Optimism and Happiness

As Abraham Lincoln once announced, "Most folks are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

He was quite right. I feel emotionally exhausted from time to time concerning the subject because it seems like "most folks" make up their minds to be unhappy. I am here to debunk the myth that happiness comes out of your situation.

It really all stems from perspective. For instance, in current times, where we have many kinds of soaps, disinfectants, sterile hospitals and things made out of plastic, we are very clean individuals. When you walk into the bathroom, you might smell something foul and you would notice it.

However, contrary to Hollywood portrayal, the Medieval times were pretty disgusting. Although various forms of soap had been invented at this time, imagine life without a shower. If you had a basin, you were able to bathe. If you are a woman, you would wait until everyone else has bathed and use the cold water everyone else had used. If you needed surgery, you could be restrained as they cut you open, or they could knock you out with alcohol or a hard object. If you are a woman, you were probably not allowed to have surgery. There were no hot packs, no cold packs, no heating or air conditioning. The worst part to me is this: there were no clean and private toilets, and worse yet, no feminine products.

In light of this, most of us would look back at the muddy streets and diseased peasants and think "I could never live in that!" Yet somehow, so many people did. They died younger because their bodies were incapable of keeping up, but they had just as much of an ability to be happy as we are today. The fact is though, no matter what time period it is or has been, people are difficult to make happy. It is not because of the world itself, but because of the attitude people have about living.

Before I get into this next topic of discussion, I would like to point out that I am not against medicine. I am just against excessive use of it and I will explain the reason why.

People are generally born with the correct balance of chemicals in their brains which create a sense of happiness. Occasionally there are people that just can't seem to be happy no matter what they do. That is usually due to a chemical imbalance and those people require the use of medicine to keep their serotonin levels at a proper place so that they can function. Most people, however, are perfectly capable of functioning upon the level of serotonin they already have. The reason I do not like extended medication most of the time is that it inhibits this and makes it so your body gets used to what is being put in your body and then you cannot function without it.

In light of everyone's issues with being happy, I have decided to create a guide to happiness for you. I understand we all have our moments and are not going to be happy all of the time, but there is hope! When you remember you can be happy, you will now have the ability.

1. Don't put things in your mouth that don't need to be there. This includes alcohol, medication, and other drugs. Anything that alters your brain from the way it would naturally think can cause problems. If you have a serious depression issue, medication can be excused. Alcohol is okay occasionally, but not excessively (like if you "need" it, there is a problem). If it alters the way you think, it is likely you will be unable to enjoy proper serotonin levels without it, and then can be dangerous for multiple reasons.

2. Experience healthy things outside of your comfort zone. For instance, go out and do something new with your friends. Explore or take a road trip to a site within a couple of hours of where you live. Go try a new exercise program. This is particularly important for extroverts, but introverts must do this as well.

3. Eat healthier. You will feel more fresh, and fewer health problems will decrease your stress. If your stress decreases, your health problems decrease.

4. Dress up. Looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking "dang I look good" is a fantastic ego boost. Especially when you laugh about it afterwards. If you are fashion-challenged, find someone who is not and ask for their help.

5. Take time out of your day to follow up with your favorite hobbies, such as reading, writing, etc. If you enjoy science, read a book about it for fun. If you like art, create something. Don't watch TV or surf the internet. This is time reserved for your own self-education, and not for school or work. You will feel important, peaceful and productive afterwards. This is particularly important for introverts, but extroverts need to try it also.

6. Spend some time thinking about God. Just ten minutes can make a huge impact on your day. The moment you realize within yourself that God is infinite and that all of your problems here on earth are so minute in comparison, you'll be unable to take any small problems seriously. Instead, you will be focused and determined on the important things because those are the things that God has set before you to accomplish. If you don't ever have epiphanies about what God does in your life, seek him more actively and he will meet you.

7. Do your best at the things you do and forgive yourself for mistakes. If God forgave you for everything, then there is no reason you shouldn't forgive yourself. Just try your very best not to make them in the first place. Ironically, the best way to avoid making a lot of mistakes is pretending like whatever you are doing is unimportant for the most part and telling yourself there is no possible way you will make a mistake. It may not be true, but as long as you know that, you'll be okay.

So that is my final word on happiness and the importance of optimism. Go forth and be happy!

Roll Keyboard: Do Not Putted on the Fire to Roast

Last year at Christmas, my brother received this fantastic gift from my mother. It was a really cool keyboard that could be rolled up and transported easily, as well as it just appeared comfortable and nice.

However, we got far more enjoyment than we had asked for. My brother took a quick glance at the short instructions page. It was just the front and the back, but just about everything on it was a joke. It was written in Engrish.

Page 1:
"Turn on the computer, start the computer system. Find out the USB jack on the front or rear of the computer. The jacks are rectangle, generally 2pcs,arranged as horizontal or vertical: Plug the pin of the keyboard cable into the USB jack. If it is difficult to plug in, turn the pin 180 degree,then re-plug.
"Notes: Do not insert the plug force, if the plug can not comply with the jack.

"The usage norm of the Roll-keyboard
"The Roll-keyboard can be used in below conditions:
"It must be used on an even working face.
"It can be used in the damp environment even shallow water.
"It can be used in the acidity and the alkaline environment.
"It can be used in the temperature of -40C- + 80C.
"It can be used in the dusty environment even sandstorm.
"It can be laundered by alcohol or disinfector."

That was only the first page. The second is much better.

"It cannot be contacted the sharp object
"It cannot be pressed when it was rolled
"It cannot be putted into the oven and putted on the fire to roast
"It cannot be contacted the oil or organic impregnate like acetone and toloul etc
"Cannot places the heavy object on it in long time
"We cannot put out the strength to twist or pull it"

And it goes on to explain in more detailed Engrish.

"Material: Made by high-quality silicone, the keyboard has no poisonous and evil smell, according to the requirement if the environmental protection, it is kind of creative new product.
"Anti-Pollution: In view of the fact it is all seal completely, preventing all kinds of germs and pollutants exiting into the keyboard, and the keyboard's surface can be washed and disinfected any time, so it can prevent the disease infection.
"Watertightness: It can be used for a damp environment, even inside shallow water. It can normally used when beverage or other liquids spilled at the keyboard.
"Acid and Alkaline-proof: The keyboard can be used safely in acid or alkaline environment.
"High dustproof: The keyboard can be used safely in dust fog, and even in sandstorm.
"Carrying convenience: Because the keyboard can be rolled up, so it can save lots of spaces while carrying.
"Other Characteristics:
The special special printing technology guarantees the letter on the buttons of keyboard not to be worn away for a long time.
Feeling soft comfortable
Soft without any sounds while typing
Various beautiful colors
The keyboard is applicable to office; hospital Classroom; workshop; network bar; laboratory; kid room; notebook PC; army; etc."

Aberrant Nomenclature

I have been in a very wordy mood lately. Every time I use thesaurus.com, I always end up spending several hours "word surfing". A couple of days ago, I noticed there was an option to favorite a word. Currently I have over thirty words "favorited", and I would like to use them. Unfortunately, it is a tad difficult in real life situations to use "somnolent" in a sentence, unless you are actually feeling somnolent (which I am). Therefore, I have decided to use as many unusual words in the subsequent literature of this entry. **I apologize in advance if any words are misused, as I attempted to play with many, many words I have never used in the past.**

As I previously adduced, I've been a bit torpid today. I would elucidate the ambition behind this, but I have trepidation it would be far too voluminous an explication. In any case, expostulating about the subject would be feckless. I would aver that I have been enervated by the soporific atmosphere, and I cannot evince myself felicitously. In other words, it would not be a pedantic exemplification of my perspicacity.

I myself am vexed with my rumination during this indolent epoch. I cannot ameliorate beyond my laconic vocabulary extrinsic of this passage. My sagacity is abstruse at its paramount... I disquiet myself that this travail may be sententious.

On another proceeding, I do envisage on frequent opportunity, the ubiquitous supposition that those of us from the Midwestern United States are in fact, inane. Of course, this proclivity is asinine. While the aphorism is heedlessly slighted as insipid here, I find the intimation about my acumen opprobrious. Ensuing this cognition, I sublimate with reverie that they descry our precocity is not so much a phantasm of ignoramus cretins, and more copious than primitively posited. When the corporeity of the human race comes to acceptation of this altercation, I will be assiduously galvanized. Of course, I have to capitulate an iota - some "didactic" beadledom among the scantier towns are far less inculcating than the one which I attended.

Lamentably, I predicate this genial testimony requisites to come to its termination; so now I say my farewell. I hope you have extolled this read and imbibed some prodigious locution. That is assuming you comprehended any full sentences.

Creativity

I feel like doing something creative, like blogging, but I'm too tired. I normally find that I am more creative when I am tired, but I am not tired in the proper way. One important factor for creativity, is having less light. Light gives you something to look at, therefore something to think about and distract yourself with. In the dark, you can come up with your own thing to think about and suddenly be creative. Also if I am tired and it is bright, I just want it to be dark, so I close my eyes so it will be darker and then all I want to do is sleep.

Therefore, creativity works much better at night.

It also works well when you think about random things occurring in the room you are in. For instance, imagine you are at school, and the teacher is talking about something very boring. So, you take something that is not boring, like Vikings, and imagine that the surface of everyone's desks mark the surface of the salty seas. Then, you play out little scenes of Vikings battling dragons, whilst the rest of the class believes you are simply spacing out. But this is not the case. No, in reality, you are imagining that a dragon the size of an airplane is crashing through the wall, and they are tearing up the desks and the teacher is running for cover, and all of the students are either hiding in corners or attempting to spear it. Bravely, you climb upon its back and as it turns to crush your skull, you shove your backpack in its mouth. This would be an amazing way to get rid of some extra homework. When class is over, everyone believes you were A) paying attention or B) spacing out, depending on your method of imagination. If you can look at the teacher, then you're good.

During the next course, you are bored, so you go ahead and draw your delusion from earlier. When you fail at drawing because you simply are not in the mood, you attempt to write a poem about it. When you cannot do that, you wonder what is wrong and by theater class, you are wondering what it would be like to have an action scene on the catwalk, and you imagine someone dangling from the edge, over the seats, with a cruel headmaster laughing maniacally.

The curse of creativity is that sometimes there isn't a medium for it. I come up with ideas and then I realize that I can't do anything with them all the time.

Right now I don't have any ideas and I'm just tired and bored and I need some mental stimulation. Other than solitaire. I always feel so dead after being out of the house for ore than a few hours. I'm utterly useless after such a situation. If I'm with a close friend, who I am particularly comfortable with, I can take it a little longer, but still... I like going home and resting for a portion of the day, and then using the rest of the day to accomplish other things in silence. I dislike how when I was a child I got all used to playing by myself and all this (it sounds sad, but I enjoyed myself that way most of the time) and while back then I was too shy and wasn't able to be out and about, or hanging out with friends all the time, now I am not aloud to spend much time for myself. I know mothers have a particular problem with this, but I am not a mother. I go to work, and when I come home I am tired, but I always have something to work on, it seems like. And then I can't write. **sleepy face -_- zzzz**

Battle Students: Eradicate Your Enemies. With Scissors.

Today I thought of a fantastic video game idea - battle students. As an elementary student your weapons comprise of your crayons, your scissors, your pencil, chalk, and occasionally playground equipment if you make it to recess. Survive a few simple math problems, grammar and spelling specifications and you'll make it through the battle of the wits - but then of course, you must make it through artistic challenges (can you color within the lines or cut out a paper dinosaur?) - and then onwards you will go into the real bloody battles.

If you graduate, you may move along to middle school. Middle school is honestly boring. You can be a tad more mischievous by leaving gum on the hallway floors in order to trip your opponents during the physical battles. You have a few new choices in your classes, and a few other new options. There would also be fewer bullies.

High School is where things get bloodier. School sports begin and you can take down your opponent on the field, and you can choose your classes. Choose more than 3 science or other specialized classes together and you get "super powers", or spread your choices out and have some art, some science and some language etc.

Your specialized classes will give you new weapons. If you choose sculpting classes, for instance, you can use your skills in sculpting to fool your opponent, challenge your opponent, or inhibit your opponent. However, you could also use your chisel to stab your opponent during the bloodier battles. If alongside sculpting, you took a painting class, you could paint your opponent onto another scene, or a hole beneath them etc. You can fight them physically with your paintbrush or use the paint to slip them etc. You could also now paint a better scene with the addition of your sculpting abilities, because now it can be 3-D. If alongside all of that you took digital filmmaking, you could embarrass your opponent in their confusion or document the situation and earn a little cash on the side.

If you chose science classes, you might attack with labratory equipment or sick your pet rat with experimental rabies on them.

Naturally the classes will become more complicated and get better weapons if you graduate High School (if you lose too many battles you can flunk, and depending on your grade, you might get into a better or worse University). If you graduate, you go to college and from there you can choose from majors and you don't have to answer any more general education unless you choose the classes. As a film student, for instance, your weapons outside of the gen ed weapons, would all be specialized towards film. You can get a Xenon light and blind your opponent or burn them, or steal their soul with the camera. As a programming student you can reprogram specific traits of your character or your opponent during each battle. Of course, you'd actually have to know how to program. As a creative writing major, you would be able to defeat your opponent with the fanciest words you can think of - the fancier the better. If you say "disintegrate" for instance, that would be an intermediate word and would do a mediocre job of destroying the enemy, while "obstinate" might slow their abilities for a longer period of time. "Matriculate" would be a fantastic word to use on yourself.

I imagine all of the characters would look a bit like Scott Pilgrim people or anime anyway. The main goal is to graduate college. "Smart" battles would take place in the classrooms, where you have to use your weapons in the way they were meant to be used and out-do your opponents. Outside of the classroom you can also challenge opponents to "smart" battles, though in college it would need to be within your major or their major. Physical battles would take place at recess, at lunch, in the parking lots, and in the hallways. You can use whatever weapons you have in your backpack. That would include textbooks, computers, phones, pencils, pens, chisels, cameras, test tubes, paint, lighting gear, running shoes, and anything that might have to do with whatever classes you are taking at school.

An example of a physical university level battle:

Chemistry major vs Culinary major

Chemistry

weapons:

demented lab rat

broken test tube

dangerous chemicals

heavy textbook

defenses:

gloves

lab coat

safety goggles

heavy textbook

Culinary

weapons:

Butcher Knife

poisoned ham

alcohol

silverware

defenses:

mixing bowls

wedding cake

gloves

spatula

Students would face each other in their location. First the chemistry student may spray acid towards the culinary student. The culinary retaliates by shoving out the wedding cake to absorb the dangerous substance, and then toss a bit of silverware towards the chemistry student. The chemist would then block this with the heavy textbook and set loose the demented lab rat. The cook may then trap the rat with the mixing bowl or kill it with the spatula or butcher knife if they think they're good enough at using it. They could also poison the rat or get it drunk. Their next option might be to toss their butcher knife. At this point the textbook may be too weak to defend, depending on how the silverware attack went earlier. If the butcher knife went through the chemistry student would flunk his course, or be given a warning by his teacher and the culinary student would move on to the next round.

Another example is of a Creative Writing student versus a Music Major.

Creative Writing

weapons:

imagination

pencil/notebook

dictionary

defense:

notebook

fictional book

imagination

dictionary

Music (stringed instruments)

weapons:

Violin

Guitar

Guitar pick

Violin bow

sleep-inducing sheet music

defenses:

sheet music

guitar

violin

piano

music stand

In this situation we will pretend like the music major strikes first. First they might attempt to set their opponent to sleep by playing their song, but before this is able to kick in, the creative writing student might say "excite me" and the music would pick up a bit. If they used a word like "galvanize" they might do better in that defense. This would be the writer using their dictionary in defense. Next the creative writer might attack by describing as detailed as they can, a hole beneath the musician. The musician might then use the strings from one of their musical instruments to tie a rope to the ceiling. They might then shoot guitar picks at their opponent. The writer could block these using their fictional book or their imagination. They might next launch their pencil into the string and break it. The music major swings over before the pencil hits and swings a guitar at the writer, who blocks this attack with their notebook.

Anyway, you get the idea. Different majors would have different kinds of fights. So basically, the game would be an epic all-out war between the students at your school. It is not only a battle of random skills, but of wits! The more you know about your subject the better you could do. The best thing ever is the expansion packs - Battle Students: Demolish the Greeks (fraternities and sororities) and Battle Students: Jocks vs Nerds. There could also be Battle School: Master's Degree and Battle School: Extra-Cirricular

Homo Sapien vs Arachnid

I do have an important blog planned to write. It just needs to be edited and I haven't gotten around to it. In the meantime, I feel the need to record a few events of the day.

I started my job at MBS yesterday and have since been eating too much junk food, sweets and drinking too much coffee. I also have gotten the hang of answering calls for dumb people, computer illiterate people, confused people, and the occasional person who actually has a technical problem. Its somewhat entertaining during calls, if not stressful, and sometimes I have time to read or fold paper animals so it isn't bad. Today after I got home from work I bummed around a bit and skipped kickboxing because I was feeling kind of ill. I'm not sick, it was just the typical grumbles that make kicking and such unpleasant. Because yesterday was my bestie's birthday I decided I would just bum around until she wanted to hang out so at about seven or eight I gathered up my stuff and brought her birthday present - it was a pink and white golf umbrella with a span of 62". We decided it could fit up to six people underneath, and it was very well built. She appreciated it because her last umbrella was stolen a while ago, and I know she really likes umbrellas so when one goes missing, it is extremely upsetting.

Anyway, we played ping-pong for a while, and I discovered that I had magically improved somehow (I never play ping-pong). When I came back, I returned to my lair in the Donelson family's basement only to discover that it was the perfect model for my future dream cabin. With a few slight modifications, it is a wonderful layout. The kitchen, dining room and living room are all basically one conjoined gathering place with no separating walls at all. This leaves it feeling rather open and inviting. It is also simple to navigate. The rest of the house consists of a small garage, two bathrooms and two or three bedrooms. One of them is larger than the other two as the master, and it would be connected to one of the restrooms.

(SKIP TO HERE FOR SPIDER STORY ONLY)

I was guestimating the lengths of the walls in the main room, when I spotted a large spider - about three or four centimeters in diameter if its legs were sprawled out. It was hiding behind a blockish beige piece of electronic equipment, which usually beeps quickly at a high frequency so as to be annoying only when the room is completely silent. Using my stealth ninja abilities, which I had practiced earlier at Ashley's with ping-pong, I used the remote control to joust the equimpent. My goal was to smash the spider behind it, but instead only the box stopped beeping as enthusiastically (which I didn't mind, and the blinking red light on the front continued, so I was not worried). Seeing as this had done nothing, I jabbed it several more times at different angles. Unfortunately, the spider was clearly at a tactical advantage due to its small stature and superior speed. It therefore dodged each of my attacks by either cramming itself in the corner between the fluffy carpet and the baseboard, or dashing out at the last moment.

Eventually I realized my wrath was futile, and I gave up the crusade. I turned off the lights and returned to my room, no longer enticed to create further drafts of my dream cabin. Still, a small fear is left inside me that it will enter my bedroom at night and it will be creeping in the corners, prepared to strike vengeance. As it had been hiding along the opposite side of my bedroom, it may be a possibility, but I am hoping that it will catch the scent of my presence and associate it with fear because of said near-death experience. After all, fear is everywhere... but so are spiders... -_-

Creationism vs. Science

I apologize for not making my last anime blog yet, but I'll get to it when I get to it. But for now, I feel prompting on the topic of Genesis and a few passages near the very, very beginning that used to worry me.

I had been reading Genesis chapter one, and although I had read it before, I noticed something that irritated me. In verse three God creates light and separates it from the dark. At first, you're assuming the stars and the sun and all that, because it says he called the light "day" and the dark "night". Then, in verse fourteen you are suddenly left shocked and confused because it says that God divided the day and night - implying that they weren't before - and says that he created the sun and the moon (of which they correctly accredited the science of the four seasons to by the way). You're left in the dark, right? He created all these things like the planet and its shape and the water and all that, but apparently the sun wasn't there yet.

Before I go about answering this question, there is the matter of time which trips people up quite a bit. It does indicate in the Bible many times that God doesn't care about time. Humans who claim that God actually created the universe in six days don't really seem to get that God doesn't care about our days. Sure, six days I suppose, but they're six days in God's time, and according to 2 Peter 3:8 "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." That's God's time for you. When he says "soon", it might mean next year. In thirty years, you might agree with him, but at the time it seems quite lengthy and that is because he lives in the past, present and future all at once. This minute isn't even this minute for him. Kind of mind blowing, right? Anyway, I just wanted to point that out because I think science could have taken as long as God wanted it to take for things to happen.

Back to the original question, the difference between the creation of light and dark versus the sun and the night must be made clear. Oddly enough, I was watching an episode of charlieissocoollike, a popular youtuber who I enjoy from time to time. Charlie is actually an atheist (and for those of you who judge, he's a normal and wholesome individual, for lack of a better term). However, he likes doing these short little vlogs about science, where he briefly and simply explains some smaller scientific concepts so they are fun and easy to understand. Perhaps it is childish that I watch them, but I think they're fun and interesting, even though I generally already know the information. This last one was about stars and he mentioned something I hadn't really thought much about, even though I had heard of it. He dipped into the surface of the fact that we are technically made out of stars, just like everything else on the planet.

If God made the light, and we are made from stars, who is to say God did not create the stars first or something like them, and then when they "died", they became the planet, which is where we could have been truly made from the dust? No human in the days of Moses would understand that we were particles from a ball of gas like the sun, but now we do know that information, and we should also be intelligent enough to interpret the words send in the times. It says he made the light, so perhaps he made the stars. After that, he formed the earth and the waters - everything but the living creatures. So after the light is spread out among other stars and celestial things, we have the dust, and rocks of the earth. This is when we joined our solar system as a planet rotating around the sun, creating our four seasons etc. So now we are a blank planet made from a star, rotating around a star, and with a moon.

Wonderfully enough, there is no woeful tale in Genesis about how creation had to survive in the darkness or anything stupid. Instead, a very scientific and straightforward approach is taken, and it says that next came all of the plants, and then all of the animals. If God created man from the dust of the earth, then we are still made of the same star material which we had before. He may have then just created all life from the dust. We were just made special, and after all of the other animals. Because we were some of the latest creatures to have "evolved" into actual homo-sapiens as opposed to older humanoids, I think its quite possible that Adam and Eve were just the first of our real race, or of one of the much closer races. It is possible that older humans were just not capable of possessing a human soul, or the Holy Spirit and so they could not comprehend enough of God to be considered in his image. We do know that Adam and Eve were not the only people on the planet after all, so what exactly made them so special? The only thing I can think of is that although they may have been the first homo-sapiens or something of the like, they were not the only human-type creatures around.

Of course, this entire blog is speculation, but hopefully it brought you some interesting thoughts and answered a few questions. That's my analysis of Genesis versus Science because I usually find that God and Science fit together nicely. He did create it after all. We just have to figure it out.

Here is the link to Charlie's vlog if you would like to see it. Its about five minutes long, and quite enjoyable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pag1NdPKcYM

Narwhals 2: The Super Tooth

Today or yesterday my mom sent me a link in my email with an article about narwhals, so of course I had to click on it.

In my recent blog, simply titled "Narwhals" I mentioned that science has so far not found any use for the narwhal tusk, and no one could figure out why its there. Well, this article from 2005 actually explains that we have actually found a possible purpose. I'm going to sum up the article, and leave a link at the bottom.

I hope that everyone here knows that a tusk is a tooth, but the narwhals have slightly odd ones. While elephants and warthogs have curved tusks, the narwhal is the only animal known to have a straight one, and their tusk actually spirals around, if you noticed in the pictures. The spiral could serve to provide more rigidity so it will not break, or to help it grow straight. It isn't certain. Anyway, while the tooth is straight, it can actually bend in any direction! Furthermore, it is actually very strong and is hard to break.

That is only one discovery, however. I read about a few more. One that I'm going to cover really quick is that the narwhal tusk is a tooth, but a tooth that is inside out. You know how your teeth are very sensitive to especially cold foods? Narwhal teeth sense this even more strongly, but probably for the purpose of sensing environmental changes around them. I would assume it doesn't actually hurt them, seeing as they are constantly exposed to it. They might be able to sense ice forming miles away. They have also been known to dive as deep as 3000 feet when avoiding danger or hunting for food. There is also another theory that narwhals might use their tusks to communicate with each other, generally with tapping. Obviously, it isn't their only form of communication, but it is possible to be a way. As far as the inside-out stuff goes, there aren't any other teeth in the world like it. That is super awesome.

Another thing I don't know if I mentioned, but I had the impression of was that only male narwhals had tusks. Actually, this is not true. Apparently, most males have one tusk, some have two, a few don't have any, and oddly enough there are females who do have one. So it sounds like it is all very awkward and who knows how that works. If I were a narwhal, I would feel gypped if I didn't get a tusk and some other guy got two, but oh well. All I can do is stand by and feel sorry for them. Then again, they have an excuse to tell the ones who do have tusks what to do and cling to them so they can be lazy.

So the link is right HERE, and I feel like some of you might be sad if I don't include the narwhal video that I didn't include the first time, so I'll add that HERE.

Narwhals

Earlier I was passively watching as my wallpapers faded in and out for my screen saver, and an image of a narwhal jumping over a cloud appeared. I stared at it for some time before noticing the tusk. I didn't realize that it is more in a nose-like position, rather than on the forehead. This discovery led me to google search images of narwhals to find out the truth, and I found far more discoveries than I had intended.

Before I go any further with this informative blog, if you don't know what a narwhal is, then you have lived a sad life. These are narwhals:

And this is the wikipedia article explaining that it is a whale with a horn that lives in the arctic.

For a bit of history, apparently in the Dark Ages of Europe the tusks of narwhals were thought to be horns from the mythical Unicorn. Probably due to this legend, they were thought to cure ailments with their magic. In the 1600s, someone discovered that the narwhal was the true source of the strange spiral tooth, and that rather than being as short and weathered as they would find them there, they were actually around nine or ten feet long - two-thirds the length of the actual whale. Some narwhals even have two tusks, so as soon as they were discovered, they became something prized and worth hunting, though currently I believe the inuits make up most of the hunters involved and they already knew about it.

Although the population is small, it is stable. It only has three predators: men, orcas and polar bears. The greatest thing for our unicorns of the sea, is that they can dive deeper than any other marine mammal, which is probably a fantastic way to escape from all three of its predators. Also, if you think about it, how many people live as far north as the Inuits? Other than the Inuits themselves, not many. Of course, when they were considered a magical beast, Vikings would hunt them, because the horn supposedly had magical powers that could heal melancholia and help with poisoning. I have no idea if there is any scientific evidence that narwhal tusks are good for any such thing, but I do think it would be cool to have a tusk-cup nonetheless. These were used for upper class people who thought that the horn of a unicorn would keep them from being poisoned.

Currently, I am really jealous of Queen Elizabeth. She had her own narwhal tusk set with jewels and all. Someday, I would like a tusk. Or better yet, an oceanfront home and a narwhal friend that would let me ride upon its back. Then we could rule the seven seas together! The problem with that is that either the water would be too warm for my special friend, or I would die of hypothermia.

In the mean time, while I await my dream-come-true (in heaven), you and I can dwell upon the following amusing links that I uncovered in my google searches.

Can You Speak Narwhal?

The sound of hunting narwhals

Plush Narwhals

(Why yes, I would love to own a plush narwhal)

Avenging Narwhal Play Set

Spear your own koala

Inuit Tusk Legend with Epic Unicorn/Narwhal artwork - Narwhal Legend

The amazing story of how the narwhal got its tusk

Narwhal As a Weapon

The ferocious beast of the sea has the ultimate Zombie Defense

Narwhal Xing T-Shirt

Link is self-explanatory

This Picture Was Too Big to Put at the End

Misconception: Young People

I was just admiring myself in the new dress I bought today (original price: $70. Price I bought it at: $11. Never buy things at full price) and I started paying attention to the fun layers. It has a solid white underneath with a transparent pattern on top of it. This seems to be a pretty popular fashion sometimes, when someone is looking for a more flowy or spring-like dress. Somehow, it has more dimension and makes the article of clothing appear more flowing.

Unfortunately, this reminded me of an irritating incident I had with a skirt in the past. I had received this skirt from a family friend who had taken a mission trip to Thailand, and she brought it back for me. The transparent layer on top shined a bright pink with small silver ribbons woven into the pattern, and it reached down to around my knees. Underneath the solid fabric abided by the school rules, coming down to around my fingertips. I had no fears of bending over, because it was just a good skirt. Pink wasn't my favorite color, but I had come to terms with the fact that I looked good in it. Anyway, I received many compliments, and I had deemed it a really fun skirt that showed that I was a responsible young cutesy girl with a sense of culture (even though the people who know me best understand that I'm a bit lazy, and too sarcastic to be considered cutesy).

Well, I had happened to wear this fantastic skirt to school one day in Junior High School. Although our bus had to stop off at the Middle School because the tornado sirens were sounding and we needed to take shelter, I felt confident. I was a gorgeous fifteen-year-old in a culturally diverse skirt that made me feel like I was a fairy princess or something. Sadly my confidence did not last long. Some old lady inspected my skirt as I was walking in and she said "How inappropriate!" as if my underwear were visible or something so scandalous.

I just walked past like nothing had happened, but my pride steamed with frustration. To this day, I do not know if she simply didn't see the solid part underneath the skirt, or if she was just an old fart and thought that anything with transparent fabric made you a [insert offensive term beginning with "W"]. Either way, I felt offended. She had made an assumption based off of my age, most likely.

People make stereotypes all the time. Old people about young people and the other way around; races; genders... its okay to some extent - after all, how would you categorize your thoughts without them? But at the same time, you can't assume that each one you meet is going to be that way and you can't say "Kids these days" and you can't say "Old people always do this" because they don't necessarily. I especially dislike "Kids these days". Its people who think like that who create "Kids these days" because the kids want to be as different as they possibly can from the old people who say it.

So anyway, I know that seemed a little bit random. But I suppose the point is: don't judge anything without all of the facts. The likelihood is anyway, that you will never have all of the facts, so any judgements you make are better left open for change.

Unfortunately, the following image best describes the layering on the skirt. The transparent part came down only to my knees, as I originally described, and it was pink. Not black. Every picture I could find was black -_- maybe someday I'll find a picture of me in the skirt if I have one. I have nothing against black - I mean, ninjas wear black... how could you go wrong? - but this just looks... frumpy somehow? But you get the idea.

The World When Everyone Magically Gets Along

My personal belief is that the world will never be perfect. Not unless God intervenes, anyway, and he will have a lot of intervening to do when that time comes. But lets just say all of the sudden, that everyone got along. What would happen in the world? What would happen if we all loved each other? Totally unrealistic, but its an interesting thing to think about.

Would we solve poverty? If everyone got along, there really wouldn't be a need for money. Just stuff that we currently spend our money on. We would just each put in our due effort, like communism, and we would get back everything we needed and everything we wanted because people would just give stuff away. No one would worry about what they needed because they know that the people around them will provide for them. This also means we'd probably go about revamping undeveloped countries to the best of our abilities. Everyone would learn of their talents and use them to the best of their abilities and their parents would stop worrying about if their dreams will make them enough money to survive and be "happy".

So yes, I think we would solve poverty. But what would the previous criminals do? Well we all get along now, including good people with criminals and criminals with good people, making them good people now too. So we would probably just forgive them and they would go find a decent trade that was actually good for them and for other people.

What would bankers do? Well you'd probably be in charge of keeping track of things or something. Who knows. I don't know any bankers personally, but I'm sure each one is different enough to where they'd find another good trade. There would still be things needing care for other than money that might still be good things for them to do. Its kind of nice how everyone has more than one talent.

What about strippers and people like that? I don't really know.

What would we do throughout the day? Well kids would enjoy going to hang out with their adult friends and learning about all sorts of new and exciting things and adults would enjoy teaching them. Kids would find their interests and be able to focus whole-heartedly on them, and not stress about the things they aren't meant for, while at the same time, probably learning the basics from their friends. They would get as much energy out as they needed and their parents would spend enough time with them. Everyone would go to sleep without insomnia because there is no longer anything to worry about.

Adults would wake up in the morning and chat with their families around breakfast, get out of the door because there's nothing to sleep through now. They would have their kids off to go do whatever their kids needed to do, with adult supervision and their friends. The adults would go off to enjoy whatever it is they love to do. If they're really bad about it, they'll find out because no one will want their gifts and some good friend will probably tell them. Then they will find what they were truly meant for and they'll go for it. They could even go to school with the kids. And then they'll go out and do that, trade and give and receive. At night it would always be a party because there would always be something to celebrate I'd think. And we'd gladly give our services to those who need them. Then the people receiving the services would be appreciative and return the favor once they're on their feet. No one would starve, no one would take advantage of other people, no one would hate, no one would fight, and everyone would love....

Hmmm... I think I just described what Heaven is supposed to be like. The best part is, everyone would understand everything that happened in the past, so they wouldn't be robots and they would know what it meant. I'm just saying... if everyone made the decision to love, there would be a big change in the world. And I don't see why if a large group of people even, made an effort to love, there wouldn't be a big change. Not this big (I think thats possible without God), but big enough to make it grow. I hope people get together somewhere to start this for real, and I hope they're crazy enough to promote it, because if I had more of a voice in the world, I'd go all out with this thought. Media is my enemy. My word would be diluted among all the other noise.

The Wise, the Knowledgeable, and the Intelligent

I just was thinking about the differences between intelligence, knowledge and wisdom. People confuse the three frequently (though less often than joy and happiness, which are also completely different).

Two main points I wanted to say:

1) Intelligence is the tool to soak up knowledge, and wisdom is the ability to use it well. *Knowledge is like the image a painter is trying to paint. You can see it there, but that is all. Knowledgeable people have all of the facts. Whether it was difficult for them to gain them is beside the point. They simply know things that they gathered from elsewhere. A person without knowledge is naive.

*Intelligence is the ability to process, put together and interpret the information. Everyone has some degree of intelligence that allows them to process most kinds of knowledge, and people who may be considered less intelligent just don't always get things. Personally, I believe you can be intelligent in one way, like in art or in science, while being incompetent in another. The more things a person is intelligent in increases his overall intelligence more, but if you think of autism, for instance, they may be intelligent in one specific aspect, and not understand other things very well. But that doesn't make them unintelligent, it just means their poker chips are stacked more in one place. Back to the painter analogy, here the painter can conceptualize their painting, and understand what they are doing, though they haven't begun to put their brush to the canvas just yet. Intelligent people may or may not know much. This is the more biological portion. An intelligent person has the ability to gather knowledge more quickly than someone who is less so. A person without intelligence is stupid.

*Wisdom is the action of using intelligence or knowledge. On the painter analogy, this is the ability to use the tools you have to actually put the picture you want on the canvas. With a lot of knowledge and intelligence and very little wisdom, the painter will end up with a product that resembles a five-year-old's watercolor project. You can gather all of the information you would like, but wisdom is needed to execute anything actually needed to be done with it. A person without wisdom is idiotic.

Of course, without knowledge, a wise person would have trouble executing anything, because they do not have enough information to know what they should convey. On that same note, wisdom without intelligence is difficult for similar reasons. It is hard to gain the knowledge needed without the intelligence. With all of that together... you can't blame a wise person for anything. If they were wise enough to research, and simply couldn't find information then they deserve forgiveness because they did the best they could.

2) Sometimes the intelligent have to be wise enough to set aside skepticism if they are to gain more knowledge.

A lot of smart people I see going the route of the skeptic in order to be either safe or lazy. This is a lack of wisdom on their part. There are times when it is good to hold back, but sometimes you just have to risk things to learn anything. If say, you are told to eat a new certain type of food. You know that you like one type of food far more, but you are told you would probably like this one. I would assume you probably wouldn't try the new food because you are wise enough to know you like the older one. On the flip side of that, if you are skeptical of the new food, and you are told you would like it more than what you have, and what you have is good but isn't really all that special, you would be more inclined to try the new food. But it is a risk to try new foods. you might not like it, or you might get sick. However, you will learn of a new food you like or of a new food you do not like in the taste test. Sometimes it is good to set aside your previous beliefs and attempt something new, or something you have not done in a long time.

Another way to think about it is with your beliefs. You have to really experience a community before you can make any judgements on their behavior, but a person who has gained knowledge from others and who has not risked it for themselves has little room to speak compared to the community itself. You have to take risks to learn sometimes.

My main point with all of this is just to say, don't confuse the three, and don't forget that while they all compliment each other well, wisdom is the only way you can really get what you want! Even with less of the other two, you make the decision to be wise and it is the only thing that can assist you to do your best.

The End

I was just thinking about the different types of endings out there. I have come up with four different endings to movies, books and other types of stories.

1. The Happily Ever After

This is the typical Disney fairy tale ending where the good guys rejoice, the bad guys are upset and may or may not be punished. But bad guys are always out of the picture by the end of these, and then all of the good characters have not only solved the main problem, but every other problem is solved in the process. Anti-heroes or people who were bad and turned good also have happy endings. This is usually found in children's stories and chick flicks, and I personally have no problem with it as long as it is done properly.

Example 1: Disney's Snow White. The step mother dies, Prince Charming finds Snow White and presumably marries her and grants royal protection for the dwarves' mining industry. The wild animals are happy that no one will be asking them to clean house for them again.

Example 2: Confessions of a Shopaholic. Girl and guy get together, they get married, they live happily ever after and she has the kind of job she wants and is no longer in debt. She even gets her green scarf back.

2. The Realistic Happy Ending

This one is not quite as happy as the first. In this one, something may be lost, however, the goals of the main character(s) are still carried out in full, and everyone is left content with the ending nonetheless. This is a more adult ending than the first, and usually used more when guy movies need a happy ending. Some romantic stories may have this, but not comedies. Sometimes a children's story might have it if it dares. Action and Science fiction may go more for this style to add a certain level of depth. This is the type of ending that seems sad until you think about it from the character's points of view, and you realize everyone is actually happy.

Example 1: The Notebook. The old couple dies, but they're happy and she remembers before she dies.

Example 2: The Lion King. Mufasa definitely died and is no longer around, and the land is dead, but now Simba is in power and can fix it. Scar is dead.

3. The Bittersweet Ending

Obviously sad things happen here, but no one is entirely happy in the end. They achieve the goal, but they lose important things in the process. This is a more realistic version of a tragedy. Personally, I don't think anyone's life ends up that bad unless you haven't finished the story. But in a bittersweet ending, while the main character may die, or lose something invaluable like a lover, they finish what they intended no matter the cost. A lot of the deeper, more meaningful stories end like this.

Example 1: The Matrix. Neo dies, but the world is saved.

Example 2: The Bible. God gets beaten while living as a human. He loses a lot of people he loves. Lots of traitors, lots of greed, lots of murder, lots of hunger etc. In the end still, he ends up with the people who love him back and his goal is achieved. Humans are brought back to him and now we understand what it means to love. Or at least a hint.

Example 3: Death Note. Light dies and it makes one sad, but at least the world is saved (considering Light was a bad person, despite being the main character)

Example 4: Code Geass. Lelouch pretends to be an evil dictator so everyone will be united against him, then has Suzaku, his best friend come and kill him as a masked hero, so everyone would be united with him. So Lelouch dies, but he saves Japan and Brittania so they get along.

4. The Tragic Ending

In this, everything is lost. Perhaps people die or perhaps they don't. It doesn't matter. The goal is not achieved and never can be. The good guys have lost everything. Its possible the bad guys have also. Everyone learned a lesson but everything is lost so it doesn't even matter.

Example 1: Planet of the Apes. Nuff said.

Example 2: I honestly can't think of another depressing movie because I don't watch them very often!

Temporary Sleep Deprivation = Temporary Emotional Enlightenment

I was just noticing recently, I think my life is great, or just normal until I slowly start to realize that things aren't going the way I want them to (usually do to lack of movement throughout too many days in a row). Then I start to get depressed, but I continue to act however I was acting before, just slightly more likely to gnash out at someone. But recently I realized that when I'm really truly sleep deprived, I WILL notice how I ACTUALLY feel. When I'm really tired and really happy, I'll be bubbly and I'll have a hard time shutting up (possibly) or else I'll be really happy and really spacey but everyone will ask me if I'm sad because I'm too tired to make a facial expression. If I'm really upset then I'll cry really easily, everything will suddenly make sense, and I'll just want to be alone all day. If I'm angry inside it just switches to sad mode because being angry takes a lot of effort, and I don't see the point in putting effort into that anyway. If I'm just content because nothing is really on my mind, then I'll just daydream so something will be on my mind.

Personally, I find this phenomenon kind of intriguing. Apparently if I'm confused as to how I feel, I can just sleep deprive myself (yes, this can happen sometimes, because even if I explore how I feel, I usually come up with multiple possibilities. I have too many things on my mind to really pick out one emotion).

I will add, to those of you who may be worried, I do not think the consequences of lacking sleep are worth knowing exactly how I feel, and I probably will not go out of my way to try it. Just thought I'd add that.

Moving on, I think I might study neural pathways and such next time I research so that I can explain this. There is a high possibility that I am just weird. It also might just be that when I'm tired I can't keep my emotions in check, and when I'm not tired, I always have my guard up. Mind you, I have to have had less than 4 hours of sleep in the last thirty or so hours for me to be that tired. I think it can happen at 6, if on previous nights I also haven't had enough sleep. But it does take an extreme form. As soon as I have this topic ironed out, I will briefly inform you, if possible. If not, you'll get a good science lesson.

This is how I feel when I'm tired. Strange things go through my head, and I will think up things I'd normally only think to say in a dream. This is a very weird drawing. Quite reminiscent of my weird dreams, and weird thoughts during sleep deprivation.

This is how I feel when I've just come up with a story idea at four or five in the morning.

Seven Reasons to be a Good Person

In this world, I have observed at least seven reasons why anyone does anything good. As human beings, most of us fall under the first six, but there are some rare ones who fall under the last. The thing is, its very complicated to fall under the last category. It seems very simple as a concept, but when you really try it, you find yourself stumbling the whole way. So, I thought I'd write about why you should avoid the first six as being your base reasons, and how you can abide in the seventh.

Of course, each motive has its place, but if the action only involves the first six rationales, then it becomes something empty, corrupted, and/or useless. And I am not saying that I've always had a perfect record because I've failed just as many times as any human, but I do my best, and I believe that everyone else should try to do their best as well. So I'm attempting to help anyone interested out.

Because this blog is directed towards Christians, I suggest you use Bible Gateway, or your own bible to read the suggested verses, or at least the ones that pertain to you the most.

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FEAR: First off, people are afraid that if they don't do what God wants of them, they could be cast into some fiery pits, or they are afraid that karma for doing bad will turn back around on them. But if you do things simply out of fear then you are forgetting the purpose that you do it for. You might as well be a machine or a slave, who takes commands, rather than does the good thing on their own. The same fits for the next motive. This kind of fear only leaves you aimless and hollow.

1 John 4:17-19

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CONSCIENCE: This might seem like a good reason at first. Something in your gut tells you its the right thing to do, so isn't that deep enough? But its not by itself. The conscience is half the story. Its that thing from God that tells you when something is a good or bad idea, but you're following it blindly, without putting any feeling behind your actions. If you can't do it for love, then conscience might be a good second choice, because we are all human and we all fall short of the glory of God. But don't just do good things because something says its right. Its an empty and meaningless reason.

1 Corinthians 8:6-8

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AVOIDING CONFLICT: These people may not even be afraid exactly of any harm coming to them, but more of the complications behind it. It is an act of intelligence, doing good simply because it is more complicated to deal with the consequences of the bad. Honestly, these people don't seem to notice that complications come with any decision you make, both good and bad. This is a vain purpose.

Revelation 3:15-17

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GUILT: Some people are very pessimistic and downhearted for various reasons, and they tend to think about all the wrongs they committed in their past. They feel a need to redeem themselves and so they continue to try their hardest to "work" their way back up. This is draining and in the end, of little value in your heart. Holding yourself to a high standard only causes you to hold others to a high standard. You start to wonder, if you can do things right, then why don't others? Then you will only be the image of a good person, but when you speak it will all be vanity. That leads into the following reason.

Romans 6:13-17

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TO KEEP UP A GOOD IMAGE: There are people, we all know, who just run go about doing good things because it makes them worthy of more praise and more attention, like Gilderoy Lockeheart from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This is obviously vain, not to mention sickening. I'm pretty sure this is the worst one, if you can actually say that one is worse than the other.

Matthew 23, particularly verse 14

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IN ORDER TO GET TO A BETTER PLACE: This reason is common among humanity, and equally meaningless. Most religions follow either this one or fear. The best example for this is Buddhism. You're doing your best to work your way up, so in the end you reach Nirvana, or for Christians, doing good works to reach Heaven is just as bad. You're working your way up, so that when you get there... what happens? Your soul may be at peace but for what reason, and how has it ultimately benefited the world or any of the others around you, that you reached Nirvana? I should think it would be more prudent for a good person to remain on Earth and suffer longer to make it into a better place, rather than to just leave. And what makes any human think they can work to be equal to the glory of God and stand in his presence without his love? Because in this situation, you are excusing love as an important reason and just attempting to say that you can be as good as God because you somehow deserve to be somewhere better, because you sinned less than someone else. This is selfish.

Romans 3:23

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Therefore, in light of everything I have just said, there is only one good reason left, and that is LOVE: All of the other six reasons can be justified when put with love, but without it, they mean nothing. With love as the driving force for your actions, you will feel fulfilled in the end, you will be effective, and you will honor and respect those who are around you. In John 13, Jesus wiped the feet of the disciples, saying that no servant is greater than his master, and no messenger is greater than the one who sent him. He washed the disciple's feet to tell them that if the son of God stooped down for them, then they should definitely help each other as humans. But he did so out of love - the love he received from his father in heaven, that he passed then to the disciples so they could pass it onward to those around them. Love will never fail and in comparison, it is the one thing that will never lose its meaning.
Moreover, love is an action and not a feeling. Perhaps you don't feel like assisting someone when they need it, but if you love them, then you will anyway. That is love. You don't happy someone, or angry someone. But you can love them < notice how it takes the place of the sentence's verb. When you abide in perfect love, you know there is nothing to fear, because it is the ultimate command that supersedes even the needs of your body - your soul is complete.

1 Corinthians 13

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As Christians, doing good things for love can hurt, because while God loves the world, and we do in turn, the world hates us, and the world hates God. But we continue anyway because God loves us too, so in return we should love what he loves. Being loved by God has immeasurable value. It has an end goal. Not only do you end up happy, but you can testify to those who meet you that your joy comes from God, so that they can also have it. And don't forget that in doing that, you make God cheerful as well. Everyone should know how it feels to truly be loved, and you have a chance to show them every time you do something good, so why pass it up?

In conclusion to this very long blog, don't make someone else into your self improvement project. Do things because in your heart you want to help others and you want to please God. Then in the end, you'll please yourself, without even trying.