13) I swear I wasn't high. Well, maybe a little.

When it comes to creating art, most tend to come up with something that hasn't done before. The premise is that you really want to avoid being called a plagiarizer.

Video games are no exception. I'm referring to the unique ones with an interesting premise, or lack thereof. For those who can pull it off, they not only have something terribly unique, but they also have a blockbuster hit on their hands.

It all means that when you sit down and try to ponder where these ideas came from, you might as well draw blanks. Some games really take the phrase "I couldn't make this up if I tried" to a new level. That's how creative you have to be when you want to sell to millions around the world.

But of course, you demand examples (SPOILER ALERTS):

Portal: Imagine yourself trapped in an abandoned testing facility built in 1986. Your only companion is an AI voice named GLaDOS that becomes increasingly homicidal as you progress through test areas of the facility. Also, you solve puzzles using a device that opens and closes instant teleportation portals.

Fallout 3: Taking place in an alternate timeline in which the electronic transistor was never invented, you fight for your life in a post apocalyptic Washington D.C., devastated by nuclear war. The entire setting is locked in a 1950s culture with a Cold War that lasts 332 years. Think of The Jetsons, but with atomic weapons.

Silent Hill (series): Protagonists are drawn into an abandoned town that is home to two alternate dimensions: an empty and deserted town with perhaps ten inhabitants, or a dark and hellish nightmare. All the games are depicted as a protagonist's fight against him/herself. Also, you fight humanoid headless teddy bears with giant claws (I'm not kidding).

Bioshock: An underwater dystopian/anti-utopian city of the 1960s where gene manipulation has caused people to make lighting/fire/water/ice from their hands. As the lower classes suffer, a civil war erupts into pure chaos. The citizens who modify their genes suffer extreme mental and physical degeneration. And they all want to kill you. Here's a speech from the beginning of the game:

I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?

No, says the man in Washington; it belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican; it belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow; it belongs to everyone.

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...

Rapture.

— Andrew Ryan

That's my speech when I create a game that involves hyper ninja green space zombies of doom that fight humanity along with a religious alien empire hell bent on human extinction.

Wait, that's the Halo series.

Damn.

12) Artificial "Intelligence"

There used to be a segment on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, called Jaywalking, in which Leno would walk around L.A., interviewing people and asking them basic questions anyone should know the answer to. The humor came from the fact that 20 and 30 year-olds could not tell the audience how many stars were on the American flag, state the first amendment, or who invented the telephone. Of course I understand it's humor, and not a good representation of the average American. But this introduced something else in my mind.

After reading and gutting The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or Don't trust Anyone Under 30) by Mark Bauerlein, I have come to the decision that the title is exactly what it suggests: the newer generation is stupider than the previous. And there is little we can do about it.

Granted, this most likely makes the publishing of the book completely pointless (Which makes him the ultimate idiot), but I understand what he is so paranoid about.

This is the basic premise: the technology age has provided enough opportunities for students to devote themselves to everything else than what matters: an interest in learning.

No student reads Machiavelli's The Prince even though its online. They skim it. And they sure as hell do not read it for leisure.

Let me level with you. As a student, I disagree with Bauerlin because I don't see the advantage of going to school past the 8th grade. I don't understand why I'm going to learn so many things I will never use in my lifetime. The plot of The Cather In The Rye does not help you do the taxes. It doesn't help you get a job. It doesn't pop back up when you are 35 and are working in a cubicle, where reciting its plot details gets you a promotion.

When you hand in your resume, they will ask you whether or not you know how to use Microsoft Word. Not whether you know the British commander at the Battle of Yorktown.

I'm not saying this is to apply in all situations. I'm saying that students learn things they have no interest in learning, and will do nothing for them should the distinct opportunity arise. They simply go online and do a simple copy and paste for assignments in school. They skim passages like you are doing now. Nobody learns anything permanent when they pick up the backpack and leave the door.

Of course I know why. It's much more important to be accepted by your friends when you know more about an American Idol judge rather than a Supreme Court judge. It's more important to update your Facebook page than to read the news. That's just where society has gone.

Is it a bad thing? That's not really for me to decide.

All I really know is that the British commander at Yorktown was George Cornwallis.

11) Neon Lights Far Too Bright.

Few people know I was born in Hong Kong, and even fewer know I went there this past summer. As such, its time for me to 'reminisce' about the good times I had before I truly embark into the "Year of Hell" (Otherwise known as school).

I'm writing this down because I'm bored, and also because I hope to find a bit of myself by sharing my experience. I hope you get something out of this. Anything.

Most people have never visited Hong Kong. The lesser known cousin of the bright lights New York, most Americans will never go there in their lifetime. I urge you to go if you have the chance, not only as a vacation destination, but to understand a bit about yourself by contrasting culture.

I say this because I was not born in the good old United States. Most people who are natural born citizens, as I see it, always take it for granted. Maybe it's the fact that they don't have a moral obligation to think otherwise, but I still hear and feel the culture that clashes with what little I grew up with.

I just couldn't seem to understand why everyone was so used to saying "we" when they referred to the United States instead of the words "the U.S." You don't say that the U.S. is going through tough times. You say WE are going through tough times.

I came to this realization while walking down main street Hong Kong, 11pm, while the city was still in full swing. Then I realized something else:

I am not American.

As much as I might try, I will never truly understand what it means to be born here and to die here. I can come close, but I can never know and appreciate what everyone else values and respects.

Don't get me wrong, I know this works both ways. But it's still another case of unknown identity. I can wear the clothes, speak the language, and blend in, but I will never FEEL like I'm part of the group. I will always have an excuse to say that I'm not like the others.

I'll try and get over this someday, but maybe that's part of what being American is all about: Having the opportunity to be yourself without punishment of any kind.

Well, almost any kind.

Interlude: Mirror, Mirror...

I often reflect on my origins and my past for future steps. We all do. When I try to think about why I do the things I do, I draw blanks.

What is my purpose? My destiny?

That's another philosophical question for another sunny day. For today, I had to look at the past posts on this blog and decide whether I've stuck with my original purpose and goals.

What goals? What purpose? I created the blog because it was a mandatory assignment. My original statement of purpose? I pulled that out of my ass because it was an assignment I had to do.

I said I would try to make the world a better place by provoking thought. I might have succeeded in making the few who read my blog think, but I've really achieved what I was looking for: Reflection.

School isn't easy. It is very tiring and boring for me. This blog is just tacking on to the list of "Reasons to live". Reasons to get up in the morning.

When it's all done and over, I think I could look back on this blog and see what I've accomplished. It'll bring a small smile to my face knowing I've done what little I could online in the grand scheme of things.

So that's my new goal. To keep publishing new posts on my blog. Surviving. Being proud of something at the end of the day. Just for the hell of it.

So I will remember what something someone close to my once said: "Life is the uphill battle you fight. When you get to the top, your ultimate reward is peace - Death. The part you need to look for is getting up the hill under enemy fire. And planting your flag on the top."

So I will keep fighting that war. That struggle to get to the top of the hill. This blog will be another rest stop for me.

I can put my weapon to the side and just sit down for a while. That sounds about right.