Looking for yourself out there

Almost 23:23. Awesome. Uh. Honestly, I'm not too sure why I'm posting. It's... a gorgeous night out; snuck out of my tent again to sleep under the stars. Man. It's amazing out here.

You... have to wonder. Because of the way light travels, any other those stars could be dead at this very second, but they're alive to us, alive and shining and more... there than we can ever know. Stars! Constantly dying and being reborn and we don't even know it. We don't know... much of anything, do we?

In this context... it's scary. As people, we want to leave our impact. Somewhere, someone could be looking at something glowing and it's Earth, and it's shining despite being long, long gone. And nobody knows it's gone; it's just....

But isn't that testament enough? All the tragedy and awesomeness and heartbreak and joy and sadness. Everything. Because the world wouldn't be the way it is without it, right? I say don't worry about leaving your mark. Do something that matters today, because somehow, somewhere, someone will remember you.

Look at me, I sound like Walter or something XD. Aw well. I think I'll head back to camp before I encounter some kind of toothed carnivore, ahaha. Goodnight, everyone. I'll post again in the morning.

Happy Trails (And sleep well!),

Zachariah Lewis

Aw.....

All you guys are killjoys, you know that? Aw well. Maybe that post'll be posted later. Gonna hide the draft somewhere. YOU CAN NOT SILENCE ME! AHAHAHA /SHOT

So, I finished "S is for Space" this morning while I was buggering off with Suze (Yes, I can multitask. Deal with it.), and omg so amazing. Bradbury is simply marvelous in the way that he presents the willing suspension of disbelief, and you know the amazing thing? We all go for it, and we don't even notice. Freaking brilliant.

Speaking of Suze, while I spent the morning prancing around the forest like an insane deer, she actually went and did something responsible. She's no fun, is she? Ah well. Dinner went well enough, as in there were a few grumbles, but they should try cooking for fifty! Lyle's been lurking all day at a distance, but if he wants to be a ninja, good for him (I wish I was one too).

The sun started to set not too long ago, and we kidnapped Elliott's guitar to strum some melodies and actually feel some group bonding (POWER OF FRIENDSHIP GOOOOO). So that, of course, means that everyone groans as I try my best to rock out to what little Fall Out boy and Ludo I can play. I'd try some Coulton, but I don't think anyone but me knows who he is. There are disadvantages to being a hipster, eh? Not that I'm a hipster at all. I just happen to stumble on stuff and sometimes that stuff turns out to be good.

The guitar is long put away, which means that I'm sitting here around the campfire, typing this up. God, it's been brilliant so far. Sun is usually shining, but the forest is pretty temperate, and very interesting to navigate. By interesting I mean that I'm only good at getting around because of my INTENSE ARMY SKILLS. Ah well. With 50 people in camp it's hard to get a moment to yourself, so I'm not knocking it.

Not sure what book I'm going to read next. I kind of just bought this whole lot of 60's to present day fiction on Ebay and... uh.... brought it all with me. Needless to say, there's going to be a lot of literature discussion from me. BORING LITERATURE DISCUSSION. NOTHING SCIENCE-Y AT ALL. WOW THIS IS FALSE ADVERTISING ISN'T IT?

Ah well, I'm having fun, even if there's really nobody to talk to. I'm guessing the class figured that if I rant to the internet, I'm not ranting to them. PROGRESS? Who knows. XD

Unless I'm struck by inspiration, that's all you get from me tonight. (I TRY TO POST MORE THAN ONCE BUT CAN'T SPEAK FOR NOSY EDITING GIRLFRIENDS). And who knows? Maybe I'll actually get to talk to someone on here that doesn't currently live within a mile radius of me.

Doubt it, though.

IF YOU'RE THERE, DROP ME A LINE! PLEASE! IMMA GOING CRAZY OUT HERE!

/SHOT

It's Day Four tomorrow. should I be worried? D:

Happy Trails,

--Zach(ariah) Lewis

The Walking Man

I said I'd post later, and here I am! I try my best to keep my promises, even ones made to an imaginary audience.

So it's day two out here and we're mostly set up. Everyone is kind of out exploring, but I've had my fill for the day, so you're all left with me discussing science fiction and urban legends and whatever else comes to mind.

Adleheid, our German exchange student, has taught me a few words in his native tongue. Kid can tell a scary story that would make your toes curl. German is a freaking awesome language and I wish I had more talent at learning it; course, Lyle is picking it up like no tomorrow and will probably be barking orders that nobody understands before long. Anyway, the kid has always been a bit jumpy but I'm assuming that comes from being in a new place. Good thing he's got his partner to keep him calm.

I'm already halfway through "S is for Space" since I started reading this morning and god, is it amazing. They just don't write science fiction like this anymore (though I've yet to try Discworld; seems that I'm missing out if TVTropes is to be believed). As I mentioned earlier, "The Pedestrian" is one of my favorites so far; the description of the totalitarian society is just so subtle that it kicks you in the face when you realize what's going on. I really liked "I, Robot" as well; how can you not? It freaking established the rules of the genre, and so many writers have followed in his footsteps it's freaking awesome. White Elephants has really got this phenomena working in present day and honestly; whoever writes that blog? You're being compared to Asimov. WELL DONE, GOOD SIR.

Geeze. If I had my ideas emulated by that I'd be freaking thrilled. Who wouldn't?

That doesn't really happen now a days too often. BEN was/is amazing, but it really didn't define a genre or anything. You're not going to see alternate things in the BEN universe (AS COOL AS THAT WOULD BE), and you're not going to see any of Jad's "Rules" anywhere else (AS COOL AS THAT WOULD BE). At this point, I think we'd all be happy with an update, but what can you do? JAD WORKS ON VALVE TIME. DEAL WITH IT.

(Though if he DID update and I couldn't see I would so RAEG)

So, this post did pretty much nothing except for establish I am a Troper, internet lurker, and probable /b/tard (I am a self admitted /x/tard but that's totally different). Hope I didn't annoy all of you with my nerding out. Go read something awesome if you want to be entertained, dammit! Joking, joking.

AND I SWEAR, ACTUAL SCIENCE WILL BE POSTED EVENTUALLY.

I'll post again tonight. See you guys!

(Would it be creepy if I called you HYBRIDS? Probably. Yeah, not going to do that.)

Happy Trails,

--Zach(ariah) Lewis

The Pedestrian

"To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight 'o clock of a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that buckling concrete walk, to step over grassy seams and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silences, that was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do. He would stand upon the corner of an intersection and peer down long moonlit avenues of the sidewalk in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really made no difference; he was alone in the world of A.D. 2053, or as good as alone, and with a final decision made, a path selected, he would stride off, sending patterns of frosty air before him like the smoke of a cigar."-Ray Bradbury

Sometimes when you're out here, you really feel like you're the only person on earth.

I got up early this morning. Like, really early. I don't sleep much, and really, I was too excited to sleep anyways. A whole new place to explore, OMGCAN'TWAIT. I tried to get up as carefully as I could to not wake Lyle, and went on my way.

It's hard to describe, but I guess I'll try my best. The air is fresh here, like the whisper of rain in the air or the faint tang of the salt from the ocean. It fills your lungs and your sinuses and it's absolutely amazing. It had been misty last night and the dew on the leaves sparkled like tiny diamonds. Wish I could capture one and give it to Suze.

But I digress.

The damp ground felt awesome beneath my feet (years of martial arts training means that I have the weird habit of walking around barefoot. Everyone in the class got used to it eventually), and I almost felt like I could feel everything in the forest, feel the flow of life and all that jazz. I wandered around a bit, making sure I didn't get lost, and enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise at a cliff edge. By god. Really makes you feel great, doesn't it? Each and every one of you reading this, I wish you could've seen it. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

By the time I got back, everyone was starting to wake up. Gave Suze a quick hug hello and got to work on breakfast. see, I'm a pretty good cook, so sometimes the duty is delegated to me. Don't mind much; I like to cook. Lyle watched intently; I'm guessing he wants to learn how too. He could just ask, doesn't he know that? ._.

Either way, some more posts might be up today because we're not doing much over here besides unpacking and slacking off. maybe I'll go exploring again (No, I'm totally not trying to shirk responsibility. What makes you think that?) Maybe I'll actually talk about that quote up there for a bit. Dunno. Either way, it'll have to be later; Stuart is shooting me eyedaggers and it's kind of freaking me out. >>;

God, Bradbury had a way with words, didn't he?

Happy Trails,

--Zach(ariah) lewis

Fool me once, shame on you...

Fool me twice, and apparently I'm retarded. Just going to throw a quick post up before bed. Suze decided to stand outside my tent and make me think that there was a giant... thing looming outside, her shadow twisting into something that I don't even want to discuss.

Did I scream like a little girl? Yes, yes I did. Thanks for asking. Now everyone is glaring, whoops! At least Lyle doesn't really care if I'm typing this up, even though I'm sitting right beside him and this tent isn't exactly spacious.

So, with that little piece of shame, let's move on!

I promised all.... none of you that I'd post short synopsizes about my friends; considering I'm friends with about everyone that'll be a bit difficult. So I'm going to try and keep this short and sweet.

(Some actual Science will follow soon, promise!)

Suze: Is a freaking amazing person. Honestly, and, as tacky as this sounds, I wake up every day and thank god I have her. We started going out in the last few years of highschool and I'm her little bitch, and proud to admit it. Enough of the lovey-dovy stuff, eh?

Lyle: I consider him my best friend, he probably considerers me as a giant nuisance. He moved in next to me before I was deployed and we've spent a lot of time together. He knows a shit-tonne about me, but I know almost zilch! Ah well. He's a great guy and has an AMAZING photographic memory. Seriously; he can recite URLs. That's saved our asses a few times....

Alex: A somewhat monotone guy at best, but I think if we had two high energy people (like me!) in a room at once it'd explode or something. He is GOOD at summing things up. Like, seriously.

Elliot: A deadpan snarker at it's finest. Who needs Portal for black comedy when you have this guy around? NOBODY, THAT'S WHO.

Hayden: Suze's actually strangely enough OLDER twin brother. Would come driving across the city to give you a ride late at night, but the poor guy is plagued by OCD and paranoia. I think he's never took meds, but sometimes I think he needs it.

Walter: It's like having our own modern day Socrates. He's really only taking the science courses for fun; a crazy philosopher. He always manages to make us crack up by mixing philosophy and science. Siosophy? Piloscience? I like option one better.

Did I mention that there's about 40 MORE OF THESE TO DO? SIGHHHHHHH. That's all I'm putting up for today, I think. Suze is still laughing at me and I'm not feeling very manly at all. Don't forget that all....none of you are free to hop into the comments and give us a chat. Forest plus the same fifty people equals bored Zach.

... There's a chill today, but I'm the only one that feels it. Weird.

Happy trails,

--Zach(ariah) lewis

Why don't you take a seat...

So I assume this’ll be the first post on 23 Seconds, which is freaking awesome. Not that you’ll probably care; we’re really only making this for the students who will use our research next year, but who knows? Maybe you like reading random blogs about Ecology and Biology. I can’t really judge that, can I?


I kid, of course. If this blog is any help to you, we’ve done our job. I assume as the Admin, I should introduce myself? Zachariah Lewis, nice to meet’cha; I’m a university student, in the field of Biology in general. Suze, my girlfriend, is looking over my shoulder right now and laughing, saying that I should really say more about myself, should I talk about her instead? She’s nodding no. God, she’s a laugh. Anyway, I guess you could describe me as the everyman; I get along with everyone and really enjoy my school and classes. It’s really a far cry from the army, but I was honestly honorably discharged and apparently I can’t do pacing for my life. Jeeze, Suze, I’m a Biologist, not an author!


I figure I’ll post about everyone later. For now, I’m sure you’re wondering what this blog is about. Well, our class of 123 has been offered the chance to do this extra credit program over the summer; We’ll go camp in a forest, make observations, look at the wildlife, try not to get mauled by bears, avoid drunk science; you know, the usual. We have a Professer chaperon but he’s like a regular Bear Grylls, so it really only adds to the atmosphere. Already he’s shown me how to drink my own piss (just kidding!). So if you’ve ever had Professer Stuart William, you’ll know the awesome I speak of.


It’s a communal account, so posts will have to be signed and such. There’s 50 of us, counting our Prof, but I figure I’ll be the only one actually using this blog. I’ll put some more stuff up later, like our class list and short synopsis on my close friends; but we’re in it for the science... you monster.


(Sorry. Couldn’t get out of this without a Portal 2 reference, could I?)


TL;DR? I’m Zach, this is our project blog. Stick around for a while, give us some comments, and we’ll try our best to answer them. And if I make any typos in the future? We’ll only have phones with solar panel chargers out there, so it might get a bit dodgy.


I’d love to hear from you guys. As awesome as this is going to be, it’s going to get awfully boring, even WITH Suze around.


Anyways, before I sign off, fun fact? The reason the blog is named 23 Seconds is because that’s approximately how long it takes for your blood to travel throughout your circulatory system. Is that not the coolest?


Happy Trails!


--Zach(ariah) Lewis