by Chris Boline

I love Pokemon.

There’s something inherently special about playing a game that you adored as a child and has aged incredibly well over the years (mostly thanks to the same core gameplay). It has an almost timeless value and can be incredibly indispensable for a stressed out college student. Of course, playing with my Charizard for an hour (adorable story or nefarious euphemism – you be the judge) is just one of many ways for me to take my mind off of how dreary school can be. So here is my list of items that can help a student look on the bright side of things.

Movies

“I ate his liver with a can of fava beans and a nice Chianti, fuhfuhfuhfuhfuh.”If you think that organic chemistry class is brutal, just think about having your face ripped off by Hannibal Lecter or maybe getting disemboweled by Jason Voorhees.

I understand that these are movies, but sometimes you need to take a step back and look at the big picture of things. It’s easy to be sucked into how awful a class is, but it is certainly better than any horror movie and unquestionably more tolerable than a film that stars Nicholas Cage in the lead role (except “Lord of War;” That movie is awesome).

Other films that help are for a deeper scale of misery. If you’re bummed out from a low quiz score, just pop in some old “Rob and Big” episodes and you should be solid. However, for a deeper depression, just watch “The Land Before Time” to really see what sorrow looks like (spoiler alert!).

Music

Maybe I’m just crazy, but there’s nothing that I love more than popping on a little Martini Radio to get my day started off right.

Failing a finance test? Martini radio. Girlfriend problems? Martini radio. Dog poops on the floor? Martini radio. Literally, so many of life’s quandaries can be answered by some smooth jams from Frank, Dean and Sammy. Throw in a little Marvin Gaye and John Coltrane, and you’re walking on cloud nine

While the swinging licks from the Rat Pack do help a majority of people, there are other musicians that can help our student body start to look at the glass as half full.

Of course I am referring to either Notorious B.I.G.’s first album “Ready To Die” and Italian singer Sabrina Salerno’s song “Boys” for completely opposite reasons. The former is not only a great album, but it is also a mix of tales that I would never want to be a part of in my regular life. Do I think the majority of what Biggie raps about is glamorous? Of course not, but it does help knowing I’m not selling crack in front of the projects  and instead worrying about a 10-page paper on Descartes. The latter song is just a great jam to start my day off; it is more specifically a sonic master stroke.

Extra-curricular activities

While the average student prefers boozing and snoozing as an acceptable means of spending one’s free time, I dutifully disagree. My options for allocating time comes down to exploring nature.

Although you may look at Reno as nothing more than Sodom and Gomorrah, there are untold bounties of nature at one’s disposal if you want to venture off campus.

Nearby Rancho San Rafael Park has untold mysteries among its corridors. Going into the winding paths of the park you will find a Chinese pagoda, numerous dinosaurs and a beautiful white castle, but you wouldn’t know about any of this if you just spent all of your time within the confines of a classroom.

Another venue to explore is Roller Kingdom just off of Valley Road. If you have never roller skated to the tunes of ABBA, Miley Cyrus or Smash Mouth then you cannot really say that you have lived. Stop by the Valley Market after for some taqis and purple drank.

Now you may look at this list and consider some of your possibilities, but at the end of the day, it’s all up to you. No one can force you to realize how trivial at times school can be, but sometimes taking a step back is all you need to clear your head.

Chris Boline studies managerial sciences and economics. He can be reached at cboline@http://archive.archive.nevadasagebrush.com.