Destiny, Fate... Or Just Bad Luck?

On Saturday, Matt and I went to Kitchener to see the Titanic Exhibit at The Museum.  It was the last weekend it was in town, and I thought it would be a fun birthday present for him and it gave us a chance to go out of town for a day.

One of the many cool things about the exhibit, aside from the artifacts and the progressive display from the building of the ship to the sinking, was one thing that I've been just thinking of for the past day.  When we handed in our tickets, we were each given a card with information of a person who was on the Titanic.  It was an imitation of a ticket that would have been given to the person when they purchased the ticket, along with how they ended up on the boat and also information about themselves and their family.

I received the information of a 16 year old girl from Chicago, Illinois, who had traveled to Europe with her mother.  They had gone to Europe to grieve over the death of her brothers, both of which were killed in a theatre fire in Chicago.  Originally, this girl and her mother were supposed to board the Olympic, the sister ship of the Titanic, but exchanged their tickets for the Titanic so that they may shop for a few more days in Paris.

This girl survived the horrific day the Titanic sunk.

Could you imagine?  If she and her mother had not opted for a few extra days in Paris, they would not have experienced the tragedy of the Titanic.  To think that just that simple change of tickets changed her life forever...  Well, I'm not sure if it changed her life forever, but I'm sure that it was very hard to cope with.

So I've come to realize that I need to stop thinking about this.  I mean, if you really think about something you've done recently: seen a movie, decided to go to a bar, even just changed your plans for the day...  It could alter your life drastically.

Mind blowing, right?

The End

FarmVille, CityVille, YoVille.. WhateverVille

When Facebook Apps became popular, probably the most spam I received (whether it be in the news feed or in game requests) was for FarmVille.  With its insane popularity, it's really no surprise that Zynga continued the franchise to create games like CityVille, YoVille, FrontierVille.. Any Ville you could think of, I'm pretty sure Zynga created it.

Now, I didn't give into that trend.  As hilarious as it was to hear coworkers discussing how they needed more people to help them "raise a barn" or needed "3 more chickens", whatever, I wasn't going to be one of those people.  Sure, I played my share of Facebook Apps, even had my profile full of wall posts about the games I played.  But being the OCD one that I am, I eventually went through my profile, deleting all my old game posts.

Mafia Wars had been a hit for me.  I was a huge fan, and it wasn't like FarmVille in regards to needing to collect things within a certain amount of time or else I would lose whatever crop couldn't last...  And I'm a bit of a mafia-enthusiast, so I found it rather amusing.

Then, I was met with CityVille.

CityVille has been around for a while, and again, I originally treated it like I did FarmVille: not interested, never would be.  But exam time came around in school, and I needed something to take my mind off the stress.

Enter CityVille.

Surprisingly, it's rather relaxing.  I mean I didn't go obsessive and demanding that I be checking the game every 5 minutes, but something about growing a city from being a small town to a giant metropolis has its relaxing points.

Now that I think of it, every time I used to become stressed I'd start playing The Sims 2.  Not just playing it for the crazy control over computer-people, but building houses.  There's just... Something tranquil in building in a virtual reality.

So, I retract and apologize for my smart-comments towards FarmVille (...though, the people who obsess over it should be commented on).

The End

The Short Story Contest

So, I finally did it.  I submitted a short story of mine (my favourite, The Storm) to a short story contest.

...And I never thought it would be this agonizingly torturous to wait for the results.  I'm trying not to keep my hopes up--it's a world-wide short story contest and the likelihood of me winning that sort of contest on the first try is a stretch--but it feels like I have to wait forever for the rejection.

...Yes, the results will be in in February.

Well, at least, that's when they notify the 15 finalists.

But I can't help but wonder if this was a great choice for me.  If I make top 15 (which, again, is a stretch), my story is published in an anthology that will be sold on Amazon.  But the question is, who would buy that anthology?  It's not going to be available in stores--just on Amazon.

The disadvantage to this contest is that if I do make top 15 and get published, I cannot submit this story to any magazine, newspaper, or publishing company now.  That means I won't be able to get my name out there with this story.

The advantage is... I can win between $25 - $1000.  And be published.

So here's what I'll do.  I will bring my hopes up for this contest, and if I do make top 15 and get published in the anthology, you all can buy a copy and I'll sign it :)

The End.