Ulcers, Spectral Swords, and the Economy

I bit my lip the other day while having dinner, and it was one of those big bites where you can actually hear your teeth mince your lip. As a result, I’m now nursing a big swollen ulcer on my lip.

Since then, I’ve been extra-careful when it comes to eating and drinking, because it seems like it’s easier than ever to accidentally munch on my lip now. For starters, my lip has become a bigger target and my teeth are used to maneuvering around a smaller lip.

It’s like, once you’re hurt, it’s easier to get hurt again. Which kinda sucks.

It reminded me of this videogame called Soul Reaver, where you’re this bad-assed vampire-wraith named Raziel who spouts extremely melodramatic lines, like my favorite one here:

“Utter desolation.  My once-proud kin, wiped from this world like excrement from a boot.” – Raziel

Raziel and the Soul Reaver

One really cool thing about Raziel was that he possessed the Soul Reaver, which was this glowing spectral sword that feeds on the souls of your enemies.

Without the Soul Reaver, vampires were harder to kill, as Raziel needed to find other means to impale them and kill them. But with the Soul Reaver, Raziel can just slash and impale enemies with ease, and you can wade fearlessly into battle with it. However, there was just one annoying catch:

The Soul Reaver can only be active when Raziel was at full health. The moment you get hit by anything, the Soul Reaver fades away until you fully regenerate your health back.

And that again made no sense to me. I would much rather have the power of the Soul Reaver when Raziel had low health, and would need the additional advantages to keep you from dying. With the benefit of full health, you could afford to soak up more damage and take more risks, and the power of the Soul Reaver was really not as necessary… so why is the Soul Reaver only bestowed on you during the times when you don’t need it? It just doesn’t make sense.

I was pondering this while I was carefully brushing my teeth (nothing stings quite like a toothbrush being jammed into an ulcer), and then it occurred to me that the economy was no different.

Economic policies tend to favor the rich, so it’s easier for the rich to get richer, while the less-fortunate have to work much harder to stay afloat.

I’ve read that this is the case in America, because even the poor want to maintain these one-sided tax-laws in the belief that they’ll someday strike it rich and be equally protected by these policies. I guess it’s because there are so many rags-to-riches stories in the US – just look at Zuckerberg and all those ridiculously well-paid celebrities and athletes.

That’s not the case here in Singapore though (our local celebs don’t exactly make that much money either), so I don’t know why things are the way they are… just like I don’t understand why the Soul Reaver only pops out when you don’t need it.

Guess it’s just not supposed to make sense, like this stupid ulcer on my lip.

Raziel is a bad-ass!

Actually, you know what else doesn’t make sense? Why’d they decide to turn Twilight into a movie franchise, when Raziel’s story of vampire betrayal and redemption is so much more compelling? Plus, he looks awesome!