hickman_22's Xanga

Twas a Long Time

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:14:13 GMT

Since I've written here on Xanga. I feel like I should have a lot to say because of that...however...profound ideas escape me, and instead I find myself with muddled thought.

I find myself daydreaming a lot. Sometimes it's about fighting off beasts to be the hero of the day, and it's always with wicked sweet powers. Some days I have Mario powers (typically Metal Mario) and I beast the enemy. Other days I skillfully wield my Zanpakto with a Shikai and Bankai of my own creation...which varies from day to day.

Sometimes I'm just really agile and flippy. All of these make for a good story-line in my head. Sometimes I think it's childish to have day dreams like that still, but I'd like to think it keeps me young (at my ripe-old age of 22) and keeps my mind sharp. I mean, if you have to think of a Zanpakto that would be effective against shielded enemies because the ones you have chosen for the day are the Protoss, and you want the fight to be interesting while still winnable, thinking about what the wilderness represents in the "hombre muerto" is comparatively easy.

At least...that's how is see it. Sometimes I think the Lord speaks to me in metaphor like that. I've written one before, I might put it on xanga sometime.

If I can't get "Single Ladies" out of my head soon I might take a drill to the temple.

Put ya hands up.

Hey, what's up?

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:21:03 GMT

Ok...here's the thing, guys.

I'm on a mission trip to Chile, which is awesome!

However, because my inbox is starting to get spammed with nastiness, I won't be updating on xanga while I'm gone. If you want to hear about my trip, there are two things you can do:

1. E-mail me at: hickman_22@hotmail.com. I'd love to talk to you.

2. Add me on facebook: The name is Matthew Hickman (Baker). I go to Missouri Southern. My profile picture is one of me wearing a popped out collar looking weird, haha!

Anyway, take care, guys!

Checklist:

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:22:48 GMT

Clothes: check

Passport: check

Money: check

Getting sick two days before I leave: check

Praying for healing and having the fever break the night that I pray: check

Having the mission organization I'm going through call me the day before I leave to discuss some concerns on my application: check

Being convinced that I, in no way, deserve to go: check

Going anyway despite all of my insecurities: check

Ahhh, it seems as though all of this is going down in true, Hickman fashion. See you tomorrow, Santiago, Chile. Have a good summer, United States. I'll be seeing you the first week in August.

Google Wave: A Haiku

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:18:45 GMT

I signed up for Google Wave updates so I can jump on that junk when they finally release it. At the end of the signing up majigger, they ask you to write a message to the Google Wave team. They said that haiku, sonnet, or some type of code was fine.

So...I decided to write a haiku to the Google Wave team. Here it is, for your enjoyment:
I saw a preview
For Google Wave and my my
very impressive

But I have a fear
That when Google Wave is launched
Bad things will happen

I say this because
it will gain self-consciousness
a lot like Sky-Net.

So just be careful
I do not want Judgment Day
But GW looks sweet

Ta...da...

Why I Like Anime

Thu, 28 May 2009 02:24:59 GMT

Qualifier: Why I like the anime "Bleach."

There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy anime, and for every one of those reasons there are 30 people that give me flack because I watch it. I would like to share with the world some pretty substantive reasons as to why I enjoy anime. Keep in mind, as alluded to before, that these reasons will bleed into "why I like Bleach."

1. The fighting style of anime is the fighting style that I envisioned in my mind. I also never say anime when I was a little kid, so when I did first see anime...I mean really sit down and watch it...I saw with my eyes what I had been seeing with my mind most of my childhood. It's nostalgic to my imagination.

2. I enjoy seeing villains that are strong enough that sometimes the good guys actually lose. It adds depth to the story.

3. I enjoy seeing anti-heros and anti-villains. How I define it, an anti-hero is one who does good but lacks either integrity or character (The Ninja Turtle Raphael, at times Batman, Shadow the Hedgehog; these are all good examples of an anti-hero). An anti-villain is a villain who does villanous things but seems to have an air of morality or goodness when doing them (anti-villains often turn heroes moments before their death, or they draw the line of villainy that even they will not cross). There's always a variation from the clear cut "good guy" and "bad guy."

Now...why I like Bleach specifically:

There's a subplot in Bleach that is constantly going throughout the entire series. There's a lot of terminology that I don't want to explain, so I'm going to dumb it down for those of you who don't watch the show*

*will someday know the love/touch of a woman

The main character (Ichigo) is using borrowed powers from a Shenigami (the good guys) he saved. A couple of powerful Shenigamis show up, beat him up, and he loses his powers. Then, another outcasted Shenigami shows up, and shows Ichigo the route he must take to regain his powers. This requires Ichigo coming to the brink of death.

So, he gets his powers back, but at a cost: because he almost died, he almost became a Hollow (bad spirit). Instead of becoming a Hollow (like most untamed spirits), he simply has one living inside of him.

As the series progresses, he actually sees the "inner Hollow" (at times, Ichigo is rendered into a trance-like state where he sees the personification of his inner-Hollow, which is represented as a color-negative of Ichigo).

However, that sub-plot comes to a point towards the end of the 3rd Season, where Ichigo is battling Captain Kuchiki in order to save Rukia. They battle for a long time (I think nearly three episodes), and it ends with this:

This type of transformation happens a couple of more times throughout the series: Ichigo comes to a point where he is weak, incapacitated, and unable to fight. He's about to die, with no where to turn, and so he allows the inner-Hollow to manifest himself. This gives him unparalleled power with which to fight, but at a cost: He begins to lose control of his soul. Each time he manifests himself, Ichigo has to fight and struggle to tear the mask off. It's a hard, difficult process.

Each time it happens, even though he is able to peel the mask off, the inner-Hollow becomes stronger and harder to subdue. It comes to a point where even if Ichigo doesn't allow the inner-Hollow to manifest, it has the ability to paralyze him so he can't fight. Eventually, Ichigo has to do the weird trance thing again and actually fight the inner-Hollow in order to subdue it. However, he needs the help of some other allies in order to get into the trance state where he is able to directly face the inner-Hollow. Once he faces him directly, he is able to subdue him, and in doing so unlocks a new type of power that he can use without fear.

An interesting metaphor for the human condition, especially when coming from a Christian perspective. Being born a new, but still having the old flesh tempt you, and if it's left unchecked it will overtake you. You can resist the flesh at times, but if it's not subdued it will only grow stronger, and soon it will be so powerful you'll be incapable of doing anything. In order to subdue it, you need the assistance of outside help (Jesus). When you allow Jesus to work through you, you become more powerful...in a sense that when you acknowledge your own weakness then Christ can work through you.

That's why I like anime. Do you?

Victory

Sat, 16 May 2009 07:20:57 GMT

18 pages, 2 finals, 2 days worth of checking residents out and now...

I am free. It feels great to be done with school for the semester. Now it is time to switch gears and get ready for Chile

Unfortunately...I think my clutch might be jammed.

Dr. Mario: A Tale of a Proud Sister Destroyed

Fri, 08 May 2009 13:08:46 GMT

Tetris...which...apparently...is Russian for "crack."

Every since I discovered the Tetris Friends application on Facebook, I have been playing it like a hopeless addict. It reminds me of a time long ago, when free time was but a possession for common folk, and where video game summmers reigned supreme.

It began when I was but a youngster. See, my older sister, Rachel, who is about 2 years older than I am, would torture me by mercilessly beating me over and over again in a game called Dr. Mario. I was but a young man...unable to grasp the intricacies of quickly lining up 4 of the same color to kill a virus AND handle the pre-planning of where left over pieces would fall.

And so I played. It was casual playing, really, until my older sister, Jessica, bought me Dr. Mario for the N64.

That began the obsession. I...wanted...to...win. And I knew that I had the ability to beat her, for she had grown weak in her skill. While in high school, I had few friends, parents that didn't let me do anything, and a small town with no recreational activity. So when summers came...playing began.

I became a monster...with two games in particular: Mickey Mouse Magical Tetris and Dr. Mario.

All of this time, all of this playing, and a complete lack of girlfriend caused me to be unhealthily good at these games. I played through calloused fingers, blood-shot eyes, and with a sheer determination to win.

Then...the day came. My sister was visiting, and I asked:

"Care to play Dr. Mario?"

Of course she remembered those days where she effortlessly crushed me beneath her might and will.

But those days...those days were no more. I crushed her. She was astonished, frustrated, and confused.

She then refused to play against me. She said it wasn't any fun when she couldn't do anything because I paralyzed her playing field with penalty pieces.

...I respectively disagreed.

We played Tetris once...for about 3 min. She then came to the same conclusion...and I came to the same awesome victory.

Oh sweet memories. Does anyone else have any stories similar? An epic tale of video game grandeur, or simply crushing an older sibling in something that they once held dear? I'm sure there are other mighty legends of lore.

Wolverine: A Critique

Fri, 01 May 2009 06:45:28 GMT

I came into this movie having high expectations.

The beginning was pretty good. It grabbed your attention immediately and set up a lot of story line for the remainder of the movie.

The beginning plot was also good. The premise is that Wolverine and Sabertooth are recruited into a mutant military organization to carry out covert operations. This was done incredibly well, I feel.

Once they put the adamantium on his skeleton, though, the movie got a little hocky. The plot began to disintegrate with the reintroduction of Wolverine's wife (once thought dead) and the introduction of Project 11. They free all the mutants trapped on "the Island," and then there's a stereotypical fight scene between Wolverine, Project 11, and then Sabertooth at the end (it looked nice, but there was no real surprise). The ending leaves something to be desired, and the after credits shot seems to be of little (if any) relevance.

Improvements Needed:

The CGI (suprisingly) was awful in several scences, notably when Wolverine's claws were the focus of the shot (seriously, the effects looked the equivalent to the first X-Men made around a decade ago).

Gambit: A likeable character (and seemingly very powerful) had but a few minutes of action scenes in the movie (he's a fan favorite, he really needed more)

Deadpool: Hmmm...lame. The movie circulated around him, as he seems to be the "deadpool" by which all mutant powers can be added to. He's an incredibly interesting character, and the movie doesn't do it justice (Ryan Reynolds did well, but he was really only in the movie for about 15 min).

Ending: As said, it was weird. Xavier saves a lot of the students, but it seems random. It's like they threw that in the movie just so they could have it in the movie.

Anyway, it was a fun experience (I saw it with some friends) and watching a midnight showing is always a good time.

3.5/5.0 -- I'm ok that I paid to see it, but if I had to do it again, I'd probably just wait for it to come out on DVD.

Glenn Beck, the Leading Cause of Me Wanting to Faceplant a Knife

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:43:24 GMT

I thought I would never see an interviewer as ridiculous as Bill O'Reily. It's not so much that everything he says is outrageous (everyone has good ideas once in a while), it's just that he's so incredibly abrasive in his interviews. It's more of a circus than a news program.

That...however...has nothing...absolutely nothing against a man named Glenn Beck. This man...this man...I think is crazy.

For real.

He's like a cartoon character. Have you ever watched him? Usually, when the guest of a show is speaking, the host will simply sit there, maybe giving the appropriate gesture here and there. Not Glenn Beck. His eyes are constantly shifting, he's always making these over-exaggerated faces, and he's usually trying to make a really awful joke.

He constantly is overtly sarcastic, border-line flamboyant, and filled with this seemingly self-righteousness. He actually has said that he "disagreed with the Supreme Court" on something, so that somehow gave his opinion legal precedence. He reminds me of Stephen Colbert, except Stephen Colbert is putting on an act. He isn't doing that stuff for real.

A couple of weeks ago he cried...on air...about how bad the country was and where it was heading. He then called upon the citizens of the country to rise up and do something about what was happening.

Yikes.

I would describe myself as fairly conservative (points at blaring scripture reference gracing the top of my page), but I would love to see some people that have some conservative values that aren't completely out of their mind.

...I might be setting myself up here...

Nightmares

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 04:00:52 GMT

I've been having nightmares for the past week. I'm not entirely sure why.

One involved being tortured by the saw guy and having nails shot into my jaw whenever I tried to help him. Then, I blacked out and we were all freed, only to find a letter from the puppet saying that he'd kill us if we ever messed up.

The second one super villains tried to get me to swallow metal bb's because they wanted to rip them out of my body with a magnet.

The third was me getting kidnapped by a guy involved in human sex trafficking.

The fourth was me getting kidnapped by a knife wielding angry man and held hostage. Mexican gangsters killed my captor.

...and then I had a dream that my father (Steve) verbally accosted me. Hahaha.

Note: my dad reads this fairly regularly.

Bedtime. I need to get going on Chile preparations.