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Leaping Into a New Year

2016 Image
Image can be found on Odyssey.

Welcome to 2016 everyone. It is finally upon us once again; a new year full of new beginnings. As 2015 comes to an end, I’m excited to see what the future holds in store for me.

I would also like to quickly thank you all. I want to thank you for following my blog and reading my posts. I just started this blog in July and really appreciate all of the people who take the time to read it. I hope you’ve enjoyed the posts I’ve written so far and hope you continue reading my blog in the future.

I never thought I’d get this far with my blog. That I would create a blog people want to read and people want to follow. But I’m really proud of what I’ve accomplished here so far and can’t wait to see what’s next.

Since 2016 is finally upon us, I would like to quickly wish you all a Happy New Year. I hope 2016 is a good year for you all and that it’s everything you want it to be and more.

I would also quickly like to talk about what I hope will come with this new year, with regards to my goals for Vook: Books + Video Games. I’ve just started this blog but I hope I can make it an even bigger and better blog that people will continue enjoy reading.

For the new year, I hope to write more posts. I don’t want to publish blog posts every day, but I want to put up more posts on here for you to read. I want to become more active on my blog by publishing at least two or three posts a week with content that you all will enjoy. I know there’s no one hundred percent guarantee of that happening because of how busy daily life can sometimes get, but I want to be more active with my blog posts so that you have more content to read.

I also want to write about a variety of topics too. While book and video game reviews are going to be the main content of my blog, I also want to share more and more of my writing with you too. Blogs are a personal space where the writer needs to share a part of themselves with those who read their content in order to make a connection with their readers. I know I’ve started doing this through posting my writing prompts, but I hope to find other ways of doing this as well so that you can see a variety of interesting writing on my blog you will enjoy and want to come back to.

I also want to become more active on interacting with my followers and the bloggers I enjoy reading as well. I know I’m not always the best at interacting with people in the blogging community so for this new year, I want to do the best I can to change that. I hope I can do that by commenting more frequently on blog posts in a way that invites more conversation.

2015 has been a roller coaster of a year. I’ve had many ups and downs through the year but have also learned a lot about blogging since creating Vook: Book + Video Games. I enjoy blogging and hope that 2016 will bring with it many opportunities to continue improving my writing and becoming the best blogger I can be. I know I still have a lot left to learn, but I know the journey is far from being over.

So thank you for sticking with me since I’ve created my blog and I hope you all enjoy 2016.

 

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First Impressions: Okamiden

Okamiden 2

Okamiden is an action-adventure video game published by Capcom. Released in 2011, Okamiden is the sequel to Okami and takes place nine months after Amaterasu’s defeat of the Dark Lord Yami.

After Amaterasu defeats Yami, she goes to the heavens and Issun becomes a Celestial Envoy. Nine months later, after defeating Yami and all of the demons in Nippon, they return. The Konohana Sprite Sakuya senses the danger and tries to summon Amaterasu but summons her son Chibiterasu instead. Since Issun is a Celestial Envoy, he is unable to go on this journey with Chibiterasu and so Chibiterasu is tasked to help find other partners to help him rid the world of this evil.

Okamiden 3

Just like Okami, you play as a wolf with the Celestial Brush techniques. And being able to use these brush techniques is one of my favorite things about playing Okamiden. I like using them even better in Okamiden than I do Okami because the brush techniques seem more interactive to me. Part of that is due to Okamiden being released on Nintendo DS, which allows the player to have more interaction in the game.

And like in its predecessor, Okamiden has beautiful graphics that amaze the gamer just as much as in Okami. The village where you start off in the game looks amazing and seeing all of the familiar places that can also be found in Okami brings back a lot of fond memories I have of the game.

A feature of Okamiden I enjoy that can’t be found in Okami is the ability to use your partner to help find hidden objects and progress through the game. One of the Celestial Brushes you obtain in Okamiden allows you to direct your partner to hidden objects and switches so that you can get things that are far away from you. This adds a unique feature to the game that still makes playing it a challenge and allows your partner to be a more active participant in combating evil.

Okamiden 4
Watching as your partner crosses over to collect an object or step on a hidden switch is a challenge I never get tired of. Image can be found on Hooked Gamers.

Another feature in Okamiden I enjoy is that even though nine months have passed since the events that’ve occurred in Okami, a lot has changed for the Gods who you get the Celestial Brush techniques from. In Okamiden when you get the brush techniques, the children of the Gods in Okami are the ones who give you the brush techniques. I find this to be really cool because it shows that time has passed in the game.

However, there is one thing in Okamiden I don’t like as much as I did in Okami. Personally, I don’t like the controls when playing Okamiden in that walking around in the game doesn’t feel the same because it’s a lot harder to look around as you walk.

But like Okami, Okamiden is such an amazing game to play. I love playing it just as much as I did Okami that I can’t wait to see what more of the story I have yet to unlock.

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Writing Prompt: “If You Are Not Willing to Learn” Quote

If You Are Not Willing to Learn Quote

I agree with this quote completely. I believe those willing to learn will do whatever it takes to learn, including receiving help from others if that will lead them down the path of learning.

However, those who aren’t willing to learn will never be able to get the exact help they need. This is because if they don’t want to learn but have to, no matter how much help they try and get, no one will be able to help them.

I feel like this quote can relate to a lot of things in life too. For example, if you are in a bad relationship and are determined to get out, nothing can stop you. The same is true if you aren’t determined to get out of the bad relationship.

I also feel like as a recent college graduate, I can relate to this quote. Throughout school, I struggled with my grades. Not because I didn’t want to learn but because I didn’t test well. Whenever I took standardized tests, I did horribly even when I spent time preparing for them.

But I was still successful in school. While I struggled with taking tests, I did well in school on everything else. I understood the material being taught and did the best I could to continue my learning. And while I struggled with testing, I never gave up. I tried the best I could to do well and succeeded because I paid attention in my classes and did everything I could to understand the material being taught to me. If I had any questions in class or there was something I wanted to say, I didn’t hesitate to raise my hand and receive the help I needed.

And I graduated from college, despite my struggles with test taking. I even made it on the Dean’s list a couple of times too. But in the end, those who want to learn will always be able to get the help they need. Those who don’t want to learn will never be able to get help, no matter how hard they try.

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Writing Prompt: “Every Day May Not Be Good” Quote

Every Day May Not Be Good Quote

This image was created by chibird. I don’t own this image and take no credit for creating it.

I can definitely agree with this. While the overall day itself might not seem like a good day to you, there are little things in life that can make something good in each day. For example, I went on a walk this morning. And while for some people, that doesn’t necessarily equate with making a day good, I think that what made it something good about my day is that I have the privilege to walk down the street without a care in the world.

This quote speaks to my belief that you can find something good in each day. Even when things are rough and you are having a hard time getting through a day, you can still find something good in a difficult day to reflect back on. This thing could be anything, whether you are having a rough day because your boss at work is giving you a hard time about your job, but you got the chance to go out to eat on your lunch break. Or your dog got out of the house and ran off and you are having a difficult time finding them. And as you go searching for them, a stranger sees you struggling and helps you or gives you well wishes as you walk past.

Life is hard and some days are rougher than others. But you can still find good, even in the worst of times. Even when things seem hard and you think things won’t get better, there is always something good that happened in the day that can make all of the difficult stuff not seem so bad in comparison.

So when things seem rough and a terrible day seems to drag on in infinity, remember that every day may not be good, but there is something good in every day.

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Writing Prompt: “If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going” Quote

Alice in Wonderland Passage

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” –Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

This quote speaks to me on many different levels. It speaks to me now most of all because as a recent college graduate, I’m still unsure of my future and what I want to do for the rest of my life. I know my calling is in writing, I can tell you that much. But where I want to go from there and specifically do is still a mystery to me.

I enjoy writing on many different platforms. I enjoyed all of my classes in school with relations to writing, such as whenever I took classes specifically to work for our school’s newspaper. But I also enjoy blogging too and getting to share my writing with the world through the web. I enjoyed the Media Ethics and Law class I took the one semester where we learned about some of the laws journalists have to be aware of when they report so as to not get in trouble with the law. I even learned how to promote content I created through social media platforms and did an internship that gave me many opportunities that I enjoyed experiencing. Everything I have done with relations to my degree I’ve enjoyed and can’t think of a specific thing in my classes that I enjoyed the most.

But I believe this quote still speaks to me. As a recent college graduate, I have no clue where I am going. I have no idea where my degree and experience will end up taking me or where I’ll end up working first once I get a job in my field. I just know what my passion is and that I want to write, even if I end up starting off somewhere I really don’t want to be.

What I believe this quote is saying is that even if you don’t know where exactly you are heading, you will get to wherever you need to be. That the road you are currently traveling is the road you need to be on in order to get to your final destination. That in time, you will be where you are meant to be even if the place you are meant to be at isn’t what you expected. This quote speaks to my belief in that everything happens for a reason. That the experiences you face are things you are meant to go through in order to go down the path you are meant to follow.

So even if you travel down a road you never expected to follow, in the end you are going down the road that will get you where you need to be.

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Rereading Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Book Cover
Out of all of the books in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is one of my favorites.

As an avid reader, there are times where I don’t always feel like reading a book I haven’t read before. When that happens, I typically end up rereading some of my favorite books.

Lately, the book series I’m currently rereading right now is Harry Potter. For those unfamiliar with this series, it centers on a young boy named Harry Potter who at the age of eleven finds out that he is a wizard. Being raised by his muggle aunt, uncle and cousin (muggle is a term used throughout the series to refer to people who are not magical) who are strictly cruel to him, he is sent away to Hogwarts a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he learns how to use his magical powers and finds out how his parents really died.

The reason I’m currently rereading the Harry Potter series is because it’s one of my favorite series to read. It’s also one of the longest series I can enjoy reading with a total of seven books.

Harry Potter is one of my favorite series to read because it’s one of the other series that got me interested in wanting to become a writer.

When the first couple books in the series came out and the movies were being made, I was in elementary school. However, I wasn’t as big of a fan of them as I am now. Whenever I was in daycare, they had us watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets over and over again, almost every day. So for the longest time, I wasn’t a big Harry Potter fan because of how often I was stuck watching the films at daycare.

It wasn’t until I was in seventh grade that I really began to enjoy and appreciate the Harry Potter series. I started reading the books, finding myself entranced by the story I saw within the pages. The magical world that Harry lived in is one of the most wonderful worlds of magic I have ever read about and is a place I myself would love to go.

The story blew my mind and imagination in ways I didn’t expect and I quickly fell in love with the series as a whole.

I love the series so much that I try and read the books and watch the movies whenever I can, even if it drives the rest of my family crazy.

As I write this now, I’m currently rereading the third book in the series Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and continue to find myself still in love with the series the more I read it.

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Writing Prompt: “I’ve Seen Better Days” Quote

I've Seen Better Days Quote

For me, today has been a pretty good day so far. I know that I could be doing a little better, but I’ve seen worse days before.

That’s what seeing this quote makes me think of. Reflecting on the day I’m experiencing so far and think about all of the days I’ve gone through before. And today, has not been a very bad day.

I agree with this quote because it makes me appreciate life. I might not always appreciate the things I currently have, but this quote reminds me to be strong and push on. Things might not exactly be the way I want them, but at least I have another day ahead of me to face.

Things in life didn’t turn out the way I expected them to, but I at least still have a life left to live. I feel pain about things I can’t change, have no control over, but I at least have things left to care about. I have family and friends even if my group of people is smaller than I ever expected it to get.

I am blessed because things have been worse in my life before. While I’m experiencing pain and loss over something I can’t control, my life used to be much harder. There used to be moments before in my life where I never knew what day I was going to face. Where the possibility of the day I was in being my last day to exist wouldn’t have completely shocked me.

I am blessed because I am alive. I have problems in my life, but so does everyone else. And while I don’t necessarily have everything I want, I at least have the essential things in life everyone needs to live. I at least wake up with a home, a family, food on the table, and clothes to wear. Some people aren’t so fortunate so I definitely know I am blessed.

I am blessed because while things aren’t perfect, I at least have things to care about and people I can rely on. I am extremely thankful for the things I’ve been given because I know things in my life could’ve turned out differently. I could be dead right now with no one the wiser, or have no family and have to survive in this cruel world.

But I am alive and there are people who care about me. I might sometimes feel down in the dumps as if things in life won’t get better, but I know they will. Things might seem hard for me right now, but I know that everything will be alright. I will get through this mess called life and push on like I always do.

Because while my life might not be perfect, I am blessed for the things I do have. Because I have seen worse days and know that I will be alright in the end.

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Writing Prompt: “Never Give Up” Quote

Never Give Up Quote

Oh, wow. I feel as if these writing prompts know exactly what I need whenever I need them.

I feel like this quote speaks to me right now. Because there are many times I just want to give up. On everything: Life, love, happiness—everything and anything that is possible. On things I didn’t know I had until they are gone.

But there are multiple ways to look at things. And with this quote, I hope to look at things with a set of fresh eyes.

Every moment and day of life offers up something new. A new experience, a new chapter, a new incident. A new friend, a new enemy, a new relationship—the list goes on to infinity and beyond. But with each experience, you learn a valuable lesson. What that lesson is you don’t know at first until you reflect back on what’s happened. Each moment of life is a lesson that you can learn something from.

But it is what you take away from that lesson that matters. Things might seem tough and sometimes you feel like even giving up. You think “oh, things would be so much easier if I just gave up on this,” or “I wish I’d done something differently so I wouldn’t have to deal with this.”

BUT, you have to deal with things. Life throws curveballs that you just can’t avoid. You have to deal with them, it isn’t an option.

But the way you choose to deal with them is what truly matters. If you choose to face your problems head on, good for you. If you choose to avoid them in the hope they’ll go away, that’s your choice too. Every day is a new opportunity. To continue facing your problems, to continue avoiding them, or even to start over from the beginning and make the most of the situation you are facing.

All of the choices you make in life are up to you.

But whatever you do, don’t give up. Life might seem hard and sometimes even unbearable, but you can get through it. If you put your mind to it, you can get through it. Hell, you can get through anything if you put your mind to it.

Life is also an opportunity. To learn from your experiences, to grow and become an even better person. To turn things around for the better and give things a second chance.

Things in life don’t always turn out the way you wanted or hoped they would. But that’s life. Things don’t always happen the way you want them to.

But each day is a new beginning. A new chance to make things better for yourself and move on from the past into a bigger and brighter future.

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Writing Prompt: “We Travel Not to Escape Life” Quote

We Travel Not to Escape Life

I don’t know who exactly said this, but I found this quote to be really interesting. It has to do with traveling, one of the many things I want to do one day because I think it would be a lot of fun and because there are so many places I haven’t been that I want to see.

What I find interesting about the quote is that it talks about reasons people travel. As if some people travel to escape their boring, mundane lives. But no, most people who travel don’t travel for this reason. Most people already have in mind a place they want to one day see. It’s either a place they are connected to through their lineage or because it’s somewhere beautiful that they hope they get the opportunity to see.

In other words, people travel not to escape life, but to embrace the lives they are already living. People are curious about the world around them and want to go to places they haven’t yet explored.

Not to say that people don’t travel to escape life at all. Some people study abroad or go to another country for a year because they aren’t sure what they want to do with their lives. They hope that by taking a vacation from their current lives they’ll be able to find the answer in another location. To finally put meaning back into their ordinary life and discover what they knew all along.

And while going to another country to take time off from your current life can be seen as trying to escape life, it isn’t. By going to another country, people are reaching out of their comfort zones and taking their lives down a path of the unknown.

Life is a fickle thing. It doesn’t play fair and often leads you down paths you didn’t know you could take. Traveling does the same thing. It offers you the opportunity to go to places you didn’t know you’d get the chance to visit. But at the same time, leads your life in a direction you didn’t know you could go.

Traveling isn’t a way of escaping life but of living it. Traveling allows you to experience the world through a set of new eyes. When you find yourself in a new place, somewhere you aren’t familiar with, you feel lost. Disconnected, confused even. So you explore, try to find your way around and figure out where your supposed to go. But once you’ve been there for a while, you’re able to find your way around without feeling lost and confused.

Life is the same way. As a child, everything seems shiny and brand new. You test the waters by picking up objects you aren’t familiar with and exploring the environment you find yourself in. Then as you get older, you become more and more familiar with everything around you. You no longer have to experiment and understand what’s going on because you already understand what those objects that you were once unfamiliar with are and understand the place you currently live.

That’s why you travel. To explore someplace new, to find life as thrilling and exciting as you used to when you were a child. To look at the world through a new pair of eyes and understand that life constantly changes.

As someone who hasn’t traveled often, I want to one day go to another country. If I ever get the chance, I want to see more of the world as much as I can. I want to go somewhere unfamiliar and find wonder and joy in the life I’m living. I want to travel and experience life once again through another pair of eyes that sees the beauty of everything around me. To create memories and experience life in its purest form.

So no we don’t travel to escape life. We travel to embrace the lives we currently live and learn to love life again.

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