Video Games & you: advice for parents.

Parents should always be liable for all of what their underaged(including teenaged minors that are not really mentally mature) kids buy.

1. Don't be afraid to do research, even if it is already owned. Okay, if your kid is asking you for a game, check the rating and read why it has the rating. if it hasn't come out yet, research the previous games in the series, if there are any. Previous games in a series often have the same rating as the game that is coming out.

2. Accompany your kids(mostly 15 and under) on a trip to the gaming shop and check the game rating, description, etc.

Don't be too restrictive, even the games with the Everyone rating have bit of violence...Even Wii sports and Wii sports resort has a little bit. The swordplay on Wii sports resort, even though its basically Kendo..its still a tad to violent for kids under 10 years of age. Your hitting your apponent until you win, its rather relaxing for us adults but its a little much for anybody under 10, maybe 8 years old.

I suggest starting kids on Classic Super Mario NES/SNES and get a DSlite/DS.

Note: I edited because, I thought, I got excessive...I just suggest keeping viewing of the slightly violent TV shows intended for ages "7&Up" to a minimal (for the kids under 9 or 10) or deal with it in your own special way....Though I would actually tell them; if you keep behaving like this, I won't let you watch it anymore.

Wii, DSi, Mobile safe sites.

Mail:
http://m.yahoo.com
http://google.com/imode (iMODE and Mobile are the same)

fun & games:
http://dscomics.com/home.php
http://dsipaint.com
http://dsicade.com
http://dsihub.vndv.com/dsi_home_re.php
http://disney.mobi

Social Networking:
http://m.myspace.com
http://m.facebook.com -You can actually switch to the touch site from the bottom of the page.
http://m.twitter.com -Twitter has updated mobile version, theres now only one existing twitter mobile.
http://dabr.co.uk -online twitter client.
http://www.myopera.com -I like this better than Facebook and Myspace mobile.
http://gaiaonline.com/wap -very limited right now, but still nice to check PM's, announcements and comments.

Wii only:
http://www.finetune.com/wii -Internet radio
http://wiioperasdk.com/ -Wii version of DSipaint.



Flash Games:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/games/wii/ -I suggest the 3D missile game and curve ball, other games may contain blood simulated and language.
http://www.wiiplayable.com/ -ZNAX and Zoo Keeper are pretty good.
http://www.eiksoft.com/wii/index.htm

Will update.

Feel free to comment and add to the list, no spam or sites that contain inappropriate content.

A musical weekend and the smell of nostalgia...

Friday night: I went to a sort of guest singing revival at the church I'm going to now, they are not country like Holyground is. Its a little more like Folk Rock/ska which is a nice change, Country isn't really my favorite, although I do like some old school country and rockabilly. At the revival there was a guy nicknamed "Black Elvis", he hears God in mainstream and classic pop/rock. Writes down the lyrics he hears, in his heart. He is sort of like the Black Weird Al of Gospel, except he does not make fun of songs. Some of my church family from Holyground came, I had a great time. The one thing I had not seen in a while was the laughter induced by the holy spirit, the laughter that I expirienced at youth camp. The night was full of love.

Sunday Afternoon/Evening: I had my first recital, its was at a mormon church. That smelled like First Assembly, I miss scurrying the halls of MFAG(So thats why they only used "A.G." *LOL*), staying there all day helping, hanging out with friends before choir. *back to it* I kind of, sort of got lost in the Mormon church, I said quote: "Perhaps its the smell of nastalgia thats got me confused?". When I performed, my pulse went up about 4 times as I was singing, everybody said I was good but I don't know if I truly was. I got to meet my grandpa's new wife and I ate too much and than went to church at my current one not the mormon church, despite how bad I was feeling(headache etc), I enjoyed it.

So far my life, seems to be taking a turn for better but that doesn't mean its going to be easy.

I'm still dealing with my inner chaos that seems to rear its ugly head at times.

I'm in need of learning how to breath and overcome being high strung. I live in a house, with 5 people and I am very used to being bugged left and right about housework, I know, I need to do my share in order to do what I want. The truth is I'm confused. Have I givin' up because everybody gets all mushy when they see my art and because when I try to make effort in what I do, I get interupted by my family?

I used to have more strength and motivation, a lot of nonsense has happened to reduce down to almost nothing even though I am slowly getting it back. I used to get up early for sunday church, but now I barely make it.

Stuff I need to, get off my lazy butt and do:

1. Start getting up earlier, preferabally 7am at the latest

2. Do housework so I won't get bugged while I'm working.

3. Make deadlines, even for my personal projects.

4. Make a point to my family, not everything I do is a "hobby".

5. Find a studio of sorts, there might be a possibility, I might have to be creative with this one.(if only I can get my dad, to give up the antique architectual drawing table he uses for his laptop)

6. Find some way to move out, that won't leave me in the poor house and marriage is out of the question right now.

7. Get hardware and software so I can do decent digital art, Pen & touch pad, Alienware laptop computer(or anything that is good for what I do), the latest adobe paintshop software, etc.

8. Read my Bible more, of coarse this is pretty much on the top of my list.

9. Make more reviews and blog more, I'm glad, I have been able to blog without going nuts.

I'll do more than my best, hopefully without going crazy and with a clear mind, my heart on God.

R-L-A-George

Cellphones: Useful, Convenient and more.

I find cellphones useful, so I don't have to use public phones that only God knows what touched'em and its also a nice way to avoid using the phone at the CS desk at walmart when I lost track of my party.

Texting is nice, but the dependence on it has ruined humanity's ability to have a proper face to face conversation, its bugs the crap out of me that I can't use what I learned 10 years ago, people can still converse face to face, they just have gotten rude.

Once my 14 year old sister that steals my cellphone, I cought her posting my phone number out on myspace, I notice a lot of kids do that these days and its dangerous and annoying(annoying if you share). Especially if you find it on sites like http://www.spokeo.com which I encourage people to check out because you will be surprise how much of your private info is out there, make sure and search up not just your name, your email(s) and phone numbers too.

Kids these days need disciplin, parents need to only give the phone only if they are out with their friends, family outing, home alone and on trips. Waiting til' they are 16 years of age is not a bad idea to actually give them the phone. Because they need to know theres more to socializing than how much money you get for texting.

I'd say if you still have a home line, you have your kids call their friends instead of sitting around texting and if they need to text use sites like http://textdrop.com or Yahoo IM.

(Back thought: who needs iPhone game apps when you got a DSi/DSiXL/PSP.)

We have it easy these days, I know parents are so happy that they can give their kids what they didn't have, but to be honest, parents have become just as bad as the kids. I suppose this world has become a world ruled by giant kids or has it always been like that. I've always felt like I aged or matured backwards, perhaps because I lived in a world of adults, I guess being homeschooled can do that to you?