Nintendo DS on eBay

In order to ‘make room’ for a PS3 this holiday season, I’m selling my Nintendo DS.  It’s listed on eBay right now, so if you’re interested, check it out at this link.

I am also selling some DS bundles of games.  These include:

• Pokemon Pearl (DS), Pokemon Ranger (DS), and Pokemon Emerald (GBA)
• The Urbz: Sims in the City (DS) and Sims 2 (DS)
• Spiderman (DS), Mario Kart DS (DS), and Star Wars: Lethal Alliance (DS)

See these at my store here

Bidding will be on-going until next week.

“Friend”ship

It’s curious.  Friends are supposed to be.. well, your friends. They’re supposed to cheer you up, give you advice, be a shoulder to lean on.  Dictionary.com defines a friend as:

1.	a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.

2.	a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter

 

Yet it seems also that friends are a constant source of worry and anxiety, and sometimes even despair and anger.  ”Friends” pick on us because they believe it’s all in jest.  They boss you around and take advantage of you.  And what do we do?  Bitch ‘em out?  Put them in their place?  Nope.  We try to deal with it, we cry over it privately, we vent to other friends.  I say “Drop ‘em” and they say “But they’re my friend!”  Really?  Then why are they causing you so much distress?  What’s the point of saving a friend when they aren’t your friend?  Sure, there’s a difference between a constant annoyance and a one-time clashing of views.  But when these occurrences become more frequent and even constant, something has to be done.  Either talk it over with said friend and try to work it out, or drop ‘em.  I know it may seem harsh, but truly there are plenty of fish in the sea.

 

Now I guess reading back this all sounds really harsh.  I guess more harsh than I even really believe.  But, alas, I am too lazy to revise.  So let me just clarify.  There is no need to be mean to this person or annoying–there’s nothing worse than dropping to the antagonist’s level.  But why worry about all this so much?  Do we worry this much when other random people do stuff that annoy us and we get mad at them?  No.  Now it is different if you have deep feelings for this person, but if their actions have truly led you to dislike them, then it is as simple as that.  You dislike them, and you may be able to work it out, and if so, you can either try and sit them down, or you can continue on living your life and see how things pan out.  But worrying incessantly over it is not going to solve anything.  So, like I said.  Friends are supposed to be kind, supportive; they’re supposed to make you laugh and cry, both for joy.  They’re supposed to be your rock.  And if they can’t live up to that, if they start to annoy you or even piss you off, then they are not your friend; don’t fret, just talk to another, real friend.

Judgment

Three words, used more often in the stereotypical, angsty teenage vocabulary than most any other: “Don’t judge me”.  They say this to you as they pull a cigarette out of their pocket, craving a drag after school.  Or as you overhear them as they arrange a meeting with a friend to ‘get baked’ sometime this week.

Some may say that judgment occurs when we label the person that gets high every day a ‘pot head’.  However, are we just in labeling this person such, if he or she in fact does smoke pot?  Don’t labels exist for a reason–to categorize people for the sake of easy classification/identification–and is this categorization so unfounded when it occurs?

Of course we all judge someone or something (maybe not all the times, but at least pretty often) too soon, and this is to be avoided.  But when a label is based on time-tested facts, doesn’t it make sense?

The problem I think lies not in the fact that we label people when they smoke, or do drugs, or some other unsavory activity.  The problem is that we attach negative connotations to these labels, so that these people cannot be good people because of their habits.

But the fact is that although many people do many things that you may disagree with, it doesn’t mean the person himself or herself is bad.  I know someone who smokes cigarettes and does drugs, yet this person is set on saving the world and promoting equality, peace, and all that jazz.  So this is where not judging comes in.  This person may be a “smoker”, and may be a “druggie”, but these labels do not detract from his or her overall goodness.  It isn’t about the labels, it’s about the connotations associated with them.

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I Can Stand to Stay Right Where I Am

I just got back from Sheldon Calvary Camp in Conneaut, OH, on the shore of Lake Erie.  It is quite the amazing place.  I don’t know what it is about the camp, but I seem to become closer with myself & with God when I am there.  I had a lot of time to think, and have some blog entries I want to write about in the next coming days.  I had one planned on Seniority, but I forget what the meat of my musings was, so I’m gonna’ skip it.

SCC is just such an amazing place.  It’s been said many times before, and much more eloquently I’m sure, but the little plot of land off the coast of Erie inspires me every time, and just after my 2nd year attending, I’ve thinking of giving my summer to counseling there in the future.  At SCC, you can be yourself, without worrying about the effects of materialistic labels, because there are none.  People respect you for who you are, not what your front makes you out to be.  I think this openness is what helps me find myself & where I belong in this grand scheme.

Calvary Camp is one of the reasons I know God must be.  How could something so beautiful exist without divine intervention?

~Rough sketch of things that may or may not be to come:~
Decisions (a sort of extension on my Blood Sugar Sex–Not so Magical post)
Seeing God in the World
Friendship
Forgiveness
Priorities

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Mediocrity

We are always told by parents, teachers, guidance counselors, and family that “you are special”, especially when we are feeling down.  What makes me special is the numerous areas that I am ‘good’ at.

I’m at least above average in art, I can sing well, I can play the piano (but I’m certainly nothing special), and I’m smart, but I stink at sports.  Now when comparing myself to others, (which you may say is bad to do, but stop lying; we all do it) I often find that while they may be better than me in one subject, I can usually “beat” them in another subject, or multiple subjects.

For example, Sample A is somewhat smarter than me, and can play the violin much better than I can play the piano, but I can sing better than him or her, and am also better at art.  It is this balance of attributes that makes us all unique, and to some extent, equal.  Now I will be the first to dispel the delusion that we are all equal: we are not made equal, as shown by a comparison between Albert Einstein and little Johnny Smith down the block.  But though Einstein may be much, much smarter than Johnny, Johnny doesn’t have to be, for example, a Michael Jordan of sports, to stand toe-to-toe in “goodness” with Einstein.  However the assemblage of traits that we all have, and which are different than everyone else’s, does give us a uniqueness that makes someone special.

Now, to the title of my entry.  Out of all of the traits for myself listed above, the one I am “best at” per se, is being smart.  I am a little better than mediocre at art, and am still pretty good at singing, I’d say, but ‘mediocrity’ is certainly a good word to describe my piano skills (and is an overstatement for my athletic prowess), as well as describing a lot of other traits I possess, like my knowledge on Greek Mythology, my ability to code, general knowledge of fashion, etc.  These mediocrities is what makes me who I am–I, and most probably everyone else, can rattle off a list of these things that they are mediocre.  And because there are so many of these things, I think our mediocrities is what truly defines us.  In this way, we are all a sort of Jack-of-all-trades, and it is what makes us special, different, and maybe even “better” than the next person.

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Failure.

Failure is such a frustrating thing.

This Should Keep Us All Thinking

I just want to dedicate today’s journal to this really powerful video I saw today.

This Should Keep Us All Thinking

After watching the video:
An increasing amount of people question God nowadays.  This classroom is like a miniature version of our world today.  With everything going on, people question God’s presence in our lives.  I think its interesting that the video pointed to the fact that no one has faith, that the world is “going to Hell”.  While I still have faith in humanity, there can definitely be some changes.  And these changes don’t necessarily have to come with believing in God.  It comes with abiding by the morals of the Bible, and not necessarily believing in Jesus, God, or the Trinity.  You do not become a better person by believing in God, so much as you become a better person by following Jesus’ teachings.

Even if you don’t believe in God, (and I am not comfortable in converting anyone, so let’s not go down that path) it does not mean you have to throw your ideals and morals to the wayside and live a sinful life.  The drive to live a good life, to better yourself, and to help the people around you, should still be there.

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Blood Sugar Sex – Not so magical.

The following post is my musings, and therefore, my opinions. It is not meant to call anyone out, or to bash anyone in any way.

After a year of high school, it’s been interesting looking back on how I’ve changed. Most notably, my attitude towards things like sex, drugs, and alcohol have changed–though don’t worry, not too drastically that I would dream of doing any of them. In a high school environment where all of these things are so commonplace, such non-issues, it begins to rub into someone that these things are OK.

For proof, my level of swearing has definitely gone very up. Although swearing is no where as serious as the three things listed above, it’s a “pathway crime”, so to speak, and unchecked, it could lead to these things. Teachers, guidance counselors, and guest speakers always tell kids in schools how peer pressure is such a problem & an overwhelming cause of illegal or immoral behavior. I would laugh and tell the people around me that no one could ever talk me into smoking, or pass it off as a ‘cool thing to do’. While I still think this is true, I now see a much more subliminal form of peer pressure; a much more effective form of peer pressure. In high school, at least in my experience as a freshman, no one comes right up to you and says “Drugs are sweet. Wanna’ try?” or “You’re so lame because you don’t drink. Have a beer with me after school”. However the mere fact of being around these activities, and hearing about it so much by listening to conversations of more “adventurous” kids, I begin to believe they are okay practices.

I think this is where the danger lies. The slow and subconscious acceptance of these behaviors, which ultimately leads to bad decisions, maybe not right off the bat, but by the end of sophomore year, or junior year, or for the more stalwart, senior year.

One has to make a conscious effort to stay away from these things, and recognize the forces at work, to stay on the right track.

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Everyone’s flocking to Flock, the social web-browser

I just go this new web browser called Flock, powered by Mozilla.  It’s really nice–it features a side panel that displays all my Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, and blog updates, and has the capacity for a lot more, such as YouTube, Flickr, etc.

I recently added a Windows partition to my Mac via BootCamp so I could play Sims 3, and I found that Flock is a nice, simple web browser for my purposes–mainly to pass the time when my Sim is at work or sleeping.

So if you’re looking for something new, check out Flock, at Flock.com.


In other news, I think I wanna try starting a little journal on here.  Hopefully I can get on at least once every two days or so, and just write a little bit.  It won’t be overly personal, as this is the internet, and I do have this URL posted on my Facebook, but it’ll probably be mostly reflection and self-discussions about life.  So if you’re interested, stay tuned.

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Academic Games, Day 1

We are in the hotel now–we are at the Hilton.  It’s nice, and has free Wi-Fi, which is so very nice when trying to connect with the sane world.  Hi to all my theatre peeps, sorry I couldn’t come to rehearsal, I hope all went well.

 

Academic Games is pretty boring, and I almost wish I was back in Pittsburgh right now.  Soon enough, I suppose.