Settlers of Catan

The epic board game Settlers of Catan has finally become so mainstream as to make an appearance on the prime-time TV show "The Big Bang Theory."  I was first introduced to the game 10 years ago during my second year of undergrad and it has been a favourite ever since.  It is a strategy game somewhat similar to Risk, without the element of war, bitterness and lost friendship that results when one player completely obliterates another player's armies in her quest for total world domination.  Settlers is slightly more civilized, with natural resources being collected and traded for the roads, settlements and cities used to settle the Island of Catan.  (It is more fun than it may sound in print, and once you have mastered the original Settlers the expansion packs - such as Cities and Knights - are great fun!)  Considering that Settlers is a very nerdy game, with lots of readily available adolescent humour surrounding the natural resource cards "wood" and "sheep", I am actually surprised that it has taken so long for the game to have its own comedy sketch on such a very nerdy show.

Soul Surfer

I love being pleasantly surprised by a random (free!) movie selection. The other night I was browsing the free movies on Shaw On Demand and came across this gem. What a great movie! There were no Oscar winning performances, and there were a few cheesy moments and slightly more religion that I was expecting, but this was a very solid, very emotional film based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton. Bethany is a competitive surfer from Kauai who had her entire left arm bitten off by a shark when she was 13 years old. Shortly after recovering from her injury, she went back into the water to learn to swim and surf with only one arm. With the support of her family, friends and community, and with her own inspirational perseverance and positive attitude, Bethany placed 5th in the first regional competition she entered after the attack. She is now in her early twenties and is a professional surfer.

I very much enjoyed this movie, and the resulting good long cathartic cry. Sometimes you need a heart wrenching story - especially a true story such as this - to put your own problems in perspective and to remind you that even when facing what may feel like an insurmountable obstacle in your life, there are still many things to be thankful for. One of my favourite scenes in the movie was when Bethany had her "epiphany moment" during a trip to Thailand with her church group to provide humanitarian aid following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. She may have lost her arm, but she still had much to be thankful for - her life, her friends, her family. Sometimes the key to happiness is not to dwell on the perceived unfairness of your personal situation, but instead to maintain a positive outlook and expend your energy on the good things in life. I especially like Bethany's line at the end of the movie. When asked by a reporter at a surfing competition what she would do if given the chance to go back and change the day when the shark bit off her arm, Bethany replied that she wouldn't change anything because "surfing isn't the most important thing in life. Love is. I've had the chance to embrace more people with one arm than I ever could with two."