The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Although, it's known to be widely read and a classic in it's own right, I don't believe I ever read this book in my youth. Strangely, I think it would have been easier to comprehend back then than it is as an adult. But why? Maybe my imagination has diminished over time, or maybe fiction is something I struggle to grasp (I don't read a lot of fiction - can you tell?). Or maybe it's because I'm too stuck in reality and am adulting too hard. But more likely, my comprehension of the simple things is poor because I over-complicate them or just plain don't see the light of day.

The story is of a young prince who travels to different planets, including Earth, and learns by the experience of others about loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. His understanding of these things comes through discussion and asking questions, and his experiences throughout planet-hopping. The Little Prince makes observations about life, nature, and the fickleness of humanity. 

After reading the book and consulting Wikipedia to actually understand what the book is about, it dawned on me - I am one of the characters that the Little Prince met on some far off planet. Which one am I? Read the book to find out...

Check it out on GoodReads.

Buy it on Amazon.

2 Flew The Coop And The Nest Is Nearly Empty

Yesterday when my cousin's children left (one to go back to Dallas where she now resides, and the other to his college in Eastern Texas), I got a taste of what it's like to be a parent.

For the better part of the long weekend, we were all together here in Cypress. We went out to eat, caravaning 2-3 cars just to get to the restaurant. We played badminton or threw a football around. We played board games like Jenga and Taboo. We cooked meals together in the kitchen. We shared stories around the dinner table. We were lazily on our phones while sitting on the couch together.

And for the 4-5 days that we were all hanging out, it was a ruckus. People yelling across the house. Random people awake at different times of the day, then dropping off to bed at different points in the night. Kids going in an out of the back door to the yard. Someone coming and going to the store to pickup supplies. It was organized chaos, but it was fun and lively.

Then all of a sudden, on Sunday, it became like the end of a reality tv show like The Jersey Shore or Real World or Road Rules or something like that. All of the other visitors had departed already, and the last 2 kids were getting ready to leave. They packed their bags; picked up supplies from the house pantry; their mom gave them food to take with them. Then one by one, at different times, they would leave, timing their departure in line with the traffic pattern to their final destination.

When the first child left, it was a hug and a kiss for everyone around the room, followed by an exit where everyone would clamor through the front door to give a parting wave goodbye as the kid drove down the street. Then the same exact thing happened when the next child left. It was easily a made for tv movie ending and the credits could roll almost immediately.

The house became quiet. The action had left with the visitors and children. And had my wife and I not been here, it would just be the 3 of the family members left in this big brand new house. When the kids left, they took the fun with them. They took the excitement of their lives out the door, and we became the old adults with the boring repetitive lives again.

I imagined that this is what parents feel like. I felt something when they left. It was weird. They're not my kids, but because we're so close it was like a part of me left too. That's got to be what my cousin and her husband felt like. Two-thirds of their kids were off on their own, so two-thirds of themselves were no longer in this house. It's nearly an empty nest. And it's no wonder why parents get the empty nest syndrome. One can easily feel sad or lonely. Luckily for my cousin and her husband, they still have another 8 year old and have many years left before he flies the coop.

eSports Is On The Rise

Last night I started to read about something new to me but not new in general. eSports. Kids and many of today's adults play video games. (I say "today's adults" because they are the generation that pioneered gaming systems 30-40 years ago.) And in the recent years, the video-gaming industry has turned what was once friendly competition into a money-making, competitive, league-forming battlefield.

Players are now considered "professional" depending on their "skill" level at beating their enemies or completing tasks / levels. And there are many, many players out there. So many, in fact, that tournaments are organized and bring hundreds if not thousands of players. But most significantly, the events bring spectators, enthusiasts, amateurs, and others to watch the fast-paced motion graphics on big screens in arena-sized locations. We're talking about millions of people involved here. eSports are taking on a life very similar to real life physical sports (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, etc.).

And the prize money is not insignificant. This is a link to the Top 100 games with the most prize money awarded over time. Clearly, there's plenty of cash to motivate players to improve their gaming abilities to be good enough to compete.

I suppose it's no real surprise that the money is there. I mean simple investment strategy tells us that you have to put money in to get money out. That is, you have to buy the equipment (games, consoles, controllers, graphics cards, microphones, headsets, etc.) to put in the time and practice, and once you've achieved that certain player level, you might reap the rewards monetarily. How good you are determines your Return On Investment (ROI).

But now that there are established tournaments all over the world and the frequency with which they happen is often, the idea of creating leagues and teams for profit must have been tugging at the purse-strings of investment related mindsets. It was just a matter of figuring out how to monetize the industry. And now it's been done.

The industry has been growing for the past couple of years already. Expectations are for the size and wealth of the players, investors, gaming designers, software companies, hardware manufacturers, and all the other peripheral positions is growing exponentially. Actual franchise teams are investing in their eSports teams. Even celebrities are getting in on the action. And it clearly makes sense. The investment is relatively cheap, the target market is growing (in population), and the returns are proven.

The target market grows in so many ways too. You have the gamers and spectators on the high side of the age range who continue to age (obviously) but with that comes more disposable income. And since they're already locked into the mindset, it's natural to continue to support something they've "grown" with. On the other side of the spectrum are the kids who are entering the gaming age. We know that there are millions of kids born each each. That just means the chances of developing a fan, a gamer, or an investor in the future is pretty good.

And technology is constantly improving. We're getting better computers, improved graphics, and faster internet everyday. The world is becoming smaller, faster, and more capable all the time. This all makes the gaming industry that much more capable of supporting the inevitable gold-rush-like boom that will continue for the next few years.

I'm very interested to see where this goes, both in the short term and the long term. As one of today's adults, it will be one of those things that we'll look back on and say, "I was around and conscious of it all when this movement started." And my hope is that I too can get in on the action in the near future and make a future for myself with that. Anyone want to take a risk too? (641)