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Lazzy the Spazzy

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  3. Lazzy the Spazzy
    Upon reading through the Should Kinetics Be A Toa Element? poll, I saw fifteen pages worth of members' opinions on the subject. Many of them were strong, most of them were clear-cut, and some of them took up ten pages when pasted into Microsoft Word. Almost all of them provided a new opinion on the topic, looking at it from different angles. I saw dozens of opinions I had previously never thought of or even considered before.
     
    This is the first time during my four years at BZPower that I've been so humbled and honored. Humbled to be only one in hundreds of thousands, but honored at the same time -- honored to be part of the force of nature that is BZPower. I believe that if we set our minds to a different task, put our heads together, collaborated and contributed our skills and talents, we could make a difference in the world.
     
    It's not often that you can say you're part of a group that can legitimately achieve this. Thank you, BZPower. Thank you, fellow members. You are awesome in every sense of the word.
  4. Lazzy the Spazzy
    1/27/10 Story Fit Exercise

    For an explanation of what the Story Fit is, please go here.

    Each week I'll post an exercise. This is the entry for the exercise of the week of January 27-February 2.

    Conflict is central to storytelling, a ubiquitous device that nearly always fulfills its role of advancing the plot. So many authors incorporate the idea of conflict into their written works -- the earliest stories had conflict in the form of gods and humans, good and evil, known and unknown. In fact, the common view is that without conflict, stories tend to be quite bland.

    This week's task is to incorporate a conflict into your story. This can be interpreted in any way -- a physical conflict, a verbal conflict, a clash of ideals, an external conflict, an internal conflict.

    There is no word limit or any other constraints -- the only requirement is that the story contain this theme.

    Once you write your story, post here with a link to it. Extra points will also be awarded to those members who review other Story Fit members' stories. This will not only give you practice with writing but also reviewing, as well as promote an exchange of ideas and styles within the BZP Writers Community. Happy writing!


    ---

    Note: As of now, there is no deadline by which you must turn in your story. This is an issue that is currently being discussed: see the bottommost section and respond with your opinion.

    Note2: Over this past week, writers have submitted their exercises. Below is a list of stories that have been submitted within the past week. Look over them, read through them if you want, then vote for your favorite story (send a PM with your vote to me). At the end of this week, I will count up the votes and give the Writer of the Week [of 1/20/10 - 1/26/10] award to the writer who gets the most votes.


    Last Week's Stories

    1) Recovery Time by -Tilius-
    2) Winds of Change by Rassiter
    3) Liavuru-Metru: Origins - Beginning of the Journey, Chapter 12 by Akai Hana no Tenshi
    4) What We Become by Yukiko
    5) Finding His Way by ~Monday~
    6) The Wall, Chapter 10 by Rising Moon

    Vote away!



    So far we have one vote (Rising Moon) for one task a week. Please put forth your opinion so we know what changes need to be made, if any.


    ---

  5. Lazzy the Spazzy
    And so it's been four whole years at BZPower.




    -------------- 1 ------------


    ...........I could say that it feels almost like yesterday, but I'd be lying. I don't really remember my first days as a BZPower member that well. The couple of months before and after are clearer, but I have next to no memory from my first day as a member, exactly four years ago now.

    ...........I'd seen the BZPower website before, in the winter of '03 – but its vast wealth of possibilities didn't hit me, and I soon left for other Bionicle sites, forgetting the name of the site I just visited and not even aware that I had missed the chance to join in on the BZP experience a couple of years early.

    ...........Extremely fortunate circumstances brought me back to bzpower.com two years later, in the winter of '05 – in the form of two people: xccj and GaliGee. I don't recall what compelled me to poke around in the Epics forum, but it's a good thing I did. At the time, xccj was working on a 12 – chapter saga about an Onu-Matoran with a purple Miru (I don't remember much else about the story), and GaliGee had just begun what would later be her final work before she left for bigger and better things – Tangled Web.

    ...........I was spellbound. Could it be? People my age (back then I didn't know yet that GG was actually an adult), creating masterpieces out of typed words? Weaving language into works of art, of magic? My eyes didn't leave the screen until I had caught up with the story, and then I regularly returned every few days, soaking up the latest in epic storytelling.

    ...........Yearning to get closer to this magic, maybe even become a part of it, I registered for membership sometime in late December that year. It wouldn't be another month before my registration was finally approved, and I could make my presence known to the two authors I had come to revere.

    ...........Then followed a cloudy period of three months – I don't remember much of what I did on BZP then. For sure I stayed firmly rooted in the Library forums, poking my nose into the writings of other authors (Lady K, Turakii, Nidhiki, Macku).




    --------------- 2 -------------


    ...........Then, it really began.

    ...........April 7th. 2006. Dr. Bionicle posted his First Place Winner of the first ever RPG Contest in BZP history – The Academy. I had flirted with the RPG forum before – joined a small RPG as a Matoran version of Onua – but until I joined the Acad (as we old-timers fondly call it), I didn't realize how lonely the RPG forum had previously been. I was lucky to join when I did – I witnessed the restructuring and reorganization, and a new RPG forum rise from the old. I saw these changes from the window of the wildly successful Academy (for about a month after it started, the topic was averaging about three pages a day). I joined other RPGs as well (the Second Place winner, BZPower The Final Battle, for instance), but it was in the Academy that my career in BZP really flourished. I met my first best BZP friends there (Hak, Dwin, Mout, Poks, Tom), and I had huge amounts of fun.

    ...........Eventually the Academy got so big that it had to be merged into the BZPRPG come 2007, and while, like many other Acad regulars, I wasn't too hot with the idea at the beginning, in retrospect this was the second best thing that could happen to me (the first being GaliGee and xccj). I had a lot of fun in the Academy, true. But I'd been having so much fun there that I had started to get trapped in a box – the Acad was so fun there was no need to go anywhere else, and I stopped visiting the other forums as often. I also developed a narrow perspective about RPGs – only having real experience in the Academy, role-playing with the same group of people this whole time – my RPG skills were starting to get stale, and I hadn't even noticed.

    ...........The influx of new ideas, the abrupt meeting of other RPers, many of them much more experienced and having been in the game longer (EU, Sera, and Nidhiki, for example – I was delighted to run into Nid again, whose Epic I enjoyed), and who had different outlooks on RPGs – this contributed a lot to my growth as an RPer. I had gotten self-assured in the Acad, certain that I knew all there was about RPing. Encountering and RPing with the old guard caused me to mellow out a bit – to recognize that I had come a long way but still had a long way to go.

    ...........I didn't forget what had brought me to BZP in the first place. I kept in touch with the Library forums, occasionally dropping by GaliGee's Tangled Web (it took almost two years to finish the huge project). I even (surprisingly to me) scored Second Place in the Short Stories #3 Songfic Contest, with help from Green Day and their Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which I incorporated into my songfic Roaming. With it came lifetime Premier Membership (by a stroke of luck, T-Hybrid, the First Place Winner, already had lifetime PMship so the prize originally meant for him went to me).

    --------------- 3 -------------
    ...........Then came a personal test. At the beginning of '07 I had joined an RPG in the Completely Off Topic forum called the Naruto RPG. I stuck with it for six months, was rewarded with a position as a moderator – then, during a month-long summer camp, I developed a story arc for the NRPG. I outlined it, thought through every detail, then sent it to the rest of the staff team. I was pumped up about this plan. I couldn't wait to implement it.

    ...........Then, the RPG was locked. Members who were prone to flaming and inappropriate comments and ICs caused the RPG to degrade to the point that mods had no other choice than to close it. I set to work with the rest of the team developing a version 2.0 of the NRPG. I contributed daily to the first post, thinking about new ideas to help moderate the racy pit that the original had fallen into. My motivation came largely out of a desire to see my perfect story arc in action.

    ............V.2 of the NRPG came along. For my huge role in the planning process, and the story arc which started out as my brainchild, I was made head Moderator. I was psyched. I now had full control of the storyline, and I planned to see it through.

    ...........The problem started here. See, I was so hyped about my ideas – I had to make them perfect. I had to make the posts epic, I had to write the arc as fantastically as the writers I idolized had. I spent hours trying to make every post flawless, and as a result, the RPG stagnated. Through my obsession with this one idea that I felt sure would work, I had forgotten the basic goal of role-playing – to have fun. I was starting to restrict the directions players could go, I was putting up walls. I was stifling their imagination. I was failing to realize that length and awesomeness of posts didn't make up for infrequency and incompetence. Version 2.0 of the NRPG, and subsequent versions, became an epic of sorts, with everyone else nothing more than bystanders – spectators, unable to influence the story in any way.

    ...........Of course, I didn't realize that – but once some players brought their frustrations to me, I had to slap myself in the face. I had come so far in the Acad, in the BZPRPG, and now in the NRPG, I had destroyed all that.

    ...........At least, that was what I thought. I had resolved to fix my mistakes, when, in the long run of things, these weren't mistakes at all. The NRPG was one huge life lesson – when you're in control of a huge project, it's easy to become too restrictive, too dominating. Gaining a monopoly on where the project goes prevents exchange of ideas and eventually stagnation.

    ...........My time with the NRPG was in fact a blessing in disguise: I learned firsthand about the difficulties of being boss of a project, about the true dynamic in a team, in which workers had as much say as the boss. It's a good thing I had this experience in an online role-playing game, rather than in real life. What if I became boss of a company, fell into the same hole I had with the NRPG, and screwed up my life?

    ...........The NRPG did a lot of good for me, mellowing me out, teaching me about the difficulties of leadership and giving me the big picture on things.





    --------------- 4 -------------

    ...........A few of my BZP friends recently told me that I'm among the more level-minded people they know on the site. That was news to me; yeah, I was the mellow one in my circle of friends in real life, but that was just because I wasn't good at articulating my opinions on the spot, at doing real-time debating. That was because I preferred to go with the flow, averse to the drama that seemingly consumed life. But I had no idea I gave off the same impression online.

    ...........Just being on this site, just being a part of this message boards system, has really changed me, for the better I think. I have strong opinions like everyone else does.


    ...........But when I take the time to type things out, that's ten minutes of writing and thinking at the same time. If I'm angry at another member, that's ten minutes of chilling out and letting go of that anger. If I'm in the middle of a forum debate, that's ten minutes where I can second-think myself, see the other party's opinion, and recognize that it has the same value as my opinion. Just having to post my thoughts rather than saying them right then and there has given me open-mindedness, a better temper, and the ability to see things from an outside-the-box, long-term perspective. Over the past four years, BZPower has improved me as a person, and for that at least, I'm grateful. Thanks to BZPower, I'll certainly be more prepared to tackle the problems that the real world is sure to throw at me.
  6. Lazzy the Spazzy
    For an explanation of what the Story Fit is, please go here.
     
    Each week I'll post an exercise. This is the entry for the exercise of the week of January 20-26. Since this is the first week of the Story Fit, we'll start off with a simpler task -- a one-word prompt:
     

    Transformation

    Write a story revolving around the theme of transformation. You may interpret it literally or figuratively. There is no word limit or any other constraints -- the only requirement is that the story contain this theme. Feel free to put forth ideas on stories if you're not too sure about what you want to write. Note: You do not have to complete this task by the 26th, as there is no deadline for the Story Fit project. However, since new exercises will be given out each week, you should still work on your stories to prevent too many tasks from piling up...procrastination won't be pretty.
     
    Once you write your story, post here with a link to it. Extra points will also be awarded to those members who review other Story Fit members' stories. This will not only give you practice with writing but also reviewing, as well as promote an exchange of ideas and styles within the BZP Writers Community.
     
    At the end of the week we will vote for the "Writer of the Week" based on whose story is everyone's favorite.



  7. Lazzy the Spazzy
    My only complaint about the Short Stories Contests was always that there weren't enough of them. =P I loved writing, I loved reviewing others' writing, but I often had trouble working up the motivation to do either. Part of that may also have been because the Short Stories forum always felt so lonely, as opposed to a couple of the other forums I was a regular to. The contests not only provided me with an incentive to do the former, but also gave me much-needed reassurances that there really was a community here at the Library, even if many of the "legends" I used to idolize no longer dwell there.
     
    The Short Stories Autumn Olympics answered my cry for more. More contests, more fun, more community-fuzziness. It was a success -- the Olympics provided unique "events" that were a welcome deviation from the usual "write your story on the day of and submit it" type contests. I especially enjoyed the team event, the round robin story. Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that my team won, but still. XP
     
    My point is, the SSAO was great. It was enjoyable to participate in and I look forward to more of these Olympics. It might be a bit late for a Winter one, but perhaps a SSSO? (*hintHHhint*)
  8. Lazzy the Spazzy
    In case anyone’s wondering:
     
    I do plan to start the NRPG again. Since I saved the first post in Microsoft Word I can always just repost it (once it gets approved of course).
     
    The main problem (but actually not a very serious one if you think about it) is the lack of NRPG v. 3 or 4. That means we pretty much have to continue using just our memories. This also means I can’t finish the Naruto RPG timeline since I can’t see what happened in v.3, so some of the newer players might not know what happened before they joined.
     
    Still, I worked really hard on my Project Revolution storyline and I’d like to see it through, so we’re going to do the best we can and continue RPing in the Naruto RPG.
  9. Lazzy the Spazzy
    As some of you know, I'm one of the mods of the Naruto RPG over in the Completely Off Topic forum. After having done this for a while, I have a pretty good idea of what I like in an RPer and what I don't like. This will be a short series of blog entries in which I outline exactly what I expect in an RPer in the Naruto RPG I help run, and what I don't expect.
     

    The RPG Etiquette Series—Examples you should (or shouldn't) follow:
    Chapter 1 First, let's start with the problem kid. This player constantly makes trouble for the mods and players alike, alienating the other members with his or her negative attitude and immature role-playing. This person is the sort that will usually get banned pretty soon after joining.
     
    The problem kid's profile:
     
    Everyone makes mistakes with their profiles, it usually can't be helped. But what differentiates a good role-player from a bad one, is when the player doesn't change their mistakes after asked. You can usually tell by reading their character profile that they just skimmed the rules.
     

     
    As you can see, this member clearly didn't spend much time on their profile. They just saw the title of the RPG, thought, "this might be fun", and scrolled down to the profiles, completely ignoring the rules and other important stuff. Then they skipped the instructions telling how to make each part of their profiles, probably because it was too long, and just added stuff in.
     
    Let's dissect this member's profile and take a closer look.
     
     
    Name: narutomaru
     
    Here we have the first problem. "Narutomaru" by itself isn't a bad name, if a good member came to us with that name we'd probably approve it. The problem comes when the member disregards our rules. We asked that the clan name come first and the given name last, but the member apparently didn't bother to read that one simple sentence. We're not even sure if "narutomaru" is his first name or last name.
     
     
    Age: 12
     
    Nothing wrong with that.
     
     
    Rank: the highest one
     
    Now, there is something wrong with that, and you can probably tell what it is, so I don't need to explain. It's just further proof this guy didn't read the rules. Or follow common sense, for that matter.
     
     
    Personality: just like naruto
     
    Uh, no. Those of you in the NRPG havee probably all had me tell you to make your personalities longer, when you yourselves submitted your profiles, so you know what's wrong here.
     
    At this stage I'd be pretty frustrated. By now I can tell this member is just being lazy, and that they didn't just make a few innocent mistakes. This guy clearly doesn't care enough to read the rules.
     
     
    Appearance: like an average person
     
    Lol, What?
     
     
    Fighting style/skills: rasengan justu, chidori justu, raikiri justu, clone justu, all the fire ones, flying, the justu that makes a giant toad, ninetales, and the one the green guy does
     
    Oh man. *facepalm* I'd probably think this would be pretty funny, except my pride has been hurt here. Advent, Neon Bird, Greed, and I all spent way too much time writing this up for it to be disrespected in such a way. I'm seriously considering just stamping this unapproved and ignore the rest of the profile, but I'll read through the rest of it for formalities. I've already decided not to list out the person's mistakes, there are way too many for me to list. I'll just tell him or her to read the rules.
     
     
    Weapons: shrukin and those knive things i dont no wut ther called
     
    Now, there's nothing wrong with not knowing what kunai are called, we all forget sometimes and it's hard to remember all the technical details of a fictional world. But at this point it's clear this person hasn't just forgotten, he/she really doesn't care. Definitely not someone I'd want in this RPG.
     
     
    List of jutsu: the same as the ones in the fiting style
     
    More proof this guy doesn't know what he/she's talking about. You're supposed to put the list of jutsu here, not in the fighting style. Come on, read the instructions, people! It's not that hard!
     
     
    Clan: susakes clan, ther the ones with the red eyes
     
    Pathetic.
     
     
    Now let's say this member somehow gets his/her profile approved (don't ask me how). And the first post he/she makes is:
     

     
    Ooookay…*facepalm* I would probably have told him/her not to put the rasengan (and all of the other jutsu too, there's no way I would let him/her keep those) in the profile, and here he/she goes, using it again. That's a warning right there.
     
    Second. No "IC" or "OOC"…though coming from him/her, I wouldn't be surprised. If this guy didn't bother reading the profile rules, why would he/she read the general rules? Still, that's another warning right there.
     
    Also notice the bad grammar and spelling I intentionally used in there. No punctuation at all, no capitalization, he/she even switches points of view in the post, going from third to first person and back again.
     
    I've saved the most obvious for last. GOD-MODDING. Where did the kegafakure whatever thing come from? Narutomaru's supposed to be an Academy student, how'd he stop him? And doing all that in one post?
     
    This member would get three warnings right away. And on his/her first post, too. *facepalm*
     
     
    Let's say I intervene. My post:
     

     
    The problem kid reads this post and is just mad. He/she doesn't realize their mistake, so they post a flamey response.
     

    Okay, so this guy just badmouthed me. I'm mad, so I want to punish him/her. But, you know, anger aside, this guy did just break the rules again. I have a reason.
     
    My post:
     

     
    Problem kid's next post:
     

     
    And then he/she goes on to IC again:
     

    *facepalm* Problem kid gives a lousy excuse for his/her flamey and spammy post, but not only that he/she goes on to do it again. How infuriating.
     
    My post:
     

     
    Problem kid, of course, ignores my latest post (because it's too much trouble for him/her to read), and posts again.
     

     
    You know the drill. I post again, telling the problem kid to quit it. He/she finally notices my post after I bold it, underline it, and make it red.
     
    His/her response:
     

     
    My response:
     

     
    Surprisingly, the problem kid listens to me. After the week's over, the problem kid comes back. I've been dreading this day, but I'll see what happens.
     
    Problem kid's post:
     

     
    Hmm…well, you know, it's still bad, but compared to the other posts? A huge improvement. I'm actually a bit proud.
     
    And then the next day problem kid deteriorates again.
     

     
    My post:
     

     
    Notice how I'm being a bit unfair and mean in my last sentence. I'll address that in a future section of my RPG Etiquette series.
     
    Anyway, problem kid responds with a spammy post. But before that, let's say Neon Bird posts with a Chuunin exams post.
     

     
    *facepalm* WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO!!!!!???
     
    I try to keep calm and tell the problem kid to stop.
     

     
    Problem kid's response:
     

     
    I'd probably just report problem kid's posts to an admin by this point and just get him/her banned.
     
    So, there you have it. The [short] career of a problem kid. Now you know what not to do in an RPG.
     

    Chapter 2 coming soon
  10. Lazzy the Spazzy
    Well then. I'm there. I'm an Eagle Scout. After four years of community service, merit badges, camp outs, leadership...I've done it.
     
    ...
     
    It hasn't really hit me yet. XP
     
    But seriously, after looking at Eagle as the goal, the thing to strive for, it's hard for me to get used to finally being there. I suppose if I recount all my achievements, it might make it easier for me to accept.
     
    I started out later than everyone else. I didn't do Cub Scouts, and it was only in the March of my sixth grade year that I joined. It was great: everyone there was willing to help out, willing to answer questions. In my Troop, no one was indifferent to other people's needs. I have my Troop to thank for my desire to stay in Scouting.
     
    And the requirements. I was competitive, and when I saw those requirements in the back of my Scout Handbook, I had to fill them up. I quickly began advancing, making Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class in the space of three months. I have to admit that some of what I learned, I forgot. I was too busy rushing through my ranks to actually learn stuff.
     
    And I was a Patrol Leader, too. I suppose most people wait till they're older to go for such a position, but I was thrown into that almost immediately after I joined. I was chosen to lead the other new scouts, most of which were a year younger than I was. Our patrol was the best in its short lifetime (we named it the Dragons), and it wasn't just because of me. Everyone had my same competitive nature, everyone wanted to advance. We all had ambitions. Many of these people later dropped out, or stopped coming; school caught up to them.
     
    I stayed as a Patrol Leader for another term, and after a year I passed the torch to my Assistant Patrol Leader, someone who did even better than I did. Meanwhile, I took another position within the Troop, Chaplain's Aide. As Chaplain's Aide I was in charge of everything religious, including saying grace before meals during camping trips. But I also was responsible for making monthly reports about upcoming religious holidays. I really enjoyed my job: as one of the few (if not the only) Buddhist(s) in the Troop, I had to learn every other religion. Looking back, I suppose it made me religiously tolerant and aware; I understand now what's going on when one of my friends doesn't eat a particular meat product or at all, and I know what they're talking about when they mention "Lent" or "Ramadan".
     
    After my term was over, our patrol, the Dragons, was "disbanded". The Dragons had experienced an extremely successful year and a half, but according to tradition the new scouts had to be split up and feeded into the three senior patrols. I found myself in the Billy Goats, with a couple of former fellow dragons.
     
    Camping was excellent, and easily my favorite part of Scouts. It was really more about hanging out with friends than anything. We didn't really focus on learning wilderness survival skills or things like that, but we unwittingly ended up wiser after every trip. We learned important life lessons too.
     
    My favorite outing of the ones we went on--I actually have two--are desert camping and rafting. You've never really lived until you've faced six-feet high walls of water in Class Four rapids. And as for my other favorite activity, I enjoy just being in the desert...nothing but dunes and rocks all around you, the blue sky above...you feel incredibly small, but energized at the same time. It's the closest I've ever felt to nature. I definitely plan to visit the desert as much as possible when I'm an adult.
     
    I have so many more experiences, but ultimately the most memorable was during a weeklong summer camp on an island off the coast of California. My dad and I were canoeing--he had come along to chaperone on this trip--and we got caught in a current. The shore of this island happened to be surrounded by a thick mass of seaweed, and we had to fight both these and the current. It took almost an hour to get back to shore, but looking back, I feel like it was great.
     
    And finally, the trip I took this February, to Japan (you can see an entry about it if you look back a few months on my blog). I met thirty other scouts and adults, all of whom were hardcore--all of us were Eagle or Life scout (Life is the second highest rank in scouting), and most were Senior Patrol Leaders. I had the new experience of going on a Scouting activity with girls (Venturers, which are co-ed), and it actually wasn't all that different...sort of like the camp I went to last summer, with a college-esque atmosphere. I had a great time...I can't help laughing every time I recall us on Mount Fuji, running around in swimsuits and pelting snowballs at the Scoutmaster. Haha...good times.
     
    July 9th. That's the day I became an Eagle Scout. The Board of Review actually wasn't as bad as I thought. I went in, shook hands, sat down, and just talked. I had thought of it with apprehension, like an interview for an internship, but in fact, I acted like I was talking to my friends. I just relaxed, and everything went smoothly. Far from the little kid I was at eleven, who got tongue-tied at the thought of talking to adults. I've grown up...and Scouting might have something to do with it.
     
    Is this it? Am I done with Scouting? Lots of people in my troop have dropped out after becoming Eagle--it's great to have it on college apps, and after getting it, there's really no real reason to stay. But what will happen to new scouts coming in? I remember when I was a Tenderfoot. The senior scouts helped me through my first steps as a Scout. They're all in college now. They never dropped out. They stayed, and even those who didn't made Eagle were more than willing to mentor younger and more experienced scouts until they graduated and legally became adults. And what about those I met on the Japan trip? One of them had 106 merit badges, another had 50, as well as several Eagle palms, ranks you can get beyond Eagle.
     
    I think I'll do the same. I'll stay in scouting, keep getting positions, tutor incoming scouts--and get a few merit badges while I'm at it. After all, I'd be doing those scouts who mentored me a disservice if I didn't. I want to be like them. Scouting's not over for me. Not by a long shot.
  11. Lazzy the Spazzy
    I have a college consultant. We meet every month or so to discuss college applications or what I have to do to get into college…community service, awards, etc. In fact, I just came home from a seminar my consultant held, which was attended by myself as well as five others that my consultant is helping. The main thing we did was conduct a self-survey, designed to determine our strengths and weaknesses. Some categories included social consciousness, affection for knowledge, school enthusiasm, independence, self-understanding, career orientation, and more. I scored surprisingly low…I had only two strong points out of ten.
     
    My lowest score was self-understanding, meaning knowing what I want to do in my life, and what I want or don't want in general. Improving that score would be hard, it's not like I have to do something or follow a set formula to understand more about myself, I can only do that through interacting with people and doing what I'm already doing, and hope eventually I'll know who I am as a person.
     
    The category that particularly worried me, though, was career orientation. It was clear before I took the survey that I had no idea what I want to do after college. Definitely not something medical-related, I don't think I can take the stress. I don't want to be a computer engineer either, it seems to complicated for me. No menial tasks like garbage collector or gardener…But I don't know what I want to do.
     
    So I've decided to research the different careers I could go into. I'll study one career each week, and then write what I like and don't like about it on a weekly blog entry. I plan to use the following format:
     
    Income: Obviously important, since I want to make a decent living out of my job. Consistency of income is also important, for example that of a writer's could range from no income to the income of J.K.Rowling.
     
    Fun/Stress level: I don't want the sort of life portrayed in Office Space…a fun job is better than a boring job in my opinion.Some things I'd look for in this category is...what sorts of places to I get to go to in this career? Etc.
     
    Workload: Generally how much do I have to work to fulfill my job? Is the workload consistent, or erratic, like that of a computer engineer, where you often have last-minute projects and have to work late into the night? How much free time would I generally have?
     
    Prerequisites: Any special knowledge or skills I need to have, and how hard it would be achieving those prerequisites (like seven years of medical school for a doctor).
     
    This sort of ranking system is incomplete, so I would prefer input from as many people possible. After ranking the career in these separate categories, I would give it an overall score and decide whether the job suits me.
  12. Lazzy the Spazzy
    I've just changed my avatar to a 64x64 drawing that I edited myself, on Microsoft Paint. A year and a half ago I had been asking friends to make avatars or sigs for me, often to go with the fads at the time (Marvel fad, I is a Fish fad, etc.). Now, though, I can fully operate such complicated (so it seemed back then) computer applications to create or edit drawings of my own.
     
    Even though this is just a small accomplishment, I can't help but be proud of myself for finally getting one of several applications of the computer. I'm gradually getting better with computer stuff now, and no longer need as much help from my dad.
  13. Lazzy the Spazzy
    TEAM 15
    Brief Team History:
    n/a
     
    Sensei:
     
    Name: Heroga Kaizen.
    Age: 27
    Rank: Jounin
    Personality: Kaizen has a goofy personality. He likes to fool around, mess with others, and other stuff like that. Despite his age, he acts like a young teenager. Not only does he almost never take anything serious, you can almost never take him seriously.
    Despite his behavior, he is a good friend, and a loyal one too. So he liked by many in the village. He can also be found at the academy, or at the park, playing with kids. And he is always nice to everyone. And if someone is mean to him, he look hurt, but in a goofy way. SO basically, he is always in a good mood.
    One odd thing about him is that he has an odd interest for dandelions. Why no one knows. But he can be seen looking at one for hours.
    Appearance: No one knows what Kaizen looks like. The only thing people know about Kaizen is that he has white hair. The rest of his body is covered up with armor and other ninja clothing. You can’t even see the color of his skin.
    Kaizen is 6ft 7, and wears your standard sandals that look more like shoes. He wears your standard black pants that goes down to his foot. He wears a black long sleeve shirt that goes to his hands which are covered completely with ninja gloves with the leaf village’s symbol on them. He also has your standard ninja bags on his lower back.
    He uses his leaf headband as a belt. He wears some shoulder armor, with your standard samurai chest place (both are grey.). He wears a face mask like Kakashi with a black and grey mask that looks exactly like Tobi’s over the face mask. And his white hair goes down to his shoulders.
    Fighting style/skills: Kaizen specializes in taijutsu and ninjutsu. He is also a wind and fire type user. As a Jounin, Kaizen has experience with both short, mid, and long range fighting. Kaizen is a master when it comes to using his katana in his fight. And combined with his wind chakra, it makes Kaizen even more of a threat. The same applies to his staff, which he uses with his wind chakra for some devistating blows.
    One of Kaizen’s weaknesses is genjutsu.
    Weapons: Kaizen uses a unique katana. Instead of most of the blade being black with a little silver at the back of it, it is mostly pure white with the back of the blade being black. He carries this sword in a white sheath on the right side of his waist.
    Kaizen also carries a staff that’s about 7ft long, and it can be turned into a whip of some sort (like the one Rock Lee used on the 3rd movie.).
    Team: 15
    Clan: Kaizen belongs to the Heroga clan. The Heroga clan consists of a small group of nomads that exist throughout the many countries. There is no one country or village you can find them in. The members of the clan are also known for their light but strong bodies so that they can use their Kekkei Genkai to its fullest.
    And not everyone is born with the clans Kekkei Genkai. Their Kekkei Genkai has no official name like the Uchiha or Hyuuga clan’s. Some call it wind storm, and some call “air bending” (lol like avatar.).
    The Heroga clan is known for their wind Kekkei Genkai. The Heroga clans Kekkei Genkai allows the user to manipulate the wind and air around him or her however they want (Like how Gaara can manipulate sand to his will.). With this Kekkei Genkai, One can creates mini cyclones, or giant bursts of wind. They can send objects and people flying by shooting compact wind bursts towards people. They can use it to lift objects (Unless their too heavy. Full adults are too heavy for them, but young kids are about perfect.), and even themselves.
    The Heroga clan can also release this power from any part of their body. By doing so, they can almost fly, or hover in the air.
    But there are limits to the Kekkei Genkai. They can’t suffocate a human, or create giant Tornadoes.
     
    Genin:
     
    Name: Uchiha Saito
    Age: 13
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 1
    C: 0
    B: 0
    A: 0
    Personality: Friendly, warm, loves making new friends. He has a mild fear of blood and is disgusted with unnescesary cruelty or death. Somewhat restless, on occasion has trouble listening. He is determined and works on teamwork with his friends. He is sometimes distracted by sympathy for an animal or person that is in pain or having trouble. He is a little impatient. He is quick at memorising things, including handsigns. He is intellegent and a straight-A student.
    Appearance: He wears a green t-shirt with a black stripe down the middle and an Uchiha emblem on the back. He wars black gloves. His pants are khaki shorts and his kunai holster on his right leg. He wears standard Konoha sandals in black. He is near-sighted, but often wears contact lenses as he sees them easier to deal with, however outside of missions or ninja training he sometimes wears glasses. He has spiky black hair. His skin is somewhat pale.
    Fighting style/skills: He uses ninjutsu and sometimes taijutsu. In taijutsu he his effective in continuous blows and strong attacks. In ninjutsu he mostly uses fire and lightning type jutsus. He is a straitforward fighter and lacks the patience to use strategies or genjutsu. He combines speed and strength to deliver several devestating blows at a time. He is a hard trainer and learns jutsus quickly. He is a good tracker. His weaknesses include these: His fear of blood can make him freeze up in the midst of battle if he happens to see any gore.His sympathy for others can distract him and leave him open for attack. His non-observance can lead him directly into a trap.
    Weapons: He has standard shinobi weapons, although he also has 'summoning tags' that he can use. By attaching one to a kunai, the summoning tag-a clip-out from a summoning scroll-can summon several more kunai, creating a barrage of the daggers.
    List of Jutsu: Clone jutsu, Transform jutsu, Substitution Jutsu, Exploding Tag-Activate
    Clan: Uchiha
     
    Name: Raimei Shiru
    Member: Sum Dude
    Age: 17
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 1
    C: 0
    B: 0
    A: 0
    Personality: He is friendly towards those who aren't rude to him, and rude back towards those who are. He demands the best of himself, which is why he has purposely failed the academy graduation test every time(he doesn't believe he is ready to be a genin). He is sarcastic(very much so) despite the fact that he is not very good at it. He likes to lay on the ground outside at night and look at the stars, wondering what else is out there. He is very intelligent.
    Appearance: He wears loose clothing(a green T-shirt and blue jeans) and the standard ninja sandals. He wears the three swords he received from his father(one on his back with the hilt over his right shoulder and one on each hip.). He has dark brown hair, brown eyes, and is about 5'9" tall. He has tanned skin(he spends a lot of time outside polishing his skills).
    Fighting style/skills: He uses swords, which is the specialty of his clan. He usually uses the Raimei Kiru(the sword on his back) in his right hand and one of the other swords in his left, although he does use kunai and shuriken as well. He is very fast but has weaker upper body strength, and uses jutsu to offset this. He shows the most promise as a swordsman of anyone to ever come out of the Raimei Clan.
    Weapons: He has a sword that has been passed down through his clan for generations, called the Raimei Kiru, that he wears on his back. He wears two others swords, one on each hip. He is very skilled, though he hasn't reached the level of skill his father has, despite the fact that he can hold his own against him.
    List of jutsu: substitution technique and illusion clone technique, transformation and Shunshin
    Clan: The Raimei Clan. the Raimei Clan is a small clan, although it isn't dying. All the members of the clan have been sword masters, very fast(both in running and dashing and with their sword strokes) and prodigies of the sword. The Raimei Kiru, their sword that channels lightning chakra better than any other sword in the world, has been passed from the first born son to his first born son for generations. It is currently in Shiru's possession, although he can't channel chakra through it yet.
     
    Name: Hyuuga Cain
    Age: 12
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 1
    C: 0
    B: 0
    A: 0
    Personality: a cold person at most times, he is a loner more or less. His interests are training and becoming stronger. He acts respectively towards his allies and even his opponents and shows great honor, but above it, great chivalry. He acts cool, even on the losing side of a fight, and tries to maintain his cool attitude at all times.
    Appearance: White short hair, somewhat like Sasuke\'s hair style, white eyes like Hyuga clan members, wears a uniform like Neji\'s, his fathers, and lets his hair grow out at some points for his Taijutsu which of course will be made later when I get to add custom Jutsu to his arsenal. His pouch is on his right leg and wears a belt with his shuriken pouch on the back along with normal black sandals.
    Fighting style/skills: Specializes in the Gentle Fist and normal Taijutsu, but also uses Ninjutsu. He uses earth and lightning (doton and raiton) style Jutsu with long range earth and short range lightning. Weaknesses are: 1: overly uses Taijutsu, so is left open to some long range Ninjutsu and weapons, 2: Lightning takes a lot out of him 3: earth doesn't seem to be generally strong for his fighting style; his best would be higher leveled earth Jutsu.
    Great at stealth due to his own personal training.
    After the death of his aunt, Hanabi, Cain’s general outlook on life quickly became much more focused and dark. Cain began to train even more, focusing on developing a technique of his own self-named the Byaku Rendan, and vowed to make up for the death of his aunt. Following with this increase in his already serious personality, Cain has developed his Byakugan to be able to see up to 100 yards in one direction.
    Weapons: cords, demon shuriken, or whatever its called, katana that usually just remains at his home, but has trained with for a few years and only uses on special occasions.
    List of jutsu: Gentle Fist, Substitution, Illusion Clone.
    Clan: Hyuuga
     
  14. Lazzy the Spazzy
    As a premier member, I have room in my inbox for 1000 messages. But the PMs I've been getting over the years I've been here are stacking up, and already past halfway. I panicked, and went on a sort of cleaning spree, reading through some of the PMs and deleting ones from the same thread.
     
    I did this at first to clear space for future PMs, but soon found myself happily reading the PMs I sent to friends and vice versa. It awoke so many good memories...Hak discussing his Hunters of the Dark comics...Dwin and I talking about BZPower, the Final Battle the RPG...Me, asking Moutekea about catalysts...that MoC of Lazok that Khote sent to me...The 'how could you' PM I sent to Hahligirl56 after her character, Alta, was killed...All those PMs that I and the other four mods of the Naruto RPG sent back and forth...I remember sitting late at night, typing up the rules for the RPG, rules and more rules...It took hours, didn't it?
     
    Haha, I even uncovered that PM that Black Six sent to me for posting one of those 'I'm the first one to post on this page' posts. I lost proto for that... ^^;
     
    And then I found this PM that I didn't even remember sending; it was this guest star request for an epic that Nidhiki99 (now Nid) was writing. I didn't even know that I knew Nid from before BZPRPG!
     
    And there was even this PM that Lady K sent to me! Imagine that, one of the BZP legends talking to me, just a normal member!
     
    Man, reading all those PMs brought me back...I feel so old right now. I've done so many things on BZP, some that I don't even remember anymore.
     
    Good times, good times.
  15. Lazzy the Spazzy

    My Trip To Japan

    By Lazzy the Spazzy,

    This is a journal depicting my trip to Japan. The entries span several days, from two days before the trip, to one week after. Keep in mind the dates listed are the dates that the entries are written, not necessarily the dates the events happened.
     

    JANUARY 29 
    There are two days until I leave for Japan. I’m nervous, a bit scared, and half of me doesn’t want to go. My parents scoff when I tell this to them, though; according to them, this is an honor.
    That’s what I thought, too, when I first got selected. I figured I was pretty lucky to be chosen as one of the 40 people out of the Boy Scouts of America to go to Japan as “ambassadors” (32 scouts, 8 adult leaders). This is our supposed title and job there, to strengthen foreign relations between the USA and Japan. But really, this is just a mix between a tour and an exchange program; we’re going to have a host family for 3 days there.
    But I digress. I was very excited when I first learned that I was chosen, about two months ago. Until, of course, when I started to prepare for my long absence from school (two weeks). Five subjects in which I have to make up two weeks’ material, plus a band concert in which I need to practice extra hard in. I’m doing my best to split up the work so that I’ll do some before I go, and some after I come back. It’s hard to keep track of, especially with juggling the tests, labs, and assignments I have to make up, plus preparing for the trip, etc.
    Today, as my mom was driving me to an outside orchestra, she lectured me about safety in Japan. The usual stuff: follow your group, don’t go off by your own, wear lots of layers of clothes so you don’t get a cold, be careful around strangers and in places you don’t know (which is basically all of Japan), keep your money safe so it isn’t taken by pickpockets, don’t get lost in the airport, don’t get lost in Japan, don’t get kidnapped, etc. I’ve heard this plenty of times before, so I wasn’t really concerned about that.
    What I was concerned about, though, was something else. My mom has the habit of using elaborate hand and arm gestures when speaking, to make her point. Now, this may be okay in a normal conversation, but it freaks me out when we’re driving on a highway, and my mom waves both her arms around instead of planting them both on the wheel. This turns into a thirty-minute long torture when going to orchestra and back.
    Basically, the whole thing will be 12 days. The first day, all us people scattered across the country will travel to Texas to meet as a group and stay a night. The second day, we’ll go by plane to Japan, and arrive the third day in Japan (third day, meaning the flight doesn’t take a whole day but counting the huge time difference, we’ll take a “day” to get there). We’ll meet our Japan counterparts, do some icebreakers, and spend the next 6 days or so touring the country together. The last three days, our group will be split up to stay with various host families, and on February 11th we’ll be flying back.
    I’ve packed my bags, but I’m scrambling to get all my schoolwork done before I go…the stuff I can do at least.
     

    JANUARY 30  
    I’m leaving tomorrow at 5 o’clock to catch my flight. I’m memorizing the stuff I need to do at the airport, step by step. Since I’ll have to go to bed early tonight, I’m going to hurry up and finish all the homework I can finish.
     

    JANUARY 31 7:15 A Pacific time 
    I’m on the plane to Dallas right now. My parents and I spent the night before packing. I went to sleep at about 11 PM, and woke very early this morning—4:30 AM. My mom was already up cooking eggs for me, so after getting dressed I went down to eat breakfast. After that we brought my stuff out to the car and drove to the airport. My mom helped me check in, but after that I was on my own. I was a bit nervous about going on my first flight alone, but I found my gate alright. I met one of the adult leaders at the gate, so I’m not as nervous now. He’s an adult, so he should know what to do…I hope. It would be bad if I couldn’t go to Japan after all.
     

    JANUARY 31 9:47 P Mountain time 
    Today was a long day. I don’t mean long as in boring, but fun. All the people I met are really nice and have a great sense of humor. We spent the day in Texas. Today is supposed to be a meeting day; since all 40 participants are from across the country, we gathered in a hotel at Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. For the first five hours after I arrived, we all met in the lobby, eating an excellent lunch provided by the hotel and getting to know each other. It was great meeting people from different parts of the country.
    At about 3 o’clock we went to the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas together. Some of the artwork there was amazing. I took a lot of pictures. After coming back, we had some more free time. Some of us wanted to go up to the pool on top of the roof, but apparently it was too cold and windy. I didn’t go up there myself, so I wouldn’t know.
    We had a great time anyway, past dinner and the first speeches by the adult leaders. We split up into patrols each named after one of the four major cities of Japan; my patrol was named Osaka. I got to be one of the two assistant patrol leaders in the patrol; we wanted to keep all three candidates happy. The guy who got to be patrol leader—we call him T-house—seems to be a hardcore scout. He has three or four silver palms and around 50 merit badges. Our senior patrol leader is even scarier: 102 merit badges, and he’s only a year older than me. Makes my 21 merit badges look pathetic in comparison.
    Our patrol decided to watch the Clinton-Obama debate that was going on at that time on a TV in the lobby. Speaking of which, a bunch of the soon-to-be-18-year olds and just-turned-18 year olds are angry that they’re going to miss Super Tuesday. I don’t see anything lost by going to Japan instead of voting, but then again I’m not at voting age yet. On the other hand, we are getting a really good deal out of this trip: 5 flights, two of them international flights, and stays at different 5-star quality hotels every night, at an extremely low price (most of it’s funded by the scout organizations of the US and Japan). I can’t wait to go to Japan. 13-hour flight, here we come…
     

    February 3 9:04 P Japan standard time 
    The flight yesterday was horrible. I was nauseous he whole 13 hours, and I threw up five times total—2 during the flight, and 3 right after. Japan made up for all that though. The hotel is the only part of Japan we’ve seen so far, but it’s awesome.
    We spent the entire day today getting to know the Japanese scouts and having discussions with them. I didn’t really get to know any of the Japanese scouts, it was partly because of a communiation problem—we had translators and everything, but none of us didn’t really make any friends.
    It’s also too bad that we’ll be saying goodbye to the Japanese scouts tomorrow—we only interacted with each other for a day.
    I’m kind of tired right now, so I’ll end my entry here.
     

    FEBRUARY 6 10:20 A Japan standard time 
    I haven't made an entry for two days now. I’ve been neglecting my journal duties because of laziness. Sumimasen.
    Speaking of, I’ve been neglecting my schoolwork, too; everything’s just tiring me out so much that I haven’t had the time. Once we get to the hotel and have dinner, I just go to my room, plop on the bed, and go to sleep. I’ll catch up with my homework eventually, though. We’re on the bullet train (shinkansen) right now, so I’ve done a bit of my French homework.
    Looking at my Feb. 3rd entry, I don’t think I’ve done justice documenting the great day we had with the Japanese scouts. So I’m going to start over and write about three full days. Here goes.
    We arrived at our Narita hotel in the evening of February 2. We were supposed to arrive at two in the afternoon but there was a 3-hour delay. Those airline companies need to get their stuff straight.
    Anyway, like I said in my 2/3 entry, the flight was pretty miserable for me. So we got to the hotel, and when we stepped off the bus, we saw this line of Japanese scouts in the hotel, clapping to welcome us in. It made us all feel honored, but at that time I had a bag of my vomit in my hands. It would be very awkward walking through the crowd like that. Luckily one of the other US scouts gave me a hat, so I could hide the bag behind the hat and hold it close so no one could see it (I didn’t wear the hat, of course; there was always the chance the bag would rupture, and…moving on…).
    Next we went to this huge room for an opening speech by a guest of honor from Ireland. I was still feeling horrible, so I couldn’t pay much attention, but the slideshow the guest showed us about scouts helping the world was touching. There were some photos about scouts volunteering after Hurricane Katrina, and the rest dealt with other countries’ disasters.
    The shinkansen is almost at Osaka right now, so I’m wrapping up my entry right now. Still three days to catch up on.
     

    11:09 A 
    Looking at Shizuoka flashing by through the window of the bullet train, it is amazing that Japan adapted so quickly from a feudal society to this in a little more than a century. It is one of the most urbanized places in the world, one of the leading countries in technology. It’s sort of weird how, in the supposed home of video games, manga, and the like, we haven’t come across any of that in our travels. But we’re not here to see any of that, we’re here to see Japan. So I won’t dwell on that.
    As you may imagine, all these cities makes it hard on the Japanese scouts to do scouting activities. But as we learned from the Japanese scouts Sunday, there are actually more than enough national parks across the country for the scouts to go to.
    We were split up into discussion groups the morning of the third. Each of the groups was made up of around half American scouts and half Japanese scouts. We discussed ways to improve international relations and the state of the world as scouts, and promote world peace.
    In the afternoon we met up together to write a recommendation to the World Scout Organization to improve the world. Many of us felt that this particular meeting was a waste of time; the recommendations started out with lots of vague suggestions like “improve communication between countries”. This made a few of us frustrated, because we just spent the morning making these vague suggestions into specific, realistic ways to improve the world. We did make the recommendation more specific, but it still took up a lot of time. I personally feel that we could have spent that time hanging out with the Japanese scouts.
    We really didn’t have any time to get to know the Japanese scouts; only a day. But that have school, so it can’t be helped. I would have liked to hang out with them more. We never forged any friendships due to the lack of time. That’s one thing I think could be improved.
    We did have some fun together at the exchange dinner, but that’s about it. We left early the next morning as acquaintances, not friends.
     

    2:19 P Japan standard time 
    I can’t believe how cool Japan is. The restaurant we went to had a make-your-own cotton candy machine. And the bathrooms have seats near the walls. It took a while for us to figure out that the seat was for when there was a line at the bathroom so you could sit down instead of having to stand and wait.
    Back to February 4…
    After saying goodbye to the Japanese scouts, we began the tour part of the trip.
    Ten percent of the population of Japan is in Tokyo, according to our tour guide. She and two of the Japanese leaders are going along for the trip. Our tour guide is very nice and gives us lots of cool information about Japan, even about superstitions. For example, it’s bad to give someone a comb as a gift. This is because the word for comb is kyushi, a combination of kyu, 9, and shi, 4. But kyu also means suffering, and shi also means death. Giving someone a comb, therefore, is wishing them a prolonged death accompanied with suffering.
    Went spent the fourth touring Tokyo. But first we made a courtesy call to the vice minister of MEXT. MEXT is short for MECSST, which in turn stands for the ministry of education, culture, sports, science, and technology. The trip there was very long; the traffic was horrible. BTW, Japan’s cars are really small and compact. They have to be for this kind of traffic, I guess. They also have different license plates that we use in the US.
    After MEXT, we had lunch, then went to the Senso-ji temple in Tokyo. The thing I remember most vividly about that was that there was this huge pot of incense behind the temple. Supposedly, if you waved the smoke from that pot over a part of your body, the incense was supposed to cure the problems in that part of your body. I waved the smoke on as much of my body that I could.
    After that we went to the Tokyo Observation Tower. The Tower looked a bit like the Eiffel tower except smaller (but still big) and red. There was this cool part of the floor on the tower that was clear; you would stand on the clear part of the floor and look down at Tokyo below you. Unfortunately, since it was night, the lights on the tower had been turned on, so I was staring into the lights and couldn’t see Tokyo well.
    After that, we went to our hotel for the night. This hotel’s rooms were really small and cramped. I’m stopping my entry here because we’re at Osaka castle now, our next stop.
     

    10:57 PM  
    I’m in my hotel room right now, the one in Osaka. We’re actually staying at this hotel for two full nights, so I don’t have to pack my stuff early in the morning.
    That’s not the reason I stayed up later than usual tonight. I usually sleep at 10 PM here, since there isn’t anything to keep me up. But this was the first hotel with a place for laundry, so I had to sit in the laundry room for over an hour. I would’ve done my laundry sooner, but our patrol was in charge of writing the blog entry for our site today, so that plus picking pictures for the day’s gallery took up a bunch of time.
    Interestingly, something happened while I was doing my laundry. In the nearby room there was this vending machine with drinks in it. Our senior patrol leader decided to buy a drink for one of the Venturing girls, and picked a cherry-flavored drink because she liked cherries. Of course, since the text on the can was all in Japanese, none of us understood what it meant. More on that later.
    He bought the drink and gave it to the girl, who came back for more because she said she liked it. Not suspecting anything, the SPL bought another one, and went back to talking to the other people there in the room.
    She soon came back with another girl. Both wanted another cherry drink, but the SPL said no this time. He eventually gave in to their threats and bought a third drink, warning them that this would be their last.
    They stole the money from him to buy a fourth drink. By now the SPL was worried; what was up with these drinks?
    By this time the girls had stolen (or taken by force) money from other scouts and had racked up 13 drinks total, 6 for one and 7 for the other. They were by now stacking the empty cans into pyramids, giggling randomly, and staggering around.
    Our SPL finally found the tour guide and asked her what the text on the can meant. She told him it was an energy drink. Mystery solved.
    Hopefully the girls will be okay tomorrow though.
    Yes, we fooled around a lot tonight. We had much more free time in the hotel today. That was because we only had two stops to go to: the Cosmo Tower and the Osaka Castle.
    This morning, we went to the bullet train station right in front of our Shizuoka hotel. How convenient…
    The bullet trains, or shinkansen as they call it here, are really fast. When we were waiting for our train, another train blew past us in a few seconds.
    The trains are cool in another way too. The chairs in there swivel around. Some of the other peple made two rows of seats face each other and started playing cards.
    We arrived at the Cosmo Tower at about 11:30. The Cosmo Tower is supposedly the World Trade Center of Japan.
    We went up to the 48th floor of the building for lunch. I wrote about the restaurant’s awesome features in my 2:19 entry.
    After lunch, we went up to the 55th floor, the observation floor. The observation floor was similar to the one in Tokyo tower from two days ago, but much higher up. We spent several minutes up there, then headed down.
    Next we went to Osaka castle. This castle was apparently the stronghold of both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, two of the three famous shoguns of Japan. The castle also contains the third largest stone in the world ever moved by man without aid from machines or other devices.
    Two of the floors in the castle/museum prohibited picture-taking; a shame, because those two floors had some of the better artifacts. There were ancient robes of that time, that I’m sure my mom would love. She likes designing clothes; I’m planning to get a dress of some sort for her. I’ve gotten gifts for the rest of the family already.
    After that, we met outside the castle, where I got some takoyaki, or octopus batter balls. The takoyaki were good, but I felt disappointed. I thought takoyaki would be mashed octopus, but it’s just a dumpling with a piece of octopus tentacle inside.
    Anyway, we got to our hotel and had a[nother] banquet soon after checking in. One person took 18 bowls of corn chowder in one sitting. It was fun watching him and cheering him on.
    Speaking of which, I made a piece of cotton candy back at the Cosmo Tower restaurant and ate it in one bite. Twice. My friends joked that I might throw it up, but I actually didn’t.
    That’s today, I’m going to sleep now. It’s really late. I’ll catch up on February 5th tomorrow.
     

    FEBRUARY 7 3:41 P Japan standard time 
    Deer are scary. I learned that on our trip to the Big Buddha shrine today. More on that later.
    We went to the Nara prefecture today. Our first stop was the site of the oldest standing wooden building (built c. 730 AD), Horyuji temple. After that, we went to the Big Buddha shrine, or the Todaiji shrine. It’s got the largest wooden building in the world, and the largest bronze Buddha statue in the world. There was this pillar with a hole through it near the floor that was the size of the Buddha’s nostril. We took turns crawling through it.
    Outside the temple were deer. Our tour guide said that the deer weren’t afraid of humans, but could be aggressive. I found that out when I tried feeding them special deer crackers in a nearby vendor. They crowded around me and started snapping at me, causing me to back up. Then they cornered me and started biting me. The trick was to run as fast as you can to where there are very few deer, and feed those deer. Some people put deer crackers in their mouths and made the deer snatch it out from there. I didn’t do that.
    After that we went to the Shinto shrine. We learned a lot about Shinto habits there, such as purifying yourself with special water that flowed through the area, and that spirits come down to earth through pointed objects such as jagged stones, etc. next we’re going to go to an area near our hotel with a bunch of shops.
     

    FEBRUARY 8 7:44 A Japan standard time 
    In three days we’re going back home. The end of the trip has kind of snuck up on me without my realizing it. I’m going to make the most of our remaining time.
    Everyone else on this trip has been great. I’ve made a lot of friends without realizing it, and I suppose I’ll miss them a lot when I get home.
    This afternoon the home-stay will begin. First, though, we have half a day left of touring.
     

    2:30 P Japan standard time 
    The first stop today was the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto. I took some nice pictures, but otherwise things were uneventful. We did meet some exchange scouts from Ireland, but I didn’t talk to them much.
    Next we went to a place called the Kyoto Handicraft Center to eat lunch. After that we spent about an hour shopping in the center. I got a yakuta (a kimono except less expensive) and some geta (sandals). I also got chopsticks and some dharma dolls, which have to do with feng shui.
    Then we went to the Sanjusangen-do, a Buddhist temple with 1001 statues of deities.
    Next we’ll be going to the Kyo-Mizu temple.
     

    FEBRUARY 11 10:40 A Mountain time 
    I’m at the gate to my flight home right now. I’ve just been through two flights in a row. Fortunately I haven’t vomited at all this time, partly due to some motion sickness pilss that a friend gave me. It’’s weird how when we left for Japan, we hardly knew each other, but we’re commng back as a family. I wondered how we came so close in such a short time. The answer, according to another of my new friends, is simple: we just didn’t have anyone else to hang out with. Ina place where the people you’re traveling with are the only ones who can communicate easily with you, you’d obviously become friends with them quickly.
    I’m going to try and finish documenting my trip before I get home.
    On Friday, our stop after the Big Buddha temple was the Kyo-Mizu temple. There were these fortune slips at the temple. You took your fortune, and if it was bad you left it on a rack outside the temple, which symbolized leaving your bad luck behind you. Fortunately I got a good fortune.
    After that we went to the National Scout Office in Kyoto for our host families to pick us up.
    Personally, I feel that my homestay wasn’t very good. We played videogames most of Friday and Saturday; we went out once in the morning of Saturday to the Kyoto observation tower, and once in the evening to an awesome barbeque dinner. The son in our host family and two of his friends treated me and my homestay partner, also my SPL; we must’ve eaten two cows worth of beef.
    Some of the other scouts are jealous of me because I got to play the new Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but when you play for 15 hours straight, it gets boring quickly.
    Sunday was much better. We went to a cook-out for our host family’s Venturing crew, where a series of interesting events ensued.
    We followed the same three people who had treated us last night, arriving at a pastry shop, where we met two other scouts who had been on the same trip. We started to catch up on events with our homestays, so we didn’t notice that we ended up on the subway.
    There, we saw a man with a video camera pointing at us, which was, admittedly, a tad creepy. One of us four scouts remarked, “Hey, I wonder if he speaks English.” Upon which the man extended a hand for a greeting, and said, “Nice to meet you, I’ll be the man filming you today.”
    Apparently we would be professionally filmed for the day. We looked at our host-family buddies, who told us that we were going to be cooking lunch with their Venturing crew.
    After we got there, we had an opening ceremony for the meeting, with the same man from before filming us, and a lady with a microphone. After the opening ceremony we had a brief snowball fight then began cooking lunch.
    While cooking lunch the film crew pulled us four American scouts and did interviews of us separately. We had to answer questions about how to improve the world as a scout, such as promote world peace or protect the environment.
    After lunch we had a real snowball fight, and made a snowman. An interesting note is Japanese snowmen are comprised of only two large snowballs whereas in America we use three.
    At about three o’clock, we headed to the hotel would be staying at in Kyoto (our last hotel!). The closing ceremony on Sunday evening went smoothly and uneventfully. After that we had one last meeting, then dispersed. I tried staying up to hang out with my friends but had to go to bed because I was too tired.
     

    11:29 A Mountain time 
    I’m going to finally catch up on the 5th of February. First we went to the Fuji-Hakone National Park. Some of us wore only swimsuits at the park, and ran around in the snow making snow angels and having snowball fights.
    Next we did some sightseeing and ate lunch, going on a cruise afterwards. We ended up at a hot spring place famous for its black-shelled boiled eggs. I think it’s also the site where Hello Kitty was created. BTW, according to a superstition, if you eat one egg your life extended 7 years, and two eggs will give you 14 years. But if you eat three the years are cancelled out.
    Next we went to our hotel; a very nice place, very expensive-looking.
    I’m going to miss all the friends I made on this trip. It was amazing; I can’t describe it any other way.
     

    FEBRUARY 18 5:19 P Pacific time 

    Closing comments 
    It’s been a week since I came back from Japan. I’m no longer suffering from jet lag, though I have now been overtaken with the other condition called teenage coma; 11 o’clock breakfast FTW.
    It’s hard adjusting to life with school again; I’m used to goofing off and relaxing without anything hanging over me. I also miss my friends; I feel like we were much closer than my friends at school and I. I suppose it comes from living and traveling together.
    One of my friends from the trip said that he always tries to find a purpose for everything he does. So I’ll do the same. I think there are in fact many reasons I experienced this trip. It’s to shrink my world a little bit more, let me learn about another people’s culture. I realize that I truly do have so many places I’ve never been.
    Obviously, one purpose was to make friends. Making connections with people is important. I think it’s healthy for me to go out every now and then and make new friends.
    I think this trip taught me that relationships are important. It’s important to establish friendships. As you interact with people’s whose lives are different than yours, it forces you to be more tolerant. Same with where I go. This trip shattered my misconception of the Japanese, exposed myself to a different culture.
    I’ve told my new friends to make sure to go to the next National Jamboree, since that’s the most realistic way we could have a reunion. Even so, some people will have graduated then, and no longer be able to participate in scouting. I might never see some of these people again.
    This experience, and the other recent experiences I’ve had, taught me to make the best of my time. Looking back at the week and a half together, there are so many opportunities I could’ve had to bond more deeply with the other scouts. Instead, I should hang out with other people as much as possible, and be more social than I am now.
    I really liked going on this trip, but if you read my incredibly long blog you would know that by now. Sayonara, you all.
  16. Lazzy the Spazzy
    TEAM 10
     
    Brief Team History:
    Team 10 is one of the most successful Genin teams; it is clear that Shikamaru put the right people in the same team, for its three members, Soratu, Ha, and Kikou, work as well together as brothers and are the best team in terms of teamwork. Team 10 has accomplished a surprisingly large number of high-level missions for a Genin team, and has largely met with success in completing them.
     
    SENSEI:
     
    Name: Hatake Zakiyu
    Member: All mods
    Age: 20
    Rank: Jounin
    Village: Konohagakure
    Background: Zakiyu was born soon after the attempted coup by Root to take over Konoha. During the early years of his life Zakiyu had little contact with his father, who was often away on high-ranked missions. However, when he was five years old, his father suffered a devastating injury in a mission (leaving Kakashi’s left arm withered and his Sharingan eye near blind), forcing him to leave the front lines. Kakashi and Zakiyu’s relationship improved since then, spending more time with each other. Zakiyu came to develop pride in his clan, looking up to his father especially as a role model. He advanced through the ranks through pure hard work (he did not have the genius intellect of his father), becoming a Jounin at the age of 19. Team 10 was the first squad he ever led, and he finds the experience fun, if at times frustrating. He recently began dating Saito Heira, a fellow Jounin who is in charge of a squad herself.
    Personality: Hatake Zakiyu is normally calm but can be fun-loving and has a surprisingly good sense of humor, often enjoying playing tricks on his colleagues. Despite this, he is serious in battle. Zakiyu has achieved much in his life through hard work, and that is thus his code in life.
    Appearance: Zakiyu looks exactly like his father, Kakashi, save for his Sharingan eye and his mouth-mask (his friends joke that it was the good-looking mouth he inherited from his father that won Heira over). Zakiyu dresses like a regular Jounin, except for a flak jacket; he opts to leave it off, exposing his black shinobi jumpsuit. Over it is strapped a sword-belt, extending diagonally from right hip to left shoulder. The Hatake clan’s tanto is in turn strapped to the sword-belt. Zakiyu carries scrolls on the sword belt as well.
    Abilities: Despite being Kakashi’s son, Zakiyu lacks his father’s trademark technique; the Sharingan. Instead, his abilities lie in electricity- and earth-oriented elemental jutsu, and his swordfighting abilities; Zakiyu inherited the broken tanto of his father.
    A unique trait of Zakiyu’s is his white-colored chakra. Although the Hatake tanto emits white chakra when swung, Zakiyu is the only known person to actually have white-colored chakra himself. However, if there are any special skills attached to that strange chakra, it is latent, for so far Zakiyu’s abilities are that of an average Jounin.
    Clan: Hatake; Zakiyu does not have the Sharingan of his father, as that Sharingan was surgically attached to Kakashi’s eye socket and not a real Kekkei Genkai.
     
    GENIN:
     
    Name: Heikishou Kikou
    Member: Zyglakky Lazzy
    Age: 14
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 2
    C: 3
    B: 2
    A: 1
    Personality: Kikou seems quiet and a bit shy to outsiders, but his friends know him to have a different side to him. Kikou is cheerful and has a determined spirit, and can be quite outgoing at times. He is also intelligent, and is good with numbers and abstract thinking, meaning he can quickly go through mental formulas and equations. He hates it when his teammates fight or argue, and tries to act as the voice of reason. Kikou’s hobbies include running and target practice, and generally likes to relax on his free time. He loves Misou ramen and most types of sweet food.
    Kikou lives in a large family, with a nuclear family of two parents, one younger brother, and one younger sister, and many relatives in his clan. Because of this background, Kikou feels most at comfort in large groups, which explains his natural fighting style that complements teammates and friends. However, Kikou finds it hard being the role model for his siblings, and a challenge leading and teaching them.
    Kikou is very close to his second cousin, Tsurijo, who he feels is the older sister he never had.
    Appearance: Kikou is fairly tall for his age (5’7”), with light brown hair that sticks up in the same direction as Kisame's does, and refuses to lie flat. Kikou’s eyes are deep blue, and his skin is peach-colored and slightly tan from his numerous missions. Wears a huge green jacket that holds various scrolls in its pockets. Kikou wears a black tight-fitting T-shirt underneath the jacket. Kikou wears khaki colored pants, and black leather boots. He places kunai holsters on both legs (ambidextrous), and has smoke bombs, light bombs, shuriken, and more scrolls in the pouch on his belt. His belt has several straps with scrolls in them as well, providing Kikou with a huge arsenal of weapons. Kikou wears standard shinobi sandals with fishnet “socks” reaching up past his ankles. Originally when he first received his Genin headband, Kikou wore it wrapped on his forehead, but during the Chuunin exams, Kikou wore it loosely on his neck instead.
    Fighting style/skills: Expert in ningu, presumably the best ningu user in his class (Seeing as not many others in his class use ningu often, it is unknown whether or not his weapons skill can be matched). Also extremely accurate and dexterous. When throwing kunai or other projectiles at unmoving objects, Kikou has a 100% hit ratio from up to 300 meters away, and the ratio decreases beyond that point. Kikou can hit moving targets 80% of the time. Kikou is also ambidextrous, though he prefers to use his left hand more often.
    Kikou is a mostly mid-range fighter, and uses combinations of Tobidogu and Soshuha to make several weapons attack the opponent from different directions at once while he himself stays out of range--this is a unique fighting strategy of his.
    Sometimes Kikou also first uses Doton: Dochyuu Eigyo no Jutsu first, so he can attack the opponent from underground. This adds another advantage, which is that he can attack the enemy relentlessly from all directions without fear of getting hit or getting his allies hurt, since his allies will have gotten out of range as well.
    His genjutsu skills are lacking in proficiency--however, Uchiha Soratu has taught him tips on how to deflect genjutsu, so he can block it if it is cast on him.
    Kikou’s forte is mid-range, though he is a passable fighter at close-range as well, usually wielding giant kunai or sickles in close quarters combat. He prefers to remain back from the main battle, assisting his two teammates (who are both close-range fighters) with barrages of projectiles to distract their opponents and allow Soratu or Ha to move in for the blow.
    Kikou is analytical in battle, constantly noting any weak points or openings in his enemy’s movements. He often relays this information to his two teammates, who can then exploit this to their advantage.
    Kikou has learned how to form elemental wind chakra, but so far only uses it to augment the blades of weapons. He has the capacity for earth chakra as well, but hasn’t learned how to form it, only using it for some of his jutsu.
    In team 10, Kikou provides a level-headed side in battle, being a sort of background fighter, mostly assisting his teammates as best he can. However, Kikou is very dangerous on in his own as well, and a force to be reckoned with. When fighting alone, Kikou usually alternates between close-range and long-range fighting, using Hien and Reppushou in conjunction to make his throwing weapons sharper and faster. When a fight isn’t going his way, Kikou tends to create a makeshift mountain out of his surroundings with Doton: Doryuu Jouheki. This leaves Kikou on top of a huge rampart of earth and his enemy below, giving Kikou a short time to recover from an attack, or setting the field up for his other earth technique: Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi. This causes an avalanche from the mountain he has just created, turning around the tables and putting his enemy on the defensive. To prevent from being caught up in the avalanche himself, Kikou often has his personal eagle summon, Kenta, get him into the air.
    Kenta is a valuable addition to Kikou’s fighting strategy, providing him with fighting assistance, diversions, a life-line in case he needs it, or even recon. Kikou usually has Kenta fly around the battlefield without participating in any actual fighting. This may not seem dangerous at all, but Kenta actually searches for traps or tricks that may catch Kikou off-guard; for example, if Kikou’s enemy is hiding somewhere in the battlefield and having a clone fight, Kenta would notice this and relay the information to Kikou. In this way Kenta acts as a second pair of eyes and covers for Kikou in the same way that Kikou covers for his teammates in team battles.
    One of Kikou's notable weaknesses is his inaptitude for blocking genjutsu, noted above. Although he has trained often to deflect genjutsu, Kikou is still lacking in that department.
    Kikou also lacks the strength and stamina required for efficient close-range fighting, even though he can wield close-range weapons expertly. Tenten made a point of training that, slowly improving Kikou's stamina. Kikou has also found a way to make up for his lack of raw strength; he concentrates chakra through his weapons to make them more durable and give them more force.
    Weapons: Growing up around weapons his entire life, Kikou had great exposure to them. As an Academy student, he could wield staffs and giant kunai proficiently, and continued to increase his skill with them as he progressed. He also learned how to wield a sickle before taking his Genin exam, and has by now trained enough to become an expert with it.
    Kikou began to use bomb-type weapons more often while learning under Tenten, such as explosive tags and pouches, and smoke grenades, but it is yet to be seen how this affects Kikou’s fighting style.
    Kikou has shown interest in learning a long-range weapon, but hasn’t yet.
    Kenta, Kikou’s personal summon is a white-tailed eagle with brown downy feather and a beautiful white tail. He also has tufts of brown feathers sticking out of his head into a “spike”, almost like hair. Kikou received Kenta as a chick, and trained him by attaching weights to his claws. Because of this Kenta has sufficient strength to carry Kikou and one other person, and still fly easily.
    Major Battles:
    1) Kikou, Ha, and Soratu vs. Zakiyu: This was set up by Zakiyu to determine the fighting styles and weaknesses of each person. Kikou stayed in the background and attempted to assist when he could, but could not keep up with Zakiyu's fast-moving ninjutsu.
    2) Kikou vs. Ha: This was a training battle between the two of them, but it was cut short before a clear victor was determined, as the weapons factory they were fighting in (Kikou’s clan’s factory) was being heavily damaged from their battle
    3) Kikou vs. Shadow Village Chuunin: This was just a chase from the roof of the factory to the main house of Kikou’s family; Kikou evaded the Chuunin’s attacks and managed to spring some traps of his own before his father stepped in and knocked out the ninja.
    4) Kikou and Ha vs. Fugama and Ling: This was a short skirmish before the battles broke into one-on-one fights. Kikou and Ha were cornered by long-range weapon attacks, and once they successfully countered them and lured the ninja out, they began one-on-one fights.
    5) Kikou vs. Fugama: Kikou fought against a Jounin of an unknown village, who was a genjutsu specialist. Therefore, Kikou was heavily outmatched, because of his lack of profiency in countering genjutsu. Luckily, using some tips that Soratu had taught him, he successfully repelled Fugama’s genjutsu assault and quickly incapitated him. However, Ling returned (he had been defeated by Ha earlier) and distracted Kikou long enough so Fugama could recover and summon his bull animals: Bjazi, a summon passed down from his former sensei, and Senjamaru, the king bull summon (equal to Gamabunta in strength).
    6) Kikou vs. Tsurijo: Kikou and Tsurijo demonstrated all that they had learned since last seeing each other, and the battle ended with Kikou’s giant kunai cut in half by Tsurijo’s chakra blade. Tsurijo was the victor.
    7) Kikou vs. Intaki: A very short battle in the desert near Sunagakure. A team of shinobi attacked Team 10, and originally Kikou and Soratu were fighting Eija. After Soratu used his improved Sharingan, however, Kikou began fighting Intaki. The team retreated soon after, so Kikou didn’t fight very much.
    8) Kikou vs. Ha: This fight took place during the training for Chuunin Exams. Ha made it into the tower in the center of the Forest of Death, where Kikou was training, and after Kikou taught the Tobidogu technique to Ha the two had a sparring match. The battle ended with Ha as victor, and afterwards the two exchanged notes and gave each other tips on ways to improve themselves.
    9) Kikou vs. Ha: After Tenten, Kikou's mentor, left on a mission, Kikou left the Forest of Death and encountered Ha once again. The two had a re-match of sorts, in which Kikou displayed his teamwork with his summon, Kenta. The fight ended with Kikou using a bomb to send the two falling towards the ground, making Kikou the victor.
    Team: Team 10, led by Hatake Zakiyu
    Relationships within team: Has great chemistry and strong friendships with both his teammates, Uchiha Soratu and Kumore Ha; has practiced extensively with Ha many times, and even developed a strategy with him, Epsilon Necrosis (This strategy has not been seen to its full extent, so it is unknown just how powerful or effective it is); recently, Kikou thought of a strategy that included all three members of Team 10 and took advantage of Soratu’s and Ha’s Sharingan Kekkei Genkai. Occasionally when Ha and Soratu get into arguments, as with who should lead the team, Kikou interrupts and stops the argument rather angrily.
    Outside of his team, Kikou considers Shawn a friend, often sparring with him and talking to him.
    List of jutsu: (not necessarily in order learned; shown with Japanese name first, then with English translation)
    1) Bunshin no jutsu/Illusion clone
    2) Kawarimi/Substitution
    3) Henge no jutsu/Transformation
    4) Doton: Dochuu Eigyo/Underground Projection fish
    5) Doton: Doryuu Jouheki/Earth Style Rampart
    6) Shunshin no jutsu/Body Flicker
    7) Kuchiyose no Jutsu/Summoning technique
    8) Soshuha/Manipulate Advancing Blades
    9) Fuuka Houin/Fire sealing method
    10) Tobidogu
    11) Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi/Stone Lodging Destruction
    12) Reppushou/Gale Wind Palm
    Clan: Heikishou: This clan specializes in fighting with weapons, including close-range, mid-range, and long-range. Almost all of the members of the Heikishou clan have wind-type chakra, to make their weapons sharper and deadlier; there are some exceptions, however. Some Heikishou clan members are able to use earth-type chakra as well as wind-type chakra from birth, but cannot mix them. Kikou is one of these exceptions.
    The Heikishou clan is also one of the largest producers of ningu, or ninja weapons, in Konoha. They own a large factory with innumerable shelves of weapons, including kunai and shuriken with sizes ranging from hand-size to as tall as an average adult, various cutting weapons of unique shapes and styles, clubbing weapons, long-range weapons like bows and arrows, flails, and more.
    Heikishou members tend to rely on weapons a lot in combat, wielding many different weapons in ingenious ways. Some are largely close-range fighters, like Kikou’s father with his sickle, some are mostly mid-range fighters, like Kikou, and some are even long-range fighters.
    Trivia: Kikou likes training in training ground 17.
     
    Name: Kumore* Ha (*Member of Uchiha clan; see Clan)
    Member: Necro
    Age: 14
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 2
    C: 3
    B: 2
    A: 1
    Personality: Having lost his father and seeming to be the cause of it, The few who know the truth about Ha's past would expect him to be a loner, And uncompassionate. However he usually has a rather easygoing and agreeable demeanor. Only his squad-mate Soratu, who suffered a similar loss in his past, knows about it, besides surviving family members. Often trying to be a peacemaker among his squad, He usually gets involved in the fight.
    Ha has a taste for Ramen, as well as a determination to become a skilled swordsman. Not easily startled, he isn't caught flatfooted by an ambush very often. When entering combat, unless for sport, such as a tournament, he is hesitant, and usually seeks a peaceful solution, often offering his opponents a "Last chance" to be captured before pulling the knife.
    Appearance: Black hair coming down in front of his face, His hair may seem untidy and unkempt, giving him a bit of a loner’s appearance, however the rest of what is visible of his face would make him seem more like a nerd than a warrior. His emerald eyes are hidden behind a pair of large, full-circle glasses that contain a deadly secret. The rest of his face is hidden behind bandage, but is not damaged, As on multiple occasions, in his team’s company usually, Ha has removed the bandages, usually for a jutsu requiring his mouth such as a fireball jutsu as well as for a meal. His peach-colored skin is tanned slightly as a result of much outdoor training, and its normal color is a light shade of tan as a result.
    Bandage covering his hands up to his knuckles, Ha wears a set of darker, Slightly earthy colours to help him blend in. His shirt is deep purple, His vest a dark shade of blue. His pants are an earthy shade of green, With his Konaha headband strapped to his lower left leg, The emblem facing out. His sleeves are rolled up halfway down his forearm, Where the bandage on his hand begins. He keeps a Katana hidden behind his left leg, And two large swords are on his back, Which he is learning Tobigodu to be able to keep as scrolls.
    Fighting style/skills: Ha tries to keep his Gen, Nin and Taijutsu in balance with each other, And is a potent fighter in each. His style is mainly short-range, However his speed allows him to close gaps rather quickly. Ha usually begins with a feint, As to get his opponents off-guard. He then falls back, Delivering a strong Taijutsu blow.
    Not knowing much Genjutsu, He does know some. He often uses his Water Clones in great amounts, Often sending them in rather than himself. A water specialist, He is strongest near a body of water, However has learned to take the scarce amounts of water in the air and transform it into usable water. He can only due this with Water Clones and to summon raw water without use in a jutsu at the moment. He prefers to end a fight quickly, And will, When all else fails, Use shots of Chidori to end the fight.
    Weaknesses: 1. While well-balanced, Ha does not specialize in any one area, Usually leaving his weaker than others in sed areas. 2. While he can close gaps fast, Ha is vulnerable when at a distance form his opponents. 3. Being a water specialist, Ha is at weakness away from water, With his Water clones being the only water-based Jutsu he does not need a body of water for. However, his water clones must remain 100 meters of the real body or Ha loses control of them.
    Weapons: Swords mainly. Though he often improvises, His weapon of choice is the Katana on his back, And he is also, Though not as much as with his Katana, Skilled with the larger swords on his back. In a pinch, Ha's glasses hold a deadly secret. When the thin wire frames are broken, The edges of the lens framing opens, Revealing spikes, Transforming the glasses into a pair of Shuriken. Ha does not actually need glasses, But uses these to seem weaker and so he has backup weapon if needed.
    List of jutsu: Suppose I'll start with what, As many of you from the original remember, Has become a trademark for Ha.
    1) Mizu Bunshin/Water Clone
    2) Water Prison
    3) Kuchiyose/Summoning: Orca Whale At the current time, Ha can only summon one, a small whale named Puchi.
    4) Tobidogu x2: Ha uses this with his two larger swords.
    5) Chidori
    6) Kirigakure/Hiding in Mist
    7) Body Double Jutsu (Custom Jutsu): With an unbroken line of sight for 3 seconds, The user can disguise themselves perfectly as another for one hour.
    8) Fireball/Goukakyu
    9) Kawarimi/Substitution technique
    Team: Squad 10. Team members: Uchiha Soratu. Heikishou Kikou Squad leader: Hatake Zaikyu.
    Relationships within team: Thoughts on Soratu: Similar to Ha in many ways, Yet seems quiet. His brother can be annoying, But he is a fun guy to be around, And a competent fighter. Thoughts on Kikou: A great friend, And skilled with weapons. Has sorta become like a brother after Ha spending months living with him while his parents are away. Thoughts on Zaikyu: A lot like his father, Kakashi Hatake, In many senses, As well as his outfit. Also was a good source of free Ramen until a deal was hammered out between the two of them.
    Clan: Uchiha, Family name changed to Kumore by Ha's birth father, Who is now deceased. Hopefully you know what a Sharingan is and does.
    Trivia: Ha often uses training ground 29, as it is near a lake and thus has a large water source for his jutsu.
     
    Name: Uchiha Soratu.
    Member: Greed The Ultimate Shield
    Age: 15.
    Rank: Gennin.
    Personality: Soratu is a very clam, and pretty lazy guy. He prefers to stay out of fights, and arguments. He is usually very nice to the people around him, unless they did something to make him mad, or annoy him. But it’s very hard to annoy someone like him. But at times, he can get very emotional, especially when it involves his former sensei, Amuzara Riazaki. And if he ever gets into a fight, he will fight with everything he has.
    He is also very smart, and knows how to handle a situation. And he doesn’t have many hobbies. You can usually find him training in the Uchiha compounds. But for some unknown reason, he likes to read the infamous Ichi Ichi Tactics novel series, despite being under age. But he reads the book in a mature way, and isn’t considered a pervert like Kakashi and Jiyara.
    Appearance: Soratu has smooth white skin, with dark blue eyes. He has dark black hair that is spiked up towards his back. He wears a dark blue long sleeve shirt with the Uchiha Fan symbol on the back. He also wears long black pants. He also wears lighting amplifiers for his arms and legs, for some of his ration jutsu’s. They looked exactly like Dosu's, except these thinner and lighter. The amplifiers are also black.
    Also, Soratu wears a face mask that is connected to a regular black tank top shirt under his long sleeved one. The mask covers his face from the bottom of his face, to underneath his eyes, just like Kakashi’s. Soratu is about 6ft 2”.
    Fighting style/skills: Soratu specializes mainly in Nin-jutsu. His gen-jutsu is a little above average genning level, and his taijutsu is at standard gennin level. He is also a fire/lighting chakra type user.
    Soratu is good at mid and long range fighting but, not as good with close combat, unless he is using his swords. He is also currently working on some close range nin-jutsu. His speed is also above gennin level.
    Soratu has no disabilities, and his body is in good shape. His weaknesses are going up against people who specialize in taijutsu, use water jutsu’s, or use wind jutsu’s.
    Soratu is good at tracking, thanks to the wolves he can summon. But so far, he has not had to use this skill.
    List of jutsu: n/a
    Weapons: Soratu uses two twin katana’s that are kept in black sheaths. The name of both blades is Kitsuki. If you placed the two swords on the ground standing up, they would go up to Soratu’s shoulder (That’s how long the swords are.).
    The blades of the two swords are obsidian black. In the middle of the blades is a dark red line that goes through the blade. On the sides of the red lines are the tips of the Sharingan tomones (There’s two on each side of the blade, and there at the end of the red line, to begging of the line.). The hilts resemble Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan. And the handle is long, with a good grip.
    Soratu learned how to use a sword from his father, a master of the sword, and the previous owner of the kitsuki swords, when he was very young. He has mastered the way of the sword, and in doing so, his father gave him the twin kitsuki blades.
    Team: Soratu is in Team 10. His fellow team members are Uchiha Ha, Kikou Heikishou, and his sensei is Hatake Zakiyu.
    Relationships within team: Soratu gets along pretty well with his team. Soratu and Kikou usually help out each other with training, and Soratu and Ha get into fights here and there. And Soratu considers Zakiyu a pervert for always trying to take his books. But they make a good team, and there team work is good.
    Clan: Uchiha Clan
     
    Comments:
    1) @Necro: While spell-checking and editing your profile, I noticed that you left out some of the lower level jutsu that you had at the beginning of the original RPG, namely Kawarimi and Henge. If you'll tell me specifically which E-rank jutsu you had so I can add that in...? You also need to add in a brief description of Pucchi's appearance; post it here.
    2) @Greed: I've sent you numerous PMs on this subject and you haven't obliged so far. I need appearances for your wolf summons and your twelve jutsu; preferrably before the Chuunin exams start, please.
    3) You may notice that, halfway through team 10, there are spelling and grammar mistakes. This is because, with so many profiles with their various spelling and grammar mistakes, I decided to go through all the profiles in the Word document I kept, and clean them up. The reason I stopped halfway through Team 10 was simply because I snapped; I'd already edited Teams 7, 8, and 9, and the Academy student profiles (including the current Teams 14, 15, and 16; back then they were still Acad students). Given the torture I went through, I hope you can forgive me of the various mistakes still in there. ^^;
     
    Anyway, there's Team 10 in all its glory. Team 8 will be posted next.
  17. Lazzy the Spazzy
    TEAM 16:
    TEAM HISTORY:
    Team 16 is a new team, having been only formed for a day. However, the team's members got along extremely well with each other, and exhibited great chemistry, completing a mission successfully on their first day together. Team 16 shows the most promise out of the three new Genin teams so far, and has been advancing quickly.
     
    SENSEI:
     
    Name: Yuuhi Tasare
    Member: All mods
    Age: 21
    Rank: Jounin (Genin team sensei)
    Village: Konohagakure
    Personality: Tasare has inherited the laid-back personality of his godfather (and father figure), Nara Shikamaru, though not to the extreme degree of apathetic aloofness. He loves puzzles and other games that challenge the mind, especially Shogi, and holds intellect and sharp wit to be key to shinobi battles.
    Tasare deeply admires his role models, especially Shikamaru, but unfortunately, has picked up negative traits of Shikamaru as well, such as the habit of smoking. Tasare gets along well with his teammates and comrades, and is often the mediator in arguments between friends. He is looking forward to mentoring his own Genin team, but harbors slight doubts about being able to manage as a teacher.
    Appearance: Tasare wears the standard Jounin outfit, complete with green jacket and black clothes. His shinobi sandles go up past his ankles, and his kunai holster is on his upper right leg. He carries a belt-pouch as well, which holds basic ninja necessities as well as a cigarette pack and a small ash tray. His face bears striking resemblance to Asuma's, but his hair is long and shaggy like his mother's, reaching almost to his shoulders. He wears his headband on his forehead.
    Fighting style/skills: Tasare has had Shikamaru’s trait of anticipating enemy moves ingrained into him, and thus his fighting style focuses on reading an opponent’s move and quickly devising a counterstrike against it. Tasare’s mental skills are nowhere near the level of Shikamaru’s, though he has been lauded as sharp for his age.
    Tasare focuses mainly on Taijutsu in battle, although he has a natural aptitude for Genjutsu as well, being able to “sense” when a Genjutsu is being performed on him before it takes effect. Tasare can also throw off enemy Genjutsu with considerably less effort than average ninja, but this does not hold true for higher level Genjutsu.
    Tasare is able to wield Genjutsu expertly himself, capable in all five fields of Genjutsu. He uses Genjutsu often in missions that require them, such as interrogation or infiltration.
    In battle, Tasare often starts with close-range taijutsu, fighting long enough for him to note his enemy’s habits or fighting style, then devising a counterstrategy to render the style ineffective. Tasare hardly ever uses Genjutsu in battles.
    Weapons: Trench knives are crucial to Tasare’s battle style. He learned how to use them from his godfather (who in turn learned them from Asuma).
    List of jutsu: Incomplete list: Jubaku Satsu; Unnamed Interrogation Jutsu; Kokohi no Jutsu; Kokuangyou no Jutsu; Kori Shinchuu no Jutsu; Flower Petal Escape; Flower Petal Dissolve; Magen Narakumi no Jutsu; Nehan Shouja no Jutsu; Katon: Kasumi Enbu no Jutsu; Katon: Haisei Kishou; Hien; Konoha Senpuu; Konoha Dai Senpuu; Konoha Gouriki Senpuu; Konoha Raiken; Konoha Kage Buyou; Konoha Shoufuu
    Clan: Yuuhi; Tasare is considered the same clan as that of his mother, according to tradition, though he holds traits from his paternal clan, such as a natural fire affinity.
    Trivia: Tasare was born on the same day that Uzumaki Naruto became the youngest Hokage in history. His mother was Yuuhi Kurenai, and his deceased father Sarutobi Asuma.
    Tasare’s overprotective mother, Kurenai, was the one who requested that Tasare substitute in as the Academy teacher while Shikamaru was organizing border patrols for the Fire Country. Kurenai hoped that Tasare would get some practice teaching, however Tasare did not, as Shikamaru returned to the Academy earlier than expected.
    Tasare’s Jounin mentor was Rock Lee; it was from him that Tasare picked up his taijutsu skills.
    Tasare has chosen training ground 56 for Team 16.
     
    GENIN:
     
    Name: Sunawara Shizake
    Member: Hydraxon of the Pit
    Age: 14
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 1
    C: 0
    B: 0
    A: 0
    Personality: Shizake is a laid-back quiet teenage boy that enjoys reading. He has a cool temper and doesn’t let a taunt aimed at him affect his external mood. He doesn’t hold grudges, and is loyal to his friends at the Academy. However, some other students see him as a social misfit. He is respectful to his teachers and enjoys learning from his teachers. He can be rather closed to those he views as annoying. Shizake also tries to treat girls with healthy respect. He doesn’t like fighting girls, preferring to run from a potential conflict with a female. However, when his friends are insulted, he is quick to speak up for them. However, his actions can be rather awkward around girls and makes comments which unintentionally offend them. On the inside, he is calm and collected, this aspect of his personality is also amplified to the outside, which can result in him ignoring people and focusing on details. He enjoys schoolwork, thinking tacticallyzs and plays games like Shougi, and Xiangqi. Some other hobbies of his include rock collecting, drawing (one day he hopes to train under a certain Konoha Anbu that uses his artwork in battle), and building small marionettes to entertain his younger siblings. He would like to join the ANBU in the future. His primary aim is to one day lead his clan and increase its reputation, size and overall degree of influence in Konoha.
    Appearance: Shizake has dark brown, almost black hair.His hair has a small, but noticeable spike in the middle, the hair is gelled upward creating a “dramatic” effect. Shizake keeps it at medium length. He is 5’9”, thin, and agile. His eyes are a golden brown, and he keeps his nose and mouth covered by a black mask. His skin is pale and smooth. The mask is connected to his long sleeved shirt, which is black with a small red spiral on his left sleeve. He wears a dark blue vest with a large neckband and his clan’s symbol adorning the back. Two cream-colored bands criss-cross across his chest. He keeps his chokuto strapped to his back angled towards his right hand. He wears long dark blue pants with a kunai holder on his right leg. Dark metal arm guards cover his forearms. He also has small earrings in both ears. Since his stricter taijutsu training, he has also begun covering his hands with bandages to protect them. Shizake’s shuriken and scroll pouch is attached to his belt, a finely multi-linked silver chain. He wears the standard shinobi sandals. Around Shizake’s neck is a small pendant, which is the Kanji for water, a gift from his parents symbolizing his clan’s affinity to water jutsu. He also wears black weight holders on both his legs (to make him train to increase his speed and let his Body Flicker technique get faster).
    Fighting style/skills: Shizake has above average chakra control and potentially high chakra levels. He specializes in genjutsu and ninjutsu. He has received clan training that assists him in stealth and how to assassinate an opponent with minimum noise. He is also at the beginning stages of his clan’s genjutsu training, as such, he can only dispel E to C level genjutsu. He often starts out a sparring match or battle by using the Hidden Mist Technique before using the Body Flicker Technique to approach an opponent swiftly, to cut short the time spent in hand-to-hand combat. His taijutsu is average, as such; he is working on improving his hand-to-hand combat skill. He lack of stamina; the cause for his taijutsu training, is one of his major weaknesses, as he tires easily during a prolonged taijutsu battle. He possesses his clan’s affinity for water jutsu, and also has an affinity for wind-based jutsu. However, he has received little training in his wind-based jutsu. Another weakness is that he is afraid of letting down his friends or clan, and is afraid of being surpassed by his peers. His cautiousness can also be a disadvantage in a fight that can give an opponent time to gain the upper hand. Shizake has learnt tracking, as well as outdoor survival skills from his clan. He also has photographic memory and is semi-ambidextrous. Although Shizake possesses an eye kekkei genkai, he has not yet awakened it. His has high mental strength, but at this point, he lacks large reserves of physical strength.
    Weapons: Shizake carries a chokuto, a straight single-edged sword (like a katana), made of the same chakra-friendly material as that of Sarutobi Asuma’s trench knives. He has been training with it for the past 4 years. However, he has not yet mastered how to infuse it with his natural chakra and is still only proficient with it in hand-to-hand combat. He uses it for short to mid-range attacks.
    List of jutsu:
    1. Illusion Clone Jutsu
    2. Substitution Jutsu
    3. Body Flicker Jutsu
    4. Hidden Mist Jutsu
    5. Henge/Transformation
    6. Suiton: Teppoudama
    Clan: Sunawara clan. This clan is relatively new and quite small, only having come to Konoha in the past 18 years. It is related to and led by, Ranmaru. Members of the clan possess a kekkei genkai that can create incredibly convincing illusions. However, it does not appear automatically, and must be awoken by a dangerous situation, before it can be used. It is similar to the Byakugan, and allows users to see through solid objects, have night vision, perceive someone’s “life force”, create illusions with chakra circulatory systems, and partially predict upcoming attacks. It can interfere with the workings of the Byakugan and can affect the ordinary vision of others. When activated the eyes glow red. This clan specializes in the art of swift and silent assassinations as well as the study of kekkei genkai based – genjutsu, water ninjutsu, and tracking. Most members of the clan are not taijutsu specialists. Their preffered fighting styles are genjutsus used to immobilize and confuse opponents before using close-range lethal ninjutsus to finish off the trapped opponent.
     
    Name: Mercuto Robert
    Member: Robo
    Age: 11
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 1
    C: 0
    B: 0
    A: 0
    Personality: Typically mild mannered and lazy, Robert prefers to do as little as possible. Was forced into the academy by
    his father who failed to be a shinobi. His mother and older brother (who were shinobi) died while trying to bring honor to the family, and that is the only reason Robert doesn't just quit. Will normally ignore bullying unless someone is picking on his short size, then he goes berzerk and often attacks the person making fun of him.
    Appearance: Appearance: green hair in a crewcut. Green eyes. One foot shorter than most kids his size. Favorite outfit is a black muscle shirt under a red t-shirt with baggy red pants. Wears black sandels with moss sown to the soles so its harder for him to leave footprints. Has pale skin that makes him look perpetually ill. wears a ring on his right index finger that has the symbol of his clan (A snowflake with a kunai in it) imprinted in it. Wears thin-framed glasses to correct his nearsightedness.
    Fighting style/skills: Specialized in ninjutsu, no aptitude for taijutsu, and stopped bothering to try genjutsu. Particular talents within bloodline are water jutsu. Fights at close and mid range, but cannot fight longrange due to nearsightedness. Small stature gives him excellent agility and maneuverabilty and speed. But, because of small stature, direct hits cause more damage. Robert heals slowly. Has a nerve disorder in right elbow that enhances sensations (pain) in that area to near cripling levels. Able to reduce breathing and heart rate to make himself completely silent. Combine that with his smallness, and he's great at sneak attacks and spying.
    Weapons: A single dagger that has been passed down through the generations of the clan. Whenever a clan member dies in battle with the dagger, a bit of his life essence is imbedded into the blade, making it harder and harder to destroy or dull.The handle is made with a sacred wood that helps focus (focus, not enhance or change) chakra.
    List of jutsu:
    1) Substitution jutsu
    2) illusion clone jutsu
    3) body flicker technique,
    4) [unnamed] Mizugakure
    5) Kasumi Juusha no Jutsu/Mist Servant
    6) Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Penguin
    Clan: Mercuto clan. The clan is small but thriving, but the bloodline is fading with every generation with the exception of the occasional person born with 'whole blood', or, born with all of the traits of the bloodline, like green eyes. No specialized style of fighting, but have a natural tendency to use water justus and have a great aptitude for them. They have an heirloom as well, a dagger that is passed down through the generations.
    The Mercuto Clan originated in Amegakure, in the Land of Rain. It was a very prominent Clan of the village, but was divided during the Civil War that ravaged the Land. The 'pure blooded' half of the Clan remained with Amegakure while the non-pure blooded half fled. It was the kindness of the Second Hokage that saved them, by allowing them to come and live in Konoha. Because of the 'blood-loss', the part of the Mercuto Clan in Konoha hasn't had much skill surface, leaving them in anonymity. In fact, there have been no successful missions completed above C-rank by the clan.
    Trivia: Rob’s birthday is August 21st. Rob’s father is named Mercuto Richard.
     
    Name: Uchiha Ukuru
    Member: Shard Esquire
    Age: 13
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 1
    C: 0
    B: 0
    A: 0
    Personality: A "punk" of sorts, very disobedient and rude at times, but only on the outside. However, Ukuru is helpful and considerate when need be, and has a strong conscience. However, Ukuru is very gentle and kind with animals, especially the robin who lives on the tree outside his window. Ukuru cannot bring himself to kill, no matter what the circumstances. During a battle, Ukuru is in total focus, to the point of ignoring just about everything arond him. Ukuru is also a very light sleeper. Ukuru is very interested in smithing, and would go into it for a career, if he was not a ninja. He can also
    Appearance: Ukuru is about 5'7". He wears baggy shorts with a belt, and chain down the side, with a black tshirt. Ukuru's left arm and leg are bandaged, like Neji's were, as he had a large tattoo on both arm and leg. The tattoos are 6 black lines intertwining multiple times, with a black rose in the foreground. Ukuru's eyes are the normal Uchiha black. He also has a tan, but it isnt too deep. His skin is smooth, and is tattooed with a thorn band across his upper right arm. His hair is grown straight down, and is very shaggy, going to his shoulders. His hair is also highlighted with dark red, and has is spiked down in the back and bangs. His ninja sandals are like normal, except have the Uchiha Fan imprinted on them. He has fingerless gloves, think Kakashi's, and wears his kunai on his right leg. Ukuru has an extra pouch for his bomb tags, also on his right leg, because he uses them a lot. He wears a greyish jacket on occasion. (Picture coming soon.)
    Weapons/Fighting Style: Ukuru has no fighting style, per se, but fights at midrange. The chain on his shorts functions as a close range whip, and is much longer than it looks. He has Fire Element chakra, and uses bomb tags with special skill. His fighting style is a "Float like the Butterfly, Sting like the Bee" one, and his battles always start with a Bunshin or two for reconnaissance. After the Bunshin, he uses many shuriken and bomb and smoke tags as a distraction. His weaknesses are skilled Taijutsu users and Genjutsu in general. Ukuru has almost no defences against Genjutsu, so he is currently training extra hard. Ukuru can also hold his own in Taijutsu, but is quickly overcome by the likes of Lee. (At the start of Naruto 1, like when he beat Sasuke before the first exam.)
    Jutsu:
    1) Kawarimi
    2) Kage Shuriken
    3) Illusion Clone
    4) Kanashibiri (Temporary Paralysis)
    5) Henge no Jutsu
    6) Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu
    Clan: Uchiha. His father was away on a mission during the massacre, and was spared. However, his father's wife was killed in the massacre. He later remarried and Ukuru was born. Itachi later discovered this and came back for Ukuru, but his parents were killed instead, which is why Ukuru won't kill.
  18. Lazzy the Spazzy

    My Grandfather

    By Lazzy the Spazzy,

    It was bound to happen. My grandfather’s health was deteriorating already, mostly due to his constant smoking during most of his life.
     
    Still, it came as a shock when my mom stumbled up the stairs, crying and saying that she had just received a phone call from the hospital/senior center my grandfather was at. His heart had failed during the night.
     
    I didn’t really know my grandfather. He lived in Taiwan the later part of his life; my parents had immigrated to the US, so much of my extended family was still in Taiwan. I had met my grandfather a few times when we visited him or vice versa; on one of his visits to the US, he beat my siblings and I in a soccer game single-handedly.
     
    His soccer skills were amazing. My mom said that during his prime, he had been considered for the National team in China. But during that time World War II started, and my grandfather turned down the offer to become a soldier.
     
    That’s another thing I know my grandfather for. He was a war veteran. He never talked about his experiences in the war (but then again, you can’t really talk about these things, can you?). He must have had very traumatizing experiences in that war and the war after that (the Kuomintang-Communist War), because after the war he fell into habits of smoking, drinking, and gambling. His life went downhill from there.
     
    My grandfather grew up in the midst of war. There was one incident that occurred during my father’s mid-teens. My grandfather’s father was sick and Japan was attempting to invade China. My grandfather had to take his younger siblings with him (he was the oldest) and abandon his dying father in hopes that he and his siblings could escape. From what my mom tells me, one of his siblings was captured by the Japanese. He never heard from him again.
     
    My grandfather’s gambling habits kept my mom in poverty during her early life. He was almost never home at night; playing mahjong and other gambling games and throwing away his money. My grandmother was forced to take a job of her own, and even that couldn’t hold up the slack; some of the debts on my mom’s family still haven’t been paid back today.
     
    My grandmother. She was stubborn, and strong-willed; there were many arguments between grandpa and her. My mom remembers them all too well.
    My grandmother landed in the hospital shortly before my grandfather did; a blood vessel near her brain burst out of stress. That happened about 5 years ago. My grandmother got amnesia, and her health’s been in steady decline since.
     
    For all their fights, my grandfather still cared about her, staying with her long hours in the hospital, and when they moved her, the senior center. He became a permanent resident there several months later; his addiction to smoking had finally caught up to him.
     
    We visited them the winter of 2005; that was the last time I saw him. He looked fine, better than my grandma at least; I was more worried about her life than his.
     
    A year after we came back, surgery was performed on my grandfather. They gouged out a hole in his throat and inserted a pipe into it for respiration. He couldn’t talk after that. I remember thinking how regrettable it was that I could never ask about his war experiences. Now he’s dead. Same difference, if I think about it that way. But I try not to.
     
    He died two days ago; the senior center he was in dumped his body in a mortuary. He doesn’t even have the money for a proper funeral ceremony. My mom doesn’t know what to do. She’s going over there in two days.
     
    My grandfather was a failure at most of his things in life. He smoked, drank, gambled…was never around to take care of his children. He was the cause of money problems for my mom’s family, the reason why my grandmother had to struggle so. Still, he’s my grandfather.
  19. Lazzy the Spazzy
    Since my first post in the RPG is already too big, I have no room for the profiles for characters. Keeping them in a Word Document and showing them to the members when necessary has worked well so far, but I think putting the profiles in an easily accessible page would be easier, so in the next few days I'll be putting profiles by team in my blog, starting with Team 7 and their substitute teammate.
     
    TEAM 7:
     
    Brief history of team:
    The team got along very well, the three Genin of the team becoming close. However, Inuzuka Mimi, Takeshi's girlfriend, recently disappeared from the village, leaving an empty spot on the Team. Shortly after, Urbaen Zahimaru, another member of the team, moved to Amegakure for diplomatic reasons. This has left the remaining original member of the team, Ishimaru Takeshi, and the team's leader, Nagare Seita, emotionally devastated. A Genin from Ame, Reigan Aster, moved to Konoha to take Zahimaru's place, and another Konoha Genin named Hyuuga Hiryuu has recently filled in for Inuzuka Mimi temporarily, but it will take a while for Team 7 to recover from this loss.
     
    SENSEI:
     
    Name: Nagare Seita
    Member (s): All mods
    Age: 24
    Rank: Jounin
    Missions completed: Unknown
    Village: Konohagakure
    Appearance: Seita is 5 feet 10 inches, and has excellent muscle tone. He is in peak physical condition, which shows.
    Seita wears the standard Chuunin/Jounin flak jacket, with a black full-body jumpsuit beneath. The tight fitting jumpsuit extends up Seita’s neck, and down to his wrists and ankles, over which he wears standard ninja gloves and sandals. Seita has a shinobi belt complete with a belt-pouch, and wears his kunai holster on the upper right leg. Seita wears his Konoha headband loosely around his neck.
    Seita has a high forehead, and lets his silver-blond hair fall down to his shoulders. His eyes are brown.
    Background: Seita had a fairly normal life, becoming Jounin only a year before taking on his first Genin team. He has witnessed sad events with his Genin team, however; his student, Mimi, and her ninken Fang, disappeared two weeks before current time. He lost his other student, Zahimaru, a short time later when he left for Amegakure to train.
    Personality: Seita has become gloomy and depressed with the loss of two of his students, but has promised to himself that he will treat Takeshi, his remaining student, like all three of his students and train him even more vigorously. This may be a way of dealing with his loss.
    A small part of Seita feels like Aster is intruding on Team 7, but he wants to do his best to make Aster feel welcome here, and thus tries to forge a friendship between Aster and Takeshi.
    Seita does not allow his feelings to affect his fighting…most of the time. He is fiercer and more emotional now in battle, possibly to drown his sadness in battle.
    Abilities: Seita is a mid-range fighter orienting himself with water ninjutsu, mainly using straightforward techniques in quick succession to eventually catch his opponent off-guard. Seita often used this to set the field up for his students’ finishing moves, providing a deadly one-two combination.
    However, after the loss of two of his students Seita became more of a close-range “blitz” fighter, using water clones to attack his opponent alongside him and deal as much damage as possible. Because of this less strategic fighting style, Seita leaves many openings for his opponent, which could be fatal in certain situations.
    In terms of weapons, Seita is passable with a katana, wielding it with two hands in a pseudo-kendo style. In the past he never used it much, however, relying on his group-oriented fighting style. Seita uses his katana more often now since the loss of his students.
    Seita has ten tanks of water sealed in the scrolls he carries. The tanks are as tall as Seita himself and the water inside is infused with Seita’s chakra. Seita uses these tanks of water when there is no nearby source of water for his jutsu. However, some of the more powerful techniques that require more water, such as the Daibakufu jutsu, cannot be fully utilized even with Seita’s tanks of water.
    List of jutsu: This list is incomplete, as Seita has many more jutsu that he does not often use, but this list is of the jutsu that Seita commonly employs in fights:
    1) Daibakufu/Great Waterfall
    2) Hahonryuu/Destruction Torrent
    3) Konbi Henge/Combination Tranformation
    4) Mizu Bunshin/Water Clones
    5) Mikazuki no Mai/Dance of the Crescent Moon (note: Seita uses this technique with Water Clones instead of Shadow Clones)
    6) Mizuame Nabara/Starch Syrup Capture Field (Seita used this jutsu particularly often to set his enemies up for a more direct attack from his students; has been using this jutsu less and less)
    7) Mizu no Tatsumaki/Tornado of Water
    8) Mizukuri no Yaiba/Sword of Draining
    9) Mizurappa/Violent Water Wave
    10) Shunshin/Body Flicker
    11) Suigadan/Water Fang Projectile
    12) Suijinheki/Water Encampment Wall
    13) Takitsubo no Jutsu/Waterfall Basin
     
    Less commonly used jutsu:
    1) Bunshin no Jutsu/Illusion Clone technique
    2) Kawarimi/Substitution
    3) Henge/Transformation
    4) Meisai Gakure no Jutsu/Camouflage Concealment
    5) Mizu no Muchi/Whip of Water
    6) Teppoudama/Bullet
     
    GENIN:
     
    Name: Reigan Aster
    Member: Kakumei
    Age: 14
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 2
    C: 0
    B: 1
    A: 0
    Personality: Aster is a calm person, he is polite and a gentleman. It is unusual for him to be angry or upset. However, when provoked, Aster will typically grind his teeth or bite his lip. He was raised to be quite, and will always do so.
    Unlike his older brother, Aster is an optimist, always looking on the bright side, often saying things like "It could be worse" or "Think of it like this..."
    Appearance: Aster has mid-length black hair and pale skin. He is an average height of about five feet.
    Aster's appearance changed frequently as he arrived at Konoha until he found a 'look' that suited him and the environment he was in. He now wears a high collared black shirt, which hangs below the waist, two sashes with two weapons pouches strapped to them.
    He wears standard black Ninja bottoms and sandals. White tape is wrapped around his ankles and wrists.
    He now also wears his head band on his forehead, as opposed to around his neck.
    Aster's hair has also been cut since he arrived at Konoha, it is much shorter, but still spiked at the back, much like a younger Madara.
    Aster’s original appearance
    Aster's current look (from behind); A (poorly) edited image of young Madara
    Fighting style/skills:Aster is a mid-range fighter, using tricks and traps. In some cases, he will use his monster of a sword Youkou.
    Weapons: Average Ninja weapons [Kunai, Shuriken, Sickles etc]
    Aster carries a scroll on his back which contains both his weapons, his Sword and currently unknown weapon.
    Large sword—the sword's hilt is wrapped in a crimson tape. The guard is silver. It is also thick and heavy. The blade is black.
    Team: 7
    Relationships within team: He is on good terms with his new team mates.
    List of jutsu:
    1) Onikaze No Jutsu - Art of Demon Wind—Allows the user to move at a much larger speed. Gravity around user also lessens, making heavier objects lighter.
    more to be revealed
    2) Senukiyome No Jujutsu - Magic of Thousand Lives Eye
    3) Kawarimi No Jutsu - Substitution
    4) Bunshin No Jutsu - Art of Clones
    Clan: The Reigan Clan's orgins are in Amegakure. Each Generation of the clan chooses his or her own fighting style, this is what makes them so unique. Most are born with Fire Element Chakra however.
    The Reigan Clan's history is long, However, it's Kekkei Genkai is only a century old. It is unknown where exactly it came fro, but Mitcheru, heir of the clan, believes that when on a mission, a few of the women met Uchiha Madara. His newly formed Mangekyou Sharingan was passed down to the next generation, if somewhat weaker. It evolved over time into what it is known as today. The Senukiyome. It is rare to have this ability, only 5 people in the entire clan's history ever have fully awakened it. Mitcheru is one of them.
     
    Name: Ishimaru Takeshi
    Member: Allen Walker: Soldier of Life
    Age: 17
    Rank: Genin
    Missions completed:
    D: 2
    C: 5
    B: 1
    A: 0
    Personality: Intelligent, and brave. He likes to kick back when nothing important goes on, but he enjoys a good sparring match.... at least, that was before Megumi Inuzuka, his girlfriend, and her sister, along with Mimi's Ninken, Fang, had disappeared. Now he's extremely emotional on the subject, and tends to snap when thinking about them. He is more isolated now, often keeping to himself for days at a time.
    Appearance: ht-6'2"
    wt-183 lbs
    skin color- light tan (I would say....Sakura's skin color)
    texture- da *BEEP* sorry.....
    ...I would say smooth...
    hair color- jet black
    hair style- it's combed back, so it looks like the Sandaime's hairstyle
    eye color- dark brown, almost black.
    accessories;
    left ear- an earring with the symbol of the Rock Village (three rock piled together)
    right ear- Konoha symbol earring
    face- he sometimes wears glasses (SUN glasses XD )
    hitai-ate loc- Left ankle (Rock village, not Konoha; thanks to my old profile
    pouches- none; his pockets are big enough to act as the pouches, and are locate on the sides of his shins. shuriken/kunai on his right leg, scrolls on his left.
    clothes;
    chest/upper torso- long-sleeve shirt, black. Ishimaru clan symbol on the back (I have to get that on my Maj, don't I ^^; )
    legs- light grey jeans, reaching his ankles
    feet-standard Ninja sandals
    hands- fingerless black gloves
    no belt
    Fighting style/skills:
    specialty- Dojutsu (earth ninjutsu)
    uses Earth Chakra; currently trying to learn to control Lightning chakra in order to cancel out his weakness
    uses all ranges, but is predominantly a short-range fighter.
    because of the limits to the human body, his strongest techniques are in short-range
    he has no disabilities, allowing him to try out a lot of things, but his affinity for earth has kept him from branching out too far.
    normally uses Taijutsu, and progresses to ninjutsu when the situation demands it.
    weaknesses; his body can only go for so long, like everyone else.
    wind jutsu are his weakness when it comes to fighting. and... he likes the women. He'll try to be chivalrous, more courteous and such.
    special skills; information gathering; thanks to his Kekkei genkai (explained later.)
    Weapons: He has Seki Mugendai, an heirloom in his clan. It is a staff with a weight on each end, stylized to make the entire staff look like a goblin. H normally uses it for mid- to- long range attacks.
    Team: 7
    Megumi Inuzuka (former; location unknown): Mimi and Takeshi were lovers, but she and her siblings mysteriously disappeared from the village, and he has lost all contact.
    Zahimaru Urbaen (former/ training in another village for an unknown amount of time)- they were like brothers, and at the same time, rivals. Takeshi knew he was going to leave, but it struck him deep all the same.
    Sensei - Seita
    Relationships within team: *points) please read the above!
    List of jutsu:
    1) Kawarimi/Substitution jutsu
    2) Henge/Transformation Jutsu
    3) Bunshin/Illusion Clone Jutsu
    4) Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Goblins
    5) Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu/Earth Clones
    6) Doton: Restudo Tensho/Revolving Earth Split Palm
    7) Kuchiyose: Bakemono Meiro! –This jutsu creates a stone wall around the user.
    8) Buin no Enma--This jutsu can transform Takeshi's Seki Mugendai in various ways, including size, length, and shape (Note: Takeshi has not mastered this to its full extent)
    9) Bakemono Seme- Buntai--This jutsu is a variation of the summoning technique; instead of summoning only one goblin, Takeshi summons five smaller goblins that can in turn perform a jutsu of their own (below)
    9a)Obake-Taijutsu: Mini-Tama Danmaku-This jutsu is performed by Takeshi’s goblins. The goblins roll into spheres and roll around, slamming into enemies.
    Clan: Ishimaru Clan- this clan has been around for a long time, and is one of Iwagakure's oldest clans; no one here has heard about it much because they tend to be secretive, and are one of the lesser known clans. Nonetheless, they are a strong, healthy clan, sticking to the clan house. (Takeshi had to take care of his younger siblings and cousins much of the time ^^;; ) their specialties lie in keeping hidden, but also their clan-specific Taijutsu, Yontensuryu (Four points style), which utilizes a firm footing in order to make one's self well defended. Their Kekkei Genkai is the Eichi-Me (Eye of Wisdom). when activated, the user's iris changes to a diamond/ four-pointed star shape, while their eye color most frequently becomes gold/yellow.The Tomoe take the form of Kite-like rhombus shapes, in between two main points of the Iris.
    This doujutsu allows the sense of sight to be enhanced allowing the user to focus on things in their field of vision better. This Doujutsu has four levels. The user's current level of power is indicated by the number of Tomoe. Each power goes on to the next level (EX. lv 4 has all the powers, but each has to be activated separately):
    lv. 1) grants more focus to your field of vision.
    lv. 2) can see farther distances than the normal human eye can see
    lv. 3) allows the user to memorize any document that he/she looks at with these eyes.
    lv. 4) nothing noticeable for about a month after it's achieved level four, but the user eventually gains access to an even stronger version of Eichi-Me, called Go-Tensu Me (Five pointed Eye), which gives the user the ability to see Chakra... it's kind of like the Sharingan, but not nearly as strong... I would say that it focuses the user vision enough to see the particles that make up one's chakra, allowing them to see the flow of chakra outside their opponent, making them appear to have an aura around them. The major downside to this level five is it immensely eats away at chakra, and when is canceled, the user could possibly fall unconscious from exhaustion.
     
    Name: Hyuuga Hiryuu
    Member: .’~Advent Child~’.
    Age: 17
    Rank: Genin
    List of missions completed:
    D: 2
    C: 2
    B: 2
    A: 2
    Personality: Hiryuu can best be described as a daydreamer, content to, for the most part, remain aloof and far away from most of society, being allowed to silently observe what goes on around him. This leads to some people mistakenly calling him lazy, but Hiryuu is anything but. His level of commitment to his friends is nigh indestructible, his loyalty unshakable. He's somewhat well like for being one of the few Hyuuga who has a large amount of disgust for those with a cold or high and mighty attitude, but the usual Hyuuga arrogance tneds to take hold of Hiryuu from time to time, especially in the presence of most Uchiha. His arrogance skyrockets in the presence of his rival/friend, Uchiha Shawn.
    Appearance: Hiryuu stands garbed in a white kimono, left untied to freely flow open, over a black fishnet shirt, and black hakama tucked into white bandages up to the top of his shins. His arms are entirely covered in black bandages for the most part unseeable due to the sleeves of his kimono. The bandages cover ceremonial tattoos, placed on him as a rite of passage when he became old enough to be inducted into a set of young Hyuuga being trained in an ancient style of Hyuuga martial arts, the Mugenken (Infinte Fist) in order to better protect the family bloodline. His almost-black, indigo hair hangs to his feet, and is usually braided in order to keep it out of his way. Black sandals sit on his feet, and a kunai holster sits on his right thigh. His headband hangs comfortably around his neck.
    Fighting style/skills: Hiryuu mainly fights using a combination of the Jyuuken (the Hyuuga stle taijutsu), and the more common martial art, Wing Chun, combining the Jyuuken's precision with Wing Chun's hard hits and great speed. Hiryuu as a whole specializes at short to mid-range, as he prefers to keep his enemy away with powerful jutsu, and tire tem out long enough to rush in, and beat the opponent into submission. He's currently beginning to learn Iaido (The art of the quick draw), to better wield a blade he recently aquired, Amatsuryuu no Tsurugi. He has two chakra types, Water as a primary, and Wind as a secondary, and truly aspires to be an elemental jutsu master, as it's common knowledge that just because a person will do better with jutsus of their chakra type, doesn't mean that they can't use other elements. Hiryuu's especially dangerous using the Jyuuken, as he's double jointed in many places, mostly the joints in his arms (his elbows, shoulders, and index, middle, and pinky fingers are all double jointed.), as well as him having hyper-extending shoulders. Hiryuu's physical attributes are mostly notable for his speed and durability, though his strength is somewhat lacking when not using chakra. His biggest weakness is genjutsu, as despite his Byakugan being able to see through most genjutsu, without it, he has no genjutsu defense whatsoever. He also doesn't have very large chakra stores, forcing him to use devastating jutsu sparingly, or otherwise suffer from fatigue caused by loss of chakra. Finally, he doesn't have many skills beyond taijutsu and ninjutsu, and he's pretty much a sitting duck once his arms are incapacitated. He's moderate at tracking, thanks to his Byakugan, which has far above average optical range, but he hasn't trained himself in tracking beyond the basics, and thus is better suited to lookout or rear guard.
    Weapons: Hiryuu, on rare occasions due to recent training, utilizes a blade called Amatsuryuu no Tsurugi. It is a blade containing an ancient dragon spirit, and will only be wielded by those it deems worthy. It sat in a unused room in the Hyuuga complex until Hiryuu stumbled upon it. It's not particularly spectacular looking at first, seeming like a regular handguard-less nodachi with an ivory sheath, the blade of which is inscribed with "Amatsuryuu no Tsurugi" in appropriate kanji. When unsealed by the wielder, the blade changes, the back edge shifting and expanding to look like fire, and the blade changing from bright silver to deep royal blue. chakra constantly flows visibly around the blade, and the chakra influences the user, causing his eyes to glow a bright blue, and his pupils to become slitted. This, strangely enough, is not visible in Hiryuu, as his Byakugan eyes somehow negates that effect. This doesn't mean he isn't effected, as anyone who can see chakra can see the effect the blade has on Hiryuu's natural chakra. The blade has a final form that Hiryuu has yet to figure out how to unlock.
    Team: Team 9 (temporarily filling in for empty spot on Team 7)
    Relationships within team: Hiryuu only has a passing relationship with Thanan, as Thanan tends to keep to himself. He's more familiar with Slota, and sees him as a friend, though since he's also more often than not off by himself, Hiryuu doesn't see him as a best friend, but more a very good comrade.
    List of jutsu:
    1) Henge no Jūtsū
    2) Būnshin no Jūtsū
    3) Kawarimi no Jūtsū
    4) Hakkeshō Kaiten
    5) Hakkeshō Dai Kaiten
    6) Hakke: Rokūjūyon Shō
    7) Hakke: Hyakū Nijūhachi Shō
    8) Hakke: Sanbyakū Rokujūichi Shiki (Semi-Mastered)
    9) Mūgenken no Jūtsū
    10) Mūgenken Oūgi: Tenryūsho
    11) Kūchiyose no Jūtsū
    12) Bakuhatsu Fuin: Kai
    Custom jutsu:
    Mūgenken no Jūtsū
    A technique that, at first glance, creates a film of translucent chakra with wisps of aura rising off of it over the arms of the user through continuous chakra expulsion. The continuous emitting and focusing of chakra from every tenketsu in the user's arms creates controllable "chakra afterimages" That for the most part follow the user's arm's every move (the after images number from 7 to 10 afterimages on each arm). The afterimages are fully capable of striking and harming an opponent, and the user's arms, as well as the chakra arms are stronger than usual due to the chakra enhancing the strength of the user. Once activated, the technique is usually used in combination with the Jyuuken to achieve maximum effect, and thus has many techniques in addition to this one. The technique has two further stages of strength, as of yet unrevealed. The biggest weakness to this technique is that it's entirely reliant on the user's chakra to remain active, and constantly drains from the user's stores to stay cohesive enough to cause damage, thus, this technique is recommended to be used by someone with either elite jounin level chakra stores, or a secondary/chakra enhancing source. (This technique was used by Hiryuu during his fight with Shawn in the Chunin Exams.)
    -------------------------------
    Mūgenken Oūgi: Tenryūsho
    The full extent of the first form of the Mūgenken, the user channels large amounts of chakra through the multiple hitting hands, using them as "gateways" to expel chakra, then guides it into one palm, creating a massive focused ball of compressed energy, which is then further focused into dragon shape. The dragon shape is used due to the dragon shapes ability to mangle upon first contact, then, as it tears through the opponent's chakra pathways, shred with it's scales, claws, and spines. The user then strikes with the palm at high speed, and releases the focused dragon into the opponent, making no outward injury aside from the bruise from the palm strike, but causing massive damage to an opponant's insides and chakra pathways. The multi hitting ability of the Mūgenken further strengthen's the attack, as it causes each spine, scale, claw, and fang to hit twice. The major downside to this is once again, the lack of chakra, as well as the fact that the attack diminishes in power from the time it's fully formed and solidified to the tim it dissapates. It also bears the weakness of range, as despite the fact that it indeed can be fired off towards an opponent, with no direct connection to the user, it's forced self sustained chakra source dwindles at an insane rate, causing the attack to fizzle out before it can go very far.
    Clan: Hyuuga
  20. Lazzy the Spazzy
    Well, I've gotten my Avohkii spinny. That means two years have passed since I first joined BZP.
     
    It's kind of weird when I think about it. That's two years in which I've had one more thing in my schedule. Sometimes it seems like these two years have flown. Other times it feels like BZP has been a part of me my whole life.
     
    I'm not sure what to say. But what I feel is the biggest experience I've had here, is the Academy/BZPRPG. I joined the Academy about three months after I joined BZP, and I've been in it all through its nine months as one of the top three RPGs in the RPG forums, its merge with the existing BZPRPG, dozens of battles, etc. My characters have all grown and matured, but I'm not sure if I myself have grown to the same degree. Certainly, I haven't lost any of my legs in a battle, or switched allegiances, or even attended a party in which a crazy, egotistical, fork-wielding villain was one of the guests.
     
    I’m also currently in charge of a Naruto RPG, which sort of put strain on my leadership skills from time to time. Occasionally, I’ve had to punish RPers, which is kind of hard for me, as I know what it’s like to be one of those RPers, being punished. XD The more fun part about being in charge, though, is making a master storyline with the other people in charge of the RPG. I’ve spent hours planning and discussing NPCs, and storyline events with other people, which is as fun as RPing itself.
     
    The other RPGs I’ve participated in or are currently participating in are many, easily more than ten, but include the Gate RPG, the Redwall RPG, the Star Wars RPG, among others.
     
    I was first drawn to BZP by the Library. There were a bunch of authors there at that time whose works I really liked. In particular, Tangled Web by GaliGee, which actually started a few months before I joined. There was another one by xccj, about a Miru-wearing Onu-Matoran Kanoka disk maker. I forget the title now, but I remember that it was 12 chapters plus an epilogue. Besides those I read the stories in the Epics forums and Short Stories forums constantly in my first few months as a BZPer, before I got introduced into the RPG world.
     
    I joined the short stories critics about a year ago, which was fun in that now I was officially reading and reviewing other people’s stories. Unfortunately, I sort of neglected that job, only occasionally dropping in and reading a bunch of stories at once.
     
    I myself haven’t written in a year or so, but I used to churn out stories almost every two weeks.
     
    So, I guess my second year at BZP wasn’t as productive as the first. I’ve been neglecting my duties as a critic and a writer, focusing only on RPGs, joining a bunch of them at one time then quitting them one after another as my schedule became cramped. As I look ahead at the second semester of my tenth grade year, then my junior year, along with the daily tests, AP classes, and (oh no) college applications, it seems my schedule will only get more cramped. And maybe that means that after these two years, my time as a BZPer will cease.
     
    Beside my computer sits my Eagle Rank Application for Boy Scouts. I became a Life Scout three months before I became a BZPer, and a Life Scout I still am now. Indeed, I’ve been procrastinating with my Boy Scout advancement since becoming a BZPer, when, before, I was breezing through the ranks, earning about 18 merit badges in two years.
     
    Maybe by participating in BZP I’ve lost the time I could’ve used to clinch that rank, become an Eagle scout. Maybe I could’ve pushed that extra percent to get an A instead of an A-. Maybe I wouldn’t have gotten that B+ in science the second semester of my eighth grade.
     
    Do I feel that my time on BZP was worthwhile? Of course. I’ve met a bunch of cool people, made a bunch of friends, learned what text RPGing really is, and best of all, learned that there are other people out there like me who are fans of Bionicle. Do I feel that my time on BZP was a waste? I don’t know, and I might not know until I can properly look back and evaluate my time in high school.
     
    Maybe it’s time for this Bionicle fan to say goodbye to BZP, and set his sights on new horizons.
     
    …
     
    Nah. There’s still so much I need to do. I need to wrap up all the stories of my characters, kill them off if I have to. I can’t just up and leave so many loose ends.
     
    The time when I have to log out for good is still far away. In the meantime… *gets back to posting*
  21. Lazzy the Spazzy
    This may seem like a random subject for a blog entry, but I've seen plenty of random entries, so I guess this should be okay.
     
    Anyway, a few minutes ago I walked into the family bedroom where the computers are, and I saw that the chair I usually sit in while using the computer was broken. Specifically, the backrest had fallen off the rest of the chair, meaning I now had to sit in something similar to a stool.
     
    I picked up the backrest off the floor and looked at it. One side was cushioned; this was the side I sat against while working at the computer. One the other side, a smiling face was painted on it with black marker.
     
    I don't remember who drew the smiley face, either me or one of my siblings. But the smiley face used to give the chair a cheerful feeling.
     
    The seat of the chair has no cushion anymore; I basically sit on hard wood. So the chair is pretty uncomfortable. But I kept using it after the cushion fell out, and I guess I'll keep using it even though the backrest has fallen out.
     
    I don't really see a moral to this story of mine, but anyway, please feel free to post comments.
  22. Lazzy the Spazzy

    Blog Thing

    By Lazzy the Spazzy,

    I got a PM this afternoon. It was some sort of Member of the Day thing, and I got an image to go along with it. Anyway, I decided to put this in my blog, just for kicks. My thanks to Skateboarder 2 da max for this image:
     

     
    That's all. I might put up one of my written stuff in the next few days.
  23. Lazzy the Spazzy
    Here's another one of the stories I wrote here at arts camp. I wrote this about three weeks ago, and it's far from complete. I'm still editing and revising it, but here's the story so far. I present to you "Crossing the Bridge" by me.
     
    Crossing the Bridge
     
    Jessica clutched a large picture book with both arms as she made her way down the path, looking ahead at the rows and rows of gravestones. She smiled sadly as she recognized the two gravestones farthest away from her. The young girl began walking.
     
    She remembered how she had once been afraid of this place. Something about it made her heart beat faster, whether it was the complete silence of the graveyard, or the fact that no animals ever visited here. Or maybe it was the feeling that the stones were watching her, emotionless eyes following her wherever she went.
     
    But that fear was gone now, ever since her mother had taken her, not even in kindergarten yet at that time, here to visit her grandmother.
     
    “Where did Granny go?” she remembered asking her mother.
     
    “She’s resting, Jessie,” her mother had replied. “She’s with Grandpa now. You want to see her, don’t you?”
     
    “Yes,” said Jessica. “But all I see are these rocks. Is Granny hiding behind one of them?”
     
    “No, Jessie,” said her mother. “She’s gone. She’s up in the sky.”
     
    “I thought you just said she was here,” Jessica said, confused. “How can she be two places at once?”
     
    “You’ll understand when you’re older,” her mother had said, squatting down to hug her and stroke her blonde hair, the fingers combing the individual golden strands, the palm caressing her head.
     
    Jessica thought she saw tears in her mother’s eyes, but didn’t understand why she was crying. Mommy didn’t have a boo-boo, did she?
     
    Jessica now looked again at the graveyard. Now I am older, she thought. And I do understand.
     
    Suddenly she tripped, the huge book flying out of her hands. She fell to the grass. The book landed in front of a gravestone.
     
    Jessica’s face contorted as she willed herself not to cry. But her face broke into a smile as she saw the book leaning against the gravestone.
     
    She took the book, reading the name inscribed into the gravestone: Gregory van Meter.
     
    “Thank you for catching my book,” she said to the gravestone before getting up to continue on her way.
     
    She clutched the book to her chest, remembering when her mother had read the story to her the first time.
     
    Her mother had finished reading the last line, “—and they all lived happily ever after,” and closed the book.
     
    There was a moment of satisfied silence. Finally, Jessica spoke.
     
    “I really liked that part where the prince had to cross that rickety bridge to get to the tower with the princess inside,” she said. Her mother nodded, a smile on her face.
     
    “Can we read it again?” asked Jessica, looking beseechingly at her mother.
     
    “No, not now,” her mother laughed.
     
    “Can you read it tonight?” pleaded Jessica. “And the night after that, and the night after that, and the night after that, and--”
     
    “Every single night,” her mother interrupted, stroking Jessica’s hair.
     
    Jessica now looked at that same book that held so many happy memories. She breathed in, imagining that she smelled the lavender scent that her mother carried, as she read to her.
     
    Jessica was now at the far side of the graveyard. She stopped, reaching the gravestones that were planted side by side. She sat down cross-legged, spreading the book out in front of her.
     
    “Hello, Mommy,” she said. “Hello, Daddy. Today we had DEAR time. Teacher says it means ‘Drop Everything and Read’. I really liked DEAR time, so I thought
    you would too. I brought this book you used to read to me, Mommy. Remember? Every single night.”
     
    She opened the book to the first page and began reading. “Once upon a time…”
     
    She read the book, and it was as if she were two places at once: she was in the graveyard, reading to her parents, grandparents, and everyone else in the graveyard, and at the same time she was crossing that rickety bridge again towards the tower, a boiling river of lava beneath her. But she wasn’t afraid at all, because her parents were there at her side, holding her hands as they crossed the bridge together.
     
    ---------------------------------------
     
    I hope you enjoyed reading the story. Feel free to comment or critique my work!
  24. Lazzy the Spazzy

    At Camp

    By Lazzy the Spazzy,

    I'm really glad that BZP is back up again. I actually became a premier member several weeks ago, at the start of 2007, from a Short Stories Contest (I highly recommend all who read it to compete in the next one, because it's definitely worth it), but I haven't blogged until now.
     
    Anyway, I've been at a camp since mid-July. It started on the 14th, and will end this Friday. The camp is called CSSSA or Innerspark, and is 4 weeks long. At first I was reluctant to go because I didn't really know much about that camp. Also, getting in was VERY hard. Needless to say, I fell in love with it. Now, at the last few days, I wish the camp could've been for the entire summer. Shows how wrong first impressions can be.
     
    Anyway, I took a major in Creative Writing. We've been writing poetry, short stories, screenplays...I thought I'd share one of my screenplays with all of you BZP-ers. Please read and enjoy, and feel free to put your comments. I present...Do You Remember, by me.
     
    Do You Remember
     
    (Scene opens on a parking lot in the front of a college campus, with several students putting their luggage in the trunks of cars and exchanging farewells. Cadwalader and Diamantina stand outside Diamantina’s car. Diamantina’s luggage has been completely packed, and the doors are open. The sky is mostly cloudless, with one lone cloud drifting across the blue sky, and the sun’s rays glance upon everyone in the parking lot)
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    So, um, I guess this is it.
     
    CADWALADER:
    Yep.
     
    (awkward pause)
     
    I’m gonna miss you.
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Me too. I’ll miss you too.
     
    (pause)
     
    Well, um, I have to go.
     
    CADWALADER:
    Right.
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Be sure to write.
     
    CADWALADER:
    Yeah.
     
    (pause)
     
    Speaking of writing, do you remember that time when we switched all the chairs around so Zebediah wouldn’t get a seat?
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Yeah.
     
    CADWALADER:
    And that time where Eduardo did ten belly flops at the pool party?
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Vividly.
     
    (pause)
     
    I’ve got to go.
     
    CADWALADER:
    And that tragedy that Florianne wrote that was such a success? Rise and Shine, Firefly?
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Years from now I’ll remember that the most.
     
    CADWALADER:
    And, uh—
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Listen, I really have to go. I can’t miss my flight to Portugal.
     
    CADWALADER:
    -and the dance! Remember the last dance night, when we danced together to the slow song? I could feel your heart beating against mine. Diamantina—
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    I’ll never forget that night, Cad. You know I won’t.
     
    CADWALADER:
    Yes, I know…
     
    (uncomfortable pause)
     
    Remember that time when—
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Listen, do you want me to be late? I’ll be stuck here.
     
    CADWALADER:
    Sorry.
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    No, don’t apologize.
     
    (pause)
     
    Thank you for all you’ve done for me, Cad. I hope I’ll see you again.
     
    CADWALADER:
    I hope so too. But we both know that won’t happen.
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Don’t be silly, of course it will. Wales isn’t so far from Portugal after all.
     
    CADWALADER:
    You’re right.
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    Goodbye.
    (pulls Cadwalader close in a hug; after a minute, they release each other)
    Thank you for so much, Cad.
    (Gets in the car, turns on the engine, and begins to pull out)
     
    CADWALADER:
    Wait!
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    (Diamantina stops the car and looks out the window)
    Yes?
     
    CADWALADER:
    I l—See you around.
     
    DIAMANTINA:
    See you.
    (pulls out and drives away; Cadwalader is left alone with his luggage in the now empty parking lot. The lone cloud drifts over and blocks out the sun)
     
    Scene.
     
    So, yeah, please leave your comments and critiques here.
  25. Lazzy the Spazzy
    So, let's see...I have prior BZPRPG commitments already, plus I just got in over my head joined the To Save the World RPG...and now I'm joining two more RPGs from season (maybe a third). Outside of that, I have a group epic that doesn't have a direction yet, and then I'm planning to join at least two BZP contests. Finally, there's the SSCC2 topic to clean up.
     
    Hmmm...sure, why not? I can do this.
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