VG & Finances: Prince of Persia - Sands of Time

I had mentioned yesterday that I've been mingling video games and PF, because they're the two things I know the most, and it may be a bit --or a lot-- more different than what I've been doing thus far. And since everything is relative, I think there are lots of lessons to be learned from video games, so let's get started.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Definitely not the game I had thought I'd begin with, but it is the most current one I finished.

Summary of the story:
The Prince of Persia inadvertently opens the Sandglass of Time they stole from the Maharajah, releasing the Sands of Time into the world and unleashing chaos. He must fix his mistake and save what's left of the land while avoiding death by the hands of once normal people, now turned into monsters of the sands, trapped in a castle with traps everywhere. He does have an ally on his side... and a very interesting weapon.



Dagger of Time. Photo courtesy of Prince of Persia Wiki


Main supernatural power:
The Dagger of Time. This little toy allows him to rewind time a few seconds to avoid the numerous deaths that are bound to happen as he free-styles all around the now destroyed castle. However, the times he rewinds time are limited by his collection of sands. Once the Dagger is empty, he cannot rewind time until he finds some sand to fill the tanks. This means defeating a whole lot of foes. 

How it relates:
Ah, the power to turn back time... isn't that what we all have always wanted? Imagine having the Dagger of Time, and turning back every time a bet didn't pull through, every mistake we ever made, every time we purchased that $500 item, only to see it on sale later for $300 a few weeks later, or every time we spill water or coffee into our rather expensive electronic.

But let me take another stab at the concept; credit cards. I still fully support responsible use of credit cards, but they are very much like a shattering hourglass that changes, well, changes everything. Once you have your first card, you all of a sudden can purchase things that you couldn't before. You can hang out with friends more often, go to more expensive parties, use more expensive things!... Then the problems eventually catch up to you. People change. The situations change. Ever had a friend who just expected you to be free every other day for expensive drinks and weekends away? Or to fly off to see their favorite band and dine at those expensive places? Your once rich habits now turned frugal are bound to be a turn off to those friends who insist on living that somewhat unsustainable lifestyle. What about when the cards are maxed? You can rewind a few seconds here and there, stop a few purchases, but making those minimum payments isn't stopping the dig downward. It's just digging down with a smaller shovel. So truly, the best way to deal with that is to cut them off and pay them off. Seal them and pretend they never happened in your life... go back to spending what you have and living within your means. If only that was the end of it...

So there you have it! You have 3 tanks of sand; 3 opportunities to turn back time and redo things (financially). What are yours?

Mine are easy: 1) Change my student loans to only pay out what I needed to pay for college and reject the excess; 2) Not pay the $1300 I spent on my best-car-ever, because it would die just a few weeks later; 3) Pay the credit card I didn't know about when I moved, which is now my only tarnishing point in my credit score. You'd be surprised how much that 90 day hurts, and for how long!