Kick Off Your Shoes

家の中で靴を脱ぐ A phrase every Japanese mother has yelled at their kid at least one time, but it’s also something that many other people around the world say to their guests as they enter their homes. Normally, this is not such an issue. If the person you are visiting has this rule for their house, be accommodating, and remove your shoes. The problem arises when the reflection of the adopted culture is not as good as the culture of the home country. There is a reason beer is best at Oktoberfest in Germany, there is a reason steel drums sound better in Jamaica, and there is definitely a reason why people have no problems removing their shoes as they enter a Japanese house. Here in the States, if I enter a home during winter, and I am supposed to remove my shoes while the living arrangements in question is only a brisk 65°F, how am I supposed to leave later with blocks of ice on the ends of my legs. In Japan, most households have slippers for their guests in case of cold feet. Another issue is that many people claim they have adopted the no-shoes rule because they do not want the outside dirt brought into their house. They do not want all the soil, fecal matter, and other dander on the bottom of their guests’ shoes tracked onto their pristine floors. However, their houses are dirtier than any outside anywhere. I remove my shoes and my white socks get that odd eggshell-grey hue to them before I leave. Bleach will only go so far, and it can be used on certain floors. If you want me to remove my shoes, then take a page out of the no-shoes origin country and clean the hell out of your floors or else I will keep my shoes on just to avoid the potential Athlete’s Foot infection. The final issue is when I go to someone’s house and remove my shoes, there is no place to put them. Many Japanese homes have a shoe caddy to store shoes. If you are happy making a pile of shoes by the front door, then by all means, go for it, but I will apologize in advance that my kicks are too valuable to end up in a footwear mosh pit. Many people around the world have adopted this culture for one reason or another and I have no problem following the rules of a household, but maybe before you go all in on a certain tradition, study up on people who are better at it than you and copy them to the letter. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

Zombies = Slaves

Throughout the history of video games, game designers have had to get creative with the storylines of the games. Because, let’s be honest, most people can only play a game where the objective is to defeat the 8 robot masters and the guy who created them so many times. I mean there a few who only like to hack and slash, but for those who don’t like to speed run, jump the bad guys, collect a few coins, and hit the flag, we need a story to keep us involved in how the game is played. Recently I have noticed that for years game designers have been diving into deeper and deeper subjects for the games they make. One such subject is the idea of slavery, and no, I don’t mean they have made a game where you go all Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. I am more talking about games where the idea of slavery is directly or indirectly addressed in some manner. But why? Why would video game creators make a game that attempts to tackle such a difficult subject? Well, maybe in their own way it is an attempt to make the world see what could happen if we don’t learn about the horrible actions of our predecessors. Furthermore, for all those teens out there who become glass-eyed at the thought of sitting through a history class, they can still acquire a bit of culture and learn something even if all they think they are doing is mowing down zombies. Because zombies are, in fact, slaves in many video games. Think about it they are undead creatures brought back to life to complete tasks and they usually have no will of their own. Moreover, if they defy their master, they are thought of as easily disposed. It really hurts your brain to think about zombies in that way. Sometimes this slave idea is not obvious though. Sometimes the game designers make a bad guy you are trying to defeat and they have “minions” that attempt to stop you. Whether it be mushrooms, a virus, or a psychopath named Sadler, they are all using the zombies to try to kill you and without a plantation or pickable crops in sight. All in all, these games are often some of the better games to play. You get a decent story and amenable action while also slowly starting to question yourself on if unloading on a few zombies actually rips apart your moral compass. The only thing that would help push the idea further of this learning through a video game is to truly make the cutscenes unskippable. Then we wouldn’t have a choice but to learn from the game would we. Also, by the way, if you were one of the ones that used your power to control the Big Brothers in Bioshock, you may have just proved the game makers point. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

Let's All Get Out There

It’s that time of year again. The time for super-sweet chocolates, overpriced flowers, big fancy dinners, and the colors red and pink. It is also a time for introverts to add an extra layer of protection from anyone getting near them. I find this very odd, because I have been told by introverted friends of mine that it would be so nice to celebrate Valentine’s with a significant other. Unfortunately, it is hard to have the best of both worlds. A world where you don’t put yourself out there, but also get a person close enough to you to celebrate the holiday of romance. Fortunately, I have a solution and it is really, really simple. Just like the bullies who seem to have no problem being faceless names behind typed words, introverts have an outlet to get themselves started on a journey of social interaction. I have been told that it can be unnerving to try to make new friends as an introvert, and it is completely out of the question to just walk up and ask someone on a date. However, with social media and some decent typing skills, my friends have started testing the waters of interacting with new people and just having a good time chatting someone up. They have slowly become more extraverted because of this. One of my friends has even found someone who was as introverted as they were, connected with that person over it, and now they hang out in person. So, this Valentine’s Day let’s all get out there and meet new people. Not for any particular reason, except to enjoy the company of others, and, with any luck, find someone who is just as oblivious to Valentine’s Day as we are so that we can bond over how gross the holiday really is. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.

Emotional Intelligence Makes Me Smart

Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, interpret, evaluate, and control emotions to communicate and relate to others effectively. It is a means of social connection that in a world of business moguls, book smarts, and AI is slowly being lost. However, it is a concept that is direly needed in order for a society to function. We cannot connect with others in our social circle without some level of emotional intelligence. While some people are naturally gifted with it, it is something that can be trained through practice. Although, even in our modern world, there is little time put into that practice. In olden days, you were saw as weak or yellow-bellied for being empathetic, but nowadays there are even worse “nice” words to describe the sensitive souls of the world. To prove just how important it is to have emotional intelligence let’s say you go to a therapist and they have the demeanor of R. Lee Ermey from that Geico commercial. It would be difficult to spill your inner thoughts to a drill sergeant like that. What if every time you were pulled over by an officer, the response was always, “I don’t care, here is your ticket, go away.” The defunding of the police would be immediate and unanimous. Teachers are another great example. If all teachers did was barf up facts for your child to remember and then regurgitate back, we could literally replace them with a robot or TV monitor. Finally, parents are the most important people to have emotional intelligence. Many times, your child is hurting emotionally and you have no idea why. Someone with honed emotional intelligence can easily figure it out. For those parents who lack emotional intelligence; don’t panic. With a little practice and enough Bluey episodes, you too can be an emotionally intelligent parent. My final thought on all this is we as an entire population should be working toward more empathetic interactions. We need to help people learn social skills as well as why the universe works. Because the truth is, it doesn’t if we cannot connect with people on some sort of deeper level at least once in a while. Moreover, when a child helps the opponent in a sports game up from a fall and claps a high five for effort, maybe instead of wondering why they are helping the enemy, we reward them for having the emotional intelligence to realize it’s just a game and hating the opponents only makes the game toxic for everyone. But that is just one man’s opinion. Thanks for listening to me ramble. I appreciate it. See you next time.