First Day of Winter

You know that first day of winter. Not the date on the calendar that says "First Day of Winter". I'm talking about the day when it's cold and wet and all you want is to sit next to a fire and drink hot tea or hot chocolate. Yeah, well that day should be a holiday, that way people like me wont be so depressed. That day always seems to be right when you don't want to do anything that involves effort or energy. It's always when you feel sleepy or in need of a good long book. At least that's how I always feel. But If it were a holiday maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Schools should look forward to this day and estimate when it will happen. They should cancel all classes on that day and tell all the students and teachers to stay home and celebrate, and by celebrate I mean nap. 

Everyone should go home and enjoy a warm quiet house. They should avoid using computers or cell phones and all that stuff, and just rest. People can play board games, read books, and drink hot beverages. Non-electric gifts can be given and everyone has to eat soup for dinner. Nobody should change out of their pajamas, and half the day must be spent under a blanket (not counting sleeping at night). People should read the Bible and spend  some extra quality time in prayer. 

So basically this should be a day to be as lazy as possible. There should be very little preparation for this day, just enough so that you can eat and sleep without interruption. Just treat it like everyone used to do Sundays. If we did this once a year I would definitely look forward to the first day of winter. But as it is winter a a rather depressing time. It causes me to have weird/bad dreams, and it always overloads me with school (overload meaning I have to do any school).

Yes this would be a good holiday... ish

One or Some of my Guilty Pleasures

Well for some reason I try to seem a little less home schooled than some people. I try to be just a little... um... cooler, you might say, than other home educated children. Not that I think all home schoolers are nerds, some of the coolest people I know are home schooled. I'ts just that I sometimes find myself trying not to be the stereotypical home schooler. Well today I'm going to put away the "cool" and bring out the nerd in me...

I still like and play with LEGOS... Yes, you probably remember those little building toys, all colorful and awesome. Well at least they're awesome to me. I really enjoy making cool stuff with all those small pieces. I'm always upset when my brothers destroy what I make. I still argue with them over who gets certain parts. I even try to get the boys to put all the LEGOS away in their correct boxes. Maybe someday I will understand  that that will never happen.

I love the Lord of the Rings. I know way too many quotes from those movies-"They're taking the Hobbits to Isingard". And no I'm not a total LOTR fan, I haven't read all the books just The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring. I can't wait for The Hobbit to come out! I wish I had a replica of every main characters weapon... I want Sting!!! I want them to make LEGO LOTR, that would just be epic!

Lets not start with Star Wars. We'll just say that I know that those big four legged robots on Hoth are called AT-AT's (All Terrain Attack Transport), and that the "chicken walkers" are actually AT-ST's (All Terrain Scout Transport).

Um I'm a Boy Scout... not exactly a guilty pleasures, but dorky none the less.

I LOVE TO SCARE PEOPLE!!! It's wrong I know, and rather unwise, but it's so fun... Until they smack you, or chase you into a corner, and tackle you to the ground, and... well it's just not fun afterward. It also makes you less likely to be scared by others. It's a good thing when people are just making fun and they try to make you jump, but if someone actually attacks you from behind I imagine your reflexes will be slower... this one isn't really dorky but it is a guilty pleasure.

I like to throw knives. I could stay outside for hours just counting how many times I can stick a knife in a piece of wood 15ft away. So far I can get about 3/4 accuracy... not bad for a beginner. 

I love blogging, nuf said...ish

Don't worry this isn't normal

Normally I'm really lighthearted and funny, but... I don't know... something came over me...

"Here we are" I say as my team rounded the corner of a building and came in view of the fort. That is if "fort" is the right word. Its been almost a year sense the thing fell out of the sky, and with it came the worst alien attack the earth had ever seen. Before that day I had never believed in extraterrestrial life, but as it turns out the government has been in contact with different alien races for the last fifty years. But about a year and a half ago they started losing contact with different planets. Nobody knew what was going on, and nobody imagined that this would.

Almost a year ago this huge "spaceship" flew down from space and landed here in Washington D.C. I wasn't there. Unfortunately I was home in California, so I had no warning when the monsters invaded. I remember it was a Friday and I was at work, my Dad was in the bay area working, my Mom was driving my sisters to music class and my brothers were at home. I was folding rags at the shop and stacking them in the cleaning cabinet when I heard distant thunder then I felt the ground shake. I had been in the shop a while now, but it had been fairly sunny last time I was outside. Then I got a phone call. It was my Dad. I remember wondering why he would call me when he's supposed to be at work. His voice was shaky, and I was immediately frightened. My Dads voice was never shaky. "Ben" he said quickly, "how's everyone?"

"I'm fine, but I'm at work." I said confused, "everyone who?" 

"Just get home and check on my family. Mom won't answer her phone an-" He was cut of and all I could hear was static. I was so scared, I didn't even think that my Dad was joking. I ran to my boss' office, told him I had to go, and grabbed his truck's keys. 

As soon I went outside I saw smoke rising in the north.  the smoke wasn't just rising from one spot. It seemed to be coming from the whole area. As soon as I was a mile away from the shop I hard more thunder. I just had time to look back behind me as I saw the little town become completely enveloped in flames. That's when the truck was thrown off the road and I was knocked unconscious. 

When I woke up there was smoke everywhere so you couldn't see more than a mile in any direction. I was still just outside the little town I used to work at. But there was no town everything was burnt to the ground and perfectly level. Every hundred feet there was a sort of post with a red light at the top. I tried to find a trace of the shop or my boss and co-workers, but there was nothing but ash. Just then I turned and ran. I ran as fast as I could toward home. Six miles later and out of breath I found the same thing as the last town. everything had been destroyed. Everything was replaced with lit up posts, and I was too devastated to move. I couldn't wonder what the post were. I couldn't even cry. I just stood there looking at the destruction of everything I loved. 

It must have been hours before I decided to go. I didn't know where but I went. I kept walking until my sorrow had turned to anger. I walked from town to town looking at the destruction. The giant round patches of ash weren't only in place of towns some where just in the middle of nowhere. That night I walked until my legs gave out and I fell. There I slept.

The next morning I felt someone shaking me awake. Before I even opened my eyes I knew I was back home and one of my brothers was waking me to show me something he had drawn, or maybe my Dad about to give me a lecture on laziness. But when I opened my eyes I saw that I wasn't in my room. I was laying in the ruble of a once rather large town that was now empty save for me and the person shaking me. I turned over to see who it was and looked into an old wrinkled face with eyes brightened by tears he was holding back. The man was covered in ash and babbling about... well... it's kind of obvious. It seemed that he had gone quite mad but I tried to listen to him. The things he said didn't make any sense, and I didn't say anything while he led me to a spot right at the edge of the town. He brought me to the the very edge of the explosion where apparently his house once stood. The explosion had only flattened and burned part of the house. The rest had been knocked over by the force of the explosion. It seemed that the bombs were very precise in how much ground they covered. As I looked back on all the towns I had walked through I remembered that they were all destroyed in perfectly round circles of about the same size. The old man started digging through the wreckage until he found a small picture frame. He looked at it for a moment then handed it to me as a tear rolled down his wrinkled cheek. I already knew what I was going to see but I looked at the picture anyway. It was an old picture all black and white. "She's beautiful" It was the first time I had spoken sense I grabbed my boss's keys and my voice was extremely crackly. The old man stopped mumbling and became very quiet.
The next few weeks I spent taking care of the old man who's name he never told me, so I just called him Gramps. Eventually he started making sense with his words and I got to hear his story. He had been driving through the country from work, like me when the bombs hit, and when he came home he found his home destroyed and nobody there.
About a week after I met Gramps I found another survivor. Sam had been on a trip to the grocery store for his Mom right before the invasion. It didn't take much deciding to call it an invasion. It seemed that the towns were all targeted, and all communication was down. In other words we couldn't use our cellphones.
Throughout the next month we found many survivors. Gramps and I tried to take care of all of them but it wasn't easy. Food was scarce, medicine was impossible to get, and winter was coming. We didn't stay at the  old mans burnt house though. We found a nice big house that was still intact out in the country, and that served as our base. Pretty soon we had a little community going. People from miles around came with nothing but horror stories about extreme loss. For some reason I made a point to listen to whatever I could. It was torture but I made myself listen.

This is way longer than I thought it would be. I'll finish it in another post. Sorry to make it sound so sad, and now that I've re-read it it looks pretty stupid, but I thought I should post anyway...ish

Aliens?

So I've been posting about extreme and unnatural disasters and my little brother asked me to post about Alien Invasion... Well all I can think to say is do with Calvin and Hobbs on that...

Calvin- "See any UFOs?" 
Hobbes- "Not yet."
Calvin- "Well, keep your eyes peeled. They're bound to land here sooner or later." 
Hobbes- "What will we do when they come?" 
Calvin- "See if we can sell Mom and Dad into slavery for a star cruiser."
-Calvin and Hobbes: Something Under The Bed Is Drooling...ish

Extreme Power Outage?

After I wrote about zombies it was requested by a reader that I write about what to do in case of all the power going out. I understand there is a new show based on the subject. Being unacquainted with this show I think it might be interesting to see the differences in choices.

What you might need: 

If you read the Zombies post you are already good to go, just forget the treadmills. Basically get some land, high ground is best, farm tools, knives, hunting bows/crossbows, seed supply, wood (lots of wood),extra nonperishable foods, fencing or wall material (obviously not electric), some animals [goats, dogs, horse(s)], guns, ammo, and access to fresh water (hand pump well). 

Prep:

Okay you remember that farm I had you start in case of zombies? Well that's exactly what I want you to do now. The land should, as I said, be on high ground and just outside the town you live in. Build a fence/wall around this land. Start a garden. Plant all different kinds of seeds. Get some fruit trees, and lot's of vegetables. Learn to take care of your animals. Get a goat you can milk, you will have to learn to like goat milk. Basically make sure you can live without having to go to McDonald's. You can also build more bows and arrows. Don't know how? Google it!

Power out: 
So the power goes out. DUNDUNDUN!!! Now just like if zombies are attacking go collect you friends. "But it would be chaos out there! People would be going crazy!"... I know some of you are thinking this, but really? There should be a little buffer time before people start killing each other. You're going to want your friends around later (and you don't really want them to be stuck in the middle of the chaos just because you were too wimpy to go outside). You wont be able to use a buss, so build an armored wagon or something. you can pull this with the horse I told you to get earlier. Or you could just go on foot. when you get back to your farm/fort get a watch set up. Make sure you know if any one is coming and be ready to help or fight them when they do. Get your farm going for reals, you have too live off of it. You can use some of you spare food supply to get started, but the sooner you are living off your farm the better. Start a chain of command. Make sure everybody knows who to take orders from and give orders to. The last thing you want is your own team fighting against you. Write a constitution that everyone has to follow. If there are no rules who knows what desperate people will do?
Train for battle. Make sure everyone has a weapon, and they know how to use it. When Zombies attack you can count on them being slow and dumb. Humans on the other hand, can be much more effective. You can probably count on fewer numbers though. Most people would see your fort and not bother. If they're hungry they'll raid a Foodmaxx or something. Make your fort look like it would be hard to attack and you will have a lot less trouble. Sooooo, I don't know, you can get a flag, put barbed wire on top your fence/wall. Maybe you could paint your faces crazy colors. Or you could go with the professional look; uniforms, patrols, cool hats. Do whatever you can to keep people away. The less fighting the better. Don't use your guns unless your enemy has them or you really need them. You will eventually run out of ammo. try to make it so they run out first ("they" being the rest of the world).
See if you can find other groups like yourself. Team up with them. I'm not saying leave your fort, but make sure you have a good relationship with them. You could help them and they could help you. Maybe they have some types of food you don't. Maybe they need weapons. You could trade with them. If their fort is destroyed offer to take in survivors. Send out rescue parties to help any other people. Be nice.
But also be firm. With new arrivals you may need to make sure you don't let in rotten apples. they could ruin your system. Create a court system, punish law breakers, don't tolerate criminals. They will destroy you, and like I said you don't want conflict from the inside.
Stay alive until the power comes back on. And if it doesn't... stinks for you HA!

So basically do the same as if it was a Zombie Apocalypse except the enemy will be smarter and faster...ish  

Zombies?

Listen folks, Zombie Apocalypse. We're always debating what to do in case of one. Well the answer is quite simple. So simple in fact I wish I had thought of it myself. People say the best weapon you could possibly have during a Zombie Apocalypse is a crowbar. This could be true if you get one weapon, but if you only have one weapon you a goner anyway. The truth is if you're really worried about zombies what you need to do is prepare.

What you'll need:

First you need a few acres of land. This will be used for storage and it will serve as a base come the Apocalypse. Is it too much to ask that you get high ground? maybe a hill? This land must have a working well and preferably a way to hand pump water in case there is no electricity, and room for a large garden. You will also need a supply of farm tools (these will also be used as weapons during battle). You will need an emergency supply of food and seeds for planting, in case of food shortage. You will need a bus or two to retrieve people from town. after all you will need lot's of help and I don't think anyone will want to be left alone during the end of the world. Fencing material or even brick for walls will come in handy. You will need an emergency generator(s), a supply of gasoline, and possibly a few solar panels. Don't use the gas unless you have to. You will have to get a lot of electrical extension cords.  The last thing you're going to need is a large supply of treadmills... a huge supply of treadmills... In fact it might be best to just get into the treadmill business now and get your hands on as many as possible. 

What you do to prepare:

Start your farm. Learn how to plant and grow your own food. Even if the zombies don't come around you will definitely benefit from this skill. Get you farm going now so that later it will already be in motion and you won't have to go through the problems you have starting up. Then you need to tell you friends the plan. they may think your crazy but when their home is being invaded by brain hungry dead people they will understand. Make sure all the treadmills work, and that you have enough cord to go all the way around the base. building your fence and walls might be a good idea too.

What to do come the Zombie Apocalypse:

Once you find out that the world is under attack by the undead go out in your bus find as many of your friends as you can collect them and bring them to you fortress. Assuming you have some time, set all the treadmills around the perimeter of the base facing inside. This will stop most of the zombies from getting in. Don't turn them on until you see the enemy getting close. Arm your newly acquired army with anything you can find (farm tools from earlier. If you have guns and ammo all the better, but you will run out sooner or later so be conservative of bullets. I would prefer a fiberglass handled ax rather than a crowbar personally, because even if the ax dulls it will serve as a nice sledgehammer. And the handle will be hard to break). Then prepare for battle! 

Once they get to the treadmills turn them on. As they get stuck trying to walk over the never ending gap between you and the rest of them take them out one by one. aim for heads as always make sure they are actually dead, and then get ready for another. Make sure you have a few people taking care of the garden and making sure the electricity stays on. Don't use your generator(s) until the electricity is out... obviously. take a rest whenever you can and spare as much energy as you can. Plant more seeds, you will need the food soon. Build your fences if you haven't already. I can't tell you exactly where, so do some thinking for yourself. Remember you have more brains than the enemy... That's why your under attack. 

Hopefully they will come in waves (like in the video games) and you will have some breaks. 

Night patrols must be placed and given no or little light. If they see light they will get accustomed to it and they won't be able to see in the dark. You also don't want to use all your batteries or wood. You can slowly adjust at first but you should be off light in a week. 

If you have fuel and transportation raids or rescue missions are okay. But every man counts so only go if you are sure of everyone coming back alive.

Keep fighting until the army comes to rescue you. If the Apocalypse ends before you are rescued, name a town after yourself or something. 

I hope this helps any of you who are really paranoid about zombie attacks. I confess I won't be doing the treadmill thing, but I don't think I'm going to have much zombie trouble. If it actually happens I'll probably be the goner with the crowbar... ish

Just a Thought

Why is it that I always have a sense of something else or something bigger than here and know while in a dream? If I'm having a bad dream I always know that everything will turn out fine, because I have hope in waking up. If I am having a good dream I always fear that an end is coming and all the good things of that dream will be lost forever. You think maybe these feelings were designed this way to teach me something? perhaps God thought I could learn from dreams. It's not like he hasn't used them in the past. Is it Possible that he is giving me a glimpse of what heaven is in comparison to this world I now live in?Well I've decided to try to answer this question by comparing dream to reality with reality to heaven (ultimate reality). Now this isn't a perfect example it is only a glimpse as I said earlier, so don't get caught up on every detail.

In a dream I know I will wake, and in reality I know (because of God's Spirit in my heart) that I will go to heaven when I die. In a bad dream I constantly and longingly look forward to the moment when I wake. And in real life, If things get difficult or if everything seems to be falling apart, I look forward to the living in heaven where there is no pain and everything is in order. Funny how simple that is.

But what about good dreams? See, good dreams are much different, just like a good life. In a good dream I try to get as much as I can, and I don't look forward to waking up to reality, because I know that once I wake the time I had in the dream will have been so insignificant, and all that "goodness" will be gone . So In reality sometimes things go my way. Especially, living in the US, I don't experience a lot of the hardships that other people go through. Sometimes I look at the end of life like the end of a good dream. When things are good sometimes I tend not to even think of the end. I would rather think on things of this earth and temporary treasures. I set my hope on earthly satisfaction rather than on eternal life in heaven. I don't look forward to heaven because I prefer what I already have. Where is the sense in that? When I wake up, when I go to see the Lord all of the things I put my hope in, all the things I set my mind on during my "good" or "comfortable" life will be so insignificant and all that "good" will be gone. Sound familiar?

Now if I spend my mind loving the things of this life, or "laying up for myself treasure on earth" then do you think there will be much in store for me when I get to heaven?... Will I be disappointed at the loss of all my stuff? Well I doubt there will be any disappointment in heaven, but I know there is in life. I know that, just like in most dreams, I am never satisfied with the stuff I get. What if while I dreamed I looked forward to waking? Trusting my body to wake me at the right time, what if I simply enjoyed the dream but planned to wake up and live reality. Maybe I wouldn't be upset when I woke, maybe I would be satisfied while I dreamed.

I dunno, just a thought... ish

Breakfast?

When I woke this morning I wanted nothing but to eat breakfast. I climbed out of bed, my empty stomach growling at me, and quickly turned on the light. It felt as though my chest would fall into my stomach for lack of support as I got dressed. Soon I was crawling into the kitchen in search of something to satisfy my cravings. As I looked through the glorious refrigerator I found it was filled only with green. I slumped. There seemed to be no edible food in the beautifully cold container. I was going to resort to dying hungry and miserable.

Alas as I lay on the kitchen floor I looked to the counter and I saw an egg carton. My hope of survival was restored. I climbed up the counter (my legs still didn't seem to work) and opened the carton. as I lifted the styrofoam  top I knew I would never forget the sight of those two copper colored spheres. I grasped them in both my hands careful not to drop their golden contents all over the floor. I slowly walked to the stove and placed the bronze jewels next to the pan. I could already feel my strength returning as I turned the stove to medium heat.

Soon the coal black cast iron pan was hot and ready for butter. But I panicked. Did we have any butter? My stomach jumped at the though of my beautiful eggs all stuck and burnt in the pan. I looked around frantically for the soft white fat. I found the cardiac hazard sitting next to the toaster. Next thing I knew I was chopping at the block of white heaven with a hot knife. It cut like butter with a hot knife... obviously... and all of a sudden I was melting the glorious dairy produce over the dark pan.

It was time for breaking the eggs. I mentally thanked the chicken who donated it's would be children to my apatite as I cracked the first victim over the hot buttered pan. Then the second. I screamed in terror as I realized I had failed in the delicate task of egg cracking. Under the already whitening egg sat a dark brown piece of shell. I quickly reached down ignoring the burns at the tips of my fingers and picked out the intruder.

At last the shell was out! Next I was cleaning my scalded fingers in the sink. As I dried them on a clean rag I remembered the eggs I had started cooking so long ago. I ran, it seamed for hours, across the kitchen to the stove. All I could think of as I ran was what would happen if I was to late. Would my meal be ruined? would I have to die hungry after all? These questions haunted me until I found that my eggs were perfectly fine. All they needed was some salt and pepper, and to be flipped over. Once that was done I sliced some bread and placed the crummy goodness into the toaster. By this time I had learned my lesson and I quickly returned to my cooking.

The white and yellow circles were so lovely as I carefully placed them on my pink plastic plate,drizzled the excess butter over them, and retrieved a fork from the drawer of silverware. but they were much less beautiful as I shoved them down my throat and into my now not so empty stomach. I finished them and was momentarily saddened by the thought that they were gone. Until the toast I had started leaped into the air from the toaster and landed on my plate. I completely forgot about the eggs as I frosted the two golden bricks in butter and inhaled them with ease. I finished eating and realized I had made a horrible mess. So I sneaked away from the scene of the crime and pretended to look busy with educating myself in the arts of graphing quadratic functions.

THE END... or should I say THE BEGINNING...

"Stay tuned to read the story of Bends Lunch!... or not."

Just to Clear Things Up

Okay folks it's about time we end the confusion and get things straight! You know just to clear things up.

Contrary to some beliefs grobs are not the same as flibs. At first glance (which is usually all you get) they seem the same, but after some actual observation anyone could see that they are quite different. If you've never seen a grob or flib then you are either very lucky or not very observant, in which case you probably won't be very interested in this post. Because in this post I will be talking much about the differences between your average grob or flib.

Now those of you who have seen one of these knows they are rather large, but close study shows that your average flib is about 25 pounds heavier than a grob. So when you look close you can see that a flib is slightly bigger than a grob. Flibs also have black spots all over them while grobs' spots are usually dark blue and slightly smaller. Grobs are usually found in wet cold forested climates while flibs are almost always in hot coastal areas. They are also very different when it comes to how they benefit their ecosystems. Flibs provide shade  for coastal reptiles and other cold blooded animals. While grobs are helpful in the process of photosynthesis. And, if it's not already obvious, a grob makes a better stew than a much more bitter flib. the following is a picture of a flib. unfortunately it isn't a very good quality picture... nor is it very helpful. It's behind the fishing pole. Under the fern. Okay I admit it... I don't see anything either... But I'm sure it's there  

Are you thoroughly confused yet?.. I am! And now I'm debating weather or not to go on... Na! If you're reading this you've probably been through enough... ish

These are not My Pants

Bobby- Hey nice pants! They're little tight but nice.
Billy- Yeah I just got them.
Bobby- So they're new?
Billy- I'm not sure...
Bobby- What? how can you not know how old your pants are?
Billy- They're not mine... I just... well, found them. So I don't know if they're new or old.
Bobby- So you found these pants and you just put them on?
Billy- No! I cleaned them first. You don't think I'd put on some random guys pants without washing them do you?
Bobby- Wai-wai-wait! If these pants aren't yours then who's are they?
Billy- I dunno. I just found them and it turns out they fit... somewhat.
Bobby- You can't just take pants! where did you get them?
Billy- Do you remember the huge accident that happened just outside of town?
Bobby- Yeah who could forget something like that? I heard there were twelve vehicles involved!
Billy- Yeah well I was stuck in the traffic behind the accident that day so I got a nice view of the whole thing. Turns out a laundry delivery truck had been knocked over, and I guess it lost some of it's cargo. And as I drove by I noticed a pair of pants that seemed in fine condition. So I pulled over and picked them up. simple as that.
Bobby- So you took advantage of the confusion during a catastrophe and stole a pair of pants?
Billy- Well if you look at it that way then yes. I mean they're nice though, aren't they?
Bobby- that's beside the point. people were hurt in that accident! And you had the heart to rob a man of his pants!
Billy- It's not like I took them from one of the crash victims. The guy could have been anybody. But they're really nice you yourself said so earlier. Look I even got you a shirt.
Bobby- ... Really?
Billy- Yeah, here. I think you could bleach the tire marks out. Just make sure the whole load is white.
Bobby- Yeah sure. wow that's nice. Here let me try it on.
Billy- nice... very nice.
Bobby- Aw thanks man!
Billy- Wait so what were you saying just now?
Bobby- Uh... I dunno...I guess I forgot.
Steve- Hey nice shirt! I like the tire print.
Bobby- Yeah well it's vintage... ish.