I have chronically chapped lips, and have tried a lot of different things to keep them moisturized. This is by far the best lip balm I’ve ever used! It goes on smoothly and doesn’t need frequent reapplication. And it doesn’t irritate sensitive skin like a lot of other lip balms do. Softlips is comparable in price to regular chapstick and can be found in most drugstores. I normally use the cherry menthol flavor — I’m looking forward to trying some of the others (pomegranate, vanilla, raspberry, strawberry, and mango). If you already use Softlips, let me know what your favorite flavor is. =)
I recently found an easy way to contribute to charities. Everyone does internet searches, right? GoodSearch, powered by Yahoo Search, is a search engine that donates about a penny per search to the charitable organization of your choice.
Just type in the name of a charity under “Who do you GoodSearch for?” and then click “Verify.” Then type your search in the field above, click “Search,” and you’ve done a good deed. If you can remember to do so, try using GoodSearch all the time instead of your regular search engine.
If you’re not sure which charity to select, my two favorites are Prevent Child Abuse and Cancer Research. Or if you have something else in mind, here’s a list of charities to choose from.
Originally, I had intended to center this blog around game screenshots. After realizing how limiting this was, I’ve decided to broaden the scope to include several of my other interests.
It seems fitting to revisit my reasons for starting the first Whisper of a Memory site almost 10 years ago. At that time, I was already a lover of games. I also loved (and still do!) creative writing and anime.
My favorite theme is the connection forged between people. Through experiencing hardship and loss as well as happiness, I’ve grown to really appreciate the people I’m close to. This theme is beautifully expressed by Chrono Trigger’s “Epilogue to Good Friends.” To all of those living and dead, you are missed and loved.
There’s an inner landscape, and then there’s reality. For some, reality is a pale ghost of what the inner landscape contains. We’re known by our expressions, both facial and verbal. Yet the contents of one’s inner world is something that can’t be shared in simple conversation. It’s a depth that must be plumbed alone, and often the only understanding that you’ll find is through relation to art. That’s why it’s important for those of us who are reticent about the real world, yet teeming with inner life, to find a medium through which to actually live. Because if we go through life without finding this, in some ways it’s as though we never lived at all. The ideals and longings and adventures inside of us are a large part of our identity — to carry on in a fashion that is too stoic or reserved means to live and die having only been known as an Everyman.
It’s impossible to show the deconstruction, and gradual reconstruction of a persona, when the moment of change itself is unfathomable. It comes like a tornado and obliterates everything into millions of pieces. It’s followed by a period of shock. Then, after some reflection, what once was is recognizable only by the rubble that remains.
Later…
Is that what happens to people when they lose their way…? First you wander around aimlessly. It seems all for naught until you find that box, filled with your precious memories. One by one, you look through each piece, dusting it off and examining it. They’re broken fragments of dreams, and jagged pieces of what you were once becoming. If you’re really, really, lost – I think it’s OK to pick them up and try to reassemble them. I think it’s OK to pretend for a little while, that putting all those pieces together will make you back into the person you once were.
But don’t fall in love. Never, never fall in love with that person you miss, the one that used to be called “me.” The past is a snare that will try it’s very best to take you away from Here and Now. It will try to ruin the future you; the one you are becoming now.
Over the years, I’ve collected a ton of screenshots from a variety of different games. With so many, it’s hard to find a single place to post them all. After checking out a few other options, I finally decided to create a blog dedicated to game screenshots. It may seem silly but it’s my way of sharing memories of the fun I had playing, and of the friends I’ve made.
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