So Long, Farewell!

It was a fun run, Blogspot, but my Blog has been moved to WordPress. If anybody cares enough to follow, check out this link: Sachi's New Blog.

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Bohemian Rhapsody -- Queen

On Halloween of 1975, rock legend, Queen, released their hit single, Bohemian Rhapsody, and it instantly held the charts as number one for nine weeks upon release, and became the UK's third best-selling single of all time after Freddie Mercury's death in 1991. Easily considered Queen's greatest work, and arguably the greatest rock song of all time, Bohemian Rhapsody tells of tale of a young boy's internal struggle upon killing another man, and his overcoming of this conflict within his mind. This song breaks normal structural conventions, having no chorus, but instead three different arcs; it starts off as a soft piano intro of the boy addressing his mother and telling of the terrible deed he committed; afterward it moves into a operatic descent into insanity as the boy becomes tormented by the devils inside of him; lastly it ends with a heavy rock finish as the boy expels the devils within him and accepts his fate.
The song begins with an eerie questioning of reality:

“Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see”

This more or less describes being caught between a dream and awakening; as a reference to the murder the boy committed, this is probably just latter of the act and he's in shock, still not sure whether or not to believe what he had just did. Sadly, it wasn't a dream, and the boy realizes that he did what he did and he can't take it back.

“I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me, to me”

Already the boy knows that he is nothing special and the world is not going to treat him pleasantly after this climax in his life; the world has no reason to go easy on him because he is insignificant and whatever happens won't change anything to anybody but himself, hence the “easy come, easy go, little high, little low.” He accepts that this is the case and decides that it doesn't matter what happens, and that he will take whatever may come; “any way the wind blows” him, he will go and it “doesn't really matter” to him anymore.
Next, the song goes into his addressing of his mother:

“Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead”

These particular lines are pretty self-explanatory, and probably require little analysis except for this: the boy put a gun to a man's head and then pulled the trigger; this means that during the act, the boy was completely aware of what he was doing and it was no accident. A crime of passion? Maybe, because the subsequent shock over what he did, him questioning if it had actually happened, and his regret over the murder shows that he might have committed it in a fit of emotion and not realized what he had did until afterward. This also brings into question why the young boy had a gun in the first place, but there can be any number of reasons for that.

“Mama, life has just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away”

The young boy realizes just how young he was, but this point in his life may signal the beginning of the end as he had “gone and thrown it all away” by committing this crime. A man in his youth is not supposed to realize is age; he is supposed to live life day in and day out and feel as alive as can be; however, this young man just brought upon the end of his childhood, the beginning of manhood, and can no longer live without care, because he now has no idea how long the remainder of his life is anymore after this murder.

“Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters”

This boy obviously cares a lot about his mother, and he did not mean to disappoint her, deeply regretting what he had just done. Because the song doesn't suggest otherwise, the last two lines of this stanza can be interpreted as the boy is going to go off by himself, presumably to come to terms with what he did on his own. He basically bids his mother a final farewell in case he never comes back, showing that he's not sure what he's going to do next, probably still in the dream-like daze of his initial shock. The “nothing really matters” becomes a motif, and like in the first few stanzas, he wants his mother to accept his fate and go on as if nothing matters; he doesn't want his mother to feel grieve over him and his inevitable fate.

“Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody
I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth”

“Too late, my time has come / send shivers down my spine” expresses how the boy realizes that there is no turning back now, what is done is done, and it scares him. He finds himself in a deep state of unrest, yet he chooses to not run away, but to “face the truth” and come to terms with what he has done on his own.

“Mama, oooooooh
I don't want to die
Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all”

This boy's wish is made, probably as a way of saying he wishes he could take back all the hurt and pain he's caused everybody, specifically his mother. But that now that he is alive, he wishes not to die, because of the pain it will cause himself and those around him. This is logical; nobody really wants to die, even if they do imagine how much better life would be if they were not around at all.
Thus ends this section, and begins the operatic arc, the boy's descent into insanity. The way this entire section is setup pays homage to old operas (fitting, since the song was featured on the album “Night at the Opera”) and is preformed in such a way similar to that of being mentally tortured by your own thoughts in a spastic, violent manner.

“I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango?”

Scaramouche is a type of clown character used in Italian acts, depicted as a “boastful coward”. In the case of this song, the meaning probably refers the the cowardly part of it. The “little silhouette[o]” expresses the small shadow the boy is casting; shadows are often used to symbolize a person's true self or ability; this boy's shadow is small, suggesting that he is a small man, which further supports him being a coward. A “Fandango” is a type of Spanish dance; the usage of this word suggests that the tormentor is mocking the boy, “egging him on” to do a dance for him, further paralleling the clown, Scaramouche.

“Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me”

Storms are often associated with terror; the thunderbolts and lightning further support the terror and inner-torment the boy is experiencing, giving a more vivid image to his conflict.

“(Galileo) Galileo (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro
Magnifico-o-o-o-o”

This line is most definitely referring to Galileo Galilei's house arrest after his studies in astronomy greatly opposed the opinion of the Catholic Church in the 1600's.”Figaro” is a noun for someone who handles situations very well under pressure, while at the same time unscrupulous. In this passage of the song, the boy is being compared to Galileo as somebody who condemned, yet he's handling the torment extremely well, and is being complimented, possibly by his tormentor with the “Magnifico,” or even possibly by a third party supporting the boy; this third party brings about the concept of shoulder angels. On one side is the tormentor, the devil, while on the other side is the supporter, the angel; a classic representation of inner conflict.

“I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?”

In first person, the boy is saying that he's not important, still torn between himself and believing that nothing that happens to him really matters. Meanwhile, the angel is still fighting to bring him to clemency. Once more, between the fighting of good and evil, the boy is still saying that it doesn't matter with “easy come, easy go.” He continues to say he's not worth the trouble while asking to be let go from all this torment and torture. However, the fighting between the angel and the devil still continues:

“Bismillah! No, we will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let me go (Will not let you go)
Let me go (Will not let you go) (Never, never, never, never)
Let me go, o, o, o, o
No, no, no, no, no, no, no”

“Bismillah” is an Arabic noun that roughly translates to “in the name of God,” meaning that the devil, who does not wish to let the boy go, is acting as a judge and is already sentencing the boy to his fate. The devil and the angel are in a back and forth argument, but then the angel is replaced by the boy as it switches from third to first person. The boy is now fighting for his freedom against the devil, but the argument still appears to be getting nowhere as the devil overcomes the boy with a series of “no”s.

“(Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama Mia, let me go
Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for me!”

The boy no cries out to the devil as if it is his mother. One's mother can be seen as a judging, authoritative figure that holds the boy down; the young boy is probably in his late adolescence and is ready to break free from his paternal figures and live his life on his own; this decision on his own also symbolizes his decision to be free from the devil (or Beezlebub, one of the seven princes of hell, otherwise known as Satan), and the final chain the torment had on him is now broken.
So between the latter “easy come, easy go line” and the Beezlebub line, the boy has made a transition from puppet to puppet master as he refuses to let the devil take him and takes his life into his own hands. This thus ends the operatic arc of the song, and onto the the heavy rock finish as the young boy becomes a man.

“So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here”

Both of the first two lines imply being tortured and hurt in some way by an antagonist. The stoning more relates to the bible, and possibly to Jesus, and being ridiculed by the spitting in the eye. Love, however, can be arguably more painful when one is betrayed by a lover and left to die with a bleeding heart. Neither case happened, as the speaker is spitting back in the faces of the tormentor continues to run free from the terror as the song breaks into a guitar solo.
The song slows down to the same pace as the beginning as Mercury descends with a series of “ooh”s, and ends with lines very similar to the beginning:

“Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me”

The boy has come full-circle, but now with the inner strength he gained from surviving his descent into insanity. Now, instead of believing that he doesn't matter, he believes that where he goes on to next doesn't matter to him because he now has overcome all his devils and is ready to face the future with no regrets; he is ready to let the future take him where it decides, as the song ends with:

“Any way the wind blows...”

Within this entire song the “Hero” archetype is realized as this young boy gets his own “Hero's Journey;” he starts off very unsure of himself, innocent to the world, yet is forced onto a path of great torment and despair, yet he comes out a better, stronger man as he breaks away from the chains of terror, a true hero. For this concept to be done into a song so perfectly is just amazing beyond evaluation, and is forever a testament to Queen's glory and Freddie Mercury's memory. This song is dubbed “the greatest rock song of all time” for good reason and it will be years, if ever at all, before anybody is able to top this masterpiece, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bibliography:
- Lyrics: Bohemian Rhapsody
- Beezlebub, Wikipedia
- Galileo Galilei, Wikipedia
- Scaramouche, Wikipedia
- Bismallah, Wikipedia
- A Night at the Opera (Album), Wikipedia
- Online Dictionary

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy (Poor boy)
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows
Doesn't really matter to me, to me

Mama just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life has just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye, everybody I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, oooooooh (Anyway the wind blows)
I don't want to die
Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango
Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me
(Galileo) Galileo (Galileo) Galileo, Galileo Figaro
Magnifico-o-o-o-o
I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let him go
Bismillah! We will not let you go
Let me go (Will not let you go)
Let me go (Will not let you go) (Never, never, never, never)
Let me go, o, o, o, o
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Oh mama mia, mama mia) Mama Mia, let me go
Beelzebub has the devil put aside for me, for me, for me!

So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye
So you think you can love me and leave me to die
Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here

Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me

Any way the wind blows...

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Album Review: Black Clouds & Silver Linings -- Dream Theater

I recently purchased Black Clouds & Silver Linings by the progressive metal band Dream Theater. I must say, I am quite impressed and would expect nothing less of one of my favorite bands. This is certainly their most heavy and aggressive album to date; considering they've been progressively getting that way, especially since joining Roadrunner, this is not surprising. At first look, the six track album offers little in regards to length, but don't be fooled by the number of songs. Of these, only two stay under a pleasant twelve minutes, while the remaining four span from twelve to more than nineteen minutes. Here I shall be reviewing each, but not in too much detail; an review of an individual song would be an essay in itself. Alright, here I go.

1. A Nightmare to Remember: 16:11 in length, this song tells the story of a young man's experience going through a car crash, and how it has traumatized him ever since. It starts of with a crack of thunder and a soft mix of guitar and the piano before exploding into a fast-paced riff. The song mostly keeps up a fast pace, with a slow part in the middle, and ends as strongly as it started. This song is probably my favorite off the album, being the great first impression I received and it easily receives a 10/10.

2. A Rite of Passage: A more conventionally written song, as far as structure goes, this 8:36 long song, I believe, describes a Totalitarian Utopia, similar to that of 1984. A catchy and memorable riff plays throughout most of the song that never gets old and it keeps up a mid-pace for the length of the entire song. This song is probably my second favorite of the album, and I would give it an 8/10.

3. Wither: This song is the shortest song of the album, a simple 5:26, and also follows a conventional structure. A slow-paced song, Wither seems to describe emotions of insecurity and the concept of giving up and letting go of dreams. This song is the most out of place on the album, but it is still a good song nonetheless and I'll give it a fair 7.5/10.

4. The Shattered Fortress: 12:49 in the length, this song starts off as easily the most aggressive of the album. Part of the series of songs relating to dealing with alcoholism (along with The Glass Prison, The Root of All Evil, and others). This song directly references Repentance and The Root of all Evil by taking particular verses and incorporating them into the song with slightly different lyrics. This is an amazing song and an excellent closer (?) to this series of songs. I would definitely give this song a 10/10.

5. The Best of Times: Another softer, but more elegant song, if anything, this 13:09 song describes a man's memory of his father, how his time with him were the best he had ever had and how he would never forget. This song is very touching, and for the most part upbeat, that inspires tears. I give it a 9/10.

6. The Count of Tuscany: The longest song of the album at 19:16. This song describes a man on vacation in Italy and meeting a noble, the count of Tuscany, who invites him to his estate, offering an adventure. This adventure soon becomes a nightmare for the man who soon begins to fear for his life. This one is a very interesting one to listen to, and never fails to lose the listeners interest like one would expect from such a long song. But Dream Theater has proved this wrong time and again with songs like Octavarium and a Change in Seasons, and now The Count of Tuscany. I would say this is an almost perfect song to an almost perfect album, 9/10.

And that's Black Clouds & Silver Linings, an album I instantly fell in love with, and one that I will probably love even more upon further listening. Dream Theater has done it again with this album and they prove once again that they still have it. Based on the grades I gave each of the songs, it would be safe to assume that this album in its entirety deserves a 9/10. Yes, if you haven't noticed, I give generous gradings, but even if you don't trust the numbers, trust me that this album is an amazing new chapter in the Dream Theater discography and leagues better than most bands out there today.

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Sachi's List of New Years Resolutions.

Sachi's list of New Years Resolutions (in which he is now coming up with at the top of his head):

1.) Be more social with my real life friends, and try to get out more. Due to not so recent events, I now have the opportunity to do as such and it is about time I take advantage of it.

2.) Not spend so much money. I want to try to save up my money in order to give myself a security cushion which is becoming more and more necessary.

3.) Be even more organized with my school work. Recent events in the academic setting have introduced fun, effective means of keeping organized which I want to take advantage of.

4.) Take some time out of each of my days to exercise and get back in shape in order to become healthier and gain weight.

5.) Keep up to date with my blog, making at least three updates a month.

And that's good for now. Lets see if I can keep up with all of them.

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Evageek's 5th RP/Character Synopsis

Alrighty. On the Evageeks forums we kick-started another Evangelion based forum Role Play. Hopefully my writing skills can keep up with it because this time around I have a grand total of four characters to control, which is four times as many as some other people have that can't even keep up with just their one character. Currently in my possession are two canon characters: Hikari Horaki, the sweet, yet sturdy classroom representative, and Maya Ibuki, the responsible, possibly lesbian first lieutenant, or Bridge Bunny, serving directly under Ritsuko Akagi.

The other two of my characters are original characters, one of which I created on my own, the other I saved from being another background character and have done a lot of characterization with. Ironically, the two became almost polar opposites. This blog update is dedicated to them, but without giving any spoilers at all. If you want to know what happens, you'll have to see for yourself.

The first is my darling, Katsuko Kotonoha.
Age: 14
Date of birth: June 2nd, 2001.
Ethnicity: Japanese.
Hair Color: Black.
Eye Color: Emerald Green.
Height: 5'8"
Notable Features: Round spectacles.

Katsuko is a shy, reclusive girl who avoids interactions with people for a reason, and normally meets confrontation with a slight irritation, but that does not mean she's not friendly under certain circumstances. Get her with friends and she'll be the life of the party: playful, whimsical and adventurous. Despite being shy and antisocial, she's a very independent person, living only with her father, whom works night shifts and sleeps during the day (it is very rare that they actually see each other) and is in charge of taking care of the house as if it were her own. She seems to be hiding a pain, a memory from the past that still haunts her, and she represses it as best she can. Her emotions come out selectively on paper through her artwork and poetic pieces, which are notably her only hobbies along with playing the bass guitar and browsing the internet. Her interactions with people face-to-face differ greatly than they do through a text message or an online message; when online, she's much more expressive, and often uses emoticons to set the mood in her messages. In real life, she often expresses her emotions in a different, more subtle way. Her dress style is known to be rebellious at school, often bending the uniform policy as best as she can to dress how she wishes. A few years back she used to be very close friends with Michiko Nakada and Takeru Matsuda, but for reasons the relationship between the three was severed. Takeru's return to Tokyo-3 is only going to stir things up for her. Katsuko is at a very critical point in her life right now, and depending on her interactions with others, she may go two extreme directions in life. And if her name implies anything, one of those directions should be obvious.

The other is Michiko Nakada.
Age: 14
Date of Birth: February 25th, 2001.
Ethnicity: Japanese.
Hair Color: Mahogany.
Eye Color: Coffee brown.
Height: 5'3"

Michiko is a the well known and loved "popular" girl among her peers. Known to be openly rebellious and disagreeable, Michiko seems to follow her rules only. Everything she does is usually with her best friend, Mami Sasaki, and those two watch out for each other like sisters. When Mami is killed in an accident involving the Evangelions, Michiko instantly blames Nerv for claiming none were hurt during the incident and seeks to exploit the organization, but looks in all the wrong places. She often and openly blames the pilots and anybody associated with them for the death of her friend and calls them bloodthirsty murderers. Aside from her complete hatred for anything Nerv, Michiko is the average high school girl who enjoys hanging out with friends and going to the mall. Despite seeming like the soulless, pretty-girl, Michiko does have very strong ethics and a sense of justice, even though she often bends to her own will to get her way. Her passion is what keeps her going. Up until this point, she been known to date other guys to make her feel better about herself, for undisclosed reasons. She used to be best friends with Katsuko Kotonoha and Takeru Matsuda, but certain events had severed the relationship between the three. Takeru's return to Tokyo-3 is going to have a big affect on her character throughout the course of the story. Michiko is going to be put in a very transitional phase starting from very early in the story that she won't get out of until the end, whether she makes a change depends entirely on the events of the plot and what's to come.

And that's it. Katsuko and Michiko are both very unique characters in their own ways, and I hope to bring them to life through the story as well as doing the two canon characters justice. This attempt at an RP is shaping up to be one of my personally best and most organized tries to date, as well as my writing skills being better than they have been in the past. This is looking to be a fun and exciting story, as long as every keeps up and does there part. But it should be fine, this is only the fifth try; the third try with this plot. Either way, this is going to be a lot of fun.

Here's a link to the RP, in case you're interested in reading it: 5th Evageeks RP

And until my next blog post, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and hope that the holidays are good for all of us! Bye!

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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Dreams & Oddities: Bootlegging on a Cold, Russian night.

The other night I had dream nearing nightmare that didn't bother trying to make any sense and even had a few classmates as characters in my midnight oddity.

I, at least, I think I was Nick Carraway-- a character from The Great Gatsby. It was based sometimes during the Prohibition era and I had earned myself as an amateur bootlegger.

It was a cold, winter's night, and I rowed alone in a small boat in the middle of the Pacific. The sky and ocean seemed like an endless abyss, and I was foating in the middle of it. The only colors other than the lifeless black was the dull, yellow light emanating from a small lantern, and the falling white snow that only showed itself when caught in the lantern's gaze.

I pulled ashore on the foreign coast nearby an abandoned train yard. Black monoliths, capped with a white hood lay dormant nearby large, cold building which offered little shelter from the snow that now seemed to glow white against the black of night. My excitement grew as I made it into the building, closing the giant door behind me. As if waiting for me, a small crate filled with bottles of distilled alcohol lay in plain sight. Capless, as if only recently placed there and yet to be buried under fallen snow.

As I picked it up, sirens went off and I heard a dozen denizens donning badges and guns pull up in their loud vehicles. "We've got you surrounded," said one that appeared to be my 10th grade History teacher, but with an old fashion police mustache, "come out with your hands up!" Just then, a few of them entered the building, rushing toward me. Both of them were classmates of mine, Alex and Ryan. Each tried to take me down, but I faked left and made a break for the right, alcohol case in hand. I heard shots being fired behind me as more cops had followed behind and had given up trying to negotiate with me.

Almost to the end of the large hall, a door opened before me. It was Ashley, and she was a Russian cop, like the rest of them. She looked almost surprised to see that I was making a break for that door; apparently she had only come to this back side to make sure no one escaped, but she hadn't really expected one such as I to be so bold as to actually try. As I made it past her, she yelled, "Stop!" and I did. "Is it really worth it?" She asked, gun gripped loosely in both hands.

I turned around, facing her. The snow coated both of our idle bodies and silence reigned through the night. "What's the point of a risk if you don't take it?" I inquired of her. Again silence. The wind blew lightly, yet with power as it stung our pale cheeks. Faintly, the blue and red lights flashed from behind the building. We both stood idle, gazing at each other, neither of us sure of the others move, yet both expecting something favorable from the other.

I slowly turned to six o'clock and marched forward toward the sea. One pull of a finger and my walking ceased. Gently my knees hit the ground and steam rose from the wound in my back. Face first into the scarlet snow I descended, never to rise again. My eyes stared blankly at the horizon, and for a moment I thought I saw a lighthouse. But the instant I realized it, it had disappeared.
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-Sachi
MAL | Facebook | Evageeks

Science Camp / Outdoor School.

This year I was able to attend my school's annual Science Camp from the 17th to the 20th trip for 6th graders as a camp counselor up in Sonora. Basically I got out of school for a week in exchange for sleeping in a cabin with about fourteen 6th graders and making sure they followed the rules in such. The perks to being a counselor included: bossing around little kids, free meals all week, a trip to the mountains and other places like Calaveras State Park and the Moaning Caverns, etc. Overall this experience was a great way to get me out of the rut I've been in, cheer me up and help me discover new things about myself.

Tuesday, November 20th: After a short, two hour drive on a cramped school bus we arrived happily at the camp grounds. We were off to a late start, when we got there we were rushed to get situated and to catch up with the other school that had apparently been there for an hour already. The first thing Sean (a fellow classmate and counselor) said when we got off the bus was "When's lunch?" For those that know Sean, this isn't a surprising question. The counselors got sent off to be assigned their dorms and lectured on what it takes to be a good counselor and role model to these students. I was thrilled to be the leader of Oak Cabin, because when I went to Science Camp in 6th grade, Oak Cabin was the dorm I was part of. Afterward we met our students and took them off to lunch, Spaghetti. I was honestly surprised. Real, actual, authentic, quality meals were being served and it was indeed delicious. This was the first of the many great meals to come. At this point I was able to meet some of my students and get to know them a little bit, but I'd be damned if I was able to remember their names by the first night. Later on we teamed up with the girls cabin and met Ben, our "Naturalist" as they call it, and we had a fun little hike. After the hike came dinner, after dinner came the camp fire meeting where the Naturalists addressed both schools as a whole and told them about the fun week we'd be having, after the camp fire came bed time.

Lemme take this time to explain the rules and rewards that were explained to me:

Superior Dorm: Granted to dorms that manage to stay completely quiet from bedtime at 9:30pm to wake up call at 7:00am. This reward is worth the most points.

Golden Broom: Granted to dorms that manage to meet all the standards for a clean dorm room every morning at 8:40am. The points for this varied.

Helping Hand: Granted to dorms that stick their necks out to help out the Naturalists with such things as cleaning up the cafeteria, etc. Worth very little points.

That night, the students made it impossible to receive the Superior Dorm reward.

Wednesday, November 18th: I awoke to the resonating sound of a dozen whispers at about 6:30am, a half hour before scheduled wake up call. But I got them in line and later we earned the Golden Broom. The day went by quite simply after that: Breakfast (PANCAKES!), hike, lunch (HOT DOGS!), hike, dinner (FISH FILLET!), and some weird dance party with a few dorms in the cafeteria with games and such. The exciting part of the day, however, was the showers. We, the counselors, were finally allowed to shower at 4:00pm and it was refreshing despite being in a locker room with other men showering (a few of which I've never met because they were from the other school), but it felt so good. To my surprise the shower went on instantly, spewing out icy cold water at several miles per hour. For about two minutes I pressed myself against the wall, out of the hose's way until it heated up to a comfortable warmth; it was then when I was able to peacefully shower. I felt bad for the 6th graders though; while us counselors had no limit to how long our showers were (as long as we were on time to pick up our kids that were currently at recess), the 6th graders all got a grand total of three minutes each. Now lets think about this. These children are probably on their first trip away from their homes and family, already freezing due to the altitude, and are expected to get nude in a room full of their peers and shower in a completely different room full of even more peers. And to top that off, they get three glorious minutes to complete this, two of which are will be freezing cold. I'm glad the showers weren't like this at the place I went to.

I'll take this time to explain this camp's "Scat" song. For I had a really big problem with it because it wasn't nearly as awesome as the one I learned.

There's went:

"It starts with an 'S' and it ends with a 'T'
It comes out of you, and it comes out of me.
I know what you're thinking, but don't call it that.
Lets be scientific and call it Scat!"

While mine went:

"Scat makes the world go 'round!
The forest can't survive if it's not on the ground.
So when you step in a lump of scat
Just jump for joy and say 'that's where I'm at!'"

Mine was clearly superior.

Later that night, my cabin came uber close to getting the Superior Dorm award, and they should have gotten it, but life sucks and so do adults.

Thursday, November 19th: This time I was actually able to sleep until the wake up call and was greeted with a wonderful hashbrown and scrambled egg breakfast. On this day we took our field trip to Calaveras State Park to learn about Sequoias and then to the Moaning Caverns.

I'll now take this time to explain the disciplinary system this school had in place for the 6th graders, a basic, three step system:

Step One: A warning and a talk with your teacher.
Step Two: A painful call to your parents explaining why you're in trouble.
Step Three: Expulsion from outdoor school and possible suspension from the regular middle school.

I bring this up now, because on this day one of my students in particular got to his Third Step, all of which I missed. Apparently before we had even left our school, he had gotten into a fist fight with another student, earning him his first step. On this Thursday he got his next two steps by repeatedly flipping off a group of students on separate occasions but for the same reason: They were teasing him for having homosexual parents and calling him, too, a homo. Typical 6th grade bullying. I felt bad for the kid, he was actually one of my better students while he was around, and it was a big bummer for him to get expelled on the day before we left. So my cabin went down from fourteen students to thirteen.

That night after dinner was the famous Night Hike, in which we take our cabins and lead them through the forest at night without flashlights or any light source and laugh at them for tripping all over themselves in the dark. It was fun, though not nearly as great the night hike I attended in 6th grade.

Friday, November 20th: Today was the last day, and my cabin had Flag Ceremony.

I'll take this time to explain such things as Flag Ceremony.

Flag Ceremony: Depending on the time of the day, the cabin either takes out the U.S. flag and the World flag and raises both on the flag pole, or they take down the flags and return them to their resting place.

Meal Time Duty: The cabin gets to the cafeteria early and helps set up the tables and prepare some of the food for the upcoming meal.

Bathroom Duty: The cabin is in charge of cleaning the dorm bathrooms and earns themselves a point for cabin inspection. The cabin simply picks up garbage off the ground and counters and makes sure everything is tidy. They don't need to scrub toilets or sinks or anything.

After Flag Ceremony was breakfast, and then the morning hike. This time, however, I volunteered to be the counselor from each group to help pack all the luggage into the U-Haul along with Alex, Sean and Ashley (I still can't believe Matt made Ashley go and handle the luggage while he enjoyed his nice hike, but Ashley says she volunteered). So we spent a good forty-five minutes separating and packing luggage in a manner that allowed it to fit into the small U-Haul we rented. It was fun, and got our blood pumping enough to warm us up in the cold and get out of taking care of 6th graders for a while. But soon afterward we caught back up with our hiking groups and continued the day. After lunch we embarked on our trip back home.

This was a great and wonderful experience. Ultimately it led me to realize more about myself, and try to become more of a leader figure with the ability to assert my power over others, which was always a fun thing. And it got my mind off all the worries the world had been shoving down my throat up until then, so it was a great stress reliever, just like with Arsenic & The Old Lace just a few weeks prior. But I must say that the play probably caused more stress than it relieved, while the Science Camp experience was pure relief, and it came when I needed it most.

Well, I shall end this monstrous wall of text now, and I should have more to say after Thanksgiving. So until then, ta-ta for now!
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-Sachi
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