Friends #1: They come and go

One thing I learned from my experience is that friends come and go easily. A person who you might think would be your best friend for life can be an acquaintance the next year. It is not easy to learn this if you were in the same group of friends for several years. It wasn't easy for me, especially when social networks were not well known back then. Email was the common medium.

The first time I learn this was back in Asia. I had many good friends. Everyone would go to each others' birthday parties. The same group of friends would always be seen together, changing games every once in a while during recess. Everything seem static. However, by sixth grade, my family decided to move to the United States. Obviously I was very young. Young enough to not understand or adapt easily to change. Not old enough to not care about "fitting in." Emailing was the only well-known way to stay in touch. Blogs were easy to keep update on other friends' life but not easy to communicate with. So I lose touch with my elementary friends quite quickly. 

It was middle school, a time when many preteens started to learn their own identity. While everyone cares about who likes who, or who did what, I only cared about finding people to fill in the loneliness. It wasn't easy to find new friends while missing the old ones, especially if one of them was a best friend. Fortunately, I found very nice friends in middle school. Sadly, that came to an end again when I moved to another city for high school. Now we're not talking about one city away. We're talking about a whole new county away. It was almost impossible to make time to chat with my old friends. Instant messengers were convenient for a certain extent until everyone became too busy to stay online. So I ended up with new high school friends. 

Of course we understand high school. It's a time when a student doesn't have to have the exact same class or teacher with another student. So the classmates usually change every year. I hung out with a certain group one year but I would hung out with another group the next. Fortunately, high school wasn't too big so many circles of friends overlap one another. It was easy to stay in touch with a friend who may not be in any of my classes. Soon enough college applications came along. The idea of losing my friends hit me once again. Many people ask me already. Why must I sound so depressing? If I put effort, wouldn't I be able to stay in touch with them? Actually I tried. However, being an introvert doesn't help. I'm not a party type and sadly my friends were so that's when we slowly drift apart.

Good news: I made friends in college. Sad news: it's my senior year. So that whole idea is coming back to me again. So why am I talking about this? Friends come and go. And many times, I feel depress when I lost contact with someone. There comes a time when I feel jealous of others who seem to be able to stay in touch with someone for so many years. However, no matter how sad I get, I can't help remembering all the happy moments I have with my old friends. True, they're no longer my friends but the memories still remain. I remember the time when I danced the chicken dance with a friend just to attract people to join our club. There was also a time when I played Dungeons and Dragons and I learned how complicated that game is. The funniest moment (according to a friend) was when I made a mistake in my lab, and I used foul language. Everyone was surprised to know I used such word in public (I usually use them in private). It was just shocking to them. Maybe I'm just unlucky that my old friends and I don't keep in touch as much as I like, but it only makes my memories seem more special. So even though you don't know if your friends will stay with you, you should always try to spend time with time, treasure every moment. They won't stay with you, but they make your life exciting and beautiful.

By the way, I actually am still in contact with a few high school friends. Although a majority of them don't talk to me anymore, a few still talk to me now and then. For that, thank you guys for putting up with my introversion. I could never have wish for better friends. 

Apartment mates #1: Tape fixes everything??

Did you ever have an apartment mate that you find troublesome? No let's revise that question. Did you ever have an apartment mate that you know will be troublesome even though you guys haven't live together for more than two months?

I did. And every day I pray that I was wrong. That I'm just over thinking and this one person is actually better than I thought she would be. I have an apartment mate (Let's call her Wavy) and she is... not exactly my cup of coffee. She is pretty. I don't really know what is actually "beautiful" in a guy's perspective but if she can get a modeling job and a boyfriend, I assume she's beautiful. She got a decent GPA in college. Heck if she can get a decent GPA, she must be smart in some ways. Plus she's majoring in engineer. Obviously she seems like a decent apartment mate right?

Oh my goodness, was I wrong. It started with a few dirty dishes in the sink and dirty stove tops. Okay, it's fine. I'll work around it. We can't all expect our apartment mates to meet our cleaning standards. Besides, we're not sharing plates and pans. If she doesn't clean her dishes, she'll just have to deal with having no clean dishes to eat with. Then she invites her boyfriend over almost every single day. Well, I locked my bedroom door. Plus I would want to be with my boyfriend as much as possible if I had one. I'll let that go too.

Then one day, Wavy knocked on my door and asked for help. Of course I would help. Who wouldn't? Apparently, she broke her hair straightener. Oh well, we can always find a way to fix it. I mean, we're college students in science majors. Plus she's an engineer major. No big. When Wavy took out her hair straightener, there was tape around it. What? So the metal plate on the device got loose and now it's dangling out of the device. However the device still works perfectly. So what did Wavy do? She tried fixing by wrapping tape around the metal plate to the device. Umm.... you are an engineer major right?  First of all, I don't think you want to use that device on your hair if you plan to keep that tape. Second, do you actually think tape will fix something like a hot metal plate?  Okay I'm not that smart. I suggested to her to use industrial glue but because I'm not sure if that's the correct choice, I also suggested to buy a new straightener. Ironically, Wavy thinks the tape would work fine and should not be a problem. Eh?! Really? I don't really know if this is common sense so I just leave her with whatever she thinks. Now this is just the first case. I will share a few more that occurred another time. 

So from what I just mentioned, am I wrong to think this woman is troublesome? This occurred within one month after she moved into the apartment and I don't know if I am frustrating myself for no reason. Share your opinion if you like. 

Inspiration: To The Moon

So why the title "Always Remember" ? And why the description? It seems quite obvious. I want to remember thoughts and moments in my life. Sadly, my brain is not that good with details and I do tend to forget things easily. So exactly why this theme you ask again?

Let me introduce you to a video game that brought up this whole blogging/memory idea. It's called To The Moon. It is a short PC game about two doctors whose job is to create artificial memories for the dying patient. The dying patient can call on these doctors to fulfill his or her last wish. The doctors then rearrange the patient's memories so his or her last wish is fulfilled (in the virtual world). In this episode, the patient wants to go to the moon so the doctors travel in his memory to let him go to the moon by any means necessary.

It may seem like a simple puzzle game. However the message of the story is very deep. The first time I heard  about this game, it was rumored that every single person that played it had cried. I got curious about how such a video game can actually bring such emotions. What did I do? I went cheap (sorry guys). I decided to watch the walkthrough on Youtube. Sadly, I can't deny that the game brought me to tears. It made me realize that memories are what makes life special. It makes us who we are today. For this reason, I titled this blog based on that game. It is to remind me (and hopefully you) that our goals are all similar. However, the goal is not worth it without its obstacles. That's why every once in a while, it is good to just look back and appreciate what we gain.

Here's the link to the game's website: http://freebirdgames.com/to_the_moon/

If you played (or watched :P) this game, I hope you feel the same way too. If you haven't, I highly recommend you at least watch the walkthrough online. It is $12 for download. I know the puzzles seem boring but the story is worth it. I definitely look forward to the sequel and will purchase it if I have enough to spare (I'm on a serious tight budget as a college student). There are no updates on it yet so we'll just have to wait on that.

Introducing Me

Hi everyone.

As you may have already read the intro letter on the left (if not, I recommend it), I am blogging about my personal thoughts. I understand. You might be thinking, "that's the whole purpose of blogging." Please bear with me. I'm an amateur blogger. This is not necessarily my first blog but it is my first SERIOUS blog. I'm still learning about the purpose of blogging.

So let me tell you my history on blogging. My first blog was on Xanga back in elementary school. It wasn't really the best idea ever. First of all, I disliked the idea of how anybody can read my personal blog (I didn't know there was a privacy setting back then). Second, that time I felt there's no need to have one. However, it was somewhat like a social norm. Almost all my friends have one so I thought of getting one. Thus, my first blog was born. Because I don't really have much personal problems or any thoughts at all, I often post song lyrics I liked and wish to share. Sometimes I include the song playing in the background. There were times I even posted up Bible verses. It wasn't exactly meaningful in anyway. By the end of middle school, that blog was left untouched.

Now I'm in college. I'm a full adult and I even keep a personal journal. I also do have a Facebook account (who doesn't now a days?). However, I am one of my few friends who never updates my FB account nor blogs anything. Statuses are nice but it doesn't allow me to type much. Also I dislike the note section on FB. However, there are times I do want to post up ideas and I want people to comment on it. So this is why I started this blog and disabled my Xanga (I feel ashamed for my horrible blog that time). Overall, I wish to find a place where I can type a whole idea and get some of your thoughts on it.

Enough with my history, let me tell you about myself. As you can tell, I'm a college student and a christian. Don't worry, I will not be posting up Bible verses or forcing you to convert. I have many friends say I'm nice although I never say I was myself. There are times when they say I'm even a pushover or a good listener. Sadly, all that silence and niceness doesn't mean I don't have thoughts or a voice. I spent most of my time watching Youtube videos, checking out Facebook, reading manga, and even playing online games. If I'm off the computer, I'm usually watching television or playing video games. Well, that sounds interesting. I sound as though I have no life. Don't worry my dear readers. When I'm not doing any of those things, I'm usually either reading a book, drawing a sketch, or evaluating my life events. Yes, I evaluate them. Whenever I get into an argument or even a normal social event, I look back and think about my actions. I usually do this almost every night before bed. In my opinion, this procedure is what allows me to be in good terms with my friends. You will be surprise when you think back to a memory and ask "why did I do that?".

Okay, by now, you should be able to get a small glimpse on my personality. I'm a introvert and a pacifist. Is there anything else to know about me? I leave that for you to decide. Right now I'm not even sure if anyone is reading this blog but I guess if you are here, you must be reading this. And that is one other person. For that, I thank you. I hope this blog will go well. Also I'm sorry for the long entry. I promise to try to keep it short next time.