The Walking Dead Zombie Apocalypse & Escapism [VerusAnimus' Reflection]

The following reflection is inspired by The Walking Dead.  In addition to being a form of escapism for me, I have contemplated on a world where zombie apocalypse is real.

While I enjoy horror movies, nothing stands out like the horror that zombies bring.  A couple of other zombie action-adventure movies I enjoy include the Resident Evil movie series and World War Z.  Additionally, while not a zombie genre movie, I enjoy the psychological horror-adventure presented by the Silent Hill movies.  A few months ago (October, 2013) I started watching The Walking Dead.  Ever since then, I've been attached to the show.

Other than being horror flicks, what do all the movies/shows I mentioned have in common?  While the characters and storyline are definitely important, there's something more.  They all have the thrill of adventure - a journey through a familiar yet unknown world.  There's the need for survival in a world where all odds are against you.  It may seem odd to others but I view the post-apocalyptic scenario as more than just survival.  It's also about adventure, making the best of what you are given.  This is my ideal view; who knows if it would change in a real life scenario.

Anyways, I like to immerse myself into this alternate horror world.  The people around you aren't human anymore.  The dead rise again - and not in a good way.  The places you used to see everyday and found comfort in are no longer inviting.  Wherever I go, I imagine how that area would be in a world overrun by zombies.  I imagine how different things would look.  I look at buildings that could potentially provide shelter and I mentally take stock of how much a group of survivors could live in a particular grocery store.  I imagine about the adventure I (and any survivors I pick up) would have in a post-apocalyptic zombie world.  It's a fun way to pass time.

I can trace my desire for adventure back to my childhood.  The three notable ones that fueled my spirit for adventure (whose symbols I have edited to create the background for my blog) are Pokémon, Bionicle, and Zelda.  When I was younger I would immerse myself in the innocent adventurous world of Pokémon.  I would let my imagination run free with the adventures of LEGO's Bionicles.  To pass my time, I loved adventuring through the The Legend of Zelda  universe while listening to its heroic tunes.  These aren't the only influences on my love for adventure.  The Ender's Series (both the main and parallel stories) as well as many other books and video games have played a role.  There's also the fact that I have always enjoyed traveling across North America.  The sense of adventure has followed me through the years and now it has seeped into the horror-style adventure that zombies bring.

Presently, watching The Walking Dead temporarily takes me away from all the stress and troubles in the real world and places me into a fictional world with its own set of problems.  Sometimes I wonder, if the world were given a choice, which would it prefer?  A new World War or a zombie apocalypse?  I have thought about this.  Neither is desirable.  Both would cause so much pain in their own ways.  Both would damage the world and society in a way that would be difficult (if not impossible) to reverse.  There are too many people living contently with their lives.  It would be selfish to wish for an event that will disrupt the lives of many.

Some may argue that a World War would improve various country's economies, help control the population, and maybe solve some status-quo conflicts around the world.  However, no one ever wins in these sort of conflicts.  Is it worth the destruction and pain to the environment and the generations of humans to come?  Nope.  Is it worth the tension that may build up between countries?  Hardly.  Peace is something everyone should strive for but unfortunately, there are always some people looking to incite hate.  Regardless, war is always undesirable.  It is unfair how the innocent, present and future, are almost always directly or indirectly affected.  Here's to that day when all types of wars, cold or hot, will cease to exist.

A zombie apocalypse would potentially prevent world wars.  If anything, it should unite humanity against a common foe.  However, this isn't bound to happen due to the disruption of all sorts of technology.  While there will be people who strive for good in a world without any order, there are just as many, if not more, evil-hearted people.  The psychological effects of being dropped into a world that was comforting one day and hostile the next can bring out the evil in people.  Is living in a world full of bandits and cannibals just to experience the joy of adventure worth it?  I don't think it's worth disrupting the lives of happy people to wish for something such as a zombie apocalypse.

Nevertheless, given the choice between only those two scenarios, which would better for the world?  I wonder...

To conclude (and back to the original topic), I am the type who enjoys adventure.  The type of fictional adventures I escape into has transformed over the years.  The Walking Dead is the latest and darkest world I have been introduced to.  Although I know that the existence of zombies is scientifically impossible (at least not in the way presented in the show), I still enjoy imagining what Earth and our society would be like if it were real.  While I focus on graduating with a degree in Electrical Engineering, so that I can positively contribute to society and the world, I find it nice to occasionally escape the stresses of reality.  Presently, the world of The Walking Dead has offered me a thrilling, new, adventurous world to escape into every once in a while.  I like it.

VerusAnimus

Lent and Self-Discipline - [VerusAnimus' Reflection]

I enjoy lent.  I look forward to it every year.  I see Lent as a way to "restart."  It is a reset button for living a better life (similar to how New Year and its resolutions are a restart for a new year).  I personally think Lent's "restart" effect is more profound.  For those who don't know, the season of Lent is the forty days before Easter starting from Ash Wednesday and not including Sundays.

During Lent, you give up something earthly and personal.  It can be something you're addicted to or something you use a lot.  For example, you can give up candy, TV, video games, or even FaceBook. The point of giving things up is to build self-discipline.  By continuously rejecting things you "can't live without," you are building your self-discipline.  Your goal is to make it to Easter without failing.  If you make it, you will emerge a stronger person - both in will and in character.

I know this effect is real because I have been participating in Lent ever since I learned about it in my high school's youth group.  During my last few years of high school as an upperclassman, I gave up music.  To be specific, I gave up music from the radio, from iTunes, and from the Internet.  I am an individual who loves music and I wanted to challenge myself.  Giving up music was definitely a challenge!  To up the challenge, I included Sundays - so I effectively gave up music for about 6.5 weeks.

A side story: during my first year of giving up music (2009), I posted a song (Boom Boom Pow) from the Black Eyed Peas on my channel.  I have never listened to that song.  It was their first song since their last album in 2005.  I wanted to listen to that song but I stopped myself.  So I posted it on YouTube and left it alone.  Next thing I knew, I was getting millions of views on that video!  I finally listened to it after Lent and that song became one of my favorites by them. (((My YouTube Channel)))

Anyways, giving up music was literally muting my life.  Every single day I wanted to listen to music but every single day I had to resist the urge to play music.  I even asked my family to not play music so that I could accomplish this.  In retrospect, asking my family to give up music along with me was a bit selfish, which is why I don't give up music if the season of Lent falls during moments when I'm home for the majority of the season. Regardless, during Lent, my self-discipline grew.  I guess I can also attribute the growth in self-discipline to my family values, my church values, and growing up in a military town.  Nevertheless, by the time Easter arrived, I was so excited to listen to music.  However, since I was so used to not listening to music, I also didn't want to - I wanted to make a "new record" for not listening to music.  In the end, I ended up playing Boom Boom Pow and I got back into the music world.  I became more appreciative of music.  40+ days of being deprived of something you enjoy makes you appreciate it so much more.

This year I have given up different distractions: social networks such as Instagram and Twitter.  I find it really important to give those up because they are a complete distraction from school.  I'm in my last year of university and having constant access to these social networks brought my performance down.  That is why I couldn't wait for Lent to begin so that I would be forced to stop using those accounts.  Once Lent began, I hid my distracting apps using a Cydia app.  The app is available only on jailbroken iDevices.  In this case it is useful because it literally hides the app's existence from my iPad.  I could easily "unhide" the apps but I wont - the point of Lent is to have the self-discipline to avoid whatever I give up.

One may ask, "why do I have to wait for Lent?  Why can't I just stop sooner?"  Well, I could.  A lot of people could.  However, there's a psychological factor that comes along with Lent, something that makes things official.  It's easy to say you give up something and simply relapse back because it's not "official".
For example, consider this: an individual asks a roommate to pay rent for one semester because that individual can't afford it. The roommate agrees and they shake hands on it. However, a day before payment is due, the roommate backs out.  The individual argues that the roommate promised to pay.  The roommate says that it wasn't official and there's no proof because the agreement wasn't in writing.

There are probably better examples out there but this is an example I could come up with at the top of my head.  You can agree to giving something up but if it's not "official," you don't have a psychological obligation to follow through.  Yes, you may have your own code of honor, which would be nice.  Perhaps it's a side-effect of the society we live in but in some cases, people consider that things have to be "official" before any action is taken, or at least effort to take that action is made.

All in all, Lent is important because it builds self-discipline.  It helps individuals to build character.  It enables people to take their focus off their "addictions" and to turn their sights to other aspects of life, whether it's their family, school, or new hobbies. By making people realize that they don't know what they have until it's gone, Lent makes individuals more appreciative of the big and little things in life.

VerusAnimus

Colleversity Tips: The Origin of The Tips

I have always wanted to make a blog.  I just didn't know what to write about.  Additionally, I had video ideas since last November about making University Survival Guide Vlog videos.  I eventually decided against that.  I had an opportunity to combine those ideas and create a blog after I enrolled in my first ever online class, Bioresource Science and Engineering 211, at the University of Washington.  This is a class that teaches students to expand on their creativity.  In this class, students were given an opportunity to make one of their creative ideas a reality.  With this assignment (the midterm), I finally had something to write about; it is thanks to that midterm assignment that I was able to give my blog life.  The following is the first draft of my midterm.  The final draft only had to be two sentences.  I didn't want the rest of my work to go to waste so I decided to make a blog entry for it.  

Here is the reason why I make my Colleversity Tips.

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What is something creative I can do to contribute to society, particularly to incoming college and university freshmen?  I can make a blog that provides creative tips on surviving the college and university experience based on my experience. 

What is needed as the first step to make this idea a reality?  First and foremost, I need to create a blog – this is easy as there are many free and reputable blog-providers online.  A potential name for my blog is “Colleversity Survival Tips.”  The next step, which is truly the first step to making this idea a reality, is to gather my experiences from my college and university years and be able to present them in a creative way that viewers will find helpful.

Who is this the intended audience of this blog?  When this survival guide idea popped into my mind, my intended audience was my brother.  However, I want others to read my guide, hence the reason why I am bringing my creativity online.  I feel that by making an online blog, not only can I help out my younger brother, I can also help out many incoming college and university freshman in the years to come.  Perhaps sophomores, juniors, and seniors will also learn a couple new ways of doing things if they happen upon my blog.  

Why do I want to make this blog?  The main reason why I came up with this idea is because my younger brother is graduating from high school this year and I want to creatively give him tips on how to survive college or university.  By providing college survival tips, I will be able to analyze how I reacted to particular experiences and I will be able to better prepare my brother for the future.  Additionally, I hope that by sharing my personal experiences in the classroom and on campus, I can inspire others to do well during their four-plus years in college.

When will I post blog entries?  I plan on posting blog entries as often as I can.  I will gather as many creative college survival tips as I can and post weekly blog entries with possible entries in between weeks.  I hope to have numerous entries posted online by the time my brother graduates this spring.  

When did I obtain the experiences I plan on sharing?  I obtained my experience over the past four years.  I have attended both college and university (which have very different environments).  I have lived in both an apartment and in multiple dorms.  I have lived alone and with roommates.  I have learned the tips and tricks necessary for doing well in and out of class.  I have had my successes and my failures.  I learned from my experiences and used my creativity to prevent future mistakes.  Overall, I believe I’m qualified to share survival tips on an online blog.

Where have my experiences taken place?  My experiences are directly from two accredited academic centers in Washington State: Skagit Valley College and the University of Washington.  My experiences in each environment are unique and extensive.  It is important to note that while my advice can apply to any college and university around the world, some tips will be localized to these two Pacific Northwest schools. 

How exactly do I plan on making this blog successful?  I know there are already abundant amounts of college and university survival tips online.  My plan on making this blog a success is to share advice based purely off my experiences.  By sharing tips directly from a university student, I believe that my blog will have a more creative and personal twist.  I am confident that some of my tips will have applications that extend beyond the academic environment.  Regardless, I would consider my blog a success if it helps out incoming college students, particularly my brother.

In conclusion, something creative I can do to contribute to society is to create an online blog that provides advice for making it through college and university.  By sharing my personal experiences and giving creative tips on how to survive the college and university life, I hope to have a positive impact on as many students as possible.

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As you can see, my blog has taken this idea, modified some of my original plans, and transformed into something more. 

VerusAnimus