Gutes Spiel, Gut Gespielt

I planned to post something else today, but let this one be reserved for celebrating Germany's victory over USA with a 1-0 score, and congratulations to both of them for advancing to the next stage.

Miss Bismarck would be proud, don't know about the artist though

Both sides played very well, which I didn't expect from the USA since they, well, kinda sucks on the previous world cups. And to be fair, that one goal came out of nowhere, so it was a legit skill shot right there, not the keeper's fault or anything.

That being said, I'll leave the rest of the review of that match to the more experienced (and enthusiast) people that you could find pretty much everywhere on the internet, since I got other more important things to do

Like watching this girl for another 30 minutes

What Should I Write About Now....

So yesterday, a friend of mine asked via his Facebook status page, just like every other cool old-kids would, for any ideas that would make a good article. Lots of replies came, but they were mostly about world domination by an evil organization for some reason - which actually does have a potential to be a good article as it is, since it has been the main theme of most tokusatsu and super sentai TV series.

One of them suggested to "make an article about making a good article", jokingly of course. But the idea of making something inside something and making it go deeper actually proved to work so well that it becomes a good idea. So thank you, passing stranger who posted a comment on my friend's status, for giving me a good material.

And thank you Google Translate, for being drunk as always

Dark Side, Light Side, Whatever

I've talked about how I never liked politics before. If I have to rank it in my most hated conversation topics, it's right there below 'Sports' and slightly above 'Religion debate'. Because just like the latter, no matter what you say won't sway the other party to your side - and just like the former, no matter how much you're in love with it doesn't mean that you need to express it thoroughly to every single person in your life. Really, how would YOU feel when us gamers start blabbering to no end about our world?

"So get this, the guy went 1v2 and then he pulled out a combo from his Q and W and finish them up with his ult, so awesome!! Right? Right?! Hey, are you listening?"

And these days, as if spreading black campaigns and made up articles were not enough, people in the social media have been putting up their profile picture with a clear statement of who they are supporting for the next presidential election, and claiming that their choice is "the right one". Since someone already went all-out grammar nazi about this phenomenon, I'm going to talk about it from other perspectives.

It Was All Me, Sorry

I realized I haven't posted anything recently, and I would like to apologize - especially to myself. Well, it's not like I can help it, really. Surely I can give some other reason for not updating, but I think it would be futile because why should I lie anyway.

Especially since I learned I can't exactly hide everything

The Internet is (Not Just) for Porn

Okay, I've been holding this one back up for a while even though one of my best friend urged me to do it quite a while ago, because despite the topic is an interesting one to discuss, it's still something quite dangerous to talk about because it involves some privacy and different point of views. But then this son of a bitch came along and decided to do yet another retarded thing for reasons that doesn't make any goddamn sense, I just have to do this after all.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls; I'm going to talk about porn.

And then there was much rejoicing

Let's Meet Up... Somewhere

Hello there, gorgeous beings. Today I'm going to expose the shame (pride?) that most of us Indonesian people have in common. I'm going to talk about how we arrange appointments.

How appoinments are supposed to be made?

Let's see the ideal conditions in an appointment, I'm going to use an "unofficial group meet up" situation as an example. First thing first, the time and location of the meeting must be arranged and decided beforehand, surely no one wants to go blindly with no idea when or where they should be for the appointment.

Not all of us can fast travel, you know

Next is the list of people that will come, participants should let everyone else know whether they are available on the said time, and of course whether they are familiar or at least know the location of where the meeting will take place.

Finally, before the appointed day comes, or at least several hours before the meet up time, make sure you tell anyone attending should it turns out that you can't come after all. Your prescence might not be important for the whole thing, but at least it shows that you are a responsible person.

Simple Ethics Guide, by an Introvert

Ah, real life, the place where everything goes on, and nothing may escape from it (if not for long). A world where your fantasies might get laughed at and your fetishes might deliver you to jail. The reality in which resides the harsh truths that will haunt you for eternity, but will still gives you some experience points like in any RPG you know. But I'm not going to talk about those things... yet.

Not having a light pillar shooting up through your head kinda kills the excitement anyway

What I'm going to discuss are the simple words that would either pave your way to 'ethical human being', or 'that ignorant douchebag'. Let's consider these three rare words for a bit: "Please", "thank you", and "sorry".

"Please", as we all know, is a word used for polite requests or questions.

So why should we use it?
It's to turn your requests from 'giving order' into 'asking a favor'; which might sound the same, but with a very different meaning to the receiver. There are other variants for the usage of this word, such as "could you do me a favor", or "would you kindly", but they all hold the same meaning. By using "please", the person you asked would feel like they're doing you a favor instead of feeling like being bossed around.

Depends on the usage, however

Next is "thank you", which is a word used to express our gratitude towards someone. Usually said when that someone did something for us, be it giving an item, a favor, or simply an act of kindness.

So why should we use it?
Imagine that you're holding a door open for someone else behind you, and they just walk past without even looking at you (or worse giving that "you're a weirdo" look). Don't you feel like pulling them back and smack their head to that very door? No? Well, you're stilll normal then, good for you.

But my point is, saying "thank you", or "thanks", or a simple smile to the person who went out of their way and did something for you, no matter how small, would have a great impact on both you and that person. By expressing your gratitude, that person would feel appreciated and will live their life with better confidence, and you yourself would feel more at ease and unconsiously improve your physical and emotional health.

"This happens after 2 billion worth of 'thank you's, thank you!"

Finally we have "sorry", the word we mostly use to express our apology. It can also be used to show the feeling of regret, compunction, sympathy, pity, etc.

So why should we use it?
Well if you're the kind of person who would just walk away as if nothing happened when you accidentaly bump someone's shoulder, or stepped on someone's feet, or running over someone's baby, you need some therapy (especially for the last part). "But I didn't even see them", you may argue, "why should I be held responsible for something I had no idea about? It might even be their fault for not paying attention".

Well, it's a fine argument, but it would only make the situation worse. The fact that you didn't see them could be interpreted that they don't mean much to you in the first place and you have every right in the world to ignore them, and you refusing to accept the responsibility and even accusing the other party guilty would only show that you position yourself higher than them, and being arrogant won't resolve anything.

You don't apologize only because you're in the wrong, you do that to restore - or even improve - the relationship you have with that person after that incident happened. When you apologize to someone, there will be that guilty feeling on the one who received the apology should they refuse to forgive you (unless you really did ran over their baby), so there's really nothing to lose. There are also a lot of other benefits in apologizing, but mostly it's to show that you prefer being a respectable human being than keeping your ego. It's true that there are things that can't be easily forgiven, but it's a lot better for you to try apologizing instead of keeping that pride and hope the matter will resolve on its own, even though it might be the hardest thing to say.

"Sorry for blowing up your planet, buddy"

Words are powerful weapon when they are spoken, but they also prove to have considerable effect when not spoken at all. Hopefully it's not that difficult to make a habit of saying these words when the time comes for you to actually say them. Just remember the basics of conversation technique (which might be difficult for us introverts), and remember to treat people as fellow human beings, because that's also how you want to be treated like, right?