Fans of mediocre vlogs, hand-waving, and air-quotes, rejoice! I had a third point, but it was clumsy, so thus the video ends awkwardly and abruptly...much like your attempt to exit the friend zone. High five, guys!

Suppose that I tell you "The other day, I was walking along the sidewalk, when suddenly, I slipped on a banana peel! As I catapulted forward in the air, suddenly a little kid on a scooter slid entirely beneath me. I bounced off the top of his helmet and was high in the air, when I was hit by a blast of water right in the side of my chest! Some firemen were shooting water at a burning house, and I found myself in the hose blast, being propelled right towards the flames! Thankfully I got entangled in the volleyball net in front of the house, or I could have been burned to death! Miraculously I was unhurt except for this rope-burn pattern on my face!"

Do you know what at least half of my friends would ask me with a straight face, before even showing sympathy? "Is there video of this?"  We have become such a video and photo-influenced generation, it is a bit laughable. Do you know that hardly any Xangans would talk to me until I started putting up a lot more photos and videos of myself on this site? Yes, I had a decent number of readers, but very few wanted to talk to me or were approachable. In 2008-2009 I started adding more multimedia and everything changed. In the last year, I've done very little photo or video on here. Wouldn't you know it, things have gone back to where they used to be.

Our reliance on the language of images both excites and worries me. I do prefer words in many ways. I like to convey my feelings through words. But this generation is most influenced by images, and perhaps it's always been this way. If there aren't pictures, it didn't happen. If there is no video of citizens being beaten by a hostile dictator's army, no one cares about that country. It's a bit sad, but it's also how the world works, and the way to get ahead is to create the most compelling photos and videos to draw people to your cause. Right?

EDIT: Also, lots of great comments in answer to my "Drug-Dealer Dilemma" post, I very much appreciated that! I will try to individually reply soon.

I usually do a mini-series on romance/love/sex in the 30 days leading up to Valentine's Day. I just don't feel like it this year, for reasons explained in the Vlog. Oh well...I will think of some other interesting topics.

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My attempt to do something a little bit artistic. Song chosen to match the video...eh, I could do better job of editing.

My high school that I graduated from is closing at the end of this year. It was a small private school that finally ran out of money and students. I went back to watch the school play and took the opportunity to take video of the grounds and talk:

This video is a little dull, but I want to start doing video posts to work on my presentation skills. I have decided to adjust what I write about. You'll read much less on things I don't know much about (love, women, and relationships) and much more about things I do (men, general knowledge, competitive games). We'll see if I can hold to this, but I think the change makes sense.

Anyway, here's why the title and the video. The fairy tales say that the prince would often have to kill the dragon or go on many other adventures. Sometimes he'd get a princess as a reward, sometimes not. My question is, though, where are our "dragons" today? What are good adventures for men? It seems like the princess herself is now the adventure...or the dragon that must be defeated...or the man is the dragon? The symbolism has completely fallen apart. Maybe that's a good thing, but I think the lack of challenges and adventures for men accounts for the popularity of video games and is depressing.

My apologies for the extra "uhs" and the unscripted nature of the video and how long it is and that I was even born...err, wait, just watch the video before I get any more self-conscious.

Oh, and my Internet connection was fixed! XangaTV will return sometime this month.

Amazing what one can do with random programs nowadays. Or scary? Hmm, you decide. A mix of pictures/video of myself making different faces to the tune of Earthsuit's "Schizophreniac" song.