I Ramble In This Post

Today is Chaos Never Dies Day! Today is a day to recognize the fact that there will always be some small amount of chaos in your life. It sounds depressing, but believe me: it isn't. Here, let me try to explain.

Chaos is, by definition according to my dictionary, Disorder and Confusion. Now, both or those words have a fairly obvious negative connotation to them, but disorder actually means "a state of confusion". That makes Disorder somewhat of a subsection of Confusion's whole business. So let's just focus on why I'm trying to tell you that Confusion is good. Well... not 'good'... but it isn't inherently bad.

Confusion means "A lack of understanding". Now we're getting somewhere. Instead of defining Confusion by any other word that has negative connotation, we are defining it by it's lack of a word with good connotation: Understanding, which means (most pertinently) 'the power of abstract thought'.

"WHOA, Kyle. I thought Chaos was abstract thoughts and stuff like that!"

Well, you are both right and wrong. Chaos deals with abstract thoughts, but only in the way that a baby deals with it's own diaper. See, Understanding is the power of abstract thought, meaning that it is used to harness the potential of the thoughts by putting them into patterns that can be easily remembered and later turned into ideas. That way your brain doesn't have to find it's way down memory lane twice. You made a map! Chaos, being the lack of understanding, can have all the thoughts it wants, but even if thoughts correlate, a map may never be made between the two, thus making it harder to see how they ever related.

It's almost like how you may tie a string around your finger to remember to go grocery shopping. How many things does grocery shopping have in common with tying a string to your finger? Close to none. But you see that string and it reminds you that you had something to do. Instantly your brain goes through the "Things I Have To Do" File Cabinet it has until it remembers: "Grocery Shopping". Congratulations! You have re-travelled the road you subconsciously made when you connected those thoughts in the first place. In fact, thats such a common visual stimulus, that when I see a string on someone's finger, one of the first things I think is "They must be trying to remember something". Not all abstract bridges need stimuli, though. In fact, most of my own don't.

Now that I've said ALL that, here is why chaos isn't bad: It's needed to make anything interesting. If we had only Understanding, then there would be little need for studying or exploring. Chaos, in manageable amounts, is what pushes humans forward. It causes new ideas to be had due to the fact that everyone connects the abstract thoughts differently. It makes us want to learn more and gain more understanding. However, the more we discover, the more questions there are about these new, as of yet unconnected abstract thoughts created by the new discovery. That creates an endless amount of things to discover, which makes life worth exploring! Chaos and Understanding aren't at opposite ends of any spectrum, instead it's more of a ratio of what is and isn't understood. The reason that Chaos is usually shed in such a scary light is because we can quantify how much we understand, but we will never be able to measure what we don't. I personally, find that pretty exciting, though. It would be boring if we knew how much there was left to know. Would we even want to?

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Bear Necessities

Today is Teddy Bear Day! Teddy Bears are an important part of any person's childhood. They are friends, guardians, and don't mind being pillows every now and then. Almost everyone I know has a bear or some sort of stuffed animal that they cuddled when they were younger. I had a plethora of stuffed animals when I was young, but few have had quite the amount of memories as a certain bear has shared with me. Potato Joe (Seen below at a bear-friendly dance club) has shared most, if not all, of my journeys to places.

He gets a little CRAZY sometimes

Potato Joe has quite the tale to tell. One of my close cronies, Meagan has a birthday two days apart from mine. As it so happened, our birthdays or, even more often, the day in between them fell on a church day. So we would celebrate by a present-swap. However, my senior year of high school, I went on a trip to colorado with the rest of my class during the week of our birthdays! GASP!

So, we decided that the saturday I got back, we would make up for breaking our annual tradition by spending the entire day together, filling it with whatever activities we could find. So from 8am-really late, we went to malls, restaurants, parks, and all sorts of time-filling activities such as Apples to Apples (We had more people by then, don't worry). The most important and memorable event, however, was the spur of the moment decision to wander into Build-A-Bear.

It was decided that we would make matching bears, so we first looked at clothes. We found the best  option were the denim overalls/dress. It was therefore decided that they would be farmers/artisans. Potato Joe and Sweet Pea (Seen below discussing how her farmville is far more efficient than yours) were born. Potato Joe now rides in my car in the back middle seat, since he swears it's the safest, and enjoys all the places I take him to.

"Look, have YOU ever had a farm? No? Okay then."

What's your bear, and how did you get him/her?
yeah that's right I'm turning tables and making you tell a story.


Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Cookie Texture

Today is National Sugar Cookie Day! Sugar cookies are among the most popular cookie flavours since they are so basic and are very easy to add almost any kind of decoration to without taking away the taste. The one complaint I usually have about sugar cookies is they are sometimes too hard. That's a general rule for all cookies, actually. The middle should be soft and almost as doughy as the actual dough. Sugar cookies have to follow that rule more than any other, though, as they are so simple. Chocolate chip cookies have chocolate to redeem them. Sugar cookies are just sugar, so you need a great texture to make up for the variety it doesn't have.

Still, sugar cookies are delicious and today is a day to eat them. I work at a bakery, so it'll be pretty easy for me to celebrate. You're just gonna have to figure out if you want to make your own or go to the grocery store and buy some.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

A Wacky Quack

Today is Donald Duck Day! Donald Duck was and is one of my major role models growing up. As a child, I perceived him as a hilarious duck with anger management issues. However, looking at him now, he feels all emotions strongly. Whether it be his flipping out at Goofy and Mickey, or his severe blushing whenever Daisy gave him a smooch. An oft misunderstood duck due to his manner of speaking, it takes a while to really know what he is trying to say, which is probably why he displays his emotions in such an incredible outward way.

My dad used to copy Donald's voice to make me and my brothers laugh when we were little, and when we were older, he tried to teach us how to do it. I wouldn't say I'm in the high ranks of experts when it comes to speaking fluent Donaldian, but I can tackle the smaller phrases such as "I love you" or "Pass the salt" or really anything 3-7 words long. His ranting is by far the easiest to do as it is sometimes just whatever syllables he can manage to push through his fury.

Overall, though, Donald Duck is one of the most beloved and memorable characters in all of Disney history. Today is the anniversary of the first day he appeared on screen in 1934 (Also his birthday)! He certainly has aged very well, and to celebrate, you should watch some of Donald's greatest works (I'll leave it to you to decide which those are) or his original cartoon "The Wise Hen".

You could also try to learn how to speak like he does. I do it by pressing my tongue against the back-left of my bottom row of teeth and breathing out of that corner in order to get the "quack" sound. From there, you just move your lips and try to talk through it. It takes practice, but it's a worthwhile talent to have since you can practice at almost any time.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Helping Socks

Today is Lost Sock Memorial Day! This is a loss that we can all relate to. Sure, yesterday without socks was fun, but what if they all went missing? Hundreds, possibly even thousands of socks are lost every day. How have we overlooked such a tragic fact for so long? Whether they were lost during a routine load of laundry, a pet has stolen it a way to some unknown place, or a they've simply slipped into another place in time/space, we can no longer simply ignore their plight. Today is a day to remember all of your lost socks. Take some time out of your day to look for them or console the other sock. Who are they to work with now? The socks are still an unfortunately racist community, as two different colors in a pair are still looked down upon. Most socks without their other half are simply half-matched with another brand or even thrown away! Take time today and find out what you can do to fight against lost socks.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

No Comment

Today is Winston Churchill Day! Winston had a lot going for him. He had a military and political career and served as prime minister for two non-consecutive terms. I'm sure we all studied him in school for at least a day or two, because he played some pretty major parts in some pretty major areas of history including but not limited to WWII. Today is the anniversary of the day he became an honorary U.S. citizen. An honor that I didn't know existed and has only been given to less than ten other people. Ever. So it's a pretty big deal. Today, share some fun facts about Winston with your friends and/or family. For instance: He had a stutter. A quote by him: "'No comment' is a splendid expression. I am using it again and again."

Today is also Name Yourself Day! As none of you may remember, we have already seen a holiday almost exactly like this on February 13th. Is there a major difference? Nope. Why are there multiple holidays dedicated to changing your name? I have no idea. Either people really don't like their names (and can't decide on one to keep), or they are running from the law and are in constant need of a new identity. Either way, today is another chance to test out a new name for a day. It could be just your first name or all the names you have. If you are getting married, and are a girl, then you most likely already are changing one of your names.

Thanks for reading!
~Leonard Spencer

Free pass for a meltdown.

Today is Panic Day! Today you get a free pass to be as run-around-in-circles worried as you need to be. Visiting my old high school, I can tell you that panic is in the air. It may be hard to see, but whether it be juniors stressing over an 'extremely hard' paper, or teachers trying to deal with the stresses that the spring season brings at a k-12 school: Panic is in the air.

Having recently been a substitute to a 1st grade class on a Friday, I can say with certainty that teachers have every right to panic every day they go to work. It is an act of courtesy and dignity that they choose to maintain their composure. Today, however, feel free to let your teacher know that it's okay to freak out. You won't tell their boss that they flipped a chair, or yelled at a student, or even that they plan on spending their free period curled up in the corner rocking their crazy away.

Students, you can take advantage of the Internet knowledge your generation has been gifted, and instead use facebook to let everyone you know (and around 570 people you don't know) just how many reasons you have to panic.

After all the extra panicking you do today, tomorrow should be panic free! Right? ... RIGHT?!

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle


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We! Make! Holes in teeth!

By Wonka, it's Toothache Day! That's right, February 9th is a day to be more aware of your dental hygiene than usual. Brushing, flossing, swishing, and whatever else you do to keep your pearly whites pearly white. It might also be a good day to stay away from all detrimental foods such as: anything with sugar as a main ingredient. Now, I know that can be hard, believe me. I live for sweets. Every tooth I have is a sweet tooth. But I suppose for the sake of keeping those teeth, I can avoid candies and sweets for just a day. If you want to eat the healthier side of tooth-foods, go with cheese. Cheese has some pretty essential ingredients for putting some good minerals into your teeth. Hey, maybe just go visit your dentist for a surprise check-up!

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle