Nectar and Ambrosia Covers - Living the Half-Blood Life (4)

OK, sorry, but this is the last post of this current series, Living the Half-Blood Life. It will probably come back later, though.

So to make this special, since this series was so short, I wanted to make it extra interesting, but I couldn't come up with anything. So this was supposed to be in the series The Heavenly Stuff, but oh well, they'll be others in that series.

Basically, to an "exposed" demigod [a demigod that has been exposed to the world of mythology and has thinned or broken their private Mist barrier, more explained in the next series], nectar and ambrosia would be pure, or maybe in some participating coffee shops (sorry ladies, Starbucks tends to, like, you know, not support original stuff like demigods, who are totally normal..) you can get shots of nectar in your coffee or hot chocolate. You know what they say, "If you haven't had, you haven't lived." But, there has to be a solution for demigods who think they are regular mortals to consume nectar and ambrosia without knowing. Well, there is. Nectar is usually hidden in many honey products, but so little even mortals won't burn up. But enough for a non-exposed demigod. It's also contained in orange, grape, and other juices that sort of has a glowing hue to it. Ambrosia is usually mixed in with food that your mortal mom or dad might cook, but not eat a bite of it, claiming to be allergic. Same with the mixed nectar. You know that one food or snack that you crave for every single day? Like the ones that you MUST have, or else your mouth is just gonna fill with your saliva by just thinking of it? If it is so good, you might even call it heavenly. And that, my friends, is no lie.

I'll just explain a bit about the two godly foods, but I don't want to spoil too much for the planned series. Nectar is golden, and some say it literally looks like the sun itself created it. Well, the "history" to it is partially true. Nectar is a godly drink, but also something sweet found in flowers that attracts bees. Who knows which was named after which, but it's true. Ambrosia can be in many forms. Actual loves of bread, or in forms of cookies, or little squares of whatever-you-don't-know-what-this-is, etc. It heals you. Nectar mostly gives you strength, but it can work to heal as well, when poured over a wound.

Well, this is it for the series Living the Half-Blood Life, I hope you enjoyed it!

Good Cover, Uncle Rick - Living the Half-Blood Life (3)

Demigods have been exposed to the real world. Don't panic, it was pretty clever of good ol' Rick Riordan. He wrote it as a novel series, and it's becoming pretty popular. And recently, I've discovered something on a social networking program called Google Plus. It's called "role playing", as fake demigods put it. They create communities where they "role play" as demigods! Like: "I stand up Come on! Fight me!" It's pretty fascinating, really. I especially like a community named IDWT, the peeps are really nice. Anyway, back to Uncle Rick. He started off with the first book, The Lightning Thief. I do not know how he came to discover our secret world, but now there is a huge hole in our Mist barrier. Readers are exploring our world through the eyes of many characters, including Percy Jackson. Percy Jackson is actually a demigod from about a decade ago, but in the novels, he is a modern demigod who goes on Quests. Millions of people all across the world have access to our world. And the Mist can do nothing. They explore our world through words, and the Mist has no power against words. They also explore our world through movies, and we have no power against it. This is good, as this sparks up and Stirs more demigods, but I'm just sending out a message. Be careful, everyone.

Uncle Rick, if you're reading this, this is a compliment. Your work is almost all true, except maybe the demigods. Just please, don't reveal our world to much.

~Hoon, and the rest of the Demigod World.

Stirrings - Living the Half-Blood Life (2)

Remember the thing called Stirrings I mentioned in my first ever post on this blog? Well, I'll expand more about this and how this came to be. Basically, a Stirring is a feeling you get when you read or experience something that has to do with your demigod senses. Normal humans have 5 senses. Sight, touch, smell, taste, feel. Well, demigods have six. It's hard to explain, so we'll just call it the Sense. Anyway, the Sense is just your demigod core. Without it, you wouldn't be a proper demigod. As you might already know, there is a second Camp. It was established much, much later than Camp Half-Blood, and it is usually for Romans. I don't like Romans much, but they need to live too, so a camp was established for them. Anyway, the Sense is a feeling you get. It's usually different. The first sign of your Sense kicking in is during the Stirring. You might feel hunger. Or a sudden tugging feeling at you to steal. Or maybe drink wine, or stab the wall with your finger. Whatever. The first Stirring occurs when you first read, or experience something demigod-ish, like I said. Some demigods, if they are children of lesser, or, erm, minor gods, may not feel anything sometimes. A usual second sign is just knowing things. Like how to survive in a forest. How to fight a monster. Percy Jackson's second sign of his Sense kicked in when he killed the Minotaur. Rick Riordan tries to explain it as pure adrenaline charged by the urge of protecting his mother, but really, it was his Sense guiding him. Another sign might be just a tugging feeling when you get near one of the Camps. The Sense also "teaches" you and guides you to activate your demigod power! No demigod would know how to control water, grow vines, or just merely attack without their sixth Sense!

~Hoon.

P.S. This series, Living the Half-Blood Life, will be really short. Maybe 3-4 more posts, and we'll move on to Demigod Powers and the Mist!

Camp Heritage - Living the Half-Blood Life (1)

Hmm, let's see. Not like I'm immortal or anything, but I do have access to Olympus' vast Athenian Library of Reading, so I will try to explain who, what, when, where, and how Camp Half-Blood came to be.

Well, let's see, Who is first. Well, it was a peaceful day on July 4th, 1776. Yes, that is the date when great ol' America was founded. That is also the day when Camp Half-Blood was founded. No one knows who found the Camp for sure, but possible suspects are Chiron or another demigod hero from back then. Second, What. Well, Camp Half-Blood is the only safe haven for Greek demigods. It has been far known that Roman demigods do exist, but Camp Half-Blood is mainly for Greek demigods. The Golden Fleece protects the Camp from attacking monsters, and Peleus the dragon protects the Fleece from stealing demigods and/or monsters. Third, When. Well, like I said, July 4th, 1776 was the day Camp Half-Blood was founded. Of course, it wasn't until about a month later that construction was finished, satyrs were gathered from around the country, and that the Camp started actively sending recruit teams. The first demigod entered Camp on August 13th, 1776. Back then, there was no magical border, nor a magical Fleece to protect Camp, so all they could do was defend the Camp themselves. Fourth, Where. Well, Camp Half-Blood was and still is located on Long Island Sound. The exact address is:

Delphi Strawberries Co. (Camp Half-Blood), Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141

Long Island, New York 11954

Last but not least, How. Well, before Camp Half-Blood, America was not the center of Olympus. Olympus didn't exist, but when America was founded, Olympus moved to America. Then the demigod "breeding" began. George Washington, a Son of Athena, was the most famous demigod to survive outside Camp. Camp was formed because many demigods were dying. These new generation of demigods had no weapons, nor skill except some Ares kids, and where power goes, monsters go. 

Well, this was the Camp Half-Blood Heritage, I hope you learned more facts about Camp! 

P.S. In this new series, Living the Half-Blood Life, I will be doing all sorts of cool stuff I can't fit into other series, so watch out for some random but cool (in my opinion) stuff!

Last post for this series! - Getting to Camp Half-Blood (8)

Unfortunately, this is where I will be parting with this series, called Getting to Camp Half-Blood, if you haven't noticed. Like I said previously, the farther you are from Long Island, the more you have to repeat the steps in 1-7 of the series. Read this only when you get to Manhattan. Yes, Manhattan. Remember how I said human smell so strong like in a crowd can cover up even a demigod smell? Well, NYC is a big city. The closer you get to Camp Half-Blood, the more and more monsters you will occur. But wherever you go, do NOT go to Brooklyn. There are things worse than you will ever imagine. You might even stumble upon non-Greek animals and monsters. That is because- never-mind, you don't need to know that much. Anyway, go to Manhattan. Stay for a while. Maybe 3-4 hours. Look around, peek in at Times Square, say hello to the Statue of Liberty (made after the goddess, Athena), etc. etc. There's lots to do! Well, after you go on a sightseeing tour thingy, you have to move. If you managed to find a shop and buy a Hecate charm, you are lucky. But you probably didn't, so the human smell can only mask demigod aura for so long. You have to hurry. The easiest way is to see if there are any trucks marked "DELPHI STRAWBERRY FARMS" delivering strawberries. That's the cover up name for Camp Half-Blood to earn some money. If there are people that make you slightly dizzy when you concentrate on them, it's because they aren't people, and the Mist is trying to obscure that fact from you. Once you discover more mythological things in the real world, the Mist barrier will start to weaken, and you will start being sucked into the world of Greek Mythology. You probably aren't at that stage yet, though. Anyway, if you find a truck, and say that you're a demigod, the "human" will immediately take you to Camp Half-Blood.

Otherwise, it might be a bit tough. You'll have to wander around Long Island Sound, until you stumble across a hill with a huge pine tree that just sticks out like a beacon to you. It's not extra-tall, or extra-green, it'll just attract you. This is the step where you forget every blog you read, every book you've read, everything you think you know about survival skills- now is the time to just purely follow your automatic demigod senses. It will lead you over the hill, past the Beacon Tree- which the actual name is Thalia's Tree, and it will lead you to a set of Greek columns. Beyond, you see nothing but a quiet farm where farmers are picking strawberries. But once you step in, the real world fades from your memory. You see a beautiful Camp, full of life, as Apollo archers fly around on chariots, laughing as they shoot arrows right next to the screaming Aphrodite kids, who put on makeup and try out clothes, who run to... Chiron. A centaur, a half-horse half-man. Welcome to Camp, demigod.

A big big big big big second day! Not really, more chores.- Getting to Camp Half-Blood (7)

WAKEY WAKEY! MORNING IS HERE!!! AND OH LOOK, GUESS WHO WAS NICE ENOUGH TO SEND YOU A DEMIGOD PACK?! ME!! Okay, I'm over that now, but there's your first every Demigod Pack! It'll have a celestrial bronze dagger, a small celestrial bronze pocket knife- with all sorts of things! Little knife, scissors, among all kinds of thingy thing things. You'll also see that we packed a bag of Lays potato chips (to munch on while you do your incredibly long list of chores for today :) ), some gummy bears, a small bag of Hershey Kisses, and a tiny bottle of nectar, and a Ziploc bag with cubes of ambrosia.

So, here's what we have to do today. Basically, the farther you are, the more you have to repeat the steps. This is the end of the circulation-things-you-have-to-repeat-posts. Basically, you do the same thing up to now until you reach the Great State of New York. The next post will actually involve now finding and entering Camp Half-Blood, and the first Blog series will be over! I can't believe this went by so quick!

Anyway, we're going into the city today. Have internet? Well, look for the closest city possible. You'll probably be bursting with demigod smell by now, not being mixed in with mortals. So consider this a shopping break (shopping for supplies, of course, but whatever) plus a way to smudge your demigod scent with human smell.

Once you get into the city, your first step is to stick your head up the most disgusting smelling armpit ever. No, just kidding! I'm laughing just imagining young demigods like you doing that to a stranger and them.. okay, sorry, off topic again. Anyway, try to visit a mall. The mall is probably the closest thing to a mob crowd, and human fear and rush smell is the strongest. Maybe I'll explain human scents in a later series. Hmm, how about The Smelly Human Armpit and Other Smells? Anyway, just go in and out of a crowd. But- there is a limit to what you have to buy. We did pack you some US dollars, probably a lot, since it's your first pack, maybe $500-600. You have to buy some clothes, and burn your old ones. Also, look for a shop named the Glowing Necklace. Those are VERY rare shops, maybe one out of two in the country. They sell necklaces with glowing liquid in them. mortals think that they're just pretty, but they're secretly made by Hecate, and the necklace protects and masks your demigod scent for a while. Occasionally, if you have the formula, you can refresh the magical chemical, but most don't, so there are better, but more expensive versions. The more expensive, the longer it protects. When a monster attacks while you have a charged one on, it will be repelled back by a force field, but that too will drain its energy. The most expensive one can last a whole year without any force field activation, and half a year with 5 force field activations. Good luck, and happy shopping! Oh, get a Starbucks while you're at it. Cheers!
~Hoon Kim,
Son of Athena, The Guide of Demigods

Aha! Almost your "First Day" is over!- Getting to Camp Half-Blood (6)

Well, I gave you time off after lunch, as I thought that was enough "food training" for a day, but I'm going to give a list of some easy-peasy chores that you can do quickly before you eat dinner and go to sleep! Okay, I'll give you the list, and then I will explain what to do. So, before dinner, you have to get these done: gather more, and more, and more logs! Yes, I know they are not-so-fun to gather, but they make great, erm, wood, and they also make great things to throw at wild animals whe- if they attack! After you get that done, you can have dinner with the food you saved from earlier today.

I run a demigod organization called the Demipacks Foundation. It helps demigods like YOU cross the Mist territory into the mystical world of the gods, monsters, monsters, and did I mention monsters? Since there are so many monsters in the mystical world, the Demipacks Foundation sends a pack every one or two night or so to all new demigods all over the country! Yes, we have plans to expand to Mexico next, but the US is all we can do for now. In each pack, there will be enough nectar and ambrosia to last you one or two days, if you're hurt, usually about 5 US dollars, and some random stuff here and there. We can't afford to pack celestrial bronze weapons every pack we pack, but we make sure every new demigod gets one, or at least finds one. Demipacks Foundation uses OPS (Mythical version of UPS), and is ran by the generous donations from demigods, gods, and monsters (not really) from all over the world!

If you didn't get a Demigod Pack yet, you should soon. We'll try to get a celestrial bronze weapon to you as soon as possible, but it would be fantastic if you could also sign up for the Demiline Pack for emails and stuff!

After you eat, read my fantastically boring words, etc. etc., I guess I do admit some demigods have to sleep too... so goodnight! Make sure to put lots of wood in your fire, so it doesn't burn out!

Sweet Dreams,
Hoon, Son of Athena