As many as 11 things you didn’t know about Shade because I live by my own rules!

I’m liking this recent surge of information on the Cblogs. It's nice to see what kind of little, and not so little, things you can learn about your fellow gamer. So what the hell, time for me to chime in!


Look everyone, it's a phoenix! Oh, and some guy in the background I guess. Not sure what that's about.

1. I don’t watch TV, ever.
I don’t even have access in either of my regular homes. There’s simply nothing on TV that I can’t watch more easily online and everything else is just crap. The Daily Show, Colbert Report, My Little Pony, I can watch all of those practically in realtime. I don’t deal with commercials, godawful people who have gotten famous for literally no reason whatsoever or any of that crap. Instead, I bought a television set to serve as an external monitor for my laptop, and I watch everything I could possibly want on that.

2. I hate giving myself compliments for fear of becoming arrogant
People have told me that this is an “age thing” an “intelligence thing” and even a “Dutch thing”. Honestly, I’m starting to think it’s just a “Shade thing”. My studies are going really well, and I’ve made some nice achievements here and there. I was the top-scoring Law student during my first year (out of about 600 people), and I’m still in the running to graduate Cum Laude at the end of next year. But when people tell me that I’m “smart” or anything, I just feel like backing down. I feel like an idiot much more often than I feel even remotely smart. I just so happen to like what I do and I work hard for it. That really makes all the difference in the world. Above all though, I’m scared of becoming arrogant. I’ve seen people change once they got it into their heads that they were one step above the rest, and I don’t ever want that to happen to me: I’d absolutely hate myself for it. So while I can fully admit that I’m doing well in my studies, I’m more than a little hesitant to call myself smart or intelligent or whatever. It’s not in my nature to do so, and I don’t really want it to be.


I love this shirt. Honestly, I think a little self-deprecating humor is healthy for everyone

3. The word “flick” is awful and should be banned
Yeah, everyone has those one or two words that he just hates with a passion. I hear that “moist” is a favorite for many. Mine is “flick”, as in the action movies. Damn it. Damn it to punishment and pain eternal. Call it a “movie”, a “film” even, call it “a series of rapidly changing pictures to give the illusion of movement” for all I care, but just for all that is good in this world don’t call it a flick. And yes, I know Destructoid’s sister site is called Flixist.

4. Hypnosis helps me relax
What can I say? It really does. This will sound weird, but I’ve actually gone through a time where the concept of “sleeping” really bugged me. Trust me on this, you should never think about what actually happens to your body while you sleep. I mean, going into some kind of unconscious state until the morning, and you won’t even know how or when it even happens? Creepy stuff. I have some hypnosis sessions on mp3, however, and it’s the most relaxing stuff ever, I’m not even kidding. They can really help me forget about the worries of the day (video games do that to me too, but in a different way somehow) and get me relaxed and ready for sleep in minutes. I don’t have any sessions with a man’s voice though, because a guy whispering into my ear to lay back and relax creeps me the fuck out.

5. Clumsy is my middle name
And I don’t mean clumsy like Bella from Twilight is clumsy. This is not a flaw that is kind of cute when you have finally accepted it. I just break things. Any and all things, everywhere. I can’t draw at all and am even worse at arts and crafts. Something, somewhere will always go wrong. Hell, I can barely assemble a piece of Ikea furniture. I trip, I drop things, my balance is terrible, I make even the simplest solutions incredibly convoluted and it’s all just completely UGH. If I ever get a job offer as a waiter for December 2012, I'll be sure to turn it down, because I think that is what the Mayans were referring to.
Strangely though, I do consider myself good at video games: I’ve even finished the original Ninja Gaiden and 100%ed Super Meat Boy. So apparently, I am still really skilled with my fingers. (Ladies.)



6. Let’s Plays have recently taken up more of my time than actually playing games
I’ve made it a point in #2 that I work hard for my studies. This has been doubly the case in the last few months. I’ve been working on several important essays which really take up quite a bit of time. It doesn’t help that academic works often take an half hour of research for writing one sentence. At the end of the day, when I’ve finished all of my work, I just can’t bring myself to stay in front of my PC playing a video game. My other option is the Wii, which also isn’t all that when you’re tired. So instead, I hook up my laptop to my TV, search through the Let’s Play Archive, drop on the couch and watch away.
I’ve actually come into contact with many games that I wish I could play, but can’t. I love Muramasa, for example, but I don’t have the console to play its predecessor, Odin’s Sphere. Let’s Plays truly save the day here. I’ve even put a game on my “must play before I die”-list, based on what I’d seen in an LP. I’m hoping that once I have more free time on my hands I can go back to actually playing games again, especially my massive Steam backlog, but for now I’ll settle with a nice night on the couch watching a guy play Super Mario 64 with his feet.

7. When it comes to girls, I’m a walking friend zone
I like girls. That sounds like me trying desperately to convince myself that I’m not gay, but that truly isn’t the case. I just so happen to really like talking to girls, more so than guys I would say. I pretty much have more girl-friends than guy-friends too. Only rarely do I meet a woman I dislike, especially if I get a chance to talk to her one-on-one. And it works too: I often get along quite well somehow, despite (or because of?) I’m somewhat overweight and haven’t inherited anything like bbain’s staggeringly awesome beard. I don’t even do anything besides being me and being friendly (both of which I think you should always be regardless) but often it seems to click rather well.
As friends, that is.
For as good as I like to believe I am at generally being friendly and making friends, I’ve never been romantically involved with anyone. I’ve been in love several times for sure, but always ended up in the dreaded friend zone. And as it is written in the story of my life, my gift then instantly becomes my curse.

8. This one is blank
What did I tell you about living by my own rules!?

9. I am currently trying to memorize Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door
“‘Tis some visitor”, I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door”
Only this, and nothing more.

Ah, distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Anyway, you get the point. The first time I read this poem I was absolutely stunned. I’m not much of a guy for literature, and poetry even less so, but I found The Raven to be just completely gorgeous in every way. I can recite the first 9 stanzas (out of 17) pretty consistently. The rest hasn’t been that easy yet, since English isn’t my first language and there are some pretty obscure words in there. Really now, “Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe”? What does that even mean? The point being, I really liked it, and some of Poe’s other works as well (be sure to recommend some!). My favorite part is, I think, where the Raven’s name is first asked:



10. Out of all of my friends, only one is a fulltime gamer
It’s true, unfortunately. I have a friend I share all of my gaming-related stuff with. We’re on Steam together, host co-op sessions, et cetera. All of my other stuff I just saddle onto all of my other friends. They don’t seem to mind. A lot of them have played some games in the past, so they can understand what it is that I do. And really, they are getting good at being interested/feigning interest when I talk about “what I’ve been doing all week”.
Still though, I wouldn’t trade these guys and girls for the world, but it would be nice if I could get any of them to play Smash Bros with me.

11. I’m actually typing this using Dvorak for the first time
Okay, no I’m not. There’s some potential in here for sure, but holy crap this is going to take a while to learn.

12. My dream is to become a judge for the European Court of Human Rights (or for a not-even-in-existence-yet Universal Court of Human Rights)
Talk about shooting for the stars, eh?
Nonetheless, I’ve been interested in the law for years and years, but during my actual studies in this field I’ve found that human rights are my true passion. They are, quite simply, the very things that allow us to live the lives that we do, and that’s something very special. I’m writing a thesis right now on whether or not access to the internet should be a human right (my supervisor wouldn’t accept “the right to visit Destructoid”) and stuff like this is what I could see myself doing in god knows how many years. Seeing as how the European Court is the single most successful human rights court in existence that is really what I should be aiming for. I believe I'm getting a feeling for human rights and the law in general, and I'm willing to do all the work it takes, so I don't believe this is impossible in any way. It’s a long ways away, surely, but dreams bring out our full potential, do they not?

Besides, Xenoblade has made it to Europe, so apparently anything is possible.


Yes, that was a set-up just so I could use this picture.