The Top Ten Things that You Should not do this Halloween... Or ever.

As we approach the spooky and sensational holiday that looks to close October, I couldn't help but chime in about some of the best (and unfortunately worst) aspects of this festivity. Here they are in the notorious top ten form:

10. Smashing pumpkins only cements your adolescence. Please don't.
9.   If you have an undergraduate degree, it's time to think about stopping trick or treating.
8.   Ladies, if your not going as a prostitute, don't dress like one.
7.   A Halloween costume won't resurrect a franchise. Or give it validity. Twilight fans take note.
6.   No one cares if you go as someone from Glee. Unless it's the wheelchair kid, and then it's only because they have to.
5.   Contrary to popular belief, Halloween only gives you marginal rights to be creepy. These rights are invalid if you creep on people over ten years younger than you.
4.   NEVER, EVER TAKE YOUR COSTUME TOO SERIOUSLY! Don't actually speak cling-on, or come prepared with four chapters of Frankenstein memorized. Costumes are gimmicks, but nothing beyond that.
3.   Know who's in the house while watching a scary movie. As a brother, I've suffered many actions of heroism to my face because of any number of thrillers. Please, know who your hitting before you try and maim them.
2.   Similar to number eight, but not identical. It is never a good idea to go as a nudist. Ask your local police chief. He'll tell you.
1.   Regardless of what anyone says, have FUN! Good, clean, legal, not creepy, clothed fun, in good taste.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

Ten Profoundly Spiritual Lessons Learned From Playing Video Games

This is a glorified facebook post, showing that inspiration can be found in the mundane, the obscure, the juvenile, and even the electronic. Enjoy!

Ten Profoundly Spiritual Lessons Learned From Playing Video Games:
Dedicated to all gamers, especially Gabe Gerrish

10. True love means battling obstacles in the face of all odds. And then winning.

9. As appealing as it seems, button mashing is not a good strategy.

8. No matter how insurmountable the obstacle, there is a way around it. Though in real life its weak spots probably don't light up when you hit them.

7. Action makes things exciting, but details make things breathtaking.

6. Know your checkpoints and reach them like your life depends on it.

5. Extra lives are worked for, not thrown at you.

4. If you can't find you're way out, begin where you started.

3. Trust the game designer.

2. If the bad guys are getting progressively scarier, you're heading the right way.

1. The game is only truly over when you stop playing.

The Preface: Why You're Here (And Why You Should Come Back)

You've entered a new dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of society. My name is Big Al, and I've come to notice different aspects about people. How we look, behave, interact and think intrigue me, and so I'm starting this blog as a social commentary of life in general. I hope to be insightful, humorous, and above all, to give people the opportunity to walk away thinking "I'm so glad someone else has noticed that!" Most of what you read is not new. It's just commentated. I look around at today's world, and I see that the value of independent thought is plummeting at a rate second only to the American Dollar, and this bothers me. So, this is my start to fixing this issue. I'm one man, but thought is contagious, and if we can get enough people doing it, we might be able to start something that will shape the lives of people now, and more to come. Remember, this is a light hearted forum discussing issues that are as diverse as the people I hope to read it. Bring your ideas to the table, drop them in my comments. Think. Plan. Do. That's what we do here, in the Blogger Zone.

Apathy: The New American Dream

Welcome to modern America: A land of liberty, seeming possibility, and the sense of impending security and ease for those who may fall upon it. It could be said that Americans, among all countries, have the most oppurtunity before them relative to any other people on earth. With all of this potential, it intrigues me that America is drowning in potential. It would seem as though we have found ourselves within the awful and fascinating predicament of having so much to do and care about that we choose not to care at all. It's an odd parallel to sitting down to thousands of TV channels and having nothing to watch. Yes, we find ourselves treading water in a sea of social and moral and entrepreneurial possibility and obligation, finding that we can only muster the energy to stay afloat, and that's about it.  


So, how do we fix this problem? 


The question may be more difficult than the answer. I believe the most accurate and poignant question is as follows: In the some of the best years in the world, why is it that we choose not to care? Ah. The ever armed and ever potent why question. It would seem that it rarely fails to cut through the crap. I personally refuse to believe that we as humans are any more self centered than we have always been. People are constantly looking to the youth in the world and attaching every label imagined to them, selfish included. To be fair, it's always been that way. I'm sure that the youth of the Renaissance were accused as being just as immoral and selfish as we are. And it's because they're right. We are.


Let me explain. If we view all of these opportunities as obligations, they become a threat to personal security. Statements like "You have to go to college" or "You have to care and support the environment" are viewed (in some cases) as attacks. Then, just like the children of any generation, we begin to push back.  I might be as bold to suggest that if we lived in a society where we didn't "have" to do anything, people would be better. I"m not suggesting anarchy, but I believe in the power of people making their own decisions. 


So to all those who feel like they're literally drowning in apathy, might I suggest taking five things that are important to you, and working for those five things. Not because someone told you to, but because YOU WANT TO. I think some of the angst might be taken off, and you might starting floating above the numbness that has permeated our culture. 


This 4th of July, let us take a leaf out of our founding fathers book: Find what's important to you. Plan for how to achieve it. Then, let nothing short of death stop you from getting what is important to you. Pay attention to what happens, because upon true introspection, I'd bet you're desires are more philanthropic than you'd give yourself credit for. And who knows? Maybe you'll change the world. But I'd work on taking control of your life first. :)


This is Big Al. Over and out.