MQRB - 10/27

Today was a orkmania, literally. At the beginning of the quest, Judee gave me a recording from Teacher Bo which could only be activated once I fused it with a pure Gamma crystal. I found one underground at Nemesis's underground science laboratory. I broke into a room containing five pure Gamma Crystals which if used with the recording. The message gave me a series of procedures to complete the assigned mission. I did so and during one of my procedures, I met an Orc Sorceress who admired me so much sp that she knocked me out and attempted to clone my DNA. Once I had completed the assigned mission, I communicated with her and asked her if she would like to meet me in the Earth Kingdom. She did so and I questioned her. She said she had searched through Nemesis's archives and found me. She said she had been studying me for thousands of years and her dream was to rule the world beside me. She then gained the loyalty of the other orcs who began to follow me. We promptly took over the Earth Kingdom and along with it formed an Orkanisation (get it? haha!).

I'm going to be performing!!!

►The Mirman Upper School Concert Singers will sing the National Anthem at the Nov. 3 Lakers Game against the Atlanta Hawks! They will perform center court in Staples Center at 6:30pm in front of 20,000 Lakers fans and a national television audience!

MQRB: Sunday 10/20

I absolutely LOVE being a Cosmic Giant. It's provides convenient travel (although the Tardises have now been released publicly) and powerful abilities. However, exercising my giant's full potential was not what I spent most of the quest doing. In fact, I spent the time increasing my power. Not my giant's power but my cosmic power. I did so by deciphering a Cosmic Scroll which took close to an hour (it was well worth it though). My power wasn't immediately increased, but I was told how to, which I will be most dedicatedly working on to complete. After the scroll was deciphered, I materialized in Titanus (a faulty choice) where I had to immediately enter a Tardis to travel to Earth. Unfortunately, I didn't have the 4 energy crystals required to travel. So, I spoke to a few Bananopolis citizens who graciously lends me 8 energy crystals (the other four were for a down payment for future negotiations). I traveled to Earth where I overheard a conversation between Merick and Nemesis. Nemesis had given Merick four orcs to travel with to Titanus. Then, Nemesis told Merick to order them in square formation which would set up a negative energy field around the being they surrounded. Nemesis told Merick to capture a Bulk Child. I preceded to warn the Bulk Children, but they still fell into Merick's trap. I had to save the captured Bulk Child which had been forced underground to experiment on. I shapeshifted into a smaller form to fit inside the tunnel that lead underground, and quite easily saved the Bulk Child. When I brought him back to the Bulk Tribe, they thanked me and allowed me free passage in Titanus.

I apologize if I am not writing as much as you would like. There are many things I have to omit because they involve private cosmic business. 

- Cosmic Giant Anthony

MQ Lomita: Saturday, 10/12.

What fun it is to have an apprentice assigned to you. In my case, it meant receiving a nice workout I haven't had in a while. Specifically, I walked the entire way to Zombaus instead of performing some of my tricky magic. Frankly, I am happy I did so, for I am beginning to see the benefits of walking instead of using energy. For one, I have derived pleasure from walking as I know I have reaped the benefits by working hard.

Our main mission today was to intercept a crystal recently excavated in Zombaus which Nemesis ordered be brought to him to strengthen his powers in one way or another. As usual, we were divided into two task forces. My apprentice and I traveled to Zombaus to find out when exactly the crystal would be transported to Titanus to be registered. At least, that was the plan. But, of course, nothing ever EVER turns out as planned in Mastery Quest. This occasion is no exeption. Instead of blending into Zombaus, we stood out more than ever to the extent where we actually faced three Nameless Sisters carrying the crystal!! They did not say something sinisterly stupid and then blend a shadow attack into their speech (thank god! It's a cliche movement among shadow lords). Instead, they asked me to take the crystal and they moved aside. I thought this was too good to be true (YOU THINK!!!) and I questioned them. They told me Princess Skitza would be more than happy to let me deliver the crystal instead of putting forth the effort herself (shadow lords are lazy like that). Just them, I received a message from JJ telling me Teacher Bo insisted I immediately report to Titanus. I had obviously fallen into a trap. My suspicions were verified when this overly ambitious shadow lord wannabe sees me and mutters something like, "Oh yeah. I'm gonna make Shadow Lord for sure now." The next thing I know, he has a couple Zombies under his control and he orders them to attack me! I quickly blasted them back/knocked them out. Poor guy. 

When I arrived on Titanus, I was warmly welcomed by the Bulk Tribe who's eyes started glowing red. I do a stupid thing and ask them why their eyes are glowing red and they start beating me up. I survive the attack and I summon my giant incarnation who beats up all three of the bulk tribe members. They protect with their energy. They protect repeatedly until my giant is out of energy and then my wizard gets into the fight with his monumental energy (well maybe not monumental but a reasonable amount) and knocks them out. Turns out, I fell into another trap fighting them. The Crystal was already well on its way past my incarnations and almost to the Titanus Communication Crystal. Luckily, JJ had a giant stationed baracading all passageways. The shadow lords found a way out as usual by touching the Hiddeon's heart and quickly escaping. The Hiddeon blamed JJ's Giant for the assault and ferociously attacked him. One giant out. Mine was the last one standing. To keep it short, I destroyed all three Shadow Lords transporting the crystal and took it. I then brought it to Wuda who had suggested earlier she might be able to materialize my mental form with it. After much strenuous exercise, I obtained a physical Cosmicly-infused form!!! Yay!!!!!! But I'm not just a Cosmicly-infused Light Being now. No...I'm something much more.....more powerful, more ferocious, and bigger than ever before.......all hail to Anthony, the Cosmic Giant!!!!!!*

*JK. Not about me being a giant, but you don't REALLY have to hail to me. Not if you don't want to at least. ;-)

MQRB: Sunday 10/6

Due to my congestion, there were many things I could not take part in. Dueling with lightsabers was not one of them. :-) I managed to hold off Eden for over 2 minutes today which I am very proud of myself for. I have never been able to perform such a feat! 

A new character was introduced in the game today. A one so disgusting and cruel. One so sour and obnoxious. Annoying and a sore loser (did I mention disgusting (he's basically a skeleton ugh)). Nemesis, the disgusting son of two disgusting people (here is proof that ugliness does pass down through genes). Nameless One, I hope u read this post and I hope you struggle in the suitcase to get at me and I hope you fail. Nemesis, no matter how much you have trained him, will be brought to his knees and slowly skinned alive (that is skin his bones because he has no skin). Speaking of which, he has no heart either. A sore loser he is. Afraid to lose to a Light Being which he did and used a forbidden ability to cover up the fact he is a complete failure. His existence is a failure. His parent's existences are failures!!!! Anyway, enough with the ranting...

Wuda, I suppose, thought I improved well enough at the Phoenix Sword Stance and sent me on a mission to retrieve 3 samples of Unbendium to plate my Sword of Destiny with. I did so and when I arrived back from Titanus, Wuda discovered a possible way to quicken the process of making my body a physical form. If I were to challenge Nemesis, my will/courage would increase to the point in which I would be able to maintain a physical form and all my incarnations. I defeated Nemesis in battle, but being the sore loser he is, he tracked me down and defeated me in battle after I dropped my ligtsaber in our first clash. My incarnation which fought Nemesis was captured and sent to Zombaus where it was thrown into a cage. With the gracious help of Amanda and April, I escaped. 

What happens next I do not know. We must wait till Saturday...

MQRB: Sunday 9/29

If you ask me, not really much happened today, probably due to the fact that most of the time we were cast in an awkward silence staring at the board, wondering what would happen next. Unfortunately, most of the excitement was saved till the end of the quest, when we rushed like maniacs to achieve something last minute.

We were visited by an alien ship. Obviously, we had something it needed because it scanned our planet thoroughly for a specific life form. Apparently, it was the Supreme Humanoid (referred in my previous posts as Cosmic Ape). The ship shortly afterward abducted one of my incarnations and sent them to the Mansion Worlds Desert where a strange bounty hunter looking like a giant police officer stepped out and began questioning me. After a quick back and forth conversation, the bounty hunter seemed dissatisfied with me and returned to his ship. He then journeyed to the Water Lands where he accessed the Edentian Library and used its knowledge to piece together an organic copy of Red Bulk Smash!!! Red Bulk Smash then moved into barrier position, guarding the library entrance and furthermore prohibiting travel to other worlds. Carrying the Supreme Humanoid, we stunned Red Bulk Smash and passed him. We journeyed to the Mansion Worlds Desert where we met with Big Bad Rhino, the Bounty Hunter, and Supreme Humanoid's brother. They locked us in and requested for the Supreme Humanoid. We struck up a bet that if Merick survived the Ball Deflecting challenge (dodged 10 balls thrown at him) they would let us free, but if he failed, we would give them the Supreme Humanoid. Merick lost, unfortunately, and so my warrior incarnation, in a fit of anger, threw the Supreme Humanoid at Big Bad, knocking him to the ground. After all, they didn't say what form I had to hand him over in. ;-) Anyway, Merick revived himself and tried to make them hand back the Supreme Humanoid, but they refused, of course, and left in their ship. Luckily, my warrior grabbed a hold of the ship just in time and caused it to crash. The Hiddeon jumped on my warrior. My warrior pushed it off him and onto the ship. Merick, still inside, was crushed along with Big Bad. Then, Wuda arrived in the scene. I asked her if she would be my Cosmic Master and she said she would accept me as long as I completed a mission. The mission was to sever Princess Skitza's (a shadow lord) control over the spiders which where invading the Water Lands. I did so and became her newest apprentice...

Science Current Event Article #2

Anthony Karambelas

9.29.2013

Science III


Teens and Sleep

Summary:

The article Teens and Sleep, by the National Sleep Foundation, is about sleep
and its effects on teenagers.

The first section of the article talks about how sleep is
energy for the brain and if you do not get enough of it, you are prone to illnesses,
injuries, accidents, and are more likely to be moody and disrespectful to others.

Not so fun fact: more than 100,000 car crashes each year are caused by lack of sleep.

The second section of the article consists of key sleeping facts: 1.) Sleep is just as
important as air, water and food. 2.) Teens need about 9 ¼ hours of sleep every
night. 3.) Maintaining irregular sleep patterns (staying up late and sleeping late on
weekends), you can damage the quality of your sleep.

The third section of the article consists of consequences of lack of sleep: 1.) Limits your ability to perform day-today tasks 2.) Makes you prone to pimples 3.) Leads to irritable behavior 4.) Results
in overeating typically junk foods 5.) Heightens alcohol effects 6.) Contributes to
illnesses.

The fourth section of the article gives solutions to prevent lack of sleep: 1.)
Make sleep priority 2.) Take frequent naps to supplement a sleep loss 3.) Make your
room specifically for sleeping 4.) Don’t eat, drink, or exercise within a few yours of
your bedtime 5.) Establish a reliable bed and wake-up time and stick to it 6.) Keep a
diary or to-do list.

The article also states that school have tried making their start
times later and as a result, their students have shown positive increases in focus and
better moods.

The last portion of the article includes NSF’s 2006 Sleep in America
poll data. The poll measured the depressive mood scores of 1,602 poll respondents
on a scale of “1” to “3” (1 being “not at all” and 3 meaning “much”). The poll showed
that 46% of the adolescents surveyed had a depressive mood score of 1, 37% of
adolescents had a score of 2, and 17% had a score of 3. Further study showed that
those with a score of 2-3 were more likely than those with a score of 1 to have more
trouble falling asleep.

The article concluded with a quote by Mary Carskadon, Ph.D., director of Chronobiology/Sleep Research at the E.P. Bradley Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I., “If parents and teens know what good sleep entails and the benefits of making and sticking to a plan that supports good sleep, then they might reexamine their choices about what truly are their ‘essential’ activities. The earlier parents can starts helping their children with good sleep habits, the easier it will be to sustain them through the teen years.”

Author’s Research:
To include this many facts about sleep, the author must have researched
much more than I could find. The clear sources they researched were NSF’s 2006
Sleep in America poll and Chronobiology/Sleep Research at the E.P. Bradley Hospital.

General Topic and Usefulness:
This article is about sleep and how it affects the lives of teens. It is a very
informative article and is very useful to me, as I have trouble squeezing in my sleep
on top of homework and living an hour away from school. Even though it is
obviously meant for teens, I can envision adults finding this article useful.

Additional Information:
After reading this article, I would like to know more about what I can do to
encourage schools to create later school start times. Perhaps if schools have later
start times, students will be more attentive. I would also like to know more about
homework and how to best manage it.

Opinion and Recommendation:
This article is very interesting and has made me more aware of the dangers
of lack of sleep. I would recommend this for any teenager to read. They should know
the consequences of not getting the sleep they require.