Baltimore

This is an angry rant post.  This is my opinion.  And most of you are not gonna like it.  But I am tired, tired, really tired, of reading everyone speculating and making scapegoats and focusing on completely the wrong issues of the riots.

For those of you who do not know, either because you don't live in the United States (most likely this issue is only important in the media here anyway) or because you do the sensible thing and ignore media (I wish I could do the same) Baltimore is to some degree depending on who you ask, in open riots and depending on who you ask, with varying degrees of violence.

The media has done what it can to gain money and ratings from the sorrows of the people in this City which could be the basis of a blog post in its own right, but that is not what I will be talking about today.  No instead, I will point out who really, really is to blame, and trust me, its the elephant in the room that everyone is willfully or not ignoring.

Its not Congress, its not Obama, its not even really the police, or the gangs of the City of Baltimore that are really to blame for this conflict.  Just like in Ferguson, it is the plutocrats, the wealthy capitalist overlords that the great George Carlin always reminded the American people actually controlled this country, and trust me, they still do as he points out here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q

I highly recommend watching this as it may help you wake up and realize the true significance of the civil unrest.

Lots of people are parading right now, that these people are "entitled" that they think they have earned something and that's why they are rioting, and to some degree its true, they are entitled, just like you, me and everyone else is entitled.  If you don't believe that you are entitled, then take a step back and try again.  No need to delude yourself further.  Take the veil from your eyes now.

Now, back to the issue at hand, Baltimore is rioting right now.  And this is a cycle that has happened in the world for far longer than even the Jewish faith as we know it has existed. (so more than 5000 years)

Economics looks like this:  First an era of money flowing, the economy does well, then people start getting greedy at the top, they only want happiness for themselves, not for the rest, so then the economy crashes due to their flamboyant actions.  Life becomes hard for just about, everyone except of course, for those responsible for life becoming hard.  Next there becomes a wave of scapegoats.  In America, depending on who you ask, its the Jews, or the Muslims, or the Atheists, or the Christians, or the Republicans, the Democrats, Obama, Boehner,  the list is endless.

Now here is the kicker, this is once again a tactic of these wealthy rulers to keep the regular man divided against his fellow man.  But this does not last forever.  Now as Baltimore is demonstrating, people get fed up eventually.  When an entire group feels like they have been thrown overboard by the world, they turn to the most primal emotion (outside of fear) that the Human body is capable of:  Hate.  And hate is very powerful, just like other primal emotions associated with it.  This hate fuels the fires that turn to riots.

The next stage is a crossroads of sorts where one of two things will occur.  For this next phase to occur, more riots will happen, and I assure you THEY WILL HAPPEN.  Once the rioting has gotten to the point where the nation is grounded to a halt, then the rulers, the true rulers of this country will be forced to make a choice.

They can instigate another war with our enemies abroad, and send the emotionally charged men and women to fight for the country to vent the anger.  While the war occurs, the economy will magically fix itself.  The reason for this is because eventually some of those soldiers will be returning home (victory or defeat is irrelevant for this example) and if the wealthy don't want to be shot next, they better be able to keep these soldiers happy when they return.  America saw this occur with World War II where the depression magically went away when America joined the fighting.

There is another alternative, and I fear for this nation if instead we choose this far darker path.  Instead, the elites decide that they don't want to give up any of their power at all, and they will start using their superior weapons and the armies of the country to attack civilians and cow the entire nation into peace.  There has yet to be a time in history where this has worked.  Instead, what occurs is serial escalation where the civilian population uses those same weapons right back.  In this case, true anarchy really will descend upon America and in the end, we will not look to different than Syria looks right now.
Even worse, there is always a chance that a lunatic like this guy shows up:
and full blown Psychopaths thrive in Anarchy.  Once someone like the Joker (and trust me, these people are real) takes command of the rioting masses, Isis in some form really will come to America.  It doesn't have to be Muslim or Christian or Atheist.  The motive doesn't matter, what matters is that the violence will get much much worse.  The group won't even be Isis, just another extremist group that murders for fun, in a dire reflection of the one running the show.

So to end this rant off.  The violence will spread.  It will get worse.  And to the wealthy who may be reading this:  I send a dire warning to you.

Just as you work hard to live paycheck to paycheck, these people, the poor, work hard just to survive.  You both need each other and one one group ignores the other, both will suffer for it in the end.

When the poor understand that they significantly outnumber the rich, they will torch and burn in rage.  Hate does not mean logical at all.  And I promise this wealthy elites of the world.  If they angry masses come to you in rage, they will care about your life just as much as you cared about theirs.

I hope this country learns its severe economic error before it is too late, but a a cynic, I have already reserved my front row seat to watch the show.

Nepal Earthquake

I decided I should put in my two cents into this issue while it is still fresh in our minds (IE before the Media creates a new crisis of the week for us to focus on) Nepal was hit by a massive Earthquake that has destroyed a large swath of the country, ended countless lives (more than 3000 deaths at the time of writing this post) and the lives lost are increasing.  Families have also become separated in the destruction.

Despite this, the world has responded, and not with more violence.  It is when thee types of disaster occur, when horrific tragedies on a scale such is this happen, that it is then, and only then, that the little faith I have left in the human race is renewed.

When disaster strikes, then and only then, is the true extent of Human kindness unlocked.  Countries from the around the world like Israel, The United States and many countries in Europe are doing what they can to help lesson the suffering of those in Nepal.

What I ask then from any who read this is simple.  Do not let what Ozymandias preached in Watchman prove to be true.  We should not as a species, need a crisis outside of our control that brings society to a crashing halt to bring good to the world.  We need to bring light to the darkness instead of reacting to this very same darkness.

Be that light today.  Don't wait for others to show good.  In this world of follow the leader, the only Shepard in this flock are sociopaths, so be the new Shepard and teach the flock to think for themselves.

To My Mother

Today I am in a sentimental mood.  Its also my Mother's birthday.  So this blog post is dedicated to her.

I was born with Autism and could not speak until around the age of 4 years old. (Yes hard to believe) But through the efforts of my Mother, a champion for having her child with Autism live a normal life, I was able to speak and as you all know, quickly surpassed most of my peers in that department.

I also had a learning disability when I was young, but once again, my mother turned that around.  when I was young, I hated reading, but due to the hard work of my Mom, I discovered I was just reading the wrong material.  (Along with my Grandmother, she is the reason I write Science Fiction today)

Doctors told her time and time again that I would never be able to function like a normal person and she was out from day one to prove them wrong.  And did she!  Now I live in Florida on my own with at the time of this post, two jobs, one additional job that I just put my two weeks notice in for, and an additional freelance job where I write articles.  I'm certainly doing better than many of my peers.

My mother is half way across the country from me now, but there is not a day that I lack  thinking about her.  Recently, I drove up to Carbondale, Illinois to visit her as well as my two brothers.  She was just as happy to see me as I was to visit her.

Today is her Birthday, and even though I am more than 1000 miles away from her, I made sure to remind her that I am her child and love her.  I called her this morning, taking advantage of being in a timezone one hour ahead of her own to be one of the first to wish her a Happy Birthday.

So on this birthday Mom, know that I love you.  Know also that despite how difficult I am, know that you are the best, and the Cool Mom.

Thank you for being there for me for the last 25 years of my life.  Have the greatest day ever!

The Giant Space Flea From Nowhere

Anyone who has played a video game quickly pictured one of these bosses the moment they read the title of the blog post.  The Giant Space Flea from no where is normally a sign of poor game design where the creators knew they needed a boss fight as is normal in video games as you approach the end of a level or an objective, but rather than have a story based battle, one of these happens instead.

Its a pet peeve of mine.  As a writer, I take great pride in characters I create, both heroes and villains (and those above such simple systems)  When a fight against a random monster with no relevance to the plot appears, it makes me upset.  I understand that a couple of these are needed otherwise there will be either too many characters that end up as bosses, or the player will end up fighting the same characters over and over again. (Tales of the Abyss I'm looking at you)

Some games do a great job of making the mix between the two types of bosses (Random and story based)  Notable examples include Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, and Tales of Symphonia.  A more recent newcomer that did a fantastic job of averting this problem is Legend of Zelda Skyward  Sword, which is quite an accomplishment when you remember that Zelda is filled with Giant Space Flea From Nowhere for much of the early games.

Still maybe I'm just being too nitpicky.  After all, I focus on the story aspect of Video Games.  Perhaps I should focus more on a battle from a good game play perspective.  After all, there are plenty of random bosses that present good challenges, and many story based fights that are nothing more than giant disappointments.

Training: New Athletic Goals

T3 is now behind me, but my journey to be in ever better shape has just begun.  Now that I have survived this tough trial, its time to look ever forward into what I plan to do next. 

Right at the front, my goal, one that I set before I even ran T3 was to do a marathon in all 50 states.  I am aware of races in many states that will allow me to get closer to my goal, but not all.  Also there is the thought that compared to T3, a marathon may be too easy on its own.  This means I will likely be training for long distances with a rucksack to pose a more true challenge relative to my abilities.

Another on the list of challenges I plan to complete is a triathlon.  However that requires a few more steps before I am quite ready.  This type of race requires competency in both cycling and swimming as well as running which I seem to have down fairly well at this point.  But cycling, first I will have to practice with a physical cycle as the bike at the gym is limited in what it can help me with.  A potential job is on the horizon, one that allows me to make use of the nearby Sunrail, and once I posses a bike, I can use it as a workout to and from work.  A win win.

There is also the challenge of the swimming portion of the race.  As T3 showed me, my swimming skills need some serious work.  I guess this is a good time to remember I live in Florida.  There are near infinite numbers of pools to make use of to increase my proficiency in the water.

There is of course the Tough Mudder, as well as Ultra Beast.  These are the races that are considered important for any aspiring Spartan Runner.  T3 has prepared me for these events and so long as I continue to train and stay healthy, these races are possible for me to finish as well.

The final goal for my training is the one that is the most important to me and the one that most greatly reflects my quality of life as a whole.  The ability to participate in any of these races or any of the countless other ones around the world without the fear of where my next meal will come from due to money expenditure or the struggle of taking off work for an event that can truly make a difference in my life.  The chance at really having freedom is more than just me being healthy, its about me finding a place in the world I can accept myself in.

Watch my progress and learn about the many opportunities of the team I run with as one of their Regiment Elites at Regimentrunning.com

A Mistake I keep Making

Lets face it, the title of this blog post gives away that I'm gonna be honest about myself here. (Or completely naive.  I'll leave that up to you to decide) There have been a couple periods in my life where I was a complete terror to deal with.  Times in  my life where I could not care about anyone else in my life.  Times where my suffering felt so severe that I was completely numb and maybe even a little dead on the inside.

In those times of dire need, people who have done nothing but be incredible individuals have done everything in their power to help me.  In a few of those cases they are one of the few things standing between me and losing myself completely.  Perhaps even stopping me from making a choice I would regret for the rest of my life (or the lack of a life.  Put two and two together.)

Even worse though, sometimes, my bitterness, intense cynicism, great jadedness, and overwhelming negativity have pushed away those most willing to help me.  I will admit as tears stream down my face, that this is becoming more difficult to write as I put each letter on the page.

As I still grapple with the lasting effects of one who has lived so long with depression, I find myself always looking backwards at things I regret.  Of people I want to make it up to.  People I desperately need to apologize to.  People I have wronged that deserved nothing but kindness from me.

In most of the cases, there is still time for me to make amends, still time for me to inform these people how much good they have done for me when I was lost in the darkness.  But because I was deep in this overwhelming void, I managed to attack friend and foe at times.

But, in a few of the cases, either due to tragedy or the natural order of things, some of these individuals no longer walk the earth.  In this case, while I can continue to live the life I have in part to these individuals, I will never get a chance to thank them for all the effort they put in, and even more so, the sacrifices they made to their sanity in trying to help me when I was at my lowest.  Lets be honest, those who know me well realize that I'm not an easy person to deal with even now.  So think about what a delusional screaming and very depressed me must be like dealing with on a constant basis.  Its not pretty.

At this point, I want to name some of these exceptional individuals who did nothing but show me kindness, and I shoved them away.  This is one of my greatest regrets.  While I can strive to be a better person every day, there is no mistaking that I have shoved some of those who deserved nothing but love and kindness for all the hard work they put in to help me ensure I am who I am becoming today.

Rest In Peace Jeff Hoke, Joe Rembusch, Rosie Williams, and the countless others who have tried to help me become the best person I could be, despite the fact that I selfishly pushed them away.  I am so sorry that I never got a chance to truly tell you how much I appreciated every sacrifice you made to make me a sane and functioning individual.  

I hope that the memories of your lives shine as a beacon of hope over a world that is so lacking in the emotion.  Like me this world is awash in anguish and cynicism.  This world needs more individuals such as yourselves, willing to do good, even when it does not seem like the logical thing to do. Wherever you may now be, I hope you continue to bring light to the darkness.

Why Minorities Must Stand and Fight For What is Right

Yom Hashoah is now over for this year.  And in places all around the world, people took time out of their days to remember the tragedy that took the lives of 6 Million Jews.  But we should not stop there.  For there were other minorities that were also murdered in those same camps

Gypsies, Autistics, Schizophrenics, Gays, and other countless minority groups went right alongside the Jews to fire, to noxious gas, and to mass shootings.  And when we look at the world at large today, that same tragedy looks like it may repeat itself.  The question is not when, but who will be the one to start it again.

And there are quite a few groups that would love to be the one to start the match.  Will it be Iran's Ayatollahs who even now have the ability to create an arms race in the middle east with Saudi Arabia while also funding Hamas and Hezbollah.  Will it be Saudi Arabia who secretly created Isis to attack Iran for them as Human Shields? (although they seem to have created a bigger monster than they realized)  Will it be the combination of Isis, Boco Haram, and the other groups of terror that are far too well funded to be stopped quickly?  Have we seen the last of  Al-Qaeda? And what of the Tea Party in America that pretends to aid Israel while funding Saudi Arabia and Isis to ensure that their fanatical view of Christianity will one day take hold of Israel?  There is also the problem with Russia who has shown who they support when they gave weapons to Iran.  And what of Fundamentalist Atheism, which seeks the destruction of all organized religion by any means necessary and is one of the great groups leading the charge to allow Iran and thus Saudi Arabia nukes in the first place.

When you look at the issue, the Middle East is the new Balkans in regards to the powder keg that will ignite the next World War.  And from an economic standpoint, it is quite clear a war is coming since the cycle goes: War, Economic Surplus, Economic Depression, Antisemitism Resurgence, War. My fear as well as the fear for all minorities is that whenever one of these wars break out, these groups will always be the first and greatest number of casualties

That is why I call on anyone who is a minority to stand proud.  share with the world who you are, and do not fear them.  Those who wish you harm already know who you are, and staying silent will just allow your enemies to pick you off while your allies remain ignorant.

But remember this when you have doubts about yourself:  Every breath you draw, is another breath that your enemies have failed to steal from you.  Every day you live, is another day the Nazis and other hate groups have been beaten.  Every time you eat food is another day where minorities are not starving to death in Ghettos.

Fight for who you are, for your enemies will surely do the same.

Yom Hashoah

Tonight marks Yom Hashoah, a night and day of remembrance for great tragedy.  Tonight marks our thoughts turning to the victims of the Holocaust, and honoring their memories.

Many a Jew has asked themselves as well as G-d: Why?  How could this happen?  And while many faiths condemn those who question acts of their patron deity, Judaism is not one of them.  To question the will of G-d is, according to Jewish Law, is to reaffirm that the Lord has complete control of the universe.  In fact it would be wrong to NOT question everything.

But this night marks a day of memories, and as we turn to think about what happened, we think about why.

Every person experiences Yom Hashoah differently and every person still has a different story to tell of the horrific event.  This blog post will not be telling stories of what happened, but rather, my personal thoughts on why.

Before I continue, I wish to compare the Holocaust to another Jewish holiday that is celebrated quite differently, but tells a story so similar.  I speak of Purim.  On this day that tends to fall in early March, we all wear costumes and drink incredible amounts of alcohol, all while listening to the book of Esther.  When one pays attention to the story though, they realize a scary truth.  The stories of both Purim and the Holocaust have near identical beginnings, but their endings are more different than night and day themselves.

In the story of Esther, a wicked man named Haman decided to wipe out the Jews and convinced much of the known world to aid in this genocide.  Rather than stand and watch, the Jewish people stood their ground and fought.  The queen of Persia, the nation which presided over much of the world as well as a majority of the Jewish population at the time, happened to be a Jew named Esther, the same person the story is named for.  With the help of her cousin Mordechai, she helped the Jews defend themselves by making their struggle against the Persian Immortals legal by the King's decree.  G-d had positioned these two heroes in the perfect place to prevent a tragedy and they acted justly and goodly and so the Jewish people were unharmed, down to the last woman and child.

Now, I will turn back to the Holocaust which tells a very different tale.  A series of wicked men and women:  Hitler, Himmler, Mussolini, and Eleanor Roosevelt being chief among those I refer to, decided that they wanted to destroy the Jews which they blamed for the economic problems of that time period.  As World War II dragged on, the Nazis decided instead of using them as slaves any more, were to just kill them all instead, as efficiently as possible.  Jewish people had gained positions of power all over Europe and the USA, but they all remained silent, none wanted to be the first to step forward.  Due to this lack of bravery, many many many (around 6 million) Jews were brutally slain and the world stood silent, not caring at all until the end of WWII. But by then the damage had been done.

The lesson that can be gained from the meaningless sacrifice of so many innocents, is quite simple in theory, but quite difficult to execute.  When the Jewish people stand and fight for what is right, justice prevails, but when we do not defend ourselves and assume that the world will come to our aid in our darkest hours, we will get nothing but silence from the rest of humanity.

Jewish people will be chanting, posting, tweeting and all other forms of sharing, the message: "Never Again."  This is a message I completely agree on, but unless the Jewish people are willing to stand up for justice, then these are nothing but words, that fall flat in the face of evil.

Why I tend to favor Lancers over Heroes.

This is a literary blog post about my writing style and also may explain a bit about the types of characters I prefer.  To get to the point at hand, the stereotypical idea of the Hero, especially the Chosen One, is a character type that I cannot stand. especially if the Hero is an idealist.  Perhaps it is a reflection of the type of person I am, but I have always preferred the Lancer, the counterpart to these goodly heroes.

While most root for Luke Skywalker, I'm rooting for Han Solo.  Riku instead of Sora, Kain instead of Cecil, the different characters are as endless as fiction itself.  But for those of you who are not familiar with all these characters, they are all foils of one another.  The ones I favor are the darker and edgier characters, most of them have been villains at some point in their stories, mostly due to them flirting with the morality line a whole lot more than the regular heroes.

This brings me to my next point.  For those of you who have been reading The End of Utopia, you may notice that there are few idealistic characters at all.  Arken and Rolfien are certainly the closest to true Lawful Good, but even they make some ambiguous choices.  Arken for one revels in combat and desires conflict over peace.

But to really hammer how I feel about goodly characters, my hero, Orsas, is a Dark Mage and uses a sentient weapon called Apathy that is clearly evil.  He is also dressed not too different from the Lich King from World of Warcraft and I would be lying if this was not at least partially intentional.  Of course, whether Orsas follows in Arthas' footsteps remains to be unseen by my readers (although as the author, I do know what happens) but being that his greatest foil and ultimate lancer, is his weapon, the super blood thirsty Apathy, this is my fair take on the idea of "Hero"  In fact, one of the early ideas for the story was a what if scenario which was "What if the main character uses evil magic?" and it has evolved into the story that it is today.

There are far more contradictions than just involving the Hero in my novels, but I will elaborate on those in future blog posts.

Social Hierarchy From the Eyes of an Autistic

For those of you who lack Autism, this post may seem confusing and even more so, a bit strange, perhaps even redundant.  For the Neurotypical, (that's a person who does not have Autism) some of the things outlined are likely behaviors you do at such an automatic level, that you probably have never thought about it before.

Lets start by defining what social hierarchy is.  It is the concept that some people are more valuable than other and thus their time is far more valuable than others.  This includes minimizing people who they view as having less social hierarchy as themselves from interacting with them.

There are certain types of people so high up on this scale, that most people will drop everything they are doing, just to get a glimpse of these people.  Deep down people hope that by basking in their obvious superiority that it may rub off on them, or something to that degree.  An example of this is when a celebrity shows up.  I am sure just about every person who read this is guilty of acting in this way.  I am sure that we are all guilty of blowing off our friends who we had promised time to, but famous people are far more important than our friends and we must bow to their every whim.

If my last statement sounded foolish, then you may be surprised to learn that this is a natural human behavior and you should not be ashamed that this is how you do behave.  It is so automatic, that you are probably in denial as you read this post that you even do it.  This way we behave is coded into our DNA.  Its part of our evolution having to die with always seeking out good genes for reproduction and spending as much time around the people that have those genes as possible.

So you may be wondering what Autism has to do with any of this.  Well it is most important to understand the statement above.  People with Autism are perceived by the rest of the world as having inferior genes.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this means that Neurotypicals do whatever they can to avoid people with Autism.

This becomes incredibly frustrating for individuals like myself who are just trying to strike up conversation, which becomes very difficult when the people we are interacting with, find just about any other person they encounter to be more worthwhile to spend time with than us.

It becomes hilarious in hindsight when I recall many "friends" guilty of this behavior who constantly drill me about how it is rude to start a new conversation in the middle of an old one, or to walk away from someone and blatantly ignore them.  This rule of course only seems to apply to people with Autism.  Neurotypicals have no problem doing this and don't even feel any remorse at all for the people they have blatantly ignored.  After all, the person they walked away from is no where near as important and beneficial to them as the person they are now interacting with.

If this post upsets you and the natural behavior is something you wish to change, look deep within yourself and monitor your behaviors when out in public.  In doing so, you will make yourself a better person and even gain a little understanding about the struggle of a person on the spectrum who has to monitor their behaviors in public as a full time job.

Magic System in the Search for Eden

Every so often I actually do a blog post about my novels.  This is one such post.

I pride myself on the functional magic systems I create in my works.  Within the universes, I tend to have characters that exist solely to understand these complex systems and make a science out of them.  The Search For Eden is the name of the series in which The End of Utopia, my published novel on Amazon is part of, so that Magic system will be the focus of this blog post.

Magic in this universe uses Mana that is within the blood of every individual capable of using Magic.  This resource is drained relative to the amount of energy that is being altered in reality.  In fact, altering reality is the best way to explain what magic really is.  The effort of change being equal to the amount of Mana used.

When a Mage, which is the name of a Magic User, is attacked by the spell from another Mage, this same Mana can also serve as protection.  Say one Mage attacked another with a ball of fire, the Mage attacking would lose Mana equal to the fireball, the Mage being attacked would also lose Mana equal to the spell, and if full Mana is used, the spell will be blocked.  A strategy that Mages employ when fighting each other is to drain the enemy's Mana reserves will attacks until they are incapable of blocking any hostile Magic, which will lead to a victory.

There are six schools of Magic and they are seen relative to the states of matter in physics that they mimic closely.  These schools are: Solid, Liquid, Gas, Plasma, Light, Darkness.  The first four are much more common than the last two and thus, the full extent of abilities of Dark and Light Mages is still unknown.

In addition, each of these 6 schools have a forbidden technique that is frowned upon by society and can lead to jail time, or even death by execution in some cases.  These techniques will be broken down along with each entry down below.  It is important to note at this point that the full extent of Mages abilities is still unknown but as more research is done, more answers will be found.

Solid Mages:  These Mages have power of the ground beneath our feet as well as calling on the Power of Planets.  Some of them also have the power to Shapeshift as this ability lies firmly within the nature of solid objects. There are also a few that are skilled artisans as they have learned to manipulate the countless metals in ways not normally to be thought possible.

The Forbidden Technique of Solid Mages is to force an unwitting victim to Shapeshift.  This can be something as small as changing their nose to an ear, or something more significant such as polymorphing an individual and rewriting their entire DNA structure.  Their brain itself will be altered in this case.

Liquid Mages: These Mages have the power of the many fluids and liquids that exist in our universe.  This is not limited to controlling just water, for mercury is also a liquid and any material that is not a solution that contains other states of matter is their to command. Skilled Liquid Mages are capable of healing some of the most intense wounds and even prevent the terminally ill from passing on with the proper healing application.

The Forbidden Technique of Liquid Mages is Blood Magic.  Normally, Blood containing solids and gases would prevent a Liquid Mage from controlling it, but the sinister power of Blood Magic works around this exception.  As Mana is located in blood, these Mages are capable of using an enemies magic source as their own.  Since there are very efficient options at killing their enemies these Mages are incredibly deadly.

Gas Mages: These Mages have the power over the winds themselves as well as any material that is gaseous in nature.  Many of them are capable of limited flight and the skilled Mages can change the weather on their personal whims.  They can amplify sound as well created illusions using distortions.  The particularly creative can even create small scale illusions if the right gases are used in combination.

The Forbidden Technique of Gas Mages is Weaponized Sound.  Amplifying the sound is one thing, but by actually using the sound as a weapon is crossing a different threshold.  Not just limited to putting foes to sleep with music, these Mages posses the ability to shatter minds with loud sounds, use music to send their enemies to their graves and create sonic-booms with the ability to level Cities.

Plasma Mages: Plasma Mages deal mostly with Lightning and Fire.  A spellflinger launching Fireballs is a Plasma Mage.  A skilled user of this Magic can summon lightning storms, create walls of fire, and even use pulses to create electro-magnetic pulses.  While many claim that this is one of the most offensive oriented schools of Magic, Plasma Mages can use their abilities to power generators and do more mundane tasks such as starting campfires.

The Forbidden Technique of Plasma Mages is Nuclear Magic.  Using their mastery over plasma allows Nuclear Mages to control atoms themselves.  Breaking these bonds creates catastrophic reactions and their power is such that entire planets can be threatened by a single Nuclear Mage.  They can create or destroy materials on a whim allowing them unparalleled variety in their spells.  Of all the forbidden techniques, this is the one that society as a whole tends to punish the most severely.

Light Mages:  Light Mages are as rare as they are powerful.  They can control light itself in such ways as searing heat, optical illusions, and blinding displays.  Light Magic alongside Liquid Magic is well known for its healing abilities.  Many Light Mages are Healers full time and forgo combat training.  That is not to say that those healers have not mastered the art of optical illusions to protect themselves.

The Forbidden Technique of Light Mages is an Advanced form of Mind Control.  Using the power of their illusions allows these Mages to enslave their victims in a dream state that they have little chance of escaping.  Society finds it hard to untangle the webs of enslaved thralls by these Mages and their notoriety makes them a favorite bedtime story of mother's to their children.  A warning of not trusting strangers.

Dark Mages: Dark Mages are rare, powerful, and very misunderstood.  Most people associate darkness with evil and as such, many Dark Mages are avoided in society as if they all used a forbidden technique.  Their strange powers involve curses and removing and inflicting sickness and diesease.  With their complete mastery of death inducing ailments they are also quite skilled at healing them.  Dark Mage healing is renowned for having a price, but whether this is true or not depends on the Mage likely.  One particularly odd ability of the Mages is their ability to enter a Dream World that many go to as they sleep.  Dark Mages can go their willingly if they have sufficient ability.

The Forbidden Technique of Dark Mages in Necromancy.  While Dark Mages in general are treated as evildoers, Necromancy is seen as one of the ultimate distortions of reality.  Raising the dead from their graves is a common tale of Magic that should never be attempted, and within the ranks of Dark Mages, only in the deepest dark places will one practice this craft.  The entire world frowns upon this technique and in some societies, being a Necromancer can lead to a death sentence.  Ironically, those who have mastery of the dead may not even fear death.  Part of the public's terror may even be that these Necromancer planned to be killed so that they could gain even more power.

Why Pokemon Black and White is the Best Game in the Series

There are a whole lot of Pokemon games out there, and I have played an overwhelming majority of them.  Still Black and White has a special place in my heart and the game goes far above and beyond the rest of the series.

Warning this blog post contains spoilers for this game.  Read at your own risk!

Before I get into the story of the game which is the main point of this post, I would like to point out that a multitude of incredible Pokemon were added in this generation that have become mainstay staples in competitive play.  This game also ushered in the Weather Wars which was and is one of my favorite aspects of the series.  Finally, this is the generation where hidden abilities were added making some formerly useless Pokemon (like Venasuar) some of the best

But now, onto the plot and symbolism.  Lets start with the geography.  Generation 5 is based off of New York City.  This is most obvious with Castelia City and Nimbassa which are based of the central business districts and Central Park respectively.  There is a Brooklyn Bridge that the trainer crosses around the midpoint of the game.  One of the darker themes shown is the relic castle.  Two broken towers filled with Ghost Pokemon that crave to have the life back that was stolen unexpectedly from them in an unforgivable tragedy.  The area around the towers is called "Ground Zero."  Wanna take a wager at what part of New York this is?

Now that we have established the fact that this game has darker and edgier undertones, we should explore why this may be.  Pokemon is a series that has had a large fan base for its entire existence, but that fan base has gotten older just like the ones of Harry Potter.  In fact its many of the same fans for both.  So, just like Harry Potter, the fans wanted something more adult for their growing age.

This trend started becoming obvious in Diamond in Pearl with Cyrus, but that character deserves their own blog post.

But it became obvious in Black and White.  To show it, I will be exploring two characters and how they affect the plot and actually change the normal flow of the Pokemon Games.


I'll start with my favorite character in the Game:  N Harmonia.  Young Autistic Male who suffers from Feral Child Syndrome allowing him to talk to Pokemon and enjoy their company far more than he finds in the presence of Humans.  While he does come off creepy in the game, that is due to his Autistic tendencies which are most obvious in the infamous Ferris Wheel Scene.  The battle after this is also infamous where N proves how deadly of a Rival he is when he sends out a very strong Siglyph.

Later you find out he is the leader of Team Plasma.  A Pokemon evil Gang that is the universes version of PETA.  Telling trainers to release their Pokemon into the wild because that is what is right.  And just like PETA, they resort to terrorism when they don't get their way.  This presents an interesting dilemma to the Player that had never been addressed in the series before.

As the game continues, N becomes obsessed with capturing a Legendary Pokemon to then help him convince the world that his ideals are correct.  This was not the first time this was employed as both Ruby/Sapphire and Diamond/Pearl had this same idea with their plots.  Thus when the game's first climax occurs at the top of a tower where the legendary sleeps, most savvy players expected, N to fail.  Thus the biggest surprise was when he didn't!  He caught the Pokemon and there is nothing you can do to stop him.

Finally you reach the Elite 4 and chase after your rival as he beats all the trainers first.  Eventually you reach the champion.  Normally this person serves as the last boss of the game.  Not this time!  N beats the Champion and before you can battle him there for the Title of League Champion, Team Plasma sets their plan in motion and takes over the Pokemon League, their hideout appearing from the ground below as it engulfs the entire area.

With this sudden change in events and an incredible change in the Pokemon formula, you the player step into their lair to have a decisive battle with N and save the world.  Once you step inside, you quickly realize that this young autistic boy, is nothing more than a pawn for an even greater scheme.  The real point where this hits you is when you enter N's toy room and realize the extent of the abuse his father, the true villain of the game put him through just to make him his pawn.

When I entered this room, I felt a level of shock I had not experienced since Red/Blue Lavender Town.  Black/White had crossed the moral event horizon and that moment marked the true Cerubus Syndrome marker for the rest of the series thereafter.  I had to put the game down for a moment and gather my thoughts, and after the fact when I turned to online forums, I found I was not alone in this regard.

Finally I reached the top of the castle and knew the Battle with N was eminent.  But first, the player is allowed to catch the other Legendary Pokemon that is the counterpart to the one N had already caught.  Thus after the game makes you put the legendary you just caught in your party, you get to finally battle N with his Legendary versus Yours.  This is the only time in the series where this has occurred and I hope that Nintendo does this again.  Finally after a very tough battle, the player wins, N is defeated, and the player assumes they have won, but then, the character who you have realized is the true mastermind behind the plot decides he wants to deal with your personally.  This brings us to the other character.


Ghetsis Harmonia, Pokemon's Knight of Cerubus.  On TV Tropes, this guy has so many villain tropes associated with him that he has been awarded the troperific award.   But first and foremost, this guy is a complete monster, utter sociopath, and unlike many villains in not just Pokemon but in fiction in general, he brings his A Game.

He used his son N as a disposable pawn to rule the world.  Tricked many people into surrendering their Pokemon to him so that he could use them to enslave the human race once they all belonged to him.  To that end he trapped his son in a room with no human contact, sent in abused Pokemon to trick his son into thinking Humans are bastards and worst of all, the one abusing the Pokemon was none other than him.

You find out that he alternative plans in place in case his son failed such as possessing the orbs to control other legendary Pokemon including the ones that control time and space itself.  That's right, Ghetsis was considering destroying the entire universe if his plan failed and had the tools to accomplish it.

Even worse, once N loses to the player.  He calls him useless.  Talks about how he is only a means to an end, and tells him to step aside and let his father, and master show him how to properly battle.  Before decrying to you that he is the future ruler of the world, he then battles you himself.  With his words before the battle begins that he will crush you slowly as he enjoys most, watching the hope vanish from his victims as they learn defeat.

And that is a feeling you learn once you battle him.  His battle theme is unlike any in the entire series.  The background has a swirling dark wind akin to something out of the Video Game Chrono Trigger.
He first sends out a Cofagrigus, a super bulky Pokemon that has no trouble at all in taking on your legendary as it Toxic stalls it to death.  The rest of his team even contains a few of the star Pokemon of the Elite 4s teams making his composition exceptionally tough to take on.  But after 5 of his Pokemon are down for the count, the player may be weakened but they are ready to beat this bastard.  Then his final Pokemon appears and you learn the meaning of despair.


He chose a Pokemon befitting the leader of Team Plasma, and Hydreigon deserves mention in its own right.  As one of now 7 "pseudo legendaries", this Pokemon has stats that are unparalleled and a movepool to match.  In competitive play, the only prediction you can make about Hydreigon's movepool is that there will be no predictions.  While he has a glaring weakness to fairy types, those Pokemon did not exist in Black/White leaving the trainer all alone in the darkness to face this monstrosity.

A monstrosity that has become my favorite Pokemon in the entire series and as you may have read in an earlier blog post, one that I see as synonymous with my Autism.  The final stage of my growing up will see me turn into an unstoppable force of awesomeness just like this Dragon.

With a movepool of Dragon Pulse, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, and Surf., he hits every single Pokemon in the entire game for at least neutral damage.  And with a sky high special attack stat it hurts when you are on the receiving end.

Many people that played through the game met game overs a plenty to Hydreigon, but finally the player triumphs against Ghetsis and his Dark Dragon.  He gets arrested and all seems well in the Pokemon world.

Except its not because he escapes to show up again in the sequel, where he and his Dragon try to KILL the player before they even battle.  Ghetsis is a villain that would better fit in a far darker game that Pokemon allows and that's why we all love to hate him.

This game is more than just a Pokemon Game.  It is among my favorite games in the world and I highly recommend any who read this give it a try.

My Exodus

As I looked up at the sky yesterday in the early morning, I saw a Lunar Eclipse and answered to myself the main question of the famous four asked on Passover.  Today and Night was to be different from all others.  And since it was T3, it was for sure.

Before the event even started, I accepted a challenge that for a Jew such as myself was quite unusual.  Collecting Eggs in the theme of Easter, a holiday I never have nor intend to ever celebrate.  But I took the challenge in stride and while hopping like a rabbit, I attempted to do the task given.  Since I was working with a team of 14 others that I assume had a bit more experience than I, they found the eggs long before I did.

Once again before the actual event started, we opened said eggs to learn of our fortunes (and misfortunes) and after being educated on the right method of bunny hopping via push-ups, we opened our eggs and got a bit tired from the worse surprises hidden within.

Had I not done the T2 prior to this event, I would have wrongfully assumed that when the event listed 4 laps for the workout, that this would be the right number to assume.  Since I had done this other workout, I was already aware of lap 0 and prepared to get wet in the pool.

After treading water without arms, and drown proofing myself, I did other exercises that managed to tire me slightly, but this was only the start as lap 0 was just the warm-up.  Lap 1 began by us returning to the pool in a !psych! moment.

Once we began lap 1 proper, I steeled myself for the intense workouts that followed.  I admit, some of them such as bear crawl soccer were more fun than painful, but I really have found that I hate low army crawls with every ounce of my being.  Especially when I am weighed down by a 35 pound backpack.  Since the day was long, I cannot quite recall the entire first lap, but don't worry, there were plenty more.

Lap 2 was the one I felt most ready for, although I was told later that this tends to be the heart breaker one.  This one seemed simple enough: Run 6 miles without a ruck.  This seemed like a fantastic thing to me.  Despite the heat since it was now around noon, I was more than ready to run 6 miles.  Sadly, there was more to this workout as the entire team's average time would affect our fate, and in the end, our amount of time that was too high resulted in learning in the form of 92 burpees.  For those who do not know, a burpee is a push-up plus a jumping-jack.  After that and an individual based card game of fun (and pain) we finished lap 2.  I was feeling good after Lap 2, but the fun was about to end.

Lap 3 was next and since I had done T2, I had a good feeling that this was the team building lap.  And I assumed correct.  Before the lap even started, I learned that I had a fantastic and helpful team when I stupidly locked my keys in my car and no less than 4 out of the entire team offered to help me after the event.

But back to T3 Lap 3, this was where the pain really began.  We started by linking arms and doing flutter kicks and since our abs were already in immense pain at this point this was no easy feat.  It became worse when we accidentally lost our locked arms by accident and had to do the flutter kicks again.

But lap 3 had only begun and it at least seemed like it was the longest lap.  Next we walked in a long line.  The three in the front held logs linked by a chain.  And the three in the front changed throughout the walk.  Eventually we were wandering in the woods and after doing centipede push ups with luckily no ruck, we got even more lost and confused in the woods.  Those of you who know me, realize that I speak a lot.  Beginning at this point, the talking decreased dramatically as my spirit began to break.

Finally with a little break at the park and a random adorable dog that came to play with us, we got a little breather, and then some pull-ups, before we sadly lost one of the 15 that began the day with the team.  We were saddened by their departure but I know that they will try this race again and next time they will succeed.  Lap 3 was not over for the rest of us though, and we grabbed the logs and each other's packs and wandered back into the woods to get lost again.

Along the way, we were told to make an igloo out of blocks that were conveniently nearby.  After effort to stack them and watching out for deadly insects including a giant banana spider which we had killed prior, we created the pyramid shaped object- only to take it down and put the pieces back.

Still we wandered lost in the woods, and finally panic struck as us one of our members suffered hysteria and shortness of breath.  As a team we helped calm them down and in helping this individual, we all helped ourselves as well.  I began to feel hunger in my thoughts, and silently prayed the lap would end soon.  But I continued to remain silent as I tried to ignore my arms screaming in agony each time I held a log, for I knew any complaint would make my situation worse.  Finally after what seemed an eternity, we made it back to where we started, one final card game and Lap 3 ended.

But we were not done as we moved on to Lap 4.  While the laps before this challenged our physical strength and morale, this lap challenged our minds.  We wandered around in a circle to pre-placed stakes in the ground.  Each time we got to one, we were asked trivia questions.  If we got one right, the stake was removed.  It took us many laps to get rid of the stakes and we had to also do punishment workouts like holding push-up position for 2 minutes at a time and whistle drills in a grassy field.  At some point during the day, I had accumulated multiple fire ant stings and unfortunately this attracted the attention of more of the insects.  

Finally as it began to get dark, we moved on to the second half of Lap 4 and failed miserably at memorizing 8 digit numbers given to us.  This culminated in the group having to do 55 more burpees.  I personally got to do even more as I had incurred negative points from the card game and didn't want to find out what would happen if I ended with negative and added an extra 8 more to my workout making a grand total of 63.  

Last we were tested on world Geography and failed even more miserably.  Thus while Lap 4 had come to an end, our pain had only just begun.  We did a new Lap 0 at this point which included bear crawls, army low crawls, rolling sideways on the ground, and duck walks.  We even had to quack the whole time.  This was in the dark and we all had headlamps on our foreheads.  After this, we had even more to do

Each of us were given a quote from Sun Tzu and told to memorize it as we ran the loop we had become very accustomed to throughout the day. After 4 laps and 23 more burpees, we managed to complete this goal.  In my mind, I was hoping this was the end as I felt like I could not go much further, but I was wrong.  One last challenge remained.

For this final challenge, the entire 14 member team linked arms again and did lunges from where we currently stood, all the way back to where we began the entire event.  All in step, we called out the lunges as one team hell bent on becoming Elites all together.  Finally as we turned around to face our Cadre, he asked us one by one why we wanted to be Elites.  One by one we answered.  After pausing and watching us closely to ensure that no one broke the chain, he told us to let go.  We were now elites.  We had completed the entire T3!

As I write this blog post, my hands are sore, every muscle in my body aches, but every moment of it is another moment that I will never regret for the rest of my life.  It took the Jews 40 years of being lost to gain any enlightenment and better themselves, and in 14 hours I accomplished a very similar feat.

Yesterday I made a man out of myself as I made my Exodus from my figurative Egypt and found my Promised Land.  Like the Jews before me, finding the Land is only a new beginning as is earning the elite patch, a new start for me in inspiring good in the world and becoming an ever better and healthier man.

If you want to know more about this race or see live updates from the event, you can find them here: http://www.regimentrunning.com/

Making a Man Out of Myself This Weekend

This weekend is significant for a large portion of the Human Population.  For Jews around the world, Pesach, known in English as Passover begins at sundown.  All around the world, Jews will be having their Seder dinners with friends and family while retelling the exodus from Egypt.  There will of course be lots of wine (4 glasses) and of course Matzah

For Christians around the world, today is known as Good Friday, the Friday before Easter that commemorates a Passover Seder of all things.  All around the world Christians will be celebrating one of the most monumental days in their faith.  While I do not personally celebrate this holiday,  I wish a happy a healthy weekend for my friends and family who do see this holiday as momentous.

While both of these are significant in their own right, I have an extra major event in my life this week.  Any of you who have been following my posts on this blog have likely seen my writings about the race I am running Saturday known as T3.  That begins at dawn and I am spending all of today ensuring that I am properly hydrated and am carb loading as much as able.  To that end, and for my personal health, I am not able to maintain the commandments of Pesach this year as well as being unable to keep Shabbat for obvious reasons.

But the price is worth the reward if I can grasp it.  Completing T3 has been a self imposed challenge of mine for the past year.  I am have had this goal in my sight even before I vowed to reignite my Judaism so I apologize for those reading this who think I am stomping on my faith, I made this commitment first and in finishing it, I can focus on other and potentially greater commitments.

As I continue to hydrate myself all day and eat healthy foods, the goal is in my sight, and it is my hope that by tomorrow night, I will have earned my elite status and have truly become a man both mentally and physically.

My Passover Journey

This entire experience down in Florida has been quite a journey so far.  But soon, it will be Pesach, a day where the Jewish people left a land that they could gain nothing from as they began the search for their true purpose.

This Pesach, I will be going on a couple of journeys, to appease both my Jewish Soul, as well as that of my Animal Soul.  For my Jewish Soul, I will be attending the Seder as per tradition the first two nights of the holiday, but unfortunately, I will not be observing Shabbat.  This is a trend that has occurred for a while although not my entire life.

The rest of my life over the past few months has done quite an incredible job of preventing me from observing the day of rest.  So while I may not be able to fully allow my Jewish Soul, there is still my Animal Soul that seems to need attending to.

This Saturday, I will be going on a long journey known as T3.  On this incredible trip, my physical and mental abilities will be tested to their limits, but should I come out on the other side still whole, I can finally appease a great want of my Animal Soul and thus commit more time to my Jewish Soul.

Every aspect of me is on the way to becoming more whole, and just as the Jewish People sought out an answer as they made their exodus from Egypt, I will be finding answers of my own this weekend.