I have a wide variety of interests that lead to the pursuit of various degrees in diverse fields. My main interests always center around foreign languages and cultures. Asian dramas and telenovelas feed the language addiction and Runescape (which has servers in 5 languages) provides a social environment to both interact with and communicate with others in foreign languages.
I have played Runescape since 2009. My kids introduced me to it when I was laid up on the couch with a sprained ankle and going insane with boredom. Some of the best quality time that I ever spent with my kids was made possible by Jagex and the MMORPG called Runescape. I don’t play any other games yet, but I am intrigued by a Chinese game that was featured in the drama “Love 020” and that looks like a lot of fun. I had to buy a better computer to download “A Chinese Ghost Story,” and then wait for someone to translate the instructions on how to create a NetEase email address and an account because everything is in Chinese. Where there is a will, there is a way, and with Google and the global community, nothing is impossible. However, I’m still stuck on noob island.
I also watch Asian dramas. In 2010, my kids started me out on Korean dramas, then some Japanese versions of the Korean dramas, and of course, some Chinese and Thai. I discovered Wuxia Chinese dramas on my own and quickly became enthralled with the Chinese fantasy genre that features men with long hair and flowing robes. I regularly comment on Disqus forums about all the different dramas because it is fun to compare the different versions. It is interesting to see how the global community of viewers sees things from different cultural perspectives.
My Googling habits run the gamut from archeology and theories of alien invasions to Star Trek and future colonies on the Moon and Mars. Edgar Rice Burroughs already invented solar powered energy with his John Carter of Mars and Barsoom stories from 1912. I’m just waiting for NASA to admit that we already have all this technology and they’ve hidden it on the dark side of the moon. Lol, that’s my weird sense of humor.
Life is fun! The Internet provides such entertaining stuff to explore that I don’t need a TV for entertainment purposes. The digital life is compact, fits into small spaces, and costs less to house and maintain than a brick and mortar house, furniture, dishes, and a lawnmower. I spend more time yakking with my friends and family on Skype, Discord, Twitter, Runescape, and other Internet devices and platforms than I ever did on the telephone and letters. I have to laugh at sociologists who say that technology is isolating us from each other. For me, it provides a means of maintaining synchronous and asynchronous communication on a frequent basis for free that long distance telephone fees and slow snail mail correspondence interfered with.
Long live technology, legends of alien gods, and Runescape!