New Year's Resolution

Every 365 days, the general population takes part in a celebration of the New Year. Groups of people gather to remember the passing of time and the forgiving of past wrongs, as well as the hope of how a new year can affect one’s life positively. Of those who take part of the celebration, many make a declaration of their hopes for the New Year. Whether this list is physical or just mental, they each make their own New Year’s Resolution. Resolutions often include hopes to lose weight, as well as to kick habits, like smoking. The terrible irony surrounding Resolutions is that many times the hopes of the individual go forgotten without much, if any, action taken toward achieving them. They become lost in the confusion of one’s daily life. The urge to better oneself that shone through so clearly around January 1st is pushed aside soon after to make room for more important things. Don’t here me say that Resolutions are bad things. I believe that it is good to set goals for yourself. Plus, Resolutions show a great characteristic about anyone, that they are able to see faults in themselves. Rather than say Resolutions have been pointless for millions before you and not to waste your time, I encourage you to make one or more Resolutions and stick to them. Following through with them will also build character in you, perseverance and responsibility. Go ahead and make your Resolutions. Follow them, wherever they may take you. As one year passes and another begins, remember to work to better yourself, live in every moment, and love through all the time you are given. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Memories of a Packrat

Lately, I have decided that I should go through everything I have and cut down on my possessions. This is a challenge for me, because I am, by nature, a packrat. I like to feel that I am always prepared for whatever might come. Though preparedness is a wise thing, it is, overall, my downfall. My “addiction” has left me with boxes of odd, mismatch objects and years of memoirs from my haunting past. To be entirely truthful, I have only gone through one of many corrugated cardboard boxes from my closet, yet so many memories were contained within. During my grade school years, I was enthralled by, if not magnetically attracted to, all sorts of interesting rocks and stones. I built up an extensive collection of gems and clumps of minerals. Among these were cut rubies, sapphires, and emerald, as well as raw amethysts, granite, and jade. I collected stones whose colors matched those of rainbows and rocks that matched much of nature. I dedicated years to gathering beautiful and uncommon objects from the ground, and within a day, I rid my closet storehouses of the same rare possessions. Years of work that I had dwindled down to just the best of what I had. On the other hand, many other objects that this one box contained have no other point, but to be had and wondered about. A foot and a half of clear, flexible pipe and a pilot’s log lay almost entirely unused. A key to some ancient Ford sits gathering dust. Honduran lempiras from my father and brother’s mission trip there remind me of the experience they had had. Scrap paper of designs that were never completed and notes quickly forgotten lay hidden far beneath other possessions that I do or did hold dear. These are some memories of a packrat, take them as you may. Remember your past, but don’t dwell on it. Understand how you were, so you can see where you are going. You have already lived the past, the present is for you to live, and the future, so you can dream. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Car Seats - Comfort or Careless?

In these moments before my Senior year officially begins, me family and I took a trip down to Evansville, the biggest city in the toe of the boot we call “Indiana”. The reason for travelling to such a distant destination was to visit my older brother, Davy’s, new college, though that is unimportant to the topic of this post. What is important to know is that, if you journey to Evansville, it is a six hour drive. That is the background for the topic and all of my thoughts held within. I’m currently on the road heading back to Warsaw. Today is the 19th of August, the time is 6:51 pm. We left at about 5 O’clock, so we are almost a third of the way home. Hopefully, writing this blog post will make the trip seem shorter. It begins... On my lengthy excursion, I noticed, and not for the first time, how terribly uncomfortable car seats are constructed. I mean, aren’t seats supposed to be comfortable? Reclining chairs are comfortable. Rocking chairs are relaxing. Porch chairs are pleasant. And car seats are torturous. Now you thinking, “wait, those are all chairs, not seats!” Fine, I’ll think of an example to make you happy. Let me think. Ooh, how about loveseats? you know, couches with two seats instead of three. Those are very comfortable, especially if you have a cute girl sitting right next to y-, never mind, I’m getting off topic. Anyways, why are car seats so terribly unpleasant? They’re cushioned, making them just like the love seat, minus the cute girl. All the ‘seats in this minivan can lean back, just like reclining chairs. These ‘seats have a panoramic view, more of a view than porch chairs. Aha, the missing attribute that would make car seats better is found in the rocking chair. The missing characteristic is that, drum roll please, car seats can’t rock! I know that doesn’t fix the comfort level, but I’d love to see all the little kids rocking while saying, “are WE there YET??” or “I have TO go PEE!!”. I’d love to hear what all of you readers think would make car seats better. Go ahead and comment, or, as I say here in my rocking car seat, “COMMent! YOU need TO commENT!!!” The time is now 7:33 pm. I used up forty-two minutes writing this for you all. That’s almost an eighth of my trip. I still have four and a half hours and a dinner break before I’m finally home. I might compose another before I arrive, or I might not. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

The Frog and The Princess

Everyone has heard of Princesses wanting to kiss Frogs and turn him into a prince, but who has heard about the Frog wanting to kiss the Princess? I mean, I could see a pauper or some servant wanting to kiss the Princess to become a prince, though never a Frog. From the Princess’s point of view, there is nothing to lose. She has heard that it works from her friends, or from storybooks, and She probably thinks that it’s an excellent way to find a prince, or rather, make a prince. If She tries kissing a Frog and it doesn’t work, She will just return to the “old fashion” way of finding a prince. Or she could kiss as many frogs as she wants without consequences, aside from loss of time and the occasional case of rare Frog Disease. Besides those, it won’t cost Her any money or make her any less beautiful. It seems like everything is on her side. The Frog’s point of view is entirely different. Frogs have no good reason to kiss a Princess. Frogs don’t think Princesses are pretty, because They have a strange sense of beauty. Frogs don’t find makeup as attractive. They believe unaltered faces are lovelier than those covered with lipstick, blush, and mascara. Plus, why would a Frog want to be a prince and live in a gigantic palace? I mean, all the Frogs I know are happy living in Their swamps and are very content in staying there. I would also be a complete change of lifestyle, which is a challenge for Frogs to cope with. Personally, I wouldn’t mind marrying a Princess, but since Princesses are scarce at the present, I have to discover one for myself. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Ensemble

I was recently in a musical workshop at Wagon Wheel Theatre. It was an amazing experience, you’ll have to ask me about it sometime. Anyways, in musical theater a word is used to refer to all the actors. The word is “ensemble”. “Ensemble” is French, if you didn’t know. It means, most literally, “together”, though I prefer the second definition. My dictionary’s second definition says “ensemble” is an adjective “emphasizing the roles of all performers as a whole rather that a star performer.” Ensemble means every person in the group is important. It says that the star of the show isn’t worth much if he stands on the stage alone, but with the rest of the ensemble, a single character on the stage becomes a masquerade ball, or the trial of a murderer. Ensemble is the magic behind every good musical or play that makes it believable and enjoyable. There is power in working in unison. This idea of ensemble can easily be carried over into many other areas of life. Sport teams can be very successful with only one player, no matter how good he may be, trying to score goals or make baskets. A business has many parts that must work together. Without one of those parts, all the others have to work harder just to keep the business from collapsing. So, if you’re the star of the show or a president of a large company, keep in mind all of the hard working actors or employees below you that you couldn’t do without. And if you have always been the bad athlete or that unnamed part of the ensemble, remember your importance and your duty, to do your best to support those around you. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

The Art of Tic-Tac-Toe

One may declare to another, “There is no point to such a simple game!” I would strongly argue against this careless and ill-willed statement. I believe tic-tac-toe is an art, as well as a skill, that many overlook. Such skills can be mastered by those who try, and all you readers, with some help from myself, hopefully shall be thoroughly prepared to master this art by the end of this blog. The art of tic-tac-toe has 3 basic areas of expertise, all starting with ‘P’s. #1: PREFERENCE – Each individual player should have his or her own preference. He or she must decide what symbol they would like to use to signify themselves, for one thing. Each person must decide whether they prefer one of the classic ‘X’s or ‘O’s, or if they would rather use smiley faces, scribbles, or their initials. They also must choose the color they like the most to draw the chosen symbol in. Popular colors are black or white, but do not be afraid to pick other colors, such as hot pink, or to mix colors, such as rainbow. #2: POSITIONING – Positioning is another key skill. Every player should have set in his or her mind a pattern to attack and defend the opponent on the tic-tac-toe board. Much of this portion of the skill comes from playing enough and studying possible moves of both parties. This is not the most important part of the skills, but it is important in winning. #3: (the most important) POINT – The most important point, and an above all rule, is to have fun and enjoy playing. If it weren’t for tic-tac-toe being fun, well, it wouldn’t be very interesting, and I warn you, if ever you meet someone to tells you tic-tac-toe isn’t fun, tell them the truth. Share with them this knowledge of how to make tic-tac-toe even more fun. Now you all are officially “Master Tic-Tac-Toe”ists. Have fun playing and always remember these skills. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Childhood Memories

Do you remember all the fun things that you did when you were a kid? Things come to mind for me, such as playing in the McD’s Play place, flying kites, and climbing trees. I had such a wonderful childhood. Upon considering the past, I all of the sudden was filled with a desire to do these things once again. I climbed a tree first. I couldn’t believe it, that tree seemed so much smaller than I remembered it. I had an enjoyable time, but it wasn’t the same. It didn’t seem the same hardship, the same adventure, the same achievement as it had. Looking from far up in the tree down to the ground, it wasn’t as high as I had imagined in my younger years. There was little the same, besides a small boost of adrenaline when thinking about having to get back down. Kite flying was next. When I stood there, looking up toward the object on the far end of the string, I noticed I had different thoughts. When I was small, I was enthralled by the gliding kite catching the light breeze. At my present age, my mind, instead, swarmed with questions. “How does a kite work?” “Why doesn’t it fly straight?” “What is the tail for?” As the string comes to an end in my hand, I wish it would go higher still, but it’s not to be. I am far too old to easily play at the McDonald’s, but I’m positive the outcome would be the same. I’m not the same person I was. My size, energy level, and perspective on life have all changed. I walk away from this blog with the painful realization that I have changed, for better or worse, and, in most ways, there is no turning back. Dare to Readers: I dare each one of you to try something again. Remind yourself of something you did as a kid and do it once more. After trying out the fun things of your past, comment back to this blog. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Dragons, Holmes, Avatar

I have watched many movies in my life. I would like to share with you my thoughts on some great ones I have watched fairly recently. NOTICE: I WILL NOT REVEAL ANYTHING THAT WILL RUIN THE MOVIE FOR YOU IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THEM YET. If you want to read a summary of the movie or watch the trailer, click on the movie titles. “How To Train Your Dragon” is a great movie. It has an interesting plot and has many characteristics that make up all great movies. I did wonder why all the adults had one accent and all the children had a different one. Another item of question that bothered me was the dragons. I thought that the dragons in the movie were too much like household pets in nature. They were very playful and ornery, which added a cute side to them, but they were not realistic in that sense. You all may not have noticed, but it bothered me. “Sherlock Holmes” is a fantastic movie. The plot was very well planned and the music was great as well. In reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I never imagined Holmes quite as he was portrayed in this movie, though I enjoyed his character still. Because I have read many of Doyle’s short stories, I was able to see many connections between the movie and the stories. “Avatar” is a superb movie. I agree with my older brother that the plot is not original, but I love it anyways. I love the music that James Horner wrote for this movie. It fits beautifully with what happens in the movie and the tribal feeling within the movie. The Na’vi and their culture were both wonderfully designed and portrayed in this film. I would love to hear your thoughts on movies. Please do comment. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Gravitational Time Dilation

Lately, I have been watching the TV series Stargate. I enjoy the show very much. All that science stuff interests me, though some of it I question the realness of. Last night I watched an episode entitled “A Matter of Time”. The title matched the plot line very well. I won’t give anything away, but the basic plot was that a black hole was forming on the other side of Earth’s stargate. This black hole, for a reason that was never really given kept the wormhole the stargate creates from being shut down. Soon, the black hole’s gravity starts affecting the military based in which the stargate is held. The part that intrigued me, and even sparked question in my mind, was that, as the gravity from the black hole increased, the time within the gravitational pull was slowed down. I don’t know if you already have researched this TV show phenomenon, or if you’re even interested, but I’ll fill you in anyway. It seems, if I have researched properly, that this is a real occurrence. I have read that in places of lower gravitational potential, time goes slower than in places with greater gravitational potential. So, in layman’s terms, the closer a person is to the center of an object large enough to have a gravitational pull, the slower time goes. If that wasn’t funny enough, I read that to the person already mentioned, the time seems exactly the same in either place. You’re probably wondering “then how do we know this happens?” Well, Albert Einstein, in his brilliance, theorized that this would happen. If that’s not enough proof for you, well some scientists got together and conducted an experiment. In this experiment, they put two atomic clocks, one in each plane, and flew to two different elevations. After the planes landing, they saw that the two clocks displayed two different times. Pretty crazy, isn’t it? Now you are wondering “what does this have to do with my life?” Well, I don’t really know. I found this profound enough to share with you. I though about how this could be used anywhere from creating electricity to even time travel. Though I won’t bore you with all the gruesome details of my thought, at least at this time, I would encourage any and all of my readers to ponder all that I have delivered here to you. I would love some of you to watch a Stargate episode or two and see if you love it as much as I. If you would like to check this happening out more, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitational_time_dilation. In the case that you don’t understand all of the formulas and terms in above site, like me, the site http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/en/Outreach/Explore_Our_Universe/Why_Does_Gravity_Slow_Time?/2/ has it all in less scientific words. :) Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

The Death Penalty

Did you know... In 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony listed 13 crimes punishable by death. In 1888, New York adopted Thomas Edison's invention of death by electricution and the Electric Chair as the death sentence. In 1924, Nevada is the first state to adopt lethal gas as an execution method in a specially designed chamber. In 1977, Oklahoma is the first state to adopt lethal injection as a method of execution. You may, or may not have know those facts. I found them on clarkprosecuter.org. There are other death penalty facts there. As you might have guessed, I am not writing about myself today, but instead about the 'comfort' given to criminals with the Death Penalty. Death has always been one way of punishing criminals. When America was younger, we used hanging in front of the whole town. This was changed to the electric chair, on to lethal gas, and on lately to lethal injection. Each change came, because of the "inhumaneness" of how we punished criminals. As time went on, we moved to more "humane" forms of the Death Penalty. This reasoning makes no sense at all. This criminals just committed murder, or any one of a multitude of other horrendous crimes, and then we worry about if it hurts them in the process of ridding them from our midst. There is no reason why we should worry about them, they made their choice to take the death sentence when they committed the crime. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we should torture them. What I'm saying is, I believe that the form of death does not matter, as long as they are punished adequately for their actions. I also believe that making the deaths "private occasions" only takes away from the fear that criminals back in the day felt. Back then, one could watch someone be hung and understand the punishment that was received for the person's actions. I think having executions like that would work well in preventing many people from taking up a life in crime. Thanks for staying with me through the last two posts and this one on a more gloomy subject. I'll try to pick a happier topic next post. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

The Pre-Banquet Experience

Here we are, in the Pre-Banquet stage at school. For those readers who do not know the term "Banquet", it's basically a Prom, except without the dancing. Luckily, this year there will be dancing, though it will be kept at a minimum it seems. I don't know how many of my readers have prepared for a Banquet/Prom before. The guys have to ask the girls to go with them to, and that's always interesting to watch. I am an introvert, in case you didn't know that about me, so I get nervous just thinking about asking a girl to Banquet. Each time I feel like it's a perfect time to ask that cute girl over there, voices jump into my head, each telling me what I should do. "Walk up to her and ask her straight forward." "No, no, you don't want to just walk up to her. You should write her an extravagant note and ask her that way." And then there is always that voice saying "What if she says no? Then you look like a fool." This is my first year that I get to ask someone to banquet, and I was excited for a while. I had one certain person picked out and, as other guys and girls paired, I planned the perfect way to ask. Parents bothered me at home, and most any other time they were around me, asking me when I would talked to her about it. Just as my parent's bugging got worse, I heard rumors of another guy in my class asking the same girl I was going ask if she would go to Banquet with him and, as I later found out, she said yes to him. As I think about this occurrence, I ask myself, why didn't I ask sooner? I know that this girl I have a crush on didn't do anything wrong, I just hesitated. If I could have another chance, I would definitely have asked sooner. Luckily, I still have my Senior year. So, as others couple up in the next month or so before, I continue learning knew things every day. Look Out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson

Hopes of Mine

"There is only one trait that marks a writer. He is always watching. It's a kind of trick of mind and he is born with it." ~ Morley Callaghan I would like you all to know that I am a writer. That's a crazy thought, isn't it? Me being a writer and writing this blog. But what you need to understand is that I am the writer Morley Callaghan describes. I am always watching everything around me. I just take it all in. My first hope is that My writing side can be expressed to you, the reader, and that you may also take part in this awesome phenomenon constantly occurring in writers like me. I would also like to tell you that you may not always be interested in my experiences. I may have an item that I feel important enough to talk about, but is quite bland to you. My second hope is that you will continue reading my blog from time to time. Lastly, I hope that you will walk away from your computer with more than you sat down with. I encourage every one of you to think about what I say, ponder over my statements, and decide what you think of the topic. My topics will vary from my critiquing of movies, books, and music, to even politics, religion, and philosophy. Remember to look out for my Next Post, Benjamin Hudson