Felon

I read an amazing article by a felon who was sentenced to solitary confinement. His words were so startling, because he made you truly understand his awful experience. This was my favorite quote from it, "When your life is defined by a single action, it changes your concept of time." I love this quote, because it is something we can all learn from, since anyone can make a mistake that can alter our lives.

1,200,000 Stamps

At the time of his death, FDR had 1,200,000 stamps...he was a collector...an obsessive collector!

One Man Band

I implore you all to Google image search "one man band." You will not be sorry.

Warning

Be sure to toss the cotton from your pill/vitamin bottles out right away to avoid contamination! Those things soak more germs than a hospital room remote control!

Jane Austen Quote

In honor of school starting up again, it is only appropriate to include a Jane Austen quote about humility, "Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility...it's often a indirect boast."

Neon Green Car

In case you readers had any doubts about my love for the color neon green, I went out and bought a neon green Chevy Spark today. Yes, I am that obsessed.

NYC!

I read that NYC has more Irish inhabitants than Dublin, more Italian people living in it than Rome, and more Jewish people than Tel Aviv. How's that for a big city?

Yes, I took that photo in NYC.

74 Letters

So you thought learning to read and write in English was hard? Well the Khmer (Cambodian) alphabet has 74 letters. Good luck learning to spell in that language.

Disney

Disney World employs 62,000 cast members...whoah, that's a lot of Mickeys running around!

1929

How's this for putting things into perspective...Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Walters were all born in the same year: 1929.

Bah Christmas!

In Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol, Scrooge is famous for shouting "Bah Humbug!" But what the heck does that even mean?!?! Turns out, he originally shouted, "Bah Christmas!"

Problem=Solution

Well, I've gone out and purchased a mini binder and sky blue hole puncher to salvage my notebook. The binder is pink now, but I plan to make it my neon green notebook soon.

RIP

Well, folks. My neon green notebook has officially fallen apart, and there is virtually no way to salvage it. So, I will be transferring the pages to another notebook. I am still figuring out exactly which would be the best option. More on this as it develops.

Speak Kindly

"You can tell more about a man by what he says about others than by others say about him."
~Leon Aikman

I wholeheartedly agree with this. It's like what my mother used to say, "If you don't have something nice to say about a person, don't say it."

Estes Park

Stephen King was inspired to write The Shining after staying in the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park...I think I know where my next vacation will be!

Women in the Bible

"Ruth" and "Esther" are the only two books in the Holy Bible named after women. That means that out of all 73 books, 71 are named after men. I would have at least thought there'd be a "Mary" book. As a bonus fact, the Bible is the most shoplifted book in the world; I suppose that's because they did not yet read the verses about not stealing.

Cricket Chirps

Want to know the weather but don't have a thermometer handy? Well, they say you can count a cricket's chirps and add 37, which is the approximate temperature in Fahrenheit. Yeah, because I have time for that!

10 Underappreciated Twilight Zone Episodes

I am a HUGE Twilight Zone fan. I've seen every episode multiple times and have all the books/scripts. It is just the best show ever. I've been quite obsessed since my tween years.

And really, any fan of modern sci-fi, mysteries, or twist endings can thank Rod Serling and his masterpiece The Twilight Zone.

Doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo…Who doesn’t recognize that famous theme song? There are no lyrics, yet everyone knows it. That’s how iconic the show is.  There’ve been numerous reboots and even a movie, but nothing can compete with the original series. The groundbreaking series ran for five seasons from 1959-1964, and has proven to be a classic. The show is on Netflix, there’s the biannual SyFy marathon, and there are the definitive edition DVDs that prove the demand for this show is still all too real.

There are many famous episodes, from the very first episode Where is Everybody, to William Shattner’s frightening plane ride in Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, to neighbors who just know there’s an alien among them in The Monsters are Due on Maple Street that many other great episodes often get overlooked. During the marathons, the classic episodes are always played, but what about the others?

There are so many other episodes just as mind-bending and twisted that deserve to also be classics in their own right.

1.    Five Characters in Search of an Exit

This episode finds a real mix bag of characters, namely a clown, a bagpipe player, a ballerina, a hobo, and a soldier trapped in a strange dark room together. But why?

Are they in the circus? Well, no because why would a soldier or bagpiper be hanging out with circus folk?  Is this some sort of dystopian prison for freaks? Not exactly. Are these children’s toys in a bin? Bingo!

This is one of those mysterious episodes where the whole episode is one giant riddle. And you have to wait until the very end for the answer to be revealed. The genius of it is that anyone can guess. In fact, a child would probably figure out the surprise ending right away, whereas an adult watching will be pretty flabbergasted.  

2.    The Obsolete Man

Similar to 1984 or Fahrenheit 451, The Obsolete Man takes place in a dystopia where citizens are super controlled by the government and reading is a serious no-no. They spend their time watching TV screens and punishing anyone who defies the government.

So when Mr. Wordsworth, played by series regular and favorite Burgess Meredith, defies the government by reading (gasp!), he is sentenced to death. However, all hope is not lost when Mr. Wordsworth is granted the right to choose the time and manner of his manner of death.

In the end, intelligence and individualism reign supreme when Mr. Wordsworth goes out with a bang both literally and metaphorically. That is, he chooses to die by way of a bomb, while trapping the chancellor in the room with him. The chancellor actually begs God to be let out, meaning Mr. Wordsworth has accomplished what he wanted and proven just how weak the government is under this regime to viewers watching from their TV screens.

Despite a very hokey ending scene involving a furious growling mob that decides to abandon all human instincts and attack the chancellor, this episode is one of the series’ best. 

3.    A Most Unusual Camera

Despite the protagonists (spoiler alert) dying in the end, this one has a pretty light tone. You may even catch yourself chuckling a few times.

In this episode, a crooked married couple and the wife’s fugitive brother find a magical camera that can predict the future with a single photo. Of course, they try to use the camera to get rich off of horse racing, and it works…for a little while. That is until they realize the amount of photos the camera can take are limited. Ah, the days before things went digital!

The characters are just so unlikeable but interesting that you can’t help watching with the hopes that something awful will happen to this disgraceful cast of characters.

4.    Number 12 Looks Just Like You

This episode is probably more relevant than ever in this modern Photoshopping and selfie-obsessed society.

It takes place in a time when all women must go through a transformation to turn beautiful once they reach womanhood. The idea behind this is to make every woman beautiful and eliminating ugliness. But everyone looks the same. And in a world where everyone is beautiful, really no one is.

The episode follows a girl who tries to unsuccessfully defy society by looking average. The show ends in true modern television fashion: with a fun makeover.

5.    Passage on the Lady Ann

While season four was certainly the most ill fated season because of those infamous hour-long experimental episodes, Passage on the Lady Ann is a stand-alone episode.  It centers on a couple who is trying to save their marriage by taking a ship to London, despite many warnings not to. In fact, 90% of the episode is of the folks on the ship trying to get the young couple off the ship. But there must be a good reason for this rejection, right? Right.

The couple finally does involuntarily exit on lifeboats, and the ship vanishes and is never heard from again. A lot of Twilight Zone episodes deal with this sense of trusting people, especially when it does not make sense to. So when someone tells you to get off the ship, trust them and do it.

6.    The Hunt

Not too many episodes of The Twilight Zone involve animals. Thankfully, The Hunt makes up for that.

When a man and his dog die and the man finds that “Heaven’s gatekeeper” won’t let his dog in, he rejects “Heaven” and refuses to enter without his beloved pup. Any true dog lover can relate.

And guess what…that wasn’t even really Heaven. It was Hell. Of course Heaven lets dogs in! So in the end, both man and dog find their new home behind the pearly gates.

This is one of the sweetest episodes that will make any animal lover undoubtedly spout “awww.” Plus, it proves that humans can be just as loyal to their dogs as dogs can be to their humans. You can go hug little Feefee now.

7.    The Silence

Sometimes you just can’t get someone to shut up! And that’s where money comes in handy, because you can just bet them that they can’t keep their mouth shut for an entire year. But be careful, because they may just be desperate enough to take you up on it.

That’s exactly what happens in The Silence, when wealthy aristocrat, Taylor, challenges the loudmouthed Tennyson that he can’t be silent an entire year. Now even though Tennyson spends the episode in turtlenecks, very few people would actually guess this M. Night Shamalan-esque ending.

This is one of those episodes where we are just waiting for that famous twist. So when Tennyson is shown at the end of the episode without his trademark turtleneck, and when you see the scar on his neck from where he got his vocal cords severed, you’ll shudder while grinning from the brilliance that was Rod Serling’s mind.

 Long Distance Call

Some episodes are creepy, like scary horror movie creepy, and they should not be viewed at night. This

is one of those episodes.

When a boy’s grandmother dies, he doesn’t even have time to grieve before she’s calling him on his 

phone with her frightening ghostly voice! But how can the poor boy convince everyone else that it 

really is Grandma on the line? And how is she calling him? Why?

Things turn nearly fatal for the boy when he jumps in front of a car and then tries to drown himself, 

because Grandma, desperate for time with her grandson, told him to. Luckily, this dark episode doesn’t 

end so grimly when Little Billy’s father convinces Grandma to leave the boy alone so he can 

experience life for himself. Still, we can’t help being totally creeped out.

9  Ring-A-Ding Girl

In this episode that is all light and fun until its very dark ending, Ring-A-Ding Girl is about a famous actress, Bunny Blake, who comes back home. There is a real genuine sweetness to her, and it is obvious she is not just some narcissistic starlet like one would expect to see from someone this famous and beautiful.

So when she tries to get the town to reschedule their annual picnic, while trying to convince them to see her one-woman show, we know this cannot be for selfish reasons. It is revealed that she is trying to save them from a plane crash that killed her through the powers of her magical future-foreseeing ring. What?!? Yes, mind once again blown.

Bizarre? Yes. Brilliant? Double yes.

The Lonely

This is another out “before its time” episode that proves you love who you love, and there’s no cure for that. In The Lonely, a dystopian prisoner, Corry, is sent to live along on an asteroid. But when a kind policeman brings him the gift of a robot woman, he falls in love with her.

To his surprise, Corry is told he can go home to earth. The only problem is, the robot cannot go with him.  He chooses to give up his freedom to stay with her, but is crushed when the police officer shoots her in the face, and he is forced to leave without her.  You can’t help crying at his heartbreak…that is until you can’t help but laugh at the odd way he says “robutt.”

Hey Hey

So Jimi Hendrix opened for The Monkees...yes, that's right rock legend Jimi Hendrix opened for a fictional band, and then he quit.

Disaster Strikes Again

Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, I forgot to bring my cherished blue swirly pencil with me! Which means I had my beloved notebook but nothing to write in it with.
But fear not, readers! Luckily, I took mental pictures of everything I wanted to remember and jotted them down as soon as I got back home to my beloved mechanical writing tool.
Geesh, that was a close one!

Guess I was too busy taking "selfies" 

(gosh, I hate that word!) yesterday 

to remember my pencil.

A Buttload

So here's some news...a "buttload" has nothing to do with your derrière.  It's actually a measurement for alcohol of 126 gallons!

Galileo

Galileo went blind...probably from staring at the sun for so long!

Child's Play

As a horror fan, I am embarrassed to never have seen the original Child's Play...luckily, I just got it on DVD and will be watching it within the next few days. There is so much interesting trivia about Chucky, like the fact his name is really Charles Lee Ray after Charles Manson, Lee Harry Oswald, and James Earl Ray. Creepy!

Aww, what a cutie!

Did you ever notice...

Did you ever notice how seals are dog mermaids and pizza is just a pie chart of how much pizza remains?

Bird People

"Dog people and cat people don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but the one thing they can agree in is there's no one weirder than bird people."
I have had pet dogs, cats, AND birds...so Mr. Kim would find me extremely weird.

This was back when I had 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a bird..at the same time!

Famous Shoes

There was an article about an artist who takes famous people/characters and focuses on their shoes. It's interesting how you can recognize a character simply by their shoes. So in my notebook, I took some of those famous images as well as others that I found and made something of a shoe collage.

Brains

As previously posted, Bo Burnham is my favorite standup comedian on my ever growing list of favorites. He has so many great quotes, but this one is from his song Hell of a Ride that perfectly captures his witty comedy, "I hate my brain, but I'm too sane to mind it."

Blue & White

The most common school colors are blue & white.

Hey, those were my school colors!

Wise Advice

"The best time to plan a book is while doing dishes."
~Agatha Christie

I love this as a reminder to never stop thinking. Down time can be creative time...sometimes even the most creative time.

Realities of Fear

This is an excerpt from Poof Like Magic. It makes you question your reality and rationale, and by now you all know how much I love mind-boggling tidbits like this.  I think I paraphrased a bit, but the sentiment is the same:
You're not scared of the dark; you're scared of what's in it.
You're not afraid of heights; you're afraid of falling.
You're not scared of people; you're afraid of rejection.

Thought Provoking Questions

I love finding thought-provoking questions. There are so many ways to answer! And a lot of the answers can reveal a lot about you. These are some of my favorites that I have come across online, in books, in magazines, and in conversation.

• What would people say about me at my funeral?
• If I was at Heaven's gate and St. Peter asked me why he should let me in, what would I say?
• What stands between me and complete happiness?
• How old would I be if I didn't know my age?
• Why do babies laugh?
• What sound/smell do I love?
• What is my most played song?
• What characteristics often deemed unattractive intrigue me?
• What era/decade would I most like to live?
  
• Who would I want to trade lives with?
• If my life were a book/movie, what would be the title?
• What is my biggest pet peeve? Why?
• What would be my theme song?
• Do I tell jokes to make people laugh or to make them think I'm funny?
• When passing a storefront, do I look at what's inside or my reflection first?
• Would I quit my job for $10,000,000?
• If the whole world were listening, what would I say?
• What invention would the world be better without?

Ann

How many people named Ann do you know?  How many people with the middle name Ann do you know? Probably a lot more.  In fact, Ann is ten times more common as a middle name than a first.

                                                   Even my mom's middle name is Ann!

Summer

All we keep seeing is "back-to-school" on TV, in stores, and online, which means summer's almost over. But that wouldn't be the case of we lived on Neptune. A summer in Neptune lasts 40 years.  Now there's a place I'd like to live!

Lonely at the Top

Here's another quote that I love: "It's lonely at the top, but at least you eat better." I don't know who said this one...not that it matters. Half the time these quotes are attributed to the wrong people anyway!

Don't Touch that Remote

Can you guess the worst carrier of bacteria in a hospital? The TV remote! It's surprising...but not really. That thing is like a cess pool!

Sid

I was never much of a Sesame Street fan...I just never liked the idea of puppets yelling letters at me, but I found it interesting to know that Cookie Monster (or should I say Veggie Monster) has an actual first name: Sid.

The heart of a small boy

"People want to know why...I write such gross stuff.  I tell them I have the heart of a small boy...and I keep it in a jar on my desk." -Stephen King

We can all agree Stephen King is pretty awesome, right?

Paradox

This makes my head hurt: The following sentence is true. The previous sentence was false. 

Whom You Know

Joan Rivers once said something I think any professional or grammar stickler can appreciate, "It's not who you know; it's whom you know."

Hed

So Sweden is even cooler than I thought. They have a gender neutral pronoun: "hed." So instead of saying his or hers, they say hed to refer to both or either. We need this word in America! It would be great for kids' toys.

Teddy

Anyone who reads my notebook will know of my minor obsession with Teddy Roosevelt. SO that's why in today's Teddy news, I bring you this fitting fact: Teddy had 24 pets in the White House! None of which were bears...

My Favorite Joke

I recently auditioned for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (no, I won't be appearing on the show anytime soon). When we were waiting for our tests, the producers asked us to tell our favorite jokes, so I spouted this gem. Unfortunately, it's a bit dark and did not go over so well. Nevertheless, it's still my favorite joke.
Knock Knock
Who's There?
James then began to weep at the realization that his grandmother's Alzheimer's had gotten so bad she could no longer recognize her own grandson.

Saturnday

Someone made a really nice comic of this, but since I didn't have a printer handy to put in my notebook, I doodled it. I just think it's funny in an adorably dorky kind of way!

EPCOT

I visited Disney World when I was seven years old, and my least favorite part was EPCOT...it was just so educational!  But, EPCOT is not just a fancy name.  It actually stands for Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow. So that explains a lot...

Chilling but true

I read this online somewhere and then came up with the genius idea of putting it in my notebook, because it's fun to shed some gloom once in a while. "At some point, no one will remember your existence."So chilling!

Killing Season

If possible (like you have any choice when to get sick) avoid the ER in July and August.  Why? Because that is when most medical interns are working in the ER, and they are the most likely to make mistakes.

The Moons of Uranus

Uranus has 21 moons...I am not sure if that's better than Earth's one moon or not, because we really appreciate the moon we have.  It was a big deal in It's a Wonderful World, we visited it, and constantly gaze at it. But if we had 21 of them, would they all be taken for granted as we take the stars for granted?  Then again, each moon on Uranus has a name, so maybe it would be like how we enjoy the Greek gods and how each is unique.
 I think too much sometimes...

For Anyone Who Still Watches DVDs

Similar to the idea that records on turntables are the best way to listen to music, I feel DVDs are the best ways to watch movies. I just love them and have quite the collection. So for you fellow DVD lovers out there, here's a great piece of advice: to skip straight to the movie and past all the trailers and menu, simply press stop, stop, and play on your remote.  You may now enjoy the feature presentation!

This is just some of my collection...notice my neon green notebook on the desk!