In science class the other day, my teacher was absent, so we had a substitute, and we watched a movie called Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon. (Actually, it was supposed to be an IMAX movie, but since we don't have an IMAX Dome theater at my school, we had to settle for just looking at the movie being projected) As the name implies, the movie was about going to the moon.

I thought that the movie was quite touching. I would like to be able to go to the Moon someday, to walk on the surface and look at the rocky surface going on into oblivion. And I'd like to peer into a crevasse that could rival the Grand Canyon of our Earth. But then again, it'd be a lonely place. No one has traveled to the Moon since the 1970s. In the movie, the narrator (Tom Hanks) said that the Moon confuses one's optics, because there are no trees or anything that you can use as a reference for size. But I would like to go the Moon and be able to see the Earth, so small and far away. I've only ever seen pictures of the Great Blue Marble.

I was inspired by it, particularly where a 7-year-old girl said she was going to be an astronaut someday, and in the end where Tom Hanks said something along the lines of the next person to go to the Moon being one of us viewers. But the other students, as always, seemed pretty emotionless. I really don't understand young people these days. You'd think they would be emotional, since teenagers are all moody and rebellious, but no, they don't react at all to the movie. (Not that this movie was one of the more inspiring ones. It's not like I cried or anything, which I would do over a Pokemon movie. XD Particularly that Lucario one.)

We have also been watching another movie about the Moon in class, Apollo 13, which features Tom Hanks yet again. (Except he plays a character instead of being a narrator.) Apollo 13 was the second Apollo mission to make it to the Moon, I believe. It's old enough to be on a video tape, but my dad says it's not THAT old. Whatever is that supposed to mean? My dad is several decades older than I am, after all.

Speaking of the ancient video tapes, my language arts teacher made a great show of them. We were going to watch the movie The Outsiders in class. She explained slowly and demonstrated how to stick a video tape into the slot where you put it. Now that I realize it, video tapes are long gone nowadays. I watched them when I was little, but then they were replaced by DVDs, just as music cassettes were replaced by CDs. I feel kind of sad thinking children nowadays wouldn't really know about video cassettes, which for some reason feel like much more of a novelty to me (even if rewinding them is annoying).

Well, anyways, regarding the topic of Outer Space, I actually came up with an idea for a story. It was sort of science viction, I suppose, which is unusual. I was always planning to write a story that took place in present times and without any fantasy stuff. But you know, beggars for inspiration can't be choosers. I wonder if I'll actually be able to write this story or not. I started a story a pretty long time ago but stopped because I really didn't know what kind of plot I was looking for. This is my biggest problem...I envision characters and a setting and a few dramatic scenes and detailed descriptions I want to put into a story, but then I have no ideas at all about what kind of conflict will be in the story... -_-;; How will I ever be a true writer if I can't even come up with one of the important parts of writing?

It was easier when I used to role-play. If you aren't familiar with the term... It's where multiple people (sometimes only two, sometimes a lot) join forces to write a story. But it's not like co-authoring a book. It's more like each person controls one character (or more) and they can only control that character. The characters will interact, and so the story does progress. (Though there are certainly role-plays without a specific plot. Some have very complicated plots that are multiple paragraphs long, just to explain it, and others just say "This is a boarding school," and that's it for the plot) I used to role-play when I was a member of the site called Nutrinopets. But that website is gone now, and so is my role-playing. I've looked at another site's role-playing but it's not like what I'm used to, so I probably am stuck without role-playing. I think I wrote better when I had the aid of role-playing as practice. I really miss it and get nostalgic for it occasionally. (I heard that several Nutrinopets users moved to a site called Misticpets, but I don't want to join. I'm afraid the same thing might happen eventually like what happened to Nutrionpets, and besides, I don't want to get addicted. XD That's also why I won't join Facebook despite the urging of various people)

Labels: apollo 13, astronaut, cassette, emotions, facebook, imax, lucario, magnificent desolation, misticpets, movie, nutrinopets, pokemon, roleplaying, tom hanks, video, walking on the moon, writing

Just the other day, my mother's company was having a party. I'm not sure of the purpose exactly, but it was probably just for the entertainment of the employees, so that they wouldn't lose satisfaction and go to another company. (I mean, I actually heard another company, Juniper, was going to start hiring again or something.) The party was held at the Tech Museum of Innovation. I went to the Tech Museum multiple times when I was in elementary school - in fact, I used to have museum membership. But I stopped going there...I think it was because they didn't really have anything new back then. But when I visited, a few things were different, although most are still the same as always.

I was a bit surprised by the choice of location for the company party. I've heard of hotels being reserved for parties, but never museums. My mom said it was a common thing, though. Museums are apparently better than hotels because there is more to do at a museum. Not only can you eat (there was bread, cheese, meat, pizza, chicken salad, shrimp...Oh, and there was dessert. Too bad some of it tasted like coffee, and I'm not fond of that taste in cake) but you can also explore the museum. My mom's company came up with a "scavenger hunt" for the employees to do. It's actually not that easy but some people were really doing the scavenger hunt. (If you fill out the whole sheet then you can get a raffle ticket) I tried to do it too but it would take a lot of running around the museum. While I was in the IMAX movie theater I noticed one guy who had a paper totally filled out. But then he folded it. I guess he figured out I was peering over his shoulder snooping at his answers. XD

Speaking of which, part of the party was the opportunity to see an IMAX movie. It's called Under the Sea, and as the name suggests, it was about the ocean and the creatures living in it. The animals were pretty violent. For one thing, there were the cuttlefish. They hunt by slowly sticking out a tentacle and then suddenly lashing it towards their target. Here's a picture.

The movie was a bit dizzying, but it was nice watching it. I have been swimming in reefs but I could only see some kinds of animals because there's no way I see the deep-sea animals unless I dive. In particular, one part of the movie was really troubling. A turtle started eating a jellyfish! It was sad watching that jellyfish having parts of itself being bitten off by the turtle. I think I've changed my opinion of turtles.

The sea snakes in the movie were cool, though. Sea snakes are pretty rare nowadays because their skin has been turned into wallets and handbags and such accessories. The sea snakes swim instead of slithering and I like the sea snakes even if they are very venomous. I also liked the eels. There's a kind of eel that submerges part of itself in the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The rest of it sticks up and the eels wait for small organisms to float along, carried by the ocean current, so they can eat them. It looked like a forest or a group of dancers.

Oh yes, and I did briefly mention a raffle earlier but didn't go into depth. There were two raffles at the party. One was after the vice president made an opening statement. (At first I was impressed that the vice president was there but my mom said there are many, many vice presidents so it's not that...significant after all) That raffle was for anyone who had been invited and responded saying that they were coming to the party. (Basically, all the company's workers that attended the party were eligible for that raffle. My dad and I are not really "eligible" to win anything since we are guests brought by my mom) My mom says I should have come to see the vice president's speech and the raffle firsthand; then she would have won something. Her friend once won something from a raffle because her daughter attended a company party with her. But ever since her daughter didn't go to another of the company's parties and so my mom's friend hasn't won anything.

While the vice president was talking and picking raffle winners, I was busy playing the Second Life demo they have at the Tech Museum. Second Life is actually an online social game where you have a humanoid avatar and you interact, I believe. (I'm not exactly sure because the demo is kind of...limited, and the demo has been here since 2004, so it's not exactly recent. I haven't ever played the actual Second Life, which you can learn more about on secondlife.com) When I was young I always loved to play the Second Life demo. You can fly around and walk around and ride a jet ski and throw watermelons and make catapults work...And not that much else. (Personally, I just like to try and sit on weird places like the chimney of a house or a volcano or a waterfall or the top of a mountain) It brings back a lot of memories, playing that game again.

Labels: animals, aquatic, company, computer, cuttlefish, eel, games, imax, jellyfish, movie, museum, party, raffle, scavenger hunt, sea snake, second life, tech museum of innovation, turtle, under the sea

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