szachik@pvs.org, Author at the bird on fire

Blog Responds: What Happens When There’s a Rent-Paying Monster Under Your Bed?

January 15, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

Compiled by Luke Langlois

To generate new ideas, fun, and creativity, thebirdonfire.org staffers respond weekly to a given prompt. Prompts are often borrowed from Poets & Writers, sometimes from Reddit. Luke curates the responses to “What if there was a rent-paying monster under your bed?”

When we fear the dark, are we afraid of being alone, or are we afraid of not being alone? In this Wednesday Writing Prompt, us bloggers have been mysteriously finding money around our homes for an extended period of time. Who knows where the money is coming from? Is it carbon monoxide poison causing us to lose our memory? No; it’s MONSTERS. One day, we discover that there have been rent-paying monsters living under our beds. Is the monster kind? Cruel? Murderous? Hungry? What do we do? Bloggers said. . .

Doreen Yuan: He was a pure black foggy body with only two white eyes. He seemed to have no mouth and could not speak, but his foggy body could be changed into the shape of words, and they let me understand what he wanted to say. Then I learned that he was the creature of all my negative energy. I accepted the rent paid by the monster and promised to keep a positive heart; otherwise, the monster would grow because of my more and more negative energy, and finally, the monster would climb out from under the bed and eat me.

Luke Langlois: There’s a monster under my bed who I’ve never noticed for any reason whatsoever, and he’s paying rent? Sounds good to me! I do nothing.

James Zheng: I don’t want to accept the traumatic fact that a monster has been renting shelter under my bed. So I made an agreement with him. I can provide him with food, water, and shelter under the bed. But he can only go out during the nighttime and must stay under the bed in the daytime. Someday I would have to make a tough decision and think of a way to find out what this monster truly is. I genuinely don’t want to betray him, but I don’t want him to live here forever.

Chelsea Xu: There was a monster under my bed! They said they were the one who was providing money to my pocket randomly! I was so scared when they said they wanted something in return. But I had nothing!! So I ran to the kitchen and came back with a kitchen knife and told the monster to back off. But instead of attacking, they freaked out and explained to me why they were there. They were looking for a friend. I understood, and we became best friends forever yay!!

Quintus Ni:

First, I will say thank you!! I appreciate the money!

I hope that monster can invite their whole family~ All come to my bedroom, and sleep under my bed, then I can get lots of money as rent. I would like to make friends with new strange guys. We can have lots of parties, and live together!!

Next monster, please~ I’m waiting~~

Some Anonymous Blogger:

I keep finding pennies. Everywhere, in everything. I find them in my drawers, in my clothes, and in my socks. I have no idea why these show up. One day, I decide to investigate. I compile all of the pennies into a pile, and then go to sleep.

I wake up, look up, and see a dark figure.

The figure is a man with backwards arms and a lizard head. He jumps up and yells “I SMELL PENNIES!!!!!!!” Then, I wake up.

My bed feels oddly hard. I pull back the sheets, to reveal more and more pennies. All of a sudden, the wallpaper peels off and reveals pennies. Everything dissolves into more and more pennies, and I drown in the mass of coins.

Renée Vazquez:

I stared at my rent bill, exasperated I had chucked it under the bed before jumping on to it and pulling the blankets over me.

“Out of sight, out of mind, I’ll deal with it later.”

This was two years ago when I had moved into my new apartment. After that, once a month, I kept finding wads of cash in my desk drawer, always half my rent. I never put any money there, but I assumed it was just my faulty memory.

I came home early one day and as I headed straight to my bedroom, I saw a large thing crawling from under my bed.

It crept toward my desk and gingerly placed a wad of exact cash in the drawer I always found it in.

“What wait?!?! Wait! What the–?!”

I stared at it and it stared at me.

“Well, um.. lemme explain…..”

“I don’t mean to be impolite, but… Who are you?” My voice came out as a cracked and quivering whisper.

“My name is Petunia, actually…”

“So, Petunia, are you the one who comes up with half of my rent money?”

“Well… yeah…”

“One doesn’t expect that from their monster from under their bed. Actually one doesn’t expect a monster under their bed…”

“But you actually seem pretty nice…” I added.

“Wait, how did you get all this money?”

She shrugged and maybe smiled.

I nodded.

“Well, Petunia. It’s probably uncomfortable under there, isn’t it?”

She shrugged again.

“Well… why don’t you sleep in the extra room? In fact, I can make some dinner now, and we can finally be actual roommates.”

She maybe smiled again.

Katelin’s Favorite Musical Artists of 2019

January 13, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Katelin Slosky

Katelin offers a musical year-in-review for us. She doesn’t give us a genre or a unifying characteristic between the artists, other than these are the artists that made her 2019. If your tastes run similar to Katelin’s, try Marie Ulven Ringham, Mikaela Mullaney Straus, and Maia–aka girl in red, King Princess, and mxmtoon.

Here are some of the artists I enjoyed listening to in 2019.

girl in red

Marie Ulven Ringham is a Norweigan singer/songwriter. Her most popular songs are “we fell in love in october,” and “i wanna be your girlfriend.” My 2 favourite songs of hers are “girls” and “i wanna be alone.”

King Princess

Mikaela Mullaney Straus is an American singer/songwriter from Brooklyn, New York. Her most popular songs are “1950” and “Talia.” My favourite song of hers is “Ain’t Together,” which is also the first of her songs that I heard.

mxmtoon

Maia is an American singer/songwriter from Oakland, California. Her most popular song is “prom dress,” which is one of my favourites. I also like the song “feelings, are fatal.”

Favorite Musicians Editor: James Zheng

Life Without Light: What lurks in our ocean’s depths?

January 13, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Katelin Mei

How can life exist with little to no sunlight? How do organisms live? How do they navigate, find food, and escape predators under the crushing weight of the ocean, and the absolute darkness?

Sunlight can enter the ocean to provide light for up to 200 metres. After that, the ocean remains in partial darkness, for up to 1,000 metres. Past here, the ocean is bathed in darkness. This “lightless” area is called the aphotic zone, also referred to as the “midnight zone.” It exists below 1,000 metres. There is no sunlight that can reach this area. The only light in the midnight zone is provided by the fish themselves.

Life thrives in the midnight zone. Here are some of the creatures that live in these depths.

Viperfish – If you are going to be a predator in the darkness, you need to be ferocious so that your prey cannot escape; otherwise, you might not have food for a long time. The viperfish is one of the fiercest predators in the deep sea. They are characterized by long needle-length teeth and a hinged jaw, allowing them to eat almost any kind of prey they come across.

Pacific barreleye fish – Every fish in the deep sea has unique adaptations to the darkness. The Pacific barreleye fish has tube-shaped eyes that look through a clear dome. While their eyesight is very narrow, the tubular eyes are very efficient for picking up any kind of light. Their eyes are surrounded by a fluid-filled shield, allowing them to swivel their eyes and look around them.

Hatchetfish – Predators are fierce in the darkness, so as a result, many of the deep-sea fish have found unique ways to camouflage themselves. One such fish is the hatchetfish. These fish have light-producing organs on their bellies. Many predators hunt by looking upwards for silhouettes. The hatchetfish counters that by making its belly match the daylight filtering through. Now, it is nearly invisible.

Anglerfish – This is one of the most famous deep-sea fish species, for the way it uses its bioluminescence for hunting. Other fish will see the light from the lure, and swim close. Then, the Anglerfish eats her prey. Only the female anglerfish have a glowing lure. They have large mouths and pliable bodies, granting them the ability to swallow prey twice their size.

These are only some of the organisms that live in this area. Humans haven’t explored much of the deep sea; we’ve actually explored space more than our own oceans, so there are more mysteries to discover. But we know for sure that life lurks in even the darkest parts of our oceans.

Sources:

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/light_travel.html

http://www.mbgnet.net/salt/oceans/zone.htm

https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animal-guide/fishes/hatchetfish

https://www.mbari.org/barreleye-fish-with-tubular-eyes-and-transparent-head/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/group/anglerfish/

Light Editor: Renée Vazquez

Best movies of the year

January 10, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Chelsea

Hello guys!! Welcome back! We ushered out 2019 and welcomed 2020. So, I got to wondering what were the best movies of last year to recommend to you guys. Here they are. Please enjoy my list of best 2019 movies, and I wish you all a prosperous 2020!!!!

Avengers: Endgame

Spider-man: Far From Home

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

Detective Pikachu

Alita: Battle Angel

Toy Story 4

Frozen 2

Enjoy the movies, and have a great day!!

Year-End/Year-Beginning Editor: Katelin Mei

Light Placement drawing tutorial

January 10, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Chelsea

Hello, everyone!! I’m back with another drawing tutorial!! Editor Renée chose “Light” as her theme. So I’m going to teach you guys about light placement in simple objects.

So please enjoy and have fun learning!!

For this, I am going to use a circle as an example.

First, draw a circle. On any media, any surface–just draw a circle.

Second, determine where the light is coming from. Figure out which parts are the lightest and darkest in the circle. And, then, outline the shadow.

Third, add color and shading!!

Follow your previous step and carefully put the shades into the object. Use blur tool if you are on a digital device, and use a tissue or just toilet paper to blend all the shades to create a smooth surface if you are not on a device.

And lastly, add the shadow!! As you can see, the darkest part of the shadow is the nearest to the object because the light reflection is at its minimum point. And of course the further the shadow goes, the blurrier and lighter it gets. So use the blur tool or paper to blur the end of the shadow; it’ll make your shadow’s ending point blend into the background.

We are basically done!! But you are not only going to draw a circle all your life right? So I included some other basic objects and shapes and their shading areas.

And we are done!!!! Hope you like this tutorial, and I hope it’ll help you to improve your drawing~!! See you next time!!

Light Editor: Renée Vazquez

How does it feel to have prophetic dreams?

January 9, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By James Zheng

I never firmly believed in a future-seer theory. I had an ambivalent view on prophetic dreams, dreams that hint at events to happen in the future. The positive effect of such dreams could enable us to be prepared for the upcoming events, but it instigates a dreadfully scary question about the theory of destiny–Is your destiny already decided? Fate never sounded like a thing to me. Therefore, I had no imagination of how it would be like to accurately predict a future event. The existence of such magic could only immensely terrify me.

Some confuse prophetic dreams with Déjà vu, which is a term for the feeling that one has lived through the present situation before; it is also scientifically explained as a phenomenon of memory delusion. And according to my experience of prophetic dreaming, it is a different feeling. When a specific conversation, place, and any other presence appears before me, the sense would come to me that such an image has already emerged in my past dreams, so I would possess an instant realization, “This happened in my dreams in the exact same way.” Then the scene of that dream would come to my mind again. As I have gone through this countless times, now I can remember several examples.

Once I dreamed about being in Disneyland located in Japan. That was the time before summer as I was a junior in high school. The dream felt so real since I could hear and see everything clearly. So when I woke up, I basically just thought to myself, “There is no possibility that this could happen during summer, cuz I am going to be busy with college stuff and independent pre-AP classes.” But who would know that after four months my younger cousin came to my city and spent his summertime with me, and my father suddenly suggested I should take him to Japan. As I rejected the suggestion, my cousin seemed really unhappy… and more ridiculously, my father told me it was actually a promise he made to his brother one time when he was inebriated on a feast. Okay, so, we went to Tokyo to visit some tourist attractions; Disneyland was one of them. And the primary thing is that I had already completely forgotten about that dream until the moment I walked into Disneyland.

My second prophetic dream is even more whimsical. When I was back in the U.S. again, I dreamed about talking to a guy in our school and he made a joke about a video game I liked. But the thing is that I hardly ever play a game with him. And again, who would know that after three months we bought the game and played together.

“Risk of Rain, more like Risk of Pain~~”

“Could be true.”

After 10 seconds, “Wait… no… this is not possible.” As I muted my mic and started growling.

So, I was absolutely terrified. All of the cases my dreams predicted so far were merely trivial, but what if I had some “realistic” nightmare that plausibly predicted a happening? And there are no omens to warn me until it truly happens to make me aware of it?

There could be a thousand explanations given, yet none of them match with my experience. And our almighty guide “science” couldn’t even do anything about it. This prophetic dream is quite astonishing, huh? Remember that human beings used to pursue this ability. People used to study the stars and make assumptions about their future based on the movement of star clusters. Now I have this genuinely unstable power, and maybe someday I should learn how to control it–if possible….

My father shares his opinions that youngbloods like me all should have similar experiences. But I feel the concept that I call “prophetic dream” might just be an outcome of mind overload. After all, who knows exactly how it functions? If you have some ideas to share pertaining to the topic or something more intriguing about this, I would be glad to read your comments.

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan

Shaking Bridge Effect–an intriguing love technique.

January 8, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

When Editor Quintus assigned us the theme of “Love,” James thought of Shaking Bridges. . . .

By James Zheng

There are plenty of interesting and bizarre psychological effects that appear really paradoxical but they actually turn out to be pretty intuitive. I remember one such psychological effect, the Shaking Bridge Effect–which should be taken into account as a representative effect pertaining to the core topic of Editor Quintus’s theme, love.

The Shaking Bridge Effect usually occurs in a specific circumstance, which is when one rigorously walks through a shaking bridge. That experience would accelerate the heartbeat and unsettle the individual. At this moment, if the individual coincidentally (or deliberately) encounters another person, the individual would misperceive the current situation. The individual would misunderstand his/her accelerated heartbeat as the presence of his/her affection towards that person. So, falling in love is like when you are coming across the shaking bridge, and your heart is beating fast, and all of a sudden you see someone in your sight, you basically see this “heart beating” as a reaction to the “person” instead of the “shaking effect.” And eventually, this will root the seed of love in the bridge walker’s mind.

This psychological effect is proposed by Arthur Aron, who is a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is best known for his work on intimacy in interpersonal relationships and development of the self-expansion model of motivation in close relationships. Coming back to the Shaking Bridge Effect, the premise basically tells us a dangerous or stimulating situation could enhance the mutual relationship.

There is a famous experiment projected by Aron. The suspension bridge is 450 feet long and 5 feet wide. This suspension bridge has been suspended over the 230-foot high valley of the Kapolano river with two pieces of hemp rope and fragrant wood. The suspension bridge swings back and forth, which is not only exciting, but also frightening. The team asked a beautiful young woman to stand in the middle of the bridge, waiting for men between the ages of 18 and 35 who had no female companion to cross the bridge. She was directed to tell the men who crossed the bridge that she hoped they would participate in an ongoing survey. She asked them several questions and recorded their results.

Then, the same experiment was carried out on another ordinary bridge that spans a stream but is only 10 feet tall. The same beautiful lady showed the same questionnaire to the men crossing the bridge.

As a result, the men walking across the suspension bridge thought the woman was more beautiful, and about half of the men later asked for her phone number. And, for males crossing the stable bridge, only two of the 16 males asked for her phone number.

Researchers believe that, unlike people’s common sense, individual emotional experience is not formed spontaneously because of their own experiences; it is a two-stage process of self perception. In this process, people first experience their own physiological feelings, and then, in the surrounding environment, they will find a suitable explanation for their physiological feelings. For example, according to the shaking bridge theory, in the process of emotional experience, people first feel that their physiological performance is different from that in the usual time; their heart rate is accelerating, and their hands are shaking a little. Next, they will involuntarily observe the environment to find clues to explain why their physiological performance happens.

And based on that, this effect reveals a fact which this technique could trigger in any circumstances that are different from usual and lead us to want to obtain a reasonable explanation for it. However, this provokes another conclusion: in real life, there may be different but reasonable explanations for the same physiological performance. Sometimes, it is difficult for people to determine which factor causes their physiological performance. Because it is difficult to accurately point out the real reason of their physiological performance, people might have a wrong understanding of emotions. In psychological terms, scholars call the process of people making wrong inferences about their feelings as “misattribution of arousal.”

Finally, to summarize everything in a simplistic way, when you like someone secretly, don’t worry whether that person likes you or not, maybe you just need to take them on a walk on an unstable bridge.

Love Editor: Quintus Ni

Blinded by The Light(‘s Immediate Benefits)

January 8, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Luke Langlois

When the teacher turns the lights on or raises the curtains, every student seems to groan as if the world is on the brink of nuclear extinction. “NO, NOT THE LIGHTS!” This has always bugged me. Why are you opposed to light? What has darkness ever done for you? Do you have night vision? No. You do not have night vision. I have definitively concluded that people only resent the light because it’s the cool teenage thing to do (the pain of adjusting eyes may have something to do with it as well). Anyway, being a mysterious creature of the dark does sound pretty great, but most of us aren’t actually creatures of the night. On the contrary, we’re built for sunlight, as long as you aren’t excessively tanning. PSA; wear sunscreen. Here’s a couple of the reasons why sunlight is GREAT for us.

The sun is our primary provider of vitamin D. Your body actually cannot produce vitamin D on its own without a supplemental supporter. What a design flaw! You can drink as much SunnyD as you want, but that will never replace the free source of healthcare in the sky: the SUN. When people give you funny looks for praising the glory of the sun, you should be able to justify it. As sunlight hits your skin, your body is signaled to start producing vitamin D. Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the body. It also assists bone growth by repairing and remodeling osteoblasts and osteoclasts, cells that are instrumental in the synthesis of bone matter. Vitamin D can also assist in immune system regulation and body weight maintenance.
Sometimes, people get S.A.D.: seasonal affective disorder. This is a mood disorder that tends to occur at the same time every year, usually during the doom and gloom that coats the landscape in late autumn and winter. As it turns out, research has found a possible solution for that. Yes; it’s the sun. In general, light, especially natural light, improves our mood. If you’re feeling blue, join the light crew!
We are so reliant on rhythm and consistency every day without even realizing it. If you misplaced your keys or forgot your water bottle somewhere, your entire DAY is RUINED because your schedule is all messed up. Just like our minds have schedules, our bodies have schedules. The specific term in psychology for our body’s schedule is the “circadian rhythm.” Although much of this rhythm is internally regulated, light gives us cues so our bodies know what to do and WHEN. Consistent light stabilizes our internal rhythms. If it’s dark, you’re *supposed* to be closing in on bedtime.

Hmm, if only there was a giant ball in the sky that provided us with essential vitamins, a regulated day, and free light. Oh, wait; there is! Please, appreciate the sun while we have it. In four to five billion years when it explodes, you’ll really miss it as our planet freezes over.

Light Editor: Renée Vazquez

I Dreamed A Dream—My youth

January 6, 2020 by szachik@pvs.org 1 Comment

By Quintus

Who walked away from whose youth, left a smile? Who stayed in whose flower season, flooded with thoughts? Who disappeared from whose rainy season and warmed the mist? When I knock down these words on the road, my youth has quietly slipped away.

When looked back upon, more than a thousand days and nights drift past. Once I tried to seize the past, but it drifted away from me. When I walked from the village to the high-rise buildings, roadside flowers still bloomed, showing the world their elegant demeanor. This began my youth. Then year after year, day after day, spring to autumn, cold to warm spun by. Life steeled me and forced me to grow up.

I don’t remember how many times tears ran. Efforts failed again and again. Whose youth is not in the growth of blood and tears? Despite numerous struggles, I insist–one’s life cannot go on in weakness.

Don’t waste time. It is not only youth that has withered. Infinite scenery can be viewed in the mountains. The road to knowledge is plain. Only those who are not afraid of difficulty can climb to the top, appreciate the beautiful scenery, enjoy that the world is getting smaller. There is no hesitation in youth. In June, looking forward to the arrival of a drizzle, washing my vanity of youth to feel the sky after a storm. If the night is not long, how can the stars be so bright; if there is no suffering, how can youth grow strong in power.

Unconsciously, my youth is drifting away. The time of junior high school has been out of my memory. Times are ruthless; friends are precious. We accompanied each other. As long as you remember each other, it’s beautiful!

Past years were our youth. In the dusty world, our secrets were hidden almost in each corner. What a gorgeous funeral of youth. At some point, someone will silently pray for you. Youth can be wasted at will. But youth cannot come back. Nobody can help you suffer the pain of regret. You can heal yourself. You must admit that because of your waste, your youth was lost. You should hold tight to never give up, learn to be strong. Be not afraid of the future. We are all the same. Keep those fresh memories; youth is never out of date. Youth is not only restless, capricious, lonely, confused, but also childlike, innocent, good, and lovely. Spring has gone; we cry for youth in the drizzle, but it has been like a gust of wind, gone without a trace.

Youth is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions. Even if time is in a hurry, and the troubled world steps into a war, youth cannot be stopped.

Countless days and nights I dreamed to return to the middle-school classroom. Listening to the teacher rubbing chalk on the blackboard. Seeing love letters passed between students. Smelling the fragrance of Osmanthus in full bloom outside the window. Everything is so beautiful. I think I know now more about the charm of youth than I did…. Even at that time, there were many regrets, but I did not feel regret, because I dreamed of dreams…

Dreamer Editor: Doreen Yuan

What is love

December 19, 2019 by szachik@pvs.org Leave a Comment

By Chelsea

Hey, everyone!! Editor Quintus assigned us the theme of Love, so I’ve decided to draw this comic with my own thoughts on love. I think the comic is pretty self explanatory, so please enjoy!

Love Editor: Quintus