Dr. Bionicle

I think I have a new theme. When I feel up to it, I'll put a little link to a totally awesome BZP-appropriate song at the beginning of my entry with which you can serinade the entry. Most everything I put up will be found via Dogpile's Audio Search. So anyway, for a starter, here is Flight of the Thunderbird. The background for this little ditty goes back to 7th Grade. At that time, our little band was under the direction of a brilliant man named Mr. Kelly. While 7th Grade bands are usually aimed to simply improve from the loathed 6th Grade bands (shudder), our band went above and beyond. I'm not one to usually gloat about my own band, but 7th Grade was pretty awesome. For my fellow band geeks, I'm going to detail each section to you. For my unfellow not-band-geeks...well...you might want to wait for my next entry, because this will probably bore you. Trumpets: THE most nefarious section of ANY Junior High Band. There are so many reasons that Trumpets tend to sound bad. One, in 7th Grade Band, there is no auditioning for a higher or lower band. Two, Trumpet is the instrument a majority of kids take up when their parents force them to play an instrument (besides clarinet). And third, there's a freakin' LOT of 'em. We had a total of fourteen trumpets, about six of which were actually dedicated to the band and the music. Now, being the largest section, there are a few things bound to come up. Trumpets are ALWAYS... The loudest The blattiest The most out-of-tune (save Low Brass) The worst-sounding sectionThis is no offense to any trumpets, as I am only observing my own band, and it isn't totally their fault. There were some golden trumpets in that group. But there were a lot of burlap trumpets too. This group didn't suffer from talent, it suffered from a lack of work ethic. A great amount of trumpets never practiced or ever put forth any effort at all. Suffice to say, only the gold nuggets made it to the Symphonic Band next year and outplayed the 9th Graders by chairs. Trombones: Put a big instrument with a slide in a 4th Grader's hand, tell him to blow, and move the slide up and down randomly. That is your average 7th Grade Trombone in the 2005-2006 7th Grade Band. Honestly, a good deal of these people were not the kind of people you want to be put on such a specific instrument. The trombones were of about eight, and only two or three made the sound. Our trombone section was unique in that instead of us always telling them to back off (like the Trumpets), we always had to tell them to play out. We had a remarkable first chair who could belt like nobody's business, and he was the trombone section in and of himself. Tell the section to play, then tell Mitch to play, and you don't get a whole lot of difference. He reigned over the Trombones, and not surprisingly, he was the only one that advanced into Symphonic Band. I'm happy to say that everyone in that group improved drastically. People who were pulling their slides out could articulate a scale and play through a piece fairly well. Still, improvement is a gradual thing, and if you aren't there, then you just aren't there yet. Tubas: There's very little that I can say about them because there were only two and you could never hear them. Tubas are hard enough to hear when they have their notes down, but our Tubas had the chronic problem of not knowing your fingerings. Really, this was a lost section, and it might've been a good thing that nobody ever heard them. Still, one's in Symphonic Band, and he's getting much, much better now. And for those of you that scorn Tubas, try to play a scale on one of those things. That's a lot of tube for one breath. Baritones: Now if there was any section that was on top of their game, it was the Euphoniums. Two players, two, and they powered the Low Brass. And they could cover for each other. If one was gone, you hardly even noticed. These two were the ultimate rivals as far as chairs go, and it was always the question of the week who would come out on top. Really, these people have got good hope for a career (or at least a profitable hobby) if they keep it up. French Horns: It's so hard to stay objective about your own section. I'd love to tell you that we were the most amazing horns you've heard since Dennis Braun, but that would be untrue. Truth is, at the beginning of the year, we were all pretty horrible. Like most horn sections I hear, we faced some of the common horn problems: You could never hear us in full band Problem with close notes High notes Needless to say, we were pretty bad. Then my friend Ian and I discovered something called 'breathing'. This changed our whole way of playing. Finally, Mr. Kelly was telling us to tone it down instead of bring it out. Unfortunately, the three other horns never fully discovered this technique (though the one that is still playing certainly is getting there). I'm happy to say that the Horns were one of the more appreciated sections of the 7th Grade (particularly on the song you are/were/didn't bother listening to) and Mr. Kelly loved us. In 8th Grade, Ian and I advanced. The third chair converted to Percussion, the fourth chair moved on to be the first chair of the Concert Band, and the fifth chair decided to use Choir as her fine arts requirement instead. We still have a killer Horn section, though, and I can say that with no guilt. Percussion: The remarkable thing about this percussion section is that, at the beginning of the year, only two of them could actually count. This is actually a pretty chronic problem among 7th Grade Bands. Of course, they knew their quarters and their half notes and their eighths, but get into sixteenths and you're in a whole new world. I have a good deal of appreciation and pity for percussionists, who have to drill themselves on rhythm day in and day out. If I get a rhythm wrong, but still play the right notes, it still sounds fairly decent. You can't really do that in Percussion. We had some amazing snare drum players, some sturdy bass drum players, and some good bell players. The real problem was the Timpani. You couldn't get the thing loud enough. And when you're playing something like Duel of the Fates, you really need that thing to boom. Overall, they definitely got drilled their 7th Grade year, and those who deserved it got into Symphonic Band. And we love 'em for it. Saxaphones: This, without any doubt whatsoever, was the best woodwind section, and possibly the best section in the whole band. They knew their stuff. Rhythms, down, notes, down, everything. The last chair was insanely good, and the other two were constantly battling over first. There isn't much I can say about this group except that Symphonic Band wouldn't be the same without them. Clarinets: Oi. Much like trumpets, this was the biggest group and the most hazardous. Clarinets have a great potential to not get their notes right. We did have some great players in there, but we also had some not-so-great. Unfortunately, I can't exactly say that they improved very much because only those who had been good at the beginning of the year went onto Symphonic Band while the others either dropped out or went to Concert Band (where, actually, a few of them are starting to sound really good). Oboe: I'm sorry, but I have this thing against oboes. Nothing against oboe players, I have the utmost respect for you picking such a difficult instrument, but I can't stand the sound of those things. The reason why? I'm used to hearing Junior High Oboe. The definition of a Junior High oboe (here, anyway) is most commonly "out-of-tune". This guy knew his notes and his rhythms, but he was out-of-tune. And I can't say I care all too much for the sound of the things at any length. That's just my opinion there, so feel free to hit me in the face with an Italian Pie if you want. Bassoon: This guy has the loudest foot tap you will ever hear in your entire life. He wears sandals that are amazingly thick and make such a noise on the floor of a band room that you wouldn't believe. Unfortunately, for someone with such a monstrous foot tap, he has trouble with rhythm. He knows his notes and is good at fingerings, but rhythms are confusing to him, and he's actually capable of throwing off a whole woodwind section when he's tapping out of rhythm. He's in Symphonic Band and he's much better now, but he's still got that Godzilla foot tap. Flutes: Well, flutes are a lot like trumpets. There are some extremely amazing and gifted people...and then the rest are kind of bleh. The flutes were a good section last year, but it took a lot of hard work to get them there. And I'm not surprised, flute is hard. It takes twice as much air, it has a difficult mouthpiece, and there's a lot of fingerings. We were lucky in the fact that our flutes weren't overly dominant, but weren't background noise either. We had a good, strong flute section. Our Symphonic Band flute section is amazing, hands down, and the others that are still doing it are probably the most amazing section if Concert Band. So rock on, flutists. Bass Clarinets: I could never hear these guys, I'm afraid. They're rocking this year, but I just couldn't hear them in 7th Grade. So yeah, that's just an overview of my band. I know, you're probably thinking "Why'd he have to tell us all that?!" Well...it's a blog. And I'm trying to get this thing active again, so you might have to wade through some entries like this. Sorry. Band Geeks forever. Dr. B

What is that...I don't- AAAAAA! OH NO! IT'S THE BLOG OF THE UNDEAD! RUN, JANICE, RUN! IT'S GOT ME! GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH! ... *burp* Dramatically, Dr. Bionicle

Quite contrary, I pick up the paper more than my parents do. I usually don't have a lot to do in the mornings, so I read the comics. Amen. I never said that I was. That's why I don't like them. That's why I said so. That doesn't make logical sense to me. I have a complete right to complain about comic strips if I don't like them. I wouldn't be complaining otherwise. It's not that I don't like them because I don't agree with their humor, I don't like them because the humor is quite simply poor. Comic strips, generally, are supposed to be comedic. If I don't think they are, then I can say so. Because there is the occassional instance where some good humor does flock from them. Reading a morning newspaper, great jokes can spawn from odd places. And also because I usually have time to kill. Because then it wouldn't be expressing an opinion, it would just be expressing taste. Essentially, if I was going to give these writers my opinions, these are the kind of things I'd be saying. On the same note, why do people detail their opinions about Bionicle rather than just saying they don't like them? Because they want to express why. . Dr. B .

I haven't posted a new entry as of recent because of a few items coming up (mainly my trip to Kentucky, which has nothing but dial-up). At the moment, though, I've got something I want to vent about. I read comic strips. Cartoonists can be real comical geniuses in comparison with the cheesy shows that now spawn on Disneychannel and Cartoon Network, which for some reason sends a good deal of my age range into laughing fits. What's so funny about The Suite Life of Zack and Cody or Dexter's Laboratory, I'll never know. Granted, I find that once again the old surpasses the new, both in television and comic strips. Because I'm just thinking over the subject due to reading over some old comic strip collections, I'm going to give a full evaluation of my newspaper's comic selection. Non Sequitor: It used to be I would find this occasionally humorous, when it wasn't throwing out political wisecracks I didn't understand. Now that they've tossed in that disturbing girl and her horse, its basically for the birds now. Pluggers: I never found this strip constantly funny. It irks me that the writer can't come up with his own ideas, and I'm thinking that the lack of selection he must get is what lends the one-panel to its common mediocrity. I've only seen two strips that have actually resulted in a positive reaction, and neither of them actually made me laugh. Family Circus: I still admire this cartoon in its older aspects, and I imagine that someday when I'm a parent and I look back on the strip, I'll laugh more than I do now. While the strip is a family-type sort of comedy, it seems more like the cutesy humor that appeals more to parents and grandparents now than it does to people of my age range. I love the writer's perspective on things, but currently, it doesn't strike me too often anymore. Off the Mark: The best improvement our newspaper ever made. This strip replaced the comic Marmaduke, which I despised due to its repetitive nature and lack of good timing. Off the Mark has a Far Side spin to it which I love seeing in present-day one-panels. I admire this strip for its clever outside-the-box thinking and the way it shifts perspectives, and I really think it's probably one of the better strips out there. Opus: I hate this strip, basically because it bludgeons the reader over the head with political humor and exaggerated stereotypes. The artwork looks stale, like lumpy dough, and the quality of the humor doesn't give me the idea that the writer puts a whole lot of effort into to it. Opus has only made me laugh once, and that was due to the fact that the strip turned on itself and actually made itself look stupid. Otherwise, it's pretty bad. Pickles: I like this strip to an extent because it reminds me of my own grandparents. Seniors have a great potential to be funny and the strip does utilize that fairly well. It's odd, though, that most of the really exceptional humor I get from it is what comes from the pets' own thoughts. In my opinion, while the writer handles grandparents fairly well, I think he would be much better off writing an animal strip. Beetle Bailey: This strip is really pretty bland. It doesn't make any real use of the setting, it's just constantly emphasizing how Sarge always gets mad and how Beetle dodges work. It's just not that good. Garfield: This strip used to be funny, but its humor has declined in the coming years. Its rarely more than Garfield firing some smart-aleck one-liner with those typical half-open eyes. I think that the writer must not be very heavily inspired by the strip anymore or else he's simply trudging through it. Either way, I think it's gone downhill since the older days. Peanuts: I've always admired Peanuts for its juvenile, yet philosophical humor. We often forget that these are kids speaking to us until they get into their tantrums. The character of Snoopy, probably the most famous cartoon character of all time, is in a world completely by himself, reflecting some of the more adult humor of the strip, though keeping it in a child's range of humor with the fact that he's really just a dog flying a doghouse. Peanuts has a great range of quality humor. Foxtrot: I really enjoy the book collections more than the daily strips themselves. Sadly, even Foxtrot has begun to fall into more of the stereotypical brands of family humor. The personalities have sort of derived into just people with punchlines. Foxtrot was brilliant in its earlier years, and it still makes me laugh, but its take a few steps backward. Get Fuzzy: Reading this strip feels like trudging through water. The ways its drawn doesn't give a lot of desire to look at what's happening, and the humor is often weak sarcasm. It doesn't take a lot of the creative liberties that it could take with a dog and a cat in the same house, it simply shows the cat abusing the dog and getting sarcastic commentary from his owner. It's just bland. For Better or For Worse: I'm not sure how to judge this strip because it relies so greatly on actually staying in touch with the comic. It's hard to simply jump in and get going. This storyline has been developing for a long time, it's obvious. It does have its moments, but so often I just don't understand because it's so much of an actual plot than it is simply a comic strip. Blondie: I do not like this strip very much.. The characters have no real depth and it relies on a routine humor. The arrogant boss, the mother that's always right, the constantly napping father, etc. Most comics end up with Dagwood simply falling asleep on the couch, and while I might've gone with that the first few strips, I think it's time to move past that joke and try something different, introduce some actual issues. It's pretty one-dimensional. Doonesbury: I despise political comics like this. Period. BC: This strip was never all that brilliant beyond sarcastic comebacks and slapstick. A good deal of the humor sounds like something you'd find on the inside of a Laffy Taffy wrapper. It really doesn't have any depth, any situations. It's just a joke book with illustrations. Baby Blues: I still like this strip. While a lot of the humor is aimed at parents, it has a nice homey feel that I enjoy. It works at a great range, from one-liners, to long diaglogues, to a single panel. Unlike so many strips that take on older kids, this focuses on raising younger kids, which I think is a great source for comedy. Hi and Lois: Stereotypical and cliche. Golf-playing dads, hard-working mothers, annoying next door neighbors, rebellious sons, etc. I don't think I've ever laughed at this strip due to its lack of real originality. Sherman's Lagoon: Funny at times, but not consistently. I like it better when it's more focused on the Shark idea rather than undersea life. It seems to be teetering on the edge of falling into a typical love-hate relationship between the parents. Still, it does lend a few laughs. Shoe: Not...that great. Basically, it's little more than a news reporter sitting around a bar hearing people bring in punchlines about their life. Luann: This strip really isn't that great. It seems to be constantly focused on the drudgery of teenage life and takes little focus off of anything else. While to some it may be funny, I simply don't laugh at it because I really can't relate. Hagar the Horrible: Does this strip really ever get past cranky wives, nights at the bar, and laziness? Dilbert: I don't know why, but I always make sure to read this strip. It has interesting bits of humor, even though I don't relate to office jobs. The style is interesting, mainly in the cartooning, but though the humor isn't consistent it makes enough turnovers to actually interest me at times. That may seem harsh for the most part, but it's most likely because of my obsession with older comic strips. I read Calvin & Hobbes almost religiously, and I think it would be great if they just reran his old comics like they did with Schultz. The Far Side is an era I'm sad I missed. I admire the humor it brought to one-panels, where otherwise it would seem fairly bland. Foxtrot and it's older book collections still make me laugh, and even Garfield and his older collections still bring about a few laughs. Ultimately, there are some brilliant writers out there and there are some that just aren't. Unfortunately, we seem to get more of the latter, but the former still does shine through where it lies. Critically, Dr. Bionicle

Believe it or not, I encourage you to go for it. It builds character, really, whether it's an early-riser or an alternate route. XD I swear, I gained most of my confidence as a kid charging at animals and either scaring them away or scuffling with them. Not to say that I don't run from large dogs or particularly demonic-looking cats, but my fear for them has seriously downsized. Makes me wonder if maybe I'd met said squirrel before. << Dr. B >>

So here I am, fourteen, and this is about the time of year where stores and restaraunts start offering jobs to the youth. I'm now legally allowed to work part-time. As I search for such a job, I have to consider whether or not to give up the newspaper route that I have painstakingly stuck to since I was only a single decade old. My newspaper route is not completely my own and is a pretty pathetic excuse for a paper route. I basically deliver the alternate paper, which means I deliver once a week whenever I want on Tuesday or Wednesday. Once a month I've got to take up what is known as 'saturation' where I have to deliver little coupon packets to every house on my route. Oh yes, and I have my sister who shares this job with me, which means we splits the profit. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Now, to those who are full-time, early morning newspaper boys, I salute you, as you are much more willing and persevering than I. However, this job is much more difficult than it appears. Rather than throwing the paper at the step, we must hang it on the door. Also, we don't have a lot of loyal newspaper receivers on our route. We have about 216 papers on our route, about 170 of which receive the regular paper. So yeah, it's not fun. And while early-morning newspaper boys have to put up with ice and darkness, I have to put up with slush, blaring heat, and rain. Oh yes, and let's not forget the sadistic dogs that enjoy running me down. Not to mention, I don't get paid once a week. I get paid biweekly, the likes of which I have to split with my sister. The fruits of my labor usually result in about $20-$30 (depends on if it's saturation or not). Yeah, people at McDonalds make more money in three days than I do. As con-filled as this sounds, there are some perks. I don't have to put up with a lot of thing part-timers do: ShiftsSet scheduleOvertimeUnexpected changes in scheduleOrnery co-workers Also, the deal is that we also get our satellite network 50% off. Pretty sweet. However, that doesn't cut out all the cons. So now we just have to think over my route experiences. Let's thing back to my very first route when I worked substitution duty... I've been running the streets, finally getting the hang of slinging the bags onto the knobs. At this point, I was getting comfortable, and the weather was perfect. The job felt like a breeze and I thought for sure this was easy money. Then...I met my first dog. Luckily, I was too tired at this point to run up to the door, so I start walking up the driveway. The garage door was open, but I thought nothing of it. I traipsed up to the walkway that led to the door when I heard a rumbling from the garage. There was a clinking of metal and I saw a golden blur shoot out from the garage. I leapt backwards, feeling something slam into the tip of my shoe. I looked up and saw a dog, fighting against his stretched chain, to get at me. I ran for my life as it snarled at me, making it so that I never looked at an open garage door without careful examination ever again. So much for easy money. That was one of many dogs to cause me stress. Luckily, that's the closest I've ever come to being bitten. I have been nipped by a small puppy, but it was nothing. And believe it or not, cats are much worse. For some reason, the cats are especially bold on my route. I have been scratched, pounced on, and tripped. Animals are always a problem on a route. I've been attacked by a kamikaze squirrel (I swear, it was aiming for my head when it jumped out of that tree), lunged at by dogs, scratched by cats, tripped by bunnies, and even scratched by a very large lizard. Animals are the most hazardous part of the job. People aren't completely innocent, though. I've delivered to many queer people. One old man I delivered to seemed a little too happy and a little too smelly to be in his right state of mind when I handed him the paper. I've been severely creeped out by a number of shady characters I've delivered to. Some people are simply ornery, and then there are people who are too nice and want to have a conversation with you while your mother's burning gasoline at the end of the street. There were also the instants where my mother's car broke down, one of the papers caught on fire from a lit tiki torch, my sister broke a flower pot, and I've been yelled at for hitting an attacking cat with a paper. I would say more, but I have a deadline for my sleep tonight. Basically, I would think that these kind of things would throw me off, but I think these kind of things have really helped me in developing as a person (whether you find defending yourself a cat and facing down a dog very life-changing or not). So I don't know. We'll just have to see. Reminiscently, Dr. Bionicle

Well, yesterday was fun. We had our own personal Thanksgiving yesterday with our family here in Kansas because over Thanksgiving Break we're going to Kentucky to my aunt's place and having a Thanksgiving there. You know that wave of Christmas anticipation you feel when Thanksgiving ends? Yeah. Boom. I got a major case of it yesterday. My sister made some absolutely amazing food. The turkey was great, the stuffing was excellent, and it was so good I was about ready to puke by the end of the day. My grandparents and cousin shared our Thanksgiving, and it got to a point where there was food spraying across the table because we were laughing so much. Now here I am, in tomorrow-land, with it feeling like Christmas should take over the wheel. Oh, and I guess I should explain something. Every year my siblings and I put on a little performance for our parents on Christmas night. Sometimes it's heavily rehearsed, sometimes it's almost completely improvisation. We've had many memorable plays with Court TV, game shows, commercials, talent segments, and yours truly doing a spastic rendition of "I'm a Train" as performed by the King Singers. Our parents have taped all of these performances so that today we watched them and just about went into another foodspray. Granted, part of the humor was that the first play was in '02, back when I was a head and a half shorter, about an octave higher, and wasn't developing facial hair. But besides that, I've realized that almost every play we've done has been based off of the audio series 'Adventures in Odyssey'. It's a great series and we get some great plays from it, but we haven't done a lot of very...original skits. This year, with the middle sibling taking over the writer's position, that changes. Our theme this year is fairly simple. Here's the situation: Five/four (depends on whether my little brother will count or not) people are out Christmas caroling. They go around "town", almost always being split up (since we only have a cast of five) and experiencing some strange situations. From wrestling with a bell ringing Santa to the tune of Carol of the Bells to irritating "neighbors" with a terrible rendition of Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!, this will be a fun play to put on. Not only will there be singing (as we have attempted to put into every play) but we can actually do bad singing. The problem? All of the scenes (most of them, anyway) have to conform to a Christmas carol. Thus far, here's what we have on the drawing board: -Carol of the Bells: Fight with bell-ringing Santa -Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: Some "out-of-tune angels". -Silent Night: A soloist who doesn't understand the meaning of piano singing out to a very noisy neighborhood. -It's Cold Outside: A rewritten version where a freezing caroler is trying to persuade a sleepy homeowner to let him in for a few minutes. -Silver Bells: A lulling piece, save the fact that one of the caroler's picked up the wrong set of handbells. -Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: A carol that would be cute if the dog who was supposed to be Rudolph didn't suddenly decide to have a revolution. -It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The one carol where absolutely everything just goes wrong. Those are our ideas. If you have anymore, please post them! We'd greatly appreciate it. Cheerily, Dr. Bionicle

As you've probably noticed, I've been adding content blocks in since yesterday. We now have as new additions The Context Game, The Riddle Corner, Say Wha?!, and Insight of the Day. I've been trying to give you guys more to do than listen to me blabber on and on about my life, so I try to fill this stuff with as many good content blocks as I can. Well, recently, I've been going completely literary. I've been reading extensively, writing all over the place, and just getting indulged in literature. Part of this I really owe to BZP, what with SSC #3, but I also owe a lot of it to my school. Right now, I am involved in a program known as Written & Illustrated where young authors write their own novels for the school to publish and put in their libraries. I myself have been working on this project and have succeeded in writing the longest novel to ever show up within the group (despite the fact I haven't actually finished writing it all). Last year I did a book of decent format which I quaintly called Artificial Control. This book was basically about a boy who meets a man that is partially controlled by artificial cells in his body. Sometimes, the man is perfectly normal, other times he's robotic and cruel. As the boy investigates, he learns that the man was once paralyzed in his legs and created a chemical formula to act as a replacement for the nervous system. He created these artificial cells in order to gain his mobility, but they have now begun to take over his mind. The boy somehow has to save the man before he is completely taken over by the menace and his cruelty ensues. This book was pretty heavily inspired by two classic novels, Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde and The Invisible Man, both great science fiction books. I, unfortunately, had a time of two weeks with which to throw together a rough draft and my revising became strictly within the novel. This year I was determined to blow my 7th Grade year out of the water. My novel Cyborne was born two months before school began. Cyborne tells the tale of a strange government move where random people are given summons to come to laboratories. They come out with robotic adjustments, becoming the race that science fiction classifies as 'cyborg'. The "humans" do not accept this change and a wall of prejudice builds up against the race now known as 'Cyborne'. Despite its negative effects, this system suddenly begins to spread around the world. Mark Caspian, a young Cyborne, soon becomes affiliated with an uprising that has found the government's true meaning behind these changes. The Cyborne Project is a global conspiracy to cease overpopulation through extermination. Caspian joins up with the uprising to fight against this under the leadership of a strange man who goes only by his Cyborne identification code 'X1011' who makes a point of hiding his identity behind a mask. As times goes on, Caspian begins to change and we see X1011's true intentions are to dictate the world. In the end, Caspian soon finds that the human race is a flawed development that needs guiding by a perfect ruler, namely himself. In essence, through all his trials, Caspian picks the path of evil and takes up his new position as the newly named 'Monarch'. That is a very tight summary, by the way. But don't worry, I don't end Cyborne on that dark of a note. I am already starting the pre-stages for the sequel, Cyborne: Outcast. An interesting development, the Written & Illustrated director on reading my unfinished rough draft found it to be worthy of putting together to send out to a publishing company. I'm personally flattered by the idea, though I know the odds. I'll be working to finish Cyborne and getting it submitted to a publishing company. So yeah, it's pretty cool. I feel like I'm really getting in touch with my writing passion again. Cordially, Dr. Bionicle

Nurse: Code red! Code red! We've got a dying blog here! Life functions are dropping! Intern: Get him to Dr. Bionicle immediately! Dr. B: Oh, this doesn't look good. This guy's been having trouble for months. We need a transfusion and fast! Nurse: Get me a quart of Premier Year on the double! Intern: Got it! Here's the IV. Dr. B: It's helping, but we've lost its entry rate. Hand me the entry shocks. Intern: Here. Dr. B: Clear! *FIZZ* Intern: It's not working! Dr. B: Clear! *FIZZ* Nurse: It's starting to work...we're getting blips... Dr. B: Clear! *FIZZ* Intern: It's alive! --- Yes, so I finally renewed my Premier membership. So now you've got me back for a year! I'll get to updating my content blocks today, hopefully. I've got some new ideas which you'll see popping up here and there eventually. New Content Blocks, themes, the like. So hopefully, this new blog should be up and kicking by tomorrow. Till then, Dr. Bionicle

Fanny packs all around! XP Dr. B XP

In my mind, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place polls work pretty well, instead of cramming them all together. Not quite as difficult for voting, I imagine. Dr. B

The term 'impossible' is expendable, if you ask me. As for UFOs, I haven't seen enough solid evidence to convince me that they do exist. All I've seen is speculation based on questionable evidence. That's not enough to convince me that they exist. I'm not at all worried about invaders taking over Earth, but if extraterrestrials do exist, I don't think they're bent on destruction like MiB and Independance Day seem to portray. Most likely, it's very much the same with our situation, they're interested in information. We stick our satellites into their space, it's only natural that they return the favor. That is, if aliens exist at all. And that's a pretty big 'if'. . Dr. B .

*sigh* Sadly I can't attend Brickfest, due to my location, but a BZPower T-Shirt sounds top-notch. I'd have to work it out with mumsy dearest (*decides never to say those two words again*). It'd be pretty useful for any gatherings I am capable of attending, like in the Kansas City LEGOLand when/if it goes up. It'd be cool if you could get it showing your Member Group, which would be useful for Brickfest or gatherings. Members, OBZPCs, Forum Assistant, etc. That'd be pretty sweet, though that makes the price go up. Name + Group, though, would be sweet. And it wouldn't hurt to do a little more displaying of my nerdity. ^^ Dr. B

Arghleman. Turns out my money for Premier Membership got sent back. Why? Well, since Doc was kind of lacking crisp bills at the time of sending, he decided to rid himself of some of the five pounds of his change. An entire bag full of $6 worth of quarters (plus a $5 bill) was put into the envelope. And then, being the stupid-head that I am, I sent it out. I didn't remember that extra weight = extra postage. Argh. So I'm just gonna Paypal it. It's faster, quicker, and more convenient. It's possible (LE GASP) that I might miss a blog entry or two for the Premier Membership to process after the Anniversary week. I know you're all just crying your hearts out right now. What happened today? Oh, not much. Except that it's possible my Mom might have diabetes. She's going to take some more tests to make sure, but it looks like it. *sigh* Such is Life. Oh, and my graduated sister is going to take her driver's test some time this week. I'm not sure when. She's already looking for a car. Maybe a Cougar. Of course, she hasn't moved out of the house yet...so I still have to share a room with my brother. >.> But Life is changing, what can I say. I'm going into 8th Grade, my sister's entering Junior High, my sister's gonna be a Junior, and my brother's going into 3rd Grade. Oh yeah, and my sister's going to start attending a beauty school nearby now that she's graduated. *sigh* And August is almost here. Which means Christmas is practically around the corner, according to the Advertising World. Oh yeah. And me birthday's in two months. Which means V&F will hopefully be mine. =D Anyhow, guys, I'll check ya later. Yearghly, Dr. Bionicle

Looking for a creative title. Failed. Well, today was...pretty...boring. Upon waking up, I looked down at the clock. How lucky, I had woken up just before 6:00. Now I could turn off my alarm and get to eating breakfast. I switched off my alarm and rolled over into the covers, staying warm for a few minutes before getting up. I rolled over yet again, facing my nightstand, and looked at the clock. Wait a second... Were my lacking-of-contacts eyes fooling me or did that say... ...6:59 AM?! I'd read it wrong! I leapt out of bed, managing to both bang my head on the ceiling and hit the floor like a pancake in the process (I hate living on the top bunk). I dashed to the bathroom, dipped my finger in my contacts case, and put my finger smack-dab against my pupil. "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEARGH!!!" ...with no contact. After finally putting in both my contacts, I poured myself a glass of water and dashed downstairs. I strapped on my headset, activated Skype, and took a big gulp of water. To my annoyance, only two others were there: my trusty partner and my good student Mr.E. And no fourth person. After about a half-hour of waiting, in which I starved myself, we finally started the show without him. The show was great. The mic quality was the best we've ever had. No echoes or anything. Great. Of course, there was the teensy weensy detail of audio questions. Which Spirit and I had apparently forgotten altogther. (Curse you early morning stupidity!) After that, the day was pretty slow. I trudged upstairs, worn from lack of food, and began to pour myself some good ol' generic wheat flakes. After I had emptied half the sugar bowl on it, I took a big bite. You could almost hear the fireworks. POP! ZOW! WHIZZZZ! Even with that burst of energy, the day was slow. Most of the time I was busy working on my current real-life project, a novel and watching movies with my graduated sister. At about 4:00 I got on the computer and began writing some of my Epic Contest entry. This thing is turning out way better than I thought it would. I haven't even gotten to the main battle Sanuri has, and she's already dealing out some major ownage. And that brings me to now. Writing my blog. Hey, because I was bored I updated my Relatives section with an...interesting new relative. Also, you January and Febuary people can thank SPIRIT for your impending doom in the Blogoscope. He made it up...er...I mean...helped me find the answer. I'm also thinking of adding yet another custom content block. So...stay tuned. Or don't. Whichever. So-bored-out-of-his-mind-that-he-can't-even-come-up-with-a-good-sign-off, Dr. Bionicle

Well, I was talking with SPIRIT not too long ago about the next episode of Treespeak on the Air (Yes, it hasn't died!), which has been surprislingy less of a conflict than other episodes, despite the fact we have four people from four different countries on the show (USA, Canada, Australia, and China). Timezones within the USA have been complicating enough, it's surprising to work out international time zones so quickly. Anyhow, it turns out that the timezone difference results in me getting up at 7:00 AM. I'm gonna have to be honest. I haven't willingly gotten up at 7:00 or any earlier all summer, which is surprising for me. Usually, I have no problem with getting up early. But of course, I also have no problem with staying up late. This combination often leads to a sleep-deprived Doc. But throughout the summer, I've found myself actually going to bed at times my parents actually agree with. And even when I stay up late, I sleep till ten. I've been sleeping in for a while. Part of the reason is because I've been having a very packed summer: band camps, church events, mission trips, and the choir tour to Montana. And throughout all that, it's meant getting up early and staying up late. I've been something of a zombie, making me grumpy and a bit unsocial. And now I'm feeling much better. More cheerful, more energetic, the like. Buuuuuuuuuuuut... School's gonna hit me like a brick wall when it starts up again. And that results in another grumpy Doc. I really need to start getting up early again, but I don't want to set an alarm clock because that'll wake up other people in the house, which is the last thing anyone else needs. I guess I sound depressed, which I'm not. Just like any other American. Wanting to eat, sleep, and have fun. Wearily, Dr. Bionicle

There have been many contests as of late. Artwork, BBC, S&T, and now Epic. And I'm a dead man. We've got plenty of time, I credit them for that. They always have a reasonable time entry period. Buuuuuuuuuuut...a few things come up. #1 - My only reasonable epic would be one I haven't worked with for a few months. #2 - Echoes: Trials of the Creator is in the Bohrok Saga, which makes bringing in a female virtually impossible at this point. I'm still brainstorming as to what I can put in. Perhaps Sanuri is one of the Bahrag? But that would mean speed-writing my whole epic to the Bahrag battle. #3 - I'm already working on a novel for an afterschool program for school, which isn't all that far off. Truckloading two stories at the same time? Oi. #4 - I really don't want to back out of this contest. Story contests don't come around that often. #5 - Lack of motivation. *sigh* Even doctors get lazy (not that I'd know ) and having two stories being written at the same time is tough for someone with my attention span. Man, this whole contest is going to be really tough. Which means... ...of course I'm going for it. >=D Determined, Dr. Bionicle

XD But a better question is why was a cat riding a bike in the first place? Dr. B

Hey guys. Today's entry is going to be pretty specific to what I call my "Students". If you're a veteran of The Academy, you might remember some of what I'm talking about. If not, then hey, you're seeing RPG History. Well, I was browsing through The Academy when I wanted to find something. Something that had happened before that I might be capable of using now. Unfortunately, I never marked anything or wrote down page numbers, so I was sent through nearly 300 pages of role playing. Man, I found some cool stuff that I'd forgotten about. Anyone remember Zyrul's first appearance? Zyrul's first post? April 8th, 2006, 3:04 PM was the precise date of Zyrul's first true appearance. Toa Kaiden and Toa Kakolo (both of which seemed to have disappeared from the RPG) were having a bit of a dispute. Zyrul, with the image of a corrective teacher, intervened. Zyrul seemed pretty tame back then. But then we get to the Armor Group, which I'm sure a good deal of you remember. The battle over a piece of armor that was stolen by Arrahk when Hunter Nuva was attacked by Visorak. Some of you took part in that battle. Alta getting the first real hit on Zyrul, Tommi stealing the armor, Zezak taking a dagger to the leg and getting imprisoned... Zyrul sure did change. But the group did get the armor. We skip to the Great Barrier Battle which introduced Dyron. Dyron was a lot tougher back then, if anyone remembers where he reveals his head. The part of the story where we see the numerous scars and marks on the back of his head. You might also remember the escort to the prison airship, where a few of you attempted to escape. And one of you got two harpoons to the legs, both which I pushed in. And then when Dyron marked you all, Loyal and Rebel with the 'Dy' symbol, which is still imprinted on your masks. We reach the Mythias conspiracy, where this mysterious opponent of Zyrul's which was thought of as dead appears to be alive. And then emerges in battle. We remember Zyrul's first real duel with someone of his skill. We remember seeing Mythias's brilliant power in comparison with Zyrul's. That seems like a long time ago. In reality, that was mere months ago. And now, Mythias seems a commonplace enemy. Dyron is all but a military robot. And Zyrul...is dead. Zyrul's death, I think, was a step in the right direction. There would've been no greater conflict than such happening. This arouses all sorts of different scenarios. Not only that, but we could resurface Dyron's vicious nature, which I really miss in his character. And Mythias is now a major threat. In fact, the only real downside is that Zyrul's plans will never play into full effect, and we'll never have a true final showdown between Mythias and Zyrul. We'll never find out who's the superior. I've also seen a good deal of character maturity as I browsed the pages. Characters like Tommi, who used to be very flighty and somewhat teenagerish have gotten to be mature warriors in this game of war. So much has happened. And I fear that some of the quality on my part has gone down. It's almost as though I've gotten tired of The Academy. This ends now. I focus on doing my best to reincarnate the old characters of K-1, Mythias, Dyron, and the others to a point where it is like it was. To a point where the enemy isn't just a bunch of pompous people with big guns. If there's anything I'm going to re-employ, it's fear and style. Fear seems to only be generated by what I'm capable of doing to you, rather than what you see in the characters. This is something I wish to change. And style? I want to go back to that same, cruel style that Dyron had at the Great Barrier. That K-1 had in his first appearance. I'm popping this cold pizza back into the oven. And it's going to come out flaming hot. Count on it. Memorabley, Dr. Bionicle

Some of you might notice my Custom Content Blocks that I've been adding. I've been trying to flourish this Blog to a point where it's actually interesting. So what have I added? -Blogoscope of the Day: Horoscopes that I deduce through my own mystical methods. Find out which classification you are, then come back daily for your Blogoscope! -Relatives: Basically, you get to see some of the people I'm related to and my comments on them. Be warned. My family tree might surprise you. -Insight, Foresight, and Hindsight: Updated whenever I feel like it, basically I share some hard-hitting thoughts on what's happening now, predict what might happen later, and look back on what has happened. -Academy Bulletin Board: Used to get out Academy News of importance. Students, stay tuned here for news, tidbits, and possibly even spoilers! You can bet there'll be more stuff coming at you later. Updating, Dr. Bionicle

You'll have to excuse the title, but unless you're familiar with Gus from Cinderella and my three sisters, you're not going to get it. Anyhow, yesterday marked BZPower's 5th Anniversary. Pretty sweet. Five's a nice milestone. I've been all giddy due to the return of my rank image and my blog, and this has convinced me to finally send in my donation for another year of Premier Membership (though, due to my mostly having twenties, Big D's gonna have a lot of quarters to count). I was secretly wishing for a giveaway or something of that sort, but I can live without it. If I remember correctly, last year they gave away a prototype Pahrak and...I think it was an Iruini with the canister signed by GregF. Hm. Can't really remember. That was a cool little contest, though. Along with every BZPower Anniversary, we get to see Big D/Hapori Tohu's spinny change. Hapori Tohu got to me first (due to an interesting little link in Cap'n Exo's signature). The Olmak is officially the new five-year spinny. Mahalis always does a great job with spinnies. He designs them quite well. I'm just going to give you my preferences on the spinnies for the first five year milestones. I'm not saying anything about design, simply about selection. Year 1 - Vahi: This was a really nice choice. This is a very neutral mask that doesn't favor any real character except possibly Tahu (though it was capable of use by other Toa in the Bionicle PC Game, which crashed and burned in 2001). It was a nice little way to mark your first year at BZPower, with something that represents time. Year 2 - Avohkii: Another good choice, seeing as the Avohkii was basically center of attention at that point in time. While it did slightly favor Ta-Koro, Takanuva was a very neutral character as the Toa of Light. It's another nice little trademark. Year 3 - Great Huna: While I don't care too much for the idea of sticking to one specific division, I can't really think of any better choice at the time. I don't believe we had much info on Lhikan's set before the spinny was made, though I could be wrong. There wasn't really any better choice besides Vakama's Huna, due to the lack of masks/faces. The only choice that would seem neutral enough would be the Noble Kiril, and that yet again was a Ta-Based character. I think the Great Huna, however, gives a certain feeling of veteranship, considering how long ago the Toa Metru fought and how they are now. Year 4 - Norik Head: Yeah, this one was meant to make you feel old. You're now represented by a hunched-over elder. I personally like this spinny because of that very feeling of veteranship, even if it does stick back to Ta roots. Some people were vouching for a Rhotuka, but that just seemed kind of 'Bleh' to me. I like the idea of the Rahaga head, due to its "ancient" feeling. Year 5 - Olmak: We kind of take a step up here. We go from hunched-over old guy to big, titanic warrior with double blades and claws. Brutaka was a good choice, considering the fact he's been around since the first Toa (making him older than Norik) but the concept is still a little strange. This is also the real bad guy we've had for a spinny, compared with Good Guys and Neutralities. I think I would've liked to see an Ignika spinny, though there might not have been enough information on it at the time the spinny was being decided. What would've been really cool would've been if it did a kind of 'tumble' sequence where it would not only spin around but also spin vertically so that you could see both sides of the Ignika (Vezon and the Mask). Fenrakk would've been pretty nifty too. But of course, Brutaka does have that one little flash that neither of those two choices have: Gold. ^^ There ya have it. Yeah, that's basically what my blog's gonna be like, just me putting in my opinion on things. Little stories here and there, maybe. Anyhow, that's basically it for now. I might put up another entry later today. Yours Truly, Dr. Bionicle

Yeah, the last entry...the whole daily update thing...erm...well I kinda' ran out of Premier Membership. ^^;; However, I'll be sending in my letter for another year tomorrow, SO that will be dealt with. I will have my blogging skillz yet again. And I'll be keeping you as up-to-date as possible with whatever I darn well feel like. It's always going to be my opinions on the lastest goings on. What I think compared to what everyone else thinks. Like Rush Limbaugh, only without the slurping water and politics. =D ... Only internationally available to the public. So what will it be today? Nothing. That's the beauty of it all. I'll be adding categories too. I'm aiming towards beating Smeag's blog in schwayness. And so it begins. >=D (Also, nifty thing, I'll be having a different sign-off each time. Something for you to look forward to.) Unsincerely, Dr. Bionicle

You can't just do these things normally, can you? It couldn't be "Smeag's Blog" or "Writings of a Smeagol". No, it had to be "Thou Vast and Venerable Head". >.> Well, a decent first entry. A nice little introduction. And don't you forget it. Well, good luck with this, Ishmael. Dr. B

Yeah. Just as a quick heads-up... This isn't The Academy Blog anymore. It's just The Blog. Of my rants. Yeah, TA stuff will show up, but it won't be focused there. Just my overall shenannigans. And I'll be updating everyday. Seriously. Everyday. Don't believe me? Come back tomorrow. So yes. Over and out. . Dr. B .

Well guys... School is back in session. From the current statistics of the RPG Contest #2 Final Poll, it looks like The Academy's up for another round. If you haven't cast your vote, do so. There are some really great entries this year besides mine. So what can we expect in the next "semester" of The Academy? -Those of you who are older members might remember that Zyrul made a visit to a man in a tavern requesting his allegiance. You'll find out what allegiance he will be giving and who his minions are. -Looking deeper into Zyrul's past. We might find out why Zyrul and Mythias were partners in the first place. -We'll find out about a new enemy of Zyrul's. One that nobody knew of or expected. -We'll discover Zyrul's mask power and why he hasn't used it yet. -Just your everyday all-out war for the good of all Matoran and Toa. The semester's looking good so far. I'm sure you guys will make it even better. Well don't just stand there! Get to class! Dr. B