Back at Blue Bell

Ok, I was SO nervous about starting this semester at first. Why?
    Because at the time, my only option for taking two classes this semester was to have college level math (I despise math) and a media class that ran from 11:15 to 1:15, right through downtime. Seriously? It's called downtime for a reason, there are supposed to be NO CLASSES! I figured "Might as well get this part over with as quickly as possible." But then I remembered all my good times at school revolved around going to clubs like Drama or Thrive, seeing my buddies. I needed something to look forward to, otherwise (especially with the math) it would be really miserable. Stuck in a classroom staring at a teacher, while your friends just one floor away are all out and about having fun and socializing? I'd call it torture.
    But I made a last-minute double-check to be sure, and wound up changing my schedule so I'd have one class a day four days a week. The Tuesday-Thursday earth science class goes through downtime, but I don't care. My club events and friends are pretty much always Monday-Wednesday, and the timing those days works fine.


Wednesday
August 27th, 2014
It was kind of weird and took me a while to get used to seeing West Campus full of people, especially due to its size. I didn't play pool but got to see a few familiar faces while I was there, including the shuttle driver from last year. I ended up sitting in the back of the shuttle 'cause my timing was a little too close. And of course, during the ride the shuttle bounced and shook a lot, almost lifting me out of the seat a lot.

Soon as the shuttle ride was over and we finally arrived at Blue Bell campus, I went to Parkhouse Hall to look for my math classroom. That building is a MAZE! I needed to be sure I knew where I was going, so the big exposed staircase was the best place to start. Turns out all I'd have to do was take two long left turns and keep going till I hit wall. And the room was right there.

    Since I had plenty of time to spare I went to the Books & Bytes cafe in the College Hall library get a cup of coffee.
By now I've had the basic dark roasts around here; Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Wawa, and Folgers which is the stuff I make at home.
Going to the big cafeteria to see how crowded it was, I ran into some friends, so I got to sit and hang out with them during downtime. It was really fun, catching up and laughing, so much I almost didn't want to leave.
But unfortunately I had to head out or I'd have been late for math class.
    It's Foundations of Math. So far with day one it looks like we'll actually be using logic for once. Crazy, I know. And all the homework is online so there's no textbook. After class I went back and hung out with some people I know in the piano room next to the cafeteria.
After that I went upstairs to the cafe, finding another friend to chat with and kill some time.
Any guy with more sense than me might have gotten onto a computer and finished the homework, right? That was my first instinct, but not this time. This day was mine, and I wanted to spend as much time with my friends as possible as they came and went.


Thursday
August 28th, 2014
Soon as I got to West Campus and settled at a table, I spent a few minutes tearing the math pages out of my old notebook and throwing them in the recycle bin. And I still had more than enough pages left to use this notebook for science class. I had a better feeling about this class because of it being earth science, the kind of stuff I learned in high school with just a little more to it.
    On the way to the cafeteria after finding the science classroom, outside I ran into the guys who film Jimmy's Actual Factuals. So I joined in on the fun and answered the "how was your summer?" question they went around asking. I didn't hesitate to say I went to the movies four times this month (Ninja Turtles and The Giver, both twice). I stayed in the cafeteria with some guys till I had about ten minutes to spare.
    I felt better now that the schedule worked, and so far the science was pretty interesting. Even the classroom alone was was an attention-grabber. The front desk was covered to the edges with different types of rocks and fossils, and some of the windowed cupboards were stocked with things like that. Maps on the walls, all the kind of stuff you might expect to see in a typical science classroom.
Our teacher asked everyone one by one why we were taking the class, and a majority of the students said it was required for their education majors. I'd never seen that many in one place, at least knowingly. I said I was required to take a science, and this way I'd get my core goals out of the way in case I decide to change my major sometime. I guess you could say it's buying me time, so I have more space to figure out what I want to do.
    It didn't really surprise me that we went into the material almost right after the syllabus (since it's a 3-hour class), but we didn't take nearly as many notes as I thought we would. Usually I'd take about a minute to copy a page from the Smart Board, and then another ten or so minutes would go by so he could go into detail and/or answer students' questions. He assured some of us "there are no stupid questions."
    We got a ten-minute break since class was long, but I wasn't in too big of a hurry for that to end 'cause it was COLD! It's a cool classroom in more ways than one. As much as I've always hated being hot, it was more chilly than comfortable. Sitting there still was uncomfortable too, since I don't usually like sitting still. But hey. It could always be worse. I could have not changed my schedule at all and have no downtime any of the four class days. Besides, the lab we did at the end was fun. We'd get in groups, look at samples, and write down anything we could identify. So now I know how to tell pyrite, aka "Fool's Gold", from real gold.
    I hadn't brought my science textbook and lab manual since it was day one of the class (and it's insanely heavy), so the only work I had was to go online and figure out how to do the homework for math. Before catching the five pm shuttle, I got through a good amount of it quicker than I thought. Honestly, I should have had math homework like this YEARS ago!


So far I'm really glad to be back at Mont Co, and can't wait to see what happens with this semester of going to main campus almost daily. If I'm right, things will turn out awesome. And so will next semester, now that I'll have my core stuff out of the way.

Leadership

I joined the American Taekwondo Association when I was fifteen. At that point I was a naive and struggling-with-anger kid. To this day I guess I still am kinda naive, but it doesn't matter 'cause I don't struggle with my anger anymore. I've learned discipline, patience, focus, and my stubbornness has increased by a lot in the last five years. I definitely wouldn't be the way I am now without it.

    I guess the major change happened when I immersed myself in learning a Bo Staff (or 'Jahng Bong' as we say in the A.T.A.) form that Noah Ringer made.

At the time he was a First Degree Black Belt, and a Texas State Champion. I had seen a video of him doing this form in front of a bunch of younger kids after finishing a Q&A session with the A.T.A. And of course, my jaw just dropped and I was amazed. Since the staff was my favorite close-combat weapon and I really looked up to this kid, words could barely describe how much I wanted to learn that form... so I did.
    Believe me, it wasn't that easy. Especially since I only had the one video, and I was left to judge myself on whether I did the techniques right. It took weeks, taking it a few moves at a time, staying after class every chance I got, and sometimes being watched from the desk by my instructors. After a while it became muscle memory.
    When I finally had it down, one of my instructors asked me to come in and show it to the junior (twelve and under) class kids. He said they needed motivation, and I loved doing it, so I agreed.

    Eventually I started teaching some of the adult students on my own.
Well, I'm not sure exactly what you'd call it. Spare-time tutoring maybe? Anyway, pretty much any random time I'm partnered with a friend (or in more recent events, my cousin) for warm-ups, drills, or little sparing matches, I've been known to hand out pointers now and again; usually with things like technique, how to make that front kick stronger, how to make that butterfly kick more fluid, some moves with the weapons, and a bunch of other things I can't remember off the top of my head.
    I think doing the staff form in front of those kids was another way of proving a point and setting an example, showing what they can be capable of. Especially since I earned my First Degree Black Belt at eighteen, I've emphasized and demonstrated the type of leadership I prefer following; by example.

(That's me sparring in the red and black gear)

I mean, think about it. When you lead people, no matter what the reason is, you're always trying to prove something to them. So what better way to do it than by example instead of just blind orders? You have to somehow (not always verbally) show them why you do what you do, or what you want them to do and why. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

I've also kept in mind that you need to be sure of yourself the whole time too. If you don't quite believe in yourself enough (trust me, it does show, unless you're the best actor ever), then the people you're trying to motivate won't have confidence in you either. If you want to be a leader, then BE a leader.

My Third Decade Begins

I still have a hard time grasping the fact that I'm twenty years old now. But then again it's only been three days. Guess it takes a bit longer than that. But still, if someone comes up to me and says "act your age" I'm not gonna have a clue what that means. Is it "act your age", or "act your age"?

March 10th 2014
I remember on March tenth I got up in the morning with the house to myself, and went out for a walk; to go down the road and then by the creek, to find some river stones. Still some snow left on the ground, and I had my wooden staff and HandyCam with me. Half a field away, I saw a grey shape sitting still, crouched in the snow. 'Wait...' I thought. 'Is that a fox?' I took out the HandyCam and used the zoom lens to get a better look at it. In seconds, the red and grey fox rose to its feet and started running. Quickly I took four photos as it was moving away.

(attention city people; You see? THAT is the sort of thing you're missing. In places like this there's peace and natural life. No traffic or gangs all over the place)
Unfortunately every rock at the creek was angular and uneven. Not round or smooth enough for throwing, but heavy enough to weigh a sling down. I picked up four and put them in my pocket before leaving for home.
I went back to the creek later in the afternoon with my leather sling, to practice the throwing technique/s with the stones provided and figure out which throw I was going to use for filming the next day.

You know what can make someone's day? Seeing birthday presents covered in all Duck Dynasty wrapping paper. I was laughing literally right away. I even got a couple of their books, "Si-cology" and "Happy, Happy, Happy".

The chocolate chip cookie cake was delicious. I mean, obviously! It's a giant soft cookie with green and brown frosting decorated on it! (It's a C.C.C.C.C., a Camouflage Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake!)
Several hours were spent watching behind-the-scenes on Catching Fire with my sister till we both got too sleepy to stay up much longer.

March 11th, 2014
The next day I put some of the other stuff I got to good use.
I got to wear my Beorn t-shirt for this episode of Beorn's Tent, and use a new set of paracord and leather to make a a new sling.
The only really annoying thing was the battery in my camera kept wearing down in not too much time, so I had to charge it and and edit the footage between filming sessions.
It was cool, though. I shot a long-distance fight sequence outside with the new sling and my flannel camouflage cloak. In the editing I made it look like a warg was charging at me and I was throwing a golf ball into its mouth (I showed a golf ball in my hand, and later I switched it with a random rock so the pouch would be weighted and I wouldn't have to worry about losing good ammo in the snow). Although I guess it's no secret to say, that scene was a bit tricky to edit. So was picking out additional music for the whole episode when I was running out.

March 12th, 2014
I got to go to the shooting range at French Creek Outfitters with another friend (so I brought both my bows, both shooting gloves and every arrow that would work) and, well... she wasn't exactly the best. But I guess part of the reason is 'cause we were the same distance from the target and she had the lower-weight one. Mostly it was trouble with the anchor point and pulling to full draw. But that means there's room to improve. "If it makes ya feel better, I've been doing this since I was sixteen." I said. It was a pretty funny shooting session.


I'm just glad my last few teenage years were awesome. Now, still plenty more life ahead to enjoy and give meaning (and a LOT of time to grow a beard too).

My First Shooting Range

This is my short story of the first time I went to a shooting range. And a good thing too, 'cause beforehand I'd been getting really antsy 'cause of the snow, thinking "I've gotta shoot something!!!"

My friend Sam picked me up, with her compound bow in its case in the back seat. I put my recurve and trigger release with it and got in the front seat. Today we were going to French Creek Outfitters for the upstairs archery range. I’d been looking forward to it for a while, and finally I was going to my first shooting range. I figured I would mark that as the fun thing I did during my last days as a teenager.

It cost about thirteen bucks for me to shoot, and for some reason Sam wanted to sort of sit and watch, not comfortable with the thirty yards since she'd changed the poundage or something like that. But anyway, I filled out a little form and we went up the almost hidden stairs to what looked like a long attic with animal-shaped targets scattered at different distances and heights. Behind a thick yellow line people of different ages from teens to fifties stood side by side and were shooting at the targets with their own bows.

“Most of them are just target shooters, not really hunters.” Sam said. And it was pretty obvious in some ways ‘cause of all the balances and wires and fancy gear that most of these shooters put on their compound bows.

Sam also told me during the week there’s hardly anyone there, so theoretically we should be able to come up sometime and just shoot at plain practice targets (these were 3D with a big group of people around). That’d be nice, maybe after my math class sometime. Or even on a Friday when I don’t have any classes. And according to her there’s also the possibility of getting my arrows fixed. I mean the ones where the nocks have broken off from hitting them with other arrows, but with the fletching and shafts still in good enough condition to shoot again.

Finally my turn came up so I went into the first lane and shot with my recurve. Sam gave me two of her arrows to shoot with, since apparently you’re supposed to bring your own. I must have looked pretty primal next to these other Olympic-style bows. At least I hope I did, ‘cause honestly, I’ve never liked the idea of dressing up a bow with gadgets. You’re not gonna be able to shoot a buck (not that I would unless necessary, but still) or sneak up on anybody with a big cumbersome pipe attached to the front of your bow. Just one other man at the range had a recurve, made of wood. No sights or anything. You’ve no idea how relieved I was to see that.

It wasn’t until after I had shot my first few targets that I was told we’re supposed to aim for the numbered targets according to the names hanging above the lanes each we stood in. Now it made more sense to me. There was a piece of cardboard that was orange on one side and green on the other, so you would shoot at the numbered target depending on the color it’s number was. And after everyone ran out of arrows, we’d make sure everyone was done, go get our arrows back, and someone would switch the board from orange side to green.

It was a lot of fun. Sometimes I hit the target I wanted, but sometimes when I would aim at an animal’s torso or something, I’d hit its leg or neck or part of another close by target. I hit the gator’s tail at least two different times, once near the end when I was aiming for the sheep behind it.

Nonetheless I enjoyed it. Maybe a bit too much, now that I think of it. I hit the mosquito-shaped target, which was quite large and set on top of a wooden fence near a few turkeys.

I kept thinking to myself ‘What Uncle Brad wouldn’t give to see this.’ I bet he’d love it. And now I can say I’ve gone through a session there and can go back to try again whenever.

As I got closer to the end of the line I tried thinking and experimenting in a way, watching the other recurve shooter and recounting how previous shots had succeeded and failed, so I could make the next ones awesome.

But… I broke the two carbon arrows which I felt a bit bad for, for a minute (before that, one of them got stuck in the backdrop’s wall and had to ask two guys for help to pull it out. I pulled a couple muscles in the process). Well one of them broke into three pieces, the other one lost its nock. One of the guys in charge took the nock out of the broken one and put it in the other arrow’s shaft so I still had something to shoot with. At least that way I had a bit more leeway in picking which target to shoot. I pretty much always picked the closest to me, but sometimes they weren’t that far apart.

I missed a closer-range bear target, though. By less than an inch it glided right over the bear’s spine. So I hit the ground more times than I liked, but at least I finally got to try it out. And honestly, it made me excited for a weekday target-shooting time, when there probably won’t be many people, if any at all.

Maybe when I get my first longbow, I’ll be even better at this archery range since it’ll have better poundage.

"I'm gonna go protect my title!"

I'm a huge Tolkien nerd, and it may be what I'm most proud of 'cause of the amazing change it made to my lifestyle.
A good transition from one point of fandom to another is making my TheOneRing.net (TORn) account and seeing a webseries on YouTube called Happy Hobbit; two more enthusiasts expressing their love of Middle-Earth in different ways. I became an immediate fan and (after posting some of my music videos on their Facebook page and getting positive responses) was asked to edit a flashback video for their year-one episode. You have no idea how excited I was to get that message. Before it aired I asked if there was gonna be a Beorn/honey episode, saying I'd be tempted to show up myself if I wasn't on the east coast. When the year-one video DID air...

"His name to the outside world is Derek, but we shall introduce him here to you as Beorn."

:) 'Yep, it's official.' I thought. 'Got a nickname now.'

In Middle-Earth, Beorn is a skin-changer who lives in a wooden house he built. He takes care of horses, cows, sheep and dogs, and does not eat or hunt animals. He also keeps big beehives, and lives mostly on honey, bread, nuts and milk. (Like me! So, he's kind of a picky eater)
"Sometimes he's a huge black bear, sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but the man can be reasoned with."
I think he's a fascinating character in the story, and one of my all-time favorites. It raises my curiosity of what we'll see of him in the next Hobbit movie. I bet next time we see him he'll be in his huge bear form killing orcs.

I got the chance to appear in Happy Hobbit's Thanksgiving special by filming my own footage and sending it to them so they could edit it together. Then I decided to do a spinoff TORn series with different topics from the other side of the country.
I couldn't quite come up with a title for it though. At first I thought "Beorn's House" but then when people talk about the second Hobbit film they would be saying the same thing, so I went through a few other ideas before lowering it down to Beorn's Tent.
It was after I was taught how to set up a tent that I thought of the name, that maybe I would be living in it some of the time, or just to let it represent simplicity.

 Beorn's Tent feels like doing my own thing and at the same time teamwork. This is me representing TheOneRing, showing topics I know about and can imply Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to.
Since I do it at home by myself, that saves me the trouble of working out any scheduling conflicts with siblings or friends.
Plus I get to make up a few bear extras like Arg, and Arg Jr. (aka "Milky") using bear sound effects.
So far so good, I've made several episodes and have gotten some online fans of the series. Not many, but it's a start. Quicker than I expected actually.

The wooden badge around my neck is another reminder of this. Like I'm "one of them", "welcome to the club" or something. Another one of those dedicated fans on TheOneRing with a love of JRR Tolkien's and Peter Jackson's work.
Definitely as a writer, filmmaker and outdoorsy guy, this whole experience has been great. Especially since The Lord of the Rings is what sparked my interest in making films, and the Hobbit production blogs taught me almost everything I know about behind-the-scenes business.

Keep your eyes out for more, and "be careful if you have man-bears in your woods."

May your days be filled with milk and honey!
~Beorn

THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, from the house of Beorn

[SPOILERS IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE! You have been warned!]

THEONERING.NET

So far I have seen The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug twice, both times enjoying it and getting excited for what happens next. I looked forward to this film even more than the third one from the get-go because most of my favorite parts of the book take place in that portion. Beorn's house (or "the other Beorn's" should I say, 'cause that's kind of my name), escaping in barrels, Smaug's lair...

DURIN'S HAMMER! Smaug was incredible! Most terrifying dragon I've ever seen! Last time I saw that scene I was actually getting kind of scared, so that must mean he was made perfectly. The only surprise for me was he had two legs instead of four, but thankfully it didn't really mention his leg count in the book and he was huge!

I liked the prologue, 'cause it showed the story of Thorin meeting Gandalf in Bree, which is talked about in the book/s but I had no idea it would be adapted as part of the movie.
As soon as I saw the man walking into the rain and munching a carrot I screamed in my head "PETER JACKSON!"

The present-day beginning did an awesome job continuing the dwarves' quest and introducing the huge skin-changer. Beorn being my OneRing name, it made seeing the eight-foot guy  in the nice wooden house pouring breakfast milk and talking about his past quite interesting. I mean, a bit more than it already was.
I guess it's also because of some of the traits I share with [the other] Beorn, like a love of animals (along with honey and nuts), good humored whenever possible, doesn't eat meat, doesn't hunt, and he's a lot of what I aspire to; growing a nice big beard, getting stronger, living in a wood-and-stone cabin in the woods with a fireplace and an axe (no traffic or neighbors to bother me).
I think he was adapted perfectly for the film, down to details like his low growling voice and bushy eyebrows. I can't wait to see more Beorn in the next Hobbit movie, probably rescuing Gandalf in Dul Goldur and fighting Bolg in the Battle of Five Armies.

A scene that really surprised me was when Kili had to be left in Laketown because of his arrow wound. You can see in both him and his brother Fili that they've grown up with tales of Erebor and triumphant leaders, dreaming of they day they could go back... only Kili has to wait so they don't get slowed down, and Fili has a responsibility since he is next in line to the throne. But the amazing thing was that he stepped off that little boat and stood up to Thorin so he could stay with Kili.
"I belong with my brother." For me that really displayed how much Fili cares more about his younger brother than going on the quest.
:')

I'd heard rumors about the Kili/Tauriel relationship (I'm so glad there's no major love triangle and it's not too predictable) but didn't see any confirmations. So when she jumped in and saved Kili from the spiders and he later asked if she was going to search him (I also laughed when the elves' search of Fili's weapons took forever until his last knife came out before the bars closed), that was it. 'Yep, this is happening. Getting pretty curious now...' When she asks about Kili's runestone and it picks up from there, that scene felt like a really honest conversation that anyone meeting a new friend could probably relate to. Because it's just them talking about their memories and listening to each other with fascination. And you don't know how long it goes on for because the next scene starts while it's happening. So that can really set fans' minds wandering, don't ya think? It certainly did mine.
I was really touched when Tauriel healed Kili's arrow wound and he's half-asleep, talking about her and holding her hand. I think that was a good note to end that story on for the second movie, and to pick up with the next one.

As far as the cliffhanger, I thought at first that the movie was gonna end with Smaug getting killed (because I didn't see Cumberbatch on the cast list for There and Back Again. It probably got updated later) and Laketown being destroyed. But now that I watch it, it really keeps the suspense going even more than the first movie and we can start the next one on a really action-packed epic battle scene. It really raises the question about whether Bard is going to kill Smaug with the giant lance thrower or his longbow. Though, there have been several on-set pictures of Luke Evans with a longbow and arrows, on rooftops and hanging by a wire, so I bet the black arrow will get lost or something and he'll have to use his bow. I guess we'll have to see.

I can't wait for the next time I see The Desolation of Smaug, and I know There and Back Again is going to be great.

~Beorn

TheOneRing.net "HAPPY HOBBIT" review

JRR Tolkien's written work combined with visionary Peter Jackson's film adaptations of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and THE HOBBIT have touched and inspired millions of people. A significant two of these people are active OneRing-ers and sisters, Kellie and Alex Rice from California.

As fans of Tolkien, Kellie and Alex (nicknamed Kili and Fili after the young dwarves from THE HOBBIT) incorporate Middle Earth into their daily lives, in a way that is both modern and old-fashioned. As such, it seems the perfect idea for them to display this lifestyle through their YouTube/OneRing webseries, Happy Hobbit.

The show Happy Hobbit is very much Middle Earth from a modern-day perspective. The way these two enthusiastic fans put it together involves a lot of helpful and informative instruction mixed with pure entertainment and no small amount of slapstick. There are surprises throughout each episode and you've no idea what's going to happen next, since they never repeat themselves or use "the same old jokes." They make everyday things, some that people would normally not pay much attention to, look exciting and fun.

They even make watching a movie trailer more exciting than it already is, posting a reaction video of The Desolation of Smaug trailer (only to be noticed by Sir Peter Jackson himself and then shown to the main elf actors on the film). One thing's for sure, if Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly thought it was good, it must mean something. "I think they outperformed us," says Lilly after watching the reaction video.

As far as fans go, I think these girls have reached a level of fan-dom that other Ringers like myself would aspire to be. And I don't mean being noticed by the cast, but their dedication to Tolkien's work and making it part of their lives, and showing so much support that it reaches the attention of other Ringers alike. It is certainly my favorite webseries, no exaggeration.

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, an I like less than half of you half as well as your deserve." If you don't already like/know Happy Hobbit, I highly recommend it for anyone in support of the masterpieces Tolkien created for us.