but I still hate how it is an option. Even if the game isn't completely set, people are begging their own team to surrender for the whole game instead of actually playing it. Even if you truly have no hope, just play the friggen game! Don't give stupid excuses like "this is a waste of time". Lets be realistic; you're playing an online game instead of going outside, exercising, reading a book, eating amazing food, talking to real people, playing a live board game with your friends/family, etc. I could go on and on! The point is that by being on LoL you're already wasting time. In short, LoL hasn't taught these 12 year old girls anything about perseverence or accepting one's fate gracefully and nobly.
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