Summer, Free Time, and a Spark for Everyone

       Summer is here. Everyone is out of school and ready to find things to do. The same applies for me, now that I am out of school I will be able to post much more frequently. This is great for you! So many people don't know what to do over the summer so stay updated over the next few months for two posts every week! All of these future posts will be great summer activities so spread the love by sharing this blog and the posts about anything from organized water gun fights, to skim boarding on the ocean, to sand soccer tournaments, to camp counseling, to tie dyeing, and much more! Just +1 this post and every summer activity to cure the country of boredom. Until the first post comes out hit the beach or the pool and just relax. You've got nothing to worry about. Thanks for reading!

Play Assassin At Your College or High School

Overview

       The game "Assassin" is a live action game in which players attempt to eliminate each other using mock weapons and captures. The game begins with a host who finds players to sign up. Once there are enough players everyone is given a target. The target must be found and marked using select weapons that the host decides. Once a player is marked they are out and the assassin must find the victim of the person they killed. The last remaining player wins. This game is often played on college campuses and at high schools. It is a continuous battle so it may be important to always be watching and paying attention to everyone around you, especially if they look suspicious. Chances are, you're not going to make it. Best of luck. Like Assassins Creed, but in real life. 

Rules

       All rules are subject to change with the hosts liking but here are some general guidelines to abide by when playing assassin. 

1. Weapons- mark with pen, water pistol, hot sauce (poison), Nerf gun, rubber band, plastic light sabers,              cardboard knives, balled up socks

2. Safe Zones- lunch rooms, classrooms, library

3. Police Force- eliminated players track down and report rule-breakers

4. Reporting- the kill must be reported to the host within an hour or the player is back in 

5. Safeties- special grants by the host to protect certain players at certain times for specific and relevant reasons. 

6. Winnings- this is very subjective to the host but some games include making a pot in which every player pays a certain amount of money to get in to the game and the winner takes it all. 

       Playing assassin can be exhilarating and time consuming. Time flies when you're on your toes and looking down every alley. A great way to conquer boredom. While some people organize games in groups of friends, some hosts take it to the next level. At the website Sassins games are hosted and kept up to date. Join games in your area and let the fun begin. Share any funny assassin stories or experiences below. I'd love to hear how this game works for you. Enjoy!

Getting Bored of Reality? Lucid Dreaming is the Answer

What is it?

     Lucid dreaming is a state in which the person that is dreaming realizes that they are dreaming and are able to take control of what occurs. Sounds like inception stuff to me! Although many people have never had a dream like this it is possible to "train" yourself to be able to do it. Not only is there training but there are also methods of falling asleep that make this type of dreaming easier. Once this state is achieved and the dreamer knows they are dreaming they will wake up. The shock from the realization that one is dreaming is often too much to stay awake. Clearly this will not be easy, and will in fact take a lot of time. Definitely more time than anything else on this blog. Here are some steps and methods to try out when attempting to lucid dream. 

1. Remembering Dreams

     This is the most important part of lucid dreaming because it's impossible to have a lucid dream without dreaming in the first place. Even for those who have little to almost no dreams it's possible to increase that amount. To do this one must keep a dream journal or some sort of thing that can be used to record. Keep this by the bed and every morning record any dreams. Even with the lack of a dream write down "no dreams". While writing down dreams put as much detail whether it be important or completely useless as possible for example the weather, facial expressions, colors, people, locations, and so on and so forth. Eventually the amount of dreams will pile up, get longer, and will be easier to remember. Also look for patterns that re-occur between dreams so that the next time they occur they will be recognized. 

2. Reality Checks

     Now that dreaming comes easily it's time to start recognizing the difference between dreams and reality. Doing reality checks at least three times a day when something feels out of the ordinary or "dream like" will plant that idea and during dreams those same reality checks will be performed but they will have different outcomes. For the first few times these realizations will immediately cause the dreamer to wake up but do not get discouraged. That is normal, keep trying. 

• watch a clock, in a dream the time will not change
• lean against a wall, in a dream you may fall right through
• read a body of text look away and then look back, in a dream the text may change
• look at your hands, in a dream they will look significantly different than in reality
• look into a mirror, in a dream there will either be no reflection or a seriously distorted one (be careful with this, seeing a distorted reflection in a dream can often lead to nightmares)
• jump, in a dream jumping can lead to flying or floating
• poke yourself, in a dream human bodies have a different consistency 

3. Sleep Paralysis 

     Sleep paralysis is a state in which a person is aware of being awake but cannot move nor speak. This is a large stepping stone into lucid dreaming and is one of the most effective methods. To do this lay in bed and get into a comfortable position, preferably facing up with hands by the sides. Now lay there and DO NOT MOVE. There will be many urges like itches and blinking but do not fall for these. These small annoyances check to see if a person is awake. By not giving in to these disturbances the body is being tricked into a sleep that it is not really in. During this time lucid dreaming comes easily. By now dreaming should come easily, enjoy yourself and have fun in your dreams.  

4. WBTB Method

     The wake-back-to-bed method is one of the most successful techniques. To do this set an alarm clock to five hours after sleep is reached. Next fall asleep. When the alarm goes off sit there meditating about lucidity and dreams. Try to stay up for about an hour doing this. While falling back to sleep think about the fact that you will realize that you're dreaming when you dream and let it sink in. 

   

  Congratulations, you now have a great way to eat up time fast while doing something pretty cool. Don't forget to do all of the crazy things you could never do on earth in your dreams. Instead of driving to school in a car, dream about riding to school on a battle stag while firing missiles at oncoming traffic. The more creative you are the better your experience will be. Good luck and enjoy! Post any dreams in the comments, I'd love to know what your experiences are like!

Make a Paper Crossbow

       Many people have seen this video before but for those who haven't (or if you have and just didn't make anything) this is the best way to build yourself a paper crossbow. These crossbows are well powered but if they are made incorrectly they can yield almost no resistance and therefore, no power. Make sure to follow the instructions in the video unless you're willing to experiment and mess everything up. That wouldn't be too bad, after all the reason you're here is to find things to do and trust me, this project can take a long time especially if you have weak paper folding fingers. Good luck and don't point it at anybody unless they explicitly tell you to shoot them up, which probably won't happen. Thanks for Reading!

Five Minecraft Servers to Play on When You're Bored

      Millions of people play minecraft when they're bored so here are five great online minecraft servers to try out when you're bored. So I'll admit it, I love minecraft. It's creative, unique, and there are so many possibilities when it comes to multi-player online. Here are five of my favorite servers to kill time on. These are mostly mini game type servers that have a limited type of game play to set up a specific type of game. They're fun and quite addicting so try them all and tell me what you think!

Capture The Flag mcctf.com

       This classic game has been set up great for minecraft play. It is nothing more than what it sounds like only there are different classes such as the default "heavy" class, archers, soldiers (my personal favorite), and healers. Only a few classes are available to everyone. In order to unlock more powerful classes you must donate money to the server. There is no need to do this unless you really love the game because I for one have a great time using the soldier who's special ability is to wall climb as high as possible using his sword. 

The Walls mccthewalls.com

       This pvp server has a set map with four giant walls separating four different quadrants. Each zone is occupied by a team and each team has 15 minutes to prepare for unrestricted pvp battle. Once fifteen minutes is up the walls vanish and the war begins. Whichever team remains wins. This is one of my favorite games because other than the walls themselves, any block can be broken. This means that games could last for hours because people not only go out and fight but they also run for their lives, climb trees, burrow underground, or build traps. 

Kit PvP kitpvp.us

       In this pvp server you jump right into a brawl. Killing other players gives you credits that can be used to level up and increase your kill streak. Making yourself more powerful is called buffing. When you buff yourself up you get less credits for killing others and they get more credits for killing you. Debuffing is decreasing your strength which gives you more credits for killing others and less credits to other when they kill you. The key is to find that in between point that works best for you. 

Vanillacraft vanillacraft.net

       This server is not a setup server for specific game. It's a normal multi-player server with limited plugins and gives one of the best vanilla experiences. I guess you could call it my everyday server. In fact, me and a couple of friends are in charge of an organization called Valhalla which is located near one of the corners of the map. Unfortunately the server is undergoing some "drama" if you will. One of the moderators was sick of an organization known as "THP" because they had so much power that they just about ran the server. To stop this that moderator opened up their vault, the place where they stored their hundreds of diamond blocks, sets of armor and weapons, and burned everything in lava therefore rendering them almost powerless. That's what happens to the bullies of the server. One more important thing to note is that the server will undergo a complete reset sometime within the next few months so don't get to deep into building yet. My username is abeLinkn, I can't wait to see you on there!

Sabotage a1.mc-sabotage.com

     I've saved my favorite server for last and this is it, sabotage. In this game you start off in a room with instructions and a parkour course. Vote for a map (sooner or later you'll figure out which maps you like best) and wait for the game to start. When you get in you have about 30 seconds to run around and explore and collect chests, this is vital. During these thirty seconds you cannot take damage of any kind so get to the chests using any means necessary. When the thirty seconds are up you will get a little notification telling you what you are. You will either be an innocent, a detective, or a sabotager. Innocents cannot tell who anyone is but the detective, detectives cannot tell who anyone is, and sabotagers can tell who everyone is. Sabotagers have to kill innocents and detectives, innocents have to kill sabotagers, and detectives can run autopsies on deceased bodies and tell everyone what that person was. Along with  detective there is also a chamber that detects what class players are when they stand inside of it. This is the most important place for innocents to team up and try to hunt down the hunters. This game is extremely nerve racking and exciting and can take any amount of time. Good luck!

  

     Thanks for reading and if you know of any great servers or you want to advertise your own server just leave the link in the comments below! I will probably make another post that has even more servers, ones that I have not discovered yet so stay tuned. Again I'd like to thank everyone for their patience due to the fact that I don't have much time to write posts with school and everything so thanks for the support! 

Make A Fire Vortex (A Simple Tornado)

       Most of us go through a weather phase sometime in our lives where we can't get enough of hurricanes, tornados, and lightning storms. If I had known about this cool little piece of work when I was going through my weather phase I would have been ecstatic so this is for all of you weather nuts. Unfortunately your fire vortex will not be as big as the one in the picture but it will be pretty cool if you ask me.

Materials

• A small cup about the size of your fist. Preferably something fireproof. 
• A sponge
• Lighter fluid like Zippo
• A Lazy Susan (this is one of those small spinning tables)
• A wired wastebasket (Has to be wired because of the holes)
• Tin Foil

Procedure

1. First take the tin foil and put it around the inside of the cup.

2. Next cut up the sponge into small 1x1 centimeter pieces, this does not have to be incredibly accurate, and put them into the cup. 

3. Place the wastebasket directly in the center of the Lazy Susan so that it is spinning correctly.

4. Then place the bowl in the center of the wastebasket. For this to work the cup must be spinning completely vertical.

5. Pour the lighter fluid into the cup.

6. Set fire to the sponges and spin the lazy susan and watch as the vortex appears!

       As always be careful with the fire and stay tuned for even more (more than four ways?!) to play with fire! Thanks for reading and don't forget to share and follow this blog for more things to do when you're bored! 

Make Break Away Glass (Like In the Movies)

     Ever wonder about the special effect of breaking a bottle over someones head in a movie? I know I didn't but this made me realize how many times it actually happens. So here are some instructions on how to make this cool glass. Lucky for you, most of the ingredients are house held items that are cheap and easy to find. Here's what you'll need...

Ingredients

• A large pot
• Metal spoon (metal NOT wood)
• Candy Thermometer (Don't have one? Check these out)
• Cookie sheet
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups of distilled water (has to be distilled)
• 1 cup of light corn syrup 
• 3 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tarter 
• Optional: experiment with food coloring 

Now for the instructions...

1. Pour the water, corn syrup, sugar, and cream of tarter in the pot.
2. Heat the mixture on the stove to 300 degrees (as read on the thermometer) while stirring it. 
3. While this is heating, spray the cooking spray on the cookie sheet.
4. When the mixture reaches 300 degrees pour it onto the cookie sheet which will act as the mold for the pane of glass. Leave to cool for at least one hour. 
5. Now carefully take the glass out of the cookie sheet.
6. If it doesn't turn out great, do it again! It may take a few tries to get the hold of it. 

     Now that it's done feel free to throw it, smash it, or wack it over someones head. Use caution while smacking someone with it because it could come out harder than usual so make sure it's somewhat thin. If you don't want to risk hurting anyone just hit yourself or set it down and jump through it as if you were in an action movie. I'm sure you can buy or make other molds to get different shaped glass like a bottle or vase so make sure to look into that! Have fun with this, go crazy  make some cool movies. If you do, leave a link in the comments. If you need help, ask in the comments. Thanks for reading and don't forget to follow for more things to do when you're bored!