You Don't Have a Daughter

Games

Beat Bioware's Dragon Age.  Not as great as Mass Effect or Knights of the Old Republic, but not bad either.  It is your standard Bioware RPG so you know what to expect.  You are a (choose class).  Eventually, (bad/good) fortune forces you to become a (jedi/spectre/grey warden).  You then save the known world from the (sith/geth/darkspawn).  The end. 

Beat Vigil's Darksiders.  It is exactly like Zelda.  I never once had to look up a cheat, trick, or hint in this game.  I have to admit that this is a rare occurrence.  The reason is probably because I've done all these friggin' puzzles before in a Zelda game.  Never played God of War, but everyone says that this game's combat rips off that, too.  Honestly, I thought it's combat was like Zelda, but okay, I'll roll with it.  Now, I would call all this a huge coincidence until I started shooting a hand gun that shoots orange and blue portals.  Now, either all game developers are fans of the UVA Cavaliers or Denver Broncos or there are some shenanigans going on.  Sony, Nintendo, and Valve may have a case to sue.  I mean, come on?  You can almost have a class action lawsuit of all the biggest developers against you Vigil!

Politics

Virginia has a Republican governor.  This should not be surprising.  Surely, the Gilmore effect has worn off and the Commonwealth has returned to it's Conservativeness.  For some reason analysts on CNN and probably all the other news stations were acting like Virginia was a solid Democrat state now since we voted for Obama.  Seriously?  First off, we can call that the Bush effect.  Second of all, Poli sci 101 should have told you that this wasn't going to stick.  You see, it is common knowledge that the more people vote the more likely Democrats will win.  Some would say that this is because most people in the United States are liberal, but I believe that the vast majority of liberals are slackers. 

These voters are a real problem.  They are the same guys that have an opinion about everything in the news, but cannot be bothered to spend any time on a Tuesday in November.  They don't understand that voting for President is probably less important than voting for Governor, or mayor, or SHERIFF!  These guys complain about red light cameras, sales tax, and unpaved roads, but they don't even vote in their local elections.  Either shut up or step up to the voting booth every time and not just when the presidency is at stake.

This excerpt is from a movie I like called "Accepted." It was a decent comedy with a nice spin on the usual college comedy fare. In the movie, the main character is rejected from every college he applies to. In an attempt to get his parents off his back, he creates a website for a fake college, and sends himself an acceptance letter. 


Through a series of unfortunate but obvious circumstances, more must be created, which leads to a building, and students, and highly unorthodox classes created and taught by those same students. Right near the end, the main character is being grilled on the purpose of the college he created, and whether or not anyone is learning anything from his non-standardized methods. I happen to think he gave a great speech on the true essence of learning, which of course isn't based on four years at some time-honored institution, but rather on the drive and dedication of each individual to pursue knowledge, regardless of the method and chosen path. I also think that he (and the entire movie, really) touched on the point of acceptance as a whole, and how so many of us choose to conform to the ways of the culture and society that we think we desire to be a part of. A side plot to the storyline is that of the main character's best friend, who coincidentally was accepted to the college of his choice. However, he does not fit the stereotypical image of a frat boy, and as such is continually ridiculed and rejected by the fraternity that he struggles to join throughout the film. I believe the underlying theme and overall message of the film is that you don't have to walk the well-trodden path and achieve acceptance from others to discover yourself and realize happiness. And that, of course, can always be applied to life.




The Excerpt:

"No, I'm not going to answer your question, because you guys have already made up your minds. I'm an expert in rejection, and I can see it on your faces. It's too bad that you reject us by the way we look and not by who we are, just because you want us to be more like them. When the truth is, we are not like them, and I am damn proud of that fact. [Their college] and their 100 years of tradition. A tradition of what? Of hazing kids? Of humiliating anyone who's a little bit different? Of putting so much pressure on these kids that they turn into these stress freaks? Why? Why can't we both exist? Why do we have to conform to what you want?"

"You sir, are a criminal!"

"YOU'RE the criminal! Because you rob these kids of their dreams and of their passions, and that's the real crime! What about you, parents? Did the system really work out for you? Did it teach you to follow your heart or just play it safe and roll over? What about you? Did you always want to be school administrators? Was that your dream? Maybe you wanted to be a poet. Maybe you wanted to be a musician. Maybe you just wanted to travel the world. Look, I lied to all of you, and I'm sorry. But out of that desperation, something happened that was so amazing and it was full of possibilities, and isn't that what you ultimately want for us as parents? Possibilities?

"Well, we came here today to ask for your approval, and something just occurred to me. I don't give a shit. We don't need your approval to tell us that what we did was real, because there are so few truths in this world that when you see one you know it, and I know that it is a truth that real learning took place at [our school] whether you like it or not. It did. Because you don't need teachers or classrooms or fancy high brow traditions or money to really learn; you just need people with a desire to better themselves. And we've got that by the shitload. So you can reject us, shoot us down, do whatever you've gotta do, because it doesn't matter at this point. Because we will never stop learning. We will never stop growing. And we'll never forget the ideals that were instilled in us at our place [of learning]. And nothing that you can say or do can ever take that away from us."

Now, some of you may wonder why I chose to post this up as an excerpt. Being that I chose the excerpt, I think it speaks for itself. However, I shall digress. The idea that learning or mental growth comes from one specific source or one particular path in life is, to put it nicely, silly. Growth can come from literally every path of life. Of course with each path there comes a different style of growth, a different base of knowledge is given, and as such a new way to look at things is learned; however, the point being made is that it can come from ANYWHERE. Assuming that there is only one path to knowledge and understanding is quite possibly the most simple-minded way to look at personal growth. Nonetheless, once you've made the first step of realizing that you can learn and grow from every life experience, then the beauty and knowledge and understanding of the entire world is available to you. And that ... is what this excerpt is all about.

I was originally writing this on a military message board to a guy who described himself as "unfit" asking military guys for tips on how to get fit.  As I was writing I realized my message was getting quite long and no one on a message board would ever read it.  I also realized that these were actually workout goals I've been setting for myself.  Weird.  It's funny because there are a couple people that I know that are trying to get back into shape so I should probably post this for everyone's benefit.

This is an important week in American Football.  One football player starts a two year prison term and another ends a two year hiatus from football due to a 2 year prison term.  I think the two cases are vastly different in magnitude and fault.  However, both of these cases have the same root.  The football players involved in each case had the case of the stupid.  I will focus more on Plaxico Burress rather than Michael Vick with this article, but feel free to fresh up on Vick's dog fighting incident's if you wish.

The Art of Manliness, a new discovery for me, has recently posted up a GREAT article on the importance of paying dues. It's titled "The Importance Of Paying Your Dues." Yup. I mean, I really want to put a quick write-up here explaining my own feelings on how important paying your dues is in this world, and how too often people these days want to skip the whole paying dues process - and what so many others have gone through in paying their dues so that so many of us could live the lives that we've lived - but honestly these manly men have covered it all.

News website Hot Air reposted the President's speech to the kids. Surprise surprise - there's absolutely nothing to worry about. There's no socialist agenda being pushed; kids aren't expected to pick up a shovel tomorrow and fork over their paper route cash to an Obama representative. Old stiff Uncle Obie is just trying to connect with the kids through Harry Potter books, Twitter and Google. Why would anyone be surprised? This isn't a Republican issue; this isn't a Democrat issue. Once again, one party has completely overblown another party's actions. We saw it four years ago, we saw it 12 years ago, we saw it in the Adams vs. Jefferson election (both of them). It never stops. I hope the kids enjoy their day off. I know mine will when I get caught up in the madness and do the same thing 12 years from now.

One of the most interesting comments made was by someone named crosspatch. On the Hot Air blog, the blog author pointed out that when Reagan made a similar speech to classrooms in 1986, he made lots of references to how great he and his administration (and America's military) had performed recently. The author noted that if Obama were preparing to make a similar speech about how great he and his crew were, then Repubs would be up in arms. So does that make Reagan wrong for doing it? Crosspatch, however, had a quick rebuttal to make about that. Here's what he had to say:

"There is a huge difference between Obama today and Reagan in 1986.

Reagan won 49 of 50 states. He won 525 out of 538 electoral votes.
He beat Mondale in the popular vote by over 18 points. In contrast
Obama did no better in 2008 than Bush did in 2004. Obama carried 28
states, McCain won 22. Obama won 365 electoral votes. He won the
popular vote by 7 points.

Reagan was hugely popular with Democrats and Republicans and
Independents. He was inclusive, Obama is divisive. Reagan was like
everyone’s Dad or Grandpa. Obama is like a weasely snake oil salesman.

I believe the country’s reception of Reagan speaking to our kids in
his second term after he had accomplished a lot is much different than
Obama speaking in the first few months when he has pretty much
accomplished nothing."

Excellent point, sir. I made all my points in my earlier post, so I'll just end this one right here.

So I've decided to start posting up bits of various sources and fun stuff that I'm reading from time to time. Hopefully someone will consider them enjoyable, or hey, maybe they'll even provoke some type of thought process. Who knows. Who cares. It's fun to share it with the world. If you don't feel like reading it all, key sentences are in bold print.

So it appears some of the kids are getting an extra day off because Barack Obama - in case you don't recognize the name, that would be the President of the United States - wants to speak to the youth of America in their classrooms. The response of some conservative parents: "WTF kinda BS school are you running here?!"