Ideal is a level 4 mantis now. by the next molt I'll be able to put him in my special, terrarium.


Ideal looking for some higher ground to go to.


Ideal, in the pose praying mantis' are named for.


Ideal cleaning one on her/his leg (I won't be able to determine that until the final molt)...


A 3-D puzzle of the Notre Dame Cathedral I did years ago. Not an easy one at that... It got sat on by a pet once and I had to reconstruct it. I was quite upset too. Especially since I had to reattach those cardboard pieces on the left all over again. I don't think I could reattach them a third time. For that reason I've kept it out of sitting range...


the first four vials of insects I was given by this lady who taught me how to preserve bugs, though I've forgotten quite a bit of it. I have enough vials to show you four for a week. (28 if you don't want to figure that out :P). Quite a few of the bugs I don't know exactly what they are.

I was thinking about doing this myseld.

Ok, I just looked up the method I'd rather use... which is the vial method. it's easier then the pin method... The vial method can only be used with soft bodied insects (example: not beetles).

I found out I really don't like trying on new clothes.

On another note, another nice day here. :D

These are pictures from yesterday when we went to (it called the rose garden park or something... I forget). It also happend to be mom, and dad's 31st anniversary.


picture of a rose with a droplet of water on it.

A close up of a rose

A Big leaf!

Me, the human fountain exhibit, which is no longer on display :P

overview of the park of roses (hey I remembered the name :D)
It probably has around 1000 rose bushes. *thorns are included


a picture of mom, taking a picture, of dad taking a picture. hehe

The luna moth caterpillars are growing nicely, I could have 20 moths when I'm done. I'll definitely try to get pictures of them coming out of their pupa's when the time comes.

Wonder what the two people who saw me getting the picture for "the human fountain" were thinking... hehe

Well, we were about to leave for church, when first dad noticed he couldn't unlock the door remotely. We were hoping it was just the remote, but no it was the car battery. So we didn't get to go to church sadly. The culprit was a dome light, which had been on for possibly the whole weekend. I painted the wood that had been replaced on the deck. Apparently enough so that a second coat wasn't necessary.

The first soccer practice is tomorrow 5-7, and the same time every day this week. Also we have a double funeral to attend on friday, since the spouse died 5 days later (which was yesterday morning).

It appears the Luna moth caterpillar's are eating the leaves I gave them yesterday.

I got some paint on a certain someone's listening devices. (if you didn't know, somepeople prefer to call them ears :P)
He didn't appreciate it too much, did you dad?

The green mantis is Ideal, while the brown one is Hatchet. It's getting more difficult to tell them apart, since with every successful molt by hatchet, his severed antennae gets longer (it's being repaired basically). The color difference is the best way to tell them apart now. They're not in any real danger of starving, but each molt could kill them. Especially the last one.

Heh, it looks like I have much less hair when it's wet.

href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86sua3EOYXSv1M7o1unbNVdiTF-XYqKUgNhnEW8PK1_CgY5TsnHEMSED90Y-hXaY1uolwSTNr_hvZlHahnUOhDd_fPD3CT5xWJaqnnLkumF9ma_qq_-HPm84y2PCppJo_Bi19ZJ-E1Aia/s1600/p6250651.jpg">

this plant has been partially eaten by something. That something was a deer.




























a neat fungus I found




























A flower (well duh)




























me sittin by a creek




























me walking in the same creek




























the creek




























affects of two thrown rocks... It took quite a few times to get a picture like this (over 20)


I was relieved when coach told us that we were done early, which meant no 17 60s (hip, hip hurray!!!! :D). I hurt my foot, when I slid for the ball and another person also slid for it. Their foot hit the inside of mine. It was just a bruise though. I kept playing with it. It only really started to hurt after I took off my shoe. Actually now that it's wrapped I can walk with it again.

note: a 17 60 is when you start at one endline, go to the other in 17 seconds, and you get back in 60. As soon as the 60 are up though, coach blows the whistle for the next one, so you want to make it ahead of time.

I like the shirts we got last year for warmups. On the back they say "audience of ONE" I really like that part.

yesterday wasn't very bad conditioning wise, except one person tossed their cookies. also both mantids are level 3s. Today conditioning was a bit more well conditioning... 6 17-60s for me, while yesterday there was only 4 (on the last 17-60 we don't do the 60 part).

Yesterday I made a method to decrypt a message pretty well. Let's use "The cat runs" as an example
Caution: Math content in the following section! (It's not like everyone likes math... :P)

"The cat runs". now to do the first method the original message will be in bold for now. to make the second half we write the message backwards

The cat runs snur tac eht

but you don't stop here, then we merge the two starting with the first letter of the original message, then you use the first letter in the message backwards. repeat with the second letter. We keep the spaces in the original message, discarding the ones in the message backwards. now for the the combination, the original message will be in caps

The cat runs snur tac eht

TsHnEu CrAtTa RcUeNhSt now with out the caps the message appears tshneu cratta rcuenhst

That's the first step...
the second step is two parts
first we assign each letter a number
space=0 A=1 B=2 C=3 ect... up until Z=26

but we shift this sequence over... In an actual message I sent so far it was a shift by 3
so space=3 A=4 B=5 C=6....V=25 W=26 X=0 Y=1 Z=2 so it wraps around after you get to 26.

Now the message would appear
remember 3 = a space
23 22 11 17 8 24 3 6 21 4 23 23 4 3 21 6 24 8 17 11 22 23
now if you noticed without the threes it's symetrical that's because the first method made it that way...

Now for the final method... you'll need a good calculator... one like the TI-84 that you can plug in for the X's

I used an equation to make points out of these numbers, further disguising them... I use the X points as placeholders to tell you the order of the Ys, but in the first one I put 4 (in the first message I gave like this). This 4 represent what A equals.. which gives you the position of all the letters.

The Y point is what you get from the equation

the equation I used was: Y=(X^3)-(16X^2)+(40X)-14
Now for this I'll give the key
0 would become -14
1 would become 11
2 would become 10
3 would become -11
4 would become -46
5 would become -89
6 would become -134
7 would become -175
8 would become -206
9 would become -221
10 would become -214
11 would become -179
12 would become -110
13 would become -1
14 would become 154
15 would become 361
16 would become 626
17 would become 955
18 would become 1354
19 would become 1829
20 would become 2386
21 would become 3031
22 would become 3770
23 would become 4609
24 would become 5554
25 would become 6611
26 would become 7786

so the message would go from
23 22 11 17 8 24 3 6 21 4 23 23 4 3 21 6 24 8 17 11 22 23
to
(4, 4609) (5, 3770) (6, -179) (7, 955) (8, -206) (9, 5554) (10, -11) (11, -134) (12, 3031) (13, -46) (14, 4609) (15, 4609) (16, -46) (17,-11) (18, 3031) (19, -134) (20, 5554) (21, -206) (22, 955) (23, -179) (24, 3770) (25, 4609)

tada! it's been encrypted 3 ways. Though if the message is long enough it could be figured out though they'd have to still figure out the first method. I'm working on two ways, I just haven't written them down yet. keyword, yet...

now if you still don't get the shift then here...

0=x 1=y 2=z 3= a space 4=a 5=b 6=c 7=d 8=e 9=f 10=g 11=h 12=i 13=j 14=k 15=l 16=m 17=n 18=o 19=p 20=q 21=r 22=s 23=t 24=u 25=v 26=w
that when A like I said is 4...

now for an experimental method 4 Type-7 ("yet" in "I haven't written it down yet" no longer applies :D) here's what the first two points become
dkfxmgcsqlfjantr

here's the key to that...

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ( ) space
g h i j k l m a b c d e f
t u v w x y z n o p q r s

how did i get that?

I specified type 7, that meant I moved the letters over by 7
the original would have looked like this

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ( ) space
a b c d e f g h i j k l m
n o p q r s t u v w x y z

see how a in the type 7 key resides under the 7

the original key is type 0

now to encrypt this just repeat method 2, but no shift of A is required since we were encrypting numbers, now if it were words, it would be different! This is the 5th and last method to this process, which might I add is a bit tiresome... trust me I know... it took around 2-3 hours to create and send the first message (that was before I created the 4th and 5th method today, since that was yesterday)

so dkfxmgcsqlfjantr becomes
4 11 6 24 16 7 3 19 17 12 6 10 1 14 20 18

now you could use that formula in step 3 but it's not necessary. because if anyone tries to use probability to figure out a longer message (I know you, dad, have done this before) it won't work. since these are numbers that have been encoded, and to be safe, I made it so two letters represent one thing, to further mess up probability.

heh I went a little crazy on this... but it was worth it :D

I enjoyed my first trial with it hehe... though I didn't enjoy the part where the test subject fired back...

etiam risus magne me (that was my response to it)

still haven't figured it out *cough* hint, hint *cough*

I had a dream in which my mantids molted. Low and behold Ideal molted... I knew they were due, so it carried over into dreamworld.

Ideal: level 3

I got to go to aquarium adventure today. I got 3 neon tetras, 2 albino bronze corys, a plant which a latin name I don't remebmer, and 2 fish called ottocinus or something...

--_-- I have conditioning tomarrow 7:30 to 8:30 AM... just great... *sigh*
and the worst part is on the way in to church today, I started to feel the beginnings of planter facittis... it just keeps gettin' better and better...

I also woke up on the couch, which I had apparently fallen asleep on last night (dad knows that once I'm out, it'd take a jet to wake me up). I woke up at around 5 AM. My back hurt unbelievably, along with pain in my arms, and my left calf. After I got into my bed, I started to get a charlie horse in my calf. I don't remember it going away, I think I gave up trying to stretch it out... Maybe, I fell asleep with it. It wouldn't surprise me that's for sure... I mean I can sleep walk upstairs from the couch (I've done it before). One time it was especially painful when after going to the bathroom I started to actually fall back asleep. I hit my face on the strike plate, which on this door protrudes out. I hit on my check bode I think, and my face hit the rest on the frame. That was the most painful head injury I've ever had. I was clearly awake after I hit. I remember after that, just not before it. It took a half an hour for me to get back to sleep at least.

The back pain I experienced, was the most pain I had in my back before. if I rolled over it hurt quite a bit. If this is what feeling old is like, then, oh geez......

heh Patch the alpha cat (at least in our home, for now) He's kinda my cat, and like me, when we had people over today, people he didn't know, but I did. What did he do? Did he be all couragous and approach them? nope, he did something I might do when I meet people I don't know for him it's staying out of sight, for me it's being shy.

heh, dad brought up an entertaining story. When he taught a bible study at this guy's house, there was a cat that weighed 25 pounds. Quite a fat cat. To use someone else's words in my imagination "a fuzzball with legs". Apparently his reputation as a fat cat was solidified by the fact that once he fell asleep with his face in his own food! (rotfl the first time I heard that one). One time apparently the Guy let one, or was it two? dogs in the house (dad actually saw this otherwise I might not believe it myself). This fat cat jumped all the was ontop of the refrigerator in ONE jump! Apparently this "Fat cat" was very motivated by something other then food. hehe

Someone made the comment after I called it a "fuzzball with legs" (yes, I'm using it again :P) "It was more likely a fuzzball with feet".

Oh and dad I was curious and sooner or later I was bound to switch that red switch :P
I really think you should paint the wood, and not me... I mean, You loooove painting!
And you love sitting in the fishstores for hours (especially when it's not aquarium adventure, which for anyone else has a couch, while the others don't even have a chair to sit on) while I look at all the interesting little fishies in the store. Fortunately for you the fishstory which I could basically spend all day at (aquarium adventure), has a couch for you. So many interesting plants, equipment, and fishies at that store. It's like a fishkeepers paradise. *starts to reminisce (sighs)* Oh I'm doing that again aren't I... oopsies... It's been far too long since the last time I was there. *Hint, hint*. Can you guess where I'd like to go soon :P
And no I will not walk there! or call a cab! As you usually reply....... Plus going there basically gaurentees you 2 hours to read minimum, if it didn't then I don't know what the worlds coming to :P (I'm probably underestimating the minimum time on that lol)

I still want to see hope get stuck going through the cat door, she's getting close. No where never the size of that 25 pound cat though. It would take hope, and tiger combined to get within a few pounds of that. I wonder if we'll have a family reunion again up by grandma's again. That was fun... though I do remember hearing something about them selling the farm it was at though... or was that a dream I had recently... maybe it was both! I think I did have a dream a couple days ago. YES, now I remember it now, well faintly, but I remember it had to do with a farm, the reason they were selling it (in the dream), was it caught fire real easily, and while I was viewing it caught fire, burned around 1/10 of it. The other reason was the owner was getting old. Now my dreams tend to correspond to things that are happening. The fire is obviously comes from the fact I keep hearing about the Arizona fires. The rest is well due to the fact I brought up this topic the day before, or two days before this dream. I remember we went up in a bus... That obviously is why this is a dream... and the fact I was standing there while the fire was spreading (I was just standing there watching it). Unlike real life the fire didn't get over a foot high, so it didn't obviously look very menacing, and it burned in a line, not all at once. Beyond that I don't remember much of it... Oh I remember my dream last night, or was it the night before. I had an xbox 360 the white one (apparently an xbox 360 came with the kinect, which I didn't know until two days ago; again with my dream's relevance to my dream, I kinda like that though) Some people apparently came and decided to steal it, I was letting them for my obvious safety but then they shot me, now this is the strange part. I actually somehow froze it kinda, or replayed it, I actually don't understand it exactly... so strange... I basically stopped because it didn't go right? and replayed it but this time I forced my will on the events (that's the best way I can explain it) and instead of hitting me anywhere my mind forced the events so that it hit me in the shoulder in an area not hitting the lungs or the major blood vessels to my arms (it's pretty small I think). My plan in my mind was for someone to find me, I'm not sure what happens next, but later I remember getting out my second xbox 360, (the one that came with the kinect) and it's all good from there.

Now that I speak about "my will forcing it". I think I'll share a revelation about dreams that I had quite a few years ago. You see things always kept happening outside of my control. Bad things, like meeting a horrible fate at the hands of a bear (that's a recuring theme for me, really, it's probably the most common why for me to die, that and gators). Oh speaking of gators I know last night I had a dream about Gators, and I'm not sure exactly but I know they were smart! Planning attacks! Kinda like jaws. Note to self don't watch part of a jaws movie before going to bed, I actually got up in the middle of it when I realized it lasted until midnight, so I went to bed at around 11. It was still fresh in my mind, which explains this...... So basically the people, including me, are trying to protect the people around, and their land. Now some are meeting a grizzly fate at the hand of gators... Now the land is basically flooded with what else but H2O! (sarcasm included :P). Now I, or was it me in someone else's shoes was about to go and do something irrational due to emotions. Then I'm the person that tells them, and actually holds them back at the last moment. And seconds later A gator, that had planned to kill this person snaps. well I think this person was thankful, but we just looked at eachother knowingly. I don't remember how it ends though, it didn't probably. Those annoy me sometimes... I think there was one case where I should've been eaten, but thankfully to this revelation I had years ago I didn't. You see most people when they are about to die, wake up. Well, I, unlike these people, Don't. So I would actually experience these deaths. Eaten by polar bears, bears, gators, stabbed. strangely falling through the sky was never a nightmare for me, yet it's a fear of mine. Drowning either. Though the flooding is obviously a representation of that fear, since it occurs whenever the gators do. The gators are the most common ones as of late. Bears used to be. heh, one time I even had a dream about flying jackolanterns, which talked, and had guns... talk about too much chocolate before bed... Way too much caffeine for me that night obviously...

Now after I had, had one of these a thought started common to my mind in dreams, now I need to tell you that in quite a few dreams I'll realize that it's a dream. Actually when I wake up in the middle of one I'll focus on what happened in the dream and It'll usually continue on, until I keep waking up so frequently, I woke up too much, or It takes too long to go back to sleep to continue the dream. Kinda cool really... strange even if I don't like the dream I'll do this too, guess I just want a conclusion. Now in those dreams I knew, I went back to a what I had heard in cartoons and such, You are in control, It's your mind. Now I have to say They were right! I still don't wake up when I'm about to die, but ever since I was able to impliment this into my dream, I don't die nearly as painfully (in my eyes), or as frequently (well before it was all the time). Though in both cases like a video game I'd, you may have guessed it, I respawn, usually around where I was. Thankfully I've never gotten killed twice by this, It may be a little bit later, but never by the same thing the got me earlier. Though once (the one with the polar bears on our soccer field (I was thinking about star wars... ok... Hoth specifically XD) I ran my tail off when I respawned around where I fell, I ran and ran and apparently in my dream once I was inside they wouldn't bother us (Thankfully :P). Now I learned that if I think hard enough, I can do things that I shouldn't be able to do. like in one case A fighter jet was about to fire on me as a person, I thought about becoming a fight, a second later (after a second try at thinking hard) I became one, fired some missiles, and destroyed the aircraft, then I returned to where I was before in the air and turned back into a person (this was all in third person btw). I've been able to avoid many unavoidable deaths this way. Though it's role has been diminished since I got it to work. I mostly let the dreams flow, and I'm just a rider, I don't try to control it, or realize it's a dream anymore, though in places when I'm about to die, it kicks in and skips over it like fast forward on a tape. Though I remember one of the best reasons I'm glad for this ability, though this is before I got this kind of control. This happened after Cinnamon died, It hurt...

This dream was of cinnamon Alive. part way in the dream I finally realized that this was a dream. Did I get mad? No, quite the opposite. I realized exactly what this meant, I could pet her again! That's exactly what I did, the whole time, I kept thinking/wanted the dream to keep going, It was the time I most fiercely resisted waking up. Because I knew, (I guess I just knew it in my heart) that this would be the only time this would happen. I wanted it to last as long as possible. In my heart I really had wished I had payed more attention to her. I kinda blamed myself for not doing so. So I just sat there petting her. Best dream I ever had. This was before Patch took her place in my heart. Plus, I was much younger then, It affected me pretty deeply. I cried for her, I do know that. yeah... There was no negative emotions in that dream, and unlike any other I remember it was the least crazy, no interruptions, until I woke up sadly... Wow, I just realized that when I think of camera like memories of cinnamon, that's the only one I have. I don't believe this was a normal dream. That dream helped me like no other. After that dream, I was really able to get on with life. It helped me get over it. I was able to put to rest almost all the blame I placed on myself for what happened. I think I was 10, September 2003 is when she died I think. It wasn't long after we moved in I know that. It was either 2003 or 2004 though. Patch and I weren't anywhere near as close. Personally I think It was a God given dream. I mean what else could've made the environment serene, with nothing other then positive feelings in a 10 YO me?

Oh talking about getting patch did bring back one thing, mom, and dad didn't want to get patch because he looked way too energetic. After hearing that I remember my response "He just wants out of the cage!" (that does sound like a kid doesn't it :P) In the few moments I saw him I already loved 'em. Actually he's probably the only cat I was really serious about treating really nicely, gently handling, and not approaching him too fast. At the time Sneaky really didn't likely (that's an understatement; You hear a hiss you would know Sneaky and I were within 6 feet of each other :P) And now look at 'em, You take mom or dad back then, They'd ask where's sneaky? (if they saw my petting him, now without him attempting to give me a kitty tattoo :P).
I also didn't actually pick patch up for many months, which definetely helped as well, since I didn't exactly pick them up the right way. (they don't like being held belly up lol).
Now if I could only get Mia to actually be comfortable in my presence.... only time will tell....
as with Sneakers, time will tell.

Now it's 11:40 geez, this took more then a hour to write (I think I've been writing since 10:24 PM; when I got off Gmail basically... well I wonder what dream will take place, with me you never know, it could be cars floating in rivers with water guns and Yogi bear (heh, this actually happened in one dream! again what in the world did I eat before going to bed, does come to mind... :D I like those kinds of dreams everyonce in awhile)

Well I got to go to bed, Patch is starting to meow at me, which means he wants me to go to bed, so he can jump on my bed with me. it's now 11:45 heh from 10:24 to 11:45 wow, that's long....

as I was about to write this is what I hear "No! Sneakers! (from both parents actually), Get back here (from dad). I think Sneakers decided he wanted to go into the garage again, but I believe the garage door was open.

I need to correct an error. It's Mia, not Mai As pointed out by dad... -_-

Also I wasn't sure about this part of the snake story but apparently it was an actuality. When I got up there, with my dad there was three cats all intently staring at the snake. I can hear their thoughts now "ooooo, a new toy!" and the snakes: "oh, I'll never escape again if I get out of this.".

oh I hear thunder, must be the storm that spawned the Severe Thunderstorm Warning in Franklin county. It lasts until 6 something I think. I think it's North of us though. I added water to the fish tank, I also got some of the parameters in the tank, and I wrote them down.

Ammonia - 0 PPM
Nitrite - around 2 PPM (a bit high)
Nitrate - around 2 through 5 PPM (perfectly fine)
PH - it's in the 7.4 to 7.6 range.

Nitrate is the least toxic of these, and it's the final form this is the Nitrogen cycle

Ammonia -> Nitrite -> Nitrate

it always starts off as ammonia which is very toxic to fish. Then it's turned into Nitrite by Bacteria, which is still pretty toxic, but less so then ammonia. Finally Nitrite is turned into Nitrate by different bacteria. Nitrate is much less toxic then Ammonia, or Nitrate is. The fish could easily stand up to 20 PPM of it. While 20 PPM of Nitrite or ammonia would most certainly be fatal. Heck 5 PPM of ammonia would probably be fatal. on the test kit it measures ammonia from 0 to 8 PPM, if it's at 8 you need to act, that's why it only goes that high. But the Nitrate goes from 0-160 PPM (quite a difference). The best way to quickly fix one of these would be an emergency water change. That's the easiest way. It measures Nitrite 0-5 PPM. Though this is most likely due to the fact it's the middle stage. It doesn't usually need to be measured any other time, other then when the tank is young. But ammonia, and Nitrate will, at all times. An Ammonia buildup would mean the strain on the tank is too much (AKA too many fish/plants). Plants do consume Nitrate which is nice though :P. A great reason for live plants over artificial ones. Nitrate will need to be measured since it is the last stage in the nitrogen cycle. Even though Nitrate is extremely low in toxicity it's like a weak acid, though not strong enough exposure to a lot of it will eventually dissolve anything including Teeth! As an experiment dad told me about putting a tooth in soda pop. A few days later "huh, didn't we put a tooth in here?" The same concept applies.

I also saw some brown algae. give me a sec I think I know what that means, but I want to look it up to be sure I'm right. It might be a different algae I'm thinking of..... *looking*

oh I was mistaken... That's blue-green algae that does that. Brown algae won't harm the fishies. Unlike blue-green algae, which is actually a bacteria. Blue-green algae actually releases toxicans into the water which obviously is bad for the fish. Though the above 7 PH does explain the lessened activity of the albino bronze corys (they like acidic water)

hoppin' to walkin'

Well I hopped all day two days ago like I said. I did walk a little yesterday, but thought I should be careful so I did hop, or walk in a position that didn't hurt, which did two days ago.

heh I put a butterfly net over my dad's head, after he warned me that he was a carnivore. Then things got interesting. I learned that my leg was a-ok to run on after I did that. hehe :P

I was reminded of a pet I once had, that I never actually put down here. It was a garter snake. I had it for a little longer then half of a year, then it died. Contrary to what you may think a garter snake's favorite snack isn't crickets, or grasshoppers (that's what I thought). I learned their favorite food is... Earthworms. They love 'em. For awhile I actually had two, one about half the size of the one I kept. I would've kept them both, but mom didn't like that. heh, not at all. Actually when she found out I had two, she called the office at school, and they dragged me out of class, and talk to her. She said I had to get rid of one, so I told her the smaller one. And that's how I got down to one snake :P. Though had she known what would happen later, she would've gotten rid of them both I believe. It's a good story. hehehe


One day I came to check on the snake, and low and behold nothing. Nothing? yeah, the snake had escaped. I spent the day basically looking for it, to no avail. Soon it was one to two weeks later. Then one night I had a dream, in which I found the snake in my dad's office. So not wanting the dream to happen I looked in my dad's office, and lots of other places for the snake. But, I came up empty handed (oh, did I mention mom doesn't like snakes. *hint of what's to come :P*). So downcast me, called it quits and started to watch tv. Then 30 minutes later dad, and I hear a voice calling for dad. heh, a voice that sounded frantic at that. Then I hear "It's the snake." and being the very acute person I am, asked "What?" (:P). "It's the snake. It's up here *mom started to sound annoyed (gee I wonder why).* At this point, which was around 10 seconds after I first heard "It's the snake" I finally realized what was going on. So I quickly got a butterfly net (which are quite handy for getting a snake, and catching food for small mantises) and I ran upstairs. I saw the snake. I got it into the net, but not before it decided to bite me, which scared the livin' daylights out of me. I had never been bitten by a snake before. so I stood there with a snake in the net shaking my hand. Now that I look back at it, I'll bet mom was thinking (stop shaking your hand and get that snake out of here!). I put it back in it's cage, and put more stuff on the lid from that point forward. Now after this had happened I learned how this went down. Apparentely one of the cats, Mai, found Mr.Snake. Mai decided the snake looked like a very fun thing to play with. so mom apparentely saw the snake flying up in the air against the wall. *that would've been quite a sight*. From there we all know what happened. So my dream did come true, though not in the room or in the way I expected... That's for sure. The snake was quite hungry. It hadn't had anything to eat that whole time probably. And that concludes the Snake Escape. Life's never boring I'll tell you that :D. The snake probably could've done without all the excitement though hehe.

the remaining two mantids, are well fed, in other words they're fat.

Wonder if we'll be able to cookout tomarrow as we plan to. Dad better finish replacing the wood on the side of the house, and it is the wood siding right above the deck too. :P

So hurry up already jk hehe. It's not like you're back hurts or something is it?

on a bzflag note: I've been asked to design a building with maximums of 25 25 60
I have two potential buildings I have lying around from earlier. I have the Fancy building I used 8 pieces of graph paper for (which is exactly 25 25 60!), or a spare structure I had designed for overkill the beginning. that building though exceeds the limit by 5 WU on two floors, and another floor would exceed it by 10 one one side in addition to some part exceeding the 5 WU as previously stated. A third opition is a simple building which was 25 25 Z (I could easily vary the Z size on it). Actually I wasn't planing on ever using the Fancy Building. cause' it's pretty complex, and it would take awhile to make.

technically it was 75 WU high but the first floor was going to be really basic. I think I can alter it to be 60 though, if I change the parts around where a door would be first. I'll get a picture soon, if I can find it anyways...... me and my Greaaaat organization skills lol.

aw fruit sickles, I really don't like this...
I really want to go outside and do some running too. One day and I already want to go against what I said I'd do, by staying off of my left leg as much as possible. I really thought about just running up the stairs with it... It was really tempting :P

At openfield I possibly injured either the tendon or the muscle. It hurts when my left foot is in the pushing off position. So stretching it hurts it. I remember do this early on in open field as well. But, being me, I decided to keep going. I wasn't sure what it was really. I have a better idea now. I really don't want to do this, but I'll be trying to rest it till the next open field. Hopefully it'll be better by then. I really wanted to keep running too... I'll walk like I do when I start getting pain from planters fasciitis. (walking on the heel of my foot, to avoid stretching the sole of my foot. But, this also limits the stretching I do on my calf, which is the part that is hurting right now.). I really hate sticking to recovery too... heh I remember the first time I broke something. It was a hairline fracture in my big toe (very small too, around the size of a pin head). The next day I was out on a scooter, though I was being very careful. Sometimes though I've ended up in more pain by doing these types of things when injured.

Just to be safe I'll try not to even strech it by walking (that's gonna be fun :P). Looks like I might even hop down the stairs (I actually already did this once).

Man I hate it when I look injured to other people... I don't want to draw attention to myself... I find it's more fun to get people to think you're alright when you're not... Maybe that's why I don't like asking for somebody's help, when I need it.

welll, I'm done here, and with the computer for the night. Time to go/hop down the stairs :P

ok back again. I figured out that I can still feel it no matter how I walk on that foot. *sigh* looks like there's no way to not appear like I'm hurt (Hopping everywhere does look suspicious :P). I think I was able to play soccer with this because, I was being still. By being still it's now in recover mode, so it'll hurt more then it did then, (the muscles cooled down). Just a theory. even walking with my left knee bent, and one my toes, to prevent any stretching, is painful, just less then the one I suggested above. Blowing out a calf would be very bad. I don't want that, so even though I could just fight through it like I did in open field, I'm not because I didn't understand that this wasn't just from a tired muscle. Otherwise I might have thought about continuing more (though in all likelyhood I probably would've still kept going). I want to be careful with this now. So hopping it is... Darn it I really want to fight through it, like I normally do too...

back x2. heh, I refused to hop in my dad's presense. I realized I need to just deal with it, and throw away my pride. Though I don't want to admit it. I have pride in not looking injured... Time to through it out the door

I could also use my cane (yes I have a cane... I got it when I broke my toe... though I could've probably walked without it. But using that is worse then hopping, even though its much easier). I'm not going to use the cane for that reason...

plugins

I would test out a plugin I got from one of Flying_popcorn's plugins (turret.cpp), but apparently I don't have write access to the place where I need to put it. /usr/lib/bzflag. (This is a hint for you by the way). I mean I can't even change the bzflag's default textures.....

As for now I've done everything I can for it, I have two plugins to test as well. The primary interest was the fact a friend asked how to make a "messagezone". I went to mrapple, Who I know read it at least, at the time that was at least 3 hours prior (1:49 or something EDT). So I went searching, and I realized mrapples plugin was more then that, it also saved the player's position. Typing a message to the Friend who wanted this got me thinking as I wrote it. I told them how I began mapmaking. I was inspired by Flying_Popcorn's map "Flying_Popcorn's shooting gallery". It's not random that I told them this either. Flying_popcorn's map had a turrent plugin (the first of it's kind), but it didn't just involve the turrent... It also had a random flag give zones. These zones also gave the players a message in addition to the flags! That was the connection. After I sent my message I, being the really patient person I am just sat there until now and blah da blah blah blag... of course not When I got on the computer (the message was sent via cell phone) I looked at mrapples plugin, I sent him a message of the specifics of mrapple's plugin. (oh did I mention mrapple hosted for me awhile back? (>6 months ago), oook now back to the main topic... heh sorry about that...) then thinking back to my message I sent him, Ian (I'm tired of saying him :P), I looked at Flying_Popcorn's plugin. I looked at and after thinking it over I decided to try and see if I could get a messagezone out of it. I think I did too. and I didn't have to write anything :P. I also got a RandomFlagZone too, along with the messages to go along with it. Now I just need those write perms... (yeah, dad :P)... and the information from Ian, about the messages he wants, where, the size of each zone (if different sizes), and uhh... nope that was it.

Munch died yesterday. The other two ate very well today, so no worries for them right now.

On a more positive note I found my Aquarium Adventure membership card (mines a lifetime one too)
Aquarium Adventure is THE best fish store there is around here, all the sell is fish and fish products, unlike all the others around here. They also sell things the other don't always sell like discus for example. Though it's not worth the trip there just to the fish you can get at the other fish stores. They're also more expensive... But thats where the membership comes into play. I believe its 25% off of fish and 15% off of fish products, though I'm not sure since I haven't been there in awhile. They had a shark (no not one of those bala sharks that just share the shark name. Its an actual shark! Dogshark perhaps? if it is I know how to dissect one from ecology in 10th grade :P. I know they can't sell it, for legal reasons. I just added the dissection part, since it was related. I'd rather keep it then dissect it... The only thing that kept my attention on the dissection in Ecology was the fact that it's tongue was attatched, and inside of the shark's tongue. It took awhile to figure it out :P actually it was the last place we looked. Did I mention that, that shark shouldn't have been able to survive as long as it did. I mean how did it eat it's food if one part of the stomach is attached to the tongue, and the other to it's intestine? Where's the food it's eating going? My teacher said she'd never seen anything like that before. Neither had I... Well I guess that's because I've only dissected one dogshark. That one to be exact. I kinda wish I could be in that kind of class again. It was about life, unlike chemistry which was inorganic chemistry in our case. I'd rather take physics then anatomy which is why I'm taking Physics :P. plus i don't really want to be involoved in the dissection of a cat... the reasons are obvious... They use a cat because their organs are arranged very similarly to ours. You know every single organ in our body has an explaination. Like the appendix, though Its able to be taken out because its most important use comes when we're young babies. It helps prevent disease in our intestines. Our body isn't as good at when we're babies and that's where the appendix comes in. Helping our bodies to fight off infection. Which our body becomes very good at in our twenties. In 1918 The Spanish Flu (H1N1 just like the swine flu in it's classification) killed around 50 million people. Most of the deaths occured in the second wave. It's actually debated where this flu originated, some say spain, other in the USA.

ok, neat fact!
did you know The H in H1N1 stands for hemogluttin, while the N stands for Nuerominidase (spelling?). I looked it up once... uh don't tell *looks around to make sure no one's watching; whispers, but it was at school during study hall. :P hehe

Did you know that there's a virus that actually hijacks another virus? I'm not joking either. A small virus infects a virus known as the mamavirus (no joke), which infects amoebas. Once the mamavirus starts to replicate inside, the smaller virus' RNA hijacks the process which creates these small viruses inside the mamaviruses. here's the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_virophage

I learned this when I did an article for Ecology in 10th grade. Once I read about this "Virophage" I couldn't pass it up. It was just too cool :P. Oh I just learned by reading the wiki page they discovered two more "Virophages".

If you don't read the comics you should read this one. Well I like it anyway http://www.uclick.com/client/azc/ft/

Oh, wow, I've gotten off topic... Oh well, random makes it more interesting :D

mini golf

Today my dad and I went mini-golfing, I actually won, for once. The wet greens worked in my favor.
though if you look at my strokes, it looks a bit strange...

3-3-4-3-3-3-3-3-3-2-2-3-2-2-2-4-2-3 lots of 3s, and 2s in that...

and after that I went to the driving range, I seem to have gotten worse, and I can definetely mark golf off as a day job, and as my dad says "as a hobby as well". Since I probably swung the golf club at least 3 times as many balls that I had. (I missed them... A lot... did I say a lot already?...) Early on I got a cut on my left hand, but I kept going, because I was going to finish it one way or another. I also got a blister, which later popped with around 10 balls left... and my dad just got to sit back and watch the entertainment lol

these are pictures of the golf course, for the most part. Except the first one, which was after I ran 5 and most of 6 laps in 11 minutes 20 seconds... I was tired, can you tell (note picture was setup, but definetely shows how tired I felt. ;) )

I had calculated one mile equaled 5.13 laps, though my dad's gps in his phone, showed that I was a little bit off, since it only take 4 laps to equal one mile... whoops... that a big error percentage hehe.

Yes, a world record was set at this place!

oh my dad added this to the place...
E^(pie * i)+1=0...

I can see it now...

me: Officer I don't know him.
Officer: are you sure?
me: Yeah, I've never seen him before in my life, Really!
Officer: right, that's why he called you son
me: He uh... was refering to my sunny nature *smiles cheesidly
.... continues on

ok I wouldn't lie to the authorities, but you get the picture here :P

Phoenix died the day after Mystery (yesterday). So container 1 is totally devoid of any mantids. Three remain.



























That is a strange fruit. Not sure what it is.



























That is a flower (no really. It is :P)




























A sunset, though a little after the best part.

I was so focused on Phoenix this whole, time I didn't check to see how mystery was doing. Strange, he's dying, and it's too late, enough energy to live, but not to catch anything. Strange since I saw him eat something yesterday. His death will always be a "Mystery" in my eyes. (He'll most likely die before tomorrow comes, which since it's 9:58, isn't too long)...

Phoenix has eaten something, that I can be sure, but he's really skinny, which is worrisome, he's not even close to being out of the woods yet. He's the last Mantid alive from the first eggsack that hatched, that I possess. Hatchet is a level two mantid now.

Sermon, sharing, life

What to do with what we have been given. (as a side note, unlike the past two entries this one, wasn't written down, I've just known the subject I was going to be writting about. The rest is off the top of my head, so it probably won't be as good as the other two). We as Christians have been given the keys to heaven. Some keep it to themselves while others share it. What should we do with it? We should certainly share it!

Matthew 25:14-30

from: biblegateway http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A14-30&version=NIV

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
"
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"

What does this mean? The servent who didn't bring back anything extra was punished! while the servants who gained more were rewarded! God wants us to take what he gives us, and bring back more! He wants us not to bury ourselves, but risk ourselves and bring in more. He wants us to share it!

In light of this let's visit another one. using the above conclusion

Matthew 14:13-21

(13) When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. (14) When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
(15) As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food"
(16) Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
(17) "We have only five loaves if bread and two fish," they answered.
(18) "Bring them here to me," he said.
(19) And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. (20) They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. (21) The number of those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

A little goes a long way. It's kinda of like our faith, we don't think we can make a differance, but by sharing it to others, who then in turn share it to someone else we can end up "feeding" a lot more people then we could have ever done alone. Only by God can this happen. All this could result from sharing instead of telling them to go find their own way, but if we share you could change their lives, and in turn you could be affecting more then you imagine. Amazing, absolutely amazing.

also Rich Nathan did a great sermon on "Women can't serve as senior pastors, can they?" which the answer is a resounding yes they can serve as senior pastors. The background to the verse in question, really clears it up (1 Timothy 2:9-15). It's refering to the woman of the time, who where challenging the teachers, while they were teaching. Paul's merely telling them that they shouldn't be doing this, instead they should be respectful. 2 Timothy 2:14 is telling the women to not be like Eve and decieve people by spreading falsehood. 2 Timothy 2:15 is telling the women not to abort but rather to stick with their pregnancies. (gee sounds like a problem today!)... I can see how some people misinterpreted this, but yet I can't. It seems ridiculous once you learn about it's background.

Phoenix still lives for now. Ideal, and Munch molted, which makes them both Level 2 mantids. I don't see anything wrong with them either. Today I also got 6 neon tetras, 2 albino bronze corys, 2 Argentine Swords (plant), and one water wysteria (plant). All of which are now in the 55 gallon tank. I love neon tetras, they look so neat.

Meaning of love, Phoenix

I love you... a three letter phrase, with more then one meaning in our society.

Sadly in our society it commonly refers to what I want. People tell someone they love them quite commonly. In our society this is what it means for some people: "I want to use you for my own personal gain. I'll only be using you as long as you suit my wants/needs, and when someone else can do it better, well tough luck, it doesn't bother me, since I get what I want"
This is Shallow! That's not what love means. It's on the other side of the universe from this "meaning". That's not love it's called being self-centered!

What is love supposed to mean then? Love should mean: "I care for you, I place what you want ahead of what I want. I want what's in your best interest, and I'm willing to sacrifice what I want for you. I place your well being above my own." This doesn't just apply to a romantic relationship. Love applies in any family (at least it should). Like siblings for example, they mess around but in the end they're loyal. Any kind of phrase with this meaning shouldn't be cast around lightly in any way! It's no wonder why so many dating relationships (I've never been in one myself, so I don't know what it's like for it to end badly) end badly, when there's these two definitions of love floating around. The love that one of the parties means, isn't what the other believes it to be! And for the one who holds the Deep meaning, it always ends badly!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son..."

Now what does this verse become when using the two different definitions of love...

First, the shallow version which translates: God loved himself so much, and wanted what was in his best interest so he gave his only son who was perfect, to save us from all of our countless sins. That makes no sense! This can't be the definition of love!

Now the deeper version (which is the true meaning of love): "God, who cared for our well being more then we can imagine, gave his one and only Son, to save us from our sins."
That makes much more Sense!

Jesus loved everyone! He associated with people some Christians won't even look at. He associated with the people some Christians condemn, but never try and help. Not only did he associate with them, but he Loved them, and if he loved them so should all people who profess Christ. Jesus was so far above us, yet he associated with us. Yet some of us won't associate with certain people, who are in the same position we are. For we all have sinned, and need Christ to get into heaven. Yet, some of us ignore them, and all they do is tell them God hates what they're doing. Instead we should be showing them love. God sees them as worthy of his kingdom. Yet some tell them they aren't. Who are we to say whether they're worthy or not. It that's the case those people might as well say they know better then God. Some are even getting those people farther away from God. How horrible of a sin is that! What's worse then to lead someone away from Christ, and eternal life!

Those of us judge them excessively. We judge them by Christian standards, which these people have never agreed to be bound to. This makes us appear as a judgemental group. We are making Christianity unappealing to some people, and some resent us! We're supposed to spread love to the world, not hate. The only thing we should hate is our selves, and the evil one. These people need to be freed, The way to do this isn't by condemnation. It's by showing them love, and exemplify Christ to them by our own actions. How can they see God's love when all we show them what we don't like in them? We can't.

There's no greater tragedy then the Spiritual condemnation of a person. Do you want to go to God with the burden of creating more distance between another person and God? I sure wouldn't.

Love is powerful. Love is what has been shown to us through Christ.

P.S. Phoenix is a stage two mantid. It means he molted. But, it wasn't a success, or a failure. He's suffered a Major injury. Alive, but severely handicapped. I had to help him out of his skin. It took 10 minutes, 9 trying to get him to get himself out. I lost my patience and grapped as close to the skin I could get, and thankfully I got his two back legs out. I could've easily ripped his legs apart, but thankfully unlike all the other times I tried this, it didn't happen. His legs are mangled beyond the knee joint though. Right now I would say Phoenix is the least likely mantid to make it to adulthood. He went from the most likely, to the least likely. He needs to eat, if he doesn't by tomorrow, then there isn't anything I can do. It's all up to him now. If he was adult, or a few molts away from it, then I would be able to hand feed him, but he's way too small at this stage in the game. I really hope Phoenix lives up to his name, and like the Phoenix in mythology rise up out of the ashes. This picture shows it quite clearly.


yeah it's pretty bad...

Friendship

Friendship requires Trust. a good indicator of trust is whether or not a person is willing to confide in you. Another is Faith. Faith can either be something small or it can be something big. In my opinion, willingly falling asleep in the presence of a particular person, shows that you trust them. Because, when you fall asleep you are completely helpless. Another indication of Faith is asking their opinion about something. Something like that is an indicator of the building up of trust, at the least. Friendship can be extremely powerful. David's friendship with Jonathan, kept him from falling to Saul's blade.

Let's explore the signs of friendship. Playful joking is one, you don't playfully joke around with someone you don't trust. It's a sign you're comfortable with this person. Now when you joke about yourself to them, there's obviously more trust between the two. These two are very comfortable with each other, a sign of a close friendship in my opinion. Even more so when this is a common occurrence between the two. Another good sign of friendship is when you reveal things to them you wouldn't normally reveal to people. Or when you're not afraid to tell them something embarrassing, the more recent, the more embarrassing it is to you.

Now what's the sign that one is a close friend with someone?
This cannot be judged by the ammount of time you've known them, their age, or anything like that. There are people who just fit with you like puzzle pieces do. If you are open, and don't automatically hold some people higher then others you can figure out who are your close friends.

I know I don't have many close friends, but there are a few, some close, while some are far. Now a days, distance is no longer a barrier to being close friends. What are signs you're close with someone? Just think about people you know. What comes to mind about them? What are their qualities? I'll use my friend Kyle as an example:

When I think of Kyle, I think...
Trustable, like a brother, we get along really well, respectable, and always fun to be around. The trait I think of the most is trustable. That's a good trait for a close friend!

A good thing for a friendship is face-to-face communication, but it's not absolutely necessary for a close friendship. It's more difficult to be close friends without it though. If this does occur that's quite a feat. But the friendship should expand past the area of how you met them. What constitutes as moving beyond this? You are trying to get to know them! This is an interest in this person, and who they are. That's what close friends are, People who get to know who their friends are.

There are different dynamics to a friendship built by the internet. It can be difficult to figure who you're close with on the te internet. In my opinion you can figure it out though.

Who do you talk to? If you consider them a friend, then think about them. What qualities do you see in them? Now if you struggle to get a couple, then you may not really know them that well, or you have trouble identifying their qualities. What are your conversation with this person like?
Do your/their emails going back and forth stay on thier original topic? or do you end up talking about something else? Sometimes close friends can be very similar to yourself , sharing many interests, qualities, and beliefs. But what about the differences? How do conversations go with this person, when you talk to them about your differing opinions? They should listen, and respect your position. For they should like you for who you are, not for the fact you always agree with them. They should care for you, otherwise they just want you to be them.

Next: our society on love, and what love is

Creation 2; bad pen.

Stabbed

I was trying to get to my dad's notebook, and a little wrestling match broke out I was trying to free my feet by rolling overtop of my dad who was imitating the St.Louis arch, and I got stabbed my a pen in his back pocket (the cap was on it, but still), that effectively ended it. I did end up getting it though :P

Tomarrow is the last normal school day before final exams begin.

As you know in WWII Germany did their best to wipe out the Jews. How did they get to genocide? Where did it start? An influential person read Darwin's book, and applied the survive of the fittest to their agenda, it eventually became part of the third Reich. and eventually led to the persecution of the Jews. Evolution is the opposite of Creationism.

I believe the world is thousands of years old, as opposed to millions, as soom Christians believe, but as long as they have Christ, I don't think one's opinion of such a matter will void his/her place in heaven.
(edit Aug 8: though to me, I could believe either one really)