Life

I'm not much one for long sharing conversations that aren't exactly delightful.  Well, not when I'm the one doing the sharing.  Except in some situations.  But I'm losing my point.  Here's the deal: I don't feel like having this conversation with anybody else, so just act like we're having it and we'll call it a day.

You: Hey Kyle, what's up.
Me: Oh, not too much.  Well, except for one thing.  I decided not to continue with my internship.
You:  What?  Really?
Me: Yup.
You: So what does this mean?
Me: Well, I decided I didn't want to be a teacher and if you're not really into it, being in the classroom can kinda suck.
You: Oh.  You don't want to be a teacher?  I thought you were liking it.  What changed?
Me: Not to get into all the extensive details, but it's just not the job for me.  While I enjoyed working with children and spreading knowledge is great, I'm just not passionate about teaching like I would need to be to do the job well and to not have it drive me crazy.
You: When did this happen?
Me: I realized it quite quickly this year (as early as September), but I figured I could push through for the rest of the year and it wouldn't kill me.  But, it was beginning to effect my performance in the classroom and I was becoming somewhat miserable.  Not great for me or for my students.
You: You're sure it wasn't just your placement?  Maybe there's a better fit for you.
Me: There were great parts and bad parts about my placement, but the placement didn't drive me away from the job.  I was working with a great teacher and a group of kids for whom I genuinely cared.  Leaving my classroom behind was one of the worst parts about leaving my internship.
You: Are you alright?  With everything?
Me: Yup.  I am now.
You: Are you sure, because-
Me: Yup.  Quite sure.  I have parental support to keep me safe and I'm happier now than I've been in a good few months.
You: So... what are you going to do with your life?
Me: I'm not sure yet.  I have lots of ideas bouncing around in my head - some practical, some not so much.  The three possibilities seem to be do something in education that isn't teaching with my current degree, go back to school and get a different degree (bachelors or masters), or be that random person in a field entirely unrelated to my degree.  I'm visiting some advisers who know more about what my degree can get me and what I would need to pursue a different career track to figure this out.
You: Well, that seems easy enough to understand.  I'm glad you've shared this with me.  Let's talk about more entertaining topics now.  You're probably bored with this one as you've likely needed to have this conversation too many times.
Me: Jolly good.  How's life?

Well, that's that.  Let me reiterate - I'm fine.  I have a million ideas as to what I'd like to do with my life, and I have no idea which one I might pick.  But I'm me.  I'm not freaking out about this.  I'm taking things one step at a time and it's working out fine.  I'll preemptively thank you for your concerns and well-wishes, but I assure you I'm quite pleased with my decision and I'm looking forward to figuring things out.  I'll keep you all posted as soon as I know things.

Book Review: How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming

Books are wonderful.  Bookstores are wonderful.  Used books are wonderful.  Parents buying things for you is wonderful.  I was lucky enough to have all these things come together the other week and I walked away with two new books.  Wonderful!  One of them I had never heard of, but it happened to catch my interest.  I tend to be very fascinated with the physics, especially the very large and the very small (though many would argue that this covers all but the most simple and obvious forms of studied physics).  I love astrophysics and I also love (with an assist on the naming from Wikipedia) particle physics.  But that's another conversation entirely.  The book I found was How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by a physicist named Mike Brown.

Really, Pluto is pretty lucky to be known by anybody.  Don't feel too bad for him.

Now, I admittedly have a bit of a bias, but I'm pretty sure that this book would entertain and successfully educate most people.  Even those who aren't "science people".  Brown tells the story of his journey through his initial interest in planetary astronomy, his discovery of various stellar objects including one that would eventually lead to the death of Pluto as a planet, and the politics and aftermath of all this.  More importantly, he weaves in the story of his life, his family, and the birth of his daughter Lilah (he often confesses to forgetting significant events of days that were important professionally while displaying an ability to recall the smallest minutiae in his daughter's life - as it should be).

This Pluto is pretty cool.  And he's discussed many times in the book.

The book is funny, educational, and short enough to get through in one or two days.  Hopefully you can gain much knowledge about our solar system, the history of astronomy, a touch of linguistics and geology, and obviously our planets (and eventually dwarf planets), but even if you refuse to absorb any of this, you can enjoy a touching memoir with many humorous moments.

This is one of those books that I didn't want to end.  I highly recommend it.  Feel free to borrow!

WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE

We're all going to die!  That is, if we get sent back in time by somebody who is trying to kill us.  I guess that's unlikely...

Storing stuff online is really useful.  Back when I was young (all those years ago) we had a wonderful map program on our computer.  We could plan routes, find cities, and look up amazing landmarks!  And all of this information was up-to-the-minute.  Well, up to a certain minute.  When it was published.  Then if we wanted an update, we would have to buy it...  These days, we have Google Maps.  And I am thankful.

So even before the recent trend of always talking about cloud computing, we were moving things online.  When's the last time you checked an encyclopedia that was saved on your hard drive?  And how smart are those fancy smart phones without access to the internet?

So as I said, we're all going to die.

Because more and more, our information is moving online.  And we probably won't think to bring our servers with us when we go back in time of our own choosing.  And if somebody sends us back in time, it's just that much worse.  So we'll have no knowledge.  We probably won't even be able to take notes.

At least we won't have to worry about battery life.

I found these scary things when I Google Imaged H.G. Wells' Time Machine.  Also, that one in front looks like it's in a wheelchair.  I'm glad they let their handicapped friends join in their terrorizing.  The future.

(I'm definitely printing this post out so I have a paper copy to say "I told you so" when we all get sent back in time by the alien race that is clearly orchestrating all this.)

Hello, friends.  Kyle here.  I just want you to know, if you're keeping up with this blog via Twitter, I'm going to stop tweeting about it on my main account (@KyleMaddens) and have it go to a new account (@KylesBlog). In a few days.  Thanks!

Childhood Miscellanea Part Two

When I was ten my bedroom was packed up and moved to the basement for health reasons.  A decade later, I've finally started going through it.  This is what I've discovered in my archaeological dig through my accidental time capsule.

These were my favorite toy cars.  Sparkly and pink.  The doors on the big one on the right could open, which I thought was pretty nifty.

I used to really like this glittery/sparkly baton.  I was never very good at the dartboard in the background...

I never successfully rode a real skateboard, but Tech Decks were a line of finger skateboards that I thought were really cool.  For some reason...

My dad built this very cool half-pipe for me to use with my Tech Decks.  Unfortunately, I think I had mostly lost interest in them by the time it got this far and it was never finished.  Thanks for the effort, Dad!  Sorry my timing sucked!

I wasn't allowed to watch Power Rangers as a child.  But I was allowed to get merchandise.  Thanks Mom and Dad for protecting me from violence and giving me up entirely to commercialism.  It's made me who I am today.

Spirographs were pretty cool, right?

Look at the amazing post-it artwork I made!

The only problem is what to do with the really cool pictures.  This is best purpose I could find for it.  Perhaps my parents knew a better purpose when I was but a wee lad.

Hello, friends.  Kyle here.  I just want you to know, if you're keeping up with this blog via Twitter, I'm going to stop tweeting about it on my main account (@KyleMaddens) and have it go to a new account (@KylesBlog). In a few days.  Thanks!

Super 8 lived up to its name (by being super)

I saw Super 8 today.  If you don't know what it is... it's a movie.  About some kids in a small town in 1979.  And there's a monster.  But I won't really go into more detail than that.  Because a large part of the idea behind the movie is that you don't know what it's about.

It was amazing.

It was ridiculously fun, which is something that so many movies today are not.  It was also funny, but that's not what made it so fun.  The movie was made by JJ Abrams, but it was produced by Steven Spielberg.  Much of it was a love letter to Spielberg's movies and others of the same era.  It was like ET on steroids.

My Favorite Things about Super 8:

• The kids were the main characters.  Which made the viewer feel far more involved in the movie.  There were adult characters doing adult things, but the movie never strayed from the kids being the most important characters doing the most important things.  And they were great kids.  Hilarious, emotional, freaking out, pyromaniac, stupidly brave kids.  Which makes you feel like a kid again.  So fun.

• A lot of it was predictable.  In a good way.  This wasn't LOST JJ Abrams.  This wasn't even Cloverfield (though it seems that making Cloverfield was good practice for this).  There were some light mysteries, a bit of conspiracy, and everything is resolved by the end with no lingering questions.

• The two main characters.  Joe, the main character, was played by a brand-new actor who did a wonderful job.  More surprisingly, Elle Fanning was not obnoxious.  I was afraid she would be a bit too... Fanning.  But she perfectly played her character and didn't dominate the movie too much at all.  Yay for child actors not being annoying.

• It was a great summer action movie.  A lot of things exploded.  Some very extensively.  But, unlike some movies (coughTransformerscough), it wasn't about the explosions.  The explosions were a fun part of a fun movie.  They were given their time, then the movie moved on.

My dear sister, Erin, would probably not like Super 8.  Nor would my mother.  And possibly not my father.  But if you aren't like any of those people, go see it.  It was amazing.

I've had good taste for a very long time

When I was ten my bedroom was packed up and moved to the basement for health reasons.  A decade later, I've finally started going through it.  This is what I've discovered in my archaeological dig through my accidental time capsule.

To accompany these pictures of things I still love, I have included the audio of a cassette tape that I recorded from some CDs and the radio around the same time featuring songs that aren't quite as timeless.  I also left in the original commercials.  Enjoy!

Mixtape by Kyle Maddens

I saw Sorcerer's Stone the day after it came out.  I probably wanted to see it on day one.

These days I could just look this up online.  But Kelsey and I were dedicated enough back then to list every spell by hand.

My love for Disney was implanted into my head from an early age.  (I especially love the educational one on the left.   Which I kept for my future children.)

This awesome dude was a Burger King toy.  When you squeeze him...

his eyes pop out!  So cool!  ( I used to love this toy so much)

Childhood Miscellanea

When I was ten my bedroom was packed up and moved to the basement for health reasons.  A decade later, I've finally started going through it.  This is what I've discovered in my archaeological dig through my accidental time capsule.

My father brought home a really big magnet from work one day.  I love magnets.  I still think it's super cool.  And it's quite heavy - I don't know how I moved it around as a child.

I don't no where this came from, but its so cool.  I'm glad I had all this great stuff to make sure I learned grammar right.

One of my the many medals I earned for winning that glorious title: Participation

I've always been a bit of a hoarder.  I still do it today, but I'm not this bad anymore.

These are not the only hotel soaps I found among my possessions.

This is a deflated balloon and its accompanying string in a plastic bag.  I do not know why I saved it.

I used to collect business cards.  I should put them all in a fishbowl drawing and really throw off the odds.

I've actually been related to my sister my whole life

When I was ten my bedroom was packed up and moved to the basement for health reasons.  A decade later, I've finally started going through it.  This is what I've discovered in my archaeological dig through my accidental time capsule.


Erin and I get along quite well now, but that wasn't always the case.  Here are some pictures and a story showcasing the good times and the bad.

I'm fairly certain that this is the set-list for a revue we were planning.  We choreographed and performed a dance to Lucky, but I don't think the others ever made it beyond this list.

I discovered this View-Master disk that I altered.  I suspect it was part of a revenge scheme to prove my (obvious) superiority.

Can you figure out what's the same about these two toys?

Everything, actually.  They're two of the same reversible toy.

I prefer it in the horrific in-between state.  OMG THAT BEAR IS BEING EATEN BY SOME MEDIOCRE CHOCOLATE

There is a long and ridiculous story about this boombox and the matching blue one Erin had.  This is my blog, so I'll only tell my side of the story:

I had a mostly pleasant and enjoyable youth.  I wanted for little and my every need was met.  My only problem was a mean and oppressive sister who always got her way.  Her attitude then was "what's mine is mine and what's yours is mine".  (Little has changed.)  One year, for Christmas, Santa brought brilliantly colored matching boomboxes for me and Erin.  Things in the Maddens household were happy.  Each child could listen to the music he or she enjoyed most, and it happened that this was often the same music, so things were all the better.

Until one day... Erin lost her power cord.  Chaos ensued.  She soon came to the conclusion that if she did not have her own power cord, she would have to use mine.  For the first time in my life, I had the opportunity to gain control of a situation.  For the sake of little siblings everywhere, I stood up to her.

"No, Erin!  You can't have my power cord!  It's mine."

"But you're not using it!"

"Ah yes, dear sister, but I may want to in the near future, and you won't want to give it back."

"Mom, Dad, Kyle won't let me use his power cord."

"It's his power cord, if he wants to be selfish, he can be."

Selfish?  Petty?  Yes.  But it wasn't about the power cord.  It was about the power over my sister's tyranny that I had for the first time in my life.  It was drawing a line in the sand.  To this day we are all reluctant to lend her something, knowing that in her mind it will soon belong to her and we may never see it again.

Some extra facts: I eventually lent the power cord to her.  And I found her boombox in the basement with my power cord attached to it.  Also, this whole problem could have been solved with the use of batteries.  But really, even in the Nineties we weren't crazy enough to use twenty D batteries or whatever that kind of gadget took.

I invite Erin to write her side of the story and I'll post it here.  But I think this is a fair and accurate representation in which I graciously concede that I was somewhat in the wrong, but that circumstances dictated my need to take a stand against an evil empress.

Erin and I were born three years and three months apart.  Though we grew up together, evidence suggests that we were not of the same generation.

You know what would make a great children's toy?  A really creepy alien.  We'll call him E.T.

I may have been born in 1989, but toys like this prove that Erin was the only true Eighties child in the family.

Warning: Extreme Choking Hazard

When I was in fifth grade, I got sick.  At first it seemed it was just a cold, but the cough and lung issues did not go away in a reasonable amount of time.  Eventually it was determined that I had an asthma-like condition called RAD or reactive airway disease.  What this meant at the time was some medications, some tests, and cleaning out my entire bedroom that summer to rid it of any dust and other allergens.  We boxed up everything and moved it to the basement to be cleaned/sorted/dusted and brought back in.  We also purchased the cheap air filter that I have to this day - it likely does very little filtration anymore, but to this day I can't sleep without white noise.

Ten years later, I finally started to go through the stuff.  For years it sat in the basement, just collecting more dust.  Since then, I've accumulated far more stuff, I am no longer really diagnosed with any breathing issues, and the time capsule of my fifth grade life has been largely ignored.  But no longer!

This post is the first in a series showing what I found.

I thought Micro Machines were the coolest.  This set (off-brand) was NASA themed.  But when I opened the astronaut head that held the set I found a Stormtrooper.  I don't know if this was a mistake or just something I did to make NASA way cooler.

But it was pretty cool.  The rocket launched on this side, and the other side had a moon landing scene with a lunar module AND an astronaut that caused a flag to pop-up.

The Stormtrooper came from this set.  Which is so cool!  It looks like Darth Vader's mask!

This Empire Strikes Back set also had some really cool movable pieces.

Watch out Luke, I have a bad feeling that Vader is about to drop some knowledge on you and then smash that window.

THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!

Chewie, you're great and all, but I would have a lot more hope for C-3PO's future if his parts were not melded to your back.

My goodness!  That man can't move!  He's trapped in plastic!  On second thought, he's no worse off than everybody else...

More to come!