It’s time for the final Hump Day Trivia of the summer! Here are the rules: I’ll give five questions in each of three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, and Hard). Each question is worth a set point value. Your goal is to use any combination of questions to get to ten points. I’ll declare the person with the most points the winner. If more than one person gets 10 points, I’ll go with the person who uses the “hardest” combination (So try to answer the Hard questions). Today’s theme is Sports. Good luck!

                                                             

 

Easy (1 Point Each)

1.      How many holes does a golf course consist of?

2.      With which sport is Barry Bonds associated?

3.      Where will the 2004 Summer Olympics be held?

4.      Who was the first black American major league baseball player?

5.      With which sport is Michael Jordan associated?

 

Medium (2 Points Each)

1.      In which sport would you use a foil, épée, and sabre?

2.      What was unusual about the 1980 Olympics in Moscow?

3.      In which city would you find a football team called the Lions?

4.      Edson Arantes do Nascimento was a famous Brazilian soccer player. By what name was he better known?

5.   With which sport is the Black Sox Scandal associated with?

 

Hard (3 Points Each)

1.      In which sporting event would a competitor wear the maillot jaune?

2.      What was the name of the soccer player who kicked the winning penalty shot at the 1999 Women’s World Cup?

3.      In which country is golf thought to have originated?

4.      Who were the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners in Women’s Figure Skating at the 1992 Winter Olympics?

5.      Which country won the 2003 Cricket World Cup?

 

Have fun! I’ll try to post one more time before I go back to Denison, although it probably won’t make much difference to you (I can post perfectly well from down there, too). Since everyone seems to be posting their class schedules, here’s mine:

 

General Physics I: MWRF 9:30-10:20

General Physics I Lab: T 2:30-4:20

Biochemistry: MWF 11:30-12:20

Biochemistry Lab: R 1:30-4:20

History of Cinema: MWF 1:30-2:20

Guitar Class I: TR 10:30-11:20

 

I hung out with Chris on Monday. We went to Olive Garden, which is his favorite restaurant. Somehow the subject of Chris being in Iraq came up in conversation with the waitress. Later on the manager showed up and started talking to him about it. It turns out her son is still in Iraq. Anyways, because of that, we ended up getting dessert for free. After that, we went to Best Buy, where we each bought two CDs (I bought the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack and Weird Al Yankovic’s “Poodle Hat” CD), and then to Barnes & Noble, where I bought four more books, two of which were Clan Novels (White Wolf seems to be ending their World of Darkness series and slowly taking everything out of print, so I figure that I better grab them while I can). Then we hung out in the coffee shop until the store closed. It was fun. At least we finally got to talk for more than half an hour.

For the third week in a row, Marisa wins Hump Day Trivia, except this time she didn’t tie anybody (thanks for playing, though, Reichelle). Here are the answers:

 

Easy

1.      Skeleton

2.      Eye

3.      Arm

4.      Brain

5.      Pores

 

Medium

1.      Plasma

2.      Insulin (and glucagon if you’re that picky)

3.      Bone marrow

4.      Amino Acids

5.      Larynx

 

Hard

1.      Corpus Callosum

2.      Mitochondria

3.      Estrogen, Progesterone, and a little bit of testosterone

4.      Solar Plexus

5.      Liver

 

I promise next week’s won’t be so science-oriented (since I’ve done two in a row that way). I might as well tell you now that next week’s installment will be the last for a while. I’m returning to Denison a week from Sunday, and Hump Day Trivia would just take up too much of my time once classes start. Don’t worry, though; it’ll be back next summer at the latest (I might do special installments over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Breaks). In the meantime, I’ll do my regular posting, plus I’ll have a new feature called Website of the Week, which won’t take as long to prepare as Hump Day Trivia, but which I hope you’ll enjoy just as much.

 

Thursday I went on a mini-shopping spree. I bought Chicago on DVD as well as two books (as if I needed any more, but we stopped at Thackeray’s, so I couldn’t resist). One was The Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett (I had previously borrowed Marisa’s copy and didn’t finish it, and since she’s not coming back to Denison, I probably have no chance of borrowing it again, and it was in stock so I decided to buy it). The other was The Lark and The Wren¸ by Mercedes Lackey. However, I decided not to start reading that one and instead I started another book that I’ve owned for two years and never read a page of. That brings the total number of books I’m currently reading up to 16 (yes, I can hear you gasping and I can sense your thoughts that I am insane, but I don’t care):

 

 

 

I was surprised that the pile didn’t fall over while I was taking a picture of it. And yes, in the background you can see my very messy room (The one I sleep in. I now have a bedroom and a “computer” room. I’ll get into detail about that in a future post).

 

Those of you who have been paying attention to my booklists in the past may have noticed an absence in the pile. I finished reading Ogre, Ogre last night (that seems to be the pattern with the Xanth books. It takes me forever to read the first half, but I can finish the second half in one day if I try hard enough). When I first started reading it, I thought it was going to be boring, but it turned out to be one of my favorites (which isn’t saying much, since it’s only the fifth Xanth book and there are over 20 in the series). I’m telling you though, the guy who came up with Shrek must’ve read this book first (Ogre, Ogre was published in 1982, by the way). There are some similar themes (it’s not a carbon copy or anything like that, though). I’ve enjoyed the Xanth series so far, though. The thing about Piers Anthony is that he has to be one of the most versatile writers who ever lived. He’s written a bunch of different series, but each series is unique. I’ve read books from the Apprentice Adept, Xanth, Incarnations of Immortality, Geodyssey, Mode, and Bio of a Space Tyrant series, and each series seems like it was written by a different author. The Xanth series is meant to be humorous (not irreverent like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, but very lighthearted), and there are a lot of puns and plays on words in it (Ogre, Ogre has this very funny bit concerning the word “catastrophe”). For those of you interested, the first book in the series is called A Spell For Chameleon, and you’ll find your way from there. As for me, I have already started the sixth book in the series, Night Mare (Yes, the title is supposed to be two words like that. In Xanth, night mares are the horses who deliver bad dreams to people when they sleep).

 

Here’s the updated (and very long) book list:

 

• The Fall of Neskaya (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
  
• Lady of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
  
• 3001 (Arthur C. Clarke)
  
• Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut)
  
• A Woman’s Liberation (Sci-Fi Anthology)
  
• Lasombra (Richard E. Dansky)
  
• Tiger Burning Bright (Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, & Mercedes Lackey)
  
• Blue Adept (Piers Anthony; this is a re-read)
  
• Dragonflight (Anne McCaffrey)
  
• Crystal Line (Anne McCaffrey; re-read)
  
• Night Mare (Piers Anthony)
  
• With a Tangled Skein (Piers Anthony)
  
• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (Douglas Adams; re-read)
  
• The Color of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
  
• The Eye of the World (Robert Jordan)
  
• Muse of Art (Piers Anthony)

 The list won't stay at 16 for very long, because next week, I'm going to have to return some of them to the library and try to pick up on the plots next summer. Until then, they're considered "on hiatus" and are not included on my list. I'll post the list again when that happens.

 

I have almost finished the drawing that Chris commissioned me to draw (By the way, it might be a little longer than expected before he posts again. I talked to Laura the other night, and she says there is something majorly wrong with their computer. Just thought I'd pass the word along). All I have to do is fix some problem spots, spray it with fixative, and color the eyes (either with colored pencil or on Photoshop). Yay!

 

Well, that’s all for now. Bye!

After a week’s absence, it’s time once again for Hump Day Trivia! Here are the rules: I’ll give five questions in each of three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, and Hard). Each question is worth a set point value. Your goal is to use any combination of questions to get to ten points. I’ll declare the person with the most points the winner. If more than one person gets 10 points, I’ll go with the person who uses the “hardest” combination (So try to answer the Hard questions). Today’s theme is The Human Body. Good luck!

                                                             

 

Easy (1 Point Each)

1.      What do we call the collection of bones that support the body?

2.      In which body organ would you find a retina?

3.      Where would you find the ulna and the radius?

4.      In which organ of the body would you find the pituitary gland?

5.      Your skin is covered with millions of tiny holes. What are these called?

 

Medium (2 Points Each)

1.      What is the name of the fluid in which the red and white blood cells are suspended?

2.      Which hormone maintains the blood sugar level?

3.      In which tissue are the red blood cells produced?

4.      Proteins are made up of what smaller chemical unit?

5.      What is the scientific name for the voice box?

 

Hard (3 Points Each)

1.      What is the name of the nervous tissue linking the two halves of the brain?

2.      What is the name of the organelles responsible for cell metabolism?

3.      Name the steroid hormones produced by the ovaries.

4.      What medical name is often given to the pit of the stomach?

5.      In which organ are the hepatocytes located?

 

Have fun!

EDIT: Yes, I did experience the blackout last Thursday. Toledo was (literally) right on the western edge of the area affected, and that included us. At my house, we only lost power for about 45 minutes, but by 8:00, my grandma (in north Toledo) still hadn't gotten hers back so she ended up spending the night at our house. That was it as far as my blackout adventures go.

 

Xanga's back, so I can FINALLY post!

 

Wow, that one was really close. Marisa and Nance1 tied for the hardest combination of ten (three ties in a row-maybe I should think about revamping the game or something). By tiebreaker rules (taking the overall points of the players involved in the tiebreaker), Marisa beats Nance1 by a single question. Here are the answers (though I loved yours, wildcane):

 

Easy

1.      The two magnets repel each other.

2.      Plants

3.      Northern lights

4.      Dry ice

5.      Sunspots

 

Medium

1.      Trinitrotoluene

2.      Random Access Memory

3.      Chlorophyll

4.      True

5.      Vacuum

 

Hard

1.      Sclerosis

2.      It is absolute zero (zero degrees Kelvin)

3.      Entropy

4.      Meteorology

5.      Galileo

 

There won't be any Hump Day Trivia this week since Xanga was down yesterday and people are too overjoyed at it being back up to sit and answer my questions. However, it will return next Wednesday, so don't fret too much.

 

Instead of Hump Day Trivia this week, I've got a bunch of pictures I'd like to show you. (I apologize in advance to all you dial-up users):

 

First off, I went to Correy's graduation party Saturday. I lost her bocce ball tournament (though I did better than I thought I would, since I've never played before). I also got to look at her wedding photos:

 

Actually, my mom took that one. I'm not sure why Chad's face is so dark, but it turned out looking like that in all of the scans (he's actually paler than Correy). I've got more of Correy and Chad's wedding pictures on my photo site.

 

Now, a while back, I promised pictures from the Tall Ships Festival (aka the Boat-themed Day), so here they are:

 

 

This is a nice shot of the Maumee River from the top of the Willis B. Boyer. There are Tall Ships as far as the eye can see (the one right in front of the camera is the Pride of Baltimore, which was one of the ships we went on), and part of the Toledo skyline is in view on the other side of the river.

 

 

 

 

This is the Willis B. Boyer itself. It's a retired lake freighter that's permanently anchored at International Park in Toledo, and is technically not a Tall Ship (so if these ships stop in your neck of the woods, don't be looking for the Boyer). It's been in International Park for as long as I can remember, but this was the first time I actually went on it. I know it looks like it's sinking or something in the picture, but that's just because it was taken at a really bad angle and I couldn't find a better one.

 

 

 

 

This is a re-creation of the HMS Bounty. It was built for use in the 1962 movie version of Mutiny on the Bounty. It was the main attraction at the festival, and we spent about 45 minutes in line to get on it, but I thought it was pretty cool that I was standing on the same ship that Marlon Brando and Richard Harris once stood on. Now I'm being cheesy.

 

 

 

 

This was how we ended our boat-themed day.

 

 

Now for something I've been wanting to post for a while: drawings. I focus on two types of drawing: cartooning and realism. I've been doing cartooning on and off since sixth grade, when my friends and I made a superhero comic series called The Warriors. My character's superhero persona was named Tiger (no surprise there). We spent half the time mad at each other's comics, so we would do increasingly worse things to each other's characters. About a year later, my comics disappeared. For years, I thought my parents threw them away and "forgot" that they did (they hated my comics). However, two weeks ago, as I was sorting out stuff in the basement for the garage sale, I found them (well, most of them, anyways). It was then that I realized how badly I drew back then (and I was regarded as the best artist of the bunch) and how pathetic my plots were.

 

For the last two years, I've been planning to resurrect Tiger in an entirely new, more mature, superhero comic that I've called "The Mighty Janori" (when all else fails, just make up a word). All I've done so far is a written prologue, four frames, and a couple concept drawings (yes, it's a hobby). I'll go into detail about the five superheroes in this series once I've done concept drawings of all of them, but for now, the only concept I have is of Tiger:

 

 

It's a bit rough (plus the scan came out too dark), but the drawing is significantly better than it used to be. I've revamped her a little. I gave her cleavage and an open panel around the breastplate to make her a little sexier. When I first started out with her (back in sixth grade), she had what looked like a striped bike helmet on her head, with three stripes on each side extending out onto her face. That's been replaced by a semi-Catwoman-style mask and a high ponytail (her hair used to be loose under the "bike helmet"). I might revamp her a little more before I settle on a final concept. Feel welcome to leave suggestions.

 

 

 

I do cartooning occasionally, but more often than not, I focus on realism. This is a slow process for me, as it takes a while to do the shading. So far, I've only done portraits. I have three that I recently finished, and I'm in the process of working on one for Chris.

 

 

 

This was the first "realistic" portrait I drew. In the photograph I drew it from, the girl's eyes were closed, and so I had to improvise there. The drawing is of Ariel Dusseau, a story-within-a-story character of mine. Some of you probably remember my mentioning her story several months back, so I won't bore you by explaining the story again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Matthew Winslow, another one of my story characters. He's the main character of the story in which Ariel's story is featured (Basically, another character in Matthew's story writes Ariel's story, and "excerpts" are included in Matthew's story. Confused yet?). The scanner caused the drawing to appear lighter than it actually was, but it faded pretty badly before I was able to spray fixative on it, so I'm probably going to redraw it in a new sketchbook. This is the most "critically acclaimed" of all my drawings. It will appear in the upcoming issue of Exile, Denison's literary magazine, so that's pretty cool, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is my most recent drawing. This is Tony Wolfe, yet another story character of mine. The scanner didn't really do the drawing justice (the shading is actually a lot more detailed than what it looks like). Tony is the first in a series of seven drawings I'm doing of various story characters (the re-draw of Matthew will be fifth in the series, and a take on my "alter ego" will be sixth).

 

 

Well, I imagine you're all thoroughly bored looking at my pictures now. I'll try not to be so picture-heavy next time I do this. I promise.

Feel free to leave feedback on the drawings.

 

Bye now!

 

 

 

Thanks to all you out there who gave me birthday greetings, and welcome Reichelle, my newest subscriber!

 

It’s time once again for Hump Day Trivia! Here are the rules: I’ll give five questions in each of three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, and Hard). Each question is worth a set point value. Your goal is to use any combination of questions to get to ten points. I’ll declare the person with the most points the winner. If more than one person gets 10 points, I’ll go with the person who uses the “hardest” combination (So try to answer the Hard questions). Today’s theme is Science. Good luck!

                                                             

 

Easy (1 Point Each)

1.      What happens if you push the north pole of one magnet towards the north pole of another magnet?

2.      What do botanists study?

3.      What is a common name for the Aurora Borealis?

4.      What is solid carbon dioxide called?

5.      Some parts of the sun are cooler and darker than others. What are these called?

 

Medium (2 Points Each)

1.      What does TNT stand for?

2.      In computer jargon, what does RAM stand for?

3.      What is the substance that makes plants green?

4.      True or False: The gene for having six fingers is dominant over the gene for having five fingers. (Don’t get picky about the wording here; I know the correct term is “allele” not “gene,” but I’ll go easy on you).

5.      What is the scientific term for a state of complete emptiness?

 

Hard (3 Points Each)

1.      Name the condition in which a diseased part of the body thickens and hardens.

2.      What is special about the temperature -273.15 degrees Celsius (-459.67 degrees Fahrenheit)?

3.      What is the name given to the inevitable and steady deterioration of a system?

4.      Which branch of science deals with the atmosphere of a planet?

5.      Who was the first scientist to use a telescope to study the stars?

 

Have fun! I’ll try to visit everyone tomorrow (if my mom doesn’t keep me in the basement cleaning all day).

 

EDIT: I'm selling a bunch of kids (grades 3-5, mostly) and young adult books on eBay and on Amazon. I'll provide a more detailed list later, but for now, just look for my username (tigera2001 on both sites). I am desperate to sell these books, so if you're not interested, maybe you know someone who is...

 

Or maybe I'm just being too tacky.

Okay, the participation in Hump Day Trivia wasn’t as stellar as it was last week, but I’ll admit I made the questions harder than usual, so perhaps that’s the reason. I hope I didn’t scare any of you off. The two participants, Marisa and weekendchef, ended up tying for the hardest combination of ten, but Marisa wins because she got the highest overall points (in accordance with my tiebreaker rules), since she only got one question wrong. For those of who playing at home (as if you’d be playing anywhere else), here are the answers:

 

Easy

1.      Athens

2.      Chicago

3.      Brazil

4.      Canada

5.      Europe

 

Medium

1.      India

2.      Pyrenees

3.      Ireland

4.      Galopagos

5.      Cuba

 

Hard

1.      Bering Strait

2.      Kalahari

3.      Erie & Ontario

4.      Montevideo

5.      Hinduism

 

Today’s my birthday. As of 1:33 PM, I’ll officially be 20. Laura, my parents, and I are going to Sauder Village for the day. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but it beats what I did last year (which was going to Miss Cue’s for two hours and not much else). Besides, you try to get my parents to go to Cedar Point and see how far YOU get… J

 

If you haven’t read Laura’s post, I’ll pass on the news. I got a phone call from Chris on Friday, and he was in…Maine. That’s right, he’s finally out of Kuwait, and he’s thrilled. Go tell him congratulations (even though he hasn’t posted the fact yet).

 

That’s all the time I have to post right now, since we’ve gotta get a move on to Sauder’s. Sorry I haven’t visited in a while; I’ll get to it. I promise. See ya!