[Overwatch] with Tai Mai Xiu Competitive Match

[The Division] Clear Sky Incursion on Hard and Update 1.2

[The Division] Beating Falcon Lost Incursion Challenging Difficulty

feminism, i support it.. just not this b!tch

I recently stumbled upon this girl, Anita Sarkeesian, who is trying to raise more awareness to how the media and entertainment is still portraying women as helpless and 'weaker' than men. While I agree with what she's doing and her overall message. I think some of her criticisms are rather ignorant and poorly researched.

One of Anita's first videos that I saw was about the video game industry and how women are portrayed. In her video, she gives a few examples of the classic 'damsel in distress' motif and goes on to talk about other topics of feminism like voluptuous women characters dressed in skimpy outfits in the series of videos. First, I have to say that the videos are very well made. The editing it top notch, organized, has cut scenes from various games, and the information is presented in a very clear and precise manner. I completely agree with her that very rarely, women are the main protagonist of the game and often get portrayed as sex objects (check out Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Soul Caliber, Tekken and King of Fighters).

Luckily, more and more women are being portrayed as the main protagonist these days, for example Claire and Jill from the Resident Evil series, Lightning and Terra from the Final Fantasy series, and Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series to just name a few. However, the majority of video protagonists are male. That list could go on forever. The scantily clad women is absolutely unnecessary. Like any guy, I like to see sexy women but in a video game, it just doesn't make sense. The latest Mortal Kombat video game has ALL of it's female characters with curves and wearing clothing that might as well be lingerie. With MK being a fighting game, who fights wearing a g-string? The males are upgraded to look more masculine and 'bad ass' if you will, with new outfits. The women however, look they belong in an X-rated film.

My only criticisms to her is that when you look at the history of video games, you have to realize the culture that has been established behind it. When games were first invented, they were made by men and majority played by men as well. Over the course of 30+ years, this stayed the same in the industry. First, as a video game company, when a majority of your costumers are male, you make the product appeal to your target market. That's just a no-brainer business practice. Second, men play these games because they want to be the protagonist. They are in a way living vicariously through the male protagonists who want to save the world and get the girl at the same time. Same concept how many women read romance novels and read into those characters. And third, the video game industry is changing everyday. As we progress as a society, the industry is beginning to progress with it. Like I pointed out earlier, there are many more female protagonists being introduced. Is it perfect? Definitely not. A majority of gamers are still male and therefore many of the major titles publishers will make, will obviously be male centered. At the end of the day, this is a business and the publishers are out to make one thing and one thing only. Money. They are not out to make difference, change our own views on society or make the world a better place. They are capitalists. By no means am I justifying the current trend to be acceptable but just stating the reasons behind the trend. There is a history here that we must understand before we start making judgments on it.

The second video I watched was her critique of the Hunger Games. This video is less of a critique of the feminism as it is to a critique of the novel itself. I have to say that I completely disagree with all of her negatives on the book and what she considers 'unbelievable' or 'inconsistent'. First, she talks about how the world Collins has set up is unbelievable. In case you haven't read the Hunger Games, the Hunger Games is a yearly competition where 24 children are randomly chosen against their will to compete in a death match that is televised in all twelve districts and the capital city. The games doesn't end until there is only survivor. Anita claims that this scenario is unbelievable because she feels that a society where parents willingly give up their children to the government to be slaughtered is ridiculous. Well Anita, I'm going to be kind of blunt but did you not read this book? The book clearly states that the Hunger Games were originally created AFTER there was civil war where all of the districts revolted against the Capital. The games are a reminder to the people who lost the war, that the government has absolute power over them. If that doesn't make it realistic enough for you, let's put it in modern terms. Have you ever heard child soldiers? In countries like Uganda, Chad, Thailand and Myanmar, children are being taken from their parents to fight wars. Why don't the parent do anything? Well it's hard to do something when you have nothing to defend your children with. The armies hold all of the power (including fire power) and you have nothing. It is pretty hard to resist when you have nothing. That is the same thing in the Hunger Games. The Capital has ALL of the power and guns. The people have NOTHING. This isn't just a criticism but a portrayal of what is happening right now in other countries. This leads me to think she is a bit naive and ignorant in her own thinking.

She goes on to say how Katniss's reaction to violence is consistent by using the example of the death of Rue and Katniss's reaction to other people's deaths. Anita says that Rue's death deeply affected Katniss (which it did) yet the death of other tributes do not phase Katniss and therefore is not consistent. Again, did you not read the book? First let me address why Katniss's reaction to Rue's death was so strong. First let's remember why Katniss was first in the Hunger Games. She volunteered to be in it so that her younger sister would not. She took her sister's place because she loves her sister so dearly that she is willing to die for her. Later, Katniss meets Rue who reminds Katniss of her sister. They are about the same age and have the same look of innocence in their face. Katniss quickly builds a relationship with Rue due to these factors. When Rue died, Katniss couldn't help but react the way she did. The reason she doesn't care about the other tributes deaths is simply because she doesn't have the same relationship she has with them as she did with Rue. Rue's character really hit the core of Katniss's character and to see that is very traumatic. Katniss's character is also very cold. At a very young age, she experienced the death of her father and let's not forget, she's been watch the games her entire life. Seeing kids die is not something new to her. Asking her to have the same reaction to the other tribute's deaths as Rue death is like asking someone why do they only cry when someone in their family dies but not when anyone else dies. It simply doesn't make sense.

So Ms Anita Sarkeesian. After watching a few of your videos, I really wonder how much thought and research you really put into your videos because it seems like you don't really think it all through. I know it's your opinion but opinions can be educated and I just don't feel like yours are.

twenty twelve..

Now that the year is coming to an end, I can definitely say that 2012 has been the craziest year I've ever experienced in my life thus far. I started this year living in one of the greatest cities in the world. Living in SF has been a great experience and I know it's only the beginning. Since moving to SF, I've learned a lot about myself and the people of this fine city. For myself, I didn't realize just how lazy I was. Many of you may know, in SF, the majority of San Franciscans don't drive a car on a regular basis so for me, someone who drove pretty much all over the place, adjusting to that was a bit of a challenge. Taking public transit wasn't much of an issue since there are bus and train lines all over the city. It was actually a matter of not taking it too often, especially for short distances. There are many places I could easily walk to in about 10-20 minutes but instead I choose to wait for the bus or train. By the time I get to the destination, I would not have saved much time, but I got there with as little effort as possible. However, I wasn't about to drive anywhere on the fear of losing my parking spot. Now that I've finally adjusted, I'm looking to sell my car soon so that I can really start saving money.

On January 18th, I experienced something 99.99999% of 25 year old adults would not experience. I had a heart attack. That moment changed my life forever. According to the doctors, my life was never in any danger, but there could have been detrimental effects to my health if I had never done anything about it. As crappy as that event was, I came out of the incident in the best case scenario. No surgery or any special procedures necessary, all I have to do is take four pills for a year, at which point only two after that maybe for the rest of my life. I will have myself a nice long life.

After that, life went as it usually did. Work, day in and day out. When my birthday came around, I figured I needed to celebrate it. So I rolled out a limo and took me and my friends to Napa. The day was rather fuzzy and thought there was some unfavorable outcomes, it was a great birthday none the less.

This past summer, a number of my friends got married. It was truly a blessing to be able to be a part of their special day. First, it was Mike and Diana. Two people that have been there for me all of college and post college. Second, was Rachel and Brandon. Rachel has been one of my oldest friends and seeing her so happy almost made me tear up. Then came Darwin and Jade. Two people from college I never thought would end up together but they did. Their wedding was by far the one of the funnest I've ever been to. Last, but not least, Denise and Jason. A very interesting wedding where I got the chance to catch up with people I don't normally get to see.

Mid 2012, was also a time I finally decided to travel more. I realized that I never go anywhere so i decided to visit Chicago where my friend Phil currently resides. That weekend, though it hurt the wallet, was one of the best weekends this year. We did many of the touristy things but also got to experience some of the things, Chicago natives experience everyday.

Right after Chicago, I met a girl. An amazing girl.

After 2.5 years at CafePress, they decided to let me go. I must say it was bitter sweet. On one hand, I hated that place. I spent most of my time there looking for a way out and one day it finally came. Kind of bummed they closed the door on me since I was looking to close it on them. Not long after that, I found a great fit at NatureBox.com. Greatest thing about it? It was NOT CafePress. NB is a place where they treat employees with respect and dignity. Where we all feel valued and are heard.

Now to end out the year in a bang, My brother and his girlfriend are engaged!

2012 has been a roller coaster of emotions and physical.

I was contemplating all of this until the morning of December 14, 2012. That morning, I go to my usual news sites and found that 26 people were murdered in an Elementary School in Newtown, CT. The more I read about the incident, the worse I felt. I spent so much time contemplating my own life when twenty 6 and 7 year old kids just lost theirs. For them, it was just a typical day at school. A nice Friday where probably all of them looked forward to the weekend. Then a psychopath decided to do something horrific. My heart goes out to the family and friends of the victims and I pray that they may find comfort in our Lord.

EDventures - LTC 2012

EDventures - Ep. 1 - LTC 2012


EDventures - Ep. 2 - LTC 2012


EDventures - Ep. 3 - LTC 2012


EDventures - Ep. 4 (final) - LTC 2012

My Testimony.. so far

When I was first asked to give my testimony, the first thought I had was, my story is kind of boring. There was no life altering event where God showed up out of nowhere like stories you hear out there. For example, those of you who were at Winter Retreat, Pastor Ioannis’s testimony was really intense. Mine is nothing like that.

But I started to think about what it really meant to give a testimony. Most people talk about what their life was before they met God or how they met God, but mine is more about what has happened to me after I met Him and my journey so far. If there is one way I can say that describes my life so far is that God sure does have a sense of humor. For me, I was never really able to empathize with that saying until I really started to look back on my life and really examining the different things that has happened to me.

I grew up in a very typical Asian family. My parents immigrated to the U.S. in the early 80s from China. I was born on a snowy winter morning on March 17^th of 1986 in Reno, NV. Throughout most of my adolescent life I had no idea who God was or any concept of Him. My parents are pretty atheist when it came to all things religious. The concept of praying to a higher being or an afterlife was ridiculous in their eyes because for them, the only person you can rely on is yourself.

In sixth grade I moved from San Jose to a small town called Burlingame and that was where I first started going to church. My best friend Anthony, who I had just met in gym class at the time, invited me to go to church with him and his mother. Like I said earlier, I had no concept of God so I had no idea what was in store for me. Being the new kid in town, I was very bored on most weekends so I figured why the heck not. My first day at church was quite the interesting one. You see Anthony and his mother attended an Assemblies of God church. For those of you who don’t know what the Assemblies of God is, Assemblies of God churches are very charismatic Pentecostal churches, who believed in the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues quite often. So you could imagine my surprise when the pastor’s wife started yelling out a foreign language I never heard before during service and then the associate pastor yelling out something else in English right after. I have never been so confused in my life. However that didn’t stop me from going to church and I eventually started going to youth group with my friends. That summer my youth pastor gave us a chance to accept Christ in our lives and I didn’t know quite what that meant but he put it this way.

“If you accept Christ and later in life you find out that this was all fake, you lose nothing. However, if you find out it is all real, you gain everything”

So I figured what do I have to lose? And then began my “Christian” walk.

Throughout most of my junior high and high school career I was what I called a ‘twice-a- week Christian’. Basically I was a ‘good Christian boy’ on Wednesdays for youth group and Sundays for church. Every other day of the week I was just like anyone else. In high school, I started doing a lot of underage drinking. It wasn’t until my senior year that I really started to take my faith a little more seriously.

Then came that one fateful summer night… I was taking one of my best friend’s home after a typical night youth group. I pulled into his driveway and waited for him to get out. He didn’t move. My first thought was uh are you going to get out or what? Do I need to get the door for you? What’s the deal? I was tired and I had work the next day so I just wanted him to get out so I could go home and knock out. Just as I was about to say something he finally spoke up. He asked me how long will we keep kidding ourselves. How long do you think we’re going to last as Christians in college if we keep living like the way we do. We know God is real but we don’t treat our lives seriously at all. My first thought was speak for yourself man! I am perfectly fine. But I knew that was a lie. I started to seriously ponder the way I lived my life up until that moment. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I didn’t do something that day, my faith or walk, whatever of it was real, would’ve just disappeared in college. So that night, July 23^rd, 2003, my friend and I rededicated our lives to God.

However that wasn’t the end. It wasn’t long until I found out college gave me whole new set issues I had to deal with. During my freshmen year, I started going to InterVarsity but I just didn’t feel very comfortable there. I remember seeing AACF when I was at my freshmen orientation but for some reason it I just kept thinking it didn’t seem legit to me. All the other Christian fellowships had interesting names like Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, and Epic. Asian American Christian Fellowship, that’s not a name, that’s a description! Anyways, in my 2nd year @ UCR I started going to AACF. Didn’t really want to at first but the only reason I did go was because I really liked this girl. As I started to make friends in AACF, I for some reason gravitated towards a certain group of people. You see our Double A at UCR had about 100 some odd people and that meant a good amount of cliques and a very clear split in the dynamic of students. There was the party crowd and the non-partiers. I think you can assume who I naturally was attracted to. It wasn’t before long that I went back to my old ways and ironically enough; all of my party friends were from AACF. I continued to live a lukewarm life where I did ministry for AACF but would go out with my friends almost every week. Again it was my senior year that I finally decided to tone it down and really start taking things more seriously. A few of the older AACFers who I really looked up to, talked to me about what I was doing and for some reason it really spoke to me. I knew that life after college was going to be very different and needed to shape up.

Throughout that year, I had this feeling that my time was not done at AACF. My staffer Warren at UCR, asked me if I thought about staffing for AACF and my first thought was HECK NO. Are you crazy or something? That’s the last thing I want to do after college. But like I first said God has a sense of humor because look at where I am right now!

As I continue to discover this thing called being an adult, God is always giving me new challenges and definitely doesn’t sugar coat any of them. Earlier this year, on January 18^th, 2012, I suffered a minor heart attack at the age of only 25 years old. When I say minor, on a scale of 1 to 10 it’d be a 2, but it was a heart attack none the less. Doctors were baffled that someone my age had one. It was a 1 in a million chance and I was that 1. I don’t think my life was in serious jeopardy at the time but it really got me thinking. People say all the time that life is short and for most of us, we finally get it when it’s something that hits so close to home.

God continually reveals to me crazy things in my life, paths I didn’t think I’d go on and people I may or may not have wanted to meet. I don’t know what else is in stored for me but I do know that it will be an interesting ride and I want God to be my driver.