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!

March Mania Day 15: Recommended Eats in the BWI Area

Yesterday I gave y'all some of my recommended eats in the Lancaster, PA area. Today we'll look a little closer to home for me, except I'm calling it the BWI area since I do live pretty close to the airport and it appears to be used as a landmark for road traffic in the area. The only chains I've listed are either regional to Maryland or started in Maryland. Sorry for the lack of pictures today.

Little Spice Thai Cuisine - Located in Hanover, MD, it's a bit out of the way from the nearby Arundel Mills mall and Live! Casino, but this is why I'd call it a hidden gem. They serve all the Thai fare for a reasonable price. Also I can vouch for their Drunken Noodles being spicy. I'd recommend the Drunken Noodles, the various curry dishes, or their Pad Thai.

Cantina Mamma Lucia - Mentioned earlier in March Mania, located in Hanover, MD right next to Little Spice, this local Italian joint has been filling the bellies of its loyal customers for thirty years this year. With many choices of pasta, you'll have a hard time not finding at least one favorite dish from CML. Also they sometimes have family flown over from Italy to cook up some special Italian treats. They have Osso Bucco sometimes, but you'll have to take initiative to find out when they'll have it. Last I remembered, they encouraged people to get on their Osso Bucco calling list and whoever is on that list will be the first to know when Osso Bucco is on the menu. Personally I stick with my favorite Chicken Brunello, but you really can't go wrong when choosing a pasta dish at CML.

Pachanga Grill - Located in Odenton near the intersection of MD 170 and MD 175, this local Mexican joint serves up a fiesta of flavor and for all the tortilla chip aficionados out there, they do give you chips and salsa before you order the entrées. I've only been there once, but I do recommend that if you want some Mexican and don't want to eat at fast food chains such as Taco Bell, then Pachanga should be one of your go-to's in the area. For those who like spicy food, I recommend the Camarones a la Diabla, or shrimp in a tomato-chili sauce. It reminds me of Ebi Chili (or as Iron Chef calls them: Prawns in Chili Sauce), so of course I'd find Camarones a la Diabla delicious.

Red Parrot Asian Bistro - Large Sushi Selection, many dishes from various Asian nations, and curry that's spicier than the Drunken Noodles? Only at Red Parrot do you get all of that and they serve all sorts of drinks if you are tired of the soda and water routine. Recently I've been getting their Panang Curry with pork.

Maiwand Kabob - This is a small chain in central Maryland that specializes in Afghan cooking, although it seems that they share similarities to some Middle East traditions, namely the focus on Kabob (or kebab, depends on spelling, I'll use "kabob" specifically for Maiwand). They have pumpkin served with meat and yogurt sauce (it's better than it sounds on paper, trust me), eggplant, lamb kabobs, kabobs made of other meats, and daily specials. I'm partial to the Do Piaza, which is the Thursday special and is basically a lamb curry with onions and green peppers. The specials are served with regular rice or naan bread (yes, I said "bread bread") and side salad while the entrées are served with naan, side salad, and a spiced rice.

Phubs - Located in the same set of buildings as Cantina Mamma Lucia and Little Spice (that area sure has a concentration of good food for being a bit out of the way of both BWI and Arundel Mills), Phubs is basically what is written on the tin: Pho and subs. My parents always get pho while I go for the banh mi subs. Too bad that the last time I was there that they replaced the Honey Sriracha Shrimp banh-mi with a different shrimp based banh mi, that Honey Sriracha sauce kicked butt. Though one of my favorites that is still on the menu are the summer rolls (clear rice wrapping veggies, pork, and shrimp together).

K-Manna Rice Factory  -  Located near Fort Meade, this restaurant serves up some good Korean food such as Bulgogi and Bibimbap. The beef bulgogi (and other meats also labeled as bulgogi) meals to me remind me of bento. Many sides accompany the entrée such as cucumber kimchi, vegetables, fried egg, and tempura vegetables. Since I love spicy food, I eat their Jeyuk Bulgogi set (Spicy Pork).

Ledo Pizza - A Mid-Atlantic chain of pizzerias. It started in Maryland therefore I can put it down in this blog post. They also have subs, pasta, and lots of appetizers. For pizza, I get their Sweet Baby-Q Chicken pizza or their Ledo Deluxe pizza.

The Grill at Quarterfield Station - This restaurant located in Severn, but closer to Glen Burnie than to Fort Meade, serves up a variety of dishes that run the gamut from simple sandwiches to special seafood creations, to everyday favorites. Their pasta salad is one of the better pasta salads I've eaten and the large menu should ensure that everybody will find something they like.

March Mania Day 14: Recommended Eats in Lancaster (City and County), PA

Happy Pi day y'all! Today's March Mania blog post is somewhat appropriate as I will be listing some of my recommended eats for Lancaster County, PA today. Please note that I'm not finished in my quest to eat delicious food in the county that houses my collegiate alma mater, though I do wish that I did try to eat more of the local stuff instead of Park City mall food court food (though China Party stuff was delicious). Anyways, more recommending and less regretting, here we go!

Lancaster City Eats

Isaac's: The downtown Lancaster location of this sandwich restaurant chain that only exists in South Central Pennsylvania also has a bar, but I enjoyed their sandwiches and pepperjack tomato soup. Good food for a good price if you ask me, many of the sandwich choices are named after birds as Isaac's is represented by a flamingo.

Sa La Thai: I ate there once and they had a ten dollar special at the time where at lunch time, you could get an appetizer, soup, and an entree for ten dollars. Their curry was pretty good and so was the amount of food for that price.

Issei Noodle: It's a mix of Japanese, Okinawan (Okinawa has a distinct culture and culinary tradition from the rest of modern Japan), and Thai influences. Many noodle dishes abound, some delicious appetizers, cool merch, and for some reason I've never seen anybody playing Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo 64 that is (or was, if they've removed it) in the restaurant. My favorite dish is the Midori Spicy Udon, basically curry udon except instead of Japanese curry, it's Thai green curry.

The Rabbit and the Dragonfly: I've never actually eaten there, but I've had their hot chocolate, mmmmmm! Also the atmosphere is nice if you love books, board games, and piano music. One of my regrets is not visiting this establishment more often.

Lancaster County Eats

Good 'n Plenty: Good and plenty Amish country cooking, need I say more?

Bird in Hand Family Restaurant: In 2009, my family vacationed in the Northeast, with a stop in Amish Country. This place was where I had shoofly pie for the first time. Shoofly Pie for more information on this delicious treat

Oregon Dairy Restaurant: They have a buffet similar to the Bird in Hand Family Restaurant, Miller's Smorgasbord, and Shady Maple, good enough for me! Next door is a market where you can get farm fresh food.

Miller's Smorgasbord: They have a lot of everything, including varieties of soups. So much good food, 15 year old me would call this place heaven.

Special Mention

Special mention goes out to the food places near Millersville University that have been feeding thousands of hungry college students for many years. Some of these places include Sugar Bowl (home of "World Famous Stromboli" and the local place for milkshakes), Jack's (a bar that is notorious for mountains of fries and is a favorite of Millersville students), and Far East Café (Although Oriental Chinese Restaurant is touted as better, I liked the service from Far East much better, a sweet Chinese couple always giving me large portions and I've never had problems with their food).

Bonus: Here is what Millersville University suggests for Lancaster eats: Millersville's Suggestions, though my friends would say the University and I forgot Shady Maple, but at least I have an excuse, I've never been there, though I hear it's pretty good.

Second Bonus: If you've made it this far, here's a picture of Susheen and Pizeko (Pizza Neko, neko meaning cat in Japanese) eating food. Pizeko is eating a pizza pie slice in commemoration of Pi day today.

March Mania Day 13: Sewing Successes, Fails, and Lessons

So in the past year or so, I've been making good use of the sewing kit I bought online, from sewing patches on to a blanket, finishing my merit badge sash, and trying to cover up holes. There have been plenty of successes and plenty of failures, each with a lesson for me.

The Successes

In 2018, five years after aging out of Boy Scouts, I finished my merit badge sash by sewing on the final seven merit badges I had earned since summer camp 2012. Other successes include improvements in sewing patches so that they aren't attached to a surface loosely and a successful sewing up a hole in pants. Too bad it was the only pair of pants I could successfully sew up as y'all will read in the next section.

The Failures

I had some pants with holes where holes shouldn't be. I tried to see if I could sew them up, it didn't look possible so I had to scrap those pants. I tried to do the same thing with a shirt, twice. Each time, the thread came undone and the hole showed up again. Thankfully I don't have many failures in sewing.

The Lessons

The lessons I've learned so far are that patience is key to getting a sewing job done, impatience can hurt or at least be mildly discomforting such as when the needle touches my fingertips, and that not everything can be sewn back together to look like new. I think I'll have more to say if I ever do more sewing later, stay tuned!

March Mania Day 12: 10 Favorite Restaurant Dishes

Today's episode of March Mania will be a less serious affair as I try to explain ten of my favorite restaurant dishes. There are a few rules however.

Rule 1: Fast food restaurants are disqualified from the list. This is to ensure that at least some effort was put in by the chef or the cook to create the dish. Fast casual is okay.

Rule 2: Past offerings and restaurants that formerly existed are fair game if I can remember them clearly. This rule is just so that I can include a dish that came from a restaurant that no longer exists.

Rule 3: These are not in order from 10 being the least most favorite to 1 being the most most favorite, so please don't treat the list like a top ten list of favorite dishes.

Rule 4: I reserve the right to elaborate or not elaborate on each dish.

With that out of the way, here we go! Also sorry that I only have pictures for five of the dishes.

1.

Chicken Tikka Masala from Himalayan Curry and Grill, Lancaster, PA

2. Ribs and Shrimp from George Martin's Grillfire, Hanover, MD
The notable part of the dish was that the shrimp were covered in a soy-ginger glaze, giving an Asian flair to a seafood that Americans love to eat.

3.

Crabby Friday from Three Brothers, a regional chain in MD

4. Spicy Chipotle Chicken Pasta from The Cheesecake Factory, the only national chain featured in this post.

5. 

Katsu Curry from Temari Café, Rockville, MD

Sometimes, I want extra meat in my curry, and pork katsu is always a good choice for an extra meaty curry.

6. Camarones a la Diabla from Pachanga Grill, Odenton, MD

Camarones a la Diabla remind me very much of the Japanese-Szechuan Ebi Chili dish. Shrimp cooked in a sauce that contains chiles and tomato stuff. I really like  Ebi Chili so I figured that a similar Mexican dish would also taste good.

7. 

Maspero's Crawfish and Tasso pasta from The Original Pierre Maspero's, located in the French Quarter of New Orleans

Crawfish? Tasso? Sounds like a good combination of New Orleans' favorite proteins in a cajun sauce. Mr. Sean likes!

8. Penne a la Vodka from Bei Tempi, a former restaurant in New Orleans located near the convention center. I've had Penne a la Vodka from various places before, but what made the one from Bei Tempi stand out were the large onion slivers (that resembled unfried Bloomin Onion petals, if I had to reference a different restaurant's food) that were not too crunchy, but a good mix of soft enough on the inside, crunch on the outside, and flavor all over. The rest of the dish was good too, but the onions stood out for me. Too bad it doesn't exist anymore so I'll have to make my own Penne a la Vodka and try to make and sautée onion petals.

9.  

Midori Spicy Udon from Issei Noodle, Lancaster, PA

This dish combines Japanese udon with Thai green curry. My mom sometimes makes me curry udon using Japanese curry, but if I want a good bit of spice, this dish brings spice a-plenty. I remember one time during Lent when I had a meatless version of this dish, if y'all want to see if they do it for real or if they just forgot to put the chicken on that one time I went, I'd suggest going to Issei on a Friday sometime before Easter.

10. Chicken Brunello from Cantina Mamma Lucia, Hanover, MD

Near home, there is a local Italian place well known for generous portions of delicious pasta called Cantina Mamma Lucia. My favorite pasta dish from Cantina Mamma Lucia is their Chicken Brunello. Pasta served with chicken, mushrooms, and topped with a tomato cream and marsala wine sauce. The sauce is very rich, but very delicious all the same.

March Mania Day 11: Origami: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I started taking origami seriously nine years ago when I bought an Origami Page-A-Day Calendar for the year 2010. In the years since then I've folded many sheets of paper into many things, torn more than a few trying to coax out some origami "limbs", and generally have enjoyed most of the journey. Today's post will be a showcase of the good, the bad, and the ugly as I'm pretty sure I've folded enough to have at least one photo for each adjective. I don't apologize for the bias towards "The Good".

THE GOOD

1000 cranes folded

In 2016, I decided to embark on a challenge that would prove my origami worth: folding 1000 cranes. There is a legend that whoever folds 1000 cranes is entitled to one wish coming true. I read a book titled Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in elementary school which centered around a girl named Sadako Sasaki who initially survived the atomic attack of 1945 but later was diagnosed with leukemia. The book claims that she did not finish her goal of folding 1000 cranes for the wish, falling short at 644, but there are competing claims that she did indeed fold 1000 cranes and then some from various sources including her brother Masahiro Sasaki. In any case, I saw a challenge and I figured I'd be able to fold a crane by memory by the time I folded 1000. Three years later and I'm trying to repeat, but with tiny cranes instead. Only, with the tiny cranes, I don't feel as motivated as I did in 2016.

Origami Playing Card Case by Jonathan Graham 

Link: Origami Playing Card Case

I used to and to a certain extent still do collect decks of playing cards. I collected mostly for the cool back designs such as the NYPD logo or Busch Gardens Williamsburg. My cards were all disorganized at one point and I recently (at that time, circa 2017) bought a box that was shaped for storing cards, so I decided to place all my playing cards in that box, but I thought to myself, "How can I keep the cards organized, especially if they've lost their packaging? I stumbled upon Jonathan Graham's video on YouTube while searching for a solution and I have to say it's a neat and nifty way of using origami and I've yet to lose a playing card since.

Tiny Origami

At this point, regular origami was starting to become easy and I like challenging myself, so I decided to cut up some origami paper into smaller sheets and try folding tiny versions of origami models. So far I've folded one tiny modular wreath, at least 20 tiny cranes, more than 250 tiny swans, and at least one tiny crown. I'll update y'all when I create more tiny origami.

THE BAD

It looks impressive, but...

So my journey into modular origami (fold multiple units of one shape and then put them together to create a larger different shape) started as early as 2014 when I folded 16 sheets of square paper into units to create a 16 pointed star, so far so good. The bad made itself quite clear when I was trying to assemble it and units kept separating from each other. The 16 pointed star did not endear me when I was finished with it as it was so easy to separate the individual units from each other, which is not a good sign in modular origami.

THE UGLY

One of the very few models I did not enjoy folding

I tried folding the above model, but was not satisfied at all after completing it. So many parts were sticking out, a lack of symmetry, and a general dissatisfaction with how the model turned out is why I placed it under "The Ugly".

Thank you for reading about some of my origami adventures throughout the years and if you want to hear more about my origami adventures, please do say so!

March Mania Day 10: Sumo

Chiyonofuji vs Hokutoumi by Daimon Kinoshita

About two years ago, I got a TV for Christmas and saw that the local PBS station had a sub-channel that aired NHK World programming. Sweet! Stuff from Japan but in English. I watched mostly NHK World during that winter break and sometime around mid-January I saw that NHK World aired Grand Sumo Highlights, a recap of the day's bouts. I later learned it was the top Makuuchi (Makunouchi in spoken word) division bouts, but no matter, they still intrigued me that I tried to find more info on sumo and fan opinion. I managed to find an excellent forum at Sumo Forum, quick uploads of Makuuchi action from Kintamayama (sorry to the Japanese people out there, he thought it had an "ii sound" when he came up with it). and an at the time budding but excellent blog in Tachiai. I started watching sumo at the time that the now former Kisenosato was coming off a very consistent but very good year as an Ozeki, the second highest rank in sumo. He won the January 2017 tournament and along with his 2016 bouts was promoted to the highest rank of Yokozuna. Tragedy would befall him in March 2017 as he suffered an injury to his left shoulder that permanently reduced his ability to do sumo. Meanwhile even the most dominant Yokozuna in modern history and perhaps all of history Hakuho (from Mongolia) was dropping out of tournaments on claims of injury. Recently there have been more than a few young men hungry for glory in the top ranks and some surprise tournament winners. Last year, Tochinoshin from Georgia won the tournament in January as a Maegashira (first rank in the top division) then proceeded to post two more good winning records with enough wins to promote him to Ozeki. Other surprises include two tournament wins from the Yokozuna Kakuryu (from Mongolia, like Hakuho) in spite of injuries, and tournament wins from Mitakeumi, Takakeisho, and Tamawashi. Last year, Hakuho barely competed but did manage a zensho-yusho. Each tournament lasts for fifteen days and a yusho is a championship while a zensho-yusho is winning the championship without a single loss. Only the Juryo and Makuuchi rikishi participate all fifteen days, the lower ranked rikishi compete for seven days. There have been scandals, miracles, and disappointments a-plenty in the past two years and I can't wait to see what sumo has in store for 2019. Will Takakeisho (who is a year my junior) earn Ozeki after the current tournament? What about Tamawashi (who at 34 was the second oldest Makuuchi yusho winner)? Will Mitakeumi and Takayasu cement a fierce rivalry? Stay tuned!

March Mania Day 9: Project Euler

Today's post won't be as interesting as I don't have any images and haven't made it far progress-wise.

So I like math and puzzles and have worked quite extensively with computers, so a challenge solving math problems that computers can help with sounds like just the kind of thing I would enjoy. It all started with a co-worker from my IT job at Millersville University. He suggested that I try a website called Project Euler. Project Euler has a collection of more than 600 math problems that are guaranteed to give people a challenge and figuring out the solution requires ingenuity, patience, logic, and sometimes a computer. My personal journey in Project Euler so far has been fun, even though I've only solved about ten problems. Sorry I haven't had much to say about this subject, but now that I'm out of school, I have some time to try to solve these problems and sharpen my brain in programming and math skills. An example problem includes finding the sum of multiples of specific numbers below a chosen number (Look for problem 1 for the specifics). In good news, tomorrow's post will be about Sumo, of which I'll have more immediate knowledge. Apologies for the short post today y'all!

March Mania Day 8: Susheen Short Stories

I apologize for sharing this on Facebook a day late, but March 8th was International Women's and I wrote a post recognizing some of the awesome women in my life and did not want to take the spotlight from them, but Scout's Honor this post was written up on the eighth.

This will be a few short stories about my plush Susheen the sushi eating cat.

Here's SUSHEEN!

Susheen Meets His Lookalike Pusheen

My hooman has told me time and time again that I resemble a cat named Pusheen, but I didn't believe him until one day when I was prowling around the neighborhood for some sushi to eat (It's expensive and I don't have any money being a cat). Anyways I noticed a fat gray cat with four whiskers and small paws in comparison to its body, something seemed familiar. It was COPYING ME! I had to correct the injustice, so I confronted this cat angrily. "MROooW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING COPYING MY STYLE?" I asked this suspicious cat and surprisingly this cat had a fast reply ready, "What do you mean 'your style'? You look like me." Yah! my hooman was... correct? Impossible! I asked the cat it's name. "I'm Pusheen," said the other cat, "what about you?" I did not want to answer it, but I wanted to assert my dominance, so I loudly said, "I'm SUSHEEN!" This cat had some nerve replying to my name, "Hey! That sounds like my name, but with an S, do you like sushi?" How does this cat know that I like sushi? Find out in a future Susheen Short Story.

Susheen and the Magic Wand

MEOW! Hi guys! I'm Susheen the cat and one day I managed to stumble across a stick, but it was not any ordinary stick. I picked up the stick and things started coming out of thin air. I panicked for a little bit until I came to the realization that I could try to control what I conjured. I thought for a minute before deciding upon: SUSHI! I know, I know, too obvious, but I do love me some sushi. Anyways, I wave the stick and there's suddenly more sushi than I can eat in one meal, I was so happy, until all the sushi reminded me of my hooman. He never shares his sushi with me, that selfish oaf. I need to fix the injustice and the magic stick gave me an idea. I take the stick in my mouth and run home to my hooman. "Meow!" I say to him dropping the stick at his feet. He picks it up and says, "okay, it's a stick, ummm thanks?" then proceeds to drop it back on the ground and goes back to watching YouTube. Now I have my chance to make things write, I pick up the stick and wave it at him when suddenly I black out for a second. I feel weird so I look down and see that I have hooman feet and legs. Agh! How'd that happen? I suddenly hear an annoying cat meowing its heart out and look down to see what looks like me, but it's not me, I'm me. It dawns on me than in order to turn him into a cat, I had to take over his body. Now I can exact my sushi eating revenge on him by not sharing sushi with him, then he'll have to feel bad enough about not sharing to beg me to change him back. Stay tuned as I have fun as Susheen the hooman!

March Mania Day 7: Photography

Sorry I'm late getting this post out, but I essentially took half an eight hour sleep this evening instead of a one hour planned nap. Anyways, before I sleep some more here is my blog post for March Mania on Photography.

It technically started in 2007, but let's just say that I wasn't a serious photography enthusiast until Christmas day 2008. That was the day I was gifted my first digital camera: a blue Fujifilm Finepix camera. I was so excited to try it out that I took pictures of various things around the house such as the Christmas tree, the TV, and even one selfie. Let's just say that I look less awkward than I did in eighth grade. At first, the bulk of my photography was taking pictures of the TV trying to catch funny moments in cartoons, but I deleted most of those photographs as most of them did not catch the funny moment or I missed. I took my camera wherever I could take it as I knew other places were prime real estate for taking pictures. I can't say I'll ever be a professional photographer, but I can say that I've taken photos on the peaks of mountains two miles high, photos taken on another continent, photos of friends, photos of historical landmarks, cool looking photos, terrible photos. All I know is, it's been ten years and I haven't gotten tired of photography, even when I tried to post a daily Instagram photo in 2017 and sometimes material was scarce. I hope that my Canon camera from 2011, or my phone, or whatever comes next will continue to help me with keeping my interest in photography strong for the next ten years. Though with a few tripods, I can try (and have tried) my hand at videos.

To end this post, I'll post a picture from each year between 2009 and 2018 that I can say is my favorite for each year.

2009: Hatem Memorial Bridge

2010: Weverton Cliffs overlooking the Potomac River

2011: Looking at Manhattan from the Rockefeller Center

2012: Hotel de Ville (City Hall), Paris

2013: One of my favorite selfies

2014: One of my fondest moments as a Millersville Meteorology student

2015: A good looking sunset

2016: Penn Square in downtown Lancaster at Christmastime

2017: The sky was a cool color one evening

2018: Technically I'm cheating with this one as this is a mashup of photos from 2015 or 2016 through 2018, but in 2018 I finally snapped a photo of the Biemesderfer Executive Center at Millersville University in each of the four seasons.