F is for Fantasy World

I have two answers for this one...

First, for a more mild fantasy, I really enjoy the fictional town of Pine Cove created and visited thrice by Christopher Moore in Practical Demonkeeping, The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove, and The Stupidest Angel. While for the most part it's a normal place, there seem to be these frequent supernatural or comicly absurd events that happen there. I like how Moore combines the lives of ordinary people with these extraordinary events.

If you're talking more serious, hardcore fantasy, I rather enjoy the setting of the Talislanta roleplaying game, which is heavily influenced by Jack Vance. I've not read any Jack Vance but I think I should like to at some point. A friend of ours ran a very long but incredibly intriguing campaign in this world setting that was most fascinating to watch and, for a very brief stint, play in. I think anyone who knows the game is quite familiar with the two-word phrase associated with it: "No Elves!" Most of the friends I have that enjoy this game are very familiar with it to the point of it being a mantra. I really enjoy how different it is from the cliche Tolkien fantasy setting and how rich the writer of the game made the world setting.

P is for Poodles

I don't know much about poodles except that for the longest time I thought toy poodles were poodles and was surprised to learn one day that actual, honest-to-goodness poodles are freaking huge!

When I was younger, we used to frequently visit my Grandpa and Grammy in Caanan, NH, where they lived, ran a store and had a toy poodle named Coco. I used to love spending time with my grandparents and Coco and I still have fond memories of her. I remember how my Grandpa used to feed her the occasional nibble of a Hershey bar, which I later learned is actually bad for dogs. Coco used to always have a bow on her head and my Grammy would always paint her nails. It was actually quite adorable! I was very sad when she passed away, but she was quite old and she had a full and wonderful life with my grandparents. I think my Mom still has a photo of Coco to this day.

Q is for Quantum Physics

I'm probably going to butcher this and I'm going to tag my friends quantumswordsmn and kuantum_fizax to set the record straight where I goof up, so please bear with me. My understanding of quantum mechanics is elementary at best. I'm lucky if I get much better than knowing that somehow it involves a cat who lives in a steel box, curled up with a Geiger counter and a flask of acid, and theoretically belongs to some guy named Schrödinger, who ponders whether the cat is alive or dead and postulates that in fact it is both at the same time until the moment of revelation. Yay superpositions!

But seriously, quantum physics or quantum mechanics is a branch of physics that views energy as not constant but being broken into packets called quanta, and also viewing energy as both particles and waves. Quantum mechanics is used to describe systems on the atomic level and smaller and deals a lot in probabilities of outcomes. It is one of two sound theories that led to modern physics, the other being general relativity. The two are seemingly contradictory so there has been a lot of effort expended in trying to find a unified theory. Neither of these should be confused with classical physics, which is all that stuff that Newton loved so much and really applies more to larger systems.

So that's my understanding of quantum mechanics in a nutshell, but I realize it's likely very simplistic and almost certainly quite flawed, so stay tuned for corrections from my more able-minded friends.

R is for Rowan Atkinson

Rowan Atkinson is a comedic genius. It is truly astounding how well he can convey so much with simple body language and motion and so few words through Mr. Bean and also his character in the movie Rat Race. The influence Charlie Chaplin had on his comedy is very apparent. I also thoroughly enjoy his dark, dry wit apparent in the Blackadder series and his stand-up material.

I was extremely disappointed in the first Bean movie because it was very much America taking something British and ruining it by assuming Americans were too dumb to enjoy it, plus adding in the assumption that no one had seen Mr. Bean here and so most of the gags were watered down retellings of the episodes. Maybe I just watched too much PBS growing up? *shrug* I was very much fond of the new Bean movie because they let Rowan Atkinson write a whole new Bean story as a feature length film, which is precisely what a Bean movie should be. It was like watching a much longer, bigger budget Bean episode, which made me very, very happy.

S is for Sushi

My sushi experience is very limited. I've only ever had sushi at the place in Concord, NH, the cheap stuff at Hannaford and the sushi at Thai Smile. I will say it's very nice having a place that does good sushi here in Plymouth because it's not the boring, usual foods one usually finds here and it's very tasty. So far I've had California Roll (imitation crab, cucumber & avocado), Plymouth Roll (shrimp, cream cheese & avocado), Salmon Tempura Roll (salmon tempura & avocado), Tuna Roll, Spicy Crab Roll (real crabmeat, avocado & spicy sauce) and Crispy Sushi (smoked salmon, crabmeat, cream cheese, spicy sauce & scallion). I don't think there has been one yet that I haven't really enjoyed, but then again I tend to have fairly indiscriminate taste in food.

I'm trying to get painted_wolf to try the Spider Roll (soft shell crab tempura, avocado, green leaf lettuce, cucumber & smelt roes) with me but she gets hung up on the smelt roes. In addition to the sushi, I want to try the nigri and sashimi at some point.

B is for The Blue Berets

The Blue Berets is the popular name for the Civil Air Patrol Special Service Corps (CAPSCC), which started as a group of senior and cadet CAP members training in search and rescue and wilderness survival. The program eventually grew into more of a "ranger training" program and airshow team. The Civil Air Patrol (CAP), for those who don't know, is the Air Force Auxiliary.

I was once a member of CAP, mostly because my pepere was and I wanted to be in the Air Force and CAP like him so I signed up. While I never was a Blue Beret (by then it was just about dead because of some folks who got big heads and started hazing and generally being big shot asshats that screwed it up for others), I did take search and rescue (SAR) training as well as wilderness and winter survival training when I was in junior high school and high school. I never got to serve on a SAR mission because the one time our unit was called upon to help with a plane crash in Nashua, my family's phone was disconnected and they were unable to reach me. I was required to maintain a specific set of gear and keep it ready at all times in case I was called for a SAR mission. I would occasionally have to bring it for inspection. I was certified for search and rescue, wilderness survival, winter survival and the detection of radioactive materials.

That last one was a fun one. We were meeting at the National Guard Armory by then and FEMA came in to train a bunch of us. After a good portion of the day was spent reading up on radioactive materials and how to properly detect, locate and secure a contaminated site, we were tested. The instructors tested us by clearing us out of the room, bringing in several cannisters (only a couple of which contained trace amounts of radioactive materials, enough to set off a Geiger counter) and then one-by-one sending us in to find the contaminated cannisters. I don't recall how well I did on the test, only that I was certified to help on a SAR mission involving radioactive materials.

I remember the encampment stories about The Blue Berets and the hazing. I recall one or two of the members of our unit either being Blue Berets (wasn't Hodges?) or at least recalling their attempts at becoming Blue Berets. I had this combination of fascination with the prospect of becoming a Blue Beret and this simultaneous disgust for the apparent machismo in the stories told of them, as I recall, though I admit this could be muddled by my maturity since then and I could have very well aspired to be one whole-heartedly.

I eventually listened to too much John Lennon and turned all hippy peacenik, grew my hair long and quit Civil Air Patrol my sophomore or junior year of high school. My biggest regret was that I no longer got to continue my SAR and survival training and I didn't get to complete my aviation training to get my pilot license.