themblan's blog

I was feeling groggy after eating some chicken last week, so when I made my weekly trip to the grocery-store, I didn't buy any animal-products. I was going to give veganism a chance. Eventually, I started feeling depressed. I didn't feel like doing anything. I had no joy in life. I also couldn't stand for very long without my feet hurting. I wondered why that was, and so yesterday, I bought animal-products once again, and instantly I could feel relief. I felt physically happy and emotionally motivated to do things. I looked up food-combining charts once again and finally agreed with what I had seen before - that fat and protein are a bad combination. When you eat animal-protein, its fat and protein are kind of a package-deal, and the paleo-diet advocates a large consumption of fat, but only then did I realize that I shouldn't eat too much fat with my protein, even if they occur naturally together. Fat is good, but best by itself, and good with vegetables. After co...

When you are not happy, watching or hearing another's happiness is like poison in your veins. I was watching a livestream of something and the people in it were so happy. It kind of felt unnatural and ignorant. I know that people that excessively express happiness are not totally happy. A lot of it is forced and a defense-mechanism to deal with their inner sadness, but it is still offensive. I'm not saying we should be crying and sad all the time. Let's be real without being asinine. I "Hate" Mario Kart 8 This game was definitely meant to be played locally, because playing online just causes a lot of bitterness and anger. I used to play Mario Kart 64 at a friend's house, and whether I lost or won, it was fun. When I play Mario Kart 8 online however, it's just not fun going from first to eleventh, or losing half my balloons from being sidelined at the last second. When I play Mario Kart locally, I can feel the joy of the other people, so whe...

What is a competitive person? I believe a competitive person is one who has an underlying feeling of inferiority, and it subconsciously drives him or her into constantly "proving" that he or she is better than other people. I like to win things, sure, but it's not the only thing that drives me. Some people put winning above all else, to the detriment of their moral character; I do not. Even in a round of Turf War in Splatoon where I have no chance of winning in the final seconds, I will still try to win, because honor is more important to me than winning. If winning was my only goal, I would probably disconnect from a match that is lost. Our economic and educational systems encourage competition, and to an extent, it is a good thing, but it also discourages people from being themselves. If you're average, it doesn't reward you. You have to be exceptional and rise to the top. You can't be like everyone else; you have to be different, even if you're not....

I was born to Korea immigrants in the United States of America. I have never felt national identity or pride for either South Korea or USA. For example, when people are going crazy during the World Cup while rooting for their country, I feel lost. National identity is more of a cold, matter-of-fact thing than something I have a hot passion for. Being born in USA, I am a citizen of it. I can vote and become President, but you wouldn't know it by the way people treated me. When you don't look European, you are not considered a "true" American. All non-white races have different prefixes attached to their "American" status. Black-skinned people with African ancestry are called African-Americans; yellow-skinned people with Asian ancestry are called Asian-Americans. Why aren't white-skinned people with European ancestry called European-Americans? We need to change the lexicon of human interaction. We need to stop identifying people by race, or gender, o...

It took two years and ten months, but Super Smash Bros. for 3DS, and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Smash 4) is now feature-complete. I always wanted to play the game with and against the amiibo of all fifty-eight characters, and now I finally can. I always felt the game was incomplete until all the amiibo came out, and last Friday, they finally did. Super Smash Bros. used to be my favorite gaming-franchise. I hadn't really felt disappointed in Brawl like many other people. I embraced it for what it was. I was glad they took out advanced techniques like wavedashing, and that I could play online. Then, I got annoyed with tripping, and then the playerbase in Brawl got reduced to immature Taunt Party children. Smash 4 was supposed to be Nintendo's redemption, and all signs seemed to point to that. They held an invitational-tournament during E3 in 2014 featuring some of the best players from Melee, Brawl, and Project M. What else could this mean, but that they were taking the c...

When Splatoon 1 came out 2 years ago on Wii U, I fell in love with it instantly. For the first few days, I played that game all day; I just left my Wii U on. With Splatoon 2, it is understandable for me to not love it as much. The excitement is gone, the familiarity is there, but some changes have turned me off. I don't like their choice of font in the game. The chromatic theme of colors on a black background doesn't appeal to me, either. I prefer the bright, pastel look of the first game. The music in this game can be great. During Splatfest, I loved the Victory jingle. In general, I really love the cute, high-pitched voice of Pearl, but the overall carefree, high-energy, fun-loving nature of the first game's music is gone. The new stages all feel the same. They have a meaty, slightly raised center, alleyways out the wazoo, and sniper-perches before the center. I think they designed the stages with eSports-balance in mind, and to protect Rollers, but it's not fun...

Learned, educated, or literate storytelling might make one look smart, but ultimately it's derivative. Everything eventually looks and sounds the same. I was reading synopses for the story-segments in The Matrix Online and names like Ouroboros, and Ookami were in there. These are words I've heard before, and if it was the first or second time encountering them, I might be impressed. When everyone tries to dig into the history of literature and of every culture and nation on the planet just to sound educated for the sake of stroking his or her ego, it is kind of sad. When everyone is trying to be better than everyone else, eventually, everyone will be the same. The people on top will take a break, and the people behind those on top will catch up. This is what I have learned in life. Instead of trying to be the same but better than the next person, we should try to be different. You don't even have to try to be different. We are all naturally different. This will f...