munkeymunkey

Tomorrow is my History final, which should be cake compared to the rock that was the AP test last month. But still, our class has been studying for it. Over the weekend, we were given a set of 50 multiple choice questions to go over as if it were part of the actual exam. On Monday, we went over them as our class, reading each question and shouting out answers. Derek, who sits at the opposite end of the lengthy rectangle table which we sit around, didn't do the problem set, nor did he bring the questions into class. There he was, sitting at the far end of the table (I sit down by our teacher), a blank table in front of him, seemingly clueless. However, as we began going over the homework, he shouted out seemingly random numbers (we had a 1,2,3,4 system instead of A,B,C,D)... right numbers. Indeed, he was guessing each and every one correct, not missing a beat. How did he do it? Students around him became uncomfortable. Some shouted at him. This was ridiculous. We reached question 20, and everyone else shouted out a different answer than Derek. They thought he had finally guessed one wrong. But then, lo and behold, our teacher agreed with Derek; the answer was 3. All eyes were searching around the room, frantically looking for an answers - all, that is, but eight - four pairs Our teacher was one, not caring how Derek knew (or guessed) each one correctly. Derek was the other, his eyes roving calmly and without direction, as usual. Molly was a third, who was simply laughing historically. The fourth was the key. As we continued, some people began to go ballistic. This couldn't be possible. And yet it was. Then, one by one, a few focused in on something. There was the answer! Another girl joined Molly in giggling; a second shook her head in realization. Then, an explosion hit as Rose discovered the truth after twenty minutes of frantic wonderment. My name was shouted multiple times, Derek was assaulted for being a cheater. We were both slandered, and vicious language was flung in our opposite directions. The entire time, I had been sitting with my left cheek resting on my left hand, my left elbow on the table. My right hand had been resting by my left elbow, also resting on the table. The fingers of my right hand clung around my arm. However, after each answer was confirmed by our teacher, the number of fingers across my arm changed - changed to the answer of the next question. The entire time, I had been feeding Derek the answers in a subtle, silent manner. Our trick uncovered, Derek launched from his seat, made a rounds of the table, and gave me a smacking high-five. We laughed profusely, and the class scowled.

Wow, it's been awhile. Anyway, to the story. Six months ago, the former anchor of my school's "Morning Show" (now a Freshman in college) came to visit during his winter break. We were all very happy to see Sam, and he was asked to be the head anchor for the day, just like old times. He complied with pleasure and did the show. During the opening seconds, when he's suppose to announce the day's lunch, Sam decided to tell us that we were having strawberry shortcake as a dessert on the side. Normally, that sort of nice gesture never comes from our cafeteria, and few of us believed him. After the show, I told him that I expected strawberry shortcake and that if there wasn't any at lunch, he would owe me. Sure enough, we had gelatin instead. Thenceforth, whenever I saw him, I'd ask Sam, "Where's my strawberry shortcake?" He continued to tell me that yes, he was going to get me some. This happened several times throughout the next five and a half months. Two weeks ago at Prom, I again asked where my strawberry shortcake was, but I received a slightly different reply. Sam knocked his hand against his forehead, unhappy for not remembering. He was actually going to get me strawberry shortcake! Still, he forgot, and I made sure to mention it to him as he and his girlfriend left. But a few days ago, as I wrote a paper trashing military tactics of the late 19th and early 20th century, I heard a door bell ring and familiar voices upstairs. My sister called down to me that there was somebody there to see me. I scrambled up the stairs to see Sam and his girlfriend bearing a rather large piece of strawberry shortcake. That made my day - nay, my month. Yes, he actually got me strawberry shortcake, and, if I may so say myself, it was decadent. So, what's the moral of the story? If you really want something, keep bugging people about (in a friendly way, of course).

I'll hold the fort, Omi, and I'll continue set you place at the dinner table.

Thanks for the entries, everyone. This is giving me something to work with. A lot of loners, huh? I'll make a point to motificate that.

Not quite an anecdote, but I thought this would be a good spot to post this as well. I have just posted the 16th of 30 chapters in my BZP-related Epic An Insidious Demise. It's received some good reviews, and I think it's probably the best novel-length story I've ever written. Plus, the idea has a load of background... Which brings me to... Fleshing out that background. I wrote a short story a little while ago (yet to be posted) that was set in the oft-mentioned past of BZP. This past is set more or less in the 2006/2007 version of this website, and I need some more characters to fill out the BZP army fighting it what is known as simply "the Great War." This means guest stars. I've dropped a few names here and there already, but I for this next project, I want to actually portray some of the characters. Therefore, if you are interested in beign a guest star in this past-project (which will consist of short stories at lest, if not another epic as well), I would ask that you fill out a form: Name: Gender: Personality: Physical Features: [Whatever you would like, by no means has to be true to real life... in fact, it might be better to be different.] Forum: [if you lived in a sub-forum of BZP, which would it be?] Color(s): [For armor, clothing, masks.] Element: [Only one, please.] Mask: [Only one, please.] Weapon(s): [Anything within reason, but nothing with extra elemental/mask-like powers. Those come from you.] Here's a clean version to copy/paste: Guest Star Form for An Insidious Demise Preludes: Name: Gender: Personality: Physical Features: Forum: Color(s): Element: Mask: Weapon(s): I would appreciate it if all entries could be posted here instead of the review topic for the sake of organization. Thank you.

Because I am an avid Tolkien-freak, I of course had the Children of Hurin on pre-order. However, because I'm currently reading Cold Mountain, I have to wait to pick up this next great story. So, no, I haven't begun reading Hurin yet, but I have done one very important thing: I've smelled it. Have you ever smelled a new book? It is wonderful. There is a crisp freshness that playfully nips at your nose. It is a plea for reading. The words are waiting patiently for your eyes to bring them into the imagination of your mind, saving them from a potentially uneventful life on a stark white page. New books beg to be read, and it is torture to have to wait to read the compilation of one of my favorite Tolkien stories ever. Hurin is a tragic tale, completely without apology in its slapping of your belief in what could possibly go wrong. It is agonizing, but tantalizing at the same time. Of course, the best scene is of Hurin himself at the book's end, but I can't spoil that here. But Hurin must wait, for first I must read through another great story set in a much different time and place, although no less horrific a scene.

It's that time again! Games Workshop from across the waters is preparing to release their next Lord of the Rings Sourcebook. This time, it's Khazad-Dum, which excites me even more than the Ruin of Arnor. Arnor was cool because it of the storyline aspect, not so much the models that came with it. When I field an army, I like one of two things: cavalry or defense. Rohan and Harad have the cavalry, but nothing matches the defense of Dwarves. No, sir. In the battlefields of Lord of the Rings, the Dwarves are the hallmark of an unbreakable force. Historically, though, they have been only released in metal and have had a lack of variety (no cavalry, no ballistas, no siege forces... just bland infantry). But that's about to change! Not only are plastic dwarves being released, but also specialty troops. Yup. Light-armored dwarf rangers, vault warden teams, and ballistas are all being released. That's good stuff. Also, there is going to be a dragon (finally!) Dragons are a rare commodity, but they appear from time to time. And now is the chance for something to rival my Mumak on the battlefield. More pics (when public).

There are many possible stories to tell from my recent travels down into the rainforests of Central America, but the one that's sticking out in my mind right now has nothing to do with the flora and fauna I was there to see nor the rice and beans that I ate during every single meal on every single day. One of the many places I stayed was in Tortugero, Costa Rica. It is an hour boat ride to get to this place, which is right along the Caribbean Sea. The housing we slept in had partial walls, but much of the side was actually just screens - screens with holes. There is electricity and plumbing, but as with many weaker septic systems, flushing paper (any paper) is not allowed. Needless to say, this is a good experience for anyone who complains about how far the 20 minute drive to the nearest grocery store is. Anyway, one of the afternoons in Tortugero, Faren and I were walking along the beach, watching a rather large storm system approaching the Costa Rican coast (yes, that's a little redundant). It was an awesome sight, and we had a blast romping about in the rain as we travelled the half mile back to the lodgings. At this time, it was really starting to get dark (setting sun plus thickening clouds equals lack of light). We escaped to the rooms eventually, ate dinner with our comrades, and enjoyed the rest of the evening. That night, us two, along with most of the other members of our group were sitting on our beds on the veranda-like walkway of the cabins (our group leader had told us that there were to be no boys in girls' rooms or girls in boys' rooms, so we just brought the furniture to a place that wasn't a room and sat and talked through the night anyway). I also took all of our containers and started to collect water samples. I was actually filling one 350mL glass in 40 seconds. That's incredible for rain (at least from what I'm used to). Around eleven, however, all of the lights suddenly extinguished and the wind started going horizontal. Needless to say, we were starting to feel a little wet. Fell sounds came from the forest. Some of the girls (and Chris) wanted to go inside. So, in the dark, with light from only iPods and otherwise useless cell phones to guide us, we piled the stuff all into one room to weather out the night. No adults came to check on us, which was a little odd, but then again, most of them were probably already asleep. A few minutes later, Chris gave out a loud shriek. Something was on him; something. He turned on his flashlight (we were in his room, so he had grabbed the flashlight from his luggage) and saw a decent sized rhinoceros beetle on him. Calmer now, he moved to knock it gently away, but flew to floor instead (at which moment the girls still standing on the floor leapt to beds). Just a beetle, I know, but in the dark, windy, raining, howling night, people get scared. Soon after, a crash of one of my glasses resonated through the air, giving everyone further fright, but we eventually got to sleep. The next morning, we had to awake before dawn and pack up to leave for the next station. It was still raining hard, and there was still no power. I grabbed my shampoo and soap and showered in the rain. Alex did, too, but everyone else seemed to find it odd and dirty. I don't see why; it's probably just as clean, if not cleaner, than the rain that falls up here. And heck, we drink from well water up here. Then it was an hour and a half back to the landing in small, open boats. I actually emerged quite dry, having strategically sat behind a very large woman. Everyone else was soaked to the skin. I personally enjoyed is episode thoroughly. I felt much closer with nature showering in the rain, even if I was using commercial shampoo from the corporate north.

I always love your logic, bones. Personally, I took a different view on how to choose. I asked myself not who would be the best for the job, nor whom I would appoint to be Chronicler; I simply asked, "Who would, in the absence of a Chronicler, want to become one?" Now, the obvious answer to me was Taipu. He was the first Matoran who came to my mind that would want to, without any outside influence, want to become Chronicler. True, both Kapura and Kopeke went with Takua on that mission in MNOG, and true, both left his respective village to explore his respective Wahi. But who was fascinated by other Wahi and wished to travel with Takua not for the sake of helping out, but for the simple sake of being able to himself explore? Taipu, of course. Now, this isn't to say that Taipu would be the best Chronicler; he's simply the Matoran most likely (in my opinion) to jump at the chance to be Chronicler. Given your criteria above, which I mostly agree with, yeah, it looks like Kopeke or Kapura be the smarter choice if the Chronicler were to be appointed.

By the time this is read by anybody, I will probably already driving to the airport for my trip into the rainforests of North America (which are south of the cold place I am currently sitting at). I'll be studying the geography of the area for my own purposes, practicing my Spanish, and exchanging all of my currency for the local currency in order to more safely barter. The trip is actually through my school, but being an upper-classman, I'll have a certain amount of autonomy that will allow me to explore as I wish at times. Fun stuff. Of course, this means I'll sadly have to be away from the computer for about ten days, and I'll miss receiving my third-year Huna. Ah well. At least I hit the big 10,000 before year three was up (a long-time goal of mine). Also, interestingly enough, in my fiscal BZP years, I have made more posts in this third year than either my first or second. (I didn't see that happening since I worked much less posting in the summer than my first year, but my steady 50 posts a week during the past five months have tipped the scale.) Don't trash the place while I'm gone. See you on the other side of February!

They wanted to know if they were part of it, which seems even more weird nwo that you mention that. I kept away from faculty, though; no need to hurt anybody who has control over my grades' feelings.

So, I was in Physics class in the other day, which means I was sitting on a stool at a lab table pondering what to do next because I had finished the chapter's problem set but most of my classmates were only on problem 40. (I like Physics, but my school's student body as a whole seems to detest it.) Anyway, I was talking with Sam about some of the more quirky characters in our school (she is the only other person who seems to finish the problems as quick as me - but yes, she still hates Physics). And I suddenly had an idea: "Wouldn't it be funny if entire school - you know, every student grade seven through twelve - just got plopped somewhere random and had to build a society. Kinda like the plane-crashing-on-a-desert-island complex, but without any notion of anything modern. You know, building a society - like the Dark Ages. IT could be a recently established village in Prussia (or, well, what will become Prussia, anyway) around 700 AD... You know, when Germanic Tribes are settling down." She thought it was a rather interesting idea, and we started to ponder, "Who would take charge? Who would be the "soldiers," farmers, artisans, etc.? Who would be the town scapegoat who got blamed for everything?" We ended up with answers for all of those question - and more. After picking out a few characters, I decided that we should write things down. After a few days, we had a slot for almost everyone in this 300-person-strong village, everyone grades 7-12. There was some help from other people... my sister had some opinions on who would be married and such (I mean, if people don't get married and have babies, the village won't last very long). After a few other Physics students were done with the problems, they had suggestions, too. People were really starting to get excited about this imaginary idea... On a field trip up to a local artist's museum, I began writing from the point of view of Mitch, the cat breeder. (Yeah, that is one of the more odd choices, but it makes sense if you know Mitch and our school.) I read it allowed to Mitch and a few others, and they were cracking up over it. I read it to my sister, and she immediately wrote her own little account of waking up one morning. The person assigned to "Apothecary" did so as well. My sister started drawing pictures of some of the village members... I made a typed copy of the character list. This is becoming a school-wide phenomenon (which is actually possible, considering that 10% of the school is only 30 people, and way more than that are already enthralled in the Prussian Village.) I'll keep this updated, because it is a very fun little project.

I have some of the wierdest experiences with my car. They aren't horrible, immobilizing things, but they're weird. For instance, my car started fine when the temperature was about -30 Centigrade, but on a day when it was -15, I had to perform the old auxiliary trick to get her going. Anyway, today I arrived home at four thirty (which is exceptionally early, yay!). I'm listening to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, singing along, nice and happy because I was stoked from a six hundred word essay I had just written about Teddy Roosevelt and environmentalism in the Progressive Era of the USA not only in 45 minutes, but also on just one sheet of paper (including my quick outline). Good stuff. Anyway, I turn off the car and somehow, as I'm taking out the key, it drops out of my hand and falls on top of the steering wheel. But wait! It gets better. Somehow, it managed to fall down underneath the stereo. I couldn't believe it at first and sat there gaping. I surveyed the area, and then I ran inside to grab some tools. A minute later, I'm removing plastic and steel and even styrofoam to get at that key. I used a drawing compass to try to latch onto the key ring. It took me fifteen minutes to retrieve my key, but it was worth it. Now I know what that part of a car looks like. The one downside to this escaped was that it's still well below freezing, so my fingers were numb by the time I screwed in the last of those little fasteners. But no real harm was done. And the moral of the story is: Speak softly, and carry a big key chain.

My toenails are actually beautiful... But anyway, I'm sorry to hear about that. Good luck at the doctor's. And although I know most junoir high relationships end in everlasting marriage, I stayed away from them for those exact reasons. I' always would (and still do) rather take your advice and be the helpful friend when somebody else's realtionship is sour.

But I'm distant and cold and wear my emotions like a sock - under my heal. That - that would just be too warm and fuzzy. (Of course, I can show my emotions my writing asdide comments like this, so I guess that's not a valid argument, anyway.)

Congratulations on expanding your horizons, Utopia. Although I'm not sure that 35 posts in a night is really a "small step," I'm sure that reaching 2,000 is something uncommon for Ut-kind. Way to lead the Ut-race!

Reaching 10,000 posts is one of the major benchmarks of BZP achievement, and right now, I find myself on the verge of that number. It's just six posts away... I'm not going to reach it tonight; it's too late, and I've already posted 21 times since I awoke this morning. (That's about three times as much as normal.) However, I can confidently say that I'm set up to achieve 10,000 sometime tomorrow. The anticipation has been mounting since mid July, when I reached 9,000. One day while in the shower, I started to calculate what it would take to reach 10,000 before my third year here was complete. It was a daunting task... I would have to post at least 15 per day until school began, and then about 8 per day until February 20. I took a deep breath and plunged in. On August 30, the day before I went back to school, I took a new assessment. I happily discovered that I would only need to post 7.03 each day. I posted about 60 that week and brought the "magic number" below seven. From that day forth, I determined that I would always try to post at least seven each day. I have done that, and more so (obviously, seeing as there's more than a month until February 20). Each day, I've crunched numbers on the calculator, especially that "magic number." My friends at school have heard me shout it out to 6 decimal places every day, although they have no idea what it's for. When I return to school next week, there will be no magic number. Ten thousand is going to be reached. It's been a long time since that snowy February morning in 2004 when I first joined and was so excited that I made over 80 posts in my first week. I've tracked my number of posts each day and have spreadsheets and graphs to show the shifts and flows of my posting. (For instance, October is my driest month, July my most abundant. The most I've ever posted in a week is 181, the lowest 34. I've only ever posted more than 30 a day twice, and my highest is 40. I posted over 3,700 in my first year, but only about 2,700 in my second. (My third year is shaping up to be about 3,500.) Interestingly enough, if I keep pace until January 20, I will have 6 months in my third year in which I have posted in more than either of my previous two years.) I can actually track my life by my posts, though. The few times I've been away from a computer for a day or two, there are noticable drops in the weekly post count. During Easter vacation in 2006, I had a major spike as I neared 7,000 and resolved to start posting more again... There is a giant drop-off from summer to cross country season, spikes at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I find it fascinating. My family rolls their eyes at me like and laugh at my intensity. Last Sunday, I reached 9,900, and I couldn't contain a steady pace any longer. I've posted 94 posts since then, and I'll make it an odd 101 after tomorrow (if not more... who knows what I might encounter in S&T tomorrow). And as much as I'd love to reach the big 10,000 tonight, it's already Sunday where I live, so it will still be the same date. It's been an incredible journey, and that last major goal of mine here is about to be reached. (My other two were finishing an epic and becoming staff. Those are accomplished.) I'll shoot for 15,000 and 20,000; definitely. But I doubt that I'll make another 10,000 posts in under three years. Here I come...

Yeah, there's a fifth one. Wow, we have more than I thought: Metru-Makuta (aka Makuta) Artahka-Makuta (aka Dead Art) Karzanhi-Makuta (probably) VN Mainland-Makuta (...) Zakaz-Makuta (aka Rebel)

Today in the Official Brotherhood of Makuta Topic, I used a little phrase that I want to catalogue for future reference: Metru-Makuta I was answering a question about the ability of Makuta to change Kanohi like Toa and wanted to indicate a specific Makuta (the one that we all know and love). Now, I've used various other descriptions to specify which Makuta I mean ("our Makuta," "The Makuta of Metru Nui," "The Makuta we all know and love," etc.), but I like this latest term because it is terse but still descriptive enough to make its point. We know that there is a trend of Makuta being "assigned" to certain areas (Artakha, the mainland from which Voya-Nui came, probably Karzahni), so this might be a handy short-hand pattern. So, the purpose of this mini-entry is to make an official beginning-of-use of this/these term(s) by yours truly. Consider it as close to a copyright as I'm going to get. And yes, this is ridiculous, so just shake your head and move on.

Oh, I'm definitely paranoid. KIE, but I wake up at 6:30am and I'm not supposed to perform "aerobic activites" for another month, so no, walking to school in sub-freezing weather is not an option. And lastly, neither car was there today, so things were back to normal... Weird.

Do you ever notice how much people are obsessed with patterns and consistency? I had my own little experience of this today. I turned on the car at 7:20 to get to school, scraped/brushed for three minutes, popped in The Craig Machine, and got moving. I arrive at school a little before 7:30 and move down to my parking place. My parking spot is the first spot next to an island about three-fourths of the way across the lot. Angel parks her giant, gray, twenty-year-old monster next to mine. Matt's black Dodge pick-up is next. Then there's the light pole, followed my Emily's little white car. (My car is a red Dodge Neon, seeing as I got to describe everyone else's.) Great, right? We always park that way; it's understood. It makes sense too. My car is probably the smallest, so it's easiest for me to maneuver around the curb and angle things right, for example. But yesterday, there was a problem. A purple sporty-looking Audi was parked in my spot. School doesn't start until 8:05, so by getting there at 7:30, I tend to be earlier than most people. (I'm not a fanatic; I have to turn on machines and cameras and stuff for the school's TV program that runs every morning before school... That's what I get for living so close to school and having my own means of winter transportation.) So, that means it's probably a teacher. They aren't even supposed to park here, though. This is the second-rate parking lot that is far away from the school entrance. They have their own parking lot with a shorter walk. This was ridiculous. Now, the major problem is that there's also a cruddy looking green hatchback parked in the spot opposite mine, so my only options are to go find another spot (and risk getting verbally assaulted by a very scarey person), park in Angel's spot, park in Matt's spot, etc., or block one of their spots (which is just as useless... it's a one-way lot, so people get cranky if they have to go around). I ended up parking in somebody's spot that I knew would be absent. But then the problem returned. I went through my same ritual this morning, and right around "Whittlin' Man," I arrived at the parking lot once more only to find the same two cars in the exact same two spots. One of them had obviously been driven, but the other was completely frosted over. This was very annoying, and I couldn’t park in a temporary spot this time. In a moment of decision, I parked in Angel's spot. She parked in Matt's, and so on until somebody was out of a spot. And that's the horrible thing. One person parking in the wrong spot ruined the entire system. Everyone has his or her unwritten claim to a certain parking place, and now somebody has gone and messed it all up. The hilarious thing is that we are so attached to each spot that we sit there, not moving for two minutes trying to figure out what to do. We're lost when our system is altered.

This is me letting off excitement-steam: I am an avid fan of Lord of the Rings (in case you didn't know). I'm not only a lover of the books, I'm probably clinically obessessed. I've read LoTR 5 times, the Hobbit 4 times, and the Histories of Middle Earth. I own the the books, the movies, the books on CD, action figures, collectible bookcases, calendars of all sorts, plenty of posters and bookmarks, a rare book that's designed to actually teach Sindarin (one of Tolkien's invented languages), books about the movies, Middle Earth creature, warfare, and plenty of other things. I used to play LotR with my siblings and neighbors all of the time. (And I was always either Merry or Smeagol for some reason.) Okay, so what's the point? There is one other thing that I am intensely into - tabletop strategy battle games, sepcially Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings. The models are metal, plastic, or a combination, and stand from about an inch to 10 inches in height. And they are awesome. For Christmas, I received another Kataphrakt, another mounted Knight of Dol Amroth, another Haradrim Raider, Khamul, Suladin, three dwarf warriors, a large Mordor Troll Cheiftan, and Radagast the Brown. Great stuff, really. I can't satisfy myself by collecting just one army; I have to collect tons. I have armies for Harad, Rhun, Mordor, Isenguard, Khazad-Dum, Moria, Gondor, Imladris, and Rohan. Over Christmas Break, I spent about 12 hours pitting a 286-model evil force against a 169-model good force (the good guys still had a better cumlative points value, though). These are 2,000-point forces; the normal is 500 points. So yeah, it was insane. The good side ended up winning pretty handidly. The Kataphrakts were destroyed by the dwarves and Boromir did a superb job warding off the Mordor Troll until he could get some wizard help. Theoden amazingly survived a trample by a Mumak (this is insane, by the way) and his Rohirrim wre able to flank the Uruk-Hai. Gondor drove a wedge between Mordor and Moria, and the Orcs had to shift a large part of the army toward their right flank since the Esterlings were annihalated by the dwarves (go Gimli!). Radagast was a great addition for the good side, de-horsing Suladin, Khamul, and the other Ringwraith and transfixing the Mordor Troll long enough for Boromir to get a hit in. Good stuff, right there. And although I lost three good heroes in one fell trample by the Mumak, the great beast also took about a few of Harad's infantry, so in the end it didn't ruin the day. The class of the field, though, was Imrahil. He took out Gothmog waaaay too early, smoked a Cave Troll, and even had time to help Aragorn take down the Mumak (finally!). And that is why I am a complete geek. Anyway, great news came today: The newest supplement preview (for The Ruin of Arnor) is up and I got to see some sweet new characters. Arnor was the old north kingdom of Numenor/Gondor. Elenedil was the original ruler, followed by Isildur (briefly). Aragorn is of that line. (Hence him being the heir of Isildur and rightful heir to the throne of Gondor.) This supplement focuses on the fall of Arnor to the armies of the Witch King of Angmar (the head Ringwraith). This isn't in the actual Lord of the Rings, but this battle game spreads to Tolkien's other works (even appendicies), too. So, I'm stoked, and I know what I'm saving my money for (yes, Bionicle sets are a back-burner purchase). And if you made it this far, you might be a little frightened. (Antics are now over.)

So, here's my first little blog entry specifically for BZP. As many of you have probably realized by now, I like words and forming stories out of words. I actually find essay writing very enjoyable when I'm not strained by deadlines. However, my passion in writing is fiction. I find short stories, novellas, drama, novels, and even history books fasinating. Writing such works is incredibly difficult. There are so many thigns to consider (from plot line to character arcs to symbolism to perspective to control of the audience to voice to tone to simple diction). Now, I was looking over some of my epics materials for my current project (a BZP Epic called An Insidious Demise) and I thought, "wouldn't it be interesting to give a little insight as to how I persoanlly tackle things?" Maybe somebody will get a kick out of it. Anyway, when I first started formulating this idea in my head, I was thinking setting. What would BZP be to me if it were actual reality? What if I actually lived in a place called BZP and ran daily life as a participant there? How would forums, posts, members, etc. transform into places, things, people, etc.? How could I possibly make this realistic? This is when I began to consider the Bionicle World as that link. I have this other storyline to play off of and use to make something rather obscure seem real. This is how the post counts and post ranks translated into access to specific Bionicle tools (such as Kanohi) and powers (and control of those powers). To create a whole society, I couldn't have people only posting. They had to grow food, sustain an economy, and do all of that other good civilization stuff. So, why not borrow most of this from the Bionicle world? Add a layer onto of a human society to make it a unique blend of Bionicle and people (BZPower). I think it ended up working pretty well. The details of all of this thinking can best be seen in their final version: my extensive introduction to the epic. So, what next? Next came the background information. I took the current staff (July 2006) and split it up into rough sections and "houses." My initial idea was to take a real-time (2006/2007) view of things. I wouldn't use myself as the main character, no... but one of the other staff members. This is how the society and the "Great War" storyline were forged. However, as I started thinking a bit darker and... well, maybe even controversial, I decidced that I needed to detach myself from this time period. This set up my "fifty or so years in the future" idea. One and a half generations later, there are still the same basics, and even some of the same people (Kex, Smeagol, Tufi), but most everybody is dead and gone. Now, everything is open (except for making Kex a girl, apparently). This is where stuff started to really role. I mapped out a character arc for my main man, whose working name was Leon Trotsky (this eventually stuck because I just sort of like it). It would start out with a basic intro of BZP and his daily routine as an FA. Then, something would happen... something odd. He'd end up going to BZ-Koro, meeting with some higher-ups, and then into the north to confront this mysterious foe. Then things would blow over as he realized that he had been blind to the real plot all along. During all of this, he'd be struggling with some character triats, such as trust, honor, and self-reliance. But this character arc/plot line is nowhere near what I have now. I can't forsee where my imagination will take me as I begin to write. The major differences between the original outline and the current story are that I have multiple perspectives, many more characters, and a much shorter timespan for everything to take place. Plus, the reader sees a lot more things (partly from the shifting point of view) than in the original. The story is much more global, and I think I'm actually pushing across an overall message (which of course, won't be completely clear until the end). Leon isn't the only guy with problems. Spud's Vahki has problems. Lyle has problems. Ducks has problems. Kex has problems. In fact, most of the characters have some sort of personality issue. Not everyone will change, but everyone, with their varying personalities and opinions, will help push across this message (which should become pretty obvious around Chapter XIII). I have only hit three of the original nine points of insidence that I had in my original outline. Four will never be hit, and the other two will be very different than originally intended. But that's the beauty of writing an epic. I let the words flow out of me and find the most logical path based on the characters and how they would react. I still can't foresee exactly how this will end up. I could even end up killing off a character whom I was going to leave a victor (for all I know). So, there's a little insight (okay, it's quite a bit, but I'm long-winded). I hope you enjoyed it.

I guess paying off the one with the highest interest rates first would make sense. Of course, as a emotional thing, I think that getting rid of the student loan first might feel better than the other two payments (you know, finally move on with your life... become removed from school). Congrats on the bonus.

There was a quick little incident today in school that I found hilarious. We had to tell our AP US History teacher that he would only be having over half of his class tomorrow because of a field trip. The class tried to convince him that, being half empty, he would have to go a little lighter on the workload so they wouldn't fall behind. So, why is this ingrained in my memory like a firebrand on a cowhide? Well, my 6'3" teacher, having stating that "the train doesn't stop moving for anybody in the feel-good room," proceeded to launch himself onto the table and yell like a union protestor, "The class won't be half empty! It will be half full! Half full! Half full! Half full!" This chant continues on for about half a minute, (full or empty, it's your choice) and some of the class joins in (mostly those of us who won't be absent tomorrow). The clock turns to 1:52, so class is over, but that doesn't stop our vivacious history teacher from lacking out into a hall littered with petrified freshman and sophomores, "Half full! Half full!" The poor children had no clue what he was yelling about, and I'm afraid he may have frightened some of them. So, what moral can you take from this incident? If you miss class for a field trip, the class won't be the thing that's half empty - your knowledge of the material is what will be lacking. Or at least, that's what I think he was saying in an implicit philosophical sense... Either that or he's just a bit crazy.