Creative Title

I believe that posting will begin to lighten up quite a bit now. It's been a fun few weeks, but how long could I honestly keep this up? Things have been getting kind of busy, mostly with getting a job and finally working on getting my WoW character to 70 (It's become a tradition with us that the current noob--thus far, my mom and soon me--gets a 70-cake when he/she reaches that level. I've decided that I want mine now.). So, I still expect to have two-to-four posts up per week or so.

Well, since I've started leveling more this week, my friend in NJ (met through my mom through WoW. Yeah, I know the extent of the sadness) sent me some YouTube videos. I'd already seen one and posted it here, but had somehow failed to further explore the rest of what that person had made. That one is actually my favorite ('cause we warlocks rule... and it actually is just the best), but I don't like to respost videos. So, I had some trouble deciding which one to post today to make up for lack of interesting things. It came down to this, this, and this:



I'd also breifly considered this due to the coolness of the song, but I'd feel like sort of a traitor due to my currently being Alliance.

If this seems to be too much World of Warcraft stuff, just go through Red State Update videos as a detox.

I hope to have intelligence when I write the next post a couple days from now. Until then, just do whatever you might normally do in that place called reality.

This is a post by Hazel. Ye commies be warned.

Via Hot Air: At what age should you die for your environmental sins?

I got 14.6. Not as low as I wanted, but I'm in college--I don't make enough money to be as much of an evil capitalist pig as I should be.

Particularly interesting was the fact that the questions are obviously not things that kids would know or be able to answer. How high is your energy bill? Is your electricity from a renewable resource? How much money did you spend last year (the lowest answer being $10,000)? What percentage of what you spend is for necessities vs. environmental crap? What percentage of flying and driving was for work (you know, that thing kids don't usually do nowadays)? Yeah.

You know, I try to believe that these people really think they're helping something. I try to convince myself that environmentalism isn't just a marxist ploy to indoctrinate the youth into submitting to government will "for the good of the collective," but I am really having trouble with this one. It's not like they're drumming their fingers together and saying, "excellent," or anything, but this is honestly the worst-covered-up socialist scheme I've ever seen. In the explanation of how they calculated it, it explains that, "every Australian dollar you spend causes 1.6 kg of CO2," (emphasis mine). Don't put money into private businesses, kids! They pollute terribly. Instead, give it all to your government! That's right, just keep giving us more and more...

Puh-lease.

That, my friends, is why I worry about the future of mankind and half hope the 2012 prophesies of destruction are true. I guess that's why we have the 2nd ammendment, though, so that something can be done should the worst come to pass.

Overall Impression: At least they were married this time.

Just kidding! Again, I think I was simply unprepared for the premise of that book. I've since learned to research these before reading them.

Real Overall Impression: Fantastic beginning, got somewhat confusing in the last part, and the last chapter didn't really wrap anything up (how does one rearrange that to avoid a dangling participle?).

It starts off with a stranger sitting at the table of the main character and narrator, Richard (as it was during a date with the other main character, Gwen), and tells him to kill someone. During the conversation the stranger is shot--which is promptly cleaned up--and the couple leaves. They go to his place and get "married" by pledging themselves to one-another, which is good enough for me to accept. The next morning, they are kicked out and leave for Luna, since Richard is apparently wanted for the murder of the person the stranger wanted him to kill.

I won't bore you with the details of the story in my own words into which no effort is being put at the moment, but it was an incredibly exciting adventure story.

It was in "Book Three" that things got a little iffy. At this point, it's made clear that the reader was supposed to have already read through all the stories that pretty much all meld together in this book. Since I've learned to research books before reading them, I already knew this. Thankfully, I'd already been through two important ones (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Stranger in a Strange Land) and through my research discovered the titles of other important ones--namely, the Lazarus Long Series. Therefore, while I came to be a tad lost at times, I still understood the gist of what was going on. Heck, I'm not even sure I would have understood everything had I read every Heinlein book out there.

The last chapter was even more confusing and didn't entirely wrap things up for me. It consists of Richard having done exactly what he'd spent the rest of the last portion of the book refusing to do. Also, it's not very clear as to who there dies and lives, but educated guesses can easily be made.

Well, overall, it was a very enjoyable book, though not one of Heinlein's best works. I recommend it, but I would recommend some of his other books first.

First, I woke up late because History Channel kept me up with some really great shows about prehistoric humans, which I just couldn't resist. So, I'll be calling a fabric store to see about my job and perhaps doing some more work on my car.

Until tomorrow or so, here's something I wish I could play and will at some point in the far future. As it is, I'm just working on the more awesome movie theme songs and am not even trying chords yet.

Dad: You should learn to play Jimi Hendrix songs like on YouTube. [Something like that. I don't remember the exact wording]
Me: ...But my guitar's acoustic.
Dad: [Sends pwning email]

Dang, no embedding on that video. Link!

I'll get around to it someday. Right. Need to get mine in tune first, as I'm having some trouble with the lower strings.

Interesting tidbit that has nothing to do with anything: A little over a year ago, I found that driving away from Cary (worst town ever) on a really curvy road and listening to a Jimi Hendrix song was one of the best things in the world.

Forewarning: This post may contain various Korean words. Most should be able to be understood through context. Others can be explained here, which is actually (surprisingly) extremely accurate. However, I have a qualm about the use of "Master" in the section on the belt system. We don't use the term in our school, basically because we are real big on pushing humility.

I often mention Tang Soo Do here--usually as an excuse for not being more interesting--but I'm not sure I've ever really given a good impression as to what, exactly, it is. Well, here's a nice post all about it.

A little less than two years ago, I was growing lazy yet restless in my ever-continuing homeschooling exploits. I was returning from the State Fair with my friend, and I caught an interesting sign off to the left, which said, "Karate". At this time I had actually been considering taking back up Martial Arts (taking back up, as I had been in Tae Kwon Do for a few years, but quit 4 or 5 years previously) for a few reasons. Primarily, I knew that I needed exercise, as I'd grown to be a tad pudgy, and I couldn't stand any other type of exercise. Simply working out bores me, as I need some sort of mental stimulation at pretty much all times, and team sports require interacting with people--something at which I am (obviously) not that great.

I told my mom about the school, and she and I went there the next day to check it out. It was closed at the time, but we looked in and saw that it was called "Tang Soo Do", got the times when it would be open, and went to eat at the nearby Japanese restaurant. We came back the next night or so (I remember it was a Tuesday) to watch a class, and ended up signing up. I took a couple intro classes, and soon joined the ranks as a white belt (ah, the good ol' days).

I took my first test, and felt that I did pretty well--perhaps deserving of skipping one or two levels (mostly due to my former Tae Kwon Do training). Apparently, however, I did extremely well and got to skip four levels, putting me, then, at 5th gup (from 10th gup). In my school (kwan), that is a green belt with one red stripe. Yeah, that was a bit of a surprise. Yet I accepted it and realised that I needed to work a lot harder to actually learn everything that the majority of people at that rank have had 15 months to already get into their head. Classes started to be a whole lot more fun then.

I continued to practice the art and progress in rank, and got my red belt (3rd gup) almost a year ago. However, a problem came up in December: I got into college. College itself wasn't the problem, but it was the fact that I decided to live in a dorm (the fact that the 8am only english class was the only one open by the time I registered told me that perhaps driving into Raleigh at that time might not be the best idea) that created an issue. I thought I would have to quit Tang Soo Do, because we weren't going to get a parking space. This greatly upset me, as I had come to love it a whole lot, and it grew to be a large part of my life that I really, really cared about. This was right before my 2nd gup test, too. I went in there--with my mom for the much needed emotional support--and told my Sa Bom Nim that I thought I might have to quit. Thankfully, he wouldn't let me. I stayed, and came to class every Friday. Soon, he started making me stay for the blue belt (see link at top) class after the normal Friday class, just to try to knock as much knowledge into me as possible (you see why I like these people so much?).

Currently, I am going to class three times a week for the summer, and will be testing for 1st gup come July. A great deal has changed; most prominently, we changed locations (to a place with hardwood floors!), and Sa Bom Nim is actually less involved with the school (I believe some family stuff, though I'm not entirely sure what it is. The Kyo Sa Nims have more or less taken over classes, and have actually been doing a wonderful job). Also, I have actually been slowly gaining friendships with the Kyo Sa Nims. Yeah, those things I don't have.

But I digress. Actually, that whole thing has been digression. I've been talking about Tang Soo Do this whole time, and I still haven't said a thing about it. Tang Soo Do is a Martial Art that originated in Korea from the older styles from both Korea and China (though there are some signs of Japanese and Okinawan influence, as well). The better-known Tae Kwon Do came from it, and thus they are very similar, but personally, I much prefer Tang Soo Do any day.

"Why?" you ask? Well, I'd be glad to answer! Basically, Tae Kwon Do is a sport. More than anything, it pleases crowds. A lot. The most accurate word that I can think of of which I can think is, "flashy." Tang Soo Do is much more simple and basic. It teaches to do the moves that will hurt an opponent, where they will hurt him/her most, and how to do them as well as possible. When you test for the next level, you test for yourself. Tae Kwon Do, on the other hand, teaches how to do the basic moves fairly well, but also how to do the things that look downright awesome (lots and lots of flying kicks and the like), and ends up with more focus on those rather than the simple things, since they are more difficult. My sister recently tested for her 4th dan--master level--and it was indeed incredibly impressive. There was a large crowd, and a long table at the front of the testers, including (amongst others) their Master, his 6 brothers, the head of the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (I believe that was the particular organization. There are a bunch of them), and James "Bonecrusher" Smith. Yeah, that was pretty cool. The thing is, it wasn't really a test. It was more of a demonstration to keep everyone entertained. They broke lots of boards, but I couldn't help but notice that they were very thin, which would really make sense since they were breaking so many and really needed to get them all on the first try.

Alright, this sounds like I'm calling Tae Kwon Do fake. It's not, as my thorough experience with sibling rivarly can attest. It's simply not purely self-defense. It's about looking really, really cool and making lots of money (big, big industry in that martial art nowadays. What my mom's old (70-80's) Karate teacher apparently called, "black belt factories"). I like Tang Soo Do because it's what you'll need to know in a fight, and not a whole lot else. Occasionally, we play around with the fun stuff. I'm actually well-known there for very high kicks, but we still practice basic techniques every class without fail.

Another thing I prefer is that Tang Soo Do is actually very traditional and serious. In my old Tae Kwon Do classes, the instructor would play music during class and other things like that to keep the energy and excitement up in the room. Yeah, Tang Soo Do doesn't do that. We go there to concentrate only on perfecting our technique and occasionally learning new techniques.

Yet that's not even all that's taught. We focus a great deal on the philosophical roots of the martial art. Respect, inner strength, perseverance, dignity, manners, honor, etc. Actually, our "motto" of a sort is, "Strength, Dignity, Honor." The primary two traits that are pushed, though, are humility and confidence. I already have one of these naturally, but it's usually called an inferiority complex. The other can be harder to develop, but through things like teaching lower-belts forms or even just being able to yell loudly, it can grow pretty rapidly at times. Just my personal observation.

That's actually about it, I believe, and dinner will be soon, so that's it whether I have more to say or not. Basically, I love Tang Soo Do so much because it's traditional, practical, and serious, and actually does teach me useful things for life, whether it be actual self-defense or inner moral lessons.

By the way, my favorite quote from one of Sa Bom Nim's talks: "If I break someone's knee, I will be able to simply walk away. This is because I know myself and know that if I were to break someone's knee, they were doing something to deserve it." Those are probably not the exact words (the first sentence definitely was. At least, the first half of the sentence), but it was definitely the message.

...is that the same thing never breaks twice. So, I'm fairly sure the most major problems are no more now. That is, it now will shut off with the key, and the locks had d*mn well better work right after all the effort I put into them.

Yeah, so, it had lately been continuting to run after I turned the key and took it out, so I opened the hood to look at that today. My dad came up, stuck one of the little vacuum lines into a little slot--not a foot from the "stop" lever I'd been pushing at least 8 times over the past week (every time I stopped my car). Yeah...

Also lately, the passenger side door hasn't been locking and unlocking with the others (Yay! Another vacuum problem!). I took the panel off--something at which I am very skilled now, but was difficult at the time--and saw a big sheet of plastic on the whole door (which I hadn't really expected). My dad again walked up, this time with a little vacuum pressure gauge thing, and tested the thing that I was to replace. Lo and behold, that one wasn't broken! So, I put the panel back on... twice, as I'd made a tiny mistake the first try. My dad then showed me a bunch of vacuum lines that he'd conveniently neglected to mention in the first place, and after a great deal of more testing with the gauge thing, we figured out that the problem was in the back passenger side door, which just so happened to also be the door with a problem staying open (not fun for taking the panel off). I won't bore y'all with further details, but we eventually got the new lock put on the right door, and that's about the end of it.

So, I know how to replace calipers, change the oil, and replace an entire engine (complete with transmission), and I'm sure a couple other things, but I was beaten by some little vacuum hoses.

Sometime over the summer, I'll be learning just about everything there is to know about air conditioning systems (of 1980's Germany) as I take mine apart and replace every. single. gasket., as there is apparently a leak in there somewhere.

Entertainment today is Song 2 by Blur:

Apparently posting was really light today. Also, sorry to say, it will likely be very light tomorrow as well, as I still have a bunch to do on my car, and I'll not be anywhere near my computer come nightfall. I'll do my best to find an entertaining video to suffice until Monday (today and tomorrow), when (hopefully) I'll find more time to take the 2+ hours necessary for any thought-out post of mine. Until then, enjoy whatever this ends up being.

Sweet. Guns N' Roses:

Alright, not much if anything will be posted today. Been sleeping too much lately, which came to a climax today when I didn't wake up until 1 pm. So, I'll be trying to get to bed much earlier tonight, thereby not leaving much awake-time for the rest of the day, a good chunk of which will be taken up by tang soo do.

Also, tomorrow, I will be working on my car quite a bit. That is, replacing the broken passenger-side door lock, replacing the fuel/temperature/oil pressure gauge to see if that fixes the oil leak that's coming from under the dashboard, and trying to figure out why it hasn't been turning off (I know, I know. A vacuum hose is probably loose). If there's time, I'll also change the oil and maybe even wash the car, but I really wouldn't count on it. The point is, posting will probably be light tomorrow as well. Plus, that's a large part of the reason that I'll be trying to get to sleep early tomorrow, so there's that too.

I do still have ideas floating around, and will probably write one up come Sunday. Until whenever, here's the opera from The Fifth Element (Static picture, of course):

Overall impression: Pretty freakin' awesome.

First and foremost, I must say, they kept to the plot of the book incredibly well, which is always a plus with these. It did have C.S. Lewis's Christian overtones, of course, but that's only something ever noticeable when one is looking for them. Truth be told, I never noticed them anywhere in the series until this--which is probably rather odd, especially since I've known of their presence for years. I just hadn't found them in the reading and watching for some reason. Either way, these are great stories, no matter the religious content.

As for the movie itself, it was truly very well-done. The imagery--naturally, the most prominent feature in this type of movie these days--was absolutely stunning. The ruins were beautiful (but perhaps that's just the archaeologist in me coming out); the CGI was, of course, the most realistic currently available; the battle scenes were incredibly intense; and so on and so forth. The acting, also, was rather good. At least--I'm assuming it was, but the suspension of disbelief was strong with this one (which thereby adds merit to my assumption). The soundtrack, I'm also somewhat assuming (as music is sometimes necessary to create the emotions that were felt throughout the movie), was wonderful. It was no John Williams piece, but it was good nevertheless.

Also, as always, I'm jealous of the majority of Susan's costumes. Particularly her armor, no matter how much weaker it was than almost anyone else. Oh well, I'll make myself some awesome dresses like that someday.

All-in-all, it was a fantastic movie. There were some humorous parts, though the majority was fairly solemn. Not necessarily sad--though the movie did have its share of tragedy--but rather serious. That's what I like about this series; it's for children, but is meant to help them grow up into better people rather than giving the impression that they'll be able to stay immature the way they are forever. They'll eventually have to learn how to be responsible and accept the consequences of their actions. Something like that.

Personally, I particularly enjoyed the battle scenes (though maybe that's another one of those things that's just me). They were completely action-packed, and the significance of each was made clear before it began. The scenes themselves actually seemed very much like those in Lord of the Rings, minus the gore (obviously, since the target audience is much younger, there are no blood effects save for the occasional cut on someone's face).

So, the movie ended with a really pretty song, which is what you get to listen to now! Well, if you so choose. We finished listening to this song, and I wanted to stay throughout the rest of the credits to hear the other nice songs, but my friend made me leave. So I looked them all up, and the one I got to hear in the first place ended up being my favorite. Here you go:

UPDATE 6 pm: Saw the movie, but I have tang soo do tonight, so I'll be gone from about 7 until 9 there, then will have to eat dinner and the like, so the review should be up by 11 or 12. Would have started on it earlier, but I forgot that normal people talk to friends a whole lot when they get together--distractions, distractions.


...I should have a movie review up, as I should be going to see a movie today if my friend remembers that we're supposed to do so. I'm not quite sure which movie yet, but it's bound to be one of the awesome ones out now. Until then, let's find something on YouTube:



Encore: an older, more awesome song (static picture):