Versatile Blogger Award

It’s pretty cool to get these blog awards because it means that fellow bloggers enjoy the writing I’m doing. In this case I was nominated by the very talented SherinaSpeaks!

You can visit her awesome blog at https://sherinaspeaks.wordpress.com/

Thanks for the nomination Sherina!

Here are the rules for this award:

1) Thank the person who gave you this award.

2) Include a link to their blog.

3) Nominate up to 15 bloggers for the award.

4) Give 7 facts about yourself

And so the random facts begin.

1. My favorite basketball player is Derrick Rose. He and I also share the same birthday, which makes me partly believe that we are kindred spirits. I’ll pretend you’re not laughing at that last sentence while I also let you know part of me believes the mistakes I make in my life lead to disastrous effects on Derrick Rose’s basketball career, a connection I believe is both ridiculous as well as surprisingly consistent throughout my life, the details of which shall remain vague for blogging purposes, and a connection which I feel is slowly being transferred to Andrew Wiggins. And yes you guessed right my second favorite basketball player is Andrew Wiggins and my previous favorite basketball player was Steve Nash. There’s three facts you didn’t care about knowing for one fact you didn’t care about knowing BOOM take that, eat it, mmmmm, delicious. Moving on.

2. I love Smoothies. I enjoy pretty much all variations of fresh fruit smoothies. I try ridiculous fruit combinations and they always end up tasting spectacular, but mango must be in all of them, as the background taste of mango is the greatest of all background tastes. I have also found that the Amish make delicious smoothies go figure

3. My favorite boxer is Pacquiao. He’s just so awesome and lovable and I will indeed do a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather post next week before the fight because Godammit I may never get another chance to write a timely post about Pacquiao, AKA the most lovable sports athlete in history.

4. I play the piano. I started when I was young, stopped for like a long ass time, then picked it back up in college for therapeutic purposes. It sets my mind at ease during those days where I just need to zone out and not think too hard.

5. I love history. Pretty much anything from the start of civilization to now, it all excites me. I think I love history because of the way it shows what things are possible, both good and bad. Matter of fact I love all history, go back to the dawn of time till now, till future nows, man history’s the bomb YEAH FUCK YEAH *fistpump*

6. I love to read BBC World News. I almost never go to other news websites, I just feel like the Brits understand good journalism. And they have no incentive for any sort of political spin on American issues. I have a need for getting unbiased political news, especially on the national scale, and the BBC provides just that for me

7. I can’t whistle.

I next nominate http://peachesandpoppycock.com/ for the award!

Thanks so much for reading my blog guys! Stay tuned next week I’m going to be putting up a post about Pacquiao Mayweather! Feel free to like comment and subscribe!

Sinkholes

I have an irrational fear of sinkholes.

I know I know, they’re horrifying, I agree. I completely agree, imagine feeling the ground around you sink just on a regular ass day?

Like you just go into your friendly neighborhood Starbucks, realize it’s a little too pricy, then travel a couple extra blocks to get into the nearest Dunkin’ Donuts for an iced coffee. Nice, score, triumph. Delicious coffee and caffeine. Fantastic all around. You go outside, observe a few passing pedestrians, ponder life as you watch a dog piss on a fire hydrant, you smile and walk over to the crosswalk. You jaywalk across the street, smile shy to a passerby who keeps eye contact longer than expected, check your texts as you sip your coffee with your other hand, think you’re having the most regular day ever then WHAM!

You feel your leg drop into a depression, as if its been caught by a Walker from the Walking Dead. But instead of a zombie, you get caught by a sudden hole in the ground, which grows exponentially all around you as if God Himself wants to swallow you into the Earth, and you meet your demise in that dark and sudden abyss.

I’ll wait for you to stop shivering in the corner at the thought of it all. Go on, it’s okay it’s just a hypothetical story, you’re safe now shhhh shhhhhhh.

That’s basically my inner monologue every time I get thinking about sinkholes. Tell me that’s not a terrifying thought. Sure there are far more pressing concerns, but something about all of that just strikes me as deeply disturbing.

There’s limestone and sandstone and carbonate rock being built upon just about everywhere. Everywhere. Then some passing ground water comes on by, all unassuming and gentle over years and years, just a wandering stream through a thirsty world. Then after several years maybe decades have passed, that stream’s made itself a gigantic hole. So it can swallow up your gotdamn car.

The more I think about it the less irrational this fear feels to me, though one should never live in fear. Even the people in the Walking Dead go on living after everything has fallen apart around them. I don’t think it’s too far a jump to say that sinkholes are just as pressing a threat to humanity and society as we now recognize it as a zombie apocalypse.

I’m of course being ridiculous, but sinkhole awareness is something we should all have. Not that I have any idea what to do about it, just trying to inception a personal fear into all of you. I’ll leave you with an extensive sinkhole compilation I’m just now looking up on youtube, oh my God, for your viewing horror.

My God I didn’t even realize that a situation where somebody falls into a sinkhole during a regular ass day actually happened until I just saw this video literally just now while trying to find a video to end this blog post on. Oh my God. If you’re all ready afraid of sinkholes after reading this far, don’t watch that video above. I don’t want you to have nightmares like I’m about to.

*shivers and clumsily hits ‘close’ on youtube browser*

Real Neat Blog Award

This is pretty cool this is the first time that I’ve been nominated for anything as a blogger

I was nominated by the hiddendragonn! Be sure to check their blog out at https://hiddendragonn.wordpress.com/

Thanks so much hiddendragonn!

There are rules for this award, and these are as follows:

– Insert the award logo onto your post (which is the blue image you see above)
– Answer the seven questions they asked you.
– Thank the blogger who nominated you.
– Nominate other bloggers and ask them seven questions and let them know you have nominated them!

Here are my answers to hiddendragonn’s questions:

1.) What is the achievement you are the most proud of?

At this current moment, I would say the thing I am most happy about having done is having finished a manuscript. It took a lot more out of me to create that story than I was expecting, I didn’t know going in that writing a book could be such a grueling endeavor. Reluctant to call it an achievement until it gets published, but that’s the first thing that comes to mind.

2.) What is your biggest regret?

I prefer living without regrets, but if there is one trait within me I regret it’s all moments that I have been indecisive. I hate indecision within myself, and I regret ever having allowed myself to be indecisive in my life.

3.) What do you consider as “sexy”?

I’d say confidence.

4.) What was one of the most awkward moments in your life?

After I had an appendectomy for a ruptured appendix many years ago, I kept looking down at my stitches that were right below my belly button and inside my shorts because they were bothering me as I moved around at a park for a church event. People that didn’t know I had surgery gave me weird glances.

5.) If you could have a superpower what would it be?

Teleportation. I love the idea of never being confined to one area, and just having the freedom and capability to roam wherever I please anywhere on the planet with reckless abandon. It would sure help to cure my growing wanderlust.

6.) Who are your top 5 favorite villains (from movies, literature, history, anything) and of course, why?)

Joffrey: I loved to hate that guy on Game of Thrones. It’s ironic because Jack Gleeson is such a kind person in real life but on the show he’s so despicable. He made Joffrey feel like a true spoiled kid who got too much power without any clear idea of what good to do with it besides do whatever the hell he felt like. So easy to hate.

Joker: A common one (it’s almost cliché to say it) but it’s just the way he doesn’t care about losing anything that makes him so terrifying. Without Heath Ledger’s rendition of the Joker, The Dark Knight would be half the movie it is.

Voldemort: Because he was probably the greatest wizard of all time. Shame he was a complete evil psychopath. I found it interesting how he was always being beaten by his hubris, especially in regards to his dealings with Harry. He made that series. Voldemort was a specter that hovered over the entire wizarding world every book and threatened to shatter everything they valued should he return to power.

White Walkers: Game of Thrones is heavy on my mind, and I really just want to know who the hell these characters are. I think it’s the mix of my speculations as to their true nature and my notions of what they will mean for the show moving forward that makes me place them here. White Walkers could really throw a monkey wrench into things. They probably won’t be pure evil, but for lots of characters they’ll likely be the villains.

Zombies in Walking Dead: I just really think the Walking Dead is a well made show, and it all wouldn’t be possible without those jump-scare-inducing, persistently hungry, mindless zombies

7.) Who is the person you look up to the most?

Though he’d long since passed well before I ever got to breathing, I look up to Mark Twain the most among all authors as an inspiration for my writing

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And I nominate JC at https://nimbus432.wordpress.com/ for the award! If you don’t want to that’s cool too just throwing it out there, it’s a tremendous blog!

The 7 questions:

1. What is the achievement you are the most proud of?
2. Where do you want to live if you got a chance to move permanently?
3. What’s your favorite color and why?
4. Who is your favorite movie villain? (from movies, literature, history, anything) and of course, why?
5. Who is the person you look up to the most?
6. What is one of your favorite quotes and why?
7. If you could have any superpower what would it be?

Hope you guys enjoyed the post! If you didn’t, it’s a free country let me have it!

Game of Thrones (No spoilers besides ramblings on general trends in the show)

Sidenote: This picture gives a very poor impression of what the current season is like

Well the chaos is back on television for the people of Westeros and the people of that other continent whatever its name is. I won’t be revealing any spoilers within this post besides general trends in the show, my own pondering over the show’s draw as well as what the past of the show implies about the show’s future.

The show depicts a fantasy world akin to the world created by JRR Tolkien in Lord of the Rings. So there clearly is a draw to fantasy in large, immersive worlds such as these. George RR Martin created something that sort of blends Tolkien’s fantasy with much more sinister, Machiavellian characters. Hundreds of characters, and each character carries a unique backstory. And the show has created such a vast world where it seems primarily the most ruthless end up winning, that you wonder how the show can ever end in a satisfying way.

Which brings me to my main point, will this show have a satisfying ending? I understand that not everybody can be pleased by a show’s end. And in no way shape or form am I arguing whether or not George RR Martin is a great writer. I think he’s brilliant. To keep straight all these inter-tangled plot lines and to write out results which make sense while factoring in each person’s individual interests, you wonder how his head doesn’t explode. I’m in the minority of people who actually feels sympathy for George RR Martin’s glacial writing pace, because I understand how difficult that must be crafting something so solid and with so many logical twists and turns, all the while trying to have it culminate in something meaningful.

The show reflects certain realities of existence. One of which is the fact that the good don’t always thrive, and the bad don’t always thrive either. It appears to be those who position themselves without exclusive regards to morality but rather primarily with regards to the realities of cause and effect in politics and interpersonal relationships who appear to consistently be the victors, a somewhat depressing message.

At this rate, with the show structured at present, they could make it so it never ends. But I know that won’t happen since they’ve already said it will end. So the only way to end the show must be to introduce other beings within the plot line of supernatural power that can act as a sort of etch-a-sketch shake, erasing much of what the show’s built up. Burning things down to allow a new world to rise up from the ashes, like a phoenix from the flame.

Anything of that nature is a delicate task to make believable without betraying the basic concepts which have made the show so popular in the first place. Among them the subtle interplay between the characters, the building up of plot lines before ripping you in new directions (you’ll get whiplash with this show if you’re not ready) and the sparse use of magic. Killing people in mass just feels like too heavy a hand for a show that has taken such surgical care to make every death feel meaningful. And I worry that the show will go in the direction of much more magic=much more death (spoiler alert, people die in this show). Much of the show is spent wondering where people’s loyalties and intentions lie, and then all of the sudden oh shit there’s magic. Magic gets used as a tactic for surprising the viewers, but the future of the show looks like magic will have a much more consistent role, which may harm its shock value.

I’m hitting that point where I’m part rambling part tempted to spoil certain things, though the books and the show haven’t quite hit this point I’m alluding to just yet. I digress.

George RR Martin himself said the end would be bittersweet, so I’m bracing myself for it. All in all it’s a great show with plenty of political intrigue and it seems like nobody can watch it without feeling one character who you want to root for, just be careful caring too much.

I’ll end the post with a nice cover of the theme song from Boyce Avenue. Enjoy the music!

Red Pandas

This feels like an optimal moment to remind everybody about how awesome and adorable red pandas are.

Arguably the derpiest creatures in the animal kingdom, red pandas spend the majority of their time in random mischief and bumping their faces into walls and other solid objects. They dislike the inherent ‘red panda unfriendliness’ of doors, as they can never seem to open the damn things. And it is a common goal of red pandas to climb at least one human per day, especially humans with snacks.

Their voices are unexpectedly high pitched, and they engage in regular gymnastic routines when bored, as is evidenced at approximately 1:34 in the above video.

Pumpkins are the arch rivals of the red panda. Their primary attack against said rivals is a face smash, where they smash their face into the pumpkin as many times as possible to wear down the pumpkin’s defenses. In moments where smashes fail, they attack with affectionate hugs.

On occasion, red pandas reach moments of epiphany, and begin to believe that they are actually humans. In these moments of epiphany the red pandas regularly begin to philosophize on existentialism and ponder the various mathematical moral dilemmas presented by game theory. These bouts of human thought and activity carry on for sprints of about five seconds, and in these moments they even try to walk upright, but they inevitably fall flat on their sides once reality brings them back to the fact that they are, indeed, red pandas.

It is known that red pandas have a deep fascination with hats. Though the moral code of the red panda community regularly advocates ‘do not steal,’ red pandas have great difficulty obeying this simple commandment when within a paw’s reach of a nice, grey baseball cap. This fact also holds true when red pandas are in the vicinity of trays of food, they can’t keep away.

I’m launching a petition online for us to re-populate the nearest earthlike planet with red pandas. A vessel containing red panda fetuses will spend many a millennia floating through the cosmos until they land at their destination. The planet will be terraformed and subsequently re-populated exclusively with red pandas, along with some nice plants. There will be robots with cameras on the vessel as well, and videos of the red pandas on their newfound planet will be sent back to Earth for the enjoyment of future generations. This petition can be signed by hitting the follow button on my blog. Likes also count as signatures, and there are several posts on my blog now, so feel free to sign as many times as you want for a world run by red pandas.

All joking aside, red pandas are some of the most magnificent animals in the world in my eyes, and they never fail to brighten my day. Hopefully they can brighten yours as well! 🙂

And in response to the probable question in your head, yes my blogs posts can be deeply random.