April 11, 2008

  • Maaaaaaaaaan.

    SPYRO CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY.  Lol that means weeks without updating again! XD  I kid, I kid.  I think.  I played it for a few hours the other day, but I'm little uneasy with how much the gameplay changed.  All the good voice actors changed! D: *sadness plz*  I miss Tom Kenny.  Now Spyro is all whiny with a weird accent.  D;  It's still fun, though.  I'm just very anti-change.  *plans to play after i update lmao*

    I thought Idol Gives Back last night was fun, even though I was asleep for half an hour of it.  If anyone from San Jose remembers, I used to be a really active, loyal advocate of ONE.org for spreading awareness to end poverty in Africa.  Back in The Age of Determination and Ambition, lol.  Iuno, I lost my enthusiasm in spreading awareness once everyone else began to be pretty efficient at it, like American Idol omg.  It was a very I'm Not Needed Anymore situation, mixed with me losing my naiveté and empathy. D; 

    Idol Gives Back brought back some memories, though. 

    Printing out those awareness papers and taping them on teachers' doors, handing them out with ONE bands to my classmates and having the majority of an English GATE class having their papers displayed in the fronts of their binders.  Sitting with Joeve in the rain and crying as we snapped our fingers every three seconds.  It was all pretty intense.  Go, Magical Christa with Ambition, go!  I would almost call it all preachy, although looking back, I really did feel for the children dying in Africa.  I really did cry for the people dying from AIDS everyday.  Still, maybe I was preachy, maybe.  But I really did feel that ONE band resonating with the passion that I felt for Africa.

    I really fail now, though, compared to the bright and shiny optimist of middle school.  D;  Rather than major empathy, I'm very, "MAN, that hella sucks! D:" when I hear terrible news on FOX40 at 10 p.m.  And I used to cry at the charred remains of forest fires.  I haven't lost all feeling, mind you, but reading some of my old Xanga entries is a little inspiring.  "If I ever lose my trust in people, then please... just shoot me."  And I said that after a 35-year-old man with a thick Spanish accent hit on me, asked me for my telephone number, and offered to walk me home: "I just want to be friends!"  That's some resilience in the natural goodness of people, I'll say that much.

    But I don't wear my ONE band very much anymore, because I don't cry when I read the articles in Time Magazine about the impoverished children in Africa.  I don't have posters lining my entire bedroom wall about G8, Live Aid, Bono, and Sir Bob Gedolf.  It was Dr. King that said, "Shallow understanding
    from
    people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill
    will."  I stopped because I couldn't promise the same passion that I used to hold, I didn't want to wear the symbol of a cause that I now felt lukewarm towards.  I didn't want to mark that I have stopped for the trivial reason of being displaced in spreading awareness by the likes of G8 and American Idol.  I mean, that never stopped the people that donated more than $18 million last night to 1-877-IDOL-AID.

    Well, I don't have that many friends to spread awareness to anyway, so I think I'll manage.  gg!

    Mind you, I don't find myself as a horrible, god-forsaken devil spawn for losing my enthusiasm for Making Poverty History.  There are other aspects of life that I hold passion for, but I find it
    unfortunate that passing out posters, ONE bands, and donating funds
    became a regular, typical teenage phase.  But sometimes I just find myself admiring people with cheery optimism towards life and with sincere care, devotion, and empathy for the people around them.  Even if that happens to be the younger version of myself.  And consequently, I miss her sometimes.

    I planned to blog about my cats today and this all spilled out as I mentioned Idol Gives Back.  Can you imagine?  >_>;

    Writing this all inspires me to do some community service, though.  Lol.

    Btw, Topher Grace is insanely buff in Spider-Man 3, it really surprised me.  It's hard to imagine him being someone besides lanky Eric Foreman.  lol

    KBYE

Comments (1)

  • Have you heard this axiom: Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.

    I bring this up b/c you taught 35+ people about the state of AIDS in the world, something that will last with them forever. They will remember how important it is to be passionate about causes that are go beyond their immediate world.

    The magic of TV is that it's passive entertainment and very little is retained. Anyone can sit on the couch and do what the people in the TV tell them to do for a day. Will they continue to remember what they gave to beyond that show? I'd hope so, but I'm going to guess that the proverbial water cooler conversation isn't about the money they donated, but instead about how the evil Seacrest destroyed the spirit of the show by doing that ridiculous pause thing and then kicked someone off. (I mean, seriously - 'Last year we didn't kick anyone off on Idol Gives Back. (Contestant who's name I can't remember), (LONG AND UNNECESSARY PAUSE) well we don't care if we ruin the good feelings generated by the show, so we're kicking you off. And have a good night people!')

    Idol can draw $18m b/c they have a nationwide audience. When you have a nationwide audience (and you will some day), you too will draw that kind of money for the cause of your choice.

    Passion can change over time, but that doesn't mean that passion, in whatever form it takes, is any less important or meaningful. With respect to not being as passionate as you once were: it's much easier to become something you once were than to be something you never were.

    Consider this your hibernation period. When you find the right mix of things that bring out that passion, I have no doubt the spirit of the 7th grade activist will come again.

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