Top 5 Things To Do When Bored

All of us do get bored. Right? Everyone comes to a point in their life when they have nothing to do at all! A time wherein Facebook and Twitter just won't suffice to kill boredom. So what to do?? Here are some things to do when you're bored.

1. Write a Blog.  Writing a blog is awesome. It not only kills boredom, but it also helps you to develop your writing skills! And guess what? you can earn through blogs! Though you have to be of legitimate age to have a Google Adsense account. 

2.  Visit Sites. The Internet is full of wonderful sites to help you kill boredom! All you have to do is be vigilant enough to look for that wonderful site.  Stumbleupon is great website where you can find picture, videos and web pages that will surely spark your interest. Another great site is Tumblr , here you can fin great pictures and stuff that get you hooked for hours!  If you want to have a good laugh on how people are spending their days, why not try My Life Is Average, much like Twitter where you post feeds about what you did during the day, but the difference is what you post are funny and mostly random and retarded feeds.

3.  Play Games.  If your not into MMORPGs then why not try free online games that will help alleviate your boredom? Bored.com  is a great site full of addicting games that can keep you occupied for hours. 

4. Movie Marathon.  Bring out your DvD collection and start watching movies that you love! This will indeed kill the time as movies generally have an average of 1 hr and 30 mins. running time. To make it more fun, invite your friends over and have a sleepover! This will make it even more special. 

5.  Exercise. Bored? Then might as well exercise and keep those big buns shaking! When you've got nothing else to do, then why not exercise and keep your body fit. This way you won't just sit around the house and be a couch potato. Enroll in a gym and have a trainer turn you into an Adonis. But if you don't wanna spend cash on gyms, then do it yourself at home. Start an exercise routine that you can do everyday. Workout Box is a great site where you can find exercise routines that fit your lifestyle. 

These are the things I do when I get bored, and it really do alleviate boredom if not kill it. Holidays and vacation breaks are the times when people usually become bored, so keeping yourself busy even during breaks will surely help you not to be bored. 

Theo Alert! Dreaming and Faithing: The Uzumaki Way

Delighted to see my first ever Theology paper in Ateneo receive an A+. It's not much of an awesome paper, but yeah, publishing it anyway :3 Enjoy! 

Dreaming and Faithing: The Uzumaki Way

Perhaps one of the most well-known anime characters of this generation, Uzumaki Naruto has certainly touched the lives – if not influence – of many people, including me. Since its debut on October 3, 2002, the anime has not lost momentum and quickly gained remarkable fame. Why the success and huge fan base? I believe that aside from the wonderful storyline, Naruto’s character itself is the reason. It has revolutionized the definition of dreaming ‒ dreaming the Uzumaki Way.

            Imagine being an orphan with no relatives. What’s worse is that everyone in town hates you. Just because. Naruto’s life has never been easy to begin with, yet he has a dream, a noble dream born out of thirst for affection. Nobody wanted to, for lack of a better term, have a relationship with him, and he found this peculiar. Why? Isn’t he just like any kid who wanted attention? Why is he treated like he was nonhuman?¹ Though this may be partly true because of the Demon Fox inside of him, the fact remains that he is human. He deserved as much as they did. ² The only way Naruto knew on how people would accept him is to become a ninja, specifically the most powerful one, a Kage. He did not just think of the dream, he pursued the dream.

            Like many of us who work hard for that one lifelong dream, Naruto took the necessary steps to fulfil his dream. He pursued the path to becoming Hokage and made it his vocation. But he did not fully understand what he ought to do, yet he still went for it. He understood things by doing it. He did before he heard.³ Though it may sound like what a muscle-brain would do; it is but natural for us to want to know the risks before we take action. We make sure that there is no repercussion.⁴ Nonetheless Naruto did it because he had faith ‒ Faith in his teammates and friends, in his sensei, in himself, in the eternal Thou.⁵ He not only believed by faith but acted on faith to reach his dream.

            “Dreaming is an uphill battle, sometimes you’re gonna have to lose”

            Naruto faced a lot of trials along the way but these did not stop him. There’s his psycho frenemy Sasuke and the Akatsuki, who’s after his head. He refused to settle for anything less than his dream despite these hindrances. He kept his dream alive. Perhaps one of the hardest trials Naruto faced was his fight with Nagato a.k.a. Pain, wherein he lost his mentor. Many of his fellowmen also died in the siege of the 6 Pains. Naruto witnessed the same unexplainable atrocities done by man to each other which he experienced before, even worse. The question remained: Why? Like how the Israelites lost meaning in life during the Babylonian exile⁶, Konohagakure’s complete destruction meant Naruto’s loss of meaning in life. To become the Hokage is all he ever wanted to accomplish, and with Pain wrecking havoc in the town and its people, Naruto is left with nothing. But what transpired in Pain and Naruto’s face off showcased his determination more than anything else.

It is important to note that Naruto’s dream began to unconsciously transcend to more than just becoming Hokage, but a call to true greatness. We slowly see the shift in Naruto’s place in society from one who is hated, feared and disregarded, to a hero who is loved, admired and respected.

             Your dreams create you. The individual choices you make in every step you take to your dream define your transcendental choice which involves your totality – your humanness.⁷ Naruto grew together with his dream. He grew stronger and more passionate in his chosen vocation. But what made it possible?  It is because of his faith. Naruto is reaping tenfold what he has sown in faith. It was a result of his faithing.⁸

            It is interesting to note that Jiraiya, the gutsy old pervert and Naruto’s sensei, played a vital role on moulding Naruto’s dream. Of all the “banal voices” ⁹ that surrounded him like Kakashi, Iruka, and most especially the people of Konoha, Naruto chose to heed the “call” of Jiraiya. And it turned out to be the right choice. Jiraiya has moulded Naruto’s perspective on how things should be ‒ on the ways of being a ninja – and in doing so moulded Naruto’s lifelong dream. Jiraiya’s words implied that Naruto was not meant to be Hokage, or to be just a Hokage. He suggests that Naruto is meant for something more than that, something greater¹⁰. What it is I don’t know. But what I do know is that it is very apparent Naruto has attained glory and honor more than that of a Kage just by stopping Pain alone. In short, his great dream has been achieved, yet there is an even greater dream for him.

In most, if not all of Naruto’s battles, we see his intrinsic ability to “connect” with people around him, either with his enemy or perhaps the people of a town. This, I believe, could be Naruto’s true greatness, his true vocation¹¹. It is the vocation to touch lives and to bring peace, at least in a fictional sense. And so far, he is doing a good job of sharing and spreading this greatness ‒‒ this greater dream, not only in the fictional world of the ninjas, but also in the real world. As much as faith is a gift from the eternal Thou, faith must be shared.¹²  

Naruto inspired people not to dream, but to dream big, bigger than what we are right now. He pursued this dream by doing, and kept it alive by faith. Not only did he grow with his dream, but he actually became the dream.  Naruto listened to his mentor’s call and heeded it. He did not choose his vocation rather the vocation chose him.  Naruto initially believed in a dream bigger than him, but then he was a called to an even greater dream. This is the Uzumaki way. 

~Vision is not enough. It must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.~  -Vaclav Havel

~I am called to a dream greater than myself, and I will not dream anything less~  -Anon

  ¹ Cf.  Veling, “Ecce Homo” The Human Person: Holy and Like No Other. 1.

  ² Ibid., 2.

  ³ See. Veling, “We Will Do and We Will Hear.”

  ⁴ Ibid., 3.

  ⁵ Ibid., 4.

                  ⁶ Badion, Justin. Handout #3: “The Mythical Imagination.” 4.

                  ⁷ Badion, Justin. Handout #2: “Fundamental Theology: Revelation, Faith, and Sources.” 11.

 ⁸ Cf. Ibid., 8. ⁹ Buechner, Frederick. The Calling of Voices

¹⁰Cf. Ibid., 3.

¹¹ Ibid.

                ¹² Badion. Handout #2: “Fundamental Theology: Revelation, Faith, and Sources.” 13.