Martial Arts Resumes: Studio Websites

The Internet has been available for public use for years now. As a 25 year old, I am old enough to remember the days when the only way to get online was with a dial-up modem. When I was a hyperactive youngster (verses the somewhat less hyper young adult I am today), my family had a computer from the 80's. It had no Internet browser, no video card, no LAN (Local Area Network), no USB (Universal Security Bus) Port, and no mouse. I can hear the gasps of shock from the younger people of my generation.

Now that we have all these things, martial arts studios have sent us their resumes. Have you ever created a resume? You put down all the good stuff about yourself: your academic accomplishments, your hobbies, and your work experience, just to name a few. You don't put down the bad stuff: "I was coached during my last job," "I prefer to work at my own pace," "I failed two coarses at Sumold University." No, you want your prospective employer to consider you and, ultimately, hire you.

Martial arts studio websites do the same thing. There are two martial arts studios in my area, and both have websites: The Kung Fu Center and Villari's Studio of Self Defense.

Heroes: Alternate Universe part 5

New York Councilman Nathan Petrelli was a man of principal, or so his campaign ads said. His past, however, told a different story. But, Nathan thought to himself in his office, this was the present. From now on, things were going to be different. This line of thinking came after a call from his mother, telling him of a plot against special people that possible involved Eugenics. His thoughts were interrupted when his secretary announced over his private intercomm that Pete was here to see him. "Send him in," Nathan told her. When Peter told him the story, Nathan nodded. "If I'm hearing you right, this project needs to be stopped. But we have no idea where it is," he said. "Appanently, somebody knows," Peter answered. "He might choose to reveal himself." "And if he doesn't," asked Nathan. "Then we fight when whoever our enemies are come to get us," Pete answered. "The thing is, Pete, we don't know when they'll come. We either stand together or we lose," Nathan said. "In the words of Ben Franklin, 'We either hang together or we hang seperately.' But we can't gather everybody and then wait around. People have jobs to work and places to go. We can't keep them holed up somewhere with no idea when this is going to happen." Peter thought about that. "Then we just have to hope whoever gave Hiro that dream shows himself to us," he said. "We can't count on that, Pete. I'll see if something like Eugenics is being cooked up by government agencies," Nathan said. Peter nodded. "Keep me informed," Nathan told him. "I'll help as best I can."

Bob Bishop had worked at the Company since it was created. Ivan, he had thought, was loyal to the Company. Well, he had been proven wrong. Now it was time to start replacing what had been lost. "How's he doing," he asked his daughter Elle as they watched Ivan's replacement through one-way glass. "Cory Knight is adjusting to his role very well," Elle said. "But he has this love of Poker. He carries that deck of cards with him everywhere." "There's a reason for that other than his love of Poker," Bob told her. He flipped the intercomm switch. "Let's see how he's doing with target practice," he said into it. Elle watched skeptically as the wooden target was set up. Cory took out a card, held it for a second, and then threw it. Elle's skepticism became amazement as the card embedded itself in the target. "Cory's special," Bob said as he turned off the intercomm. "He can re-align an object's molecules to make it rigid or flexible. In his hands, a playing card becomes a deadly weapon, like a throwing star. He'll be replacing Ivan as Jon Langley's partner." "Who will replace Mellissa as Kari Shmidt's partner," Elle asked. "I have someone in mind, but we have to go get her," Bob answered. "Claire Bennett would be a magnificent replacement." Elle snorted. "Even if her father were to agree, which I seriously doubt," she said. "We'd still have her to contend with. She'd never cooperate." "Getting special people to the Company has never been a problem for us," Bob said. "As for the other problem, we have a re-education center in Odessa." Elle remembered that facility. Her father had given her a tour of it. It was where the uncooperative people were sent. She knew that Cloaire, strong though she was, would comply after being taught there.

Heroes: Alternate Universe part 4

Hiro and Ando teleported to New York. Perhaps, Hiro hoped, "Flying Man" (Hiro's nickname for Nathan Petrelli) would be able to provide some answers. "This is pointless, Hiro," Ando told him for the third time. "Nathan Petrelli has always been reluctant to help in the past. What makes you think he'll help us now?" "He's the only hero I know where to find," Hiro answered. "And if he doesn't help, we can ask him where his brother is." "Peter Petrelli is definitely more helpful than Nathan Petrelli," Ando agreed. "But what if he doesn't tell us?" "Then we find a way to discover who has been giving me these dreams," Hiro said. The last dream had been frightning. He didn't know what those men circling the table were doing, but it didn't look good. "He'll have all the answers we need." "Hiro, we don't even know where to look," Ando exclaimed. "That won't stop me," Hiro said with resolve. "Whatever these dreams are about, it seems to be very important." "I'm not arguing with that, but we don't know where to start looking." "Flying Man might know. He knows a lot of things about politics, and his brother is a nurse. Maybe he'll tell us where he is." "Where who is," asked a voice from behind them. They both turned to find who it was: Peter Petrelli. Several minutes later, in a sub sandwich restaurant, Hiro told Peter the story. Peter frowned while he listened. "This sounds like people are going to be operated on for some reason," he said after Hiro finished talking. "But it could just be somebody having his tonsils removed. Did you see who was having the operation?" "No," Hiro answered. "The doctors were surrounding the table, so I couldn't see who was on the table." "But you're sure there was someone there?" "They were definitely working on something, and they were wearing caps, gloves, masks, and coats." "Well, that's as good a reason as any. You wsaid that the surgeouns were surrounding the table. Did any of them look young, like they were still in college?" "Many of them, yes," Hiro said, thinking back. "Then it could just be a normal operation. Students and interns are allowed in the operating room so they can learn by example." "It didn't look like they were just watching," Hiro explained. "They were helping with the operation." "Hiro, I want you to think about your dream," Peter said. "I'm going to try to read your mind so we'll be on the same page." Hiro nodded. He thought about his dream, brtinging the picture into focus so Peter would see it clearly. "What's that machine that looks like a computer from the '70s," Peter asked when he had finished. "I don't know," Hiro said. "It could be something from the past," Ando suggested. "No. The rest of the technology is too advanced," Peter answered. "I'll talk with Nathan and see if he'll help us."

Heroes: Alternate Universe part 3

Angela Petrelli, mother of New York congressman Nathan Petrelli, couldn't shake the memory of the dreams she had received two weeks ago: A door with "164" nailed on it and then a room with an operating table and a maching she couldn't identify. The room then became occupied by surgeons surrounding the operating table with all its equipment. The unknown machine was still there. The vision then changed to an old clip from a 1940's reel. It didn't show for long, but Angela knew from the moment she saw it that it was Dachau, a nazi concentration camp. Her dream then went dark and then lighted on the room. A voice from nowhere said, "Gaze on the monster you helped create, Angela Petrelli." Angela didn't know who was sending her this cream, but she did know it had to have something to do with room "164." She picked up the phone and dialed Noah Bennett.

When Chaire heard the phone ring and when she heard her dad answer it, she considered letting the conversation continue without her interest. But she wanted to know if it had to do with Dreamer, so she picked up the phone upstairs. It was Mrs. Petrelli. "What's significant about room 164 in the Company right now," she was asking. "Special cell number 164 was used for six months to keep one of "them" from becoming a danger to everybody," her father answered. "I had a dream that included a clip of Dachau," Mrs. Petrelli told him. "What project is the Company working on that involves Eugenics?" "The Company has no such progect as far as I know," Claire's father said, his voice sounding troubled. "Is special cell 164 still occupied," Mrs. Petrelli asked. "Two of "them" escaped, taking him with them. One is a shape-shifter, the other is telekinetic. Both are powerful." "What about 164's occupant?" "He's telepathic, and his power is beyond any other telepath's." "What crime was he being held for?" "None. I had thought that he was being held for being a potential threat to everybody, but if there's a Eugenics project that I don't know about, the Company could have had an entirely different reason for sedating him." "It also means that someone in the Company's top tier doesn't want perople with abilities to survive. Do you think you can discover who?" "I'll find him. Everybody in the Company trusts me." "Do it quickly. We need to stop this project before it goes into effect." Claire put down the receiver and sat on her bed. Her father would do what he could to protect her, she knew, but he had no qualms about sacrificing other people who were special in order to protect her. She had that in mind when she went to sleep that night. This time, her dream was different. The young man stood facing her. "Your father's a lot of things, Claire," he told her. "But he would never support or accept a project that involved Eugenics." "What is Eugenics, exactly," she asked him. "Eugenics is a science that believes that only the "strong" should be able to produce offspring," he answered. "That's close to their definition. What they really mean is that only people like them should reproduce. For this reason, people in the Company want to sterilize us special people. Eugenics is an idea long past, but it hasn't died, since some people still believe in it." "Evil leaders come and go, but ideas never die," Claire quoted the proverb. "How many people in the Company are in favor of this project?" "Nobody special knows about it except my friends and me," he answered. "As for the rest of the Company, I can't account for all of them. I know that your father would be against it if he knew. It wouldn't surprise me, though, if the other "normal" company associates were involved. They live a morally gray lifestyle." Claire nodded in her dream. "What can I do," she asked. "Tell your dad to be careful at the Company. The people heading this project are fanatical." "You know who they are?" "I know whjo one of them is. In order to get the names of the others, I have to be in the same area he is. Now listen carefully, since I don't have much time left talking to you tonight." Claire listened.

Heroes: Alternate Universe part 2

It was midnight, and Noah Bennett couldn't sleep. The news he had received that evening was absolutely terrifying. "Noah, there's been a revolt," Bob Bishop had said. "Melissa and Ivan escaped an hour ago." Then he gave the devastating news: "They took Dreamer with them." The shuffle of feet turned his eyes to his office door. Claire occupied the doorway. "What is it, Claire-bear," he asked, calling her by his pet name for her. "I've been having this dream since last week," Claire answered. "I think it's being caused by someone who's like me. Do you know anybody who can give dreams?" Noah nodded soberly. "Yes, I do. He was taught to control his ability at the Company." "Was he abducted like the others," Claire asked sardonically. "No. He came to us. An agent of the Company who was a friend of his pointed us out to him. I was given the task of helping him." "What's his power," Claire asked. "Telepathy. He complained that he was hearing voices. He thought he was schizophrenic at first, but after we conducted some tests, he discovered his power," Noah answered. "So he's got Matt Parkman's power," Claire said, remembering the telepathic policeman. "Yes, but Dreamer's more advanced in his power than Parkman is," Noah said. "Compared to him, Parkman's just scratching the surface of his ability. Anyway, I helped him learn to control his power. After that, Dreamer began to advance in his pwer at a rapid pace. It got to the point where the Company considered him too much of a threat and they had him sedated and locked away. But now two of his friends inside the Company got him out. Once he recovers fully, he'll come after the Company." "It's not like the Company deserves to survive," said Claire with obvious disdain. "We've been over this, Claire. In order to protect you, I have to make the Company think I support it. Now why don't you get some sleep? Dreamer would never hurt or destroy an innocent person." Claire left the office. Noah decided to follow his own advice. As he walked to the master bedroom, he reflected on his former charge. Dreamer had been a grade-A student in high school, before he began to experience his ability. He was an excellent tactician whose strategies had helped the Company in nurerous ways. But the Company had betrayed his trust. Now it was going to suffer the consequences. Dreamer would find a way to destroy an institution that was impenetrable, that much was certain, but how and wen? Noah knew he would find out sooner or later.

One month later, at a Giant store outside Odessa, Texas, the cashier flashed a friendly smile at the elderly woman as she paid for her groceries, and she watched as she headed for the exit. Outside, the woman signaled for a taxi. Arriving at her destination ten minutes later, she paid the driver, an Indian named Mohinder Suresh, and carried the two paper bags full of groceries into the Victorian house. Inside, the woman's features began to change. Her wrinkles disappeared, her gray hair darkened and grew long until it reached the middle of her back, her fat torso shrank several sizes, and her eye color changed from greenish blue to brown. Melissa hurried to the bathroom where attire more fitting for a woman her age (19) awaited. The clothes she was wearing were too large. A few minutes later, she walked into the kitchen, where two men stood. One was pulling a stretchy band that was tied to a chair. The other was watching and making sure that the chair didn't move. "How's he doing," Melissa asked. "He's improving," the watching man said with a thick Russian accent. "But his muscles still need rehab." "Six months of not moving will do that to you." That was spoken directly to Melissa's mind. She looked at the excercizing man. "I understand," she answered. She shouldn't be asking Ivan about Dreamer; she should ask Dreamer directly. "When do we strike at the Company," Ivan asked. "That is not your responsibility," Dreamer thought to him and Melissa. "I have something different planned." Melissa hesitated, then spoke the question that had been mulling around in her mind. "What of Mr. Bennett? Who will confront him?" "Noah Bennett will be left alone," she heard in her thoughts. "He was the only one among the bigshots who was against the motion to sedate me for life." "You knew of this and you let them do it," Ivan asked. "Why?" "I had my reasons. One of them was so I could start the Company's destruction without their knowledge," Dreamer answered in their minds. "How," Melissa asked. Dreamer just smiled. An apple floated from one of the grocery bags and traveled to Ivan's outstretched hand. "What do we do in the meantime," he asked. "I still have some work to do before it's time," Dreamer answered in their thoughts. Melissa frowned. Dreamer was able to speak verbally. So why wasn't he? There were alone here. She mentally shrugged it off. Drewamer was amazingly bright; he knew what he was doing.

Heroes: Alternate Universe part 1

Note: The "Heroes" TV show is about people whose lives are forever changed when they discover they have abilities such as telepathy, instant regeneration, flight, time travel/teleportation, and super strength. The show follows how they cope with their newfound abilities and how they use them to prevent massive disasters from occuring. This alternate universe is my story in the Heroes saga.

The Bennett family had just sat down to dinner when the phone rang. It was the Company leader calling for Noah, the man of the family and one of the Company's best agents. Claire Bennett watched as her father took the call. As he listened, his frown deepened. "We'll find them," he said at last. He listened further, then his mouth opened in shock. "I'll get on it first thing tomorrow morning," he said. He hung up before the person on the other end could answer. Claire looked into his eyes and saw the face of a man whose past had returned to haunt him.

On the other side of the world, the city of Tokyo was bustling. In an office building belonging to Nakamura Industries, Hiro Nakamura, CEO, was concerned. From the time he had discovered his ability to control time and move through time, he had known that he was meant for great things. As a comic book lover, though, he also knew that great responsibility came with great power. But Hiro was not thinking about comic books or time travel today. For nearly a week now, he had been having a recurring dream: he stood in the middle of a bleak room with a strange machine and an operating table. Then he stood in front of a door with the numbers "164" nailed on it. Then he stood in a meadow facing a young man about six feet tall and he wore caucasian skin. He had dark hair and he wore glasses. "Help me," he had said, reaching to Hiro with one hand. The sound of a door opening pulled Hiro from his thoughts. He looked up to see Ando, his long-time friend and co-worker. "You send for me, Hiro-san," Ando said. Hiro nodded. "I've been having these dreams, Ando-kun," he answered.

In New York, Gabriel Grey, aka Sylar, wandered the dark streets. He didn't dare sleep; the recurring dream was driving him nuts. He tried to figure out how this was being done, but even with his power of knowing how things work, he still couldn't figure out how this was being done. He knew, though, that this had to be from a power, and he wanted it. For years he had killed special people for their abilities, growing powerful because of it. Now he knew of an ability that would give him the power to invade dreams; it was the power of fear. He could be like Freddy Krueger from "A Nightmare on Elm Street." Calm down, Gabriel, he told himself. He had to find this person before taking his power. Sylar looked up. "Where are you," he whispered.

From the Old to the New

As we all know, television has changed over the years. I'm not talking about the hardware (although that has changed from a box to a board). I'm talking about content. I'm talking about the shows.

In the '50s and '60s, television shows were quite mild. Whoever lived during those years must certainly remember waiting for their favorite shows to come on: The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, Batman, and Get Smart are a few examples.

When we were little, my friend John and I would wait in anticipation for Batman to be aired on ABC (this was during the late '80s and early '90s. ABC was airing reruns of the Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward). We'd see Adam and Burt, as Batman and Robin, outwit the Riddler, de-claw Catwoman, face off against Shame, put the heat on Mr. Freeze, dethrone King Tut, stifle the Joker's last laugh, and defeat the Penguin's fishy schemes. We'd even play the parts. I was Batman and John was Robin. Sometimes, our mutual friend Angela was Batgirl.

I have four of the five seasons of Get Smart on DVD and I find them enjoyable. Agent 86 knew how to mess up with style. His beautiful partner against the chaos of KAOS, known only as "99," was the perfect mate for Maxwell Smart, our lovable, laughable secret agent man. Their relationship is kept discreet, even after they're married. You don't see that discretion on television anymore. What the public wants to see is what the stations will show, and, with the exception of kids' shows, what is being shown is violence and sex. The marriage bed is no longer sacred. People can't seem to get enough inuendo and destruction.

Are sexuality and violence really fun to watch? Not if you've got a strong sense of morality. Don't we hear of enough violence in the news? We don't need this stuff in the shows we watch.

On the anime Death Note

If there's one lesson to be learned from Death Note, it is this: boredom kills. However, there are other lessons to be learned from this anime, one of which is "Do not fight with monsters, lest you become a monster." (Fredrick Nietzche).

For those of you readers who are unfamiliar with Death Note, let me give you a summary. Light Yagame (pronounced Ya-ga-may) is the top student in his school. He is troubled by the high crime rate in Japan (which, in this world, is pure fantasy. Japan has a very low crime rate). So when he discovers a notebook that causes the death of any person whose name is written in it, he comes up with a plan to rid Japan of its criminal elements. Noble, right? Wrong. This becomes evident when Light tells the previous owner of the Death Note, a Shinigami (death god) named Ryuk, that he intends to create a world free of crime and set himself up as its god. The reason for doing this? He's bored. The response to the sudden deaths of criminals is fairly obvious: the public adores "Kira" (Japanglish for "killer", although the name Kira also means "Dark". Get it? Light and Dark?), viewing him as a savior, while the law condemns him as a mass murderer. Therefore, Light is forced to contend with the law as well as with criminals.

To tell more would give away some plot twists and turning points in the story. What I've told you already leads to some very important questions:

Does Light have the right act as Judge, Jury, and Executioner even though the crime rate shows law enforcement's incompetence?

As a member of the public, how do you react when somebody does a good thing using unscrupulous means? Does the end justify the means?

We are a country familiar with superheroes. In their respective universes, do Superman, Batman, Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, and Ironman have the right to take the fight to crime?

Did Light move in the right direction but just go too far or did he move in the wrong direction entirely? Do we, as American citizens, have not only the right, but the responsibility to stop crime whenever we see it? Assuming we do, where do we draw the line concerning the actions we take?

Summer Games

Special Olympics of Pennsylvania will be holding its biggest tournament: the Summer Games at Penn State University. I am an athlete for Berks County. Berks athletes will be participating in three sports:

• Basketball
• Softball
• Track and Field

I'm a member of the Berks Angels softball team. I play Left Center fielder. I'm pretty good on defense, although I don't make catches as inspiring as Chris Boyer, who plays Left fielder. Unfortunately, we will have to play without Rodney Delp, one of our star players. He had to be somewhere else.

We'll play preliminary games Thursday afternoon to determine which division we'll be playing in (Teams are sorted according to skill level, Div 1 for the best teams and Div 7 for the worst teams). We're pretty good, though not the best.

Last year, we took our rivals, Delco (Delaware County) into extra innings before they won. Maybe we'll beat them this year. I hope we don't get creamed. The tournament closes on Sunday. I plan on playing Soccer this fall.