The Green Lantern Man

It was pitch black, and lowly private Miller was standing in a daze outside of one of the countless concrete bunkers built for the War. He had long since lost track of the time. It could be one in the morning or three. His head nodded down and then shot back up as he fought the irresistible urge to doze. The only things keeping him going now was the shimmering, almost spectral glow of his standard-issue green lantern, and the stories. He talked about them in the barracks with his fellow soldiers – after all, there wasn’t much to do with their time. Most had expected to be fighting heroically in the battles they had once heard over the tinny sound of the radio, but in reality they had been guarding these useless bunkers in some dejected hole on the deserted leeward side of Oahu. So they passed time telling stories, and one the private had heard so many times before was the sleeping soldier. Apparently, another recruit just like him had been caught by an upper officer and had been subjected to the draconian army punishment – death. These tales were what pushed Miller to stay conscious during the endless, monotonous nights. But this night was particularly dreadful. The silence was suffocating, and it seemed like he was being taunted by receiving this job. He had signed up to and kill some people, not waste away the night here. What the hell, he thought, and he walked into the bunker, where no guard was ever supposed to go. He reassured himself that no officer in his right mind would be walking around a half mile from camp. Little did he know what the implications of his actions would be that night. The recruit walked into the cramped bunker, feeling refreshed by the slow breeze. He saw the mounted machine gun, amused. Why would the Japanese fly over here? Then he spotted some officer’s uniforms collecting dust on a rack mounted on the wall. He put on the jacket and laughed. How angry the sergeant would be if he found him wearing his very own uniform! But his attention was soon wooed by something far more interesting. In the corner rested a medium sized, nondescript beige canister. He sized it up, wondering what could possibly be inside. Gas? Kerosene? Well then, he thought aloud, what harm could it cause if I opened it just a bit? So he firmly gripped the metal gasket on top and popped it off. Instantly, yellowish gas spurted out of the canister at astonishing speed. He had barely registered what was going on when it seemed like somebody had pressed a red-hot iron directly on his face. His hands, neck, any patch of skin not covered by clothing blistered immediately. Some part of his mind that was still thinking muttered, mustard gas… But he couldn’t focus. Every cell of his body was in its own private hell. His hand squeezed the handle of the lantern until it cracked. But far worse than what was happening to his skin was what was happening to his mind. He lost all control, became mad with fear and anger. Who had caused this to happen!? He stumbled, raging out of the bunker and hobbled off into the woods.

The next morning no one saw private Miller. No one even gave it more than five seconds thought, desertions were increasingly common these days. But in the weeks, months, and years to follow nobody denied the ghastly green glow that emanated through the forest, or the haggard looking monster wearing the officers’ jacket that was the source of it all. To this day, when night falls in the forests of the leeward side, some say they can still see the green lantern man trudging away while they lay down to sleep.

Personal Essential Question #5: Response to Harold and Kumar

I believe that having a goal is important. It's not what the goal is that matters - that much is up t you. What matters is if you are up to the task of completing the goal. If you can ignore the people that try to stop you, battle through the hardships of the journey, and have the courage to pursue whatever it is you want. A good example of all of these traits I just discussed was the hilarious movie Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. In Harold and Kumar's case, their goal was to get some white castle. Yes, it seems trivial, but throughout the movie Harold and Kumar have to struggle with crazy cops, escaped cheetahs, a rival group of posers that try to ruin their lives, hateful businessman that have no acknowledgement of Harold's life, and even singing hillbillies. But Harold and Kumar find he drive to go on. Harold's quote sums it up: "I don't care about all of that stuff in the past now. I want to feel what it's like when a man gets exactly what he wants." Along the way, Harold and Kumar learn a lot about themselves and each other. Harold even summons up the courage to go after his next goal: asking out the woman across from his apartment. To sum it all up, goals are vital and you should find the courage it takes t pursue them.

Personal Essential Question #4: Response to 300

Forgive me for staying so shallow, but this response is all about the movie 300. I know it seems like such a trivial action movie, but upon watching it I thought it actually concealed a great message. Fortunately this noble cause is packaged in an assortment of blood-spraying, limb-flying, beast-slaying gore and naked women. Apart from the 300 being an awesome, visually stunning movie that reached the blood quota and filled up the immense American appetite for gore, it broadcasted a message of freedom. That freedom wasn’t free (pardon my cliché), and that freedom was the one thing truly worth fighting for. The movie told us the story of how 300 free men killed thousands of slaves, not only due to their ridiculously good fighting but due to motivation. They knew that democracy and free people rested on their shoulders. But how is this of use to us today? Of course, we can’t run around stabbing and ripping Persians in seriously crazy-nuts slow mo. That would probably be what you might call murder, not to mention impossible. But it shows us just how important freedom and liberty are, conveniently without the usage of a thick, dull textbook. King Leonidas had to inspire the rest of the Greeks to rally against the Persian slave army, or else the last remaining place of advancement be squashed under Xerxes’ fist.
Aside from all of this, 300 was one of the coolest movies I have seen. Period. It is worth your time and money to go see. It is without a doubt a spectacular combo of hilarious bloody slow mo fights and serious tones. (I also must recommend Beerfest and Harold and Kumar).

Personal Essential Question #3: What do People Worry About?

It seems like all the technological advancements of our age have brought with them needless worry and superstition along with the advantages of high-tech products. I haven't got a clue why people worry about all the wrong things. Articles in magazines like Time and other news sources have recently been run addressing this strange problem. Why is it that bird flu gets painstakingly covered on all our major news networks (and it has indeed killed zero Americans) while the common flu (death count: 36,000 this year) can't get a spot on CNN? How come E coli, airplanes, mad cow disease, and kidnappings are all feared by many Americans for some strange reason? Airplanes are a great example of these ridiculous ideas. Airplanes are the fastest and most safe form of travel around. Last year 789 people died on commercial airliners – all on small foreign airlines, most due to pilot error or airline maintenance error. Planes themselves are highly advanced, safe vehicles capable of crossing oceans and carrying hundreds. The DC-10 was the most advanced aircraft of its time, but due to one bad crash (which was actually due to faulty maintenance, not plane problems. Maintenance workers did not take off an engine correctly.) the plane folded. The sensationalistic American media inflated the problem, ignoring facts in the never-ending quest for higher ratings. Then look at the estimate for automobile deaths in 2005 – 46,800 deaths. Many of these were in respectably made and operated cars. One of my parents friends' opted to drive rather than fly across America after 9/11. Why couldn't he see that driving was far more dangerous than flying? It never ceases to confuse me that so many people are deluded in this society of crazy news shows, antibacterial soap, and needless, stupid warnings.

Free Post #2: Ko Olina Race Part 2

A perfect start slingshotted us upwind. The wind was as perfect as you
could ask for - we could reach, the fastest way to sail, right up to
the buoy. A few adjustments and we were blasting through the large
swells off of Diamond Head at a quick 18 knots. Soon me and another
friend needed to go up to the bow (the front of the boat) to get an
ideal weight distribution for sailing. We quickly got up on the rocking
trampoline between the two hulls and hopped over the crossbeam between
them before we reached the sharply angled bow of the hulls. We
rocketed up the swells coming up to meet us, 10, 15 feet in the air, a
brief moment of weightlessness and we smashed back down into the trough
between swells. Gallons of water flew into us, copious amounts of
liquid sprayed up by the hulls. Again and again we flew into the
oncoming swells, burying the bow into the walls of water before rushing
upwards. Ahead of us the rest of the fleet was rounding the mark and
rushing downwind in a tight pack, their massive spinnakers flying.
Spinnakers are huge sails used for downwind sailing. They usually more than double the sail area, and are vital for fast downwind sailing. Their huge expanse and colorful designs make for picture-perfect moments, and in the higher levels of sailing, huge advertising space. Soon enough we rounded the mark, switching the sail over and powering up to speed. We unfurled the aptly named “screacher”, a large sail that had massive area but wasn’t a spinnaker. We began, in one sailor’s words, to “reel ‘em in” – to catch up very fast to the fleet. This whole time we had the mainsail reefed, or furled some to reduce sail area in strong winds. We turned away from the wind for a brief moment to unleash the full mainsail, which was a hindrance, but in the long run it would help greatly. We gybed, or turned downwind, over and crossed behind the fleet to get better wind. Then we all got what we wanted – we furled the screacher and raised the huge, lime green spinnaker. We flew past the fleet, third place, second, then finally first. The fleet disappeared behind us and the coastline rushed up to meet us. In 2 hours and 11 minutes, a remarkably fast time, we finished the race in first by a long shot.

Free Post #1: Ko Olina Race Part 1

Sailing is one of the most exciting and fast sports you can
participate in. The faster you go, the more fun it is. That‘s why I
jumped at the opportunity to go sailing on my friend’s boat. It’s a
Reynolds R33 catamaran, 33 feet long, capable of reaching 25 knots (a
measure of speed slightly higher than MPH) and up. It can slice through
the water with its massive sail area (from 703 square feet to 1859
square feet), which produces an exciting ride. I had sailed on the
boat, named “Manju”, a few times previously, but this time would be the
first I could participate in one of the various races held over the
year. This particular race was the Waikiki Yacht Club to Ko Olina
Marina regatta. The course would take us up to Diamond Head and then
down to Ko Olina. It was open to boats of all shapes and sizes, and the
start was staggered to allow for fair competition between classes. I
arrived at the yacht club soon before the start and excitement was
already starting to build. The wind was forecasted for 20 - 25 knots -
perfect windspeed for racing. Boats from across the island were
congregrating for the start. As we sailed out to the starting line, we
got a great view of the competition. The seafaring craft ranged from
the small but deceptively fast Siesta, to the race winning machine
Boomerang, to the immaculate, 57 foot cruiser Vanessa. An old fashioned
ketch made a showing, and familiar faces were all around. Soon enough
the first starts were underway, the smaller and slower boats jockeying
for position on the imaginary line between a motorboat and a large
buoy. A horn blasted a clear signal: countdown is up, go! 10 minutes
later the middle-of-the-road boats turned up and crossed the line.
Another 10 and the largest, fastest, and sleekest boats rocketed up the
course. But we were on the only multihull in the race. Multihulls, with
less surface area, lighter weight, and no keel (a heavy bulb affixed to
the bottom of monohulls to prevent heeling, or tipping of the boat when
the force of the sails pushed the boat over) were inherently faster
then multihulls. So 15 minutes after the last monohull start, we set up
a ways from the line, tacked (turned upwind) over and zoomed to the
start. 10 seconds. We quickly approached the buoy. 5. We had to lose
some speed to time it correctly. 4, 3, 2, 1....and then the horn. We
powered upwind and took off.

Personal Essential Question #2: Why am I here?

Answer: Who cares?

I would rather not spend my time worrying about such matters. I would rather spend my time doing what I can while I have the time to do it. Sometimes people spend their entire lives in silent contemplation of the meaning of life. I just do not understand that mentality. In my opinion, if you get caught up in thinking about the meaning of life, you are missing out on life itself. My ultimate dream is to spend the rest of my life doing all the things I've ever wanted to do. Unfortunately, this is impossible, due to little things like taxes, money, and laws, so I suggest being a little more realistic and merely attempting to have all the good times that you can, within the boundaries of taxes, laws, and money. Because I go by this sort of code, it sort of explains the way I act. You can often see my friends and I doing things loudly, stupidly, and hyperactively, and that is because we aren't worried about little things like what people think about us. My advice to everyone is to do what you want to do, what you have to, and what you know is right, but nothing else. Don't do something just because it's the "cool" thing to do or because someone told you to, do it because you actually feel like doing it.

Personal Essential Question #1: What do I (not) like? (EDITED FOR CONTENT)

I could write a response to a wholesome, clean, and unimaginably dull topic like "What is my life goal" or "What do I care about most?". But I think it would be much more enjoyable to write about all the things I can't stand. If you know me, you probably know that I have an extremely short attention span (sort of like a goldfish) and I need something fun to do if I'm going to do it for a long period of time. Right now I am seriously hoping this will be fun. So here I go:
First off, I'd just like to let anyone listening (technically it's reading I suppose, unless you are some kind of insane person who uses the Apple voice to read things on your computer) know about my thoughts on things and people that are way too "PC", or politically correct. Political correctness is, according to Wikipedia, "a term used to describe language or behavior which is intended, or said to be intended, to provide a minimum of offense, particularly to racial, cultural, or other identity groups." I think this is all well and good (seriously, because some things actually do go too far), but only up to a point. After it hits a certain level of ridiculousness, it is beyond my level of tolerability. People in the world have become way, way too serious about all the little things that shouldn't make anyone care. Those kind of people are slowly but surely sucking all the joy out of the world. Making a joke about anything including something even close to being offensive is instantly considered "too far" and "insensitive". When was the last time you laughed at a clean, wholesome, completely non-dirty joke? I think Stephen Hawking jokes are hilarious (even though Stephen Hawking is truly amazing man). I laugh at dirty jokes and pranks. I think Carlos Mencia and Chris Rock are astoundingly funny, even though they've dropped more F-bombs than McDonalds has sold hamburgers. And yes, I thing Jackass 2 was one of the most disgusting (really, too disgusting) and [expletive]-ing funny movies of all time. But nowadays, when I try to crack a sick and wrong joke or use a not-serious jibe against someone, unless they are one of my closer friends I always have to "be on the lookout" and make sure they understand me and why I do not think seriously about nearly everything. This seems utterly ridicolous to me.
A good example of how I feel towards boring, lame, and prude-ish PC ideas is why I can't stand the comic Family Circus. I almost never read comics, but on the few occasions that I flip through the paper, Family Circus is always there, just waiting to ruin your morning. Its drawn in a circle, so it draws you in because it's so unique. After reading it (which is unavoidable) it makes me want to throw up (figuratively of course). It's simple: Family Circus just isn't funny. I don't know who would actually laugh upon gazing at the demonic works of Bil Keane (author of Family Circus). Whenever I think of people laughing at Family Circus (a rare thought indeed) images of amused serial killers pop into my head for some reason. The type of clean, peaceful, christian, warm, fuzzy and happy family like the one in Family Circus does not exist. If I was forced to live with that family for one whole week, somebody would end up on fire. Preferably not me. Just answer me this: Do you find this funny at all? I'm guessing not. Why does Bil Keane insist on wasting up valuable newspaper space that could be used for things like obituaries and Long's coupons? Does he feed upon happiness? Him and Jeff (his son who draws the cartoons) probably lead sickening, funless (i know, it's not a word), and boring lives. This is probably an average day at the Keane workshop:

Bil: "Gee Son, what a clean and fulfilling day this has been."
Jeff: "Golly Dad, you're right, I really liked your newest idea where Jenny says to Kittycat 'I wish you could talk just like Jeffy'. That made me laugh and feel all warm and fuzzy inside."
Bil: "With luck, nobody will notice that we've actually been running the same 4 cartoons over and over again for the past 25 years."
Jeff: "You're such a great Dad."



Now this right here is a rare serious moment for me. What I'm trying to say is this: people are starting to become so serious and grim nowadays that they frown upon anything remotely offensive, even up to the point that nobody really even gets offended. They make all of these ridiculous rules on what we can say or do that is completely against freedom of speech, and, more importantly, common sense. Make a joke about me. I'll probably laugh at it. I'm willing to laugh at myself. Are you?