A Wookie's Journey, part one... Beginnings and Northerly Wanderings...

Or, the extra-long titled blog...

I shall start at the beginning, so as not to confuse people any more than they already will be... :P

Ever since I made plans to go to the Gatherings, my excitement had grown, especially in the last week before leaving. The thought of getting to go to the Gatherings, and visit friends while I was on vacation, lent me strength that I would not have otherwise had. The week before, the trip was all I could think about. I made arrangements to rent a car, so I could drive up to Chicago, then to Indianapolis, then Virginia, and finally Dallas. Everything was arranged and would go smoothly, I thought. When it was announced at work that there would be no work Friday, I thought everything had come together perfectly, since I wouldn't have to call in...

Then... Disaster... I went to the Avis location, gave my name, they pulled out the key and paperwork, then asked for my card. I pulled out my card and handed it to them. They said they couldn't take it, since it was a prepaid card. As I have no card for my savings account, and no regular credit card, this was a major issue. The rest of Friday was spent trying to rent a car. Various ways were tried, some at that location, and every other car rental place in Joplin...

Nothing worked. My hopes began to crash. I had looked forward to this trip so much, and it looked as though none of it was going to happen. I got depressed. I had been so excited about seeing everyone I'd planned to and getting away from Joplin. Saturday came and went and I had nothing figured out. I knew Chicago was out, but was there any way I could make the rest of my trip? I spent much of Saturday trying to find a viable option...

Saturday night, the beginnings of a plan came together. I was going to take a bus to Indy, Washington D.C, and Dallas! But, the ways I found were a bit expensive, so I searched for coupons. This was quite the task, as it turned out, but I finally did find some. With the coupons, the trip to Indy, Washington, and back to Joplin to prepare for the Dallas portion would cost less than the car rental...

Sunday afternoon I got on the bus and headed out of Joplin. This was my first ride on a bus that was not the school variety, by the way. We stopped a few places along the way, but those are fairly unimportant as far as this blog is concerned, so let's skip the bus ride portion...

Monday morning, around 3:20 AM, the bus pulled into the Indy Greyhound station. There I met Matthew. It was good finally being able to meet him. He took me to the hotel I stayed at. We talked, and exchanged souvenirs. The next day, after Matthew showed up, the car he was using wouldn't start for a bit. Eventually it started fine, which indicated it was likely a short... We went up to the Barnes & Noble that Ted Dekker was at, and I got Ted to sign a couple of books. After that, we went to get gas and were going to go see one of his friends that did glass blowing. At the gas station, the car wouldn't start again. This time it wouldn't start back up after a few minutes, so we had to push it to the side, and get a ride to Matthew's house. There, we watched part of Army of Darkness before I had to get to the bus station for my next destination. I had a great time in Indy...

Next stop, Washington D.C., where I met Courtney (and gave her a couple of graphic novels and her gift from Matthew), then rode with her and her dad to their house. There I met Amber and their brother Sean (and I gave Amber her gift from Matthew). We had pizza and also had ice cream cake from Coldstone (which I'd never had anything from before), then played some games.Later, we played Wii Sports, which I epically failed at. I blame the fact that I'd never played a Wii before... :p We also listened to some music, including the song that inspired The Grateful Dead's "Casey Jones". Amber stole Courtney's laptop and got into chat, followed by Courtney and myself getting into chat. The internet cut out, and then, we all went to sleep.

The next day, I woke up around the crack of noon. Amber had been awake for a while, but Courtney wasn't yet. There was more internet usage, followed by discussion of comics and comic movies, during which, Courtney and Sean joined us. Then, Amber went into the other room to play a warfare game, the name of which I can not recall. We watched her play and cracked jokes. Speaking of which, I don't want to go into a combat situation with her, because I'd prefer not to get shot. ;) Love you, Amber! After that, we watched "Everything is Illuminated", which was quite an interesting, and entertaining, movie. Then I played Wii Sports against Amber again, as well as some minigames on the Wii... I pwned on Billiards and... That's about it... :P Then, we sat down to eat a fantastic home cooked meal. Really, it was quite delicious. During dinner, we realised that there was a problem. I had to be at the bus station about midnight, but the train wasn't running to DC. After this realisation, Karah and her mom made it there. I gave Karah the signed copy of The Bride Collector I had gotten for her. The visit was all too short though, as the way for me to make my bus involved leaving soon. Amber and Courtney's dad was kind enough to drive me to the nearest Metro station, and from there I could make it to the bus station. So we had some more ice cream cake and talked for a bit. Then it was time to go.

I said my see you laters to Karah and her mom (goodbyes are too final and this won't be the last time I see them). On the ride to the bus station, Brandon had me call him, which I had been supposed to do before, but... I tend to be a bit absentminded... :P It was a good thing he had me call him then too, because it kept me from completely breaking down. There were some issues with hearing him on the speaker phone, but there were still plenty of laughs. We made it to the Metro and I said my see you laters to Courtney and Amber, and told their dad thank you for everything. Their whole family is pretty much awesome, by the way... Then it was a long, sad trip back to Joplin...

Part two, Gathering Insanity will be up soon...

What it means to be a Browncoat...

Well, as you should know by now, I am running for President in 2028 (not 2036 or 2038[which isn't even an election year]... Yes, we had some math issues, so we got a Math Advisor). As I have stated on our group page (http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages#!/group.php?gid=309703077141&ref=ts) we are running as part of the Browncoat Party... Now, I'm sure at least some of you are questioning what that means...

"But a man learns all the details of a situation like ours, well, then he has a choice."
"I don't believe he does."

A Browncoat stands by what he knows to be right, even when it's hard. They fight for freedom. They fight corruption. They fight those that would see freedom being taken away. They fight for their crew. They never give up.

"This report is maybe twelve years old. Parliament buried it, and it stayed buried till River dug it up. This is what they feared she knew. And they were right to fear because there’s a whole universe of folk who are gonna know it, too. They’re gonna see it. Somebody has to speak for these people. You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all come to the same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything I know this, they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten, they’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people…better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave."
"Shepherd Book always used to say, 'If you can't do somethin' smart...do somethin' right.'"

We believe that in America, the Constitution should be held in a place of prominence. The government has been distancing itself from the Constitution, passing blatantly unconstitutional laws. It has been taking the rights away from the states and the people at a growing rate. This must be stopped.

"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Are we willing to sacrifice our liberty any longer, or must it be won back? I fear a battle is coming, and I would like for it to be fought through diplomacy. I hope that we will win the 2028 presidential election, and am starting now to make it more of a fair battle. The two major parties have the advantage, especially since the media portrays those parties as the only options. This is a new age, though. Information can travel different paths now.

"You can't stop the signal, Mal. Everything goes somewhere, and I go everywhere."

Now, this will be a difficult campaign. I have no illusions about that. Working toward what is right can often be a struggle, but it is always worth the struggle.

"You've done remarkable things, but you're fighting a war you've already lost."
"Yeah, well, I'm known for that."

Various and sundry...

Been too long since I posted a blog. If I go for a while without posted another, please jump my case and get me to make another. :P This blog will cover a few topics that are on my mind at the moment.

The Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines incident

By now, most of you probably know about Kevin Smith getting kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for being "too fat." I've been following this story from the very beginning, and personally have to side with Smith on this. Smith says he is not giving interviews about it, because his piece is available. www.SModcast.com I do issue a language warning, because Smith does use quite a bit of language, as evidenced by the title of the SModcast, which I shall not repeat here. In case another SModcast goes up, I will tell you that it number 106, though it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Most of the news stories I've read have been biased toward the airline, possibly because of his not giving interviews. That is pure speculation, of course. A common part of their coverage includes the idea that he routinely buys two seats. He says in his SModcast that he does prefer to purchase two seat, but not because of his size, but because he is anti-social and shy in person, and prefers to have that buffer zone.

I'm sure we will all hear more about this for some time to come, but personally, I will do my best to avoid riding on a Southwest Airlines flight.

An Australian Law

A few weeks ago, I retweeted a link from my Twitter about a law that was possibly going to get passed concerning child pornography. The reason I retweeted said link was because I was interested in finding out what said law was about, since the title didn't say what kind of law it was, just that it would block anime, manga, and slash (personally, the last one I didn't care if it was blocked :P).

The author of the post was against the law because it would block certain sites that fell under those categories for containing fictional child sex, whether in images or text. I read the site and made my decision on whether I support the law or not simply based on what they said about it.

Personally, I support Australia in this case. A free speech law is not an issue, though it would likely be one in America. An example was made of someone drawing Bart and Lisa Simpson engaged in sexual activity. Personally, I have no interest in seeing that, and the thought of it disturbs me a bit.

Maturity

What is maturity? Is it seriousness? Is it something that comes from age? Is it something else altogether? Well, one form of maturity does involve age, but that's not the kind I want to talk about here.

When someone is known to act silly, they are often called immature, or told to grow up. Just because someone acts silly does not mean that they aren't mature. It is my opinion that maturity involves both a measure of silliness and seriousness. It involves being able to be serious when it is needed, and silly when serious is not needed. Of course, being able to be both at the same time is preferred.

Also, just because someone is younger does not mean that they are necessarily less mature in thought. While you can learn many things from those that are older than you, you can also learn many things from those that are younger than you. I know that I have. I'm not going to name any names here, but I have learned things from readers of this blog that are younger than me, and will probably learn more from some of them before my time here is done.

Hopkins/Killough 2036

For those who are reading this that don't already know, I am announcing my candidacy for the office of President of the United States of America in the election of 2036, with my running mate, Brandon Killough. To some, this may seem a bit early to start a campaign for the election of that year, but, as we are not rich, it would be wise to gather the support we can now, and keep building that support until that election.

In closing

That's enough for now, and if I don't make another blog later this week, yell at me until I do. Much love to all of my fine readers. :)