I got to thinking earlier today about things...

...I came to the conclusion that I somewhat treat life as if it were a video game console.  As totally stupid as that sounds, I think it's a rather appropriate description of it.

I've thought about all the things I'd like to do...  I'd like to be an astronaut, an architect, a roller coaster designer, an EB Games/Gamestop store manager, an arcade owner, a game designer, a chemist, a secret agent, a police officer, an archaeologist, or a teacher...  In terms of hobbies, I'd like to play video games, learn many martial arts, create and/or play music, mess with LEGOs, watch and make movies, a collectible card game player, exercise, play DDR...  I'm sure there's many more I can't think of at the moment to put in both lists.  I want to be able to do all kinds of things, experience the world from any point of view that I can, make friends with all...

...But I can't.  It's not like I could simply put in a different game and change what I play for awhile, then switch to something else after I get done with that.  That's what I want to do.  I want to see/hear/do it all.  But I can't.  I can't switch from Katamari Damacy to Time Crisis 3...  I can't switch from teaching or policing, and I especially can't do both at the same time.  I have to choose...

Choosing a career is like choosing one, and only one, game to play for the rest of your life.  Or at least that's how it feels to me.  I can't simply choose one game to play for the rest of my life!  There's different genres, different stories, different systems...  Katamari's fun, but only for so long; Devil May Cry 3 is awesome, but I like a good ol' RPG to play; RPG's are only so entertaining, so I switch to God of War, and then to Mario after that, and then to Beatmania after that...then I might go back to Katamari when all's said and done, and the cycle begins.

Even, to a certain extent, my friends are the same way.  I have different groups of friends, all of which I enjoy being with, all of which I want to do stuff with all the time.  But, I know that some of my friends can be somewhat "incompatible" with each other.  My assistant manager, Donald...  I really enjoy goin' to his place and playin' games and perhaps even having a drink or two; he's a good guy.  But some of my other friends would be highly uncomfortable being around him, I know...

I can't be with all my friends at the same time; it just couldn't happen.  So many different backgrounds, different philosophies, different everythings...  And so, I end up having to switch between them all like different video games...

I guess, in the bitter end, video games really have shaped me in ways I normally wouldn't realize.

...You know what they say about red mages: they're a jack of all trades...but they can't do any one particular thing very well.

...And in America, specialization and focus on one and only one thing is what's desired.  Perhaps that is why I'm having a difficult time with everything...

(EDIT: www.sloganizer.net for the win.)