The Time Traders by Andre Norton

The Time Traders is a book about a man named Ross Murdock who has committed a crime and because of this is faced with two choices: spend the rest of his life in prison, or participate in a top-secret government project, codenamed OPERATION RETROGRADE. Of course, he chose the latter, and what ensues is probably one of the most interesting stories I've ever read. The story takes place during the time of the Cold War, and the U.S. is fighting the Russians, otherwise known as the Reds, in one of the strangest battles of it. The ability to time travel has already been engineered, and the Reds have used that ability to enter an unknown era of the past. After finding lost technology in that era, the Reds have utilized it to create powerful new weapons to use against their enemies. The goal of Operation Retrograde is to find and travel to the era the Reds are in in order to tap the source of the Red's secret weapons. Murdock and his teammates travel across time on a dangerous journey, frantically searching for the Reds and their secret weapon source.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Time Traders. I'm into science fiction books, so this kept me interested all the way through. I think it may be up in my top five list of books to be honest! It was very well written and kept me on the edge of my seat as I read it. I also really liked how it wasn't written as if the reader is viewing the story as a spectator, but instead from the POV of Murdock. That made it a lot cooler in my opinion. I recommend this book for anyone who's into sci-fi.

Making Music with My Friends

I just realized that I have alot of friends that are interested in making music and I have some that actually do. Their music is pretty good too. My best friend Justin makes beats that go HARD, and my other friend Juwan raps and does a bit of singing which is really cool because he takes it seriously and he's good at it. This one guy I know at school though is trying to be a rapper but he's trying to hard to be thug. He keeps saying he was bullied when he was younger but my friends knew him when they were in elementary and they said he was never even bullied; in fact, he was the one doing the bullying lol. My friend Siyon really wants to make rap/turn up type songs with me, Juwan, Justin, and my friend Jonathan. I'm down to do it but I never have time :/ we might make music this weekend though since we have four days off. It sounds like a lot of fun lol

My First Year Doing High School Sports

This year I'm doing track, and I'm kinda excited and scared at the same time because this will be my first year ever doing a high school sport! I don't like long distance running so the event I am more than likely going to choose to do is sprints. I feel confident that I can do well in that section of track. Also I have a friend who's done track for the school before and he said he'll help me out if I need anything during the season which is a really cool thing for him to do for me. Wish me luck!

First Semester Finals

So first semester finals are here and a lot of people I know are freaking out lol. The only finals I'm worried about are the ones for math and biology. Those will be the hardest in my opinion, but I've studied and I'm determined to end the first semester with at least a B in those classes. I still feel this way about studying though lol

Dale, Mikee, Skyler

I've known Skyler since like fourth grade, Dale since last year, and Mikee I  just met this year lol. These guys are super chill and true friends. We've helped each other out alot this year, with school work and just advice with regular teenager boy stuff. I really respect these guys and wish them the best in whatever they do. They're my homies

Almost 5 Months with Dreads

When it hits the 20th of January, I'll have been growing dreads for five months. It went by faster than I expected to be honest lol. I think it's because in the beginning I was in the mirror alot looking at them. Now I don't really do that anymore because it won't make them grow longer the more I look at them lol. I'm really enjoying the dreads though. When they get really long they'll probably look like this, which would be awesome because this guys dreads look pretty sweet in my opinion!

My 16th Birthday!

As I type this its a day away from my 16th birthday! I'm excited and kinda sad lol. Happy because as I get older, there's more stuff I can do like drive (I still haven't gotten my permit yet though...) but I'm sad because I feel like the years are going by quicker lol. 

For my birthday I'm gonna have a party at my house with like ten of my friends, which should be alot of fun. Some of them don't know each other so that should be interesting haha. I'm not even sure what I might get as gifts, but I assume it'll mostly be money or clothes lol. But yeah, I'm pretty excited to turn sixteen overall :)

My First Concert Ever

On December 13, 2014, I went to the first concert I've ever been to in my life, and it was sooooo much fun. It was a Yung Lean & Sad Boys + Gravity Boys concert. I went with my friend Siyon who's from Germany and has been to one of Lean's concerts before, when he barely had any fans. It was probably the most fun I've had in a long time to be honest. Siyon and I got in line early so we got to be really close to the front during the show, which made it even cooler lol I had an awesome time and I wish I could relive that night. I'll come back and edit this later to put in the photos and vids I took at the concert. For now I'll leave some links to YouTube videos of the concert other people took lol


Yung Lean - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1TuVc9k2AQ
Bladee and ECCO2K - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWSLCQjF_FI

Lil B The BasedGod

The man, no wait, the legend pictured above is the one and only Lil B, other wise known as the Based God. He is one of the most positive and rawest rappers alive. Just look at how happy he is in this photo! Lil B has influenced everyone in the rap game from 2Pac to Lil Wayne. The most versatile rapper ever to bless the rap game, Lil B can go from heavily thuggin' in a song such as Lil B - Bill Bellamy, to showin' love to everyone and everything in the universe in songs such as Lil B - I Love You and Lil B - No Black Person Is Ugly. Supporters of Lil B and the Based God are known as Task Force. The first step to becoming part of Task Force you must first become based. 

“Based means being yourself. Not being scared of what people think about you. Not being afraid to do what you wanna do. Being positive. When I was younger, based was a negative term that meant like dopehead, or basehead. People used to make fun of me. They was like, ‘You’re based.’ They’d use it as a negative. And what I did was turn that negative into a positive. I started embracing it like, ‘Yeah, I’m based.’ I made it mine. I embedded it in my head. Based is positive.” ~Lil. B, BASED GOD

The purpose of the Task Force is to protect Lil B and the Based God daily, spread the word and scripture of the Based God, and to keep the fake based out of Based World. A member of Task Force myself since 2012, I have been helping teach many others of Lil B's musical stylings since I opened my eyes to his beautiful positive ways. Lil B doesn't sell merchandise, so in order to show I'm based, I rock a pink bandana on my head, a sign of a fellow based comrade. Aside from making music, Lil B has given lectures at universities such as MIT and NYU. Lil B is also a pioneer in dance, being the creator of the cooking dance, a Based World staple. 



To show gratitude to the Based God for his many blessings, the customary way of showing thanks is to say, "THANK YOU BASEDGOD!" Don't be fooled though, just because someone says, "thank you based god" does not mean they are based and support Lil B. My best friend and fellow Based World citizen, Justin, has witnessed this firsthand. A girl at his school said "thank you basedgod," but when he asked her if she knows who Lil B the Based God is, she said, "who's that?" *sigh* It is our duty as Task Force members to weed out these fake based people and either teach them about the Based God or ban them from Based World.

To end this sermon of the man, the myth, the legend, Lil B the BasedGod, I shall gift you with links to the songs mentioned above.

Thank You Based God.

Lil B - Bill Bellamy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqrbTlr6SA

Lil B - I Love You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6-V7J5S-0
Lil B - No Black Person Is Ugly - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83p69JhDnwU

Lil B NYU lecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsjvFrZv1Fk

Christmas Break 2014

This years Christmas Break was kinda bad but pretty fun for me. The weekend after we got out of school my friend had a birthday party at which I had a really great time. I really don't dance but everyone was hype and having a ton of fun so you know I had to join in lol
 

Unfortunately, the birthday boy was sick and because of that gave me a cold. I was sick until around Christmas time, then I got better. (YAY!) I didn't get anything for Christmas, but the weekend after I went to the Collection and bought myself a couple t-shirts. One of them was worth $30 and I got it for $8, and the other was an In-N-Out shirt which I've been wanting for the LOOOOONGEST time, so I was stoked I got it lol. In-N-Out is high up on my list of good burger places.
 

The worst part of my break came on the Monday of the second week we had off... I got the flu AND strep throat, which is weird according to the doctors that treated me. They said it's usually one or the other, never both (I guess I'm special... ;-) 

but yea that sucked alot lol.

I felt super dizzy to the point where I had to lay down at all times and couldn't use the tv, my phone, or any electronic device with a screen because that would make me even more dizzy. I also had headaches and I was constantly  thirsty. like no amount of water could satisfy me. that made it worse because it made me have to pee a bunch, and moving made me even more dizzy. I spent New Years Eve in the E.R. getting treated  because that was the night my sickness peaked :/

After many antibiotics and painkillers, the sickness went away completely by Tuesday and I returned to school on Thursday. I hate missing school because I had to catch up on missed work, but I had to for the wellness of others (basically I saved the school)

So yea, that was my break. Not the best one I've had, but it was ok... :)

JDM: Drifting

So I'm really into cars and I have been since I was little. I used to collect Hot Wheels and I still have my collection in my old bedroom on the wall lol. I never really realized it until freshman year, but the specific type of cars that really get me excited are JDM models. JDM stands for Japanese Domestic Market. Basically I'm really into cars like Nissan, Subaru, Lancer, Toyota, etc. When I say this I don't mean like Nissan Altimas or Toyota Priuses lol. I mean like Nissan Silvias, GTR's, Toyota Supra's... the list goes on and on. One of my goals in life is to build a race car with my friends and learn how to race on a track properly.
My favorite type of driving style is drifting, which originated in Japan in the 80s or 90s I think. A lot of people get drifting confused with powersliding, but they are not the same thing. 

THIS is drifting
 

THIS is powersliding 

THe difference is this
"The key difference between a power slide and a drift is that a power slide is initiated with brute force and kinetic energy, where as a drift is initiated with varying techniques involving the shift of weight in the car and the shift of power between the wheels. " - http://www.giantbomb.com/drifting/3015-74/

One day I WILL learn to drift lol. It just looks really awesome to me and I'd love to be able to do it myself. The car I wanna get for drifting would be a nissan s13 (picture below)