Plot Lines and Crossed Lines

For the past two weeks, my AP lit class has been working with Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. One of the things my lit teacher said before we started was that Arcadia had six different plot lines but he only wanted us to pay attention to two. He also told us that Arcadia takes place in two different time periods, but everything happens in the same room. So as we are reading the two things we are supposed to keep track of gets pointed out to us and so goes the keeping track of things and such. Now, I love plot lines. Plot lines are the reason to watch or read anything (duh), but multiple plot lines, oh it's Christmas!

In Brave New World, chapter 3 had three different scenes going on at once and the way it was written was that it would have a clump from one thing and then jump to another and then jump to another and continue that way in no particular order. The clumps got progressively smaller until it was just a sentence or two from one thing before jumping. Reading chapter 3 of Brave New World was the most fun I've had with a book in a long time. Until Arcadia that is.

With Arcadia, I had fun figuring things out and keeping track of the events happening in the past and present. For whatever reason, keeping track of multiple plot lines comes somewhat easy to me. Do I get things mixed up, turned around, and crossed? Yes, I do sometimes more on that later. But the fact that my mind is able to keep up with things and switch to something else at the drop of a hat amazes me (Probably how I'm able to adjust the settings on my camera without much thought). Normally, my mental things like this stay in realm of lit and my entertainment, but recently a concept in econ put my plot line thing to use.

In econ, we recently (I say recently but it was two weeks ago) did game theory and worked with the matrix table thingy. The thing about game theory and such is that you have to pay attention to the details given and which things go with which player and what happens if one player does one thing. Multiple factors, multiple outcomes. Plot lines, that's all it is.

Now, the lines crossed thing. Sometimes I do get things mixed up or smush things together. I call it getting my lines crossed. When I'm actively working multiple things and I'm dealing with various casts of characters and their own plots, I sometimes have to stop and remember what I'm working on and what has already happened. Sometimes I have to reread something and refresh what I had happen. There have been moments when I've stopped and gone, "Wait, this happened? I thought it was this that and the other." Sometimes I'll smash two characters together and think they are one. I get lines crossed. It's inevitable. But sometimes my line crossing flows into other things. Today, I smushed two different types of graphs together into one in econ. Right type of market, but with the product and factor market graphs smushed together. *Shrugs* Meh, stranger things have happened.

So yeah, plot lines. Plot lines, plot lines, plot lines. Not sure if anything I just said made any sense, but if it did yay, winning at life. I might do a brain dump or another "Broadway and lit" thing (the last one I did like that was in October with The Tempest). For now, Sanders out.

Really Brain, We're Going To Do THIS Now

It's been a while since I've done a total brain dump so I'm going to do one now. What's a brain dump? A term I just came up with to describe the random stream of consciousness inner musing thing I do every now and then because I think my brain is so strange and my life so random. Anyway, brain dump... [cue theme music and title sequence].

Random Sticky Note
I have a random sticky note on my desktop. On it, it says, "Flash drive is a representation of my life." I wrote that about a week ago or something, I really don't know. Anyway, now I'm trying to remember why the flash drive represents my life. It was probably because things get added to it, taken out, and, when I don't keep track of how often I've used it, probably has a lot of random stuff on it that I forgot existed. Yeah that sums everything up. It gets used and guarded and for a while, the only goal is to not lose it. I live and try to not die (I'll get to that at some point) and for a moment, everything is more or less in order and I try not to loose my marbles or something. I lose it, or leave it somewhere and look at it everyday but still forget that it exists. My life falls apart (happens semi-often), or I loose my hold on reality and the plane of existence and only go through the motions of life. It's small and easy to forget about (old memory from my past that I don't like to dredge up). It's contents change but the outside stays the same. Okay, so I don't look the same but the basic concept is there, I grow, I change, I have character traits that are very different from the ones I had when I was younger. The flash drive is a representation of my life... I like it.

Seriously Brain, Why?!?!
In my Lit class, we are reading Arcadia. So after day one of reading about carnal embrace and the running gag that followed, I walked into class with my inner self really wanting to make a "That's what she said" joke. Skip to the end of the day, I'm in 7th period and my teacher has a couple of the guys go get some butcher paper.

Guy 1: What color paper do you want?
Teacher: I would prefer white, but really something I can write on.
My Brain: That's what she said.
Me: Why brain, why?

Stop It Brain, You KNOW This
Another thing my brain has been doing is registering things strangely. Like I know, my teacher was wearing a navy shirt, but my brain was registering it as purple. Like legit, I say to myself, "That shirt is navy" and in my mind would say "That shirt is purple." And then a friend of mind takes Spanish and I know she takes Spanish. That's all she's taken since freshman year. And my brain was like, "She just came from Chinese class." My brain is strange and I'm pretty sure I'm going mad. It's irritating to look at something and have to process for a moment what the heck it is. I just looked at my camera, my partner in crime, my one true love (too far? Too bad *sticks out tounge*) and was like, "You are red... You're a Nikon... I gave you a name... Ooo pineapple juice, wait that can is empty... Oh! You're name is RoA... Wait, that's right but wrong... Ages, Rock of Ages." And then I turned to my beautiful film camera and was like, "I think you're Ted. No Ted is my favorite chart. You're Colonel. Not that's not right. General? No... Major, like Major General Sir. Right..." I'm loosing myself right? Maybe not... Who knows. I don't, and my brain sure doesn't. I would say stranger things have happened, but I can't think of any examples.

Lines Of Dialogue, But No Plot
I'm a creator. I create things. Whether or not those things come to physical form in the real world is another mater. I see a blank room and I think about the different ways I could paint and design it. I visualize photo shoots that I would run if I had the money or contacts. I come up with creatures and beings that I would love to be able to draw and give life to. I write to share what's in my head. The characters I create and take time to give a past to mean so much to me. In my head, there is a section dedicated to them, like a large room really (like the room of requirement in Harry Potter) where I can mentally check on them and see what they are doing at the moment and can listen to them and converse with them sometime (I usually keep my original characters separated from the characters I'm attached too from various fandoms- Bryan Caplan and Tony Stark must never meet... Same with Conrad Heist and Anthony DiNozzo... Don't get me started on the disaster that would be Loki and Ryan Colbert [daddy issues to the max and Ryan is impressionable right now]). Anyway, lately I've had only a few ideas on how to move my plot lines forward. What I have in surplus are various dialogues that don't really fit with anything, and it's not dialogues that are feel good fluff pieces either. I'm getting snippets of pure sarcasm and internal monologues that aren't mine. I'm getting words that mean nothing to me (it's my brain's way of trying to speak Latin, that much I know). I'm getting supernatural beings that I'm slowly creating. I'm getting images of groups in cloaks paired with gothic instrumentals. It's strange. My brain gets like this every so often when I get stressed with the world and such. It's been a while. The last time it happened I created my own "universe" (our world, my terms) and two casts of characters with a connection between two, one from each cast (Neil Heist and Conrad Heist, brothers). I really don't want to end up with another acronym obsessed character Bryan Caplan is hard enough to deal with (once I've taken the time to give them a personality I don't have control over what they do). So for now, I'll probably just jot down ideas, write lines of random dialogue, and maybe even do some character creation. I'll probably also take a few back to the drawing board and either rework them (if they go willingly that's a sign I'm doing the right thing) or add to their pasts and personality (that can be fun, but sometimes painful because reasons).

So that's my brain dump. I'm probably slowly loosing myself or something but that's okay I always find myself again in the end. So for now, Sanders out.

Di Immortales!

I've just finished rereading Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief. I couldn't remember why I liked the series in first place and after finding out about Riordan's new book that's due to come out later this March, I decided that now was a good time to take on the task of rereading all the Percy Jackson books, Kane Chronicles, finish reading Heroes of Olympus, and read Riordan's other new book, Magnus Chase. In addition to that, I splurged on ebooks, because that's the medium I'm using lately, and I got the three short stories Riordan has written that is a crossover between Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles. I'm excited to be doing this and I'll probably post periodically about where I'm at and my own reactions to the books I've read before and to the books I'm reading fresh. Now... The Lightning Thief... where do I start... Sarcasm is usually something that doesn't get conveyed that well and gets lost when reading the work. One of the things that I love, and I'm remembering that I loved, about the Percy Jackson series was the dialogue that added to the character's personalities. Here are some of my favorite things said by characters in The Lightning Thief.

"I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, and sending you back to your father." - Dionysus

"I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me." - Echidna after Percy mentions the creature.

"I felt like drowning myself. The only problem: I was immune to drowning. Your father believes in you, she had said. She'd also called me brave... unless she was talking to the catfish." - Percy

"A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming. The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces. "Show's over" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!" The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good." - Percy

Moments of light when the dark is upon, that's what I like. Anyway, that's all, Sanders out.

Creative Competitions

Reality TV seems to be a staple in pop culture. Whether it's watching the Kardashians (did I spell that right? no? yes? yeah I don't care) or American Pickers or some random singing show, reality TV has something for everyone (just have to look for it). For me, my favorites are competition shows (yeah I have other favorites but this isn't about them). Trade competitions are the best competitions in my mind. I can relate to people and their craft, be it bladesmithing, interior design, creature design, food. I can relate to the heart and pride people put into their craft and trade (pretty sure most people can relate), but what I love about these competitions that highlight the skill and difficulties of a trade is that the contestants are given an overall concept and parameters to work with. So while they [the contestants] are working on their designs, I'm also thinking about what they could do or what I would do. I get to pick up on some of the lingo of their trade, like quenching and various cooking terms that I still can't remember. I get to see if any of my ideas would actually work on the off chance that some one on the show goes down the same line of thought. It's fun and I get to see people working their craft and produce something amazing. Here are some of my favorite trade competitions.

Face Off

You've seen movies where the actors are creatures or unworldly beings, or at least have seen the pictures. But have you ever considered how that movie magic happens. Yes there is CGI but there are still make up artists and creature designers who work their butts off to make things happen. Face off is the search for the next great special effects make up artist. Each week contestants are given a topic and parameters to create a creature to wow the judges and the guest judge for that week (once Josh Hutcherson from Hunger Games came on and was like, "I would gladly run from that creature."). Each season is a batch of new contestants and one gets eliminated every week while another gets high praise and invulnerability in the next challenge. SyFy's Face Off is great and amazing and full of whimsy (depending on the week that is).

Ellen's Design Challenge

I love interior design, but you need furniture to design with, Ellen's Design Challenge is a furniture design competition. Like Face Off, each season a new batch of contestants come on the show and one gets eliminated each week while another gains an advantage in the next week. Contestants have to design a unique piece of furniture that fits the area it will go in. I love seeing the different styles and how each contestant comes up with their idea (one used a flow chart mind map thing), and sometimes Ellen DeGeneres makes an appearance (hey it's her show). It's great and it's on HGTV. 

Chopped

Food Network's Chopped has a slightly different format than shows like Face Off and Design Challenge. Each week four chefs are brought in and face off against one another to prepare a three-course meal consisting of an appetizer, entree and dessert. The catch is that in each round, they have to use all the ingredients the show provides them with, however unlikely they might be (once they had to use chocolate in every dish). At the end of each course, a panel of three guest judges "chops" one chef who fails to measure up in terms of taste, presentation and creativity. The last chef standing takes home bragging rights and $10,000. Chopped takes a whole season of these other long competitions shows and wraps it all into one hour episodes. 

Forged in Fire

Now for my latest obsession, History Channel's Forged in Fire. Like Chopped, each week four bladesmiths are brought on to compete against each other. The set is referred to as "The Forge," and is stocked with a wide range of metalworking equipment, including furnaces, grinders, and shaping presses. At the end of each round, the smith whose weapon is judged to be the least satisfactory must surrender it and leave the competition. In the first round, the four smiths are presented with a starting material that they must use to forge a blade. In some episodes, they all begin with the same material; in others, they may choose from an assortment of metal objects. They are given a range for blade length and one feature that must be incorporated. Once the design and working period is over, the judges inspect their workmanship, quality, and design, the one who does make the cut gets eliminated and told to "surrender their weapon." For the second round, the three remaining smiths are given an additional three hours to turn their blades into fully operational weapons. They must attach a handle, grind, sharpen, and polish the blades as well as address any flaws or issues pointed out by the judges in the first round. The judges put each weapon through a series of tests to gauge properties such as sharpness, durability, and ease of use. For these tests, the weapons are used to chop/slash/stab objects that include coconuts, sandbags, and car doors. The one who doesn't make the cut gets eliminated. In the third round, the two remaining smiths are shown a historically significant bladed weapon and are given five days to create a version of it, traveling to their home forges to do the work. Once this time is up, they return to the Forge and submit their weapons for testing similar to that in the second round. Based on the test results, the judges select one smith to receive the $10,000 prize. Forged in Fire is becoming one of my favorite shows, in fact I'm binge watching Season 1 as I'm typing this post up, and I found my current favorite blade because of the show (it's a khopesh if you wanted to know). Forged in Fire is great and I love the historical aspect, and kill tests are the best tests. And I know what to look for if I ever get a blade myself.

Overall, I just love the creation and imagination as well as the heart and soul that goes into the work the contestants produce. I love seeing the passion people have for their trade and craft and I love knowing the passion behind what they do (my passion is photography, I get it). I also use shows like this as a way to make my writing a little more accurate if I decide to use something, like a weapon, in my writing. That's it for this post. Hope you decide to check these shows out, I'm going back to my blades, so for now... Sanders out.

I've Got A Theory

In freshman year, I became interested in society and social order. At the time, I was also fascinated with wolves and their social interactions. Meanwhile in school, I was taking Debate and was constantly looking at the news and googling various ideas and concepts. I came up with my own "theory" (for lack of a better word) on how our society worked. It seemed to hold true in some areas, but since it's something I came up with in 9th grade, as well as being exactly that, a theory, it obviously has a few weak spots and holes and doesn't apply to the whole of society. That being said, the theory I came up with in 9th grade is called Pack Theory (hey, I wanted to be legit, so I named it, if I remember right, I actually googled to see if it existed or if something like it existed).

What is it?
Pack Theory is the idea that our social structure within groups is similar to that of a wolf pack. You have the big bosses on top which are the alphas. The subordinates that still have power (probably your boss that you answer to) which are the betas. And then all the underlings after that are the omegas. This concept can apply almost anywhere; a big corporation, a small start up, school, family, even within your own group of friends (although my particular group of friends doesn't really roll this way, at least I don't think we do). Does it apply to our government? In some ways it does, but overall, not really. But let's not dwell on what may or may not be, instead let's look at some breakdowns. Please note when I say omega, I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just a way of saying not major power and not management, also the way I may rank things might be different from how you might view things, it's just my opinion.

Businesses
This is probably the easiest to imagine, explain, wrap your mind around. In a business, whether it's a small start up or a huge corporation, there are higher ups and underlings. In a small start up, the pack is small and most likely depends on one another more, so the line between alpha and omegas are not quite there yet. Most likely everyone is operating on a beta level with the owner or whatever being the alpha. Are there omegas? Yes, but since a small start up is trying to be more, the lines are blurred. They are there, but blurred. However, if you look at a mega corporation, there are various packs within one huge pack (remember similar to a wolf pack; never said only one pack per group). The large pack being the whole company. The CEO and probably the CFO (one more I just can't remember the last one) are the alphas (ignore the board of directors in my brain they don't exist even though they are above the CEO). Under the alphas are a string of betas that have varied amounts of power. The betas are your department heads, managers, team leaders, etc. Then the omegas are everyone else. Within a corporation, there might be various offices in various cities which have their own structures. This is where the packs within a large pack comes from.

School
This is more of a faux pack. No one usually holds any real power but there are those who might have a higher social standing. In this sense, the "popular" kids are the alphas. The not "lame" kids are the betas. There's the kids who are just there and aren't really anything. And then there's the kids at the bottom of the pack who are the omegas. Basic stuff, you didn't really need me to spell it out for you, but I did anyway. There's also the rank of grade level. Generally the freshmen are the omegas. Sophomores are kind of just there. Juniors could be seen as betas (personally I see them as just there). And then seniors are a mix of alphas and betas. Cliques, teams, clubs, (groups really) all have their own order of things as well.

Family
There's an order to things in most families. There is usually a matriarchal or patriarchal figure, their favorites/those who try to take control, and then the rest of the family. Pretty straight forward. Probably a hierarchy among genders and age groups, as well as among various sides of the family.

Friends
Most likely, a group of friends is going to be made up of a few alphas and the rest betas, no one is really an omega. When I say alpha, I mean those who are primary decision makers, the ones that usually have final say, or at least seem to have all the "power." I'm not saying that alphas in a group of friends are like dictators. That's not at all what I'm saying. The line between alpha and beta are barely there; it all just blends together. (I'm trying to convey what's in my brain, but it might be getting lost in translation) To me there aren't really an omegas in a group of friends, everyone is more or less on equal ground.

Anyway, that's more or less Pack Theory. It's a still a work in progress. I'm still trying to figure out lone wolves and coyotes, as well as other ways this might apply. I'm not saying that this is exactly how everything works, just that this is the general trend that I've interpreted. Humans are strange, unique and generally unpredictable creatures. Pack Theory is meant to be a basic framework of how social order might stand. I hope you enjoyed it. Later this week I might post something about the various generations (generation Y, millennials, generation Z, etc.) For now though, Sanders out.

Hail Mary's and Staying Grounded

(Looks at post title) Other wise known as "Why Three Day Weekends and Four Day Weeks Are The Bane of My Existence." Too long? Oh well, my life, my blog, I do what I want. Anyway, let's get this post started.

I HATE three day weekends and, by extension, four day weeks. I know what you might be thinking, What? Hate three day weekends? Sanders you're nuts. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. The point is that I hate them so much for a valid reason, they mess with my head so much and it takes me about a week to two weeks to get back to normal. And on top of that, I get back to school and I'm trying to remember everything we were doing before the three day weekend, while praying that I didn't forget to do anything. Time during the long weekend just sort of goes by and I don't really know what's going on or what day it is. Usually, I'll think Monday is Sunday or something. It's almost like time ceases to exist for me. We just came back from a three day weekend this week so we only have four days of school this week. I'm annoyed because I was just getting a grip on time again from the last three day weekend (which was a month ago but feels like it was three weeks), only to have this one sprung on me and now I'm just trying to regain my footing. Yesterday, for the first hour I was up and conscious enough to process things, I literally kept telling myself, "Today is Monday not Sunday." Then of course today, I was trying to remind myself that it was Tuesday, but for whatever reason, first period felt like freaking Saturday, then at one point during transition it felt like Friday. So yeah, days of the week on shuffle. The goal of this week is to stay grounded and in this reality, not sure how well it will work out though.

So that's my vendetta against three day weekends and four day weeks, the Hail Mary's are another story. Whenever I come back from a long weekend, I always spend that first day freaking out and hoping I didn't forget to do anything or get called on to answer a question (because I can't remember what the heck we were doing before the end of last week). Most of the time, everything goes by without much of a hitch. While I don't follow football or know anything about football, I've managed to pick up a football term, Hail Mary. A Hail Mary is a very long, typically unsuccessful pass made in a desperate attempt to score late in the game, an attempt with a small chance of success. For me, a Hail Mary can be that attempt against all odds or something that will save my butt for the time being. Today was just a bunch of Hail Mary's. First period, we were discussing Life of Pi and I was sitting there going "please don't call on me, please don't call on me" because I still have yet to finish the damn book (doing that tonight, I'm dead set on doing that tonight). Anyway, I manage to get through class without much falter, so saving face. Of course I also had a quiz in Econ that I was racking my brain trying to remember what we were doing, I managed to get a 90 something after clicking through questions and debating on whether I should turn the thing in or not. I managed to finish a Lit assignment before the dropbox closed. And the big one, I forgot about the math quiz I have to make up, so I ask my teacher if I'm taking it today, she told me I'll take it tomorrow. I went to my seat, telling myself, "Thank the lord." So yeah, a Hail Mary, something that goes in your favor when it's as least expected as it could get. That's my story, and now to go do work. Sanders out. 

The Borg and The Q

First of all, I want to start out by saying that I totally meant to post this last week, but my brain got distracted by something, I don’t really know what… Yeah, that’s kind of how my brain works, focusing, focusing, Ooo shiny! Distraction, wait what moment, refocus, what the heck just happened moment. Anyway, this post is about the two races (civilizations, societies, whatever you want to classify them as) I mentioned in my last post, Civilizations of Star Trek. So forget your apathy towards the universe because resistance is futile. This post is about the Q and the Borg.

The Borg

Lower your shields and surrender your ships indeed. The Borg are a technologically advanced race. Essentially cyborgs, the Borg are a collection of species that have been turned into cybernetic organisms. Their minds are linked together in a hive mind and each Borg member is a drone to serve the Collective. The Borg use a process called assimilation to force other species into the Collective through injection of microscopic nanoprobes. The Borg Collective’s ultimate goal is the attainment of “perfection” through the forcible assimilation of diverse sentient species, technologies, and knowledge. Because of this the Borg are among the most powerful and feared entities in the galaxy. Borg drones don’t engage in any activities except their duties and regeneration (their way of recharging themselves). Drones are identified by designations instead of names and their designation generally described their position within a group. The Borg believe themselves to be superior in their way of life and don’t understand why other species would resist assimilation. The Borg ignores other alien species until they begin to pose a potential threat or become a suitable candidate for assimilation. Drones would begin to assimilate small groups of individuals without warning, while larger populations, like starships or an entire culture, would receive an announcement of their purpose.

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

The Borg generally didn’t open communications with others, but if they did they chose a single drone to speak for the Collective (hive mind and all so it worked for them). The Borg have a queen, the Borg Queen, but the nature of her role is a bit murky. As far as religion, the closet thing they have to one is a near-reverence for particle 010 (Omega molecule that is highly unstable and is believed to be the most powerful substance known to exist; the explosion of one molecule could destroy all of subspace within several light years). The Borg consider the particle to be an expression of perfection (even though one molecule destroyed 29 Borg vessels and 600,000 drones).

What makes the Borg so strong and near impossible to defeat, is their technology. The Borg’s technology is a combination of technologies assimilated from other cultures and technology developed within the Collective in order to overcome obstacles to its goals. If there is a problem it couldn’t solve, the entire Collective would work in concert to consider all possible solutions and use the one determined to be most efficient. By using the unique skills of each drone for a task, the Collective could engineer new technologies at an astounding pace. Their speed is so quick when adapting that they could modulate their shields and weapons to be effective against most ships and energy weapons in seconds. Borg ships are usually common geometric shapes, the most common being the Borg cube and Borg sphere. The ships were highly decentralized and without a clear bridge, engineering, or living areas. Their ships could analyze opponent’s weapons systems and adapt defenses within seconds. If the ship was hit, the ship would begin repairing itself.

The Q Continuum

The Q Continuum is an extra-dimensional plane of existence inhabited by the Q, however you could use the Q Continuum as a way to refer to the Q society itself. The Q is an immortal race that isn’t absolutely omniscient or omnipotent. The Q possess the ability of instantaneous matter-energy transformation and teleportation, as well as time travel. They can move entire asteroid belts and stars, creating alternate timelines, and can affect universal states of nature such as the gravitational constant (gravity). The only time a Q is ever seen to be unable to do something was when their powers were reduced or revoked by the Continuum. The Q claim they have always existed and have no explanation as to how they first came into existence. The Q Continuum is a highly ordered society and the result of eons of evolutionary stagnation. In their “new era,” the Q engaged in constant dialogues of discovery and other universal issues. Since that era, the Q never faced the unknown again. To them, everything possible has been done, and their omniscience had become boring. Members of the Q no longer felt the need to even speak to each other because everything has been said. The Q became apathetic towards the universe.

The death of a Q was said to cause chaos in the Continuum. When one of the Q killed himself to end the stagnation in the Continuum, the Continuum entered a massively destructive civil war. The two factions constructed weapons that could compromise the immortality of a Q. When the weapons were fired in the Continuum, massive damage to subspace occurred and some stars in normal space went supernova. Subspace eventually became so damaged that the Q outside of the Continuum lost their powers and immortality. Eventually a new Q was born and a cease fire was called. The damage was restored and the Q went back to being near omnipotent and invincible.

Q

Q is a member of the Q (confusing I know). He is considered to be obnoxious, interfering, and a pest. While he demonstrates superior capabilities, his mindset is unlike what Federation scientists expected for a powerful being. But under all his irritating personality, Q seems to have a hidden agenda that generally have the best interests of humanity at their core. The Federation first encountered Q when he appeared on the USS Enterprise-D. He warned the crew that Humanity should return to their home star system or be destroyed. When the crew resisted, he put Humanity on trial with Captain Picard and his command crew as representatives. Q accused Humanity of being a “dangerous, savage child-race.” Eventually, Picard was able to convince Q that Humanity had evolved beyond its old savagery. Q continued to appear to the crew of the Enterprise-D, usually with some new adventure that the crew would rather find themselves and not brought to them, or thrust upon them. Q is an interesting reoccurring character and I can always count on something interesting to happen when he’s around. Q is one of only four characters to appear in all three Star Trek series based in the 24th century; Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.

The Borg and Q are two of my favorite adversaries in the Star Trek universe. The Borg because they are near impossible to beat. Q because shenanigans and I can usually count on a few one liners when he is around. What's next for me in regards to Star Trek? I don't know. At some point I'll give my opinion on Deep Space Nine and Voyager, and eventually the films. I have a whole year to recognize the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. So for now, Sanders out.