Mr. Sean's 2010s Recap

Another decade has flown by. Luckily I've been able to hold on and enjoy the ride. Here are ten things that I think are worth highlighting in the past decade of my life.

2010

Tooth of Time, Philmont Scout Ranch, New Mexico

In 2010, I finally got to go back out west with fellow scouts by taking a trek through the Philmont Scout Ranch. There is a sentence that has been stuck in my head ever since the Philmont Rangers said it, "I! Wanna go back to Philmont! Wanna go back... to Philmont!"

2011

Manhattan Skyline

With fellow Meade High musicians, I got to finally visit New York City for the first time ever. I saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, then starring Daniel Radcliffe, and Company then starring Neil Patrick Harris, Stephen Colbert, and Yellow Diamo... I mean Patti LuPone (for those who don't know, Patti LuPone voiced the character Yellow Diamond in Steven Universe, a cartoon that aired on Cartoon Network). I only wish that the trip was a little longer as I was exhausted after the trip with little time to rest.

2012

La Tour Eiffel

In late June and early July, I was in Paris with my dad, my french teacher Monsieur O'Neill, and fellow French students.  I ate a lot of delicious French food, saw Versailles, was near the top of the Eiffel Tower and saw my favorite teacher ever Ms. Vlach!

2013

Me taking a crazy selfie

I went on my first missions trip in 2013. It happened to be in Charlotte, NC and was my first time on a roof, the group I was with was re-shingling a roof. Before the hard work, the youth pastor I've known for a long time had a day at Carowinds scheduled. My aunt Tiffany and cousins Michaela and Jessica visited Carowinds and I had a fun day spending time with family. At the end of the week my group celebrated with Cookout milkshakes and I had to get more than that as Cookout has a lot of tasty food.

2014

A double rainbow at Millersville University

This picture serves as an affirmation at my decision to pursue a meteorology degree. Also this picture serves to remind me of the memories made of my freshman year and the friends I made that year and the awesome people such as then Peer Mentor Chelsey and RA Tori.

2015

Somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains

In 2015 I went out west, but not to what I call the west, rather it was to West Virginia and more specifically the New River Gorge. I walked across the bridge, hiked up some of the hills, and ate good food such as pizza. It was a short vacation, but it was still enjoyable.

2016

Crawfish and Tasso Pasta

Although this happened right after New Year's 2016, the highlight of the year was going down to New Orleans for the American Meteorological Society annual conference. My only regret was not eating enough of the local cuisine as there was a mall with a food court next to the convention center and little time for lunch. The University of Oklahoma had a party in the area and I managed to get the crowd to cheer the band for a final encore one night.

2017

Abstract Algebra and some brain food

I didn't have an event with much pizzazz happen in 2017 but this photo represents a time when I was very happy with things. Mall Chinese food (they had good BBQ Pork) and Abstract Algebra (taught by Dr. Ikenaga) were a good combination of things. Maybe I should study some more Abstract Algebra in 2020?

2018

Amber Liggett and myself, Millersville Commencement 2018

I made it! Thanks to good friends such as Amber and all my meteorology friends, I graduated from Millersville University with a degree in Meteorology and Mathematics. Though I do wish time didn't go so fast so I could have spent what would feel like more time with my met friends.

2019

1st Place in my age group at a 5K run

2019 was the year of the successfully ran 5K race as it was the first year I finished a 5K race without walking once. The pictured medal came from a near to me race where all the funds raised were put toward obtaining wreaths to participate in Wreaths Across America, an initiative where the ultimate goal is to have a wreath placed at every gravestone of American service members at the various veterans cemeteries. The largest event taking place at Arlington National Cemetery. This race was to raise funds for wreaths to be placed at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery in 2019.

Mr. Sean's Year in Review

I'm sorry for the not so frequent updates on my blog. I've been busy with exercising, working, and living my life in the real world to keep up with this. Anyways I've made time to post a Year in Review and will also be doing a Decade recap, so stay tuned for that! This Year in Review will be shorter than previous years in review as I pick the twelve most personally significant events that occurred and images that are either directly related or somewhat related to the events.

January

The start of a hand-sewn journey

In January, I had recently started my new job at a cafeteria doing stock work so I was getting used to not having so much time on my hands. I also got a blanket from Christmas 2018 with the purpose of showing off patches. My goal was to have all of my Scouting patches hand-sewn on before I turned 24 in April.

February

More Patches

February was more of the same as January as it was still too cold out to really do anything. I made some steady progress.

March

Almost there!

The weather was starting to warm up but I was still busy with my patch blanket as sewing by hand is a long process that requires a lot of patience. Thankfully my plan worked and I was able to finish the blanket on 1 April, but for April I have something better to put down than a fourth month of patch blanket.

April

Maybe training for a 5K will work?

As the weather got nice for April I got serious about training for a 5K run. I've had poor luck until this year in 5K races as I've had to walk in every single one prior to 2019. I was going to change that and the C25K app was helpful in getting me from zero to 5K in eight weeks.

May

Two Medals?!?

I actually ran two 5Ks on back to back days. The one on Fort Meade I ran in about 30 minutes and I ran the entire course, finally! The next day I was in Bel Air running the Dawn's 5K Dash and the course there was a lot more hilly than on Fort Meade. I almost twisted my ankle and had to walk yet I managed to get 2nd place in my age group. I'll take it!

June

1000 Swans or 500 each of Miller and S'Ville?

So I had a box that was full of tiny origami paper with the intention of folding 1000 tiny swans. I started folding a few swans in 2018 but I wanted to finish the 1000 tiny swans in 2019. I completed the swans before the end of June and took a break from origami in July before tackling tiny cranes from August onward.

July

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, Baltimore

Instead of doing nothing on Independence Day like I usually do, I went up to Baltimore to participate in a Fourth of July run with a few dozen runners. We ran from a local running store to Fort McHenry and around the fort and back. I stopped inside the fort to do 76 burpees with fellow Team RWB people. Team RWB is an organization that is open to all people and their mission is, "to enrich the lives of America’s veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity." The 76 burpees was a capstone to the inaugural 1776 challenge that started in mid-June and involved 18 days of exercise with one exercise per day where the goal was to do 100 repetitions of the exercise. The fact that one only had to do 76 burpees on Independence Day was so that the total number of repetitions associated with the challenge was 1776.

August

Let's Go O's!

The Baltimore Orioles might not have been doing so well on the diamond this year, but I always enjoy going to see a baseball game at Oriole Park. This year I went along with fellow people from Team RWB. I didn't get a crab mac and cheese hot dog but there was good food in the suites box where military related groups can see some of the games and the Orioles thank veterans and active duty alike for their service. 

September

Cranes!

Although I started in August, with the weather cooling down I focused on my second origami goal this year, finish folding 1000 tiny cranes. I did manage to fold more than 200 cranes in August and September. So at the end of September I only had less than 600 left to fold.

October

Bright Lights!

In October I got to see Carrie Underwood in concert. Although I was in the nosebleeds it was a good view. I also had some of the best stadium concession food I've ever had as there was a stand that sold burgers from Lucky Buns in Washington, D.C. The burger I had was the "Lucky Bun" with gouda, pickles, arugula, grilled red onion, and their special "lucky sauce".

November

1st place? Alright!

In November I ran another 5K. This 5K was a fundraiser race to raise funds to buy wreaths to place on gravestones at the Maryland Veterans Cemetery as part of the Wreaths Across America initiative. The ultimate goal being that there is a wreath at every gravestone at every veterans cemetery. I may have been beaten by my dad and one of his friends, but I still got 1st place in my age group!

December

Two origami challenges completed

Finally I completed the second set of 1000 origami cranes, this time the tiny cranes and thus both the 1000 tiny swans and 1000 tiny cranes were completed in 2019. I don't know what I'll do for origami in 2020 but I have a few ideas on what I could do. Onward! To a new decade!

Mr. Sean's Music Quest June 2019

Mr. Sean tries to be artsy in an attempt to lure readers.

Recently I decided to try to muster up some discipline for practicing musical instruments like I used to do in middle school and high school. I have chosen three instruments to focus on with the greatest emphasis being on the violin, then the banjo, and finally the clarinet. I have chosen to spend the most energy on violin as I see it as a challenge and I like challenges. So far I have re-purposed a notebook I was going to use for math or meteorology stuff and created a daily practice log for the violin and the banjo (there's a separate one for clarinet, but keep reading and you'll see why I'm not focusing so much on clarinet at the moment). Each day I have a task and a goal for each instrument and despite my general musical ability being quite proficient, I have to start out with the basics for the banjo and the violin. For banjo it's transitioning between the G chord (open strings) to the D7 chord (for banjo, do not play high G and place pointer on the first fret space of the second (B) string and the middle finger on the second fret space of the middle string (low G) while for violin I'm going through Essential Elements for Strings and have been stuck on page 9 trying to make the A string make a sound while my fingers are on the D string ready to play a G. The low emphasis on clarinet, despite me writing up a separate log for it is that I already have a decade of playing experience and although I still have a lot that I can learn, playing catch up on getting to a high baseline isn't as hard as learning an instrument from scratch. It remains to be seen how well I'll get along with the banjo and the violin, but I can say that practicing does help and taking advice from a friend whose main instrument is the violin is also of help. Now I just need to get me a shoulder rest so I can stand a chance at playing the violin with closer to correct form.

Maybe if I spend more time I can try to come up with definitive goals on each of the instruments.

For example, even though I don't have an A soprano clarinet (instead I have a standard B flat soprano), I think trying to learn Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (at least the solo clarinet parts) is a worthy goal. For violin, I don't have a definitive goal yet, just that I can be able to play something of substance. Then for banjo, I kid you not, one of my goals is to be able to play the banjo part of Dueling Banjos, as I must only seek victory from a challenge that involves that song.

I'm Back!

While I search for a job outside of food service. I've been up to a few things. I apologize for the silence on this blog after the end of March, but recently I've felt motivated to write up some posts. This post will recap the past two months. I hope to be less boring in June so I have more to write about.

Patch Blanket Complete

So many Boy Scout patches!

At the beginning of the year I wanted to complete sewing the patches I got in Boy Scouts onto a blanket made for patch display. The goal was to have every patch sewn on by my birthday. Even though I discussed the near completion of the patch blanket in March, the last patch, the Eagle Scout badge, was sewn on to the blanket on 1 April. Since it has gotten warmer outside I haven't had much opportunity to use it or show it off, but the effort and time spent hand sewing every single one on is still worth it. It did feel good to have a bit more time in the day after I got this finished. More time also came once I got a bike and could bike to and from work rather than wait long times for a bus.

New Bullet Journal

The month spread is now larger, because Mr. Sean decided the month needed more space.

Using the old bullet journal to test new ideas for the new one.

I recently decided to continue on the bullet journal train but with some major changes to my approach. In previous journals I had the month restricted to a one page cramped view and the daily logs were trapped by boxes of a single size. With the new bullet journal I have fewer boxes to draw in the daily logs while the boxes that make up the month have expanded the month view to two pages. My bullet journal isn't artistic and that is okay. My goal is to be more productive and to accomplish more goals, so even though the daily logs are essentially nested to-do lists, the method works for me. The artistry of some bullet journal users does not need to define the bullet journal, only that the method helps people with whatever they use it for.

Running Toward Success

A surprise second medal

During April and May I trained for a 5k (k for kilometer) race using an app called C25K. There are many takes on these couch to 5k programs that promise the average person that they can run a 5k in a few weeks after training from essentially zero running. I was training for a 5k on Fort Meade and things were going okay. Temperatures were a bit warm and sometimes it felt like the program encouraged too much walking, but I kept at it and it turns out I was participating in two 5k races in one weekend. Race weekend comes and I run the Fort Meade one the entire way in about 30 minutes, finally redeeming myself as the first time I tried to train for a 5k I failed miserably and in prior 5k races I've had to walk some of the way. I didn't have the same luck with the Dawn's 5K Dash in Bel Air the next day as the hills were a bit much for me and I almost twisted my left ankle. Despite walking a bunch and finishing in 40 minutes, I managed to place 2nd in my age group. I guess showing up really is half the battle. Next step on my quest of running is to run a 5K under 30 minutes in an officially sanctioned race.

March Mania Day 31: Patch Blanket Recap and Conclusion of Challenges

Well, I am at the end of two more challenges and I'm ready for them to be done, yet, I can't help but think back on them and the fact that I had to start at square one and sometimes the challenge felt like a grind and the fact I made it to the end. This last March Mania post will focus on my patch blanket challenge.

It all started last year when my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I gave some thought to it and a box full of Boy Scout patches went through my head and it came to me: something that'll display my patches and keep them together instead of flopping around in a box hidden in the closet! I asked for a patch blanket because I've heard of other scouts and scouters having and using them and I thought it was a cool idea. The online Scout Shop (https://www.scoutshop.org/) has patch blankets and patch vests for the display of patches. I asked for the blanket as I figured I'd get more use out of a blanket and I also had nearly 90 patches, including rank badges. I did receive the blanket but my patch blanket sewing journey starts quite a bit later in November when I laid it out and placed patches where I wanted to sew them on. Things started out slowly and not steadily in December with patches being sewn on by hand but not daily. I managed to get about ten patches on before the New Year. During late December I came up with the goal to have all my patches sewn on the blanket by hand before I turned 24. I wrote out which single patch to sew on a given day and found out that I could finish around 1 April. I'll admit I haven't been completely faithful to sewing one patch a day and that I did have to catch up on a few occasions, but am pleased to say that I have only one more patch to sew on at the time of writing. I saved the most important patch for last: my Eagle Scout badge. To end March Mania, here is a picture of the patch blanket with every patch sewn on except for Eagle. Also, Scout's Honor, I sewed every patch by hand. It would have been easier to use a machine but I wanted to make it more meaningful by doing things by hand.

So many patches! Only one left to sew on.

March Mania Day 30: Goals

Off topic: Happy Spring y'all! The Cherry Blossoms are in bloom in DC at time of writing.

I'm going against conventional wisdom today as I lay out bare some of my goals for the near future. I won't bore you with the typical good job, good house type of goals a lot of people have but focus on more personal goals. Also, today's the second to last post in March Mania, I'm surprised I have yet to miss or skip a day of blogging, but it does get tiring. Anyways, the goals! I'll stick with six so I can act like these goals are my Pokémon team.

Goal #1: Fold 1000 tiny origami swans

The first of two goals that I've already started working towards. I figured that after folding 1000 regular (using 15 cm by 15 cm paper) cranes that I needed to find another origami challenge. Tiny origami was my idea. So far I've folded 258 tiny origami swans, which are much easier to fold than a tiny crane. I should really refine the goal I'd like to achieve, but instead I have two goals in mind. I must have 500 folded by the end of April 2019 but my ultimate goal is to have all 1000 folded by the same date. Only 742 to go, 25 a day will get me there!

Goal #2: Fold 1000 tiny origami cranes

The second and last of two goals I'm already working on. The progress with tiny origami cranes is way slower than with the tiny swans. A part of it is that the crane is a more complicated model to fold, especially in tiny form. Another part is I don't feel as motivated to fold 1000 cranes after already having done it once. My current tally is 31 tiny cranes. There's no way I'll be finishing anytime soon, but if I finish folding 1000 swans fast I can focus my origami mind on the cranes. I'll give myself a deadline of 31 DEC 2019 so that I may be motivated to have a year long goal in 2019.

Goal #3: Create a Golden Venture Folding origami model

Some information regarding Golden Venture Folding can be found at the following link: Golden Venture Folding Info. It's modular origami like I've been doing, except the units are well suited to help make more than one specific model. I'm thinking I'll try my hand at making an origami vase using Golden Venture Folding. I'll have to have some smaller goals to help me accomplish this goal. I have to cut out strips of paper and fold hundreds of units before assembling them together. I don't know when I'll be able to start or finish, but I do know I'd like to accomplish this goal.

Goal #4: Run a 5K and not have to walk one step

I've had good luck running 1 mile, 2 mile, and 13.1 mile races, but in the past it seems that I've not had good luck finishing a 5K race without walking a step. I'm currently training for a 5K using the C25K app (http://www.c25kfree.com/) and have completed the first week of workouts. It also helps that I'm about twenty pounds lighter than I was last March. The training program with this app lasts eight weeks which should put me right at the time I will be running another 5K for real. The 5K I will be running is the Dawn's 5K Dash on May 19, 2019. I'll try to keep running after that, but it'll be maintenance running rather than aiming for a goal.

Goal #5: Solve at least 50 Project Euler problems

This may not happen or it may happen, I'm aiming for "it will happen". I have to figure out the logic of another 37 problems as I've already solved 13 problems. Then once the logic is figured out, I'll have to write code and make a program that can execute the logic to give me the correct solution. I don't have a deadline for this goal yet.

Goal #6: Catch up on reading the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

Ever since I signed up for membership in the American Meteorological Society, I've received monthly issues of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society journal and some months also have been delivered with a supplemental State of the Climate or Explaining Extreme Events. With more than four years' worth of issues to read, good luck to me as that is more than ten thousand pages. TEN. THOUSAND. PAGES. These aren't tiny pages either, no siree! These are barely smaller than 8.5x11 inch paper. All I know is thankfully some of the pages are references to earlier work and research so I don't really have ten thousand pages of meaty meteorological content to read. Instead of a hard deadline I'll have to incorporate this goal into my read 20 or 30 minutes a day goal. Speaking of which:

Bonus Goal #7: Read Daily for 20-30 minutes

This goal may be broken repeatedly by me forgetting to read in a given day, but partially out of regret for not taking these kinds of voluntary assignments more seriously in elementary school (I could have had more free food such as pizza) and partially a desire to get the reading materials I have read, I'll aim for daily reading so that I can chip away at the books and academic journals I have left in the unread pile.

March Mania Day 29: Daily Haiku Challenge of March 2017 and 2018

Sorry for the lack of content in today's post. It's been a busy week at work and I'm exhausted. This post will simply be the collection of haiku written in the month of March in the years 2017 and 2018. The reason for haiku being written in both 2017 and 2018 was that the daily haiku challenge was started in 2017 but I lost steam sometime in March of that year. Anyways, here are all the haiku I've written in March. If you have any questions on the context of the haiku, please don't hesitate to ask.

March 1 (2017)


Roar like a lion
But storms were a total bust.
I'm ready for spring

March 2

Only two more days
I must finish strong and well
then I can party.

March 3

I'm a busy bee
buzzing around everywhere
at least I can't sting

March 4 (2018)

I am myopic
I need to be more thankful
For all my good friends

March 5

Coughing hurts my throat
Irritation and sputters
Ew! Is that my phlegm?

March 6

Now my ears are stuffed
But at least I'm not coughing
Just a few more days

March 7

Today we had snow
But no accumulation
and still a snow day

March 8

I am almost there
One more day until Spring Break
I shall "git 'er done!"

March 9

My final spring break
Time for a well deserved rest
and catch up on sleep

March 10

Sleep is good and bad
It heals but it wastes my time
I guess that is life

March 11

Seven years later
There is still much rebuilding
がんばって!

March 12

It's a good Monday
Lots of time for sleeping in
But I'm still fatigued!

March 13

Not much stuff to do
But I get bored easily
I must do something

March 14

Happy Pi Day y'all!
Be sure to eat some round food
Perhaps a pizza?

March 15

"Fairy Godparents!"
Yells a crazy hunchbacked man
It's Mr. Crocker

March 16

Chicken Brunello
It's a very tasty dish
I really want more.

March 17

It's St. Patrick's Day
It's an Irish holiday
Be sure to wear green

March 18

Spring break is over
having my own room was great
Well, back to the grind.

March 19

Back to a routine
Time to be more productive
Do things Mr. Sean

March 20

I ate treacle tart
It was sweet but not too sweet
It was delicious

March 21

A proper snow day
up to a foot of powder
But we are in Spring.

March 22

Meso test was bad
But no partial credit means
that it was not fair

(For the record, the prof was fair AND did award partial credit as far as I remembered)

March 23

Crepes are delicious
The one I ate made me feel
all gooey inside

March 24

I needed some rest
But I'd rather do some stuff
Instead of napping

March 25

Palm Sunday today
It's the start of Holy Week
Praise be unto Him.

March 26

Another work week
I have a lot to get done
Use your journal boy!

(Note: that last line is me yelling at myself)

March 27

Headaches suck so much
Can't tell if food, drink, or sleep
It is annoying

(Note: annoying to not know what caused it)

March 28

Today is hump day
We are halfway through the week
I can keep going

March 29

I am very tired
Being angry speeds it up
I need a long nap.

March 30

Finally Friday
Another weekend is here
Time for more study.

March 31

In like a lion
The month of March delivered
It's out like a lamb.

March Mania Day 28: What I'm looking forward to in April 2019

Hello y'all and welcome back to March Mania. I have three more posts to write up after this one and to be honest there are a few things I'm looking forward to in the next month. I apologize to those who expected me to wax nostalgic about pop music from the turn of the century. Anyways, here are some of the things I'm looking forward to in April.

Finishing My Patch Blanket

If everything goes according to plan, I should be finishing my patch blanket on the first of April, no joke! As of writing this post I have five patches to go. It's been a slow journey since I've sewn every patch by hand, but it's been quite rewarding to know that I sewed nearly 90 patches on to a blanket, me!

Warmer Weather

It'll be nice to not have an icy wind whipping my face and sometimes making my eyes water. Too bad with warmer weather there are allergens from plants that can cause my eyes to water, but that's why we have allergy medicine.

Looking Back on March Mania

It'll be neat to look back at the fact that I wrote a month's worth of blog posts in one month. Ever since late October 2018 my view counts pretty much fell off of a cliff, I'm not sure why but I did have a few surprises for March Mania. The origami post has racked up more than 60 views while the average post hovers just under ten (I'll have to figure out the actual average after the month ends).

Progress in Training for a 5K

Recently I signed up for a 5K run in May. I've never had good luck with 5K or 5K training before but I hope to change that, especially since I've ran three half-marathons and more than a few one mile and two mile races. I'm using an app called C25K where it'll help you train for a 5K if you're starting from the figurative square one. So far I've completed two days of C25K. C25K is only one of the many plans out there that are designed to turn people into 5K runners within weeks. I'll let y'all know how the training is later.

Sorry for the short post, but the past few days have been exhausting at work, a lot of cleaning for an inspector and stuff. I can definitely say I've been liking the lunches at my work place.

March Mania Day 28: Nostalgia for Pokémon Sapphire

Yesterday I wrote about my nostalgia for Pokémon Gold. Today I write about a game that I associate with being a big kid rather than just a kid.

Pokémon Sapphire was one of the main series Pokémon games for the Game Boy Advance. Unlike Gold, the day/night cycle was reduced to a token in game clock set at the beginning of your adventure, there was over-world weather such as rain and sandstorms, and you had a choice of two different bicycles that each had their own features. The bikes were called the Acro Bike and the Mach Bike. The Acro Bike allowed you to do wheelies and hop on said wheelies and was important for some hard to reach areas that required jumps across gaps spanned by narrow white rails while the Mach Bike allowed the player to go lightning fast, up sandy inclines, and cross over cracked floors at the expense of turning ability. The plot of Sapphire is similar to the first two games but there have been a few features and challenges added. There are Pokémon contests where the right kinds of moves and attributes (such as beauty or coolness) of your partner can win you some neat ribbons. In the contest halls there are square machines that you can use with other people or non-playable characters to turn berries into blocks that can be used to increase attributes of a Pokémon.

It was decisive in the Pokémon community back in 2003 for the lack of backward capability of the first two generations of games. 16 years later and we now can transfer a Pokémon from Sapphire caught in 2003 all the way to the newest Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon games (though transfers between generations are one way and non-reversible). Also only some of the old favorites such as Pikachu returned. I can say I enjoyed the game in spite of the at the time drastic changes. One of my favorite parts of the game was collecting decorations and finding a place to make a secret base and have a personal space within the game.

Since I was a big kid when I started playing this game, I did not have the same struggles I did playing Pokémon Gold, though the evil team's hideout was a challenging maze and the seventh gym leader was actually a pair of twins with Psychic type Pokémon.

I'm sorry for the shorter post than yesterday, but I don't have as much nostalgia for this game as I got it later in childhood, but I do still have some nostalgia for it. Thank you for reading and we're almost to the end of March Mania!

March Mania Day 26: Nostalgia for Pokémon Gold

What did you say Youngster Joey?!?!?

Today's March Mania post will be a personal nostalgia trip to the early 2000s when I had a lot less responsibilities and a lot less ability to do anything. When I had free time as a kid back in the early 2000s, I'd often be playing Pokémon Gold, the first Pokémon game that I've played that I can truly say was mine, my own journey, my own destiny. Anyways, I got the original Gold for my birthday in either 2000 or 2001 and it was awesome as the cartridge was rather shiny, like gold. I remember doing okay in Pokémon battles and journeying until I managed to reach the Ice Path cave. There was an ice physics puzzle that stumped six and seven year old me as I kept sliding everywhere except where I had to go. I had to settle for grinding levels on some of my Pokémon to prevent me from stopping playing. Later when I was eight, I finally managed to solve the first ice physics puzzle and the other ones were easier in comparison. I struggled against Gym Leader (a more powerful Pokémon trainer than your average non-playable character) Clair as she had dragon types and I was not concerned about weaknesses and resistances. Clair kept dousing my Typhlosion (final form of the fire starter Cyndaquil) with her Kingdra (imagine a six foot tall seahorse being able to spit water out of its snout that looks more like a powerful pea shooter that shoots water). I eventually trained enough and go good luck with attacks and items and was about to earn my eighth badge (which would allow me to challenge stronger trainers known as the Elite Four) but Clair threw a tantrum and told me to find an item in the Dragon's Den behind the town the gym was in. After that I challenged and won against the Elite Four and met another dragon trainer. This time it was the Champion Lance. The same Lance that helped me take down the evil Team Rocket in one of their hideouts that looked like a shop by unsuspecting bystanders. I struggled a bit and won. I was able to visit and battle throughout the Kanto region (which was the region featured in the very first games). After earning sixteen badges, I was approved by Professor Oak to visit the peak of Mount Silver. There was a surprise waiting at the top for me. It was Red, the player character from the first Pokémon games. The battle music and his party of Pokémon made things more interesting and more grand. I was able to defeat him and claim top trainer status in two regions. 

Some story points I left out include saving Slowpoke from greedy men who wanted to sell their tails for one million pokedollars (about $10,000 if 1 Poke = 1 Yen), hatching a Togepi, finding and catching my favorite Pokémon Ho-oh (the mascot of the game), and fighting Team Rocket at the Goldenrod Radio Tower. Tomorrow I'll try to remember my days playing Pokémon Sapphire.

March Mania Day 25: 15 years in Maryland

Happy Maryland day y'all! In honor of the special day I will try to recap nearly fifteen years worth of me living in Maryland, the good and the bad. Good luck to me!

Military Brat Days (2004 - 2008)

I haven't always lived in Maryland. I was a military brat living in Colorado before my dad got orders to move to MD. I'll just say that it was actually rough yet at the same time some my most nostalgic moments came from this era. It was rough because I'd cry often at school and have meltdowns over stuff (it got better after fourth grade), though I don't think I'll ever forget the smells of fall on Fort Meade, especially since my brother and I tended to walk to school from our house (we were the unlucky kids in our neighborhood that lived close enough that the bus wouldn't pick us up). Most of my nostalgia from the early days centers around what was hot on pop radio at the time. Fifth grade was where I found solid footing despite being at a school where many children tended to move in and out every few weeks or months. Cub Scouts also helped as I had something familiar from my last days in Colorado. This era was when I started to become a band geek, as my dad encouraged me to play an instrument. Clarinet it was and it was not smooth sailing at first but I aimed high and managed to qualify for the feeder system concert that year. Later I graduated from elementary and entered middle school. Middle school was a weird time as I went from being a child to becoming a young man in the span of three years. In that time I solidified my liking of math, made All County Band twice, and took up French. I also started to see my physical fitness improve with mile times tumbling down from 12 to 15 minutes in elementary school. I wasn't the fastest in my middle school gym classes, but I was far from the slowest also. I also made some good friends during this period of time, though they moved out of the area while I managed to stay.

Teenage Years (2009 - 2012)

The end of my military brat days came near the end of the 2008 as my dad retired from the Air Force after 20 years of exemplary service. The teenage years era was defined by moving to a new house, but for the long haul, going through high school, and learning more about the wider world around me.
Even before high school started, my parents decided to expand my world view from home, NC and SC, the West, and Japan to include the true northeast (I only say true northeast as I've found a literal zillion arguments over where MD is located, some people should get a real hobby or debate more important issues), including Maine, Connecticut, and PA Dutch Country. Fourteen year old me munched down on shoo fly pie in Bird in Hand, Lancaster County, PA not realizing that he would be back in the county some day. After summer vacation, I had to hit the ground running as I joined marching band at Meade High and had band camp to attend. It was fun and I met some great people, I apologize to them that I don't have much space to recognize them here. High school classes started and for the first time I had classes with people older than me and it was okay. I can't say that everything was smooth sailing though, particularly in 2012 when I managed to ruin a lot of friendships online and offline and was at a low point in my life. Thankfully that managed to change in the next era.

Realization (2013 - 2018)

After high school, I was off to college and for the first time would not be spending the majority of time in Maryland. It was exciting to be away from my parents for months on end and to have some autonomy such as when to eat and where to eat. Freshman year was freshman year except the upperclassmen of MU-AMS stressed the fact that being active is a great idea (it is). I made many new friends in 2013 and 2014 because of meteorology. Being away from home made me realize for the first time that I did not hate living in Maryland like I did when I first moved there way back in 2004. The realization only became stronger when the class of 2018 showed up to Millersville and a whole group of students were also from Maryland and I could relate to them by asking about Maryland and where they were from and getting excited when they replied with so and so county and I could do the same. Other realizations included that I wasn't going to be the best student all the time but doing my best still got me places. I managed to graduate from college, albeit a year late and with one more major than freshman me anticipated. It was worth it though.

Present and Future (2019 - 20??)

Currently I'm living in Maryland still, working at a job at a nearby cafeteria, figuring out my next move is. Who knows maybe I'll stay in Maryland and plant even more roots here, or I'll be sent elsewhere. All I know is, Maryland is currently where hOme is.

I apologize for the lack of details, it's hard to juggle fifteen years worth of memories. Also I'm trying to not be more boring than a drill with these posts.

March Mania Day 24: Proportional Electoral College

Today's original March Mania post was supposed to be about my experience with Khan Academy and how I planned on being a completionist with the math mission, but recent events have convinced me to post something else instead. Some people in politics have been pushing for the abolition of the Electoral College in the United States recently. They advocate for one person equals one vote. I know the current system is flawed, but every system has its flaws, so I thought, why not manipulate too many numbers and figure out how a proportional Electoral College can work. My idea for a proportional EC is to have the EC votes allocated by percentages at the state level. Taking Maryland and the 2016 Election as an example: Clinton received 60.33% of Maryland's votes while Trump received 33.91% according to this nifty report: 2016 Federal Elections. There are weaknesses as already evidenced  by the fact that MD has 10 EC votes but Hillary and Trump rounded up only result in 9 votes while the third party candidates each did not receive enough votes to warrant one EC vote (.6033*10 = 6.033 rounding down to 6 for Clinton and .3391*10 = 3.391 rounding down to 3 for Trump). Apply to each state, then add up the resulting EC vote allocations. So far I find that it is much more challenging for any candidate to reach the 270 equals instant win threshold that is currently in place combined with my idea, so proportional EC may have to be bundled with the idea that instead of 270, that whoever has the most wins.

Anyways I'm not here to debate about the 2016 election and any attacks on me will not be tolerated. Instead I'm going to apply my idea to a more interesting election. Let's turn the clock back to 1912. There was Woodrow Wilson going against a fractured Republican base that was split between the incumbent president Taft and the progressive (at the time) Roosevelt. There were also socialists and a prohibitionist running, but they barely made a dent in the national scene.

The United States Presidential Election of 1912

A brief summary of the Electoral College in 1912 is as follows: New Mexico and Arizona were recently admitted as the 47th and 48th states in the Union bringing the total EC representation to 531 with the winning threshold being 266. The breakdown of the EC for 1912 is as follows:

Wilson (D): 435
Roosevelt (P, Bull Moose): 88
Taft (R, incumbent): 8

It appears as Wilson won in an absolute landslide eh? Well, the popular vote and proportional EC have something else to say.

The popular vote for these three candidates are as follows:

Wilson: 6,296,284
Roosevelt: 4,122,721
Taft: 3,486,242

Wilson's lead isn't as comfortable if results were determined by popular vote. Also the Republicans might have had a chance to keep the White House if Roosevelt and Taft didn't disagree so hard on issues that the Republican party base split.

With those statistics out of the way, I present my crazy idea of a proportional EC.

This is a snapshot of how I've been figuring out how many EC votes a candidate gets from each state

Each state is allocated a number of electoral votes based on Congressional Reapportionment that occurs after every Census. I do admit to using Wikipedia, but the source provided for the 1912 election results is available at 1912 Election Data, so if my numbers are off a bit, I'm sorry, but this is only an exercise in numbers crunching with a relevant political topic. Then I multiply the EC votes by the percentage of votes an individual candidate received and divided by 100. Each candidate's total EC votes were added up after each state's breakdown. With all 48 states calculated, the proportional Electoral College breakdown is as follows:

Wilson: 247

Roosevelt: 133

Taft: 114

Although the three candidates' EC votes don't add up to 531 (and nobody received 266 for a 1912 instant win) We see that Wilson wasn't as dominant as the actual EC seemed to indicate and that Taft got the short end of the stick with only 8 votes. If this post does not receive a lot of rage from my friends who love politics, maybe I'll go around the presidential elections of other years and apply my idea of proportional Electoral College to them. Sorry for the long post, but there was a lot of information to sift through.

I may make a part two later to see how well the fourth, fifth, and sixth parties would have fared in a proportional EC idea for this election.

March Mania Day 23: 100 Word Challenge: Music and I

Welcome to the end... of the 100 Word Challenge week. We made it! Today's challenge will be me trying to cram more than a decade's worth of me being involved with music into 100 words. Time to finish strong!

100 Word Challenge: Music and I

It all started out of jealousy. I was jealous that my brother Robbie was getting piano lessons so I asked my dad or he asked me and soon I had piano lessons. Later, I joined band on the clarinet and had quite a student musician's career with it. I picked up alto saxophone on the offer of my high school band director who wanted to fill out the saxophone section. I also have a ukulele, a violin, a banjo, a bugle, a recorder and a few harmonicas. I think the next instruments to focus on will be banjo and violin.

Word Count (Word 2013): 100

Thank you for reading this week's March Mania posts and the other 16 posts before this week y'all! Tomorrow will actually be different than what I posted on Facebook at the start of the challenge. Instead of blogging about Khan Academy, I'll be discussing something that has been discussed on the political stage recently, and no, I will not offer opinions, but lots and lots of numbers! You'll have to read to see!

March Mania Day 22: 100 Word Challenge: Learning Japanese

A Calligraphy kit and some Japanese language learning books

I'm very sorry for the late posting of today's March Mania post, I crashed early and woke up realizing that I've only an hour and a half left to post this. Anyways I'll be explaining my struggles and attempts at learning my literal mother's tongue: Japanese! All in 100 words like the past five posts this week. Ready? We're off!

100 Word Challenge: Learning Japanese

The struggle so far seems to be speaking as there are many homophones in Japanese as it has five vowels and is limited by the requirement to end in vowels or 'n'. I've been trying to get off the ground floor by learning the writing systems. Kana are relatively easy but I've a lot of kanji to learn. Recently I've set up some loose leaf paper so that I have squares to write kana, later I can apply the same idea to when I need to practice kanji. Repetition helps, such as reading about sumo techniques and names of wrestlers.

Word Count (Word 2013): 100 words

March Mania Day 21: 100 Word Challenge: Paris 2012

Welcome and Bienvenue to today's March Mania 100 word challenge. Today I'll rack my brains as I attempt to remember a trip to Paris in 2012 and sum it up in 100 words. Bonne chance to me!

100 Word Challenge: Paris 2012

I flew to Paris with my dad and French students from high school on an Airbus A380. We visited many of the icons of Paris such as the Sacre Coeur, Luxembourg Gardens, and the Eiffel Tower. There was some good food including crepes Nutella and Niçoise Salad. We also spent an afternoon away from Paris in the nearby city of Versailles and explored the Palace, which housed Louis XIV, and the nearby Gardens. There was a lot of navigating via the Paris Metro, or subway, avoiding pushy sellers and generally having a great time and speaking to people in French.

Word Count (Word 2013): 100

March Mania Day 20: 100 Word Challenge: Wishes

We're about two thirds of the way through March and March Mania, thank you to the few people who think I am worthy of their time by reading or looking at my blog. Today's 100 word challenge may not be too much of a challenge as I describe some of my wishes (of which I'll have to grant myself since fairy godparents don't exist and I'm not Timmy Turner from Dimmsdale).

100 Word Challenge: Wishes

I do have a few wishes for things and actions in life. One of the wishes is that I am able to run a 5k from start to finish without walking one step. Another wish is for a good paying job that requires me to actively use math or meteorology knowledge. Some of my wishes involve food such as wishing for another chance to eat in Lancaster, Pennsylvania at places such as Issei Noodle and Annie Bailey's Irish Pub. I also wish that I could re-kindle past friendships sometimes, but I have been told it's better to leave things be.

Word Count (Word 2013): 100

Wow, an even one hundred. I'm sorry for the sad tone of the last wish, but it is a wish and relevant to the topic. I should focus on the present and the future wishes and know that I can make some things come true myself.

March Mania Day 19: 100 Word Challenge in French

Today I'll stack challenges upon challenges. Today's 100 word challenge will be entirely in French. I will provide a (hopefully not so) rough English translation after the French body of text. Note, I'm okay in French but did rely on a French-English dictionary for some words.

Défi de 100 mots, en français

Susheen est un chat qui aime beaucoup les sushis. Il aime trop les sushis si vous me le demandez. Il miaule assez bruyamment quand je ne le partage pas. Il ressemble la chate s'appelle Pusheen mais il dit que il est un homme, un homme fort. Quel chat! Il aime manger et dormir comme les autres chats. J'aime Susheen, mais il a besoin d'apprendre que je ne partage pas mon sushi. Si Susheen ne mange pas de sushi, il se met très en colere s'il me voit manger des sushis. J'ai besoin de pratiquer mon français, c'était assez difficile pour moi.

Susheen is a cat that likes sushi a lot. He likes sushi too much if you ask me. He meows rather loudly when I don't share it. He resembles the cat named Pusheen but he says that he is a man, a strong man. What a cat! He likes to eat and sleep like other cats. I like Susheen, but he needs to learn that I don't share my sushi. If Susheen doesn't eat sushi, he gets very angry if he sees me eating sushi. I need to practice my French, that was rather difficult for me.

Word Count (Français, Word 2013): 99
Word Count (English, Word 2013): 97

So Microsoft Word says I'm one short of my 100 word goal, but it's close enough if you ask me. Tomorrow will be easier as I stick to an English 100 word challenge tomorrow.

March Mania Day 18: 100 Word Challenge Who am I?

On day 2 of the 100 Word Challenge week, I will attempt to describe myself in exactly one hundred words. Will I be able to reach that goal or will I yap on about myself selfishly? Keep reading and find out! Contractions count as one word but hyphenated will count for one word by Microsoft Word rules and two for my rules.

WHO AM I?

My name is Sean and I was born in Hawaii. I have degrees in math and meteorology from Millersville University. I'm half-Japanese and really enjoy eating Japanese food, and other food for that matter. My current hobbies include music, computers, needlecraft, and writing. People often say I am very friendly or nice or sweet, but sometimes I doubt them despite being outnumbered. I earned Eagle Scout, am a fan of the Denver Broncos, and need to exercise more to lose weight. I've also ran three half marathons but have bad luck with 5k races. I always want to improve myself.

Word Count (Microsoft Word rules): 100
Word Count (my rules): 101

You decide whether I failed or succeeded today at the 100 word challenge, but at least if I fail, it's only by one.

March Mania Day 17: 100 Word Challenge: Millersville Days

Happy Saint Patrick's Day y'all! This week in March Mania I will challenge myself to summarize seven topics in 100 words. Shall I fail to do this, I hope to be at least within five words of 100. Only the body of the text in between the Title and "Word Count" will count toward the challenge. Today will be a challenge right off the bat as I have to try to describe my Millersville University days in 100 words. Also, I can't make a list and contractions count as one word. Ready? Let's go!

100 Word Challenge: Millersville Days

I started my career at Millersville by joining the marching band and met some great friends there. My first and final classes at Millersville were math classes. The meteorology department felt more like a family than a group of students. Old dorms were torn down while new ones rose up. I had a lot of great food there whether it was on campus or off campus. Failing one class caused me to think about what I really wanted to do and instead of one or the other, I chose option three: Dual major in mathematics and meteorology. It was great!

Word Count: 100

Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter, Millersville University forever

March Mania Day 16: Music and I Future Plans

Now that I'm out of college and have limited opportunity and time to perform music, it'll be a challenge to figure out where to go with my music journey. I do have a few ideas on where to go though.

Mastering the Bugle

Although I already have a bugle from one Christmas long ago, it always produces flat notes (I wasn't the only one who produced a sound from it), so my idea for mastering the bugle involves buying a second bugle, but making sure that it can play a note sharper by default. The main goal is to memorize a few bugle calls and develop brass technique. This is probably the second or third easiest goal listed here.

Dueling Banjos?

I've had a banjo for nearly six years now, but I haven't been disciplined enough to give it time for serious practice. I figure a worthy goal would be to learn how to play Dueling Banjos. Also getting through a method book will help me nail the basics of playing the banjo.

Clarinet Scales of all sorts

The clarinet has been my main instrument since 2005 and I've been through so much with it. Instead of trying to learn some technically impressive piece, I think my next goal will to figure out as many scales as I can and play them by memory. Good luck to me as there are twelve major scales and 36 minor scales alone (three kinds of minor scales in all twelve keys). My friends would probably prefer if I learn stuff like Rhapsody in Blue or Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, but scales (and long tones) are fundamentals that must not be neglected.

Piano anytime?

Thanks to some technology from the past that my dad let me have, I can plug in earbuds to an electronic keyboard or piano via a 3.5 mm adapter jack and not disturb anybody with a cacophony of sound. I've yet to take advantage of it as I need the night to sleep for at least five nights per week.

Challenge Violin

I figured that since I liked how the violin sounds and that I had some enjoyment borrowing a friend's violin a few times that I got one for myself and wanted to challenge myself. I don't have any immediate goals for violin, but I think making it through Essential Elements will be at least somewhat helpful.

Saxophone Assessments

Although I picked up the alto saxophone purely out of accepting Mr. Kilby's request for another saxophonist in jazz band and only can think of my sax skills in terms of jazz, three years of jazz band seem to say that I did pick up the saxophone quite well. To figure out if that is true, I'll play through Accent on Achievement Books 1 and 2 and if the selections in those books are easy for me I'll be impressed, I was basically thrown into the metaphorical pool without preparation and went from 0-100 really quickly. Though I will say it helped that I played clarinet and it shares a few similarities to saxophone.

I'll keep everybody updated on what happens with what I do on my music journey!