The Girl Scouts were going on a camping trip on a farm in my hometown.  We arrived at the pasture with tents and sleeping bags in hand.  After setting up the campsite, it was dark by this time; we had a sing along and ate S’Mores, that Graham cracker and marshmallow, chocolate thingies.  Soon, everyone was ready for bed, so I crammed into a tent of five or six other girls.  As I lay there, I looked up at the roof of the tent and saw these Grand Daddy Longlegs.  There looked like a hundred of them.  I screamed and caused everyone else to scream, as we ran out of the tent.  They could not talk me into going back inside, so I spent the rest of the night sleeping in my sleeping bag with it zipped over my head.

I had a few jobs -among them freelance journalist and software developer- and all of them had their allure. Freelance work is refreshingly free, but hard to monetize. Software developer was a solid job, but ultimately a bit boring. For sure, the best job I had was when I was a young scientist. I now leaved the academic career, but my first year and a half after the Ph.D. were just cool. I finally had full responsibility for a couple undergradates and even a graduate student; I was a “senior” in a lab of mostly fully young people, I managed to pursue my own side projects and in general I was satisfied. It was a focused but friendly place.

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Since I was a kid, I wanted to go to Antarctica. There are several reasons for that. First, I really like cold, desolate places. I like the feeling of silence, eternity and natural elements at their highest and purest. I like the place to feel inhuman. And Antarctica -a desert of ice and sea and wind- is the closest we have to such an alien place on Earth. But also, Antarctica is not devoid of life -there are penguins there! And penguins are the cutest birds ever, no question: always had a soft spot for them. Finally, Antarctica is a wonderful place for unique panoramas and photographs -pictures you couldn’t take almost anywhere else. Sure, it won’t be as comfortable as Tahiti, but so much more unique!

There are two things about me that most people I know are not aware of, at least outside of my family and closest friends. First, I do not know how to ride a bike. While this seems silly on the surface, I grew up in an area where bike riding wasn’t really an ideal hobby, and so I never owned a bike. I’m sure I could learn how quickly, I’ve just never given it a shot. Secondly, I don’t know how to swim. This also seems a little ridiculous given that I am a grown man, but I have a sort of irrational fear of large bodies of water, and swimming has just never felt like an apppealing activity that I want to partake in. I’m sure I could learn to swim if someone were to teach me, but to be truthful, I have no real desire to do so.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

A fire safe is not for everyone. My friend purchased one at a reasonable price, but it wasn’t in a good condition and someone was able to break into it. She notified the authorities and I was mad that someone had taken away her sense of security. She was a good girl and she didn’t deserve this type of treatment. I was going to find out who did this to her if it was the last thing that I do. She was not going to be the victim of some piece of scum taking her possessions away from her if I had a say so.

Everyone has their own perception of beauty, and what it takes to be beautiful. While I certainly don’t consider myself an overly beautiful person, or anything along those lines, there are some features and characteristics I have that I am proud of fond of. For example, I have dark brown hair that is very straight and well kept that I am fond of. I also have really nice bright blue eyes that I’ve told are very nice to look at by a few people over the years. As far as characterisitics go, I am very proud of being an optimistic person even when things get tough, and I also was born with an outstanding sense of humor.

An efficient device that can be used to put out a fire is a fire hose. Long (some measuring 100 feet) enough to enter the high window of an apartment building or house to put out dangerous fires. Fires cause burns which can lead to death. Fire incinerates and turns everything to ash. A burned down home is not only a financial downturn for a family but also an emotional struggle. Families may lose more than just material elements in the fire. Joy, happiness, elation can be stripped away from that family. The family unit is a very important one and can be easily ruptured by disastrous events such as these. Teens within the family may turn to drugs and/or prostitution at times such as these.

Without things to look forward to in life, your life can feel really empty, and at times, almost meaningless. On a regular basis, I look forward to all sorts of different activities that I don’t get to partake in very often. When I have a trip or vacation coming up, no matter where to, I focus my mind on that and find myself looking forward to it every day. Sometimes I look forward to going to a concert and getting to see one of my favorite bands play before my eyes. At other times, I even find myself looking forward to little things like spending the weekend socializing with my friends, or going out to eat with my family. Life is definitely what you make it, and looking forward to things is just the beginning.

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Right now, I am at a point in my life where I have made a personal goal to lose weight and get my body into better shape. I have spent the last week eating and preparing healthy meals full of low-calorie foods, as well as excercising frequently in an effort to shed the pounds. So far, I have had a little success, and I can already feel myself feeling better mentally and physically. This last week was especially productive because I was able to exercise for longer periods of time without getting worn out as fast, and I even discovered a few new healthy recipes for delicious foods that won’t pack on the pounds.

If I could change one thing about the world we live in, it would be to discover cures for every major disease that take the lives of human beings all around the world every single day. If I were to be able to discover cures for things like cancer and other deadly diseases, I could sleep peacefully knowing that all of my family, friends, and any other loved ones are happy and healthy, and are at no risk of being told any kind of bad news the next time they visit their doctors. I can only imagine how much better the world would really be if we had no diseases to fear, and nothing to distract us from living joyful, peaceful lives.

Diseased Door (Photo credit: judsond)