[8:23:59 PM] Zack: Ben A Ball
[8:24:05 PM] Zack: you should make a game
[8:24:07 PM] Zack: of it
[8:24:07 PM] Zack: lol
[8:24:09 PM] Ben A Ball: yeah
[8:24:10 PM] Zack: hmm
[8:24:17 PM] Zack: different names though
[8:24:17 PM] Zack: cos zerg might get pixar on ur arse

Hah!
“cos zerg might get pixar on ur arse”

My friend Zack said this in Skype the other day,
Now hang on, let me explain what on earth Zerg is doing in the chat.
This all leads into this one question.

When did ‘Ben-A-Ball’ start?

The actual name didn’t come about till awhile later, it started with me playing imagination games, by myself, in Kindergarten, I would run around the Kinder yard, jumping off rocks, imagining different places, different things. Me, saving the world that I had created, from evil, I would walk up to the walls and pretend I was talking to people, ‘imaginary friends’ if you like.

The name came up a little later, and man, this is going to sound stupid.
But you know those trading cards, those ones that have different creatures on them with their attacks etc . . .
I’m purposely not saying the name here, well I made my own little trading card game, I called it ‘Ben-A-Ball The Trading Card Game’, I drew all my own creatures and magic cards.
I had creatures like ‘Super King Dragon’ and a creature called “Time Time” there was also a weird creature called “Aku” and an incredibly fast lightning speed horse-like creature with a lightning bolt running from its front leg past its tail. The hyphens in Ben-A-Ball are because of the name of this particular trading card game that I had taken a liking to, and the word ‘Ball’, I have a feeling came from the certain object used in this trading card game. I’m pretty sure that’s how the name came about, that’s all I can remember, I’ve stretched far back trying to seek the origins of this weird name . . . but the clouds block my view any further.

The next thing I can think back to, I use to try and hang out with a group of kids, but they would tease me because I didn’t look or wear the same boots as them and all that rubbish.
Anyways, one day one of the people in the group was at a dentists appointment, so the group had room for one more.(Guess Who!)
The leader of thy clan asked me to hang out follow etc. At one point this guy came back, so I was kicked out of the group. But I would never have to return, because I met Zack, under the big wooden play equipment, made out of that wood that’s illegal to have now in play sets now.
Anyways, from then on Zack and I would play the same style saving the world game I had played previously, except we called it by the name, “Ben-A-Ball”

Later a few other kids joined the Ben-A-Ball game, Nathan, Bradley, Robyn. 5 kids, lost in a world that I simply lay breadcrumbs for, they created what they thought this world of mine looked like in their minds.

Further still about Grade 3, after a few years of playing Ben-A-Ball I’d had more people want to play Ben-A-Ball, because they’d been told about it by people that were playing it with me, so more people joined and we changed from the continuous role-playing (because a group of 15 wasn’t working) into a non-contact play fighting sort of a thing, where you had imaginary powers, we’d fight both each other, and I would pretend to be different enemies, of which the other people would test their ‘skills’ against.

Grade 4, Ben-A-Ball began to wore off, the Play-fighting thing stopped, many people went off to do different things, and I was left with the person that I’d started with. Zack.

We continued to play the Ben-A-Ball game until the end of the year, of which I had shocking news.
I was moving house, traveling to the other side of the state to live “South”.

I was intrigued to hear that after I left, the Playfighting thing, and Ben-A-Ball started up again, maybe with me gone other people could feel the accomplishment and satisfaction it gave me when I controlled that world, my world.

Started Grade 5 in a new school, a school that seemed to hate imagination, and was just covered in sport, (from first glance), the only thing this school had, basically, was a sports oval, resulting in everyone there being active and sporty and whatnot.
I met a few people (Of which I will not embarrass them) in the end that would end up playing the last game of Ben-A-Ball ever, this ‘episode’ of Ben-A-Ball I named “The Darkness Provails” with the spelling mistake of “Prevails” being spelt “Provails”, I just said that’s how I wanted it. ‘Cos it looked better.
The rest of my world got locked away, the moment Grade 6 started, no one was interested in running round at this age imagining things, also that and because of puberty you suddenly care what everyone thinks, and you don’t do the things you would have done when you were younger.
This world continues in my head,
And some day I will write these adventures down.

So there we have it, It’s now 11:25 PM, I really need to lug myself to sleep, I get too caught up in this stuff . . . writing . . . mind intriguing . . .

But I want you to remember this.

I want you to not think of Ben-A-Ball as that game, I don’t want you to think of it as some stupid name made up by a preschooler, its a symbol.

After all this time, it has become a symbol of hope, it’s a symbol of difference,
It stands for that of right of mind, opinion, it stands for value, for respect,
It’s mysterious and strange.

All these meanings and symbols have all clung to it over time, but its always stood for one thing.

One thing that many of us cannot do anymore,
Many people can’t do it once they are no longer a child.

All this time, right from the beginning.

The meaning of Ben-A-Ball

Imagine.

I’d just like take the time to post a piece that I think was excellently written, it was written by Eddie which I’m not quite sure if he wants me to display his full name . . .

Anyways, this combines a simple logic that we all know, food, with a logic that many people (including me) have absolutely no idea about, relationships.

I think this piece will both educate you, make you giggle, and even go back for seconds!

Here it is:

“For dating purposes, just think of relationships as cuisines. 
Everything has a little bit you like and a little you don’t, you tend to ignore the bad bits, but they end up piling up in the end!  Do not simply throw the ‘bad bits’ into the bin, they would not appreciate this very much at all.  So a simple advice comes to mind when talking about relationships, the first thing to do when looking for a partner, try to look for one that at least LOOKS delicious, this way you can attempt to cover the bad things with the good, making it seem as though there is a lot less bad in the meal. 
However, do not attempt to change the meal, this will only ruin the personal flare that their personality gives to the entire cuisine, you are not Jesus, you cannot just change water into wine for kicks, remember you have your faults too.  During my personal experiences, what you really want to look for is someone who has overpowering good things, so that you can mix it with the bad.  This completely changes how you perceive the person and their mystical ways, if you still truly feel something for this ‘new’ flavour, you may have found yourself a worthy long-term partner.”

Isn’t it inspiring? That and it makes me hungry, anyways.
I’d like to thank Eddie for giving me the privilege of posting such an interesting piece.


Cya,


Ben,

*Note, this post contains ‘religion hating’ content.

Well school is back tomorrow, and thinking of school has brought me onto this topic, Doomsday, the ‘End of the world’
Everywhere people are talking about ‘the end of the world,’ and how we’re all going to die and oh whatever!

Seriously, you can get anyone to believe anything, the world was also going to ‘end’ in the year 2000, and you know what? The funny thing is that both the apparent ‘Apocalypse’ in the year 2000 and the year 2012 both have something to do with a calendar.

Everyone was worried before 2000 because all the computer calendars and date software wouldn’t go past December 1999, and they thought all the computers would forget and lose all their data.
The 2012 problem though, is to do with the end of the world, not the end of our financial world, it still is to do with a calendar that ends, the Mayan calendar, which runs in cycles and finishes on December the 21st 2012, at a rather ‘accurate’ 11:11 AM.

Whats with people and ending calendars? You buy a new calendar each year that ends in December, yet you don’t all pack up, hide, and wait for the apocalypse.

One of the things I hate about all this end of the world stuff, is how all these religious groups go round using these stupid rumours to their advantage, and start making up crap to scare people into believing in their beliefs. It’s disgraceful.

Many websites and documentaries I’ve watched on this topic speak nothing of religion, yet there are a couple of places that say that “God will cleanse the world of non-believers, to remove that of unworthy,”
Oh for crying out loud, all you believers out there will get a shock if this thing actually happens and your all standing outside waiting for you God-Express carriage to arrive.
Then these websites and sources carry on about getting you to believe so that you will be safe and won’t be slaughtered in the birth of the new world. In fact, the movie “2012 Doomsday” not the new one on BlueRay, I’m talking about the Christian “Masterpiece” made in 2008, the most boring film I’ve ever endured.

2012

I’m not joking about the worst movie either, see the reviews for yourself. Click

Anyways,

Man it drives me up the wall, if the worlds going to end no one will get special treatment, everyone will suffer.
And any prophecy from religious followers aren’t to be trusted, yeah they say that their prophecy’s are correct and the apparently got a few right.
But in the year 2000, they predicted 42 times that the world was going to end.
42 times! Well with the flipping amount of predictions they make no flipping wonder you get a few right.
This time they didn’t though, in the year 2000 all 42 predictions DID NOT HAPPEN.

Here’s a list!

Onto take two of my anger spree.

Apparently it’s definite, because ‘The Mayans Predicted it’, well lets keep in mind, that they were humans TOO! Gees! They were like us, there’s no super-natural powers!

Think about it!

I want you to imagine this, it’s overcast, grey clouds are in the sky, and you are in the forest. There are parrots flying from tree to tree, any ground not covered in acorns and small sticks is grey and hard, and there is a waterfall in sight just through the trees, 
You can hear the sound of birds, and the trickling of the waterfall, you turn right and see a small clearing, where a group of deer are grazing in the lush moist grass.
You turn back and face the waterfall walking towards it, you look down at the small lake that the waterfall streams into, in the water you can see fish swimming around, looking up, you can see a bear fishing with it’s paws on the other side of the lake, just near the waterfall, tree branches hang above the bear in a green fuzzy blanket.

Now imagine this, the middle of the city, cars swooshing past you, the beeping sound of the road crossing poles throughout the city, enormous buildings with hundreds of windows tower above you, and billboards and air vents cover the rooftops of all the smaller buildings, people walk past you in a cloud, and you can hear thousands of people talking, thousands of engines, and you can smell the exhaust in the cars as they drive past you.

Okay wake up now, and think.
What did you feel in that world? Two different places in the same place, Earth.
And tell me, in these two worlds, did you see magic? Did you feel magic?
Does magic fit into this world in any other form other than an expression?
A description of beauty?
Prophecy, beings outside of time and reality, this is non existent in this world, it doesn’t fit.

Does something like this fit?

The last thing I have to say about it all.
Is that there are so many different websites about it, many of them all have different info, not info on all the websites are the same, one website will say something completely different to another. It’s corrupt, the rumour is corrupt, the cults are corrupt, and yet everyone believes in the end.

Questions for the road.
Has science talked about 2012 the possibilities of it?
If the world really is going to end, what does the word ‘world’ in this context mean? Our world that we’ve made for ourselves? The planet? Or what?

If it makes you feel any better . . .
Science has detected a possible end of the world date.
But it’s far from 2012, roughly 24 years later.

According to space observers;
On April the 13th 2029 (the 13th, what an unlucky number) Earth will NEARLY be hit by an asteroid called Apophis, then later on, after the asteroid has made another circuit around the sun, in 2036 the same day, it will collide with Earth. It’s possible that the asteroid could hit in 2029, it depends how much Earth’s gravity effects the asteroid.
The asteroid Apophis is so large, that it could result in the same way as the asteroid that hit Earth and wiped out the dinosaurs.

But keep in mind, by then, hopefully the world will have sort out a plan that will enable them to push the asteroid out of the path of Earth, using future technology and rockets.

Don’t worry about 2012 people, that’s a fairytale, that relies on rumour, magic, and as far as I know fluffy pink unicorns that graze on pink poka-dotted grass.

2029 at least has some science and logical evidence behind it, with no pink fluffy unicorns to be seen.

Cya.

Ben