How many of you out there go and read up on some of the current events of the moment. I personally read up on it at every chance I have and because of this I want share some of the really cool things I found today. Definitely nothing like my last 2 entries which got me up to 300 posts, but I have to say I think you will enjoy some of the new things I have found.
More than anything one of the big themes of today in the tech world is the synthetic squid skin. Sounds extremely comfortable, I know. I can't wait to order it either. The primary idea behind this product though is not for comfort but it is one of the first forms of camouflage that we have at the moment. It is controlled through certain electrical currents which activate changes in texture and color. Perfect for all of those people who want to hide in a public setting.... I take that back. There is little to no way to hide in a public setting. In fact the instant you start changing colors people are going to look at you in some strange ways. You can check this one out here
Keeping on the theme of stuff with tentacles they now have a soft robotic arm. Amazing stuff really. It fills up with air and bends with the environment along with a few subtle tweaks in order to grab things. Of course eventually they intend to get this to work so that it could even pick up people which might be kinda scary. With the way things are going in robotics at the moment I wouldn't be surprised if they could do it either. After all we also have robotic cheetahs that can move faster than cheetahs. If you want to check out the robot tentacle I personally liked this link.
I'm thinking of doing stuff like this article hunting a little bit more often. Still It might be about time to start changing the name of my blog. Maybe even make a second one instead and try to keep this one dedicated to school work. It could work after all and then build off of that. I could even attempt to make a website that would allow you to get to all of the different locations. Awfully ambitious, and I'm known to not follow through with things, so we'll see how this goes.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
Friends Forgotten pt. 2
Welcome back to part 2 of Friends Forgotten. This is my list of friends whom I have made throughout my almost 16 years of living. What does this accomplish? What this is supposed to do is give a great example of how friends have impacted our lives throughout time. I'll keep this short since I want to expand on this idea at the end so let's hop into this.
From part 1 of this entry I mentioned that there is 2 Jack's throughout my life who I attribute myself too. Well it's time for Jack C and there is only one thing I can call him. That would be determined. Without a doubt Jack C would fight for whatever he wanted. He was extremely loyal to all of his friends if not a little crazy at times. It was Jack who helped me remain as a kid keep my imagination moving at 50 Miles Per Hour and test the very levels of my patience at times. Much Like Carson I see him on a day to day basis but it's very rare if we ever stop to chat.
Reaching the end of my main examples we reach Daniel. Daniel was a very interesting friend for me as without him I probably wouldn't have become less shy and break down some of the boundaries that I had set down for myself. Daniel was a fantastic friend until one day we began to quarrel. We began to fight back and forth between each other until it became just too much. He was the first friend that I lost simply due to incompatibility. It stunned me for ages but it wasn't until much later that I realized just how much he had done for me. Without him I wouldn't have my current groups of friends nor would I have dealt with such an experience at a decent age. I have always hated conflict but Daniel helped me get over that over time. He doesn't know this all of course but then again, things are fine as they are.
Next up are 2 of said friends that I met through Daniel who I constantly talk too. Starting with one of the more recent ones there is Kale. Kale reminds me of myself when I was younger. He has a much more relaxed air around him as well as a little bit more "street smarts". To be frank he is just an all around awesome guy who reintroduced me to the world I used to see. Kale for the most part opened back open my eyes at seeing something familiar. Sometimes you forget that people have it worse than you. Don't mistake that for pity. He has just seen far more than I have in my life
Finally for the moment is someone I have mentioned many times on my blog. His name is Alex. Alex is my current best friend as their can only be one at a time. He is infuriating, big, and irrevocably smart. I Kind of think of him as my 2nd brother as our relationship has gone that far. We throw ideas of morals, basic concepts, and beliefs off of each other. We are almost like Philosophers in arms against the basic facts that we take for granted. With him I test the limits of my knowledge as well as always having someone to go to when I'm in some kind of annoyance. We have known each other for almost my entire time here in my little home.
There are a ton of people I have not gotten too and I don't know if I want to post another 2 or more blog entries of this. It is a fun subject but it would get boring for everyone else pretty quickly. In brief then some of these people include Trevor, Jason, Kendra, Kiele, Chris C, Kandace, Madeleine, Amber, etc etc etc. Those are only the ones I could think of off the top of my head too. Give me some time and I could probably make that list bigger. The point here is that friends will come to you with new ideas that challenge your own. This brings out the best and worst of who you are. This is due to the conflicting ideas and adaption that you have to go through for those you hold dear. I could list the last names of almost all of the people on this list but for their sake I won't be doing any of that. Internet smarts help for their sake. Sit and think on who those people are for you. The ideas they invoke on you stick. Like a wet sock hitting a wall, you just don't want to touch it. You will leave those ideas where they are and continue to learn the many lessons they may have taught you. Who has influenced your life the most. Pay your homage to them even if they are being honored in your memories.
From part 1 of this entry I mentioned that there is 2 Jack's throughout my life who I attribute myself too. Well it's time for Jack C and there is only one thing I can call him. That would be determined. Without a doubt Jack C would fight for whatever he wanted. He was extremely loyal to all of his friends if not a little crazy at times. It was Jack who helped me remain as a kid keep my imagination moving at 50 Miles Per Hour and test the very levels of my patience at times. Much Like Carson I see him on a day to day basis but it's very rare if we ever stop to chat.
Reaching the end of my main examples we reach Daniel. Daniel was a very interesting friend for me as without him I probably wouldn't have become less shy and break down some of the boundaries that I had set down for myself. Daniel was a fantastic friend until one day we began to quarrel. We began to fight back and forth between each other until it became just too much. He was the first friend that I lost simply due to incompatibility. It stunned me for ages but it wasn't until much later that I realized just how much he had done for me. Without him I wouldn't have my current groups of friends nor would I have dealt with such an experience at a decent age. I have always hated conflict but Daniel helped me get over that over time. He doesn't know this all of course but then again, things are fine as they are.
Next up are 2 of said friends that I met through Daniel who I constantly talk too. Starting with one of the more recent ones there is Kale. Kale reminds me of myself when I was younger. He has a much more relaxed air around him as well as a little bit more "street smarts". To be frank he is just an all around awesome guy who reintroduced me to the world I used to see. Kale for the most part opened back open my eyes at seeing something familiar. Sometimes you forget that people have it worse than you. Don't mistake that for pity. He has just seen far more than I have in my life
Finally for the moment is someone I have mentioned many times on my blog. His name is Alex. Alex is my current best friend as their can only be one at a time. He is infuriating, big, and irrevocably smart. I Kind of think of him as my 2nd brother as our relationship has gone that far. We throw ideas of morals, basic concepts, and beliefs off of each other. We are almost like Philosophers in arms against the basic facts that we take for granted. With him I test the limits of my knowledge as well as always having someone to go to when I'm in some kind of annoyance. We have known each other for almost my entire time here in my little home.
There are a ton of people I have not gotten too and I don't know if I want to post another 2 or more blog entries of this. It is a fun subject but it would get boring for everyone else pretty quickly. In brief then some of these people include Trevor, Jason, Kendra, Kiele, Chris C, Kandace, Madeleine, Amber, etc etc etc. Those are only the ones I could think of off the top of my head too. Give me some time and I could probably make that list bigger. The point here is that friends will come to you with new ideas that challenge your own. This brings out the best and worst of who you are. This is due to the conflicting ideas and adaption that you have to go through for those you hold dear. I could list the last names of almost all of the people on this list but for their sake I won't be doing any of that. Internet smarts help for their sake. Sit and think on who those people are for you. The ideas they invoke on you stick. Like a wet sock hitting a wall, you just don't want to touch it. You will leave those ideas where they are and continue to learn the many lessons they may have taught you. Who has influenced your life the most. Pay your homage to them even if they are being honored in your memories.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
Friends Forgotten pt. 1
Today is very Important to the American people and of course many people all over the world for varying reasons. Just last night we had received a visit from an old family friend seeing him reminded me of how the friends I've had and have possibly lost throughout the ages. Not saying that they wouldn't remember me, but instead this entry on the internet is here to remind us of those we have drifted from that may have influenced our lives willingly or unwillingly. Lets begin down a trip through memory lane with some of the friends that have helped me throughout the ages.
The obvious one for me is my first friend whose name was Jack M. Jack M, because there will be two Jack's on this list. Anyway Jack M was an amazing kid and even if he has forgotten me he provided me with my first taste of friendship. I didn't actually meet him until 1st grade either which goes to show how lonely I was up till that point. It is him and all the fun times that we've had together that has given me my appreciation for having close friends and family. Without him I probably would have been miserable.
Up to bat now is the twins known as Brent and Logan. These two kids and me went back to the point where they were bullying me. I know how strange that sounds but bear with me. They started bullying me ages ago which got me onto my bad habits of revenge. Once again that sounds terrible, and yes it is, but here we go. After tricking them with some help from my dad they quickly began to leave me alone. It wasn't until about a month later after the trick that we ended up becoming friends. After that one day they didn't seem to do anything bad other than be really hyper kids.This helped me by allowing me to humanize even the people that seem mean or even cruel to us at first glance. With their help I can stop and think about why someone is that way before jumping to conclusions.
Next up is my first friend of this area I'm living in now. His name is Carson and he is without a doubt in my mind an extraordinary man. Carson is just one of those people that have that personality that you gravitate towards willingly or unwillingly. Carson was my rival for ages and I tried to beat him at everything but he was always one step ahead of me making extremely furious at times that I would always be outdone by him in just about every area. You win some you lose some. What did Carson teach me? He taught me how to fail and the benefits of having good friends. He was amazing as he surrounded himself with people that were just as smart as him. No bragging on my part since we have drifted apart since. Mostly due to the home schooling situation but you never really know.
Christopher was without a doubt another such genius. He was friends with Carson which is how I met Christopher. Chris has always been a whiz with math and cars. An engineering genius who knew far more than anyone of our small group combined on any one vehicle or electronic. Even then it was him who I give credit too for reminding me that friends are never as lost as you may first believe. The reason I say this is because I knew that he had been forced to go to a different school and even then we managed to find each other again over the inter webs on Google plus. Amazing stuff for me because without this he might have been another lost friend.
This is getting a little bit long so in order to make sure people don't lose interest half way through the article I'm going to start wrapping this up for the day. Remember those that you may have taken for granted and those small words that helped you carry on. One comment can change your life as I will demonstrate in pt. 2 of Friends Forgotten
The obvious one for me is my first friend whose name was Jack M. Jack M, because there will be two Jack's on this list. Anyway Jack M was an amazing kid and even if he has forgotten me he provided me with my first taste of friendship. I didn't actually meet him until 1st grade either which goes to show how lonely I was up till that point. It is him and all the fun times that we've had together that has given me my appreciation for having close friends and family. Without him I probably would have been miserable.
Up to bat now is the twins known as Brent and Logan. These two kids and me went back to the point where they were bullying me. I know how strange that sounds but bear with me. They started bullying me ages ago which got me onto my bad habits of revenge. Once again that sounds terrible, and yes it is, but here we go. After tricking them with some help from my dad they quickly began to leave me alone. It wasn't until about a month later after the trick that we ended up becoming friends. After that one day they didn't seem to do anything bad other than be really hyper kids.This helped me by allowing me to humanize even the people that seem mean or even cruel to us at first glance. With their help I can stop and think about why someone is that way before jumping to conclusions.
Next up is my first friend of this area I'm living in now. His name is Carson and he is without a doubt in my mind an extraordinary man. Carson is just one of those people that have that personality that you gravitate towards willingly or unwillingly. Carson was my rival for ages and I tried to beat him at everything but he was always one step ahead of me making extremely furious at times that I would always be outdone by him in just about every area. You win some you lose some. What did Carson teach me? He taught me how to fail and the benefits of having good friends. He was amazing as he surrounded himself with people that were just as smart as him. No bragging on my part since we have drifted apart since. Mostly due to the home schooling situation but you never really know.
Christopher was without a doubt another such genius. He was friends with Carson which is how I met Christopher. Chris has always been a whiz with math and cars. An engineering genius who knew far more than anyone of our small group combined on any one vehicle or electronic. Even then it was him who I give credit too for reminding me that friends are never as lost as you may first believe. The reason I say this is because I knew that he had been forced to go to a different school and even then we managed to find each other again over the inter webs on Google plus. Amazing stuff for me because without this he might have been another lost friend.
This is getting a little bit long so in order to make sure people don't lose interest half way through the article I'm going to start wrapping this up for the day. Remember those that you may have taken for granted and those small words that helped you carry on. One comment can change your life as I will demonstrate in pt. 2 of Friends Forgotten
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Long time no See!
How is everyone today because just like last time I'm busy. Always busy, so happy with how things are going at the moment. For the most part my life is revolving around my school work which leads to one schedule set in stone. Wake up, Go to school, get home, do chores, maybe go to TKD, some homework, Dinner, Finish homework and then wrap up the day with a little bit of free time. Not complaining but this leaves very little time for seeing my friends or doing the things that I did just last year. A lot has changed over the Summer and there is no way I'm going to turn down a good challenge.
Everything outside of my Math work is actually pretty fulfilling which I will get back to that Math work later. Starting out the day with French isn't that easy because I'm not really functioning well by 8:00 in the morning when I'm waking up at 5:45. Next up though is Debate and it is proving to be a very welcome class right before Algebra. I also find that I'm not half bad at debate at the moment but it is only the first couple of weeks so we'll see where that goes. Finally other than Math there is English which is interesting enough but could be worse. I know that taking projects home that are due in one day can be annoying but I really didn't mind.
Lets get back to the math work... I hate it. I really do not like that class at all, but I intend to stick through it. Don't get me wrong the teacher isn't that bad in my opinion and I may hate math, but that still isn't the problem. It's the curriculum to be precise and that there is all grind and no lick of fun. No real help and notes constantly. I will keep going in class as I will have to take the class either way but on top of that I will need a challenging class during every semester as well as getting ready for the harder math classes yet to come.
Everything outside of my Math work is actually pretty fulfilling which I will get back to that Math work later. Starting out the day with French isn't that easy because I'm not really functioning well by 8:00 in the morning when I'm waking up at 5:45. Next up though is Debate and it is proving to be a very welcome class right before Algebra. I also find that I'm not half bad at debate at the moment but it is only the first couple of weeks so we'll see where that goes. Finally other than Math there is English which is interesting enough but could be worse. I know that taking projects home that are due in one day can be annoying but I really didn't mind.
Lets get back to the math work... I hate it. I really do not like that class at all, but I intend to stick through it. Don't get me wrong the teacher isn't that bad in my opinion and I may hate math, but that still isn't the problem. It's the curriculum to be precise and that there is all grind and no lick of fun. No real help and notes constantly. I will keep going in class as I will have to take the class either way but on top of that I will need a challenging class during every semester as well as getting ready for the harder math classes yet to come.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Back to school
It's been ages since I last posted on August 9th meaning its been a good 2 weeks or so. Either way I have to say I haven't had much time up until now in order to be able to post anything. If I did post anything in between it wouldn't have been that good of quality and even now I'm debating on how good it can be. The main reason for this is due to the amount of time I am dedicating to my homework. At the beginning of this week I have managed to spend over 3 hours a night towards homework.
The worst part about all of this is that I seem to have become extremely grumpy towards the people around. I have become somewhat stressed out due to the work and time I have put into the school day. I know for a fact that it will get better with time but that's not something that I want to happen later. I want things to improve sooner rather than later because this stress is really starting to get to me lately. I try so hard to be happy I sometimes forget that just like every other kid my age I just want to go out and do something. What that something is, I have no clue to be honest with you but it has to do with my current lack of goals I think.
With that out of the way it is pretty good to be back as I'm sad to say I lost my newspaper role but gained another interesting class in return. This happens to be debate which has proved very fruitful for me with learning a few more social skills and allowing me to learn more skills in a conversation to inevitably out do my parents in an argument someday! I will eventually defeat them at their own game and hopefully get whatever my choice may be for that one argument but I don't know if I want to write a whole speech on potentially defeating them in a game of debate.
The worst part about all of this is that I seem to have become extremely grumpy towards the people around. I have become somewhat stressed out due to the work and time I have put into the school day. I know for a fact that it will get better with time but that's not something that I want to happen later. I want things to improve sooner rather than later because this stress is really starting to get to me lately. I try so hard to be happy I sometimes forget that just like every other kid my age I just want to go out and do something. What that something is, I have no clue to be honest with you but it has to do with my current lack of goals I think.
With that out of the way it is pretty good to be back as I'm sad to say I lost my newspaper role but gained another interesting class in return. This happens to be debate which has proved very fruitful for me with learning a few more social skills and allowing me to learn more skills in a conversation to inevitably out do my parents in an argument someday! I will eventually defeat them at their own game and hopefully get whatever my choice may be for that one argument but I don't know if I want to write a whole speech on potentially defeating them in a game of debate.
Monday, August 4, 2014
Camp Kick
Right on que Camp Kick has come back around to show us that school is almost here again. Last time I posted on camp kick was last year on August 9th. That post should cover most of the things I did this time as well. I didn't do much else that I didn't do last time so I'll probably just link the post to the camp kick post from last time. In fact you can find that one right here. Sorry if it looks like this is a lazy way of getting out of posting a new blog but there isn't that much else to cover that wasn't posted last time.
On to a new subject that isn't camp I have to say that I am very happy with my new school schedule which has given just about every class that wanted except for one but I'll get to that soon. In the first semester I have French 1, Debate and Tournament Forensics, Algebra 1A, and English Language Arts 2. A pretty good setup personally since after my failures with taking French on my own its about time I finally get that class down. In fact I am determined to get all four French classes which is going to be a pain in the neck. For Second session I have Chemistry 1, French 2, Geometry, and Computer Applications which to sum it up lightly the only things that I am not looking forward to are the math classes half way through my day. Other than that everything is going to be awesome this year.
There is that one class that is missing from my list of things that I am doing. Have you guys noticed yet that I haven't mentioned that Newspaper is not on my schedule. Well I have and it is bugging the hell out of me. I'm going to attend the workshop that is coming up to meet with the teacher and see what is going on with my schedule. I heard that she overbooked her class which will highly limit my ability to work on my English like I was hoping to do with Newspaper. It was just another outlet for what I was planning on doing but I did get English 2 which will tide me over for session 1.
On to a new subject that isn't camp I have to say that I am very happy with my new school schedule which has given just about every class that wanted except for one but I'll get to that soon. In the first semester I have French 1, Debate and Tournament Forensics, Algebra 1A, and English Language Arts 2. A pretty good setup personally since after my failures with taking French on my own its about time I finally get that class down. In fact I am determined to get all four French classes which is going to be a pain in the neck. For Second session I have Chemistry 1, French 2, Geometry, and Computer Applications which to sum it up lightly the only things that I am not looking forward to are the math classes half way through my day. Other than that everything is going to be awesome this year.
There is that one class that is missing from my list of things that I am doing. Have you guys noticed yet that I haven't mentioned that Newspaper is not on my schedule. Well I have and it is bugging the hell out of me. I'm going to attend the workshop that is coming up to meet with the teacher and see what is going on with my schedule. I heard that she overbooked her class which will highly limit my ability to work on my English like I was hoping to do with Newspaper. It was just another outlet for what I was planning on doing but I did get English 2 which will tide me over for session 1.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Camp Week: Part 3
Alright everyone I have been given the task of wrapping up the rest of this today. No easy feat so before I begin a warning for everyone that I may begin to ramble or become unfocused during this entry as I go over the last 3 days of the camp. Now that we have that out of the way lets begin shall we?
Lucky for me there is only a little bit really worth mentioning on Wednesday. Mind you a little in comparison to other days. Lets start out with the Great Object Hunt! That's what I'm calling it at least. You remember how there was a point system while we were at camp? Well there were 4 random objects hidden around the camp with varying point values. There was a Football helmet, a bowling pin, a toy dinosaur, and a mascot for one of the local sport teams. People had claimed everything except that solitary bowling pin. This seemed baffling to me why the only bright white object which isn't that easy to hide was the only object never found. After all, bowling pins aren't exactly small and they happen to be bright white most of the time as well. Too put it bluntly I never found it either and this left me hugely dissapointed. I even went to the farthest corners of the campgrounds finding buildings that people didn't even know exist.
Next up was a small game similar to grab the bacon. A game where you have a square formation of people all around the football with each person having a number. When your number is called you run out and attempt to bring the football to your side. This game instead had 8 inner tubes like used to raft on water sitting in the middle in a tower. Our team decimated during this little exercise as we had 2 very heavyset instructors who were allowed to participate and ended up dragging anyone that tried to get in their way. It was amazing to watch but the fun soon ended even though we won there was obviously a casualty. One of the girls that were participating ended up getting trampled when someone was trying to bring back one of the inner tubes. I still don't know who did it personally.
After the injury all of the teams ended up retreating to the other side of the field and formed a humongous prayer circle. I honestly felt stupid sitting around doing nothing. That's what I felt at least. This massive display of faith and the only thing I could think was this feels ridiculous worrying about someone that not only do I not know but also worrying about something that is completely out of my control. I was probably one of the only ones thinking this though as it was an amazing sight to behold. Something I will not forget for a very long time as it blazes in my head remembering it now.
Come Thursday most of the previous night is forgotten and people move on with their daily routine. On this day our prankster team member starts his plight on the few points that we had gained throughout the week. Starting out in the morning we all find a frog in grass as we wait in line for the breakfast doors to open up. This one mischief maker then decides to pick up the frog and hold onto it until later and breakfast is starting to wind down. He then runs over to one of the tables full of girls and throws the frog onto the table very much alive. This soon freaks out all of the girls ridding us of a lot of points. This though is sadly the beginning of his second prank.
I don't know all of the details on this one but I do know that this is how we lost the remainder of of the points we had. The same kid soon decided that during one of the morning prayers I believe on the same day to steal the bullhorn and walkie talkie of one of the instructors at the camp. He then walked all the way back to the cabin blaring the bullhorn without any of the instructors noticing. He is soon called out about the bullhorn at the next prayer meeting but he manages to keep the walkie talkie hidden for a while.
Next up we reach a brand new experience for me which is Skeet shooting! First time I have ever fired a gun personally but I had a general idea on how to fire a gun. It was truly amazing wielding a weapon for the first time and of all places at church camp. Mind you I never hit a target which left me fairly sad but I did manage to fire a 20 gauge shotgun a few times before returning to one of my favorite board games I have ever played. The game of Risk.
The first thing I always hear Risk compared to is Axis and Allies which I have never played before and neither can I find a copy of this game either. The entire game is based around world domination which I have all of the strategies to win but sadly none of the luck. The luck comes from the fact that you need to roll dice in order to determine who wins in a conflict and I had all of the awesome defensive positions and knew where to move my men but I could not defend any of the locations when I needed to. This left me sad as I lost yet another game due to some strange rules that I don't agree with. For example if one person wins then they flat out win without any casualties to their troops. This is nice for when you are attacking but because of this you can attack for a very long time after you have enough troops in one location.
One of the final things for Thursday was the Talent show. Let me tell you all something right now. I despise Talent shows! Seriously though they are pretty bad most of the time as people just end up doing a lot of singing without any real work other than remembering the words to one song or another. Usually a very popular song of that week. Also known as the flavor of the week songs. This talent show I saw some surprisingly nice talents like one kid got up on stage and did a full drum solo. Another kid managed to recited a ton of Hamlet which was just astounding to watch him do. Even the Judges were dumbfounded by this talent of his. My team sadly were singers. I had nothing to add to my team really but the song the majority of the team was doing was clever. The classic song "Lean on Me" The kind of song that gets everyone on their feet as they start swaying back and forth with lighters in their hands singing along. Sadly we were running behind on time at this point of the show and we didn't get to finish the song costing us dearly and we overall lose the points that could be gained through this event and the whole point competition.
Here we all are on the last day of the camp trip and this day is pretty simple for me to write about. The reason why is because after the goodbyes for the day there isn't that much to talk about. I was so fatigued from the constant upbeat atmosphere as well the constant interaction with other people. This may have made me overlook some potentially interesting details on this last day and this left the most memorable part of this day the getting back to Kansas City part of things. There was the bus ride home where I was surrounded by a bunch of kids who were determined to keep me from napping on the way back home. Along with annoying me to the point of almost snapping they decided to pick on the bus driver on the way back as well. I was happy to make it home alive just like everyone else may have been but these kids didn't exactly help my confidence of getting home safe.
Anyway here we are at the end of the blog post and I hope you all haven't fallen asleep yet as I didn't have that hard of a time with this part of the blog like I thought I would. In fact it was easy enough that this only took 2-3 hours instead of the estimated 5-6 I was dreading the thought of. Now that this is done my next blog entry can be about other things like the fact that school is coming up soon and the plans with that.
Lucky for me there is only a little bit really worth mentioning on Wednesday. Mind you a little in comparison to other days. Lets start out with the Great Object Hunt! That's what I'm calling it at least. You remember how there was a point system while we were at camp? Well there were 4 random objects hidden around the camp with varying point values. There was a Football helmet, a bowling pin, a toy dinosaur, and a mascot for one of the local sport teams. People had claimed everything except that solitary bowling pin. This seemed baffling to me why the only bright white object which isn't that easy to hide was the only object never found. After all, bowling pins aren't exactly small and they happen to be bright white most of the time as well. Too put it bluntly I never found it either and this left me hugely dissapointed. I even went to the farthest corners of the campgrounds finding buildings that people didn't even know exist.
Next up was a small game similar to grab the bacon. A game where you have a square formation of people all around the football with each person having a number. When your number is called you run out and attempt to bring the football to your side. This game instead had 8 inner tubes like used to raft on water sitting in the middle in a tower. Our team decimated during this little exercise as we had 2 very heavyset instructors who were allowed to participate and ended up dragging anyone that tried to get in their way. It was amazing to watch but the fun soon ended even though we won there was obviously a casualty. One of the girls that were participating ended up getting trampled when someone was trying to bring back one of the inner tubes. I still don't know who did it personally.
After the injury all of the teams ended up retreating to the other side of the field and formed a humongous prayer circle. I honestly felt stupid sitting around doing nothing. That's what I felt at least. This massive display of faith and the only thing I could think was this feels ridiculous worrying about someone that not only do I not know but also worrying about something that is completely out of my control. I was probably one of the only ones thinking this though as it was an amazing sight to behold. Something I will not forget for a very long time as it blazes in my head remembering it now.
Come Thursday most of the previous night is forgotten and people move on with their daily routine. On this day our prankster team member starts his plight on the few points that we had gained throughout the week. Starting out in the morning we all find a frog in grass as we wait in line for the breakfast doors to open up. This one mischief maker then decides to pick up the frog and hold onto it until later and breakfast is starting to wind down. He then runs over to one of the tables full of girls and throws the frog onto the table very much alive. This soon freaks out all of the girls ridding us of a lot of points. This though is sadly the beginning of his second prank.
I don't know all of the details on this one but I do know that this is how we lost the remainder of of the points we had. The same kid soon decided that during one of the morning prayers I believe on the same day to steal the bullhorn and walkie talkie of one of the instructors at the camp. He then walked all the way back to the cabin blaring the bullhorn without any of the instructors noticing. He is soon called out about the bullhorn at the next prayer meeting but he manages to keep the walkie talkie hidden for a while.
Next up we reach a brand new experience for me which is Skeet shooting! First time I have ever fired a gun personally but I had a general idea on how to fire a gun. It was truly amazing wielding a weapon for the first time and of all places at church camp. Mind you I never hit a target which left me fairly sad but I did manage to fire a 20 gauge shotgun a few times before returning to one of my favorite board games I have ever played. The game of Risk.
The first thing I always hear Risk compared to is Axis and Allies which I have never played before and neither can I find a copy of this game either. The entire game is based around world domination which I have all of the strategies to win but sadly none of the luck. The luck comes from the fact that you need to roll dice in order to determine who wins in a conflict and I had all of the awesome defensive positions and knew where to move my men but I could not defend any of the locations when I needed to. This left me sad as I lost yet another game due to some strange rules that I don't agree with. For example if one person wins then they flat out win without any casualties to their troops. This is nice for when you are attacking but because of this you can attack for a very long time after you have enough troops in one location.
One of the final things for Thursday was the Talent show. Let me tell you all something right now. I despise Talent shows! Seriously though they are pretty bad most of the time as people just end up doing a lot of singing without any real work other than remembering the words to one song or another. Usually a very popular song of that week. Also known as the flavor of the week songs. This talent show I saw some surprisingly nice talents like one kid got up on stage and did a full drum solo. Another kid managed to recited a ton of Hamlet which was just astounding to watch him do. Even the Judges were dumbfounded by this talent of his. My team sadly were singers. I had nothing to add to my team really but the song the majority of the team was doing was clever. The classic song "Lean on Me" The kind of song that gets everyone on their feet as they start swaying back and forth with lighters in their hands singing along. Sadly we were running behind on time at this point of the show and we didn't get to finish the song costing us dearly and we overall lose the points that could be gained through this event and the whole point competition.
Here we all are on the last day of the camp trip and this day is pretty simple for me to write about. The reason why is because after the goodbyes for the day there isn't that much to talk about. I was so fatigued from the constant upbeat atmosphere as well the constant interaction with other people. This may have made me overlook some potentially interesting details on this last day and this left the most memorable part of this day the getting back to Kansas City part of things. There was the bus ride home where I was surrounded by a bunch of kids who were determined to keep me from napping on the way back home. Along with annoying me to the point of almost snapping they decided to pick on the bus driver on the way back as well. I was happy to make it home alive just like everyone else may have been but these kids didn't exactly help my confidence of getting home safe.
Anyway here we are at the end of the blog post and I hope you all haven't fallen asleep yet as I didn't have that hard of a time with this part of the blog like I thought I would. In fact it was easy enough that this only took 2-3 hours instead of the estimated 5-6 I was dreading the thought of. Now that this is done my next blog entry can be about other things like the fact that school is coming up soon and the plans with that.
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