Small Things Matter Too

People have different perception on achievements. A person might have an A-class track record, be blessed with fame, have a wonderful career and succeed in general but feels like he hasn't really done anything. A doctor might have helped thousands of people but feels like he hasn't really contributed anything to humanity.

The problem is in the shoes. Put yourself in other's shoes and things will be different.

Having graduated from university, one of the first thing you should prepare is a resume. The time I spent to create my first resume was ridiculously long, because I wanted to show the best version of me and all I could think about was how my resume would impress people. It was not an easy task because I couldn't help but compare myself with my friends.

Their LinkedIn profiles were super cool, with tons of achievements and ridiculously long list of activities and contributions they had done. I looked back at my own resume and internally cursed because no, mine was not even close to their level.

I hate this mindset but everytime I see my friends' profiles in any platform of social media, I can't help but feel inferior. The fact that they are out there being awesome makes me feel like I am unfit to even compete in the real world. Given the same time frame we're living in, how could they achieve so many while I seemed to walk in circle?

I admire the things they've achieved, but then it makes me think. If achievements are measured by solely the major, the bigger picture, doesn't it mean that humanity has lost its touch with the beauty in small things?

It is scary how the system has constructed us to think that to achieve something is to do something professional, if you want to be considered relevant. Of course, corporate world doesn't need a sad, whining poet. They want a worker with blind dedication and a minimum three years of experience. Perhaps with reference from past employers.

Back to the topic, I tried to think of an answer to the question "What is your biggest achievement?" and realized that a 'relevant' answer doesn't really answer the question itself. That a 'relevant' answer will be too shallow, but works when you need some cash.

I personally think that the biggest achievement of any human is to be able to stand up after a fall.

What do you think brought human civilization to its current form? Food shortage, injustices, discrimination, natural disasters. Humans progress because they can always stand up after falling repeatedly, and then they learn.

When you're done cleaning up your messy room. When you make a perfect sunny side egg. When you speak without stutter. When you wake up in the morning with a good mood. When you finish a book. When you get your license. When you drive to places you've never been before. They are all relevant.

If you are that dude with A-class resume and wonderful career, congratulations. You are perfect according to our society today. If you are not, remember that your small achievements matter too. That you are not a lesser human being just because you never speak in front of world leaders nor have the word 'Executive' attached on your status, printed in your business card.

Small things matter too.

Noob's Review: Kingdom Hearts Unchained X

 

Author's Note: Please skip the first two paragraphs if you have no interest in my personal life. I am saving you some trouble.

Hello. Yesterday, I went to a job fair and completed an online test for a very interesting job vacancy. It has something to do with investigation and justice and all, and being a kid who watches too much crime dramas, I put my hope high in this opportunity. The first thing on my mind when I heard about the vacancy was, "Wow, I could sport a Ziva David with this job!" and if you have no idea who Ziva is, please Google her because she is a badass.

Anyway, I was a bit disappointed with how I was doing on the test. The result will be out on the 29th but I kind of evaluated my own performance and feel quite pessimistic because I could do so much better! There were two different tests and I kind of messed up the first one, which I guess was fatal because the second one was more of a psychological assessment. That brought my mood down —not to mention that I am now down with a terrible cold— but you know the best thing to do after a bad day? Gaming! 

So, ladies and gentlemen, I present you the second installment of Noob's Review.

I am going to talk about one of my favorite games of all time: Kingdom Hearts. I am extremely hyped with the announcement of Kingdom Hearts 3 and the trailer is already super lit but today, I want to talk about the mobile version of the game called Kingdom Hearts Unchained X. While the game might be unavailable for download in several countries, I fortunately had the access to try it and, boy, I fell in love with the game almost instantly.

My avatar used to look like this.

So, unlike the PS version, we can create our own avatar, dress them up and play as our own character. While it might be slightly disappointing that we cannot play as the classic playable characters from the other versions of the game, this is definitely something new and it honestly does not make the game less interesting. Another thing is that you can join a party, which makes battles easier because you can choose any player to assist you during a mission —especially in a Raid Boss battle.

There are four different modes (a.k.a quest types) you can choose. You can play the Story mode, which is basically the main part of the game, to complete every quest and unlock the storyline. The downside of this mode is that sometimes the quest feels a bit repetitive. In this game, the battle is structured and we take turn to attack. In each turn, we can attack the enemy for like four to six times depending on the medals we equip on our keyblade but I will save that for later! In short, it is not as dynamic as the PS version so I guess at some point, yes, the battle is pretty boring, but that does not mean that I hate it.

In the Special mode, you can do different kinds of missions every day with a lot of prizes you can use in order to upgrade your keyblade or level up your medals. Similarly, the Event mode offers pretty much the same thing but it is occasional and sometimes you can get special medals or there might be a themed quest you can complete. There is also the Coliseum in which you can do like mock battle to practice your skills and collect coins to be redeemed on the Coliseum Board, where you can get special outfits or bonus medals and all. This mode can only be unlocked once you complete 130 missions in Story mode, as I recall.

My favorite keyblade so far.

You might be wondering why I keep mentioning about the medals. These medals are the thing you equip on your keyblade which come in so many different kind of characters and skills, but in general there are three types of medals: Speed, Power and Magic. Oh, and you will receive more keyblades as the story progresses. For example, that keyblade above is called Olympia and it can be unlocked once you complete the missions in Hercules' universe.

Anyway, my favorite medal so far is this six-stars Power medal of Black Coat King Mickey:

King Mickey has a powerful special attack that targets all enemies at once. The only downside is: it requires 3 gauges (which is considered a lot!)

Note that the medal above has Poison skill? Skills do not come in one package with your medal, but you can fuse a Skill medal with any of your medals to get one. The Skill medals are usually available in Coliseum or Event boards. You can add some points to your Strength and Defense by fusing your medal with a Chip (Strength) or Dale (Defense) medal. That is how I got those plus points. On the other hand, Special Attack is a given skill that comes with your medal by default, and the only way to level it up is by fusing two or more identical medals with the same star level.

What else should I talk about? Oh, yes. The game takes place in several different universes, from Daybreak Town to Wonderland to Agrabah. So far, I have completed 325 missions and I am currently in the Underworld looking for Cloud Strife (Oops, spoiler!) where you can meet Hades and fight the multi-headed Cerberus.

I feel you, Hades.

So, do I love this game? Absolutely. (I am a trash for anything Square Enix)

What do you like most from the game? The medals! It is actually fun to collect different medals and power them up.

Do I like the mobile version better? Not really. I was hoping for 'real actions' instead of taking turn to attack with enemies —which actually reminds me of Persona/Shin Megami Tensei series.

Am I going to keep playing? Of course. This is the kind of game that has to (and will forever) be on my gadget. Better finish what you start, son.

Anyway, please note that I am not a pro and I do not even consider myself a gamer, so whatever I have said in this review might or might not be relatable to other players. One thing though: even if you are new to Kingdom Hearts, I am pretty sure that you will enjoy this game.

Drabble: Morning Talk

This morning has been an emotional roller coaster –except that I am not the one riding it. I am listening to a story. A story of a person who never stops dreaming. A story of a woman who is devoted to the love of her life. A story of a mother who has not realized that she is actually the center of gravity.

Our conversation started as a simple chit-chat. But then, she started to frown and I realized that she was restraining herself from the incoming emotional train wreck to come. In the end, she decided to spill the guts, and here I am, still listening to her every word and all the emotions attached with every syllable pronounced.

She has a lot of dreams to catch. Some are simple and some are her long-forgotten desires. She wants to learn new languages. She wants to try yoga. However, she has insecurities and they are similar to mine. It is just that I do not speak of them. That is a line I have not wanted to cross. 

This conversation slowly shifts to something deeper. She told me she wanted to do all these things now that she finally had the financial support. We are now walking down her memory lane and I understand how many struggles she had been through better. This is not the first time she is telling me this, but hey, there is no harm in listening.

She did not come from a rich family. In her last year in college, she was so broke that she had no idea how to pay for her tuition. It was not that her family did not support her. It was just that she had so many siblings to feed and she –who is currently breaking down in tears– was never a priority, she said.

Luckily, she had him; a man who was willing to use his own savings for her tuition. She was so determined to pay him back, so she hurried up and landed her first job. 

She finally had her first salary but do you know what he said when she handed him the brown envelope? "Give it to your parents. Oh, and by the way, how many times do I have to tell you it was not a loan?"

She is forever thankful and his sincerity overshadows his dirty laundry. Not that he had many, to begin with. A question pops in my mind. Is moral debt a part of love? This, I will never understand.

She said that one of the first things he asked after their marriage was, "Is there any food you want to try?" because now that they are settled and married, he would buy all the foods in the world for her if he could. That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call romance.

Love is when you have to split five bucks for two –what is now only worth a bottle of water– and what concerns you is whether your significant other has anything to eat.

Also, polar opposites attract. He is a people person. Her? Not so much. Her only true friends are her sister –and perhaps him. She would rather meet new people than meet an old friend. Nostalgia hurts, she said.

"Holy shit, Lisa, are you me?" is the only thing I can say. She laughs because it is true. I internally cry because I wish I could tell my story too, but I guess some stories are better left untold.

Forever.


 
P.S. I have a lot of unfinished drafts, neglected and almost forgotten in my notebook. Most of the time I would just re-read every page and over-optimistically reassure myself that there will come the day where I can finish them. Most of the time I would hesitate but today, I realized that it would be a waste and decided to share those fragments. I guess there will be more drabbles to come, so stay around to read them all and share your thoughts.

Noob's Review: Life is Strange

Hello. I have a lot of things going on for me lately —and honestly I prefer not to talk about them— but I am feeling under the weather right now and whenever I am being in said situation, I need to write something solely in order to calm down. I cannot tell you what happened but I can assure you that it is not fine and it would be nice if we just talk about anything but that one hell of a topic. Thank you.

So, here I am, writing a game review for you, readers. You might ask, “What the fuck? I had no idea you were into games!” or “Pfft, what do you know about games anyway?” but hey, that is the point of this post! I am going to write a review of this game I have been playing for the past two or three days but from a noob’s point of view. So, bear with it.

The game I want to talk about is called Life is Strange. It was basically a visual novel-styled game and like any other visual novel out there, your decision matters and alters your storyline. This game was developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. (Kingdom Hearts 3 is actually happening by the way!) 

I am a trash for Square Enix, so this game immediately caught my attention. Anyway, it was released a year back thus this review is obviously a year too late, but I am not a pro gamer (hell, I cannot even think of proclaiming myself as a gamer, like, what a burden!) and neither am I a pro blogger so, again, just bear with it.

(Spoiler alert.)

So, I have the chance to play all five seasons of the game. The story follows a freshman named Max who was back to her childhood town, Arcadia Bay, after moving four years prior to Seattle. In short, she had superpower. Spoiler alert (part two), she could go back in time and rewind things and, of course, saving people along the way. One second she was the unpopular, bullied student and the next second she was about to save the whole town from a massive tornado –in other words: your typical hero.

(End of the spoiler.)

The gameplay was, uh, fine? The first time I played, the game immediately reminded me of Bully (classic!) because it took place in a school setting and somehow I felt like it was Bully 2.0 minus violence and the very unhygienic cook lady in her hell of a kitchen. If you happened to play Bully, you know what I am talking about.

Anyway, despite being visual novel-ish, there are a lot of things you can do. Your character Max can go around, talk to people and choose your answers. They also give you different options when interacting with objects around you. You will need to look for particular objects and manipulate the way things work sometimes, and that is why this game is far from being boring despite its limited actions.

The graphics is awesome (Square Enix, duh.) and it was one of the main reason why I love this game. I love the whole Arcadia Bay setting —from Blackwell Academy, Chloe's mom's diner, to the lighthouse. The only thing that was off for me was the characters. I mean, I expected more detailed and real-life like features but overall, everything was eye-pleasing.

What else do you talk about when you talk about games? The story? If you are looking for a game with relatable (albeit unrealistic) story which makes you feel like you are actually involved in it, this is your game. 

If you love mystery and science-fiction, you will love this because (spoiler alert number three) the game does not only require us to solve the mystery of Max's power, the disappearance of Rachel (Chloe's friend) and all the shits going on at Blackwell; we also have to solve the bigger mysteries that is the disaster that was about to sweep the whole Arcadia Bay and the weird phenomenons like the out-of-nowhere eclipse and snow in the middle of summer. (Wait, was it spring? Fall?)

Overall, this is one of a few games that I actually enjoy playing despite not exactly being my cup of tea. I prefer games with a lot of actions and battles and such. 

Not bad for a noob, I guess?