AAHHHHHH HAYTE EENGLASH.

Why Whyville, pt 2.

It has been over a year since I wrote the first article on this blog about Whyville, and I feel it is time for a follow-up. There are several new things that have happened over the last couple of years, and many things have changed. If you haven't seen my first article on Whyville, entitled "Why Whyville", I suggest you give that a look before continuing.

In my previous article, I mainly compared Whyville to Neopets, which is still incredibly popular. However, this article I plan to focus primarily on Whyville itself. That said, Whyville has never left my heart, which is anywhere from embarrassing to curious when considering my position in life. I am no longer a young man, but a late adult facing the independence of life, and yet I still find myself returning upon this website targeted to the preteen generation. I hope to capture the reason for this in this article.

I have been an avid gamer since as long as I can remember. When I first discovered the world of MMORPG's (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games), I was absolutely fascinated by the fact that over a dozen people living anywhere on the world could be playing the same game, talking to each other and trading things to each other. Whyville was my first experience in this genre, and probably contributes to why I still return to it. Whyville was easy to pick up; to learn the ropes, so to speak. I was, and still am, an incredibly competitive individual, so I took to Whyville much like a person trains for a race. I admit I exploited the system slightly, but it gave me an advantage, and I built upon it and built upon it until I was comfortably ahead of my peers. Upon reaching this point, my natural leadership kicked in and I found myself constantly aiding new members of Whyville, giving them clams and advice. Soon I was accepted into a close ring of friends in the once-elite chat room of Club Why. Whyville was now my life. Every day was spent talking to my friends, living through the Club Why dramas, helping others while at the same time advancing myself. It was no longer a game, but a lifestyle.
However, despite the common opinion, this game becoming a lifestyle was not detrimental to me. I was constantly finding myself taking tests, and saying, "Hey, I've seen this before on Whyville!", or finding myself in a social predicament, commenting to myself, "This is a lot like Whyville!"

My advancements in Whyville were parallel to my advancements in real life, and I do not think that is a coincidence. I gained vital life experiences on the so-called "Kiddie Site", and I still have to tip my hat now and then to the City Workers for keeping the site alive when so many of us were gambling on the year it would die.

While everyone moves on from their online games, be it Whyville, World of Warcraft, Runescape or Gaiaonline, I cannot say I've moved on from Whyville since my last article. I've joined, played and retired from many games since, but not Whyville. Perhaps it is because going on Whyville is like taking a walk down your old school hallways. Maybe it's because it was something I was very successful at, and I like to revisit my success. But I think the real reason I come back is because at one point in time, Whyville was as much a part of me as school, play and sleep, and I cannot divide it from my being. If it were detrimental to me, I could easily take myself from it. I've cut off many negative influences on my life before, and no doubt I will cut many more things. But I cannot imagine leaving Whyville completely. It is my flesh and blood, my bread and butter, my childhood playground, and a host of other things.
I occasionally come on to give away clams on the account DarkFireV, so if you see me, why not start a conversation. It might earn you more than you think. And if you haven't seen, or even heard of Whyville, again I would greatly suggest you check them out. No matter your age, gender, color or creed, you are always welcome. There are always games to be played, things to be learned, and friends to be made. I hope I'll see you there.

Picture

Ok, I'm basically just putting my picture on here so I don't have to make people go on messenger to see mah pretty face. So yeah, enjoy I guess.

UPDAAAATE!!!

Yeah, I've been gone WAY too long. For those of you waiting on a review for Pokemon Diamond/Pearl, forget it. I've gotten to the point where I'm at the last gym, and I've completely lost interest in it. Basically, the best parts of the game START after you beat the elite four, and frankly, I'm too lazy to get that far. Nothing significantly new has been added to the series (apart from the awesome wireless innovations), nearly all of the pokemon look crappy, and it's the same style that you hated about Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. Level-up your guys and beat the next person. After that, level yours guys some MORE, THEN get to the next level. Basically, the entire game comes out to; level, beat challenge, level, beat challenge, level, beat challenge. Most of the competetive-friend factor has been negated. You know, the factor that's like, "Hey look man, check out my awesome base!" "Dude, where the crap did you get that!?!?" "Oh yeah, and check out my mad team!!" "Aw, fer rel!?" "Cha man!!". Now it's just... you have to be a hacker to get some of the best stuff. Either that or toil away for countless boring hours. Apart from being able to trade pokemon wirelessly (the BEST thing to ever happen to pokemon), I think Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald were better.

So there's the pokemon review in a nutshell (don't ask for a score, I'm too lazy to add up a score for this game). In other news, I've been promoted at Tim Horton's! Get a little raise, and a little more respect. Yay. Oh, and I've fallen in love with Super Paper Mario for Wii. If you have no Wii, GET ONE! If you have one, GET PAPER MARIO! If you have it, GOOD! PLAY IT!

In other news, YC King 2007 was a bummer. I stupidly spent $650 (not including tickets), KJ-52 wasn't there, and I got sick for most of the duration of it. The shining star was tobyMac's concert. ILU TOBYMAC!!! And I bought all of his CD's, a poster of him, a couple buttons, a hat, and a sticker. $75 at the tobyMac booth, hahah. It would've been a MILLION times better if he was signing stuff, and if some jerk didn't spill root beer all over my poster, ruining it on the ride home. Oh well.

Oh, and if listening to a tobyMac CD and then ejecting it just as tobyMac was on the radio on the same day as playing DDR to a tobyMac song wasn't coincidence enough, I log onto Whyville to find there's a tobyMac concert!! tobyMac-mania!!! Of course, a lot of people on Whyville are all spazzy about Christian artists on Whyville, and how they want more Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance and junk. Honestly, do they think most parents would enjoy seeing offensive artists on a kid's site? Just goes to show that Christian music is one of the final frontiers in acceptable music. Heck, I don't even like music all that much, and I can see it's effects on society. I'm not really into Christian music, but KJ and tobyMac are my exceptions. Props to other Christian artists for being in the industry, and boo sucks on the secular artists... well, most of them. Black Eyed Peas has a little of my respect, since they aren't as sick as most other bands. Meh, that's the music industry for ya, and my view on it.

As a final bit of news, for all that stuff I posted on that Heartbreak series, you guys can forget about it now. I'm so far over that hill, I'm climbing the mountain that's like, 5 hills after that hill. Besides, summer's coming up and I'm gonna be one of the few chaps who's not having fun in the sun. Maybe I'll reduce my hours at Timmy's. There's an idea!! Well, hope this update will hold you guys over until the next time I'm around. Sorry about that wait folks, I'm swamped. I'll get back to you soon though, that's a promise. Until then, ciao.

Heartbreak; Part 2.

Yes, I'm finally putting it up; the conclusion of the heartbreak.

In the last article (Part 1, which I'll admit was probably as interesting as a bar of soap), I went over the best route to take during the first stages of a heartbreak. Well, this is the rest of it. After a week from the date which the horrible incident occurred, the victim should be back on their feet. But be warned, that sense of recovery may or may not be fake. Don't try and be superman(/woman), but at the same time, don't live in the depressing slum. Get up, take a breath of fresh air, look in the mirror and do the Rocky Balboa thing. Seriously. Play the music if you have to. Yes, you know what I mean (throw punches and dance with your fists in the air). Tell yourself life is good, which it is. Yes, you'll still think every day of that person for the next while, but remember, time heals all wounds. Some just take a flipping whammy of time to heal.

After about two weeks, you'll feel normal again (for the most part), but certain songs/images/things will remind you of the pain. Now, most people will tell you to ignore that. Ignore the pain, think of something else. Don't. Confront the thoughts. Confront the memories. You are in charge of your thoughts. You are in charge of your memories. Challenge them, pit yourself against the pain. Then when you overcome them, the next time you're confronted with the memories, you'll be that much stronger.

After the one-month mark, you'll either be completely back to normal, or you'll be at a state in which you still have the painful memories, but you can handle them easily. Congrats, you've survived a heartbreak.

I'd personally like to dedicate this fairly short series (ok, REALLY short series) to everyone who has endured through a heartbreak, or more than one heartbreak. All of you truly are special.

Thank you.

Gotta Catch 'Em All!!

I know it's been forever and a day since I updated my blog (story of my life...), so I thought I'd finally get around to it and make an announcement.

Today (ok, a few days ago), I sealed my fate as one of the biggest nerds of all time. I not only got Pokemon Diamond for Nintendo DS, I got Pearl as well. And guess what else? I pre-orded them. Both. Oh yeah. I went there. And yes, I got them the day they came out too.

Yes sir, it's the return of the pokemon curse. Some of you will surely flame me and tell me how horrid I am (sue me, I'm 16 and still love this stuff), and others might join me in my very lame joy and love with this series. Whichever you are, expect a review coming soon. That is all.

Heartbreak; Part 1.

Ok, so you might know by now, I'm going through a heartbreak. However, I'm finally getting over it, and I feel like doing something other than feeling bad. So, I'll share some advice with all of you about this really bad thing; Heartbreak.

So many people (vast majority being teens) experience heartbreak, and it's a really hard pill to swallow. Heartbreak can take a major hit on your pride, your self-esteem, your will to live, you're will to do anything, your work ethics, your morals, your physical health, and many other factors of your life. The saddest part of all this though, is very few people know how to handle heartbreak. Hopefully, you'll read this and know a little better next time you or a friend of yours goes through this inevitable evil.

First, when the heartbreak strikes, the victim goes into a state of denial, followed immediately by complete loss of sanity. The victim wants to die, or wants desperately to talk the accused into reconsidering (which of course, rarely, if ever, happens). At this point, if you are contacted by the victim, simply listen to the story, reassure the victim that they are not worthless and that you would do anything for them, and that if they want to talk about this, you'll gladly listen and do anything else the victim wants. If you are the victim, call a friend. This is the absolute BEST thing you can do. Watching a movie, watching tv, playing a game... all those things will end after a little while, and you'll feel just as bad as you did before you did it. If you don't have a friend you can call and talk to or cry with (like myself), then you'll just have to bear it. Take a shower, cry your absolute heart out. Have a magnificent pity party, scream your anger, take it out on a pillow, pound the floor, release your madness on things that you won't later regret. You'll feel a little better afterwards, but keep in mind you still have a road of recovery ahead of you.

In the following few days, you're life will definitely be different, unless you have someone else you can latch onto and grow on, like you were with the accused. You'll feel fidgety, depressed, and overall bad. You won't want to go to school, work, out with a friend, or anyone else. This is normal, but it's not good. The best thing you can do is get out. Get up, get out, and enjoy yourself. Beg your folks for some money and have a night on the town. Pamper yourself, spare no expense. Tell yourself you deserve it, and it'll help you through this early road to recovery. If you have someone else you can use to replace the accused, then go with them. Although keep in mind as this does help you feel better almost immediately, it also greatly increases your chance of further heartbreak, and the next one will be even harder on you. Use caution when making such a decision. If your friend is going through these days, call them up, hang out, and remember to give them special treatment. Remember, the person feels horrible, worthless, and rejected. The best thing you can do is put them first and make as many sacrifices as possible. When they see you selflessly giving yourself to their happiness, it will impact them and greatly help. If they want to go to the mall, go along, and shop wherever they want to shop. If they want to hang out and play video games, play whatever game they want to play (and if you're really good, go easy on them and maybe even let them win without them knowing).

After around 3 or so days after the heartbreak, they'll start to feel better. The wound will be closing and it will start to scar. Although it may seem like they're better, (they'll act more normal and like themselves), remember they're still not fully recovered. Still pamper them a little bit, but not too much. Remember, if you overplay the nice person role, they'll become dependant on you, and never fully recover. But if you underplay it, they may go back into the heartbreak depression. If you're the victim and at this stage, you should be feeling better. But remember, you're not out of the tunnel yet. You'll want to go out and face the world, but this is mostly because you feel bad for missing the world so much, and want to make up for the time you lost in your depression. This is normal, and don't worry, so was the depression. You needed that down-time to recover, and now you want to make up for it. Don't. Go out and have fun, yes, but don't try and make up for lost time. Go at a good pace, one day at a time, and keep a good attitude. Keep in mind that you're still recovering, so don't try and make yourself feel like you're through it and ready to take on more challenges. You're not. If you do, you very well could end up back at the depression stage. Take it easy, but not too easy. Get out there, but don't go too far. Balance, grasshopper. Balance.

Now I'm not very far past it, so I'll have to continue this with the next entry. Part 2 will be about a week to 2 weeks after date of heartbreak. I hope you look forward to it. Until then, this is James William Walker V, still on the road to recovery. Adios!