Miniseries: Pt 3 – Level Up!

One thing I find amusement in is that we make up things to explain complicated things in fewer words, which are almost entirely lies.  This event becomes a bit humorous when the invented things seem to replace the actual things represented in more and more circumstances, like some sort of intellectual plague.  For example, the “Level Up” exists to indicate growth in a game.  After repeating the same action over and over, why not?  You should be getting better, stronger, wiser, and perhaps older too.

Level Up!

#3 Level Up!

Basic – A level is a number representing the overall experience and abilities of a character, usually from 1 to 99.  The character’s attributes ether go up randomly or the user can choose which strengths are enhanced.

Masculinity – You might want to consider leveling up before asking her out.

Accidental – I would have a better shot from one level up.  LEVEL UP!

Confidence – Grind all you want, not even a level 99 can fuck with me.

Irony – In FFVII it becomes harder to Morph a high HP unit without first accidentally killing it.

Age old – If at first you don’t succeed, level up and try again.

Applied – Ten tough battles yields more than one hundred easy battles.

Wisdom – The greater struggle prepares you faster for the task at hand.

Unconventional Wisdom – The over-prepared misses all the trials of life.

Love is not a Scantron

Thou shall not erase

What I mean to say is that no matter how many Cs you bubble in in a row, the testmaker could just be simply messing with your mind.  It’s not that love is unpredictable or even multiple choice… it just sometimes seems to be an easier explanation.  The truth is always whatever you want it to be.  Life is giving meaning by the decisions we make.  The same advice can be worded a million different ways, but the meaning is still sound:

It is easier to make a decision now than it is to change your mind in the past.

If I could go back to before you died and tell you I love you, and I really mean it, would it make it easier to sleep tonight?  Chances are no.  Call me a mystic, but I believe that somehow you know I love you even when I don’t say it.  Maybe you don’t know exactly how much, but I think it’s precisely as much as you guess I do.  The trouble is why is it so damn hard to say these things?

I just want to remind you how beautiful you are, and how much I love you, before we forget.

The certainty of being

The physical presence of emotion is what brings an idea to the foreground.  Whether it be our heart skipping a beat, our jaw dropping, tears welling in our eyes, makes anyone realize something is different.  Emotion is the physical response to our mind’s resistance to change.  When an uncomfortable truth is discovered, it may be upsetting, but is it not because we just became happy and comfortable with the state of existence at the exact moment prior?

To accommodate the optimist, as well as prove myself with the inverse, our level of joy may increase when something changes for the better.  The truth here is that there is no bearing on the good or bad of life, simply the transformation.  Changes can be good or bad… but change is bad (at least immediately).

I consider it to be similar to an allergic reaction.  When an allergen is discovered by our body, it sends out the best defense it has, a confused entity that attacks the body itself.  We sneeze, break out, throw up… anything.  Allergies are aggressive because they convince the body to attack itself.  When we confront changes, the subconscious picks up on it first and sends the message out.  There might even be a good delay from the tears to the moment in the mirror when you ask yourself “Why am I crying?”  And it is not because you disagree… it’s because you don’t know.  You figure it out, and until you make an evaluation of the change, the emotion may persist.

This thought backs up the idea that we shoot Denial from the hip.  That one is tricky because it is possible to lie to yourself, and to others, because it is your truth.  Acceptance / Hope is the final stage of this confrontation, but no one explained to me what Hope was.  It seems like an afterthought some hippie threw in to give everyone warm fuzzies.  However, they were in denial, so we should clear it up.  Just because you accept reality, it does not mean it is any better (or any worse).  What you do need to do is take your acknowledgment and see what changes you can instigate and benefit from.  Changes have butterfly effects.  We are in the middle of them constantly, and starting new ones at the same time.

When we evaluate decisions, it is not some chain reaction that forces our answer.  We may, however, decide the best course of action by recognizing events in the past.  Until we make a series of good decisions, we cannot benefit the world.  While we cannot recognize a new change in our life as good or bad, we do know that there are good and bad decisions.  It is my hope that you consider non-immediate impacts of your decisions before you take the easy road out.  With a little hard work, reward will follow.

Prop 8 was shot down, of course.

Final Fantasy 2 (IV Japan) 1991

I’m not running around in the streets yelling my thoughts or professing hate in any way.  I’m not even ecstatic that the federal government recognizes partnership between two people independent of gender.

It’s a sin when it’s easy

What we don’t do is analyze is both sides of the workaholic.

The argument is simple.  Life sucks, work hard, make money, protect self… yada yada yada.

Delve a bit.  Some value their integrity over their pay.  They will work the hardest amongst their peers for the same wage, and be passed for promotions, and will eventually become an asset to a company that simply cannot afford to replace.  Never become irreplaceable.  Working hard reflects on the self, whether egoists, narcissistic, or simply honorable people, it ultimately leads to no tangible gain.  It is a romantic quality nonetheless.

But this hard work doesn’t stop at 5, 6, or 7pm.  It doesn’t disappear at punch out.  It is ingrained.  If happenstance rewards the hardworking and a gift befalls them, it is unacceptable.  A reward without merit is not allowed.  This doesn’t make sense.  A man who dies with integrity simply dies.