SteamPunk

A friend of mine, named Adam Redfield(probably want to be known) showed me something intriguing that I thought would be of interesting for anyone on blogger to read. It's a sub-genre consisting of both science and speculative fiction, involving elements of fantasy, called steampunk. Steampunk is generally a world where steam power is still being widely used, while other advance technology like electricity for power or computers are not yet known. The people mainly focus on technology or inventions involving with steam power and making them out of gadgets. Stories of steampunk is usually taken place during the Industrial Revolution or the Victorian era has begun but electricity is not yet widespread. There are other stories involving different alternative history style where pure imagination and fantasy is taken place of using only steam power. Some of these examples of steampunks include movies such as the anime film, Steamboy (2004) and Disney's film, Teasure Planet (2002).

Steampunk is sometimes connected with cyberpunk(similar to steampunk, but in the future where technology has evolved to high-tech) which shares a similar fanbase and atmosphere to the stories, but both of these happened as a separate sub-genre. While both of these have different time period and level of technology advancement, steampunk is less dystopian(like an opposite or negative version of Utopia) than cyberpunk or sometimes not at all. That is mostly the big difference between steampunk and cyberpunk, but they do have a considerable amount of influence toward each other since they share some of their ideas that might be familiar together.

Steampunk became known around the 1980s and early 1990s, where as I only known this for a couples of days. And already I am fascinated on the artwork and the inventions of their amazing gadgets. They even made some of these devices with regular technology of today purely out of steam power like the watch, computer mouse, headphones, and even ipod mini. Steampunk looks amazingly cool and I like the fantasy in stories/movies involving steampunk. It makes everything look exotic and I love how it shows all the historical looking antique accessories in the past. The details of any steampunk gadgets are amazing because it shows you all kinds of parts that are in it and functional. I wished I had one of these gadgets, but unfortunately don't have the time and money to buy these stuff. Steampunk is very unique in their arts and designs, because its relatively new or different compare to other designs. I love the fantasy and the idea of using steampunk inventions into their movies. Most common inventions that appear in steampunk movies are flying machines power only by steam engines. Steam punk is also involved in some video games like Bioshock and Final Fantasy VI.

Here is a website to show you all kinds of steampunk gadgets and designs that were created only using steam power. Some of these designs are the ones I have told before like the computer mouse and watch. http://www.toxel.com/tech/2009/07/12/12-steampunk-gadgets-and-designs/

Memoir Project: A Crisis of Faith

When I was little, my family and I went to a temple or church where we pray to several gods. As I saw my parents pray, I wonder to myself what is god and why do we pray? I asked my parents about that, but they couldn't really give me a good explanation about god, it's just something you have to know on your own. They did answer one of my question though as why do we pray. All they said was to pray for things you want or something as in a good fortune like finding happiness, get rich, safety for your families, and etc.(seem like a good enough answer for me). Afterward, I came to a conclusion about what god really is. I think that god is something sacred and spiritual, something like a role model that gives guidelines or rules to help people in life to find happiness. This is the conclusion that I came across, but isn't the final thing. Of course there might be other people who might disagree on this and say I'm wrong, and so I am free to open opinions if they care to explain it to me.

Another question appeared in my head, I asked what kind of god do I believe in? Well my family believes in Buddhism and one other god possibly called lady of god (not really sure on the name). We even have our own little corner filled with miniature statue of gods to pray every now and then. We used incenses whenever we pray for something good, and then place it in front of the statue. Letting it burn down to ashes in a tray, hoping that our message have gotten though to the gods and making it come true (or so that's what I think). I guess my family and I are polytheism in which the belief in multiple gods and goddesses. We aren't monotheism where we believed in one god like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. But rather in multiples of gods in Chinese folk religion, where there are a lot of them. Then again my family focuses on mainly two which I said earlier. I am not that much committed to religion overall as in going to temples/church praying all the time or even at my house. I don't practice that much or even know that much about my religion, but I do have my curiosity of asking question about it and learning more about its history. It's very interesting and I love to learn about any history that comes across me even about religion.

Well after my family and I were finished praying in the temple, everyone mostly went to a vegetarian restaurant or held vegetarian food at temples for everyone to eat. I'm not really sure why we only eat vegetarian food on that day, but I guess it's special for that specific day of praying, where we don't eat anything involving killing any animal for meat. It's pretty cool that there were so many varieties of dishes that don't involve any meat, only just vegetarian food. It was very delicious, and I enjoyed every moment of eating the amazing food. My family and I rarely go to any big temples to pray, only like once or twice a year. The rest is at home praying or either at my grandma's house where my relatives all meet and have a big feast. We all take turns praying, afterward just enjoy the day with our relatives having fun and communicating. It's pretty fun having these kinds of events both at the temple and at home or relative's house. Just to pray, relax, and communicate with others to get to know them.

I'm actually ok with any religion and am open minded to any of their beliefs. If it seems all right and logical, I would agree with it. I don't have any issues that bother me about my religion. There might be times when I question myself about it, but it will sooner or later all come to me and I will know. Any kind of religion or god(s) is pretty great to have because it gives you hope. It makes you strive for a better life for yourself and for anyone else.

Roller Coasters

Roller coasters are the most thrilling rides in any amusement parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson made the first coasters on January 20, 1885. Soon it evolved and revolutionize all the amusement or theme parks. It became one of the most popular attraction that drew people into amusement parks. For me, I absolutely love to ride on these whenever I go to an amusement parks. Its fun, scary, and it gets you energetic because of the adrenaline rush when you sit on one. At the beginning of mostly any roller coasters, there is a point where you slowly descend up to the highest part of the ride and then drop down rapidly.

I remembered when I first rode on one of these rides, I was very scared because of the height and speed of it going; even though it wasn't a real roller coaster just a kiddy one with sharp turns going around and around all the time probably around 20mph or 10mph. But hey, I was just a kid back then and it looked pretty scary, since I saw all kinds of incidents involving with roller coasters... I blame the movie "Final Destination," especially the third movie. As time past by when I'm getting older and less scared, I finally rode a REAL one with my cousins. It was scary at first since you were slowly going up and dropping down, but afterward it was a blast. I had a fun time riding roller coasters with my cousins, and someone or something that I can hold on to really tight.

There are two main types of roller coasters which are steel and wooden roller coasters. Steel coasters are more smoother rides and mostly turn the rider upside down. Wooden coasters are much rougher rides and more "air time" produced by the negative G-forces where the ride reaches the top of the hill. The people even make a hybrid coasters combining both steel and wooden together. Out of all roller coasters are the number one thing you should do whenever you go to an amusement park.

Pendragon

When I first got the book "Pendragon" by DJ MacHale, I wasn't to thrill about getting the book for Christmas. As a kid during my Christmas year, I was hoping for something cool and be able to play with others. Something like laser tag or video games would had been great, but all I had was a stinking book called "Pendragon" which I never thought I would read it. As time past by, I finally read the book out of boredom and guess what? I liked it. I kept reading it until I was done with the first book and onto the second book and so on (ten books in all). The storyline of "Pendragon" is great and exciting, it makes you want more and more. I couldn't stop reading until I had to go get the other book to continue the story. The book is a young adult series of fantasy novel.

Basically it's about a young teeneger, named Bobby Pendragon, who discovered that he is a traveler (travel to different universe), and help save the universe from the evil antagonist, named Saint Dane. In each book, the location takes place in a different universe where they battle each other to save the world. For example, in book two it takes place in Cloral, a world where the planet is covered in water and no land at all. The people of Cloral lived on immerse, floating cities growing all kinds of food on the sea floor. The protagonist(Bobby) is trying to stop the antagonist(Saint Dane) from ruining Cloral from a catastrophic disaster that will kill millions of people. Alongside with Bobby his friends, Mark Diamond and Courtney Chetwynde also help him in trying to defeat Saint Dane from destroying the whole universe.

I enjoyed every moment of it as I was reading. It was a great book for me and I think others should read it also. If you have any time, you should give it a try and start reading it, because you never know that you might actually like the book.

Cyborgs? (Quickwrite)

This quick write is pretty old and a bit late to talk about it, but why not since I got nothing in my head to talk about right now.

I do agree that technology have mostly taken over our lives when time has move on. Were mostly cyborgs relying on technology and that it's apart of you. Since I was a kid, not many people had cell phones, but later on more and more kids started to have cell phones in a growing pace. Now I'm in high school and when I walked past an elementary school; I see like five or six year old kids having cell phones in their hand calling other people like their parents or friends. I mean damn... back when I was a kid, I never had one in my whole elementary years. Now seeing mostly every kid having one and letting it become apart of their life seem natural. It's pretty crazy that technology have grown so much with us during these past years. Were mostly cyborgs already having technology in our hands using it, relaying, and mostly anything else that could be used with it. This is like a new age of technology where their taking over and humans are using it as much as they can.

For me, I mostly share a cell phone with my dad. I don't really use it that much but just call other people instead of going on the internet and etc. Texting is also one of the big things that mostly everyone is getting. I'm like the only one without a texting plan among all my other friends who have texting. Everywhere I go, I see people with cell phones in their hand either calling or texting to someone. Probably in the future, everyone will use technology and can't even live without it. They will be like cyborgs having any kind of technology in their hand using it all the time.