Origin Story

It’s now been over a year since my last blog post. So as a refresher course of Me; here’s some of what you missed:

A Year in the Life

Last you heard about me was that I was working at the local Best Western checking people in and out (mostly doing the night shift). I was only there for a couple months before they fired me because “training didn’t work out,” whatever that means. This was after I had already turned down working in Hume Lake for the summer. I went from having two jobs, to having one job, and now I had no job. Turns out God’s timing is perfect, because a couple weeks later I found out about a job that had just opened up at the John Muir Lodge in King’s Canyon National Park. One of that summer’s ACMNP’s team members (remember that ministry I was a part of five years ago, back when I first started my blog?) had suddenly left the team, leaving a vacancy at the hotel and also on the team. It was fortuitous (and definitely a God thing) that I had just had a couple months of experience working in a hotel so that I could then easily take a job at a different hotel.

This picture was taken on the way to Redwood Canyon, where the team and I stayed overnight.

It was fun to be a part of ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) again. Last time I was in Sequoia National Park, this time I was the park right next to it - King’s Canyon National Park. Because I knew how to play guitar (having taught myself four years ago in Sequoia), I mostly just led the music for the services, but I also gave a couple messages. I enjoyed getting to know the other team members as well, though once again I haven’t kept in touch with any of them after the summer ended.

I was in the mountains from mid-May to about mid-September. ACMNP was only a summer ministry, but the job I had at John Muir Lodge was for as long as I wanted. In theory I could have stayed up there even until now (maybe I should have). The main reason I left the job up there was the distance. I was driving up and down the mountain almost once a week. I lived in employee housing while working there, but I also wanted to spend time with my family during the summer. Because I was torn between two places that summer, it finally got to the point where I had to make a choice. I decided to return to the valley.

During my last few weeks in the mountains I was also itching to be a part of another play or musical. That’s not the reason I left, it was just a benefit to returning home. During one of my days off I decided to go back down to the valley and audition for an upcoming musical one of the local theaters was putting on: Into the Woods. This was being done at the same theater where I played Lord Farquaad in Shrek the Musical. I knew that because of my job in the mountains I wouldn’t be able to make it to many rehearsals, therefore I wouldn’t be able to take on a main role, but I wanted to be a part of the show anyway. I was cast as Rapunzel’s Prince, a fun but small part, which I was glad to accept. My brother meanwhile had been cast as The Baker, my sister as Little Red Riding Hood, and my father as The Mysterious Man. With my Mom helping with the music, it became a fun family experience.

While rehearsals were still going on, one of my sisters and I went down to Anaheim for the day to visit Downtown Disney and see Owl City live in concert. Owl City is nowhere near as big as he used to be (you could almost consider him to be a one-hit wonder with “Fireflies”). But my family (especially my sisters and I) have been fans of his throughout his career. His latest album, Cinematic, may actually be my favorite album of his. This is the album he took on his recent tour. It was incredible seeing him performing these songs live. My favorite song on the album is actually called “Cinematic”, and is about how life is like a movie (the song also references Star Wars, which I like). Adam Young (the artist behind Owl City) excels at writing encouraging songs, and this one is no different. I also like that Adam Young writes about his Christian faith in some of his songs. I’d love to meet him someday.

A good close-up picture from the concert that my sister took.

A couple weeks after the Into the Woods cast had been announced and rehearsals had already begun I officially returned home. Now that I was able to make it to every rehearsal I was able to help out much more; which also meant I could now be a bigger character. The other Prince and I decided it would be best for the both of us if we switched parts. I was now playing Cinderella’s Prince - an equally fun character, but a much more important role. With this new part I had to learn several new lines, as well as another song, both of which didn’t take long. What made this musical even more memorable for me was that as a part of the choreography for “Any Moment”, I had my first on-stage kiss. What made it more amusing to me was that the character I kissed was the wife of my brother’s character.

The other prince and I doing our best smug faces. This picture was turned into a portrait that hung over the fireplace in Act II.

The musical ran for two weekends, though I almost wish it had gone on longer. It was tiring, but it was a blast. But now that it was over I could refocus my full attention on finding a job again. I had been looking for a job even before I left the mountains, but now I really needed something. Eventually, through a contact from church, I was able to get a job working for an after-school program. I was hired about mid-October, so I had only been about a month without a job. When I started I first worked in two different schools, one about 15 minutes away, the other about 20 minutes away. At these schools I taught computer science, or rather I was supposed to teach computer science. The curriculum we were given involved Lego Robotics (something I had always wanted to try). At one school we didn’t have enough tablets and robots to go around so we were only kind-of able to do the curriculum. At the other school we weren’t able to use the tablets or robots at all, so we just did engineering projects with the Legos (projects like building tall, structurally sound towers, as well as bridges that can hold a certain amount of weight). Once during those first couple months I was also able to help out with First Lego League (FLL), a Lego Robotics competition - something that I always wanted to try as a kid after seeing it on kids shows like Zoom.

During those first couple months at this job I found out about another upcoming local musical that interested me: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. This was being done at the same theatre where I did Big Fish, Pecos Bill, Oliver!, and Pippin. I auditioned and was pleasantly surprised to be cast as Charlie Brown. This was super fun musical that was unique in that it only had six cast members. I wasn’t familiar with this show before auditioning so it was a lot of work to learn all the songs and lines - including a long monologue at the beginning. This stuff comes pretty easy to me though, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Snoopy, Sally, Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus performing "Beethoven Day"

I know that music runs in the family, but apparently theater does as well. In 1981, when my dad was working as a high school teacher, he and some of the other faculty put on a production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and my dad played Charlie. This version they did was slightly different than the one I was in, which was based on the Broadway revival. Still, it’s fun that I had the same part in the same play almost 40 years later. Maybe if I ever have a kid someday I’ll try to get him to play Charlie Brown.

That's my dad as Charlie Brown in the center and in the top left corner.

A couple weeks before Christmas, I had a break from work (because school was not in session), and also a break from Charlie Brown rehearsals. One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a fancy display case to hold Lego minifigures (of which I have many). After Christmas my siblings and one of our cousins did an escape room for the first time and also saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, both of which were excellent. Around this time my parents told us that we were finally officially planning on going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios, something we had been talking about for a while. They set a date in late March, which was then changed to early April because that worked better for everyone’s schedules (more on that later…).

After Christmas break ended, the after-school program sent me to a local school to help out for a couple weeks before I began teaching computer science again at the other two schools. But this school I was helping out with temporarily just happened to be within walking distance of my house, which is much more convenient for me travel-wise. I submitted a transfer request, which was quickly approved, and began helping out at the after-school program there (not teaching computer science, just working as an after-school program leader). I was now responsible for a group of about 20 kids for almost 4 hours every day. It was a challenge, but I was determined to take it on. After all, if I one day want to work as a film or stage director or something of that kind, I would need to have leadership experience.

Every day I signed kids in, played a game or two with them, took them to snack time, and led the kids for about an hour on a  specific program. When I first starting working there I took over for a teacher who was leading a class on Spheros, which are small spherical robots controlled by tablets (similar to the Lego robotics I had done before). After that ended, I then got to choose my own program to lead - I chose drama. This is something I know much more about; plus it would be good experience for me. The after-school programs are meant to be mainly student-led, so I had the class vote on a play out of a few options I chose for them. They opted to do a Scooby-Doo play, which I was super excited about. I found an episode of the classic show Scooby-Doo Where Are You? and converted its screenplay into a stage script - something else that was probably good practice for me.

During the later part of the Spheros program, I asked for a Friday off in early April for the Harry Potter trip. The supervisor said that should be fine. When it got to about a week before the trip, I got a message from the supervisor saying that she could not approve my time off request because one of the other teachers was still sick. The two-day tickets (Friday and Saturday) had already been purchased, and there was no way to get a refund. Plus if I only went on Saturday, I would have had to buy a whole new ticket, because the other tickets are specifically two-day passes. I explained this to the supervisor, and talked to a couple of the other after-school teachers about it. The other teachers said it shouldn’t be a problem to just take the day anyway, since it’s something my family had been planning for a while. The supervisor herself said she couldn’t stop me from going, but that it would just reflect poorly on any kind of employee evaluation. I figured this was alright; I hadn’t missed a single day of work, and Fridays are much more laid back because many kids don’t go to the after-school program on those days anyway. I explained that I was sorry, but I really couldn’t come on Friday.

Our family spent most of the first day in the Harry Potter part of Universal Studios. It was a little weird seeing all the buildings covered with “snow” while the temperature didn’t match, but overall it was exciting experiencing everything there. One of the rides, Flight of the Hippogriff, was short, but fun. After that ride we ate at the Three Broomsticks and had a delicious feast of chicken, ribs, and vegetables. We also tried the butterbeer, which I was not sure about at first but I actually liked it. The other main Harry Potter attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, had a long wait, but it was worth it. I got a little bit of a headache from screens that were a part of the ride, but my dad felt much worse. After getting off the ride he looked almost green. We figured, for my dad’s sake, that we should go on something nice and calm next. We decided to go on the Universal Studios Tour, which was one hour of just sitting on a bus taking a ride. I loved seeing all the sets and sound stages they took us past, which made me wish that one day I could return here not as a tourist on a ride, but as a filmmaker or actor. Unfortunately for my dad, we didn’t realize that there were a couple 3D experience parts to the ride, one of which nearly made my dad throw up. He was done with rides after that.

My siblings and I posing with the Scooby Gang.

Aside from the rides, we also did a Walking Dead walk-through attraction, saw a trained animal show and watched a special-effects show. One of the highlights of the trip for me however, was meeting Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne. I also met Frankenstein and shook his hand, though he didn’t have much to say. I saw Shrek and Princess Fiona, but unfortunately Lord Farquaad was nowhere to be found (they didn’t even have Farquaad merchandise in any of the stores). On the way out of the park I got myself a Jurassic Park mug, which I then broke the handle off when I tripped trying to go up the down escalator. I then accidentally cut my finger on a sharp shard of the mug’s handle and had to spend the whole trip back with a large bandage on my finger (the mug has since been repaired with glue).

We were all exhausted from the trip, but I was eager to tell my students about it, especially about how I met the characters from the play we would be performing. I returned to work on Monday, and everything seemed to be going fairly well. Then near the end of the day the supervisor’s supervisor approached me and told me I needed to attend a meeting at the main office the next day. From the way she told me about it, it didn’t sound like it was going to be a good meeting.

It wasn’t.

That Monday was my last day at the school, and the next day at the meeting was my last day of work with this after-school program.

I could have just told them I was sick that Friday, but that would have been lying. I did contact people to try to get someone else to cover for me on Friday, though no one could. I had perfect attendance up until then. That Friday was the only day I missed. Even in the short time I was there other after-school teachers had missed several days. Now I won’t get to see the Scooby-Doo play that I put all that work into, and I am now without a job…

…again.

The next week was spring break, so I wouldn’t have been working anyway. My dad, my sister, and I took a road trip out to Ohio to get my sister’s things from my Uncle and Aunt’s house. She had taken a semester off of college but has now decided to not return, so we needed to get everything she left behind. It was a long trip, but it was nice to be away for all that time.

We got back, celebrated Easter, watched Avengers: Endgame (twice), celebrated my 27th birthday, and now we’re here.

So now what?

Origin Story

I’ve titled this post Origin Story because, like nearly all superhero stories, this story has a sad beginning. I don’t mean to say I consider myself a superhero; I just mean that I am seeing my story from my point of view - and it’s not going so well right now.

Almost all superheroes have a sad beginning. Or maybe their life is going okay for a while, but then something sad happens to them. It’s at this point, when the hero is at their lowest point (or at least the lowest so far), that something amazing happens that turns their life around. Suddenly this hero can be who they were meant to be - who they were destined to be.

I’m still in that sad origin story part, waiting for something, anything to happen. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be waiting here.

I applied for unemployment, at the suggestion of the very people who made me unemployed. I’m still waiting to hear back.

I have no idea where to begin looking for a job, again. I feel like I can’t stay in this town anymore. There are too many people I have to avoid now - former employers and former fellow employees.

I know this isn’t nearly as important, but in terms of plays and musicals, I’m wanting to be a part of some stage production again. A local theater will be putting on a stage adaptation of Prince Caspian, following their recent play of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I love Narnia so I’d like to audition for this play, though I’d also like to be in a musical again as well. Though this all needs to take a backseat for now.

Prayers would be nice.

Headlines are the hardest part

In case you didn’t hear, I have a job now! I work for the Foothills Sun-Gazette newspaper as a reporter! I had given them my resume several weeks ago, then checked back with them two or three times to see if they had looked at it yet. Finally, they arranged a day and time for an official job interview. When I came back for the interview, I discovered it was less of an “interview” and more of a “welcome to the Foothills Sun-Gazette” kind of meeting, which I didn’t know about. I came bringing five writing samples and a mind ready to answer whatever questions I might be asked. Instead, I’m handed a manilla folder and told that it is my hiring packet. The editor told me to come in at 1:00 tomorrow to start work, and that was it!

In my first week there I did more re-writing than actual writing. I’ve now done several re-writes of press releases into article form, as well as re-writes of police reports into short paragraph story form, into a section called “Crime-lines.” I also did one over-the-phone interview to get more information about a car show in Porterville, and a face-to-face reporter assignment where I took pictures at a ribbon-cutting (yes, I get to do some photography too!), then interviewed the new business owner (that article can be found here). Though this is only about my third week at this job I’ve found that they are slowly giving me more and more assignments. I guess that was nice of them to sort-of ease me into it, but it’s a little scary to all of a sudden be given responsibility for six stories in the paper, all but one of which need interviews with people either over the phone or in person.

I like one-on-one conversations with people, but one of the scariest parts of this job is making the phone call. Once the conversation has begun, I’m fine; it’s just the idea of me being outgoing and calling contact after contact to get a story. It’s also a little scary when I have to go in-person somewhere all by myself. I find that I am the one who has to go introduce myself to people, then I have to be the one pressing them for answers to questions, or being directive and telling people where I will be taking the picture. This job is forcing me to me more extroverted, which I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's getting me out of my comfort zone.

I also feel like my editor and publisher are either testing me or putting a lot of faith in me. Either way, they are often pushing me out on a limb by myself (in a good way, I guess). For example, yesterday I had go to a sort-of press conference all by myself. I wasn’t told what questions I should ask, so I had to come up with some on the spot. It’s a kind of trial by fire, but I guess it will get me used to reporting very quickly. I’ll be learning from a lot my own mistakes for a while.

The job also has a very fluid schedule. I can clock in and clock out whenever I want, as long as I get all my hours in for the week. This means that if I get all my hours for the week done by Thursday, I can take Friday off - kind of like homeschool. I also find that it’s hard to plan too far ahead, because I never know when I am going to get a last-minute assignment to take pictures of a fire or take notes at a board meeting. This also makes it hard to commit to doing another play or musical. I was asked if I could possibly be in Encore Theater’s production of But Why Bump off Barnaby?, in which I would have played Barnaby, but this fluid schedule really won’t let me commit to something like that right now. Plus I was feeling exhausted after having just finished Oliver! and Beauty and the Beast back-to-back.

One of the perks of this job is that I now have a press pass! Suddenly, I now have access to places many people cannot normally go, and I get to meet with people that many do not get the opportunity to meet. I must be careful not to abuse this power. Like I said in my last post, with this job, “people won't look twice when I want to go somewhere dangerous and start asking questions…” And I must say, it is extremely difficult to not make myself think of Peter Parker or Clark Kent whenever I’m taking pictures or doing an interview. I also have the nerdy glasses that both of them wear. Although when I take them off I don’t become a superhero, my vision just gets slightly blurry. But of course, I have still worn my Superman shirt underneath my dress shirt. Did you really think I wouldn’t?

Another cool part of this job is that I get to write real stories. I get to interview real people in the real world who have stories to tell, and I get to help them make sure their stories are heard. It is also helping me learn how to look for stories and how to ask the right questions that will lead to stories. This is a skill that could help in the future if I ever write for TV or movies. But for now, I'm writing these stories in a form I am not quite familiar with. I’m only really used to writing academic essays, creative writing pieces, or blog posts, so news articles are a new thing to me.

For the most part it’s pretty simple; I put the most important parts at the beginning of the article, starting with a “lead” or “hook” that gets the reader interested. Before that is my new twitter handle @MNewman_SGN (which stands for Sun-Gazette Newspaper), before that is the deck, or sub-headline, and then the very first part is the headline, which seems to be the hardest part. The editor told me that headlines generally should be six words at the most. The headline also has to do the job of catching the reader’s attention and telling the entire story of the article in only a few words.

I like coming up with titles for blog posts - I think I get that from my dad who always says he spends way too much time coming up with sermon titles - but headlines are different. Unlike the title of a blog or a sermon or the chapter of a book, which gives an idea of what the whole thing is like, a headline has to grab the reader’s attention long enough to lead to the deck, then the hook, then the rest of the article. I’ve been told this is where I can be the most creative, but so far that mostly just seems to involve dumb puns. Last week I rewrote a press release about the Kruse foundation which donated a bunch of money to help buy meals for impoverished families. I titled the article “Kruseing to end hunger.”

It's cool to feel like you belong somewhere, and that's a little bit how I feel right now. I just have a good feeling that God wants me in this job right now. The day I gave the newspaper my resume, I was actually heading somewhere else, when the thought randomly came to my head that I should stop by the newspaper and drop off a resume. After I was hired, I found out that the day I dropped off my resume, the editor and publisher were feeling very short-staffed and thinking they would probably have to hire someone else. I’m not sure why God wants me here, how long it’s going to last, or what’s next, but all I know is that I’m here now, and I’m going to do the best I can for His glory. Plus, if my job, salary, and hours stay exactly the same, it is likely I will be able to pay off my school loans entirely in around 3-4 years. This is assuming, of course, that nothing will change - but change is the only thing I can be certain of.

By the way, I never did get a call back from Save Mart, but at this point, I’m fine just working at the newspaper.

Nerdy updates

There is finally an update on the Chronicles of Narnia film series!!! Though the film still seems to be stuck in what is known as “development hell,” The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair now has financing and distributors! The film will be produced by TriStar, eOne Entertainment, The Mark Gordon Company, and the C.S. Lewis Company, and it will be distributed by eOne Entertainment and Sony (the official press release can be found here). The screenplay is being written by David Magee (who wrote the screenplays for Finding Neverland and Life of Pi), but nothing has been announced as far as director, cast, or release date. It is my speculation that the very earliest this film could be released is late 2018, but it’s more likely to come out sometime in 2019 or 2020.

The history of the Chronicles of Narnia film series is a long and complicated one, but a helpful guide to it can be found in an older blog post here. That essay was initially written April 22, 2014, and this is the first real update on the movie since then, more than two years later!

Although, one piece of sort-of new was announced, during a press conference a few months ago. Mark Gordon, one of the producers of the film, said that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair would serve as a reboot to the Narnia film series. This (probably) doesn’t mean that they will be re-making the three movies that have already been released. This very likely means that The Silver Chair will serve as a "re-quel," meaning that it is a sequel to the first three movies, but also will help to "reboot" the series so that more can be made after this. This is a trend among several movie franchises today. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and Mad Max: Fury Road, are just a few of the many films today that are sequels of movies released a long time ago.

Because of his age, it’s unlikely now that Will Poulter will return to play Eustace Scrubb, which is too bad, because he was one of the best parts of Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Also, since this is an entirely new production crew and company as the last three movies, I honestly don’t know if Liam Neeson will return to voice Aslan, but I very much hope he does.

Even though this will be a sort-of reboot to the series, I very much hope they use the same logo, and keep the same musical themes, if only just for the sake of continuity. Assuming pre-production continues on The Silver Chair, it will eventually get released. Then, if it makes enough money, the film series can continue. But which film would be made next? A safe bet would be The Magician’s Nephew, which was almost chosen as the fourth Narnia movie instead of The Silver Chair.

Nerdy update part 2:

Take caution! This contains SPOILERS for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 & 2. Read at your own risk!

I have now finished reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: Parts 1 & 2. It was a very quick read - I probably could have read it all in one day had I not been busy with rehearsals for Beauty and the Beast. Plot-wise, the play was decent, though not quite on par with the rest of the books. But there is one aspect of the story that I had mixed feelings about.

This story seemed to change the Wizarding World’s established rules on time-travel. Near the end of my review of X-Men: Days of Future Past, I went on an extended tangent about the two main types of time-travel used in stories. I wrote that one type of time-travel follows the “whatever happened happened” approach, while the other follows the “time can be re-written” approach.

The “whatever happened happened” approach is the idea that no matter what anyone does regarding time-travel, the past cannot be changed, and the future cannot be re-written. Everything is as it is, and it will always stay that way, no matter how much people mess around with time. This is the approach to time-travel that was taken in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. When Harry and Hermione go back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius, they see themselves. They even interfere with themselves when Hermione throws a rock at Harry’s head. But this was not new. They had already done it; they just weren’t their other selves at that point. When the executioner brings down his axe, it was always a pumpkin - it was never Buckbeak’s neck. And Harry already knew he could produce a powerful patronus to defeat the dementors, because he had sort-of already done it. Everything that happened already happened. No matter what anyone does if they go back in time does not affect the future, because everything has already happened.

The “time can be re-written” approach is self explanatory. Time-travel has a cost. A little change in the past can mean a big change for the future. Going back in time has the potential to create an alternate future, which it almost always does. This is the type used in movies like Star Trek (2009) and X-Men: Days of Future Past.

In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, when Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy go back in time, they come back to find that many things have changed. And when they go back again, the future is changed to a post-apocalyptic-type world where Voldemort is alive and well. The future is saved when they go back in time again to block the spells that had changed the future in the first place.

Though it was kind-of fun reading these alternate futures, especially the one where Cedric Diggory had become a Death-Eater and killed Neville Longbottom, this type of time-travel does not agree with the type presented in Prisoner of Azkaban. Maybe this is due to the fact that J. K. Rowling did not actually write the script for this play; the script was written by Jack Thorne. J. K. Rowling’s name appears on the book only because the play is merely based on a story written by Rowling, Thorne, and John Tiffany. Thorne clearly enjoys playing with time-travel in this play, and it is fun to read, but I can’t help but be a little bit bothered that previous rules concerning time-travel in this universe were seemingly ignored.

Also, the whole idea of Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange having a child together was a little weird as well.

Overall, still an enjoyable Harry Potter story, so long as you don’t try to understand the time-travel too much.

A Long-Expected Blog Update

                I haven’t posted anything in here for about a month and a half, and that’s not okay. I started this blog as a way to both update readers on events in my life, and also as an outlet for me to write freely about what’s on my mind. I enjoy writing in here, I really do; and I've had a ton on my mind the past month that I need to get out in writing.

                So, what has been on my mind?

How I Spend My Free Time, or The Origins of Firelord Mike

            Well, let’s start with why I haven’t written on here for so long. I’d like to blame schoolwork, but that’s only part of the reason. It’s true, the semester is slowly but surely coming to an end, and as usual, the homework is piling up; but even though I have more homework, I've still had some free time, that I could have used to write, I guess I just chose not to. Writing on this blog is one of my favorite things to do, but when I have so many papers and responses to write for homework, I generally want to take a homework break that doesn't involve more writing.

For the past month I’ve usually gone to one of three outlets for free time: TV, games, or guitar. I’m still attempting to catch up on the recent episodes of Agents of SHIELD and Once Upon a Time, I just finished watching series 8 Doctor Who, and I’ve been trying to catch up on Parks and Recreation before the final season starts. I also finally finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender with my roommate, and I have to say, it was actually really good. It’s not anime like many people think it is; the animation style is similar to anime, but it’s a completely American show. The show consists of three seasons (or “books”) of twenty episodes, each around 22 minutes long. The first season, entitled “Book 1: Water,” was a bit slow at times, but still enjoyable and a good setup for the rest of the series. The second season, “Book 2: Earth,” was a lot better, and the season two finale was excellent. It reminded me of the ending of The Empire Strikes Back, but I won’t go into any spoilery details in case you, the reader, want to watch it at some point. The third and final season, “Book 3: Fire,” was also very good; the ending was satisfactory and had good closure for the characters. Over the past few years I’ve developed a passion for fire and burning things, which in past few semesters at school has turned into an acute form of pyromania: all that to say, I enjoyed the amount of fire and burning that was present in season three. Also, Firelord Ozai, the show’s central villain, is voiced by Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker from the original Star Wars trilogy and the soon-coming Episode VII: The Force Awakens). Overall it was a great show and I would recommend watching it at some point. I may have to watch the sequel series The Legend of Korra at some point.

              Apart from watching these shows I also spend free time playing various games on my computer. Usually I will play either LEGO Marvel Superheroes or Minecraft. One of my favorite activities in LEGO Marvel Superheroes is wreaking havoc by either destroying cars and creating traffic jams or stealing cars and hitting everything on the side of the road. I’d like to blame my arsonist tendencies on Minecraft but I think they started before that. All Minecraft did was give me an outlet to burn all the things I want without doing harm to real-world trees and structures. I also sometimes build things on there, but nothing gives me more pleasure in Minecraft than watching the world burn >:D The door to my room, which originally just had a paper with the names and majors of my roommate and I, now has the word “Firelord” written over my name on that paper, an “Arsonist of the Year” award given by a fellow unitmate, a warning sign about explosives, and a paper with this comic excerpt:

                Speaking of fire, there may have been an incident that occurred a few days ago in our unit. I will not go into further details at this time, but I will say that the smoke alarm might have gone off for a few seconds. Fortunately it didn’t sound long enough to warrant anyone coming to the unit. If someone had, and if they had seen my door, I’m not sure what would have happened. Though to be honest, I technically had no part in what may or may not have taken place. I merely watched, smiling wickedly, doing nothing to prevent the oncoming disaster.

                But back on the original topic, when I’m not burning things I also enjoy playing guitar during my free time. I don’t know if I’ve gotten any better at it, but I haven’t gotten worse. I only practice a couple times a week, which is not as much as I would like. What I love about playing guitar is the fact that it employs a great use of hand-eye coordination. When I look up chords for random songs on ultimateguitar.com I read the chords and sing along with the lyrics while at the same time moving my fingers to the right chord shapes and maintaining a strumming pattern that sounds right. Since I’m not doing Men’s Glee this year it’s cool to still be doing something musical for fun. It’s a great way to take my mind off school and also a great way to exercise my brain. Recent songs I’ve looked up chords for are “Wonderland” and “Clean,” a couple of my favorite songs from Taylor Swift’s new album 1989, which I’d like to write a review of eventually. Yes, I pre-ordered the deluxe-edition album – deal with it.

Michael Newman and the Order of the Phoenix

                In a sad bit of news, I had to get my hair cut a few weeks ago. I would have eventually cut it; I don’t want it that long, but it would have been cool to grow it out a little longer; maybe just as long as Aragorn’s or the Winter Soldier’s hair. During the week before I cut it, the intramural ultimate frisbee team I was on made it to the tournament. In several of the previous games I didn’t play quite as well as I could have because my hair kept getting in my face. But during the tournament, my hair was long enough to tie it back into a ponytail. Don’t ask for photographic evidence, because I don’t have it. I only know of one picture in existence of my ponytailed hair, and it is currently in the possession of the student body chaplain, a guy in my unit who was also our team captain. The reason I cut my hair was because I was cast in a film project that requires me to wear a wig. With my long hair, my head was too big to fit in a wig.

                The film org on campus is working on a shot-for-shot film replication scene of a scene from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and I was cast as Lucius Malfoy, the father of Draco Malfoy and a Death Eater. If you’ve seen the movies or read the books, you know that Lucius Malfoy has long blonde hair. My hair wasn’t quite long enough to dye blonde, and I was told that dying dark hair a light color is difficult, so I cut it. I may eventually post a picture of me with my short hair, but for now, here are a couple pictures of me in my Lucius Malfoy costume, one with the Death Eater mask, the other without:

The scene we are replicating is near the end of the movie when Harry and his friends find the prophecy in the Department of Mysteries, then Bellatrix and I show up and try to take it from him. However, just recently there was a last-minute decision to cut the scene shorter; so it now ends before Bellatrix even shows up, meaning a large part of my scenes were cut as well. I don’t mind however; it was still really fun being a part of this. The purpose of the project is study what it’s like to work on making a real film, which is actually really neat. I now understand why movies take so long to make. Even for simple one or two-second shots, it is often necessary to do many different takes. A green screen is used for all the shots because a model of the set inside the Department of Mysteries is being created on a computer. Once it’s all finished, it should look pretty similar to the actual scene. Everyone involved in the film will receive a digital copy of the scene when it’s complete, so I may be able to post it on here at that point. I just finished filming the last of my scenes today, so now I’m almost completely done. The only part I have left is to come back sometime during post production and re-record my lines for audio clarity. Unfortunately I didn’t get to keep the costume or the mask, but they let me keep the wand and walking stick. Overall, it was great working on this project; I can now put this on my résumé if I decide to pursue some kind of film career.

An Update on Classes, Graduation, and the Future

For the most part, this semester has been surprisingly easy, especially for a penultimate school semester. But as usual, I’m now finding myself having to finish up all the papers and projects I didn’t work on (or didn’t need to work on) earlier. My History of the English Language class (or H.O.T.E.L.), is going alright. The class is more of a history class than an English class, so the class format and the information we’ve learned in the class is not something I’m used to. I think (or hope) I’m doing decently enough to pass the class, but I’m honestly not too sure. Theology II is going much better. I’m like half a point away from an A- right now. The class is engaging and I love how much of it actually applies to my spiritual life. We also get to answer big theological questions like “Was Jesus actually ever tempted to sin?” My Graphic Novel class is going pretty well. We’ve been reading a ton of graphic novels; the most recent of which, Persepolis, I greatly enjoyed. As the final project of that class, I, along with two other students, will create my own graphic novel, though only 12-15 pages. The other students are doing most of the story writing while I’ll be the illustrator. I’ve had practice with comic art in the past. For years my brother and I wrote comics that were originally based on Disney’s Kim Possible TV show, though now they’ve gone completely away from anything similar to the original show. All that really remains are the character names and likenesses (except for that character we turned into a shark…).

Advanced Composition, as I’ve said before, is probably my favorite class. I love the essays we read in it, like George Orwell’s “Why I Write,” and I’ve been greatly enjoying the writing as well. Many of what I write is similar to this kind of writing, only more focused. This semester I’m also taking World Mythology Online, a class that sounds more exciting that it actually is. I’ve enjoyed reading many of the myths, but I recently found out that the class doesn’t count at all towards graduation. Now that I know this I have like zero motivation for the class. I now have a 5-7 page research paper due tomorrow night for that class, but I really don’t want to work on it. I sincerely hope my senioritis is cured before next semester begins…

Next semester is going to kill me; that is, if I’m able to sign up for classes for next semester. Registration has been open for me for a couple months now, but I haven’t been able to sign up for classes due to countless financial things that get in the way, putting business office holds that prevent me from registering. I’ve talked to many people but I still don’t know what else there is to do.

So assuming I’ll be here next semester, I’ll be taking Survey of British Literature from 1800 (AKA Brit Lit 2), Contemporary Studies in World Literature, American Literature from 1820-1865, American Women Writers, and the dreaded final capstone class, English Seminar. This last class alone might almost kill me, but tied together with the others, I’m going to die almost as many times as Rory from Doctor Who next semester.

After I graduate, it’s beginning to look like my best option now is take a year off from school, work and raise money, then go on to grad school somewhere else the next year. At this point most grad schools are going through applications that have already been submitted, so it would be too late for me to submit one; I’m not sure where I would even go. It’s still a dream of mine to one day go to school in Oxford and stay at C. S. Lewis’ house, so I’ll keep that in mind for the future.