Happy whatever the heck you celebrate!

Happy holidays everybody!  Oh I'm sorry, did I offend you?
Yea... This irritates me.

December.  Home to many holidays!  Christmas, New years, *cough* my birthday *cough*, Kwanza, Hannukah, Ramadan, and many others.  This is a lot to keep track of, but what's even harder, is figuring out which holiday each individual on this earth celebrates.  But this predicament is easily solved with the simple phrase, "Happy Holidays!" or "Seasons Greetings!".  But, apparently, saying "happy holidays" is unChristian.  My question is, why?

Why does every obnoxious, hyper-conservative Christian find this phrase so appalling?

"Ary!  They're trying to take Christmas away from us!"
How?  "Happy Holidays" is just easier, and less rude than saying, "happy whatever the heck you celebrate!" to people you pass by on the street.  No one is trying to take Christmas away from anyone, if anything, you're trying to take the other holidays away from non-Christmas celebrators by saying Christmas is the only/ best holiday to celebrate this time of year.

"But Christmas is the most widely celebrated!"
In the US maybe.  But typically it's only Atheists, Christians, and some Messianic Jews that celebrate Christmas.  Most other religions don't.

"But Ary!  They're trying to take Christ out of Christmas!"
Oh please, Christmas celebrators have already done that.

Guys, "happy holidays" is an all-inclusive phrase, that happens to be easier than saying, "Happy Christmas, New year, Kwanza, Hannukah, Ramadan, or whatever other random holidays you can possibly celebrate!".  Now I'm not saying that saying "Merry Christmas" is bad, not at all.  It's just that not all people happen to celebrate Christmas.  You can say "Merry Christmas" as much as you want, as long as you don't get offended by people saying "Happy Hannukah" or "Joyful Kwanza" to you.

In case you haven't been paying attention in Sunday school, Christmas isn't about getting upset over stupid stuff like "Happy Holidays" or red Starbucks coffee cups, it's about, giving to others and of yourself.  it's about Christ, the savior of the universe, coming down to earth to redeem us from our sins, even though we did absolutely nothing to deserve it.  It's about loving one another as fellow humans and, more importantly, children of GOD and brothers in Christ.  GOD doesn't care what you say to others as you pass by them in the park, what he cares about is you loving Him and all others around you.  Chrismas has been diluted into this holiday of mass consumerism and greed, don't make it worse by placing it above all other holidays as the "all mighty alpha holiday".

Remember, we are celebrating Christ and his arrival on earth, not the day marked on the calendar.
Happy holidays everyone!
<3 Ary

Captain America: the lamest Avenger

IMPORTANT NOTE FROM ARY: I LOVE CAPTAIN AMERICA!!!  I just recently got into the MCU (Marvel cinematic universe) and I am absolutely in LOVE with it!  This is not me hating on Cap, his movies, or his comics!  It's just me putting our perspective of good ol' Cap into a new light.  I fully stand behind this argument, but again, this is not me hating on Cap; I'm simply putting my thoughts into writing.   Also, spoiler alert.


          Captain America: hero of WWII, leader of the Avengers, the perfect zero to hero story.  But is Steve Rogers really all he's cracked up to be?  As a superhero, I would have to say no.  Why?  Well, let me tell you.


          In order to become Captain America, Steve Rogers was injected with a super soldier serum to enhance his physical form.  Because of this serum, Steve was given the body of an Adonis, the strength of ten men, the ability to run twice as fast as the average man, enhanced physical endurance, and accelerated cell regeneration (he heals quickly).  This is all really cool!  But the problem is, it's all been done before in better ways!  Now I'm not saying that all superpowers should be exclusive to one superhero, what I'm saying is his powers are the same as other heros' powers but on a much tamer level.

          For example, his super strength.  Steve has the strength of ten men, but the problem is is that other heroes have the same thing, but they're much stronger.  Take Thor for example.  He's a lot stronger than Steve!  Maybe that's a bit of a harsh comparison, considering Thor isn't really human, but a god.  But what about Bruce?  He's also a lot stronger than Steve.


          Or what about Steve's increased running speed?  Quicksilver (aka Pietro Maximoff) had a speed that greatly surpassed Steve's!  Now maybe since Pietro is dead he doesn't count, but he was still much faster than Steve ever was.

          Next up, enhanced physical endurance.  Steve is able to fight harder for longer, run for greater distances and is able to take a few more punches than the other Avengers... Except for Thor... and Bruce... and Wolverine.  Yes, I know Wolverine's not an Avenger, but still, you get the point.  Wolverine is able to fully heal literally one second after getting wounded, to the point where he's almost immortal.  And Bruce once said that if he shot himself, the Hulk would come out and spit the bullet right back out.

          And finally, enhanced cell regeneration.  Now, with Dr. Cho's awesome medical technology, she can reproduce cell tissue right over a wound, like she did with Clint in Age of Ultron.  And Thor, being a god, can use magic to heal quickly.  Also, Barry Allen (aka the Flash.  And yes, I know he's from DC, but still) has accelerated cell regeneration and, of course, superhuman speed.  Both of which exceed Captain America's ability to do those things.  Not to mention Wolverine, once again.

          Now, I'm not saying Steve is useless as a superhero, not at all!  He's a great leader and understanding friend, not to mention he's the perfect counterbalance to Tony's reckless behavior.  As a writer and actor, I can greatly appreciate Steve's honorable character in the MCU.  We can really see Steve as a real human being because of his relatability and vulnerability.

         We first see Steve as a little guy who never backs down from a fight, even though his chances of winning are slim.  Then, we see him as the perfect soldier, ready and willing to use his skills for the good of his country only for him to be disappointed and paraded around as a showgirl.  But, he keeps going, determined to do prove himself.  He stands up for what he believes in, he always protects his friends, and even stays humble despite being the heartthrob of all America.  We even get to see how Steve expresses his emotions.  Just like me, he's an artist.  Even though the artistic side of Steve isn't really built upon or pointed out, we still get a glimpse into his heart and mind because of it.

          But as much we see Steve succeed, we still see him screw up every once in a while.  He regularly disobeys his orders, he foolishly tries to enlist even though his every single one of his ailments disqualifies him as a soldier, and he even lies on his enlistment form five times.

          But what really takes the cake, and what I think I like best about Steve, is that we get to see just how broken he is.  We see him cry, we see him go into fits of rage and frustration, we get to see his worst fears, his greatest regret, and even see him long for the life that he never got to live.  Heck, we even see him struggle with mental illness!

          Steve is a phenomenal character, one well worth adoring.  Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America, is a leader, an artist, trustworthy, determined, humble, willing to lay down his life for those he loves, but most of all, he's imperfect and broken, just like the rest of us.  Yes, as a hero, he's kinda lame, but what he lacks in the superhero department, he more than makes up for in character, charm, and story!

          I love all of the Avengers (except for Vision, sorry not sorry), but I love Steve the most.  Yes, I know I just built up an entire argument saying that he was the lamest of all the Avengers, but notice I never said he was the lamest superhero.  Steve may not be a Norwegian god, a highly trained sharpshooter, or philanthropist billionaire, but he's definitely one of, if not the best, Avenger out there.  Steve is a kind-hearted man who is willing to fight for his beliefs, family, and country, and I definitely think that's what makes you a true superhero.  Not the strength of your muscles, but the strength of your heart, and Steve Rogers definitely has the strongest heart of all the Avengers.

This week in History:embalming a chicken

The following events took place on 11/2/2016

I shoved salt up a chicken's butt.

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY! *please read in announcer's voice*

TOPIC ONE:  The Ancient Egyptian mummification process is a very interesting subject.  Whilst most teachers would make a slide show or a handout to teach their students about this process, Dr. Parker took on a more hands-on approach.  We had already known that our class was going to mummify a chicken, the previous year's sophomore's told us and so did Dr. Parker at the beginning of the school year, but none of us expected it to be so... awkward.

When I walked into the classroom and saw that Dr. P brought a raw chicken from the grocery store into the class, my heart sunk, but at the same time became very elated.  Ever since I knew about this little demonstration, I was so excited about it!  Unlike the rest my class.

A fellow classmate, Lydia, and I were the one's who volunteered to do all the dirty work; no one else was willing to touch the chicken.  We had to massage perfume, alcohol, and almond milk into the raw chicken's body.  But there was a buttload (no pun intended) of salt and baking soda involved.  The purpose of the salt and baking powder was to dry out the chicken, so we had to stuff the chicken full of it!

We named out chicken Bobine and we buried her on 12/7/2016.  RIP Bobine.

Over and out!
<3 Ary

Jefferson; the Mad Hatter

NOTE: This entire post it about the tv show OUAT (Once Upon a Time) and does contain mild spoilers for both the tv show and the graphic novels.  So if you're not familiar with this show or don't watch it, I would suggest you skip this one.

Meet Jefferson.  Jefferson here is one of my favorite characters from one of my favorite shows; Once Upon a Time (we'll call it OUAT for short).  He may have only been in 4 episodes of the show, but he managed to steal the show.  He first appeared in the episode "Hat Trick" which aired around the beginning of 2012, so I would have just turned 11.  I was OBSESSED with Jefferson! I thought it was really cool that he was Jefferson and the Mad Hatter at the same time!  I also liked how his character starts as a selfish thief, then develops into a kind-hearted, loving father.  I was also very impressed at how the actor who portrayed him added more depth and emotion to such a classic character from such a classic book.  To my eleven-year-old self, he was just the coolest thing ever!  Then, in one of his last appearances, I found out that Jefferson had a daughter named Grace (in the real world she was called Paige).  So eleven-year-old me thought, 'how could he have a daughter without a wife?'.  Immediately, my little brain thought of Rapunzel.  You see, the Disney movie 'Tangled' had come out in December of the previous year and Rapunzel had become my  favorite Disney princess.  And as of then, Rapunzel had not yet been featured in OUAT.  So, naturally, I wanted my two favorite characters, Jefferson and Rapunzel to be a couple.

I had decided that it was a good idea to write a story featuring them together explaining how they met, how Rapunzel, Jefferson's wife, died, and how Grace, their daughter, handled growing up with only one parent.  I will admit, I was not the best writer at age 11, so this story was very poorly written.  I cringe every time I think of it.  But eventually, I had forgotten about my story, Jefferson, and my favorite fictional couple.

Earlier this year I had gotten interested in the Marvel cinematic universe.  One of my favorite characters was Bucky Barnes, who was played by Sebastian Stan.  Gradually, I had grown very fond of Sebastian Stan and his phenomenal acting ability!  So, I was looking up some Sebastian Stan stuff on social media when I come across this GIF set with the caption "does anyone remember when Seb played Jefferson/Mad Hatter on Once Upon a Time?  That was great!".  I was awestruck.  My favorite actor played one of my former favorite characters?!  Almost instantly, I remembered my old story idea and immediately started slaving over my keyboard, rewriting my old story.

Now, since it had been more than 5 years since I had watched Jefferson's episodes, I had to do a lot of research to make my story aligned properly with the plot of the show.  As I was reading about Jefferson on the OUAT wiki, I discovered that OUAT graphic novels were published in 2015.  One of them being "Out of the Past".  I got really excited and looked up the plot of the novel.  I found out that this book gave Jefferson some much-needed backstory about him and his wife!

Fast-forward to the first week of September.  This really nice librarian named Rebecca told me that our library had this book plus another OUAT graphic novel about a different minor character that I was/am very fond of.  So I checked them out and began reading.  The Sunday after I had checked the books out, I had read "Out of the Past".  I was quite enjoying it!  Jefferson's real wife, Priscilla, was a really awesome character that I ADOREh, even though she's not my beloved Rapunzel.  But, what surprised me was that the book almost completely ruined the, seemingly, kind, selfless, semi-respectable Jefferson for me.


"What happened?" you ask, well, in the one Jefferson-centric episode in the tv series, Jefferson says that the reason he doesn't go to Wonderland anymore is that his wife died during a thieving mission while they were there.  Now, in this episode, Jefferson hesitantly goes back to Wonderland on a mission with the Evil Queen after she offers him a great reward that he can support his daughter with if he helps her.  Jefferson does get stuck in Wonderland, unintentionally leaving his young daughter alone in the Enchanted forest.  In the show, this is depicted as a kind, selfless, strong, character being caught during a weak moment in which he makes a mistake.  But, in the book, he does almost the same exact thing!

In the book, Jefferson goes to Wonderland behind his wife and daughter's back to retrieve a rare and valuable object so he can sell it for a great price and support his family with the profit. While Jefferson is in Wonderland, he gets captured and Priscilla has to rescue him.  Priscilla dies before they can get back home to Grace, but before she dies she asks Jefferson to give up dangerous missions and stealing for good.  When Jefferson gets home he promises himself and his deceased wife that he'll never go on another mission and leave Grace alone ever again  Now this is all well and good but that book takes place before the tv show episode!  This means that Jefferson went back on his word and left Grace alone for a chance at great riches for the second time!

This was so heartbreakingly frustrating to me!  Jefferson was so beautifully depicted as a strong, loving, and selfless father who happened to make a mistake with the purpose of good intentions during a weak moment in his life.  But with the events of the book taken into mind, it's really Jefferson being swayed by his bad habit of valuing riches and objects over his own family and their wellbeing thus making the same mistake twice.  If anything, it seems he has the same problem as Rumpelstiltskin but a little tamer.  I feel that the writers of the book went against Jefferson's character and made him more like a foolish and selfish villain rather than the caring, slightly naive father he was meant to be.  Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz (creators of Once Upon a Time), if you're reading this, please tell me that this was a mistake and that Jefferson is still the wonderful and strong character that I fell in love with as a little kid.

Have a magical week!
<3 Ary

PS. Okay, I'm sorry that this was so long and pointless, but I just had to get this off my chest!  Anyway, thanks for sticking around and tolerating me and my long winded rant about a character that no one else cares about.  Hopefully, I'll see you next week with another, much more interesting, post!