The American Dream

Read this article first. Now, having read that article, lemme comment on it a bit, okay?

In short, the article says some good things. The article talks about a large community (a “church”) of believers in the United States who realize that they can do something more with their money than increase their own pleasure. They donate their time and money to others instead of themselves. They follow the principles of the Bible. Good. That's what Christians are supposed to do. However, what I find interesting is how the article explains and contextualizes their actions. They're doing this, apparently, in rebellion to the “American Dream.” The article uses a pretty decent and often used definition of the American Dream, authored by James Truslow Adams who said, “[the American Dream is when]. . . each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.” Honestly, this sounds pretty much what the American Dream is supposed to be all about. What I find disturbing about this article is the community of believers it references in questions apparently believes that this ideal is incompatible with the Bible and with Christian ideals, the author says, “Instead of congratulating us on our self-fulfillment, he confronts us with our inability to accomplish anything of value apart from God. Instead of wanting us to be recognized by others, he beckons us to die to ourselves and seek above all the glory of God.”

In all honesty, this guy has no idea what he is talking about. He doesn't get what the American Dream is about. The American Dream isn't about greedy jerks grabbing what they can and then being happy about their “success.” The American Dream is the hope that, if a person uses their skills properly, and works honestly, they will attain a relevantly successful position in society. The American Dream is part of American Culture, its rooted in the idea that all men are created equal and we all have the same rights and the ability to pursue our dreams and achieve a happy life. The author seems to equate our dreams and a happy life with materialism, but that's not true at all.

See, a lot of people can't pursue their dreams, or at least they feel they cannot pursue their dreams. Some people, its finances. Imagine a little boy in say, India, who lives in a slum, hardly speaks English, and lives in a family of 5, all of which survive on their fathers meager salary of something like 2 dollars a day. This kid wants to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a successful businessman. Honestly, I can say, that unless that kid is really lucky, stays in school, learns English, and is very, very bright, he will never make it to any of those careers. At best, he'll end up a little better off than his parents, most likely. Imagine the same Indian kid, but now imagine him as a member of the growing urban middle and upper-middle class. This kid has the financial ability to be a doctor, he has the academic ability to be a doctor, his father has the connections to get him into a very good school in India, and then plans on sending him overseas to Australia or the UK to finish his degree. But the kid by the time he's about 17 realizes he doesn't want to be a doctor, he wants to be a musician. He wants to play guitar in a Western-styled rock band. His parents have, up until now, allowed him to mess around on his guitar, and even paid for some lessons, because none of this interfered with his studies. But they will hear no word of any career except being a Medical Doctor. This kid isn't going to be able to pursue his dreams either.

Compare those two kids to someone I know. My friend, let's call him John, isn't necessarily the smartest guy in the world, but he works hard and he has motivation. He wants to please his parents and he wants to make use of the money they have spent on his education. When he graduates, however, instead of going into university he says he will do a six-month training program that his parents' organization does in Germany. The training program teaches John more about God and more about how to be a better Christian, as well as continuing to inform him of his many spiritual gifts. Robert really has a good time at this training program, and hey, lots of kids take gap years, right? Well then what happens is a bit out of the ordinary. John decides to remain at the school and staff the school, helping the leaders of the school teach the material to a fresh batch of students. Okay... so now this is a bit unheard of, and a few of his friends and family just kinda hope he'll go to school the year after that. John has no plans of going to university though. His parents' organization have training programs, and though the degree he will get will be unaccredited, it will be a “university” degree. That's what he is planning on getting. Now, some of his relatives are not really into this idea. They want him to do something different, but his parents understand. They have worked with this organization for a long time, and they want their song to follow the path that God has set out for him, not try to do what other people think is better for him. THIS, this is freedom. That's what the American Dream is about, its about pursuing what is best for you, no matter what other people think.

So, maybe I'm seeing a different translation of the American Dream. Maybe this author isn't seeing so much what the American Dream should be (the freedom to follow your dreams and still be successful) as the reality of American Culture (See: American Beauty; unhappy, rich materialistic Americans who fake everything because hey, money = happiness, right?). If that's so, he has a valid point. We need to focus less on ourselves and more on others, realize that we are not the center of the universe and instead of asking “how will this benefit ME” ask “how will this benefit MY COMMUNITY.”

The American Dream is about the freedom to pursue what interests you, the passions that God has given you, the abilities you have. The American Dream is not about being materialistic and getting rich. The knowledge that I can do whatever I want WHATEVER I WANT with my life is amazing. The six guys I know best from here in Bangladesh, of them, only 3 can do that. Those two? Yeah, they're parents are A) really strong believers B) foreigners. Conclusion? Bangladeshis aren't free to pursue their dreams. They have to pursue the plans of their families and communities or suffer the consequences. That's... really depressing.

So yeah, that's my thoughts on this little article and the American Dream. Freedom = Good. Materialism = bad. The movie American Beauty does a great job explaining why all materialism is so bad in the character of Carolyn. There are probably other books/movies (The Great Gatsby?) that do the same thing, but that's the one I've actually read/watched.

Favorite songs of 2010

So a friend did this recently and I thought I'd follow suit. These are what I'd say are some of the "best" songs I listened to a lot this year. Mostly its metal stuff, I mean, I do mostly listen to metal mostly, but there are a few other songs on this list. Its all on youtube (love youtube) so feel free to check out the songs if you like them.

Uis Elveti --> Eluveitie

This song is just... awesome. It really has everything that good music should have: it has some darn fine melodies that synergize very well with one of the strongest beats I've heard in a while. It has some awesome instrumentation during the solo (this is also a great part to get that mosh pit started. :D) as well as some very raw, very strong Death Metal Vocals. Now, obvioulsy, the vocals are a turn off for a lot of people, but I hold that Chrigel Glanzmann is one of the better harsh vocalists out there. Its an aquired taste, yes, but he does a good job.


Nightfall (Live) --> Blind Guardian

These guys are amazing, and this song is one of those great “softer” metal songs that just leave you begging for more. I love Blind Guardian. :D Also, its about Lord of the Rings. LORD OF THE RINGS! Well, technically, the Silmarillion , but still, its pretty amazing.

Hey Driftwood (Tides) --> Children 18:3

What happens when you combine Homeschool+Christian+Rock Music? You get Children 18:3, a Punk/Alt Rock band of 3 homeschooled siblings. This is the band I wish my family could create, sadly, only my brother has the musical talent to ever dream of seriously preforming in a band. Anyways, its really hard to pick one of their songs, but I like this one a lot. Its one of those alt-rock songs that I think works really well. Honestly, all of their songs are amazing, listen to this band.

The World is a Thorn --> Demon Hunter

Demon Hunter is one of the few Christian acts I can really call quality musicians. Most Christian Music is CCM Crap, carbon-copied pop and consumer friendly music with semi-spiritual or spiritual lyrics that repeat the same 3 ideas about God over and over again. At least, in my experience. Demon Hunter takes all of that, laughs, and then hammers you with their tremendous blend of Hardcore and Groove Metal while assaulting you with real Christian Theology. The World is a Thorn, the title track of their latest effort does all, again, and again. When I heard this song for the first time I realized how much this band has evolved systically, from mostly Hardcore to mostly Metal, but is still a band that has never, once, ever, compromised spiritually. Their lyrics are still as amazingly relevant to my life in this 2010 release as they were in their debut 2000 release. How many bands can say that? I don't think a lot can. That's talent. That's anointing. Listen to this song.

The Wanderer --> Elvenking

Erm... I can't remember if I listened to this song a lot during my last semester of High School or the semester before that, but I'm gonna put it up there anyways. This band... is actually pretty horrible. This song... is actually not that good. But you know what? When I heard this song I was like “YES! THIS IS ME!” I listened to it a lot. Was it really important, in the long run? No, but this was one of those songs that I listened to because I was like... “yeah... I wish I could be like this song right now.” Which is funny, cuz I've listened to a lot of music, and none of that has happened before or after. Oh well.

I wrote this quite a while ago, well, about 3 days ago. Anyways, its an update. So here you go.

You know, traveling internationally is a really interesting experience. I'll be honest, traveling domestically, in the same country, is also interesting, but not near as much as international travel, especially when you hit major international hubs. I just ate food, in Doha, served to me by Bangladeshis. The people sitting next to me, I THINK are British, I can't hear actual words, but the accents are british and the guy has an English Language book. I know their not America; at least I'm pretty sure. Actually, thats an entertaining thing about Europeans in general. 90% of the time, they could be American, I mean, they're white, haha. But you get to know enough Europeans and, except maybe the Brits who always struck me as very similar to Americans, they all actually look pretty different. Different fashion preferences are the main giveaway; language is another, haha. Anyways... so there are people from South Asia, East Asia (so many East Asian looking people! I'm actually surprised), the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and obviously America. The only major people type I haven't noticed are South Americans... erm... I'm not sure how to describe them. Brown, but not South Asian brown, or Middle Eastern Brown. And they speak Spanish and/or Portuguese, not Arabic or Hindu or English or anything like that. I'm gonna guess the couple that walked past me was from Scandinavia. I am probably wrong; they could easily have been speaking German or Dutch.

Another fun thing about Traveling Internationally, especially across several time zones (it takes forever to get from Johannesburg to London; its also about the same time zone), is that Time, or your sense of time... disappears. In a sense, time has no meaning. There are no clocks around me to tell me what time it is. I look outside and its dark, but I don't know what that means. In some countries, it gets dark at like 5PM, in others, 10PM, all I know is that its late enough to be dark in this country. Obviously, this is even less relevant if you don't have a lot of windows. I can estimate the time, based on common sense and the departures screens around me, but honestly, the exact time doesn't matter right now. All that matters is I make my flight, which I will, because, honestly, I'd be an idiot if I didn't.

What's also fun is something that has cropped up really only in the last 5 or 6 years of traveling: the search for a plug. I know this is something that has come up after I was born, because there was a time when only the elite businessman carried a laptop. Now it seems, especially amongst those that travel often (you can tell the type, often times) or the younger people (I fit both categories, yes!) laptops are very common. Mobiles, and mobile gaming devices as well. There is “charge station” just a short walk to my left—every socket has a plug in it with either a laptop or mobile plugged into it and people doing everything from watching movies to working. When you travel internationally, the ability to jump right on to the internet and send your friends and family a short email or facebook message (because, honestly, despite everyone having a cell phone, most people still don't have international roaming) and say “hey! I'm in X airport. Flight was good, ect.” That, or just waste time on the internet because you have nothing better to do. When I flew to the states with my dad about a year ago (more like 18 months, actually) I got out my laptop, plugged it in, and watched Naruto for a few hours. That's the beauty of digital age.

In a lot of ways, I think traveling internationally, despite being expensive and tiresome, oh and stressful too (why do I always panic right as I go through security? I don't know; I've never done anything remotely illegal in the airport), its also... interesting. Its an adventure, and yes, this is me, the guy who doesn't like to adventure much, but I think I kinda like this sort of adventure. Finding your next gate, looking for where you can get free food, trying to figure out if the guy sitting next to you is Turkish or German (that is actually really easy, haha), window shopping, exploring the airport, its all really cool, and in a way, I like it. Strange as it may sound, but I think I could spend a great deal of time sitting in an airport just watching people, seeing what they do, trying to figure out where they are from and why they are traveling. Laugh at the silly tourists and nod approvingly at the professional businessmen . Its all... so interesting.

Another thing I was thinking about... something completely unrelated note, since I have nothing better to do and despite not having slept properly in something like 24 hours now am still quite awake, I'm going to talk about... erm... how do I say this: normality.

Now, I think a lot of people want to be normal. That's... not a bad thing. I think the funny thing is how I don't want to be normal, at all, and I think it stems from the same reason, honestly. I watched a movie on the airplane (its one of those things people do on airplanes these days, watch movies), and the main character said something like “I just want to fit in and be normal.” To this character, fitting in meant being normal, it meant following the general conforms of the culture and society he dwelt in: Modern Day New York City. For me, fitting in, actually doesn't meant that. I want to be normal, I want to follow the general conforms of the culture (not so much society, however) I choose to dwell in. But the thing is... that's a fringe society. I grew up amongst the international community and amongst friends who were, because of their positions in life, either a part of that community themselves or internationally minded. I'm a TCK, part of a TCK's heritage is being international: we have within our culture elements from ALL cultures. Sure, I don't know much about Africa, but to me, an Africa TCK is just the same as a TKC from Europe or South America, or even from somewhere I know like South Asia or America (I have yet to meet a person who was not from America that grew up there... actually wait, I've met one guy, and only briefly).

So obviously, my heritage as a TCK is part of this: TCKs really, honestly, can't be “normal” in the sense that we can integrate ourselves into society. At least, we can't do that without masking our true identity (something we are actually very good at doing... so it does happen). We can't integrate without losing part of ourselves, something an American from New York City living in New York City shouldn't have to do. Oh sure, he might have a hard time making friends, but, culturally he shouldn't have any problems, unlike a TCK. However, that's not the only part of my heritage that makes me not really care about being ordinary.

Again, I was surrounded by unordinary people. My father was the first person from his side of the family to have left the United States long-term in decades. I was the first person from my paternal grandfather's side of the family to have been born outside of Texas since my ancestors immigrated from Germany. One of my best friends in Dhaka, his dad moved to Bangladesh when he didn't really speak much English, let alone Bengali. I haven't asked him, but I get the feeling he would likely admit to being a foolish and eager young man who wanted to do something out of the ordinary. He had the right motives, God had called this person to move to Bangladesh to work there and raise a family there, but the man was still very young and likely did not realize what exactly this entailed, and how revolutionary and powerful his step would be in crafting his own company and the nation of Bangladesh, the person I speak of was unordinary. A lot of people around me were unordinary like this person, they came to South Asia with no money, little education, but a lot of faith. That's something we don't see too often these days. People laugh at you when you do something crazy like move to India just after you finish high school. Why would an 18 year old from the 1st World waste his entire life doing volunteer work in a poor, corrupt, backward nation like Bangladesh or India? Stay in your home country and get a job first, then maybe consider doing some work elsewhere. That's not how the people I know did it, that's not the heritage I have. Ordinary isn't who I am, I'm unordinary because of my background, and to try and “blend in” to American culture, or whatever culture I end up living in long-term, would be living a lie, a sad, pitiful lie.

Finally, to against draw back onto that idea of people who came to South Asia with little or no education, or with not a really good idea of what they were going to doing, they were pioneers. When my parents moved to India, they were some of the first to do what they were doing for their company in South Asia. They pioneered things that no one else in their company had done in that part of the world. They trained and recruited people and expanded that specific field of our company all over South Asia: India, Nepal and Bangladesh. They were pioneers. When the man I mentioned above came to Bangladesh, his company did not exist in Bangladesh: he was the first one. That company now has hundreds of members all over the nation and has effected hundreds, if not thousands, of other people, all within the span of 25 years. These people were pioneers, men and women who did things that no one had done, gone places their friends or co-workers hadn't. Its rubbed off on me. There was a time when I thought I would be the “normal” one in my family. My brother and sister would do something crazy and exotic, while living in the South Pacific or Europe or Africa or something like that. I know that's a lie now, and I'm likely to be just as crazy exotic as they are. At one point I realized, if I did pursue law, and did move to India, that meant I'd be an American Lawyer, with an American Law degree, attempting to practice law, or regulate law, or create law in India. That is, by the way, pretty much the craziest thing I've heard of. How does an American Citizen create Indian laws when he can neither vote nor run for election in that country? That's pretty crazy.

Yeah... my point is, I think I've given up on being ordinary. At one point I thought I would actually settle down and work a 9-5 job at some office in a city in the US. Now I know I couldn't settle for something so... mundane. That's what BORING people do. (no offense to my various friends and relatives who actually do that, but its boring compared to what a lot of people I know do. Why do that when you could teach primary healthcare in Bangladesh? Or Run Bible Schools in a Castle in Germany? Or work with Crack Addicts in San Francisco? Or prostitutes in Calcutta? Or HIV/AIDs patients in South India? WHY?!) I'm not saying I want to do any of those as a profession, but the point is, I know too many people who didn't settle for ordinary or the status quo of their society to go back to that society and say, “hey, you're pretty cool, I want to be a part of you.” That status quo is, after a fashion, cool, and to be frank, we need those office workers and 9-5 people to make our world run. But I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be an unordinary pioneer.

Elementz Tier List Comments

So my sister told me to blog, so here I am, blogging.

Yea, a lot has happened these past few weeks. Its hard for me to think that my 1st Semester of college is just about over. I just got here, and already I'm nearly 1/8 of my way through a four-year degree. Scary!

I could rant about my registration woes, but I think I'd rather just you know... not do that and save your time. I register tonight and I'm going to have to be creative in what classes I take, cuz several classes I wanted are now full. I'll see if I can't get around that though.

Anyway,s my main topic is another rant: How stupid people are and why they shouldn't read Elementz tier list.

Who is Elementz? Well he's one of the celebrity LoL players these days, he's part of CLG, the team that holds the title of WCG Champions and is thus considered one of the best players in the world when it comes to League of Legends.

Now, because he likes doing it, Elementz has a public tier list. What is a tier list? Well see, LoL has dozens of champions, and in a game with that many heroes it impossible for them to all be equally viable and powerful. So Elementz arranged all the heroes into a list from Tier 1: Must pick/Must ban to Tier 5: Never pick.

However, there are a few disclaimers about this list. First of all, its an opinion. What does that mean? That means Elementz is human and only 1 of the many good top tier players and only has limited experience. A good example of one of his mistakes was when he underestimated Twisted Fate for a good long time. At one point, Twisted Fate was stupidly imbalanced until they reworked him. Then, for a long time, he was well... meh... as far as Elementz and the American players thought. Then, suddenly, WCG came along and Europe started playing Twisted Fate. A lot. They owned with Twisted Fate till the point where The North American team just said, “Screw this, we're BANNING twisted fate.” Basically, they realized that Twisted Fate was a powerful enough hero in the hands of the Europeans to use one of North America's two bans on him. As a note, this was a key move in North American beating Europe. So yea... :D

Now, Elementz is human, he messes up. BUT there is a reason why his tier list should be considered generally accurate for most champions, and that is because Elementz is really, really good. However, you have to remember that his list also expects a certain level of... skill.... with some champions. For instance Anvinia is a really good champion, but is really hard to play, so if you don't know what you're doing, you're liable to actually hurt your team more than anything. On the other hand, Annie is stupidly easy to play well. She also happens to be really good... so yea... she's awesome.

Finally, people don't understand what the Tiers actually mean. For instance, Teemo is a tier 4 champion. Now, when you consider there are probably two dozen or more champions that are higher tiers than him, this sounds like he isn't very good. However, that's not entirely true. Teemo is very good at what he can do in a specific team composition, especially given a certain enemy team composition. Teemo's problem is that what he does is really specific. Teemo counters auto-attack, physical DPS champions that are really powerful. What does this mean? This means you don't pick Teemo until the enemy has picked a hero like that. Someone like Kog'Maw or Tristana is a good example. Now, the thing is, both Kog'Maw and Tristana, while perhaps Ban-worthy are not, as far as I know, 1st picks. This means that Teemo is at minium a 3rd pick, at minium. Now mind you you only get 5 picks and if the enemy gets first pick (something that isn't ideal, but let's role with that), this means that you're going to actually want to pick Teemo as your 5th pick. If you are picking 2nd he is a 4th or 5th pick. Why is this? Because there are more important heroes to pick! Lots of them!

Teemo rocks. Teemo is a final last grab when its apparent that the enemy has a strong DPS hero like Kog'maw.

This is what people don't understand. Teemo is VIABLE!!!!! Teemo is not a 1st pick or a ban or a 2nd pick or probably even a 3rd pick. That might happen if the enemy pulls out Ashe, Kog'Maw, and Olaf right away, then you can pick Teemo, but a smart team won't do that.

So yea, what does this mean? Lemme recap really quickly:
Tier One: Very powerful, game-changing heroes. So powerful they require new strategies to counter them. Sona is a good example. Sona is the best darn pick in the game. She is so powerful that you should probably just ban her if you know the enemy has a good Sona player. Sona has a good damage output, decent heal, and a small AoE stun

Tier Two: like the about, but not necessarily Ban-worthy. A good example might be Zilean. Zilean is pretty awesome because he lanes like a boss and this his ultimate is soooo freaking good that is pretty much changes how a team battle is fought. His ultimate is basically a free Guardian Angel. This is huge. Now you have to either kill Zilean first and deal with the fact that Kog'Maw and Warwick and Garen are hitting you for a lot of damage, or you kill Kog'Maw and have Zilean use his ulti and then kill Kog'maw again. So yea, that's Tier one and Tier two

Tier Three: This is going to be the heroes that are good, but not 1st Picks. This is where you are going to start counter-picking or taking a champion that covers a specific role. For instance, Mordekaiser. Morde is a good hero, but he's pretty limited and relies on a very specific line-up to be effective. You can get this line-up, but its a specific line-up and you need to play a specific way to role with it. Morde is a fine hero, but if you are being really serious, you won't pick him unless you have the right line-up in mind already. To pick a Tier 3 Hero to be effective you need a specific team line up or fill out a role that your team is simply not interested in much. A team with 2 strong early gamers can hope that their early game will outplay the enemy late game and take a weaker carry that has more early-game strength.

Tier 4: These are counter-picks. See Teemo example above. These guys are limited in their roles, more so than Tier three. But they are good at what they do assuming the right team comp on your team and the enemy team. You won't see them all the time, but they are still viable.

Tier 5: Generally useless in a competitive match. There are exceptions, I admit. But these guys are pretty much never used.

So that's the Tier List. Yea... I know, really technical and not very useful unless you play LoL, but its a thought that's been going on in my mind these days.

Minecraft

So I've been spending a large amount of time on Minecraft.

What is minecraft? Well Minecraft is one of those wonderfully addicting “indie” games. Basically, the entire world is made of cheap-looking blocks (cubes, more like it) and you dig/mine/smelt stuff into blocks and build stuff. I've been playing single-player on easy mode, where you regen health and monsters don't spawn. I prefer it cuz minecraft should be about building awesome stuff, and not fighting zombies. If I want to kill zombie with a sword, I'll play a proper action/rpg game. Not a building game.

So what can you build? Awesome stuff. I'll try and post some screenshots if I can figure how how to. But right now I have a mine (where I've found Redstone, iron, gold, coal and lava. I've avoided the lava. Lava is dangerous), and a smelter above that where I've been smelting iron and reworking my stone to make it nice and shiny. See, when you mine stone, it comes out as cobblestone. Which, after a fashion, is awesome. I made my road and bridge out of cobblestone, but I don't want to make a house out of cobblestone, no, don't really want to do that. Sadly, my house is HUGE, and that means I need to use a lot of coal, and a lot of stone to make my house.

Anyways, I starting mining, and then I realized I wanted a house. But the place where I was mining was NOT a good place for a house, so I found one over a nearby mountain. Not wanting to start a NEW mine, I decided... to build a bridge. That took a while, it was harder than I thought. And it still need some revisions, I mean... yea... it works but it doesn't look as good as it could.

And yea... basically I've been building a road to my house... which has required a lot of time That, and continuing to perfect my mine.

Anyways, this is probably really confusing if you don't know what minecraft is, so I'll try and post some screenshots.

Where are You From?

So today I was talking to my grandparents about some stuff, and one of the funny thing my granfather mentioned is how the first question he'll always ask someone is “So where are you from?” Now, that probably sounds like a good question, but see, my response to that is, “Who cares where he's from. He's here now, and that's what matters.” And it hit me again, how much of a TCK I am.

For a quick reference, a TCK is a Third Culture Kid, a person who grew up in a culture that was not the culture of their parents. Grew up is really a nebelous term, a person can live in a mansion in the richest area of Dhaka, Bangladesh all their life and never been a TCK, or a person can spend six months when they're sixteen in an African Village is be a complete TCK. These are extremes, but they do exist, I'd think. TCKs are, for all purposes, a unique cultural group. Mostly we're from the West, but there is a growing number of non-western TCKs, and that number will expand and the world becomes more globalized.

Anyways... so see... TCKs don't like the question “Where are you from?” Now, allow me to give some context: I know how to avoid this question, and I know how it works after a fashion. In Bangladesh, where I grew up, everyone viewed me as a foreigner, and I didn't mind that, for the most part. I wasn't a complete foreigner, I understood the culture and the more I think about it, the more I realize how much of it I have incorporated into my life (no, I don't ever give people money with my left hand. Ever.), but at the same time, I didn't feel weird saying “I'm from America.” I obviously didn't belong and saying that my parents were Americans and thus I had a US passport didn't make me feel weird. However, in America, where everyone is from America, its a bit different. See, in maybe two years I can honestly say “I'm from Austin.” But obviously I just moved here and I wouldn't feel right saying that now. So where am I from? Well... haha... that's complicated. See, first of all, I was born in India, on Indian soil, but yes, I'm a US Citizen, my parents were citizens, you see. Secondly, I grew up in Bangladesh. No I never lived in America, yes, I know that's weird. Okay, now can we talk about something else?

In fact, thinking about it, I don't think I asked anyone where they are from when I met them. I don't do that. I don't care where you are from, its unimportant. Its who you are, what you do, and the fact that we are, for however long, together, that is important. Sure, if I guy from England starts talking I'll probably pick up his accent, but I won't ask where he's from, that's... unimportant.

So yea, I was thinking, when I start talking to a person, I go straight for the important stuff: Do you listen to Heavy Metal? Do you play League of Legends? Role-play? Are you an awesome person in general? Then... maybe then I'll start to care where you are from, but likely I'll have an idea already. I know certain people are from Dallas just because they have mentioned it...

Its one of those weird quirks of the TCK culture, honestly. We're so global, we move around so much, we don't really have this neat and nice picture of “home” like most people do. I lived in the same house for years, unlike a lot of TCKs, but I'm not “From” Bangladesh. I grew up there. My parents are from the US, and so am I, in the sense that I have an American Passport and am well... patriotic enough... I guess, but I'm not really American... I'm just from the US... do you know what I mean?

Honestly, I find it more humorous than anything, it can be frustrating when I introduce myself to other people, but its not something that makes me despise monoculturals (thats you non-TCKs :P) its just... frustrating... when you interact with me.

DnD Silliness

You know, Dungeon and Dragons is one of those... interesting things.

See, on one hand, it tries to be that classic, standard fantasy roleplaying game. Basic races are elves, dwarfs, halfings and humans Basic classes are Wizard, Cleric, Rogue and Fighter. Its typical and stereotyped and awesome because of that.

But then, it also has this really strange bent to it. See the thing is though, DnD has tried to do more than that as well. DnD became popular enough to demand “splat” books, where they publish a crapton of books by every Tom, Dick and Harry that thinks they can design a campaign, class, dungeon or monster. Some of the splat books are awesome, some aren't. But then you get some really... weird stuff..

I didn't play much DnD 3.5 beyond Nevewinter Nights I and II, but I got the gist of the setting. The Forgotten Realms is a cool setting with enough typical Fantasy that it worked. But the problem was that when you go beyond the Forgotten Realms and hit some of the Higher Level stuff you get... weird crap like the Astral Plane and alternate dimensions and far out creatures (sure, Minotaurs aren't so bad, but Wilden? Githerzai? Instectiod races... yea that's weird). And then there are also some weird non-standard Campaign Settings (Ravenloft comes to mind).

My point is, one of the things that humors me about DnD is how it attempts to do much but often ends up with some really weird stuff that just doesn't really make a lot of sense. For instance: Psionics. Really, I'm sorry, I just don't see how this stuff works in a fantasy setting. You want Psionics, play a modern/sci-fi game. You want magic, play a fantasy game, the two do not mix!

I have no problem with lots of strange variations on the Cleric or religious classes: Avenger, Cleric, Runepriest, they are all the same thing to me, honestly. But Psions... haha no. Not even in settings where there is “no magic” do Psions really make sense to me. When I picture a Psion, I picture Sci-fi, DnD isn't sci-fi. End of story.

Some of the weird races also kinda strike me as odd. Wilden, for instance... these basically appear to be walking, talking, human-sized trees. There are a few other races that don't make a lot of sense in Player's Handbook III as well. In fact, its interesting to note how Player's Handbook I had a lot of standard fantasy races: Humans, Dwarves, (two kinds of) Elves, and Halfings, then some stranger stuff like Tieflings (Demon/human hybrids). I still have to say that Tieflings are a lot less weird than... insectiods.

Player's Handbook II added a few more “off” things, but generally stuff that still works in a typical fantasy setting. Sure, not a lot of people don't know what a “Deva” or a “Shifter” is, but these races don't exactly feel out of place in a fantasy setting with some context. Shifter's are basically just werewolf-human hybrids, Deva are former divine beings, it works. And yes, the some of the classes are more obscure in terms of title, but they are essentially Fighters, Mages, Rogues, etc respeced to fit a bit of a different background. Avengers are essentially rogues with a Divine Influence. Invokers are mages that use divine power. Some of the classes are simply “classic” archetypes like the Bard or the Druid that aren't as stereotypical as the Wizard or Fighter. Bard's appear everywhere in Fantasy and Folklore (Alan-A-Dale of Robin Hood for instance), but they certainly don't fight exactly into the Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric archetypes. You could make one work as say, a Rogue or a Fighter, but that doesn't necessarily mean it fits perfectly.

But the Player' Handbook III takes it one step further and adds some races that really require specific settings and/or themes to work properly. I've never heard of a Shardmind and it doesn't really make sense in a typical fantasy setting. A Deva kinda does: An Angelic being demoted to mortality because of past failings. A Half-orc certainly does. A Shardmind, no.

And I think that's one of the weaknesses of DnD. In trying to do everything, it comes off as kinda silly. A Shardmind, some sort of intelligent crystalline creatures, obviously work in a specific setting. The problem is, there are few “standard” fantasy games that will allow you to play a Shardmind over a Dwarf or Elf. Sharmind's are cool, but they don't work as a standard fantasy race. The same with Psions, only more so because Psionic powers are stupid in fantasy.

Settings like Warhammer fantasy roleplay have done their best to make themselves unique and cool. The demons of Warhammer Fantasy are different than the demons of any other setting. The demons of DnD are exactly like your standard demon, except there are a LOT of them, and then you have the really strange enemies like “Purple Worms.” Yes, there are giant, man-eating purple worms in Dungeons and Dragons. Older versions also had man-eating walls and man-eating clothes, for the truly sadistic Dungeon Masters.

How do I say this... DnD is awesome Shardminds are awesome, in the proper context. A shardmind is awesome if you have it in a really specific instance and give it proper background and goals. But when you throw out this really fancy race with little context, it comes off as strange, silly, and a way to create a new combination of power-gamey bonuses. Everyone knows what your typical elf is—there is no need for context. No one knows what a shardmind is—there is every need for context.

A world with elves and dwarves and snowy mountains and magical forests and evil dungeons is really cool. Its a standard, stereotyped world anyone can imagine and play in. That's what I like about DnD: it is a base that provides for some awesome, typical fantasy that everyone knows about already. But when they throw out fancy races or strange realms without a lot of context I get frustrated and annoyed. Sure there is an Astral Sea and an Underdark, but WHAT are these things? Oh, I have to buy a book you haven't published. And, furthermore, they come off as silly and unbelievable often times.

Oh well, that's DnD I suppose: awesome base that expands to silliness.

Elementz's new tier list update was hilarious. Twisted Fate went up to T1/T2 (depending on team comp) and he was like "yea, yea, I know, he owns... get over it!" And then he raised Nunu up, which was just hilarious. :p Yes, this is LoL I'm talking about here, just fyi.

Also, yesterday I played a gangplank who managed to get like... 4 Phantom Dancers. It was HILARIOUS. 100% crit chance, super movement speed, I was a God. We lost cuz we had an idiot Trym on our team who refused to back door cuz "he lagged" but whatever. Still a good game.

Also, I ordered an awesome "map of the internet" from XKCD cuz I want it, and I'm gonna see Givers on Friday, which is cool.

Soo... Quiz in Political Controversies tomorrow, turning in my 1st submission for paper #1 for Rhet and Comp 1, which I don't really like but I decided to talk to Jacob for two hours instead of do homework... so I'll do my American Grammar, Math and Rhet and Comp I tomorrow instead of today. The first submission doesn't matter so long as I finish get the minium turned in, which I have so yea... whatever.

Also, I really wish I had more time so I could play more video games. But then again, I'd probably just end up playing LoL more and more, cuz LoL is awesome. I finally found a good group of people I can play with online... none of them are really interested in Ranked games, but I'm getting the courage to go into ranked solo que again. I had a bad streak and my ELO went way, way down, but I think I can raise it up to at least 1300 if I get a bit lucky. Really, with hard work and practice I get the feeling I could hit 1400, 1500 ELO if I got a team. If I was exceptional and had no life yea, maybe 1700, I dunno. Basically you need to be 1700 to have a chance at tourneys... so yea.

New Blog, New Post

So yea, this is still Isaac talking. Old blog was masterofweirdness.blogspot.com. I have about 4 years of basically regular posts there.

What is this blog? This is, and will be a random assortment of my life. That is to say, rants about school, politics, religion, video games and the like. Mostly rants, because I rant. And yes, politics and religion will feature here, if you don't like those don't read this blog. I try to keep my thoughts as uncensored as I can, random thoughts pop into my mind and end up here, and often times, that gonna be political or religious stuff. You have been warned.

Who am I? I'm Isaac. No you don't get my last name, besides you probably already know it. :D I'm a Freshman in University, I'm a English Writing and Rhetoric Major. I'm in the Honor's Program. I'm nearly 19. I enjoy video games, metal music, discussing stuff that requires thinking (I had an hour+ long conversation about AI this weekend. Greatest moment of the Semester so far, besides WCG and American Beauty... haha). I'm American by citizenship, TCK by Culture. I was born in India and raised in Bangladesh. I love India, and I love Dhaka, my hometown, even if it is a horrible city. I'm enjoying college: its surprisingly similar to school before, I don't care what people say. I was homeschooled, so that might effect stuff, but yea... not to big of a difference.

So yea... I'll try and get a real post up soon.