Post 13: The Colony Season 2!

Unfortunately I missed it until it had already begun, but Discovery Channel is airing the second season of "The Colony". It's a reality show with a major twist. There are no competing teams in the normal sense, nor are there cash prizes or free cars being doled out.

"The Colony" is a social experiment where eight people from various background are selected to survive 60 days in a simulated post-apocalyptic scenario. In season one, they were put in the industrial section of Los Angeles near the LA river. In this season they're in a rundown section of New Orleans, near the bayou. Even though they're given medial treatment off camera, their initial 72 hour isolation period and then being dropped in a devastated area with no outside help, coupled with the stress, fatigue and desperation that ensues, makes it all too real of a thing for them. Each episodes is comprised of various Phases, in which they are given a task to accomplish, like building a smokehouse from wood or fending off attackers.

The first season was really interesting. They made it through the two months, but not without a lot of drama. People criticized it because it seem faked. The confession videos, which are used throughout the series, seemed to be more acted than genuine. The final episode, which featured raiders launching an all-out attack, a flamethrower built from scratch, and a heck of a lot of action, looked particularly scripted. However, my willing suspension of disbelief was in play and I didn't notice these things until after I had watched the episode and read others' comments on it.

Now season two. I missed the first two episodes so I'll have to catch up on those someday. I've already noticed some parallels between the two seasons. Each one has a relatively old dude. In season one, it was Vlad, the 60-something war veteran/oil engineer. In season two, we have Robert, a 70 year old. Both seasons also have someone who makes up ingenious plans to build things and do stuff. Season one had self-proclaimed mad scientist John Cohn, who I was intrigued by. Season two looks like George will assume this role. He even kinda looks like John.

Things like this interest me. As I child, I enjoyed - and still do enjoy - stories about people making it on their own. I liked books such as "Hatchet", "My Side of the Mountain", and "Ender's Game", where a young man had to make it on his own. These inspired me to write my first novella, where a young man and young woman survive in a world where the death of adults has created complete chaos. The whole post-apocalyptic theme leaves me imagining would could happen.

Post 12: A Wiser 18

Well, check it  out. It's my birthday. Nineteen years. There's really nothing special about turning 19. You aren't a newly instated legal adult like when you turn 18. You aren't a full adult like when you turn 21. I suppose the two distinctive things about it are how it's the last of the teen years (although I consider 18 to be the last teen year, after which you become an adult. The fact that 19 ends with "-teen" is just the way our language works.) and it's like 18, but with a little more experience.

The festivities of my 19th birthday actually began last night. I used to play Starfleet Commander but I have retired from the game, and I still browse the message board associated with the game. One of the other players had made a thread about me being 19 and I've had several people wish me happy birthday. Also, at the Christian chat site I visit, I was given more early happy birthdays. Then today I woke up and eventually heard the "Happy Birthday" song from my mother, and then later proceeded to work as usual. Over the course of the 3 hours I worked there, I had five coworkers congratulate me on my 19th. I ordered a frappe because I wanted to spend my birthday money on something (my parents, at a loss of what to get me, gave me $40) and the manager at the cash register let me have it for free.

At the place I work, there is a prank that a couple of the managers like to pull on the birthday person if he/she is noted for being loud or comical. When the person is doing his or her business, they'll discreetly take a paper plate and put whipped cream on it, tap on the person's shoulder and when the birthday person turns around, gets the place of cream in their face. I had told said managers a couple months beforehand not to do this, because knowing me I would get very upset and have a hissy fit. Thankfully they kept this in mind because despite a couple moments of paranoia on my part, there were no attempts on me. It was a busy day.

After work, me and many of the other employees ordered our employee meals (which we get for free) and paychecks. I then walked to the bank and deposited not just that check but also a check that my grandparents from Florida or the like sent me. From there I walked home.

One of the things I was carrying with me was an MP3 player/FM radio that I had won in a raffle at the company picnic the Sunday before. It's a nice 2 GB device which I could possibly use to replace my current 4 GB one because the buttons on my current player are becoming unresponsive. The only downside: it's powered by AAA batteries, which means they'll need to be replaced probably every few days.

I get home. I had a bottle of root bear from McDonald's. I put the food in the refrigerator and grab some ice from the freezer. When my mother hears the door she's like "You did not just go in the freezer?" because evidently she has something in there she doesn't want me to see. I had noticed a red box that wasn't there before but, seeing as my target was the ice next to it, I paid no attention to it. However, after she said that, I made the connection: ice cream cake!

As part of my normal routine, I hopped in the shower to get rid of the layer of sweat on my skin. When I got out of it, my mom showed me a bag that was on the couch beside her. I said, "Wow! A bag!" being facetious and when I looked inside, there was a pack of new socks. That morning I had asked for a pair to replace the very holey pairs I had (and my mom made a pun about how holey they were: "Do you wear them to church?") . I sampled one of them, found it to be acceptable, and threw out the holey ones and put them in my dresser. Ironically, I had been asked a week ago what I wanted and didn't think of it until today.

Then my grandma, who now lives in New York, called to say Happy Birthday to me. After that, my mom dialed another number and then called my brother who lives in California. Now, there's a big rift between in my family, which is why I'm in Kansas and my siblings in California. That's a slightly difficult thing to explain and I was cautious in talking to him. Luckily, it only lasted two minutes before the conversation ended.

Then things got weird. See, my grandma's bank account had been accessed unauthorized and bought video games, as well as several instances of bounced checks. We got a call from a state official and my father talked to the man. As suspected suspects (redundant?) we'll be getting separate letters in the mail about it. I'm not concerned really. My record is clean and I'll comply unless I have really good reason not to. Even if they snoop a little, I'll probably have no problem.

Some time later, my mom shouted "Cake time!". We all assembled in the kitchen, and my mom asked "Should we sing Happy Birthday?". My reply: "It's optional". They opted not to, and I took the large knife and stuck it in the cake. My mom's birthday is next so she pulled it out and my father started cutting it up.  I was going to get a fairly small piece but my dad decided, "Heck, he's 19! He can handle an adult-size piece of cake" and gave me a slice that was almost as long as the small plate's diameter. We ate the cake and continued on with our days. Oh, and my father gave me another $20, out of the $40 I give my parents out of my paycheck in exchange for Internet access.

About four hours later I became hungry again and acquired another slice of the cake. Then I did some serious remodeling of my website, http://shawntc.x10hosting.com. I've been meaning to redesign it for quite some time and I'm taking advantage of the free time I still have before fall semester begins on 17 August.

Fast forward to now. I'm sleepy and nearing the last hour of my 19th birthday. I chronologically turned nineteen at 6:35 PM CST. So let's see what year 19 has in store for me...

Birthday Gifts, Totals:

* $85

* 10 new pairs of socks.

* A new MP3 player (sort of, it just happened to fall on my birthday)