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!