Long Overdue /// Music Monday #90

So it's Music Monday again, huh? To be honest, I kinda forgot about it, which means I hope you're good with something random. Then again, everything probably seems random on your end.

Our random song of the day is . . .

"Aveline's Escape" from Assassin's Creed III: Liberation

Composed by Winifred Philips

It's been a hot minute since I've shared an Assassin's Creed track. The soundtracks tend to be really good, combining a good blend of quiet and intense moments. Obviously, since this one is about an escape, it's more of an intense one. I feel like the Liberation soundtrack is definitely an underrated one, but from what I remember of it, I really enjoyed it.

This one's got some interesting instrumentation going on. The percussion sounds a bit different, like the drums that are played by beating your hands on them, such as bongos. I couldn't tell you what exact type they are, but that's what it sounds like to me. I think the percussion and the strings definitely carry the track, and it's a great mix.

I don't know much about this game, aside from the fact that it featured the very first playable female protagonist in the franchise, an African-French woman named Aveline--though you probably already figured the name part out. It takes place in New Orleans during the end of the French and Indian War. That's about all I know, seeing as I have yet to play it. I do own it, though, as it was bundled with Assassin's Creed III and its DLC on the Switch.

Not much else for me to say, really. I'm a bit tired as of the time I'm writing this, and seeing as I also wrote my entire Monthly HapPENings post for Friday, I think I'm allowed a bit of slack with this one. Sorry if it's boring this time around!

Did you enjoy the song? Have you played any of the Assassin's Creed games or listened to their soundtracks? Do you have a favorite?

Fighting the Fear

We live in a world dominated by fear, ever since Adam and Eve hid from God because they were afraid (Genesis 3:10). The media gobbles it up and feeds it to as many people as possible. It runs rampant on social media, no matter how much you may try to avoid it. Your coworkers, friends, and family may speak it--sometimes a little, sometimes a lot, and sometimes nonstop. And with what's going on in the world today, when words like "pandemic" and "outbreak" are used more frequently, it's not hard to see just how prevalent fear is.

Now, of course there's nothing inherently wrong with expressing your fears. It can be healthy to vent or get it off of your chest. The question is, are you letting that fear control and dictate your everyday life? Your honest answer to that could very well change your life.

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First off, let's discuss why fear is not something to be dwelled upon. God told us people over and over and over again, "Do not fear." It's hard to find a consistent number just by Googling, and it also depends on which translation you're using, but I believe it's in there 200 times, possibly more. God was obviously serious about this, knowing that we humans are quite susceptible to fear.

What does fear do to us? It does many things, but let's just cover a few of the major points:

1. It causes us to turn our eyes off of God and focus on the natural. This one is huge. We have the Creator of the universe on our side, the One who breathed life into us and desires to be with us for all eternity. Yet we'll focus on what's going on around us and totally freak out, despite serving a God who is bigger than anything our enemy and the world throws our way. Case in point: is God bigger and greater than a virus? There is no hesitation in my answer. Yes, He most certainly is. So why should I have to fear it? He promises us health and protection so many times in the Bible. One of my favorite examples of such is in Psalm 91:7, where it says, "A thousand may fall on your left, ten thousand may die on your right, but these horrors won't come near you" (The Voice).

You see, we tend to focus on the problem and not the Problem Solver. We focus on the mountain and not the Maker, on the storm and not the Savior . . . on the devil and not the Deliverer. (And I'm preaching to myself here too, okay?) God gave us a standard as to how measure our thoughts and our focus in Philippians 4:8 (The Voice): "Finally, brothers and sisters, fill your minds with beauty and truth. Meditate on whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy." He doesn't want us to keep our eyes on the negative things in life; we are to keep our gaze on him. Doing so will push back the fear.

2. It causes us to speak things that affect our life for the worse. There seems to be this idea for some people that what you say and what you think don't have an effect on you. They think the idea of "mind over matter" doesn't make sense. But we are created in the likeness and image of God, right? And how did He create the world way back in the beginning? He spoke. Our words are very telling about what we believe, think, and focus on. As for the mind side of things, Proverbs 4:23 (ICB) says, "Be very careful about what you think. Your thoughts run your life." Your deep-rooted heart beliefs also have a huge part to play in what you say and do. After two blind men told Jesus that they believed He could heal them, He said, "Become what you believe" (Matthew 9:27-29, The Message).

Have you ever noticed how people's lives follow their words, thoughts, and beliefs? Some say that they'll never get ahead in life, and they never do so long as they keep confessing it. Others complain about their family or their spouse all the time, which results in continuously negative relationships. Heck, even saying, "I'm always tired," true as it may be, will result in one being tired all the time. There are other ways you can see this too. For example, I know a girl who has dated a few times in her life. In all those instances, I've always seen it end badly, with the guys hurting her in very similar ways. Why is that? I obviously have no right to say, because I don't know her heart. But there's something there that is preventing her from finding a decent dude.

The long and short of it is, what you think, say, and believe are intricately tied together, whether you like it or not. The enemy would love nothing more than to see fear come into your life and render you helpless because you used your own God-given power against yourself. Don't let it dominate your life. You can choose today to speak against it.

3. It finds a way in because we have normalized it and have become acclimatized to it. Fear has a way of slipping into our minds and hearts if we aren't diligent in guarding them, and that's never a good thing. The sad thing is, we don't necessarily recognize it right away--some people never do. Would you ever say you've been stressed, anxious, or worried? Society likes to give out fancy names to new diagnoses, but truth be told, it almost always links back to fear. Let's say I'm stressed about a performance review at work. I may use the word stressed, but the reality is that I'm afraid that I didn't perform good enough. Or what if I'm living in constant worry because of all the news and updates about the virus these? It means I'm afraid of it and what it may do to me or my loved ones. (This is not to say that I don't think we should take the virus seriously, but we should also approach it knowing that our God is mightier and not letting fear control our reactions to the situation. Besides, I believe fearmongering on the media's part has made the whole thing far, far worse than it should be.)

This is where we need to turn to the Bible and seek out more promises. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7, NKJV). "The thief approaches with malicious intent, looking to steal, slaughter, and destroy; I came to give life with joy and abundance" (John 10:10, The Voice). "'For I know the plans I have for you,' says the Eternal, 'plans for peace, not evil, to give a future and hope--never forget that'" (Jeremiah 29:11, The Voice). I'd definitely encourage you to read the whole of Psalm 91 and 23, maybe even in a translation you don't normally read. Different phrasings might mean more to you personally than others.

Fear should not be your norm. God never intended us to live that way, and it does cause our bodies to react poorly and break down quicker over time. He is the Prince of Peace, and no matter what we're facing, we can experience it for ourselves. There was a time last year where I was under constant stress at work, partially because others were putting it on me and partially because I put it on myself. I didn't deal with it properly, and it led to a much worse, much darker situation later on. I don't talk about it a lot because it was the worst time of my life, and I thank God I've recovered from it. But if I hadn't accepted the fear back then, how much different would have things panned out? Never let fear be normal.

Now what about the solution? I think I've actually covered a lot of it when discussing the problem and what it does to us. But there's another part that I have yet to mention, and it's found in what He commanded Joshua after Moses died and Joshua was to lead the people (Joshua 1:9, The Voice): "This is My command: be strong and courageous. Never be afraid or discouraged because I am your God, the Eternal One, and I will remain with you wherever you go." That is extremely powerful. The key to remember here is that you do not have to be completely free of fear in order to be courageous. Rather, being courageous means you act despite still feeling that fear. That plus knowing God is always by your side will help you to fight back the fear. This will be something you'll have do many times in your life as you stay ever-vigilant, but it's better than just rolling over and letting whatever happens happen.

The first step is, of course, often one of the hardest, and that is to admit there is a problem to begin with. Once you do that, you allow yourself to work toward taking action and defeating the fear. So with that, I'll leave you with a portion of NF's song "Mansion" to ponder as you determine what you will do, dear friend.

Fear came to my house years ago, I let him in

Maybe that's the problem 'cause I've been dealing with this ever since

I thought that he would leave, but it's obvious he never did

He must have picked the room and got comfortable and settled in

Now I'm in the position it's either sit here and let him win

Or put him back outside where he came from, but I never can

'Cause in order to do that I'd have to open the doors

Is that me or the fear talking?

I don't know anymore

Why I Like Camp NaNo and Dislike NaNo

So . . . this hasn't happened in a while. Seems all I post these days are Monthly HapPENings and Music Monday posts, and sometimes that gets tiring. I'm trying to write other, more interesting posts more often . . . but I've been saying that for a while, haven't I?

Anyway, this post (which might be a bit on the shorter side, and I hope that's all right) has been on my mind for a little while, and I figured now was the perfect time to share it. Disclaimer: any thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own, and you are free to think differently. This just comes from my experiences of participating in NaNo in 2018 and 2019, and the handful of times I've done Camp Nano.

In case you're not aware, let me briefly explain these events. NaNo--or rather, NaNoWriMo--is the abbreviated title for National Novel Writing Month. It takes place in November, where writers around the globe strive to add 50,000 words to their project, be it old or new, as 50k is the minimum word count for a novel. Camp NaNo operates a bit differently. Less popular and well-known than NaNo, it operates twice a year, in April and July. The biggest difference is that writers select their own goals, whether it's a word count, time limit, page count, or an editing goal. As I said, I've tried both, so these are some of my takeaways.

Why I Like Camp NaNo

1. You get to choose your own goal.

I know I've already mentioned that detail, but it's one of the biggest selling points for me personally. Everyone has different life circumstances, so being able to work around by choosing your target makes a huge difference in the overall experience. What I always preferred when doing Camp NaNo was a time goal, often 30 minutes a day. The number of words I pumped out varied, and there were some days that I didn't do as well--but at least I was still writing daily. After those 30 minutes, I could decide if I wanted to keep going, or stop there. Sometimes I would write for another 15 or 30 minutes, or even longer. Sometimes I called it quits there. The important thing was that I could keep my mental health up while still writing regularly.

2. It has a community vibe to it.

When I write, I love knowing that I have people cheering me on, encouraging me, giving me constructive feedback, and just being there for me. Camp is great for that. I shared an online cabin with a friend of mine, and we could support each other and keep ourselves positive. There's just this atmosphere of . . . understanding, maybe? Like, you chose a goal that was right for you, and you're celebrated for trying to reach it. And even if you don't hit it, it's okay. You did your best, and that's all that matters. It's like everyone is running alongside one another in a race, but some people's finish lines come sooner than others'. And there's nothing wrong with that; in fact, you're congratulated for doing what was best for you.

3. You end the month feeling good about yourself.

This probably crosses over into things I've already said, but whatever. When the month is over, and I look back on it, I feel positive about the progress I've made. I've written every day, I've made some good progress in my story, and I've managed to look after my mental health while I'm at it. Taking some time every day to be able to chill and just relax for a while is very important to me, so that's a huge bonus. I can end Camp saying it was a good experience, and if I ever feel up to it, I can challenge myself a bit more next time. Now, I don't necessarily think one even should write every single day, but it's nice to do it for a month and see the fruits of your labor afterward. Camp is just really positive overall.

Why I Dislike NaNo

1. Your goal is chosen for you.

So I understand that the appeal of NaNo is that you can actually manage to write a whole novel in a month . . . but is that really manageable? If you want to hit the goal of 50,000 words in a month, that means writing a minimum of 1,666 words per day. And if you don't hit that daily goal, suddenly each day becomes more and more daunting. Thing is, that type of goal isn't made for everyone. Some people work full-time jobs; for example, I work 8-4 at a job that can be quite mentally exhausting. Coming home to then pump out so many words can be quite challenging--oftentimes too challenging. It really does a number on your mental health. It's just not meant for every writer.

2. It has a competitive vibe to it.

Maybe it's just me, but after my first time trying NaNo, I've never felt it as a community getting together to try their best. Rather, it's felt competitive. To use the race example again, everyone is racing each other to get to that goal of the big 50k. Some people defy all logic and reach the finish line super quick, while others manage to pull in by the end of the month. But if you fail, then you suck. It just seems very . . . cutthroat to me. Both times I tried NaNo, I failed and only got 20-30k words written. And you're not congratulated for that; you're only celebrated if you succeed.

3. You end the month not feeling good about yourself.

I don't what it's like to finish NaNo, but I imagine it must feel something along the lines of, "I'm really tired, but I'm happy that I did so well, so I deserve to rest a while." The way I ended my first NaNo was, "I'm super burnt out, and I really don't want to see my story again, so I'm gonna take a break for a long while." The second NaNo may have been a bit better, but not by much. I end the month feeling kind of jealous of others and frustrated with myself and my writing. I know that's a "me" problem, though I don't think it makes my feelings illegitimate. Sure, I've made great progress in both Shattered and The Darglia Unravelings when I've participated in NaNo. Not hitting the goal, however, ends up making me feel more like a failure than anything else. In the end, I'm not convinced that any writing is worth allowing your mental health to take a beating.

So those are my thoughts on Camp NaNo vs. NaNo. I hope it doesn't bring you down or anything if you're participating this month. Again, these are just my feelings on the events. Will I ever take part in NaNo in the future? Maybe. But if I can't find a way to do it while also taking my time to refresh myself, then no, it's not something I want to do. I'd rather do Camp once or twice a year. It's more my style.

I suppose I'll end on saying this: if you've miraculously finished NaNo already, you are a hecking genius and I wish you all the best as you finish off the month! And if you're not done yet, I'm cheering you on from the sidelines. You've got this! But don't neglect your mental health in the process. I know I've talked a lot about it in this post, but seriously, it's important. The job I currently work has taught me to value it and look after it well, because no one else can or will do it for you.

That's that! What're your thoughts on my reasons? Do you prefer Camp or NaNo? If you're trying for 50k this month, how far along are you?

Another Venture into K-pop /// Music Monday #89

It's time for another Music Monday post! Fun fact for you: this is the fourth last one for 2020. Crazy, right? The Awards are almost upon us again!

Our song for today is . . .

"Goodbye" from the album Sayonara Hitori

Performed by Taemin

"Goodbye" (or "Sayonara Hitori" if you prefer the Japanese title) is a solo song by one of the members of the K-pop group SHINee, Taemin. While this song in particular isn't K-pop because it's sung in Japanese, I figured that because the singer is Korean and is from a Korean band, and because there's a Korean version of the track, I figured it was okay to put K-pop in the title?

ANYWAY. I'm getting sidetracked here. This dude is so talented in so many ways. Let's first talk about his voice. It's so beautiful and haunting, full of raw, rich emotion. If I could sing half as smooth as he can, I'd be happy. There's just something about his vocal quality that adds a lot to the song. He feels like the perfect person to be singing it.

Not only can he sing, though, but he can also dance. He knows when to bring it down to match the softer tones of the verses, but then goes all out for the chorus and even more so for the following beat drop. K-pop singers go through some really rigorous training, but it's more than evident in this video how all that training pays off. Again, if I could dance half as good as he does, I'd be satisfied.

Then there's the music video itself. Can I just say that the K-pop music videos I've seen are a thousand times better than our North American ones? I love the fantasy vibe of the video, from the swordsmen dueling in the volcano to Taemin waking up on a moonlit pillar of rock. It's just so, so cool! And his costumes are really neat as well.

As for the song, it seems to be about having to say goodbye to someone that you don't want to. There's a line in the main chorus about still smiling in the loneliness, and it ends with him saying goodbye forever. How it all can interpreted seems to be up to you. Whether you find it pretty, emotional, or maybe even both, that's for you to decide. But I think I've rambled long enough. Just watch the video and let me know what you think!

What'd you think of the song and the music video? Would you listen to more of Taemin's work? If you found any English lyrics, what's your interpretation? If you write, does this inspire you in any of your stories?

Monthly HapPENings: October

Man, is 2020 actually almost over? Where in the world has this year gone?

Once again, not much in the way of fun life stuff happened in October. I did participate in Inktober this year--more specifically, Shadow Linktober. That means I drew a bunch of Zelda enemies and antagonists. It was a lot of fun, for the most part! I'm definitely thinking I'll participate again next year, and I wanna do more drawing between now and then. I'll probably share some of my art from Linktober on here in the future, but until then, you can check them out on my Instagram if you haven't!

Also, my youngest two sisters and I went out to the nearby city to do some Christmas shopping one Thursday after I was done work. It was super productive, and we had some delicious kimchi (I chose the shrimp variant)--now I'm craving kimchi again. But yeah, I'm nearly done buying all my Christmas presents for friends and family, which I'm pretty happy about. I was on top of things this year, lemme tell ya!

Bookish HapPENings

Surprise, surprise . . . no books finished again. This is honestly becoming a bad habit at this point. It's not that I don't want to read, it's just that I don't really think of it or make time for it with everything else that I wanna do. I gotta change that this month!

HapPENings on the Screen

AAAHHH OH MY GOSH I AM DONE WITH AVATAR! What an ending to the show! It was amazing and different from what I expected and AHHH. I'm so, so glad that I managed to avoid most spoilers. I loved the show and the characters so much, I just wanna watch it all over again. I already miss them and their crazy antics and adventures. I'm so going to buy all three seasons for myself, because I neeeed them in my life. One of my all time favorites, for sure. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW THAT IT'S ALL OVER???

I finished Ergo Proxy just recently, and wow. Like Avatar, that ending was different what I'd expected. The show took so many twists and turns there at the end. And the themes, man. They gave me so much to think about and chew on. I'm still processing them and how things went down . . . When I started the show, I didn't think I'd end up enjoying it as much as I did. It's not perfect, by any means, but it's still really, really good. There were more characters I didn't want to say goodbye. If you ever watch this show, let me know so we can chat and theorize about it!

YO! The third season of My Hero Academia is so dang instense! Like, seriously, they're not holding anything back with this season. It has had my emotions wrapped around its finger. And then there was that fight I just saw and how it ended, and I can't stop thinking about it. What's going to happen to some of the characters?! This definitely feels like a big turning point in the show . . . and I love it. But it's also got me really worried about how things are going to play out now.

On a much lighter note, I've been watching Attack on Titan: Junior High recently, and it's just . . . nothing short of perfect. The way they take scenes and lines from the main show that are super serious or deep or emotional or whatever, and make it comical within the context of this parody show, is so brilliant. Or they'll take a character and overexaggerate certain traits for the sake of comedy, and it just works so well! You honestly can't hate anyone in this show. If you've seen Attack on Titan, you can't not watch this as well. It'll have you in stitches.

Gaming HapPENings

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I've been playing a lot of Ace Attorney Investigations lately, and it's so, so good! I love it for a number of different reasons. One, it has a different style from the other games in the series. Rather than searching crime scenes and talking to people for clues before hitting up the courtroom, you don't do any trials--at least, not in the traditional sense. Yes, Miles still investigates crimes, but it's from a top-down perspective, which does a lot to make it feel different. He has to use to logic to piece together clues and figure out what happened, deducing different things by using the evidence he's found. There are arguments in which you check statements and present evidence, but it still feels different from the normal games. Two, you get to play as Miles Edgeworth, one of the best characters in any game ever. I mean, just look at him on the game cover! Three, the storytelling and music are just as fantastic as they've always been, making this title feel right at home among the others. I really need to finish it and see how things go down!

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I've been a lot more New Horizons these last few weeks, because I'm finally getting somewhere with my island. Like, it's a proper town now with hourly music and everything! I still have lots to do to make it look more civilized and less like a mostly deserted island. I'm so happy with my villagers, though. They're so cute and friendly and I love them all. The Halloween event I participated in was super fun as well. Shari kept doing the scare reaction and looked absolutely adorable doing it! I also liked how some of the villagers asked for candy, while a couple of others stayed at home and gave me some. I just love this game--and the whole Animal Crossing series--so much. It's so wholesome and relaxing, and I need it in my life.

Writerly HapPENings

No writing was done this month--again. It's something I've also been meaning to change, much like the reading thing, but I haven't made the time or brain space for it. That needs to be different too, for sure by the end of the year! I will not allow 2020 to be a total failure in that regard.

That was my October! How was yours? Are you just as shocked as I am that the year is almost over? What have you done/watched/played recently?

A Final Spoopy Song /// Music Monday #88

 Welp, this one's a little late because I kind of forgot about it on the weekend. Whoops.

Our song for today is none other than . . .

"Shifty Boo Mansion" from Super Mario 3D World

Composed by Mahito Yokota, Toru Minegishi, Yasuaki Iwata, and Koji Kondo

I can't believe that in all my years of doing Music Monday on the blog, never once for around October have I shared a spoopy Mario song. The series has some really good ones for all of the ghosty levels and games. I heard this particular track the other day and decided to share it.

The overall tone sets a really good atmosphere. It's got the spooky synths (at least, I think it's electronically produced; correct me if I'm wrong), but that violin does so much for the music. It basically carries the whole song. People in the comments have said it sounds beautiful, sad, relaxing, and solemn, and I have to agree. It's definitely all of the above. I feel like not a lot of Mario music utilizes violins like this, so when it does, it stands out.

Honestly, Super Mario 3D World is one of the best Mario games to date, in my opinion. It's got a fantastic score that happens to be one of my favorites in the series, right up there with the Galaxy and the Mario & Luigi games. It's got some terrific level design with a nice variety in themes and styles. The bosses are fun to take on, and Bowser's battles were a particular highlight for me. And c'mon, who doesn't love the new cat powerup? So cute and fuzzy! Also, the game can be extremely difficult . . . My youngest sister and I have died so many times in the last worlds. Though to be fair, I find it more of a fun challenging than the rage-inducing kind.

I'll definitely be picking up the Switch version when it releases next year. (Man, before you know it, the entire Wii U library is going to wind up coming to the Switch!) I'm really curious about the expansion, Bowser's Fury . . . have you seen the trailer for it? We haven't seen much yet, but I love ruins, so I'm already hooked by all the cat-themed pillars and structures they showed. Hopefully we'll find out more sooner rather than later!

So that's the end of the spoopy songs! What'd you think of this one? How does it compare to other ghost-themed tracks you've heard from the Mario series? Do you play Super Mario 3D World, and will you pick up the Switch version?