Waldo & Magic Inc

Consequences

A lonely drifter stumbles into a small town at the middle of the night. He is sick and in dire need of water. A poor family finds him on their small garden the next day. The family is hesitant in helping the poor man because they can barely afford to support themselves. A notorious killer has been living with his band of criminals in the town for quite some time. It is their base of operations where they coordinate the planned robberies. They have been taking most of the food and supplies from the town folk, and rule by imposing fear into every one's mind and soul. The first day they came, they shot and killed the sheriff immediately. They left him hanging on a bare post in the center of town for tree weeks before they allowed the people bury him.

The next morning the drifter is still weak and unable to move. The family attends to him will wondering who he was. They saw he has many scars on his body, some of which were just newly formed. They hear a knock on the door. It is one of the criminal's men. He states that it was time for the weekly food collection. The father hopelessly hands him the food he has. The man grows angry at the small amount he receives. The father explains that this is a bad season for their crops. He doesn't want to tell the man that the drifter ruined his garden because he fears that the criminal will kill the drifter. The man isn't satisfied with the answer and demanded something else instead like money or something of value to him. The father refuses to accept the proposal out of furry, and the man leaves. The father is stunned at his response, and contemplates the consequences. The drifter is still out but was able to hear what happened.

Later that night, the father is asleep in his bedroom with his family until a hand grabs his mouth. It is the drifter. The drifter points to the door leading to the hallway. There is light underneath it, and there could be footsteps heard. It is the man from the morning, and he came back with some help to find some valuables to compensate from the lack of food. The drifter motions for the father to stay where he is and be quiet. The drifter slowly walks out of the room, and the father could only hear his slow clinging of his spurs from the vibration of the footstep on the wood floor and the clanging of objects being thrown around. Then everything stops. It was quiet for a few seconds until he hears low mumbles of voices and then several gun shots. The father rushes out of the room to see pools of blood next to the killer's me, and the drifter just standing there with his gun drawn. The father is panicking because now he knew he was going to be die.

The father exclaims "Why!"

The drifter quietly responds "These men deserved it. They have been doing wrong for too long. This wasn't about justice, but purity of the soul. I saw that they had no capacity for good. They were too tainted with evil. You are pure for you desired to help me in need, and that is what I'm thankful for." The father slumps down and tries to brace for the worst.

The next day the notorious killer comes to the house with the rest of his men. He was concerned when his lieutenant didn't come back last night from the raid. He wants an explanation or else he will use the family as a lesson to the town on paying on time. He orders several of his men to enter the home only to be met with the drifter's quick fired pistol. The killer is shocked at what he sees. He becomes furious and orders the house to be burned. Before his man can light a Molotov, he is killed. Several more are downed. The shots appear to be coming from several directions. The killer's men look around and then see the drifter. They stare into his soulless eyes which just shows death to them. They begin to lose confidence. Some ride off only to be shot by him. The killer is unfazed by the drifter's eyes. He tries to make a deal with him to no success. His men are almost all gone. All gone to by that man with the determined look on his face. He heard of such a man. A man that goes from town to town, and eliminates the truly evil with a just method. The bullet. He makes people face the consequences not with the law, but a high authority, God. God is judge and the drifter is the plaintiff that brings them to him.The law enforcement hates him, the towns people love him, and the criminals fear him. He makes people pay their just dues. But he knows he is just a man. A man that bleeds. He will make sure he bleeds till the end. He orders his remaining men to kill him. With the swiftness of light they are gone. The drifter barely moved. It just him and the drifter.

Sweat pour down the killer's eyes. His hand feels clammy as it gets ready to draw and put this myth of a man to rest. Thoughts race through his mind about the stories. He yells he isn't through with his life yet as he draws quickly only to feel a sharp pain in him. He looks down. Blood. The hot lead is in him which marks his time to go. The drifter wants him to face the consequences of his actions now, with God.

The Perfect Day

You wake up groggy and coughing. Last night was rough, and you couldn't get any sleep. Your mom says you are sick and can't go to school today. Success! You have a whole day off to do whatever you want! You quickly plan out your day with the ultimate goal of making that model tank you planned wanted to work on for weeks. Today is the day to seize that opportunity.

You sleep a few extra hours, and get up at 11. You lazily get downstairs for breakfast and TV. Nothing good is on, but you don't fell like getting up. So you decide to watch some old 80's sitcoms like Married with Children. At 2 you finally get the power to get up and do something else. You get an urge to play some video games. You know better than to play video games if you want to make your model, but you give in. You play for a while and suddenly realize that it is getting late. You desperately try to take control of the situation, but laziness overruns your attempts. After you muster enough motivation to stop, it is 5. This means lunch.
For lunch it is frozen pizza and TV. You want to finish quickly to get time to make your model, but you find a good movie on TV, Commando. Laziness overwhelms you again. You sit there helpless while watching that great movie.

Once the movie ends, 7 pm, you rush to get underway with your model. You manage to set it up before your parents call you for dinner. You hopelessly go downstairs for a quick dinner.It unexpectedly drags on till 8:30, but those cutlets were amazing. You receive new from your mother that you are well enough to go to school tomorrow. This cuts off any hope to push your plan back a day. You have to work on it today.

Now you face a new problem. A new episode of you favorite TV show is on tonight. You watch it with envy because it is limited time wasted, but also, it is a great episode. Laziness strikes again, and you are forced to watch another show.

Finally, after a whole day attacked by laziness, you manage to achieve your ultimate goal to work on your model tank. The time spent on your model is no where near your proposed time, but it is time spent on it. You manage to get some ground in completing the model, but it will require more time. You have to wait for another day where you will be able to have a whole day free. This may take a long time, but you have the patience for it.

True Freedom

Man has been bound
To Earth's gravity
Forever.
Until now,
Orbiting high above Earth,
Freehold,
Is where freedom truly lies.
Freedom means
no sensation of weight
or direction of up or down.

There is no up or down
Determined by the
Direction of the acceleration drive,
Or centrifugal spin.
Furniture take upon
Radical new designs
For it doesn't need to
Fight gravity.
Buildings don't worry
About upholding weight.

Free fall,
Free flight,
Free orbit,
They are all
The same.
Consult any ballistician
Or any astrophysicist
And they'll explain.

Waldo by Robert A. Heinlein

How to Become a Runner

Decide you want to run. Join the track team. Make some friends, and some competition.

Buy some shoes, one for races and one for practices. (It pays off to have two.) Get a discount for being a team member. Everyday, after school, get ready for practice. Run the warm ups laughing and joking around with friends and count evens while stretching in a circle. Listen to the coach while he explains the workout. Dread the workout. Wish it was all over, that you weren't a runner but a tennis player or anything so you don't have to run this. Regret having that chili last night for dinner, but don't because it was so good. Finally, finish the workout, and wonder how you made it. Be proud that you survived, and that you got stronger out of it. You have to be prepared to get incredibly tired so you can barely walk in order to truly feel the accomplishment. Get ready for the next day's practice.

Today you have a meet. You are going to run in your first race of the season. You're nervous all day, there is a giant knot in your stomach. Wish the day was over, that you already ran your race, or something occurred which canceled the race. Think about that the entire time until the gun goes off. Focus on the race, get a sense of adrenaline kicking in. Ignore the screaming crowds all around you. Feel the heart race in you, the legs just moving back and forth. Stare at the ground, at the person in front of you, at how many laps left to go. Try to catch up to people, and pass them, while making sure no one passes you.

The bell rings, it's the final lap. Your heart races faster, you feel pressure building in you to go faster. The last hundred meters. You remember what to do. Sprint. Sprint to catch the guy barely in front of you. Sprint to beat the guy trying to pass you. Sprint to secure a place for yourself. Sprint to shave off a second or two off your time. You run pass the line, and try to slow down. You can barely breath or stand. Your legs can't support you or themselves. This is what the hard practices were for. The coach come over to congratulate you, evaluate your performance, and report your time. It's a new time. The work paid off. This is the ultimate reward in running. Seeing yourself get faster, to a new time you couldn't have imagined possible.

Now, get ready for the next race. Go to practice with a goal in mind. To run even faster.

great book

I am currently reading Waldo & Magic Inc. by Robert A. Heinlein. It is a very interesting book that has a lot of science embedded in it. It's about the future where cars and other things are power by radiant energy. I started reading this book a while ago but never finished it. This book gets DEEP into scientific theories and physics. Today while I was reading the book, a main character, Waldo, was considering an interesting theory about "the Other World." It is said to be here but not here physically. This reminded me about the show The Universe on the History Channel becuase an episode was about parallel universes. It is some crazy stuff, but it makes some relative sense. I'm glad I got to learn physics and watch some The Universe episodes becuase it helps me understand the concepts better. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a science-fiction book that explains how some things work in the book.

Why We Read

It is very important for people to read. It allows people to exercise their imagination, and reading skills. Sure I don't read a lot, but I should. I don't read a lot because I don't have a lot of time to read. There are so many good books out there to read and so little time.This is an argument many people have against reading. The way to solve this problem is to MAKE time! I don't think people are so busy that they are doing something every second of the day. You don't have to read hours at a time. You can read just half an hour a day to take the place of a boring TV show. I like watching TV, but sometimes there is nothing good on, and/or I'm waitng for something else to come on. This is a great time to read. I also make models which consumes a lot of time, but I still manage to make them becuase I time manage. People complain that they don't like reading becuase they don't TRY to make time to read. If people read even a little bit a day, they will be successful.