Weekly Update. . . IIX

Question 1) What have you done recently?  Oddly enough, I can actually answer this one whole-heartedly this time.  Last week, as we all know, I took the SAT last Saturday, and this morning, I forced myself out of a dreary haze to shower, eat, and then go to my school at 8 a.m. to take the ACT.  Which I probably bombed. I added two more parts to an ongoing story on my dA account [link] (feel free to browse), and a picture that I messed around with on Photoshop, which, surprisingly, isn't as popular as I thought it would be.  Oh, yeah, and I've been doing scholarships. (For anyone who has read any of these updates should have the general knowledge of how much I loath that, and if not [link] there you go. )

Question 2) What have you learned recently?  I have learned that I may probably not be the best influence when it comes down to certain. . . thingsss. . . but that's a whole other story.  One that will likely never be shared in good company.  So drop it.  Seriously.  I have recently come to learn to appreciate how much I will love not having to do a single thing my mother commands of me once I turn eighteen, (and god, how I await that day), and I learned in the past week or so that my band may or may not be getting another guitarist (which will change the lineup a bit, so we only have the two), and possibly a singer who can hopefully gore/grunge, whateverthehell you would like to call it.  Also, we're probably going to be somewhere around the heavy metal/ american heavy metal genre (bands like Slipknot and Lamb Of God).  Truly inspirational, truly.

Question 3)  What are you planning on next?  Killing myself if this goes on for much longer.

You Mean That Tingly Feeling I Get When I'm Overworked Is That Thing You Call Stress?

Yeah, unfortunately it is.  I know my mom experiences a lot of it with bills and what not, and all I can do is say "Mom. . . Chill out." Like, seriously.  Anyway, today I'm supposed to explain the difference between long and short term stress. Long term stress, I think one could easily correlate to having a boyfriend/girlfriend or significant other for a prolonged period of time; you get on each other's nerves, but still tell people "yeah, I still love him/her," when we all know the little grey hairs poking out are going to be re-dyed soon enough, and the next time we see you, we'll all be like "There's something different about you, but I can't quite put my finger on it. . ." (Hair colour is a completely different colour).  Whereas those are the long term aspects in a nutshell that I am certain anyone could relate to, directly through experience, or indirectly through movies, or having a friend or family member that tells you everything about it over the phone while you sit there on the other side pretending to listen going: "uh-huh. . . oh, yeah, that's interesting. . ." and the short term stresses are like sitting down, getting ready to type your blog and thinking to yourself: "I could totally go for a pb&j right now," and then getting up to go make yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I like mine with steak. And chicken. Hold the peanut butter. . . or the jelly. . . I call it a steak-and-chicken sandwich.  However, I could always go for a goodole fashioned manwich.

I'm also supposed to explain what I decided to do for my own stress relief.  Now, this just comes down to what kind of stress you're talking about.  School stress, I just ignore my homework and tell myself I'll get it done later, (which has resulted in me often not caring whether or not something gets done because if it doesn't, it'll only lead to more stress, so just not caring is the simplest solution), with stuff like the band, I just chill out because I know I've waited this long for it to get this far, so waiting is just about all I can do on that note.  Hrmnerm. . . Relationship stress, I can usually just talk to someone or just throw my phone across the house and forget it there to go watch the British Top Gear. But I haven't had to do that since January (can I get a hoo-rah!).  I think that's about all there is to cover.

System Update. . . VII?

Okay, I lost count of what week I was on, so what? And I forgot to do last weeks, so aside from being far from able to make that one up, I'm gonna just keep trollolo-ing along.
Q1) What have you completed recently?  I know this question is often a laugh for be, but every time I see it, it gets me thinking.  And I hate that about it.  There's just too much on my to-do list that I want to do and on the to-do list of things that I have to do, regardless, but that I put off anyway, like school work, and the stuff mother makes me do, like scholarships and collage.  The only reason I even get to my blogs is just because I sit at my computer, realize I deleted my Facebook account and have nothing else to do because my xbox is dead, the girl next door that I would normally ask if she wanted to hang out and go do something or play videogames with has moved across the country, the primary asset of the band lives way the hell out in Radium, and one of the other two sleeps until 5:00 (yes, P.M.) and then once he wakes up, he plays videogames on his beastly computer all day.  And the last member doesn't have a phone, and I don't like showing up to people's houses completely unexpected.  My lil sister hardly texts back, so I don't know if she's ever free or what's goin on there, and one of the only other people I'd ask only likes getting out of the house when it's with the best friend.  Sooo. . . yeah. . . In other news, I took my SAT for the second time yesterday, and I'm trying to figure out what to get a friend for her birthday party that's sometime today.  Only problem with that is: how does one get a gift for someone they hardly know? That's of the opposite gender, to throw that on top of all of it.  But when that's all said and done, and the time rolls about, I'm sure I'll have come up with something or other.

Q2)What have you learned recently? I have learned that I despise the fact that I am basically being forced to conform to this world by going to college.  Again, a story for another day and another time.  I have learned that the Hubbard's music store in this town is expensive as all hell, and I need a job next semester to be able to pay for my own dang stuff. . .  My guitarist is also going to apply with me so we can try to put more out of our own pockets to the band fund so we can get Ashley the double bass pedal, get ourselves the amps we need and hopefully some guitar stands, so we can stop using hampers. (Insert sigh here).  It's a sad day when one realizes how poor they are when they need so much to get started. . .  We also want to get a seven string, but if anything, that will come utmost last of all of our equipment, as long as we have everything for the time being to actually have practices.  Oh yeah! I also realized that the rest of this year is going to be so much of a pain that I could literally compare it to a pimple on the arse.  You know, like one of those ones that you get where it's there but also kind of not, because it's like under the skin, and you don't really realize that you have it until you scratch at it or something, and when you look to see why it hurts so much, you realize that it's one of those pimples? Yeah. . . like that. . . but on your butt. . . and in reality, instead of actually on you.

Q3) What are you planning on doing next? Well, I think I kind of technically outlined that one just a minute ago with the band and stuff. And like I have always said when it comes down to this question; it really honestly depends on what your asking about.  Today, being Sunday, of December 2nd, like I mentioned before, I get to go find a gift for someone I barely know, and attend her birthday party, hopefully not being the little outcast-emo-kid that sits in the corner because nobody else there is really into the same stuff that he's into and the only reason he's there is because she invited him, and, though he was grateful, he honestly didn't know what he was doing there and only really talks when she talks to him, and he's pretty sure the only reason she even talks to him in the first place is because he did a drawing of her that she liked.  Wish me luck! :D

 Probly could have done better.

Bwainzzzz. . .

The other day, I watched a video with woman who had experienced a rupturing of a blood vessel in her head; she detailed the account, how she felt during the entire thing, and how, when she finally realized what was happening, how she felt, and how she managed to get help.  The video started and I was thinking "okay, this should be interesting," but as it continued, I thought to myself "wow, this lady sounds like the highest hippie on planet earth."  Not to sound disrespectful of her or anything, it was interesting to hear of a neurologist's own personal account of what she felt during this and how she was unable to process things with 100% of her brain.  It almost reminded me of an H.P. Lovecraft moment, the way she explained how she couldn't quite comprehend things the way they were, and more like she was experiencing herself from the outside of her body, almost.  Which almost brings us to astral projection. But that's another story. ^-^

Speaking of astral projection. . .

Gotta love these guys. And for those of you who don't know what they're supposed to be, or what they're from. (link). There's the page, gives a bit of back-story to the whole thing, but you have to scroll down to the "combine overwatch" section for what I was trying to find.

Blog, Yada-yada, Whatever No. V

Q # 1) Accomplishments lately? I made it to Saturday night. 'Nuff said.

Q # 2) Learned anything? I have to write an essay Monday, and if I don't finish it, I'll have to do that Tuesday.  I've learned I don't understand the "who, what, where, when, why" of people, of their actions, of their responses, or their words, and I don't care.

Q # 4) So what's next?  What's left to be next? I don't know. I'm too tired to care.

Something, Something, Virtual Leeches, Something Something.

Today in my anatomy class, we did a lab with virtual leeches to test neurophysiologic connections.  It was, by far, the strangest lab (if it could be called that) to do thus far.  Basically cutting open a fake leech, zooming in on it's brain stem through a "microscope" and poking at it's brain-stem cells to see how it reacts to stimuli (i.e. hard, rough, or soft stimuli, or all three) to determine which kinds of cells detected which kinds of stimuli.  Stimuli never produced the same responses because the different kinds of cells pick up different types of stimuli in different ways.  I can only assume this is because of the way that each cell is built to react to whichever kinds of stimuli to feed to the organism to help it determine it's surroundings, whether it's in danger, etc. etc.  I believe the point of this lab was to see how neurological pathways detect a stimulus and to help us understand that there are different pathways for different amounts/types of external stimulus.

Remote, Please.

Today our Anatomy teacher showed us a video of a "remote control cockroach:" that is to say a roach that was controlled. . . via remote control. Yes, a "living, breathing" organism.  Though I am not sure what the exact mechanics of it are, my teacher explained that they took the "motherboard" out of a simple children's toy, rigged it to something glued to its back and fed the signals through it's antennae into its brain, telling it to move forward, backward, left or right.  Now, simple enough to say; this was, clearly, a science experiment for whatever level collage class and can be justified as such.  However, that is approximately where the fine line is drawn, the silver lining is made apparent in the clouds, and these things humanity clutches to as "morals."

I speak of this fine line where the moral conflicts for such a device come in because there are several points in which such a device can be implemented, not only in animals, but in the human species, for a greater "good" or "evil" if it is so to be put.  In the "greater good" scenario, it could be used to help make humanity take an extra little step towards the utopia it so wishes to achieve since the dawn of time and that David spoke of when he wrote the lines of scripture which take that picturesque vignette of humanity in the eyes of  Yahweh and place it into letters which the mind can vividly recreate all man's foremost "mother and father," (should one wish to believe that as the truth) in the image of the "LORD God [planting] a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. . ." (Genesis 2:8).  What I am trying to reach, through all of this, is certainly not any conviction, but simply to introduce what man has wished to accomplish since he has heard the tale of the Garden; the Utopia he wishes to achieve for himself and all fellow man where no man shall fall ill, no man shall covet what his neighbor has, etc., etc.  The step I hint at leading toward this so-called utopia is that, if man can take hold of this technology, bring it about in a portable and convenient way so that one would not have to lug about a gigantic red rucksack everywhere with him, his paraplegic brother could stand and could walk about and run for the first time in years "since the accident," or even "for the first time in his life!"  Imagine it, reader; for the first time, those born with legs they could not make use of, or lost use at some point in their life, through an accomplishment of Man (O! the accomplishments he has made!) can utilize this technology to renew the signals that have been broken and renew them so that he may stand! Ponder this, reader; keep it in your mind while we explore other implications and before I dare delve into the moral implications that arise through our "modern" society."

Now, reader, let me take you into the opposite side of this silver lining; the more commonly apprehended version that the viewer takes (at least from my observations).  The question was asked, "Now, with this sort of technology, what could it be applied towards?"  Immediately, the first audible response from someone in the class was essentially "zombie apocalypse." Now. . . clearly, that is where our social media has taken us since Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" to the modern day sci-fi comic book series and AMC original series "The Walking Dead" but. . . I don't think that is quite where such a "mind controlling" device would lead.  If anything, anyone with the sort of power to control the minds, motions, or lives of a single person, or a million under a country, would certainly be devastating in the wrong hands to say the least, but what one must take into consideration, though the answer may be simple to some, is: why, exactly, would anyone wish to take up millions of lives as mindless slaves, or as use for entertainment? Or even the life of one in order to commit a misdeed?  Certainly, it is an entertaining thought, millions to have to bow down to one and do the bidding, yada yada, and surely there are some out there who would do evil merely "for the sake of evil" and nothing more, but what I fail to understand is what one could possibly get out of such an ability?

Of all things, since the beginning of man's ability to focus a train of thought, he has sought omnipotence, it is no mystery.  To this day, the desire to be god-like has driven every succession and every milestone across humanity.  Man wished to fly like the birds that a god or gods that were granted wings, and so he made himself fly.  Man wished to see the bottom of the deepest abyss to see where "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" (H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu), or as it translate for those of us who don't speak occult, "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthuluh waits sleeping."  And man dove to the farthest depths.  Man wished to travel past the heavens of earth and meet his god(s) and he sent himself to the moon.  In short, with the determination that the gods and myths inspire, Man reaches his pinnacle; then he looks even higher.  So. What, then, does this say, exactly, about this implement of "mind control," as we wish to put it?  It is a part of the next milestone, to say the least, but one that will, like every other, come at a cost.  Morality that modern beliefs have instilled provide the boundary line for man; when going far to achieve what he wishes to accomplish is going to far, and (approximately) when to draw that fine line.  Some of the moral arguments that arise remind me of the 2009 film "Surrogates" in which the world has become a sort of Utopia.  People live their lives comfortably from their home while their Surrogate, a robot which looks and operates exactly like a human can, without fear of pain, crimes, and consequences do not exist.  This film, I am sure, is a derivative of the Massively Multiplayer Online computer game Second Life.  In short, Second Life is a videogame with the same essential concept, allowing the players to enter a life where they can forget their current one and live anew however they please, meet new people, etc., etc.  (I think I will let Wikipedia do the explaining on that one.)  Regardless, the film "Surrogates" easily conceives the idea of the former mentioned "utopia" achieved with what is essentially the same mind-control idea and constructs a plot where humanity takes up the advantage of such a milestone and it is taken advantage of in the same such way one could consider when making the "cons" list of applying a device in humanity, regardless of being for the better.  Needless to say, the cons of such a list may outweigh the pros in understanding the application in a dangerous way, and for those of us with automatonophobia it is very easy to devise the end of all humanity through such a simple device that would allow the broken brethren to stand again and live with legs instead of wheels.

In conclusion, the morality of the current society would not allow for the application of such a device through much more than a cockroach  before current views and takes on where the moral line is drawn.  In short, the needs do not quite outweigh the efforts in development and will not be considered what the world is ready for until the world is ready to take the next step, whisper a new word, for the world is afraid of what is new and in order to overcome the fears, one must simply have the strength to pick up what lies before him and lead his brethren into The New Era. "The most ancient human being on the most ancient field would still be standing there, trying to discern a way to plant food and make a living. If one had not overstepped tradition and made an innovation then, the human race would still be standing there. We would not exist. Without innovation and efforts to survive, humans die" (Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment; Rodion Romonovich Raskolnikov's theory).

Weekly Update No IV

So... here we are again with the three infamous questions.
1) What have you completed recently? What have I accomplished lately? What have I accomplished?? I liberated Eden Prime from the grip of the Geth forces, blew up an ancient beacon that was probably billions of years old and would have likely helped in my journey of stopping the Reapers from destroying all living species throughout the universe (once again).  Anyway, I exposed the traitor Saren Arterius and in doing so, proved my capability of becoming the fist Human Spectre, and was given the Normandy as my official ship. So, overall, I've been pretty damned good.

2)What have you learned recently?  As of late, I have learned that the former Spectre Saren Arterius of the Turian race was a traitor, my former Captain, David Anderson, and that I, as the first Human Spectre, representing the entire human race for the Citadel Council, must track down and apprehend or eliminate the rogue Spectre Saren.

3)What are you planning on doing next? Good question.  Next, I plan on getting leads on that rat-Turian-bastard and bringing him to his justice.  Step one of three in this mission is to locate Dr. Ann Bryson, I believe, and find out what she knows about the location or direction of Saren.





(link in case you didn't understand anything that I was talking about.)

Weekly Update No. III

Why hello again. Here to hear my rabbles once again of the week? Good, because that's why I got on my computer to do this.
Question Number 1: What tasks have you completed recently? It's funny, actually; this question is the reason this blog is being done a day late, and haven't I a story to tell.  I cannot quite recall all the way back to the beginning of the week, but I suppose that is really just because I do not really want to.  Though, that does not exempt my ability to answer this question.  I had been looking forward to Friday (11.2.12) since last Friday.  We had been hoping to have a band practice last weekend, I believe, but were unable to bring it to happening.  Needless to say, we re-planned for yesterday.  Though a guitarist was unable to join us for our first official practice, we still carried out, just the three of us (THE guitarist, the drummer, and myself).  After we got to my house, my friend Anthony (the guitarist) started messing with stuff to make a lava-lamp (how dedicated) and my friend Ashley (the drummer) and myself continued on to the garage to set up the drums.  This is where the endeavors of the night really began. I removed the bass drum from the spot we had it at and Ashley said she wanted to dust the drums down to keep them clean, given they had been sitting for a while and a thin layer of dust was beginning to gather on them.  As we were doing that, she noticed that the bass drum didn't sound quite right, and she said we should take a few of the pillows out of it, so I went to get the key to take the face of it off.  After we got it loosened and taken off, this is what we found. . .

I hope we aren't the only ones to get a kick out of that.  Anyway, we had our fun with it, discovered it had a hole in the back side (which Ashley preceded to make very suggestive. . . implications with.  Then we stuffed it back in the drum, put the face back on, re-tuned it and finished setting them up.  After everything was set up and everyone was in the garage, we put on some music and just tried to get a beat to something, until we were called in for dinner.  All I will say about that is for such a tiny person, Ashley can eat a lot.

Proceeding onwards into the night, the distortion pedal I was using went out, so I collected some money from me mutter and we ventured out into the night to Walgreens to get a replacement 9V battery.  After I paid for it, I lost the two numb-nuts I call my band somewhere in the store, so I had to go find them.   Once I did find them, I had to chase them around the store a few times before I got them to leave with me.  But it was fun.  This, dear reader, is where the fun really began.  Before I go on, let me explain the layout of  my truck;  It's a three-door, five-seater, essentially; one door on the driver's side, two doors on the passenger's side, where the back door has to be opened after the front.  there are three seats in the front; the drivers', the right-hand passenger, and a middle seat passenger, (which is usually referred to as the "bitch seat," excuse the language,) and the two seats in the rear.  Now to the details of our little misadventure; on the way to the Walgreens, Ashley sat up front in the middle seat, and Anthony sat in the front passenger with me driving.  Now, on our way from Walgreens, Ashley jumped in the back, after not hearing us say about four or five times, "I thought you were going to sit up front?"  A short discussion ensued afterwards winding up in her laying down in the back seat and the thought implanted in my mind of break-checks. (/me evil snicker.) To make a long story short, I wound up driving around the block a few times, and into the Lows parkinglot break-checking about and running over the speed-bumps, and making sharp turns, tossing my drummer about the back seat, leaving her very clearly disoriented by the time I had decided to return home. (^.^)<---smiley face.  Ah, what else is there to say about my night. . .

Let's see. . . there was a three-man mosh pit between us to the song Bounce, by System of a Down, and we all danced about the garage like idiots, and ran around the neighborhood, spinning in circles with our heads back.  All-in-all, it was a fun night.  When we actually got back to the instruments, we actually made a bit of progress, starting up  the beginning to a song so that we've got something to play.  In the conclusion of all of this, when we were taking Ashley home, I asked my mother if she could hear us through the walls and her response was "I was waiting for the neighbors to come knocking."  When I asked her if we sounded any good, her response was, essentially, "No comment."  That was when I turned to the guys and said "So guys. . . we sound like shit."  But that essentially concludes that story, so I'm going to move on to the next question to try to get this done.

Question Number 2: What have you learned recently?  I learned that my walls are not as thick as I hoped they'd be, I should expect complaints during one of our practices, and books have a whole lot of meanings behind them I am sure weren't an original intention of the author, though as debatable as some can be, I wouldn't doubt if the controversy of some statements was intended, but meanings behind other things, I am not as sure.

Question Number 3:  What are you planning on doing next?  Well, like the last time I answered this question, it all really depends on the context.  With the band, I'm just hoping we can have practices more often or meetings in the least, and it looks like we'll be changing our name.  With school, I'm still just hoping I'll pass all of my classes this semester, and be able to graduate on time.  Otherwise I don't really know how to answer this question.

System Update. . . Done; Muscular.

In this blog I am supposed to. . . "explain the anatomy of skeletal muscle, focusing upon form and function." Awesome.  Only problem is. . . I do not really know how to do that. Sure, we have been working on the skeletal system for however long already, but to me, that prompt is simply asking me to say what the skeletal muscle does.  Well, gee, I dunno, maybe moves the skeleton?  That's about where it end for me, I really do not know how else to explain it.  We are delving into the microscopic part of it finally, but that really does not do one so much good when their teacher refers to something one should have learned in biology eighty (80) times, and one does not know how one even passed their biology class after being suspended for a whole week (a story for another time), and probably DURING the time that one would have been receiving all of the information about the microscopic whatnots about cells and living things.  Needless to say,  I am probably not one prepared for this class as one should be and I do not know how to respond for this blog.  my apologize for any disappointment (ha!).

Weekly update No. II

This week I get to answer the primordial weekly questionable update questions... again...
Question No. 1: What tasks have you accomplished recently? Tasks? Completed? ha! Don't get me started.  Next question.

Question No. 2: What have you learned recently?  Damn, this one I can actually answer. . . Well, why don't I just start off with the worst and work my way up, that's usually fun. . .  To break the ice, I think I fell in love with someone (how fun that usually is), and I think that's all I'm going to say on the subject.  If you hadn't read it already, it's in my last blog (in other words, a story for a different place and a different time [link]).  I've learned what was wrong with my drawing tablet; turns out I just had to reinstall the driver, thank goodness.  I learned I was going to be busy as all hell this weekend (which is why I got this blog done today instead of on Friday, like it was supposed to have been done), and I've learned that I'll be making band/tour shirts/merch. for my own band, a band called A Blood Stained Trail, and a band called I.A.A.I.  That's not exactly the highlight of my week, but I can't recall anything else at the moment, so I'm just going to leave it at that.

Question No. 3: What are you planning on doing next?  Well, that all really depends on what you're referring to.  In the case of my anatomy class, I'll probably be taking it again next semester (lucky me).  In the case of my band and the shirts and whatever, I plan on learning to do silk screening and selling some merch for mah band to earn some freaking cash, man.  Oyea, and I think we may be holding our first official practice this coming weekend; I really want to get this band up and going, hopefully by summer next year.  Which posed the question in my mother's head, "well how the hell are you going to do this all while you're going to collage?"  Well. . . that's not exactly how she expressed it, but you get the jist of it.  Anywhoo, I don't really want to get started on that topic (mostly because I don't want anyone to go blabbing to my mother that I'm gonna say this, but) I honestly don't want to have to go to collage anymore.  I hate the fact that in order to get a good job doing anything, you either have to have a 2-trillion dollar idea **facebook, macintosh, microsoft cough cough**, have to be an Albert Einstein, or have to have a damned collage education, and I absolutely hate that that is what the world is forcing people to have to conform to in order to get a good, well-paying job.  It pisses me off.  I'm going to go ahead and stop myself there before I turn this into more of a rant.  Next question.

Never-mind, there are no more questions.  Hope you enjoyed it, check out my DA account, and support yer local artists!

Update. . . Done. Now go away.

Why hello again.  I was hoping you wouldn't stop by anytime soon. Why? Well that is simple, dearest; because I knew you were going to ask how I was liking the book and, much to your disappointment, I have not been reading it very often.  Now, now, don't be offended.  As Hoobastank says: "I'm not a perfect person."  But that excuse only works so many times.  But getting back to the book, I honestly don't think It's doing much for me.  It's just telling me how people murdered people back in the good 'ole days when you could poison your mother-in-law and make it look like she calmly passed in her sleep, and not like a conniving son/daughter-in-law had slipped something into her drink.  Altogether, I'm fairly bored with the book already, though it looked promising in the start (as all things do).

Though I'm glad the people the book talks about did what they did because if they hadn't, there probably wouldn't be quite so many regulations in criminology or whatever it may qualify as, and my murderer could easily slip into my window in the wee hours of the night whilst peacefully in my bed I lay, and he could slip some potent drug through my lips, or under my skin and watch as it's potency corrupts and curdles my blood; then, slipping out seamlessly the way they came in, they could simply pay off the commissioner to declare my death some sort of natural incident or something.

Weekly Update No. 1

This blog was due Friday, but I haven't been able to get to it until today, and I wouldn't doubt if it doesn't get graded, alas, I shall complete it anyway.  We are now required to answer three questions every Friday.  Simple enough.

1)  What tasks have you completed recently?  I haven't made any really big achievements; in fact, I've really probably been slacking off compared to what I want to do/ should be doing for class(es), and for my own personal things.  I haven't been able to touch a drawing I started for about 3 weeks, or so, I can't figure out why my sewing machine is going whack, and I haven't been reading the book I need to read for Anatomy (because I was reading Crime and Punishment which is way more interesting) and have been trying to figure out what the hell I'm gonna do about band issues.  In short, I've been slacking off.

2)  What have you learned recently?  I'm not sure how close the answer to this question has to be to school related things, so I'm going to try not to delve into the depths of my mind.  But I have learned that Fyodor Dostoevsky is a very intriguing writer, and that I must be doing something wrong on my Deviant Art profile submissions because I hardly get over 15 views per submission, if that.  (In case you were interested...)  All-in-all, I haven't really learned anything. At least, nothing I can think of.

3) What are you planning on doing next?  This question kind of confused me and made me laugh at first.  But just to remain on topic of school and some of what I've already talked about, I'm planning on NOT having to take anatomy again and finishing the picture I've started.  Otherwise, there's really not much else I can say.

Egil's Bones

A few weeks ago when we started the bone chapter, I realized taking anatomy was probably the worst decision of my life, right next to taking honors chemistry.  I also received a packet (amongst the many others) that was about a viking man's bones; Egil's bones to be specific (in case you hadn't guessed from the title...)  Anyway, This man's bones were overgrown and, through studies of his writings, it's possible to say that it is very likely he had something called "Paget's Disease."  It's this disease where the bones overgrow and aren't able to break themselves down fast enough with the osteoclasts.  With this disease, the victims of these diseases are usually disfigured.

For a quick overview of the story, Egil was described as a man that had a very large forehead, a large jaw, and a very wide nose.  Once he was buried, Iceland converted to Christianity (like everyone else in the dark ages), and his children, if I'm remembering correctly, had a Christian church built on the land they inherited and they had Egil's remains dug up and moved into the church's graveyard.  So many years later, one of his other descendants built another church however many feet away from the other church and had his bones dug up yet again, and buried in THAT graveyard.  Some time after that, another one of his descendant's curious spouses dug up his bones because they had heard the stories of how Egil was a burly man and his bones could take a lot of punishment, and he wanted to know exactly how much.  Sooooo... he dug up the bones... again (I think I'm starting to see a pattern here).  By this point in time, when I retold this story to my band and my mom, my mom made the comment that "I bet he was rolling around in his grave."  I agree. 

Anyway, back to the story.  The last guy to dig up poor 'ole Egil's bones decided he wanted to exactly how thick these bones really were, so he took the blunt side of an axe and hit the skull with it as hard as he could.
Now, common sense would dictate that 150 year old bones, no matter thick, would probably collapse in on impact.  Instead, the axe simply left a white mark where it had hit.  After that, they were buried again, and they've been left alone for the last thousand or so years.  I'm not sure how old the article I read was, but they said they were thinking of digging them back up again for the first time in a long while (remember those thousand years I mentioned?).

link

I thought this was a pretty interesting story altogether, because I don't know much about the Northern-European/Viking history.  And though I think it'd be neat to be able to withstand man slaughtering-blows to the skull and all, in chronic victims of Paget's disease, they suffer vision loss, and uncontrollable dizzy spells.  Here is a link to what I actually read, for anyone who hasn't read it.  Here is a link with more about Paget's disease, for anyone interested.  In case anyone doesn't want to take the time to read those, here's a picture of someone that had this disease.

Book? Aye, the book...

For our anatomy class, we are required to read a book related to science. . . but not just any science!  Yeah, actually, just any science.  However, the book had to relate back to the way that that science was used somehow in history or relates to something somehow-or-other to real life. In other words; it has to be nonfiction.  The book I chose to read for this assignment was The Poisoner's Handbook by Deborah Bloom.  (Image of the cover.)  Anywhoo, this particular book, as one could absolutely never ever possibly assume from the title, was about a New York commissioner and how he helps clean up the crooked ways of New York's police and medical examiners, helping solve cases that were long believed to be cut cold turkey.  It shows the advancements into modern-like technology, and how murderers who used things like wood alcohol and chloroform to take their victims, and no man thought that finding these things in a body, in any trace, would be possible.  (But it is, so don't go about killing people with these things.  Try something a little more subtle...)  Anyway, for me, it's fairly hard to get into this book, much like the last book I chose to read for my chemistry class.  I just never find nonfiction books all too interesting.  It is interesting the way that the story is put together into a story, but it just doesn't keep my attention for very long.  I often find myself falling half asleep when I do read it, and it's nearly torture in class when we read for "Bell Work."

System Update...Done! (Sep. 19 Nat. Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day)

O, where to begin...
Perhaps to start with the skin!

Joe the Bard says:
"The skin is the outside barrier of all scurvy dogs, land lubbers and ocean sailors all alike.  And aye, there be not one, not two but three layers o' skin, crafted and finely tuned to bear the burden of a thousand crashing and thunderous waves upon ye, perfectly sealed to keep the daemons o' the sea from invadin' yer sour and sea-pickl'd body.  It's outermost layer be crafted genuinely to protect ye from many kinds o damage like the crashin' splinters o' a fallen mast, broke down from yonder Kraken, risen from the sea to steal yer life from ye.  Or to protect ye from the most potent ale in The Loose Goose that'll rot ye through if ye ain't be careful enough.  Aye, and afore I forget, it protects yer innards from the scaldin' burns o' the most wicked sun, and keeps yer crew supplied with the vitamin D."

Tissue? Tissue.

Today I rewatched a video about this thing that is about some sort of applicable tissue-type thing that's made of silk, or what used to be.  It dissolves in water and can be used to safely and efficiently apply drugs to specific places.  I think that it was pretty neat.  I suppose that it can relate to the way that tissues work the same way that each tissue has to change for wherever they are.  The same way tissues have to change in order to change what they do.

About...

This first post is simply to inform readers a little bit about my self.  To start, I'd like to say that I am taking an Anatomy and Physiology class.  I am an artist.  I am a writer.  I am taking this class to better educate myself in the structure of the human body to improve upon the the realistic appearance of my human drawings.  I like to think that I am a good artist to begin with, but I still have plenty of room for improvement.