Mr. Sean's Spoiler-ific New Maui Adventures

The not so professional blog post title says a lot. I recently have been playing the latest installment of the Animal Crossing franchise, New Horizons. Thanks to the current climate that we are in, I've had more time to play video games (and work on other stuff such as catching up on books and Kanji, but that's for another time). The photos below and their associated stories may only be in order by date taken, but I'm not stressed out about that. If you have not played the game and do not want to be spoiled, click away if you insist on playing the game spoiler-free. For those who care less about spoilers, let's go! There will be a part two so each post isn't too long of a scroll.























Photo Stories

Bees vs Wasps

In Animal Crossing: New Horizons, shaking trees can result in a nest falling out of the tree and a swarm of insects fixin' to sting you. In previous games the stinging critters were called bees but in New Horizons, they are wasps, a much more merciless being. Lucky for the player and the honeybee in game, the honeybee cannot sting.

Fear the Ghost? Nah! Fear the Human!

The island that your character moves to that was deserted wasn't completely deserted as a ghost named Wisp randomly shows up at night to move around. Contrary to popular belief, Wisp the ghost is not scary at all and in fact is afraid of you the first time you make contact with it. Wisp will split into his base form and five soul pieces that you "have" to catch for him. More on that in a later photo.

Delighted Tom Nook

I included this picture of Tom Nook, the leader of the deserted island getaway promotion, as I've never seen him this delighted over anything. He may have tired looking eyes, but he's got enthusiasm to spare.

Purr-sonal Design

I am able to make my own designs for clothing and easels and the ground in this game, so I was inspired by my Pusheen cross-stitch kit for ideas. The funny thing is nearly all my neighbors have bought a Pusheen loves donuts t-shirt.

Patience is Rewarded

If you are ever awake during the night, look up when it is clear and maybe you'll be lucky to see some shooting stars. I've yet to have a meteor shower announced to me on my island so as far as I know, I just got lucky.

Big Spoiler for 10 Months

As of the time of writing (May 2020), New Horizons has been out for two months, so two months worth of people have already seen scenes similar to this but to those who celebrate their birthday later in the year or in January and February, this probably counts as a spoiler. I was surprised that my neighbors went to all the trouble to throw ole' Mr. Sean a party. What a way to turn 25!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I got really lucky one day to see a double rainbow after the rains ended. Double rainbows are rare in the game as they are in real life.

A Reminder for Zipper

During the first half of April this year, a menace named Zipper T. Bunny came ashore and wreaked havoc on the natural ecosystem of New Maui. He replaced a lot of the fish with eggs, some of the trees sprouted eggs, and even buried eggs underground. Since I couldn't nab the real deal, a stand-in will serve his sentence.

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.