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Final Competition, Final Goodbyes

                This entire week has been a week where a lot of things are coming to an end. This was the last week of classes for just about everyone. For Honors students especially, it was the last week for FDG’s. The way the Smartasses had their last meeting was by having a little picnic down by the river. I have to say that after spending an entire year with this group of people that I’m really going to miss hanging out with them once a week.

                But it was today that we had FDG wars, where all of the FDG’s got together and competed against each other. And I, for one, am extremely happy that I went to this event. There were fun games like fear factor, in which I had to down a shot of soy sauce; and water balloon target practice, in which I didn’t even get wet since I fell off the stone I had to stand on before a water balloon could touch me. And all of this couldn’t happen on a more beautiful day.

                There was even tug of war, in which I had the displeasure of flying down to the ground after our opponents yanked the rope out of our hands.  We ended up losing that game, and a couple others, but I think that it was the fact that we all had fun was what mattered.

                After spending a couple of hours with those games, we returned back to the Honors house and had ourselves a little grill. And following that, each FDG had to perform a dance in front of the others. I was a little skeptical of it at first, but after I got out there on the grass and danced with my group, I soon changed my mind. 

                Once the FDG war was over with, we ended this perfect warm day with a water fight which got nearly everyone soaked. We even took group pictures before everyone departed. But at the very least, we all went home cooled off with happy smiles on our faces. 

Population Control

                The big question that was on everyone’s mind today was what were we to do about our growing population. At tonight’s forum, we discussed the matter. There were a few views as to how the situation could be dealt with. One was to simply let nature take its course in lowering the population, as it has done in the past. Another was to put a certain regulation on people having children, such as the one child policy that is going on in China. And the final view was to test the qualification of a parent to even have a child.

                As I remember it, there were quite a few people in our group that sided with letting nature take its course. I was one of those few. But upon realized just what that meant, I had a change of heart. This was because I realized that when we let nature take its course, we could have situations like the Black Death happening again in the world. There were others who shared my view, a few of which, stated that we could have a world catastrophe such as what happened in the movie “I Am Legend.” Of course, I wasn’t thinking that things would go so far as that, but I couldn’t definitely see where their concerns stemmed from.

                As the forum progressed, I decided that it was perhaps best to go with the option of having regulations when it comes to child birth, such as temporary sterilizations so as to prevent unwanted  child births. I found this option to be somewhat better than the others because leaving the fate of humanity in the hands of nature can be devastating to our entire species. And personally, I just find that only allowing people who are qualified to have children is just unethical and unequal to those who really want to start a family. 

The Egg Hunt to End all Egg Hunts

                What’s better than celebrating Easter than with a good old fashioned egg hunt? Well, that’s something that I haven’t done since I was a child. But today, I had the chance to participate in an egg hunt designed by the Honors Program. And let me tell you that this was one of the best egg hunts I have ever been to in my entire life.

                It was FDG against FDG in this all out seek and recover egg hunt. Our clues led us to eggs that were stationed all over campus. The thrill of just running and racing against other opponents was just too much of an adrenaline rush in itself. My FDG found itself running from the Honors house to the library, to Raub Hall and ever as far as the dike itself. Racing to gather our eggs was enough of an exercise in itself.

                But it was the puzzling clues had our brains in a knot for the most part. Lucky, us being the Honors students that we were, we managed to put our heads together and eventually found our way to every last egg. But the egg hunt didn’t stop there. Upon returning to the Honors house (in first place, I might add) we had to undergo a couple of trials in order to officially end the hunt. First, we had to choose a member from our team to be blindfolded and walk either a strait or curvy path with our egg in a spoon. I volunteered for this task, and as a way of choosing which path I would take, I had to play a round of rock-paper-scissors with Chris Brittain. Upon winning this little challenge, I was granted the opportunity to take the straight path.

                Once finished with this little challenge, we had the choice of earning a few extra points. It was a very tempting idea, and one we all wanted to try for. However the challenge we had to accomplish before gaining these extra points was to have one of our teammates eat a raw egg. Our teammate Courtney Fuller bravely took up the challenge. Unfortunately, eating a raw egg is much more disgusting than words could ever really explain. I would know this personally, because after several desperate attempts made by Courtney, I decided to take one for the team and gulp down the last of the remaining raw egg Courtney was unable to finish. Do take note that the egg was in her mouth twice before it finally reached my lips.

                At the end of the day, it was my team, the Smartasses, which won the egg hunt. And while I may be scarred for life with the memory of tasting a raw egg combined with a few drips of saliva, the memory of this fantastic egg hunt will be one of my fondest memories for a long time to come.

Our Game Plan for FDG War’s

            Well, FDG war’s is right around the corner, and I’m sure all of the groups are working hard to come up with cool ideas for games that can be played. While I’m still unsure if I’ll even be able to make FDG War’s, I do know what the Smartass’s plan on bringing to the table. Ironically enough, we’ve decided to go with the classic game of pin the tail on the donkey. Only in our particular case, we’ve decided to name it, “can you pin the tail on the smartass?”

            To my knowledge, there is suppose to b e a little dance that each group has to do, and they get the opportunity to pick out which song they can dance to. My group has been looking through songs to dance to, and in particular, we’ve been looking for a song that has a certain dance that goes to it. We’ve thought about using “Cotton Eyed Joe,” “September Day,” and even “I Like To Move It.”  Though as it stands, we haven’t really decided just which song is the best song to use.

            Personally, I feel that simple games are more pleasant than the overly complicated ones.  And it doesn’t get much simpler than pin the tail on the donkey.   

Life as an OW Writer

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a passion for writing. Even from the young age of six, I can remember writing little stories in my composition notebooks; stories that were inspired by things that I may have dreamt up from the deepest pits of my imagination. But as the years went on, my passion for writing grew tremendously. And it was at the age of twelve that I began to write my very first book, a novel that has been renamed countless times until I finally settled on the title “When the Sun Sets.”

And during the years up until now, I have written other short stories and books, stories such as “Stepping Away From Darkness,” “The Requiem of War,” “Demon Witch Tamara,” and “Celestial Dawn.” But since I’ve join the Occasional Word newsletter, I’ve been able to further utilize my talents in writing to provide intriguing stories and poems to the members of the Honors Program.  While in the OW, I’ve been working on an ongoing story for the newsletter, a story I like to call “The Dark.” And I must say that so far I’ve really enjoyed writing this story and bringing something different to the OW. And along with this ongoing story, I’ve also come up with the idea of submitting Haiku’s on a monthly basis to add a bit of variety to our newsletter, and to further prove that we are “officially the smartest newsletter on campus.”

I must say that working for the OW has to be greatest job I’ve ever done; of course, it would be even more so if the pay was just a bit better. But we all have to start somewhere, right? And what I enjoy the most about this job is the fact that I am working with something that I am passionate about. At the same time, I’m also publishing my work for all to see. And I must say that it has been very gratifying to have feedback from some of my peers as well as my professors who read the OW.  And I look forward to having more of my works published as I continue to write for the OW.

A Movie That Makes You Think

                This week, our FDG decided to watch a movie called “Man on Fire.” I’ll have to say that at first, I wasn’t really interested in seeing it, though that was mostly due to the fact that I didn’t even know what it was about. But I must say that after really taking in the details of what the movie was trying to portray, that I’m most certain glad that I took the opportunity to see it.

            The movie stars Denzel Washington, who play the character Creasy, a man who takes up the job of being the bodyguard of a young girl named Pita. Creasy starts out as a hard tempered man but as the movie progresses, we find that he does have a special place in his heart for Pita. And I must say that this movie really touched my heart when it showed the growing maternal bond that developed between these two characters.

            The plot of this story thickens, however, when Pita is kidnapped and taken hostage by a criminal gang who’s in the business of kidnapping rich people and their families for ransom money. This part alone is what truly drew my interest, because I know that such things actually happen in today’s world. Not only that, but this movie solidified the notion that even worse things happen in our world today, such as the human trafficking that goes on in various parts of the world.

            Out of all the movies I have seen so far, very few have gotten my attention as “Man on Fire” has. The deep storyline left me wanting to see more. Not only that, but the message it was trying to deliver to us made this movie a true attention grabber. I would have to say that I would definitely recommend any FDG or Honor’s student to watch this movie. If not for the plot, then at least for the  message it’s trying to deliver.

A "Halo" doesn't always symbolize an angel

One would automatically think that just because the day is Friday the thirteenth that the entire day would be filled with bad luck. People might even think that having a birthday on the most feared day for bad luck would be even worse for them. However, I am living proof that there is no such thing as bad luck. Even with my birthday being on such a dreaded day, I still found a huge amount of joy of partaking in the videogames activity group. 

Now I'll admit that people may have fallen under a bit of bad luck when they decided to go against me in the widely known videogame Halo. And let me assure you, that game is no safe place for those who are just looking to have a bit of fun. When we play videogames in this activity group, things can become quite violent and competitive. 

For example, in our little group of hardcore gamers, it would be no surprise to hear some shouting fly across the room, especially when that person was just blown up by a rocket that just so happened to come out of nowhere. And screams tend to fly when a person goes grand theft auto on the rest of the group by taking a vehicle and running everyone down like rats in a corner. But personally, I find that there’s nothing more satisfying than being at a very far distance from that main battle and sniping everyone off one by one while they wonder just how they were taken out.

My friend Sara at the videogame activity group once said that while we may be trying to kill each other in these games, that it is these very games that bring us together as close friends. And I would have to say that I agree with her. When playing these videogames with others, you’re not only enjoying the game itself, but the company of playing with others that the game brings with it. And sure, we may be violently competitive, but that’s what makes it so much fun.

2/20/09

                Whoever says that playing videogames will melt your brain and make your body fat and weak has no idea what they are talking about. Going to the videogame activity group every Friday has proven that videogames are both an extremely physical activity as well as mentally stimulating. Playing Wii Sports, for example, can leave a person heaving in and out and sweating as if they had run a marathon. I’ve been in that kind of condition many times while participating in this activity. As a matter of fact, I have gone so far as to say that Fridays at the videogame activity group is one of my workout days.

            I mean, let’s face it. What could be more fun than hanging out with some cool people and getting a rush out of playing videogames with them? The adrenaline rush along with the natural high that comes with having so much fun is almost too intoxicating to resist. And I personally feel that playing videogames is a perfect way to relieve stress; especially after a tiring week of classes.

            On this day, we played Dance Dance Revolution (or what’s known as DDR by most people). I’ll admit that I haven’t been much of a fan of this game, mostly due to the fact that I personally think that I can’t dance to save my life. But once you get used to following the beat of the music, as well as having your peers stare at the way you dance, the game becomes practically addicting.

            And even more addicting than playing DDR with your peers is playing fighting games like Tekken or Mortal Kombat. Those are the times when playing a game can get a bit over competitive and downright violent. Personally, I think that is what makes playing videogames fun.

It’s virtual violence all bundled up into a square box with all of the aggression and none of the mess; that’s the beauty of videogames.