For the first time in a very, very long time I actually seem to enjoy taking a class. This class happens to be a college class for English II. I have always liked English classes, though. If I had to pick my favorite class out of any of the general “core” classes that you have throughout all of your educational years in school, I would definitely pick English. Some people hate English with a passion, but the reason why I am liking this specific class is because I find myself enjoying reading the stories or plays that we are assigned to read and then discussing them in class.

In the past, whenever a teacher assigned a story or novel for the whole class to read, it was usually something I wasn’t interested in. For example, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. However, in this English II college course, I have really enjoyed reading the short stories Everyday Use and A Good Man is Hard to Find. Additionally, I have found that a play called The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams, is also an interesting read.

So, there is hope for this English class. Maybe I have become more open-minded, which is why I feel I have enjoyed these sorts of stories. All I know is, this is the first college class I have taken in which I feel I am really getting my money’s worth so far.

After four or so years of playing World of Warcraft, I have finally canceled my account. There are a few reasons for this, but first, I would like to say that I definitely do NOT regret playing the game. Here’s why:

Back in 2004, I was heavily into online gaming, specifically with first-person shooters. I was into a game called America’s Army and I even competed in e-tournaments and matches with the fellows who I gamed with. However, many of the people from the “clan”, or team of gamers, I was in stopped playing. It was time for something new. One person that I knew from America’s Army was playing a lot of this game called World of Warcraft. Eventually, I asked him about it and he got me pretty interested. Thus begun my path to WoW.

But what really intrigued me about WoW was the fact that you could control your own personal character, gain levels, upgrade your armor, and play with a whole community of gamers who shared the same interests as you. So, over the years of playing WoW, I began to develop friendly relationships with people from my “guild” (the role-playing game term for “clan”). Of course, just like any situation in real life, there are also people out there who are complete jerks that you try to avoid. With that being said, WoW does have its times when drama unfolds and you have to deal with certain unsettling situations. However, WoW definitely did have its up-sides. I have met many nice and respectful people in the game, whom I would never have met, had I not played the game in the first place. I’m talking about the kinds of people you can chat with for hours on Ventrilo (voice communication software) late at night while playing WoW and just having an overall blast. Not to mention, I have had the opportunity to meet some of the people who I gamed with outside of the World of Warcraft and have had the chance to hang out with them in the real world.

A lot of people think that just because somebody plays or has played WoW, it means that they “have no life” or they do poorly in school and whatnot. I can totally prove that wrong. For starters, I have always maintained good grades throughout school and up to this point in college, regardless of what hobbies I was doing. During middle school, I used to race BMX and I still kept good grades. During high school, I played boys volleyball and still maintained good grades. On top of all that, I would fit in time for World of Warcraft as well. Even now in college, I’ve been getting good grades while having time for WoW. People also say that college is the perfect time to play WoW, but I personally don’t think it matters, as long as you can control yourself and not let WoW get in the way of the more important things in real life. Additionally, I’ve still been able to enjoy myself with friends and family. If the opportunity arose to hang out with my buddies, I would go for it over WoW any day. And sure, there are people out there who do absolutely nothing but play WoW (some even do it as their job) and let it get in the way of important real-life activites that should be taken care of beforehand. But people like those have not mastered the ability to control thier actions and have more than likely created a physical impediment to their health and overall well-being.

The main reason I have canceled my WoW account is simply because I have grown tired of the game and all of it felt like one big, repetitive “grind”. It’s in human nature to not do something forever, so now it is my time to look for something new and fresh to keep me busy. Whether it be another video game, some sort of real life activity (hopefully a job, but those are quite hard to get at the moment), or anything else. I’ve had this idea churning in the back of my head to become a pro gamer and compete  at local tournaments and whatnot, or even develop a new website that would hopefully become popular and well-known on the web. Maybe now is a good time to start those paths, but who knows?

Didn’t expect that I would write this much, but it gets the point across. To put it simply, I’ve become bored of World of Warcraft but I definitely do not regret playing it. The best thing for me to do right now is to just live in the moment and see what comes next.

-Shaun

Lens flares galore

I have re-created the new Star Trek movie!

Lens flares aside, the movie was really good. It had some nice classic moments and I guess the lens flares did add some uniqueness and glorification to the film. Considering I am a non-trekkie, I’d say the movie was still worth the $8.00 I spent on Cookie Dough and a Mr. Pibb. The movie does, however, make me want to find the old episodes and watch from the beginning. Maybe not every episode (considering there are so many), but it’d be cool to go back and learn some more of the story behind it all. Hulu seems to have some handy links to watch full episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series at cbs.com

After I finish season two of Life, I know what I’ll be doing next!

Haven’t you heard about the word? Everybody’s heard about the word!

I have been contemplating switching to WordPress for quite some time, and now I have finally made the move. So far, I’m enjoying it. It is definitely going to make sharing my thoughts a lot easier.

So, feel free to check back here every once in a while if you enjoy my random thoughts (mostly geeky stuff) and bear with me while I test out some different themes from time to time.