"I'll drive a million miles, to be with you tonight."
~Everybody Have Fun Tonight, Wang Chung
Dude.
First of all, the circumference of the earth is only 24,900 miles. Which means driving a MILLION would mean going around the world 40 times.
And you are going to do that to be with them tonight? Which means you'd have to accomplish your million-mile-trek in under 24 hours. (We'll be fair and give them 24 hours, but that would mean, really, that Wang Chung is stating their declaration of being with us tonight at midnight. But seriously, they probably said it around like, 2 in the afternoon, which means they'd have even less time to get to us "tonight" than I'm thinking...)
Anyway, in order to drive 1,000,000 miles in 24 hours, you'd need to drive at a constant 42,000 mph.
There are a number of problems with this.
First, the top land-speed record for a vehicle (on earth) is only 760 mph (thanks, Wikipedia!). Heck, 42,000 mph is even faster than New Horizons (wooo! Pluto!!), so, unless you have some ultra-futuristic car in your possession...
Second, think of all the gas and oil changes you'd need to go through during this drive.
And you don't EVEN want to contemplate how much a speeding ticket would cost.
And going back a bit, a million miles is defintely over-kill. Where is the person you want to be with? (maybe they're trying to reach the Plimsouls?) As long as they're somewhere on the planet, you're not going to need to drive that much to get to them. (Unless they're trying to avoid you, in which case, maybe you should take a hint) In fact, if you drove a million miles, you'd undoubtedly end up PASSING them, at least one time.
So, I think we've learned something about Wang Chung. They were obviously space-traveling aliens with no concept of the safety of others (seriously, how many accidents are gonna happen if you're traveling that fast?). Besides, if you really do need to get to someone a million miles from where you are, you can take a page from the Grass Roots and just walk it.
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Monday, June 29, 2015
there are days, like today, where work was frustrating and overwhelming, and I've been awake for 19 hours, and hashtag notgreatburgerfordinner, but I got to play with my son for a good three hours at the park, and watch Irina and Si run around at Bounce U, and I saw a text from Harper that said she'd been writing, and Saren was here listening to awesome Zelda music when we got home, and I've got my wife waiting in a bed to sleep next to.
So it's not all good, but...it's all good.
So it's not all good, but...it's all good.
Sunday, June 14, 2015
Life begins
So, I'm 40 now.
That truly does seem weird to type.
But, really, other than the fact that I've been around for four entire decades, today doesn't feel much different than yesterday. I suppose some of that may be due to us not having done anything extraordinary to celebrate, or it could just be that once you get to a certain point, birthdays more or less become just another day. And while 40 is a 'milestone', this one was an 'under the radar' one, I guess.
Anyway, I think to fill this blog post out a bit (I was going to say 'make it more interesting', but....), I'll do one of those lists that were popular in the blogosphere back when people still said the word 'blogosphere' (you know, like 15 years ago)
So, here are 40 things that you may or may not know about me:
1) The very first concert I ever went to was The Black Crowes.
2) I've had backstage passes for (and thus got to meet): Oingo Boingo, Garbage, Ben Folds Five, and Jill Sobule.
3) I've dressed up in two mascot uniforms: Michigan J. Frog and The Noid
4) I went trick-or-treating every Halloween until I was 21 years old.
5) I didn't own (or want) a cell phone until I was in my 30s.
6) The first CD I remember buying was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "What Hits?"
7) I've run out of gas three times.
8) I've never been in a fist fight.
9) I was a Boy Scout for about a year.
10) In my Freshman year of High School, I joined the wrestling team. I dropped out several weeks before our first match.
11) I made a promise to myself when I was 36 that I would have completed a novel by the time I was 40.
12) Nope.
13) I'm more or less okay with that.
14) I realize that I've kind of cheated for these past few #s. I'm more or less okay with that, too.
15) It took me three times to pass my drivers test when I was a teen. Parallel parking is just stupid.
16) I've had mono.
17) Before the television station I work for got bought by the corporation that owns it now, I composed and printed two issues of a station newsletter.
18) During my Senior year of High School, my breakfast nearly daily was a can of Coke and a Twinkie.
19) It was after high school that I switched over to drinking Pepsi.
20) The last time I threw up was... 17 years ago? I think that's right. Saren was just a baby, so that's got to be about right. It was a bad burger from Wendy's that caused it.
21) Ugh, we're only halfway? I did not think this plan through at all.
22) There's a certain 5-letter word that whenever I hear it, I automatically have a phrase I respond with. (I'm being deliberately vague, because I don't want the power of that word to fall into the wrong hands.)
23) Growing up, we had a cat named Rascal. I stole him from someone's driveway.
24) Years later, we lost Rascal when we took him for a ride to go get pizza. (I don't know why we took him in the car with us when we were going out to get dinner. It was just a thing we did. But, we left the car unlocked, and while we were inside picking up the food - someone opened our car door and took him. Or he ran out. Honestly, the whole memory is pretty vague in my mind, and seems somewhat unreal. Maybe I dreamt it? But, yeah, the karma thing is pretty evident now.)
25) I've been told that I snore.
26) I've shaved the following body parts: Head, face, armpits, legs.
27) While shaving my legs (the one and only time) - I cut my right shin pretty badly, and still have the scar.
28) Between the ages of 17 and 21, I often went commando.
29) I've been homeless.
30) I took one year of Latin, one year of German, and two years of Spanish in high school. None of it really stuck.
31) I'm allergic to shellfish.
32) I've never broken any bones.
33) Lots of kids make up languages. I created the Denixian language AND an alphabet (mostly so I could write notes in 'code'.)
34) I don't like Ranch Dressing, and sometimes think I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't.
35) I also don't like guacamole or avocado.
36) I do like to pronounce avocado as "ah-voc-ah-doe"
37) I consider my eyes to be my best physical feature. (My awesome wit is overall my best attribute.)
38) When Stephanie and I met, my hair was dyed jet-black. I used to dye it (often different colors) pretty frequently.
39) I was going to make the last # a joke saying "I don't know how to end this list." But now I'm at #40 and I don't want to do that because it seems to predictable. I do that a lot. Don't go with something because it seems to predictable. Which, it is, because *I* already know it's going to happen. So I often feel like I need to surprise *myself*, which is a pretty tough job. But, really, I don't know how I'm going to end this list.
40) thought of an ending. Whenever I'm going to bed, I always say to Steph, "See you in the year 2000". (Yes, the year two-thousand is now fifteen years ago. But that only makes the saying more awesome.)
So, to anyone reading this out there - see you in the year 2000.
That truly does seem weird to type.
But, really, other than the fact that I've been around for four entire decades, today doesn't feel much different than yesterday. I suppose some of that may be due to us not having done anything extraordinary to celebrate, or it could just be that once you get to a certain point, birthdays more or less become just another day. And while 40 is a 'milestone', this one was an 'under the radar' one, I guess.
Anyway, I think to fill this blog post out a bit (I was going to say 'make it more interesting', but....), I'll do one of those lists that were popular in the blogosphere back when people still said the word 'blogosphere' (you know, like 15 years ago)
So, here are 40 things that you may or may not know about me:
1) The very first concert I ever went to was The Black Crowes.
2) I've had backstage passes for (and thus got to meet): Oingo Boingo, Garbage, Ben Folds Five, and Jill Sobule.
3) I've dressed up in two mascot uniforms: Michigan J. Frog and The Noid
4) I went trick-or-treating every Halloween until I was 21 years old.
5) I didn't own (or want) a cell phone until I was in my 30s.
6) The first CD I remember buying was the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "What Hits?"
7) I've run out of gas three times.
8) I've never been in a fist fight.
9) I was a Boy Scout for about a year.
10) In my Freshman year of High School, I joined the wrestling team. I dropped out several weeks before our first match.
11) I made a promise to myself when I was 36 that I would have completed a novel by the time I was 40.
12) Nope.
13) I'm more or less okay with that.
14) I realize that I've kind of cheated for these past few #s. I'm more or less okay with that, too.
15) It took me three times to pass my drivers test when I was a teen. Parallel parking is just stupid.
16) I've had mono.
17) Before the television station I work for got bought by the corporation that owns it now, I composed and printed two issues of a station newsletter.
18) During my Senior year of High School, my breakfast nearly daily was a can of Coke and a Twinkie.
19) It was after high school that I switched over to drinking Pepsi.
20) The last time I threw up was... 17 years ago? I think that's right. Saren was just a baby, so that's got to be about right. It was a bad burger from Wendy's that caused it.
21) Ugh, we're only halfway? I did not think this plan through at all.
22) There's a certain 5-letter word that whenever I hear it, I automatically have a phrase I respond with. (I'm being deliberately vague, because I don't want the power of that word to fall into the wrong hands.)
23) Growing up, we had a cat named Rascal. I stole him from someone's driveway.
24) Years later, we lost Rascal when we took him for a ride to go get pizza. (I don't know why we took him in the car with us when we were going out to get dinner. It was just a thing we did. But, we left the car unlocked, and while we were inside picking up the food - someone opened our car door and took him. Or he ran out. Honestly, the whole memory is pretty vague in my mind, and seems somewhat unreal. Maybe I dreamt it? But, yeah, the karma thing is pretty evident now.)
25) I've been told that I snore.
26) I've shaved the following body parts: Head, face, armpits, legs.
27) While shaving my legs (the one and only time) - I cut my right shin pretty badly, and still have the scar.
28) Between the ages of 17 and 21, I often went commando.
29) I've been homeless.
30) I took one year of Latin, one year of German, and two years of Spanish in high school. None of it really stuck.
31) I'm allergic to shellfish.
32) I've never broken any bones.
33) Lots of kids make up languages. I created the Denixian language AND an alphabet (mostly so I could write notes in 'code'.)
34) I don't like Ranch Dressing, and sometimes think I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't.
35) I also don't like guacamole or avocado.
36) I do like to pronounce avocado as "ah-voc-ah-doe"
37) I consider my eyes to be my best physical feature. (My awesome wit is overall my best attribute.)
38) When Stephanie and I met, my hair was dyed jet-black. I used to dye it (often different colors) pretty frequently.
39) I was going to make the last # a joke saying "I don't know how to end this list." But now I'm at #40 and I don't want to do that because it seems to predictable. I do that a lot. Don't go with something because it seems to predictable. Which, it is, because *I* already know it's going to happen. So I often feel like I need to surprise *myself*, which is a pretty tough job. But, really, I don't know how I'm going to end this list.
40) thought of an ending. Whenever I'm going to bed, I always say to Steph, "See you in the year 2000". (Yes, the year two-thousand is now fifteen years ago. But that only makes the saying more awesome.)
So, to anyone reading this out there - see you in the year 2000.
Saturday, May 30, 2015
and other stuff
You'd think I'd be more prepared for these blogging days, and have pre-planned topics. You'd think wrong, though.
So, an update blog post it is:
we got a dog. I'm sure that when Stephanie blogs omorrow, there will be pics, and she may even write about the whole sitch, so I won't go into major details, but, yeah, we are now dog owners. Her name is Ori (short for Orianna) and she's a chihuahua/something mix (my best guess is Jack Russell Terrier, but we don't really know) and she's about three years old. She's very sweet.
Silas turned six, which is just amazing. Low-key birthday, as that was all he wanted. Found out that Silas and Minecraft share a birthday, a fact that is highly amusing to me.
My asthma returned pretty hard core, and for a few nights I had to use my inhaler multiple times throughout the day/night. It's gone back into hibernation mode, recently, which is a huge relief.
um....
that's probably gonna do it.
So, an update blog post it is:
we got a dog. I'm sure that when Stephanie blogs omorrow, there will be pics, and she may even write about the whole sitch, so I won't go into major details, but, yeah, we are now dog owners. Her name is Ori (short for Orianna) and she's a chihuahua/something mix (my best guess is Jack Russell Terrier, but we don't really know) and she's about three years old. She's very sweet.
Silas turned six, which is just amazing. Low-key birthday, as that was all he wanted. Found out that Silas and Minecraft share a birthday, a fact that is highly amusing to me.
My asthma returned pretty hard core, and for a few nights I had to use my inhaler multiple times throughout the day/night. It's gone back into hibernation mode, recently, which is a huge relief.
um....
that's probably gonna do it.
Friday, May 15, 2015
never odd or even
Wasn't sure what to blog about today, but then, Oh ho!!, I remembered - today is 5/15/15.
wow!
Then then, I remembered that other than pointing out the coolness factor of that, I don't really have anything to say about it. But, it is cool.
(And, yes, the palindromic dates have been happening all this week, and continue for the next four days, but you have to admit that out of them, TODAY is the best.)
To celebrate today's date, here are two appropriate (and wonderful!) music videos:
wow!
Then then, I remembered that other than pointing out the coolness factor of that, I don't really have anything to say about it. But, it is cool.
(And, yes, the palindromic dates have been happening all this week, and continue for the next four days, but you have to admit that out of them, TODAY is the best.)
To celebrate today's date, here are two appropriate (and wonderful!) music videos:
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Coming attractions
Lots of movies coming up – Some look great, some..not so much.
A small sampling:
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Opens – May 1st (tomorrow!!)
Synopsis – The Marvel Movie Making Machine Marches on, making more money. (mmm.)
Would I see it in the theater? – Somewhat
surprisingly, no. I’m sure it’ll be a great movie, but I waited for DVD
(or Netflix? I can’t remember now) for the first Avengers, I can wait
for this one, too.
Maggie
Opens - May 8th
Synopsis - Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a father of a daughter (Abigail Breslin) who is turning into a zombie.
Would I see it in the theater? – If I had free
passes, sure. I’ve sat thru most of Arnold’s flicks (yep, even Last
Stand) so I’m intrigued at his take on a more dramatic role.
Tomorrowland
Opens – May 22nd
Synopsis – George Clooney takes some kids on a rocketing adventure into a futuristic alternative world. Or something.
Would I see it in the theater? – Sure would! I’m
surprised this hasn’t generated more buzz/excitement, really. Of course,
anything Disney-related gets a lot of goodwill, so even if the movie is
horrible, I’ll still see it eventually.
Love & Mercy
(June 5th)
Synopsis - Biopic of Brian Wilson.
Would I see it in the theater? - Yeah, this gave me good vibrations. (heh) But I'll happily watch this when it hits DVD/Netflix.
Would I see it in the theater? - Yeah, this gave me good vibrations. (heh) But I'll happily watch this when it hits DVD/Netflix.
Jurassic World
Opens June 12th
Synopsis – Chris Pratt on a motorcycle. With Velociraptors.
Would I see it in the theater? - Um. Does a T-rex
crap in the woods? This looks like so much fun. I remember seeing the
original Jurassic Park in the theaters for my 18th birthday, it would be kinda cool to see this one for
my 40th.
Inside Out
Opens June 19th
Synopsis – Pixar’s Herman’s Head.
Would I see it in the theater? – I’d like to.
Pixar rarely does anything wrong (ignoring Cars and it’s
sequels/spinoffs) and this looks like another classic.
Terminator: typo Genisys
Opens July 3rd
Synopsis – IN the future, an AI program called
Skynet somehow develops the ability to time travel, and figures that’s
the best way to kill what it deems its biggest threat – people named
Sarah and John Connor.
Would I see it in the theater? - I sure as hell
plan on it. I’ve seen all of the other Terminator films there (barring
the first, cuz I was just a wee lad when that happened), so I intend on
keeping the tradition alive. I was also at some
point this year planning on making a blog post about the Terminator
series, but all I really wanted to say in it was that it thrills me to
no end that thus far, EVERY single iteration of the series has had a
different actor playing John Connor.
I know that this is supposed to be the start of a new trilogy, and I can't control how Hollywood casts its films, but it would please me to no end if in the next two movies, John Connor was played by different actors each time.
I mean, dude. The whole PREMISE of the series is tinkering with the timeline. It only makes sense that one of the key figures would be effected by that. (Plus, it would explain why in T2 after they "stopped" Judgment Day, John didn't just disappear. Because, seriously. If there was just one timeline, and Judgment Day never happened, there would be no reason for T1 to have happened, which means John wouldn't exist. Unless there is ALWAYS a John Connor, of some sort.) You know what I mean?
Anyway. Yes, despite the misspellings, and that the last two installments were... not as spectacular as the first two, I am way excited about seeing this movie.
I mean, dude. The whole PREMISE of the series is tinkering with the timeline. It only makes sense that one of the key figures would be effected by that. (Plus, it would explain why in T2 after they "stopped" Judgment Day, John didn't just disappear. Because, seriously. If there was just one timeline, and Judgment Day never happened, there would be no reason for T1 to have happened, which means John wouldn't exist. Unless there is ALWAYS a John Connor, of some sort.) You know what I mean?
Anyway. Yes, despite the misspellings, and that the last two installments were... not as spectacular as the first two, I am way excited about seeing this movie.
Minions
(July 10)
Synopsis - Remember Despicable Me? Here's a prequel to that.
Would I see it in the theater? - Unlikely.
(July 10)
Synopsis - Remember Despicable Me? Here's a prequel to that.
Would I see it in the theater? - Unlikely.
Ant-Man
(July 17)
Synopsis - I think Marvel has a big ol dartboard filled with all the comics from their history, and someone landed on this one by mistake, but they were like, "Well, we HAVE to make it. The dartboard said so."
(July 17)
Synopsis - I think Marvel has a big ol dartboard filled with all the comics from their history, and someone landed on this one by mistake, but they were like, "Well, we HAVE to make it. The dartboard said so."
Would I see it in theaters? - Mmm....nope. This is purely a DVD-er.
Pan
(Also July 17)
Synopsis - Hook meets The Dark Knight.
Would I see it in the theater? - Tough call, but it doesn't quite make me want to go out and see it.
Pixels
(July 24)
Synopsis - Aliens invade earth using video game references.
Would I see it in theaters - Nope. Adam F'ing Sandler is one of the stars, for one thing. Which is a HUGE strike against it.
THat being said, it does look like a fun, stupide movie to turn off my brain to.
(July 24)
Synopsis - Aliens invade earth using video game references.
Would I see it in theaters - Nope. Adam F'ing Sandler is one of the stars, for one thing. Which is a HUGE strike against it.
THat being said, it does look like a fun, stupide movie to turn off my brain to.
Poltergeist
(Also July 24 - July is busy!! -also, the trailer for some reason says May 22nd, but imdb says July 24th, so [shrug])
Synopsis - That's fine, Hollywood. You can remake all the 80s movies you want, so long as you remember that Back to the Future and Clue are OFF LIMITS.
Theater worthy? - not really.
(Also July 24 - July is busy!! -also, the trailer for some reason says May 22nd, but imdb says July 24th, so [shrug])
Synopsis - That's fine, Hollywood. You can remake all the 80s movies you want, so long as you remember that Back to the Future and Clue are OFF LIMITS.
Theater worthy? - not really.
Fantastic Four
(August 7th)
Synopsis - 4 scientists get super-powered up, fight some super villain, cause lots of collateral damage.
Maaaaybe DVD-worthy. This just seems really boring. Or like it would need to be about 8 hours long in order to get everything in. Plus, you know none of the 4 are going to die, so there's no real "threat" to any of them. Yawn.
(August 7th)
Synopsis - 4 scientists get super-powered up, fight some super villain, cause lots of collateral damage.
Maaaaybe DVD-worthy. This just seems really boring. Or like it would need to be about 8 hours long in order to get everything in. Plus, you know none of the 4 are going to die, so there's no real "threat" to any of them. Yawn.
Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens
(Dec 18)
Synopsis - Dude. Really.
Would I see it in the theater? - Oh. Hell. Yes.
Batman V Superman Dawn of Justice(Dec 18)
Synopsis - Dude. Really.
Would I see it in the theater? - Oh. Hell. Yes.
(March 25th, 2016)
Synopsis - two of DC's biggest heroes clash, because reasons. Or, because money. ha ha.
Theater? - Absolutely. Amazing trailer.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
I went with this one instead.
I was trying to think of what to blog about, and additionally, what to title this blog post.
Titles I considered:
Major Malfunction
Anti-social media
I'm like Shania Twain
Major Malfunction would've been talking about a dream I had 26ish (!!) years ago.
Anti-social media was going to be complaining about facebook twitter and the like. (I'm old!!)
I'm like Shania Twain would have been me talking about how unimpressed with many of my recent entertainment choices (movies, books, and music) and asking for suggestions.
In some other universe, maybe, those other blog posts were written.
We got this one instead.
Titles I considered:
Major Malfunction
Anti-social media
I'm like Shania Twain
Major Malfunction would've been talking about a dream I had 26ish (!!) years ago.
Anti-social media was going to be complaining about facebook twitter and the like. (I'm old!!)
I'm like Shania Twain would have been me talking about how unimpressed with many of my recent entertainment choices (movies, books, and music) and asking for suggestions.
In some other universe, maybe, those other blog posts were written.
We got this one instead.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
it's a nice place to visit...
(warning - work related blog post)
One of the unspoken portions of the new years resolution that I made to blog more was to blog about work LESS. So far, pretty good, but today I'm blogging about work, although I do have other things that I'll mention so it's not exclusively about the jorb.
Back in November our company acquired another station (the local NBC affiliate). Lots of changes have come about as a result of this, weighing, I suppose, on the positive side. (I'm still employed, the station's prestige has improved....um.)
The NBC station, of course, had it's own facilities that it was broadcasting out of, and for a while, we were splitting the duties in two buildings. That (mostly) changed this past Friday, when the higher-ups decided to move all of the sales and traffic staff (that would include me) over to the NBC-building. (The master control, promotions and production staff are staying behind at our old building until the new one can be renovated to fit them all.)
Moving, as I have often said, sucks. Even (especially??) when it's your place of employment.
The NBC building is located in a highly industrialized, very ugly part of town. It's about one block away from the homeless shelter, and directly across the street from a cemetery. "At least our neighbors are quiet."
It's not all cons, though. The new location is (slightly) closer to our house (approximately 29 minute drive rather than 35 or 36), and the inside of the building is nice, in areas. The main breakroom (there are two, possibly even three) is an actual break room - tables, chairs, several refrigerators, vending machines, a working sink... and there are picnic tables and gazebos to eat outside if you want (I might do that tomorrow - several other coworkers did today, and this is the time of the year when it's actually nice enough to do that). All of us that came over to the building received an office (although they are all inside with no windows, and they look like doctor's offices from the 1980s...), and we also now have security badges in order to get in to the facilities.
Today was our first day in the new place.
Highlights included:
Passing the parking lot on the way in, and having to circle back around. (I have no sense of direction)
Hearing the news-copter take off and land. (it's loud)
Momentarily worrying when the high school that is right down the road got evacuated by the Hazmat team because a student brought some chemicals to class (nothign wound up happening, other than the email from management alerting us to the possibility of needign to evacuate).
NOT HAVING PRINTERS ALL DAY. (this was a huge deal, as about 90% of my job involves printing emails out) the IT department was working on it all day, but when i left this afternoon, it still hadn't been resolved. We'll see what tomorrow holds.
Not having phones for 50% of the day. (not as big a deal, but annoying)
Missing my window.
Dreading the eventual bus ride(s) in, especially since I will now need to transfer, and also walk somewhat to get to the station, and walking involves going through the previously mentioned not-so-great neighborhoods.
So, that's that. I'm sure I'll adapt and get used to this new situation/location, but for now the newness is still fresh and I'm all prickly about it.
In other news, we bought the board game King of Tokyo yeseterday, and did a family run thru last night (Harper won - her strategy was to not go into Tokyo at all. hahaha), and today Silas & I played it some more (I won one game, he won the other) Pretty simple game, especially once you get into it, and it's fun, too. I really do enjoy playing our board games, want to do that more often.
One of the unspoken portions of the new years resolution that I made to blog more was to blog about work LESS. So far, pretty good, but today I'm blogging about work, although I do have other things that I'll mention so it's not exclusively about the jorb.
Back in November our company acquired another station (the local NBC affiliate). Lots of changes have come about as a result of this, weighing, I suppose, on the positive side. (I'm still employed, the station's prestige has improved....um.)
The NBC station, of course, had it's own facilities that it was broadcasting out of, and for a while, we were splitting the duties in two buildings. That (mostly) changed this past Friday, when the higher-ups decided to move all of the sales and traffic staff (that would include me) over to the NBC-building. (The master control, promotions and production staff are staying behind at our old building until the new one can be renovated to fit them all.)
Moving, as I have often said, sucks. Even (especially??) when it's your place of employment.
The NBC building is located in a highly industrialized, very ugly part of town. It's about one block away from the homeless shelter, and directly across the street from a cemetery. "At least our neighbors are quiet."
It's not all cons, though. The new location is (slightly) closer to our house (approximately 29 minute drive rather than 35 or 36), and the inside of the building is nice, in areas. The main breakroom (there are two, possibly even three) is an actual break room - tables, chairs, several refrigerators, vending machines, a working sink... and there are picnic tables and gazebos to eat outside if you want (I might do that tomorrow - several other coworkers did today, and this is the time of the year when it's actually nice enough to do that). All of us that came over to the building received an office (although they are all inside with no windows, and they look like doctor's offices from the 1980s...), and we also now have security badges in order to get in to the facilities.
Today was our first day in the new place.
Highlights included:
Passing the parking lot on the way in, and having to circle back around. (I have no sense of direction)
Hearing the news-copter take off and land. (it's loud)
Momentarily worrying when the high school that is right down the road got evacuated by the Hazmat team because a student brought some chemicals to class (nothign wound up happening, other than the email from management alerting us to the possibility of needign to evacuate).
NOT HAVING PRINTERS ALL DAY. (this was a huge deal, as about 90% of my job involves printing emails out) the IT department was working on it all day, but when i left this afternoon, it still hadn't been resolved. We'll see what tomorrow holds.
Not having phones for 50% of the day. (not as big a deal, but annoying)
Missing my window.
Dreading the eventual bus ride(s) in, especially since I will now need to transfer, and also walk somewhat to get to the station, and walking involves going through the previously mentioned not-so-great neighborhoods.
So, that's that. I'm sure I'll adapt and get used to this new situation/location, but for now the newness is still fresh and I'm all prickly about it.
In other news, we bought the board game King of Tokyo yeseterday, and did a family run thru last night (Harper won - her strategy was to not go into Tokyo at all. hahaha), and today Silas & I played it some more (I won one game, he won the other) Pretty simple game, especially once you get into it, and it's fun, too. I really do enjoy playing our board games, want to do that more often.
Sunday, March 01, 2015
vacation recap
I've been on vacation this past week, and it's been pretty enjoyable overall. Some of the highlights (note that Stephanie's blog already covered this, and with photographic accompaniment):
Last Sunday (February 22nd) was when we made the drive out to California (the main portion of my week off was to be spent in Anaheim). We left Las Vegas around 4pm, but due to the amount of traffic also making that drive at that time, and the insane rain storm that accompanied us along the way, we didn't make it to our hotel room until almost 1am. Super stressful drive. The battery light in the van came on twice, and a semi drifted into our lane, and even with the windsheild wipers on high, the rain was so thick that visibility was near zero.
We ate dinner at a Denny's in Baker, where the waiter ignored us for probably 20 minutes longer than he should have, and then after we left I confused a fake owl on the roof of the building for a real live one. (It was funny if you were there. Or if you were me, I suppose)
Monday was a better day, as the majority of that day we were in Disney's California Adventure. Highlights from there:
Getting a fast pass for the Cars Racer ride (I forget the real name, and am too lazy to look it up either on google or on Steph's blog entry).
Riding the Cars Racer ride (I see why the line typically gets up to 2 hrs. It's a fun ride. But the fast pass TOTALLY worth it)
The Tower of Terror. It was my second time riding it, so I at least knew what to expect, so it wasn't AS frightening as the first time I rode it with Harper two years ago. But this time I went alone, so all in all, I guess the terror level balanced out to about the same. Still a great ride.
Also watched one of the parades.
And we bought an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit antenna topper for the van. (We finally got around to putting that on the antenna today.)
Tuesday the 24th was the 17th anniversary for Stephanie and I. We used the magic morning feature of our tickets, meaning we got to go into the park an hour before most of the rest of the world. Of course, since Disneyland is EXTREMELY crowded, and many other people also have Magic morning passes, we really only got about 15 minutes of Magic Morning. But it was a good day. I rode the teacups (and even got in the purple cup, which according to internet lore, is the fastest of the teacups), rode Space Mountain (only Steph and I - the kids didn't want to), had a new Star Tours experience (C-3PO was our pilot!)and had super expensive food all day long.
Wednesday was our final day in Disneyland, and we used it to hit ToonTown and re-ride faves from the previous day (Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (Silas finally decided to go with us), Pirates) We also bought a stroller for that day, because carrying Silas around for two days in a row was wrecking havoc on my muscles.
Thursday we checked out of our hotel and drove thru LA, where we didn't meet Rhett & Link (from Good Mythical Morning), but after Steph mentioned the idea, it was all I could think about while driving. We arrived in San Luis Obispo late afternoonish and spent the evening walking around downtown and hitting the usual spots (Boo Boo Records, the bookstore next to it, the bench outside of BBR) At Boo Boo we picked up the new Guster CD (not bad), the new Decemberists CD (I liked this a lot), a rarities CD from Ben Folds Five called "Naked Baby Photos" (mostly pretty good, but has a number of highly skippable tracks), and the Frozen soundtrack. There was also a farmers market going on, and we checked that out, buying a package of awesome strawberries and some organic raw milk. That night, though,after dinner (awesome burger from Margie's Diner), my throat was starting to get sore. Uh-oh.
Thursday night into Friday morning I didn't sleep AT ALL. Or, it seemed that way. I know I must have slept some, because I had some dreams about plants that were used by politicians in San Luis Obispo to manipulate time and reality. The dreams became increasingly complex in plot, and would probably make a pretty good story. So, at least that good came out of it. But I was feverish and my throat got worse as the night progressed.
Friday mornng I was defintiely feeling sick, but the only thing on the agenda was to visit the beach, and i was well enough to not call that off. It was a little chilly (especially when the wind blew) but it was till a prtty good day at the ocean. sand castles were built and ruined, and I did force myself to completly submerge myself into the Pacific. (We forgot towels, so once i was finished playing in the ocean, I spent hte next 30 minutes waiting for the sun to dry me off)
We began the drive home around 3 (I think?) and with dinner and carsickness stops, we managed to get home a little bit before midnight. (Highway 58 is much less crowded than the freeways, but it's like that wanted to make that road as windy as possible. Mission accomplished, roadwork crews!)
Yesterday I didn't have to go anywhere (Stephanie had some cookie booths to attend, though) so I spent the day trying to recoup from this sickness.
Today I've been doing mostly the same (still have a cough and my throat is still a teeny bit sore), and now in just a few minutes we are all heading otu to do more Girl Scout Cookie booth selling. (Um, that's selling of Girl Scout Cookies, not selling the booths.)
Amazingly, I haven't checked my work email at all. I'm afraid to look, honestly. But, I figure it'll be there when I get back to it tomroorw. All in all, a good vacation.
Last Sunday (February 22nd) was when we made the drive out to California (the main portion of my week off was to be spent in Anaheim). We left Las Vegas around 4pm, but due to the amount of traffic also making that drive at that time, and the insane rain storm that accompanied us along the way, we didn't make it to our hotel room until almost 1am. Super stressful drive. The battery light in the van came on twice, and a semi drifted into our lane, and even with the windsheild wipers on high, the rain was so thick that visibility was near zero.
We ate dinner at a Denny's in Baker, where the waiter ignored us for probably 20 minutes longer than he should have, and then after we left I confused a fake owl on the roof of the building for a real live one. (It was funny if you were there. Or if you were me, I suppose)
Monday was a better day, as the majority of that day we were in Disney's California Adventure. Highlights from there:
Getting a fast pass for the Cars Racer ride (I forget the real name, and am too lazy to look it up either on google or on Steph's blog entry).
Riding the Cars Racer ride (I see why the line typically gets up to 2 hrs. It's a fun ride. But the fast pass TOTALLY worth it)
The Tower of Terror. It was my second time riding it, so I at least knew what to expect, so it wasn't AS frightening as the first time I rode it with Harper two years ago. But this time I went alone, so all in all, I guess the terror level balanced out to about the same. Still a great ride.
Also watched one of the parades.
And we bought an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit antenna topper for the van. (We finally got around to putting that on the antenna today.)
Tuesday the 24th was the 17th anniversary for Stephanie and I. We used the magic morning feature of our tickets, meaning we got to go into the park an hour before most of the rest of the world. Of course, since Disneyland is EXTREMELY crowded, and many other people also have Magic morning passes, we really only got about 15 minutes of Magic Morning. But it was a good day. I rode the teacups (and even got in the purple cup, which according to internet lore, is the fastest of the teacups), rode Space Mountain (only Steph and I - the kids didn't want to), had a new Star Tours experience (C-3PO was our pilot!)and had super expensive food all day long.
Wednesday was our final day in Disneyland, and we used it to hit ToonTown and re-ride faves from the previous day (Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (Silas finally decided to go with us), Pirates) We also bought a stroller for that day, because carrying Silas around for two days in a row was wrecking havoc on my muscles.
Thursday we checked out of our hotel and drove thru LA, where we didn't meet Rhett & Link (from Good Mythical Morning), but after Steph mentioned the idea, it was all I could think about while driving. We arrived in San Luis Obispo late afternoonish and spent the evening walking around downtown and hitting the usual spots (Boo Boo Records, the bookstore next to it, the bench outside of BBR) At Boo Boo we picked up the new Guster CD (not bad), the new Decemberists CD (I liked this a lot), a rarities CD from Ben Folds Five called "Naked Baby Photos" (mostly pretty good, but has a number of highly skippable tracks), and the Frozen soundtrack. There was also a farmers market going on, and we checked that out, buying a package of awesome strawberries and some organic raw milk. That night, though,after dinner (awesome burger from Margie's Diner), my throat was starting to get sore. Uh-oh.
Thursday night into Friday morning I didn't sleep AT ALL. Or, it seemed that way. I know I must have slept some, because I had some dreams about plants that were used by politicians in San Luis Obispo to manipulate time and reality. The dreams became increasingly complex in plot, and would probably make a pretty good story. So, at least that good came out of it. But I was feverish and my throat got worse as the night progressed.
Friday mornng I was defintiely feeling sick, but the only thing on the agenda was to visit the beach, and i was well enough to not call that off. It was a little chilly (especially when the wind blew) but it was till a prtty good day at the ocean. sand castles were built and ruined, and I did force myself to completly submerge myself into the Pacific. (We forgot towels, so once i was finished playing in the ocean, I spent hte next 30 minutes waiting for the sun to dry me off)
We began the drive home around 3 (I think?) and with dinner and carsickness stops, we managed to get home a little bit before midnight. (Highway 58 is much less crowded than the freeways, but it's like that wanted to make that road as windy as possible. Mission accomplished, roadwork crews!)
Yesterday I didn't have to go anywhere (Stephanie had some cookie booths to attend, though) so I spent the day trying to recoup from this sickness.
Today I've been doing mostly the same (still have a cough and my throat is still a teeny bit sore), and now in just a few minutes we are all heading otu to do more Girl Scout Cookie booth selling. (Um, that's selling of Girl Scout Cookies, not selling the booths.)
Amazingly, I haven't checked my work email at all. I'm afraid to look, honestly. But, I figure it'll be there when I get back to it tomroorw. All in all, a good vacation.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
anything but love
I was trying to come up with something to blog about today, and came up with this: I'd take famous phrases/song lyrics/whatever and swap out the word "love" with whatever comes up by hitting "random article" on wikipedia.
Will it be amusing or will it just read as non-sequitur nonsense? Let's find out!
All you need is Peter Boyle (film editor). Keith, Wisconsin is all you need.
I Osama Al-Zain you more today than yesterday. (But not as much as tomorrow)
Ground Forces of the Slovak Republic Actually
Tis better to have Grandborough and lost, than never to have Birkeland (lunar crater) at all.
What's Architectural model got to do, got to do with it? What's Dhumavati but a second hand emotion?
What is United Nations Security Council Resolution 468? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more.
Who wrote the book of Megalithic Yard?
Shakespeare in Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services
Hello, I Fred Chester Bond
Oxymerus lineatus makes the world go round.
Henley Branch Line and marriage, Krakoma and marriage - go together like a horse and carriage.
I can't help falling in Slush Puppie with you.
PS I Edmund Mortimer you
From Russia with Coptodon bakossiorum
What's so funny 'bout peace, Waco High School and understanding
Steve Dunwell in the time of cholera
Damn, I wish I was your Lhodrakarchu Monastery
Peter Richards (Royal Navy officer) potion #9
All is fair in Kalinga Park and war
I'm Tayan Nuur mine-in' it
William Wayne Justice conquers all.
Will it be amusing or will it just read as non-sequitur nonsense? Let's find out!
All you need is Peter Boyle (film editor). Keith, Wisconsin is all you need.
I Osama Al-Zain you more today than yesterday. (But not as much as tomorrow)
Ground Forces of the Slovak Republic Actually
Tis better to have Grandborough and lost, than never to have Birkeland (lunar crater) at all.
What's Architectural model got to do, got to do with it? What's Dhumavati but a second hand emotion?
What is United Nations Security Council Resolution 468? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me no more.
Who wrote the book of Megalithic Yard?
Shakespeare in Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services
Hello, I Fred Chester Bond
Oxymerus lineatus makes the world go round.
Henley Branch Line and marriage, Krakoma and marriage - go together like a horse and carriage.
I can't help falling in Slush Puppie with you.
PS I Edmund Mortimer you
From Russia with Coptodon bakossiorum
What's so funny 'bout peace, Waco High School and understanding
Steve Dunwell in the time of cholera
Damn, I wish I was your Lhodrakarchu Monastery
Peter Richards (Royal Navy officer) potion #9
All is fair in Kalinga Park and war
I'm Tayan Nuur mine-in' it
William Wayne Justice conquers all.
Friday, January 30, 2015
you won a sauce!!
[insert the Link-opening-a-treasure-chest-theme here]
Today was in.sane. at work. I don't want to bore any hypothetical readers (or myself, while typing it) so I'll bottom line it: LOTS of work. LOTS.
MOving on!
I'm doing...okayish with my resolutions. (I nearly typed "revolutions", which, nope, not doing very well with those at all. I blame my minions. Or lack thereof.) I've only read 3 books so far, and only watched 3 movies, so ...not superb, but better than nothing.
I have exercised every day (well, I missed one day - maybe the 21st? But I doubled-up on the following day), and amazingly it's starting to get easier! I'm not really seeing any results yet, but they year is young.
I've done some fiction writing, but don't have an exact word count at this time. I would guess that I'm probably a little under what i should be at this stage. Also, I don't think that any of the writing is anything I'd deem shareable. But at least it's happening.
I've done ZERO work on the Project, so that needs to be remedied within the next 11 months or so.
Anyway, not a lot else to report on right now,soi'llwrap this up. But i have to ask - is it just me or does it feel like it's been January all year long?
Today was in.sane. at work. I don't want to bore any hypothetical readers (or myself, while typing it) so I'll bottom line it: LOTS of work. LOTS.
MOving on!
I'm doing...okayish with my resolutions. (I nearly typed "revolutions", which, nope, not doing very well with those at all. I blame my minions. Or lack thereof.) I've only read 3 books so far, and only watched 3 movies, so ...not superb, but better than nothing.
I have exercised every day (well, I missed one day - maybe the 21st? But I doubled-up on the following day), and amazingly it's starting to get easier! I'm not really seeing any results yet, but they year is young.
I've done some fiction writing, but don't have an exact word count at this time. I would guess that I'm probably a little under what i should be at this stage. Also, I don't think that any of the writing is anything I'd deem shareable. But at least it's happening.
I've done ZERO work on the Project, so that needs to be remedied within the next 11 months or so.
Anyway, not a lot else to report on right now,soi'llwrap this up. But i have to ask - is it just me or does it feel like it's been January all year long?
Thursday, January 15, 2015
pond puppies
when i get super tired (orjust can't seem to think of the write word to say) I tend to pull random words out of nowhere. Steph has dubbed this "the pond" (it comes from an allegory (metaphor? I'm not entirely sure what word I'm looking for here, because, in case you hadn't figured it out, I am pretty ...um. sleepy.) that Steph had long ago about the brain being a giant ocean of thoughts and words and images, and my semi-coherent/tired ramblings were being pulled from "the pond" of my brain.)
ANYWAY. This post is gonna be a pond post. Just stream of consciousness ramblings with no real point or ...something. It's gonna be like 2008 all over again. ha ha.
And of course, the minute i right the freaking "prolouge" of this adventure, I blank on what else I was going to say, because that's the type of writer I am, apparently. Or ...
OVer the past month or so at work, I've been turning the television in my office on (but I leave the sound down low, because I'm more interested in listening to my grooveshark music than watching the boobtube). Anyway, even with the sound down and just occasinoally glancing at the screen, I have been reminded of how much I dislike news. It's all "shooting, shooting, deadly car accident, shooting, new movie coming out!" The 12noon news in particular is basically (at least the last ten minutes daily) just "here's what videos are trending on youtube". Seriously. It's ...kinda weird.
Oh, also, the Today Show adopted a new puppy. (thus the title for today's blogpost.)
last night i woke up once Steph got in bed and I told her "don't forget about the turnips", which is hilarious in and of itself, but then her reaction was simply to pinch my mouth shut. (Gently, and with love. It is hard to explain, but it was very funny. To me.)
all right, i thought I had more to say, but eveidently i don't, and also you know what day it is. (It's Thursday. And Thursday means mail. Except that we didn't get any mail today. Or yesterdsay, either.)
ANYWAY. This post is gonna be a pond post. Just stream of consciousness ramblings with no real point or ...something. It's gonna be like 2008 all over again. ha ha.
And of course, the minute i right the freaking "prolouge" of this adventure, I blank on what else I was going to say, because that's the type of writer I am, apparently. Or ...
OVer the past month or so at work, I've been turning the television in my office on (but I leave the sound down low, because I'm more interested in listening to my grooveshark music than watching the boobtube). Anyway, even with the sound down and just occasinoally glancing at the screen, I have been reminded of how much I dislike news. It's all "shooting, shooting, deadly car accident, shooting, new movie coming out!" The 12noon news in particular is basically (at least the last ten minutes daily) just "here's what videos are trending on youtube". Seriously. It's ...kinda weird.
Oh, also, the Today Show adopted a new puppy. (thus the title for today's blogpost.)
last night i woke up once Steph got in bed and I told her "don't forget about the turnips", which is hilarious in and of itself, but then her reaction was simply to pinch my mouth shut. (Gently, and with love. It is hard to explain, but it was very funny. To me.)
all right, i thought I had more to say, but eveidently i don't, and also you know what day it is. (It's Thursday. And Thursday means mail. Except that we didn't get any mail today. Or yesterdsay, either.)
Thursday, January 01, 2015
Movies seen in 2014 (and other things)
A year ago, when 2014 started, I told Harper that my goal for the year was to see at least 100 movies.
Fortunately, I actually kept track of them all, and, thus, have documented proof of having accomplished this goal.
I started the year keeping short notes on each film, just as either a reminder of what it was about or my feelings on having seen it, but didn't maintain that throughout. I wish I had, because things like "Simon Killer" and "A Single Shot" could be about ANYTHING. Sadly, I didn't use the Haiku Review format, but I guess there's always next year. (Meaning this year. Ahh, calendarific semantics.)
1)
Now You See Me – lotta flash, not a lot of substance. Also, paced weird.
2) Despicable Me 2 – eh. Had some cuteness, but not as good as the first.
3) Iron Man 3 – decent, better than 2
4) The Last Stand – pretty crappy action flick with Ahnuld
5) The Wolverine – entertaining
6) Pacific Rim – giant robots vs giant monsters. Got a little over the top near the end.
7) The Conversation – 70s thriller about eavesdropping. Kinda slow, would probably make a good remake.
8) The Wall – German/English film, started off very intriguing – woman is cut off from the world by an invisible wall out in the woods, but got very dull near the end.
9) Kick-Ass 2 – not nearly as fun as the first
10) Monsters University – since I don’t remember anything about Monsters, Inc, this was more-or-less a stand-alone film. It worked pretty well, I thought.
11) Dolan’s Cadillac – based on the short story by Stephen King, wasn’t a masterpiece, but was entertaining enough, I guess.
12) Ted – completely unfunny. Should’ve known, since it was Seth “Family Guy” McFarlane’s baby, but alas, I was hoping it would be at least a *little* bit amusing. It was not.
13) We’re The Millers – ridiculous (in a good way) comedy with Jason Sudekis and Jennifer Anniston. Not great, but had enough laughs to be worthwhile.
14) Carrie – 2013 remake. Just average, overall. Probably not necessary to have made this.
15) Prisoners – Drama about two families who have young daughters that are abducted. The main suspect is let go by the police, and one of the fathers decides to exact vigilante justice. I haven’t decided if I liked the movie completely or not, but it’s stuck with me.
16) Rise of the Guardians – Pretty. Imaginative.
17) Taken 2 – had low expectations going in to this. They were not met. Pretty pointless sequel.
18) Maniac – gory horror movie with Elijah Wood as a serial killer. The gimmick was that a lot of the movie was shot thru his POV, so the viewer partakes in the killings. Overall kinda icky.
19) Dark Skies – “horror” movie about a family being harassed by The Greys. Keri Russell was in it, and she was decent, but overall pretty lame movie.
20) The Brass Teapot – somewhat predictable, but still enjoyable, morality tale about a couple that finds a magic teapot that pays out whenever they hurt themselves.
21) Pandorum – I’d seen this before, but forgotten I had. Pretty good sci-fi/horror flick about an ark ship’s survivors waking up from deep sleep only to discover they aren’t alone onboard. Sets up a sequel, which I’d happily watch.
22) +1 – not particularly logical, or coherent, or worthwhile. The potential was there, but the execution fell thru. It was about a glitch in time (maybe?) at a college party that caused the last 15 minutes to repeat itself. Neat idea. Maybe with different writers it could’ve been awesome.
23) Escape Plan – action/thriller with Stallone & Schwarzenegger. Not bad.
24) Would You Rather – low-budget horror flick that was somewhat predictable and completely unrealistic, but still somehow compelling to watch. Rich psycho gets strangers together to have them play a “game” where they have to torture each other/themselves in order to get money.
25) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – a little long (could easily have been about 15-20 min shorter) but pretty decent adaptation of the novel, I’d say.
26) Thor: The Dark World – ehh. Wasn’t really feeling this Thor sequel. The first one was surprisingly enjoyable, but this one just didn’t work for me.
27) Elysium – sci-fi action thriller with Matt Damon in the future. All about class warfare. Decent.
28) Frozen – saw it (in the theater!!) in 2013, saw it again on DVD when Irina got it for Easter. Goosebumps and chuckles. Good flick.
29) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
30) A Single Shot
31) Haunter
32) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – some parts were pretty funny, but nothing out and out hilarious, and overall a LOT of unfunny bits, and also a tad too long. Oh well.
33) Simon Killer
34) Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidoc
35) The Heat – not bad! Funnier than expected.
36) Saving Mr. Banks – pretty good drama about Disney acquiring the rights to Mary Poppins from the author of the books.
37) Escape From Tomorrow – waste of time. The draw for this was that it was filmed in Disneyland/World without permission, but it was too “quirky” for quirky’s sake, and the “protagonist” was a complete jerk I didn’t care about. MEH.
38) The Internship
39) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – a wee bit overlong. Smaug, the dragon, though, was pretty darn impressive.
40) Kit Kittredge – An American Girl – had seen this before. Liked it more the first time, but it was still decent.
41) Contracted – blegh.
42) Hotel Transylvania
43) A Perfect Getaway – went a little off the rails at the end, but a pretty enjoyable thriller.
44) Life of Pi – visually pretty amazing.
45) After the Dark –A “philosophy” class does several thought experiments about the end of the world and who gets to live on in the bunker after the bombs fall. They get an A for effort.
46) The Shining – I kinda don’t get why this is so highly praised/analyzed. IT was a mediocre adaptation which left me thinking that the book was better.
47) Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2
48) Robocop (2014) – remake that wasn’t bad as its own, but came nowhere near the awesomeness of the original.
49) Dredd
50) The LEGO movie
51) Zoolander
52) Oldboy
53) 13 Sins
54) How I Live Now
55) Tucker & Dale vs Evil
56) Blindness
57) Dark Touch – even at 91 minutes, and even watched at double speed, this felt incredibly long. It was just so …boring. (Was about a trio of young children who are abused and have telekinesis. I think.)
58) Oldboy – 2014 remake of the Korean film. I might be the only person on earth who enjoyed them both equally.
59) Non-Stop
60) Enemy
61) Paranormal Activity
62) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
63) Gravity
64) Muppets Most Wanted
65) The Amazing Spider-Man 2
66) The Never Ending Story
67) Big Bad Wolves
68) The Purge – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining
69) The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
70) The Last Days on Mars
71) Transcendence – bleh, coulda been much better.
72) Her
73) Curse of Chucky – pretty much as dumb as expected.
74) Under the Skin – what.
75) Find Me Guilty
76) Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
77) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
78) Justice League: War
79) Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
80) X-Men: Days of Future Past
81) Alan Partridge
82) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
83) Identity Thief
84) Godzilla – the 2014 version. Parts of it looked pretty cool, but overall…meh.
85) Neighbors – extreme and crass, but with moments that were pretty funny. Watching the gag reel, I discovered that Seth Rogen has one of the most annoying real life laughs ever.
86) Snowpiercer
87) Locke – sigh. 85 minutes of Tom Hardy just driving and talking on his phone to various people. Kept waiting for a twist or a payoff, but …nope.
88) Maleficent – it was cheesy-ish, but I liked it.
89) Europa Report
90) Joe
91) Carrie – rewatched the 2013 remake. I liked it better this time around, actually. (I have also just recently reread the book, which may have helped.) There were still flaws with this, but it wasn’t a bad movie by any means.
92) Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – I liked it better than the first (not that this was a good movie, just that it was slightly more enjoyable)
93) Olympus Has Fallen - White House Down was better
94) White Dog
95) The Machine
96) The Signal – the trailer promised weirdness and mystery. The trailer lied.
97) Son of Batman – the first DC Animated movie that didn’t really work for me. Part of it was the voice actor they got for Batman – he felt off. Part of it was the story – just sort of meh.
98) Captain Phillips
99) The Purge: Anarchy – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining.
100) The Wave – German movie about the dangers of fascism – even in supposedly “enlightened” high schoolers.
101) Batman: Assault on Arkham – this one was FUN!
102) The One I Love – a couple in therapy goes on a weekend getaway in order to get to know themselves…in the Twilight Zone.
103) Doc of the Dead – didn’t really inform me of anything I didn’t already know, but it’s always nice to see Bruce Campbell in stuff.
104) Edge of Tomorrow – AKA All You Need is Kill, AKA Tom Cruise Dies a Lot. Solid, fun sci-fi flick.
105) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - I would not be opposed to this series continuing. (Although I don't know where else they can go.) Also, more women characters (human and ape) would be extremely welcome.
So, that's that. The worst movie seen was easily, hands down "Under the Skin".(oh, looking over the list, I forgot I also wasted my time on "Escape From Tomorrow". That was also REALLY bad.)
Best movie? Hmm. I'm not sure I could narrow that down.
Moving on, this year I do have some goals (or gimmicks or whatever you want to call them), and since I'm at the keyboard, I might as well share them.
For 2015 I plan to:
Blog more. (Accomplished already!)
Write at least 2015 words every month on a fictional story. I don't need to finish the story, I don't need to start it - it could just be outlining or working on a particular scene, and it doesn't have to be the same story each month. Just need to write something fiction, and have put in at least two thousand and fifteen words into it. (I realize this seems like setting the bar pretty low, since the total word count for the year would only be 24,180 - which is not even half of what the Nanowrimo goal is, but considering my writing output lately, I think it is a rather achievable target.)
Watch as many movies as possible. (I was going to again set the mark at 100, but I'm feeling like that might not be able to happen this year.) I might do an A-Z thing on Netflix later, too. I've been wanting to do that for a while - start with the "Recently added" section, and find the first movie that begins with A, and then watch that. Then, move from there on to the B title, and so on. (If there is no movie with the correct letter in the section I'm in, I would move down to the next section, until I found one.) Anyway, that's a possibility for later in the year, especially if I'm lacking in interesting titles of things to watch.
Work on the Project (yes, the very same project I was mentioning on this blog back in [sigh] 2007.)
Ex...er....cise?
Read at least half the amount of books that Stephanie reads this year. I'm pretty sure that she is shooting for a goal of 60. I think I can manage to read 30 books in 365 days. I always give my star-rating on Goodreads.com, but I might start jotting down quick notes/thoughts about the books too. As I get older, I find that having things documented is a much better way to remember them. Heh.
That's more or less it. Or at least, all that I can think of right now. Bring on 2015!
Fortunately, I actually kept track of them all, and, thus, have documented proof of having accomplished this goal.
I started the year keeping short notes on each film, just as either a reminder of what it was about or my feelings on having seen it, but didn't maintain that throughout. I wish I had, because things like "Simon Killer" and "A Single Shot" could be about ANYTHING. Sadly, I didn't use the Haiku Review format, but I guess there's always next year. (Meaning this year. Ahh, calendarific semantics.)
Anyway, here is the list of movies seen by me in 2014:
2) Despicable Me 2 – eh. Had some cuteness, but not as good as the first.
3) Iron Man 3 – decent, better than 2
4) The Last Stand – pretty crappy action flick with Ahnuld
5) The Wolverine – entertaining
6) Pacific Rim – giant robots vs giant monsters. Got a little over the top near the end.
7) The Conversation – 70s thriller about eavesdropping. Kinda slow, would probably make a good remake.
8) The Wall – German/English film, started off very intriguing – woman is cut off from the world by an invisible wall out in the woods, but got very dull near the end.
9) Kick-Ass 2 – not nearly as fun as the first
10) Monsters University – since I don’t remember anything about Monsters, Inc, this was more-or-less a stand-alone film. It worked pretty well, I thought.
11) Dolan’s Cadillac – based on the short story by Stephen King, wasn’t a masterpiece, but was entertaining enough, I guess.
12) Ted – completely unfunny. Should’ve known, since it was Seth “Family Guy” McFarlane’s baby, but alas, I was hoping it would be at least a *little* bit amusing. It was not.
13) We’re The Millers – ridiculous (in a good way) comedy with Jason Sudekis and Jennifer Anniston. Not great, but had enough laughs to be worthwhile.
14) Carrie – 2013 remake. Just average, overall. Probably not necessary to have made this.
15) Prisoners – Drama about two families who have young daughters that are abducted. The main suspect is let go by the police, and one of the fathers decides to exact vigilante justice. I haven’t decided if I liked the movie completely or not, but it’s stuck with me.
16) Rise of the Guardians – Pretty. Imaginative.
17) Taken 2 – had low expectations going in to this. They were not met. Pretty pointless sequel.
18) Maniac – gory horror movie with Elijah Wood as a serial killer. The gimmick was that a lot of the movie was shot thru his POV, so the viewer partakes in the killings. Overall kinda icky.
19) Dark Skies – “horror” movie about a family being harassed by The Greys. Keri Russell was in it, and she was decent, but overall pretty lame movie.
20) The Brass Teapot – somewhat predictable, but still enjoyable, morality tale about a couple that finds a magic teapot that pays out whenever they hurt themselves.
21) Pandorum – I’d seen this before, but forgotten I had. Pretty good sci-fi/horror flick about an ark ship’s survivors waking up from deep sleep only to discover they aren’t alone onboard. Sets up a sequel, which I’d happily watch.
22) +1 – not particularly logical, or coherent, or worthwhile. The potential was there, but the execution fell thru. It was about a glitch in time (maybe?) at a college party that caused the last 15 minutes to repeat itself. Neat idea. Maybe with different writers it could’ve been awesome.
23) Escape Plan – action/thriller with Stallone & Schwarzenegger. Not bad.
24) Would You Rather – low-budget horror flick that was somewhat predictable and completely unrealistic, but still somehow compelling to watch. Rich psycho gets strangers together to have them play a “game” where they have to torture each other/themselves in order to get money.
25) The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – a little long (could easily have been about 15-20 min shorter) but pretty decent adaptation of the novel, I’d say.
26) Thor: The Dark World – ehh. Wasn’t really feeling this Thor sequel. The first one was surprisingly enjoyable, but this one just didn’t work for me.
27) Elysium – sci-fi action thriller with Matt Damon in the future. All about class warfare. Decent.
28) Frozen – saw it (in the theater!!) in 2013, saw it again on DVD when Irina got it for Easter. Goosebumps and chuckles. Good flick.
29) The Perks of Being a Wallflower
30) A Single Shot
31) Haunter
32) Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – some parts were pretty funny, but nothing out and out hilarious, and overall a LOT of unfunny bits, and also a tad too long. Oh well.
33) Simon Killer
34) Mary Poppins – Supercalifragilisticexpialidoc
35) The Heat – not bad! Funnier than expected.
36) Saving Mr. Banks – pretty good drama about Disney acquiring the rights to Mary Poppins from the author of the books.
37) Escape From Tomorrow – waste of time. The draw for this was that it was filmed in Disneyland/World without permission, but it was too “quirky” for quirky’s sake, and the “protagonist” was a complete jerk I didn’t care about. MEH.
38) The Internship
39) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – a wee bit overlong. Smaug, the dragon, though, was pretty darn impressive.
40) Kit Kittredge – An American Girl – had seen this before. Liked it more the first time, but it was still decent.
41) Contracted – blegh.
42) Hotel Transylvania
43) A Perfect Getaway – went a little off the rails at the end, but a pretty enjoyable thriller.
44) Life of Pi – visually pretty amazing.
45) After the Dark –A “philosophy” class does several thought experiments about the end of the world and who gets to live on in the bunker after the bombs fall. They get an A for effort.
46) The Shining – I kinda don’t get why this is so highly praised/analyzed. IT was a mediocre adaptation which left me thinking that the book was better.
47) Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2
48) Robocop (2014) – remake that wasn’t bad as its own, but came nowhere near the awesomeness of the original.
49) Dredd
50) The LEGO movie
51) Zoolander
52) Oldboy
53) 13 Sins
54) How I Live Now
55) Tucker & Dale vs Evil
56) Blindness
57) Dark Touch – even at 91 minutes, and even watched at double speed, this felt incredibly long. It was just so …boring. (Was about a trio of young children who are abused and have telekinesis. I think.)
58) Oldboy – 2014 remake of the Korean film. I might be the only person on earth who enjoyed them both equally.
59) Non-Stop
60) Enemy
61) Paranormal Activity
62) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
63) Gravity
64) Muppets Most Wanted
65) The Amazing Spider-Man 2
66) The Never Ending Story
67) Big Bad Wolves
68) The Purge – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining
69) The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
70) The Last Days on Mars
71) Transcendence – bleh, coulda been much better.
72) Her
73) Curse of Chucky – pretty much as dumb as expected.
74) Under the Skin – what.
75) Find Me Guilty
76) Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
77) Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
78) Justice League: War
79) Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons
80) X-Men: Days of Future Past
81) Alan Partridge
82) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
83) Identity Thief
84) Godzilla – the 2014 version. Parts of it looked pretty cool, but overall…meh.
85) Neighbors – extreme and crass, but with moments that were pretty funny. Watching the gag reel, I discovered that Seth Rogen has one of the most annoying real life laughs ever.
86) Snowpiercer
87) Locke – sigh. 85 minutes of Tom Hardy just driving and talking on his phone to various people. Kept waiting for a twist or a payoff, but …nope.
88) Maleficent – it was cheesy-ish, but I liked it.
89) Europa Report
90) Joe
91) Carrie – rewatched the 2013 remake. I liked it better this time around, actually. (I have also just recently reread the book, which may have helped.) There were still flaws with this, but it wasn’t a bad movie by any means.
92) Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones – I liked it better than the first (not that this was a good movie, just that it was slightly more enjoyable)
93) Olympus Has Fallen - White House Down was better
94) White Dog
95) The Machine
96) The Signal – the trailer promised weirdness and mystery. The trailer lied.
97) Son of Batman – the first DC Animated movie that didn’t really work for me. Part of it was the voice actor they got for Batman – he felt off. Part of it was the story – just sort of meh.
98) Captain Phillips
99) The Purge: Anarchy – ridiculous, but marginally entertaining.
100) The Wave – German movie about the dangers of fascism – even in supposedly “enlightened” high schoolers.
101) Batman: Assault on Arkham – this one was FUN!
102) The One I Love – a couple in therapy goes on a weekend getaway in order to get to know themselves…in the Twilight Zone.
103) Doc of the Dead – didn’t really inform me of anything I didn’t already know, but it’s always nice to see Bruce Campbell in stuff.
104) Edge of Tomorrow – AKA All You Need is Kill, AKA Tom Cruise Dies a Lot. Solid, fun sci-fi flick.
105) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - I would not be opposed to this series continuing. (Although I don't know where else they can go.) Also, more women characters (human and ape) would be extremely welcome.
So, that's that. The worst movie seen was easily, hands down "Under the Skin".(oh, looking over the list, I forgot I also wasted my time on "Escape From Tomorrow". That was also REALLY bad.)
Best movie? Hmm. I'm not sure I could narrow that down.
Moving on, this year I do have some goals (or gimmicks or whatever you want to call them), and since I'm at the keyboard, I might as well share them.
For 2015 I plan to:
Blog more. (Accomplished already!)
Write at least 2015 words every month on a fictional story. I don't need to finish the story, I don't need to start it - it could just be outlining or working on a particular scene, and it doesn't have to be the same story each month. Just need to write something fiction, and have put in at least two thousand and fifteen words into it. (I realize this seems like setting the bar pretty low, since the total word count for the year would only be 24,180 - which is not even half of what the Nanowrimo goal is, but considering my writing output lately, I think it is a rather achievable target.)
Watch as many movies as possible. (I was going to again set the mark at 100, but I'm feeling like that might not be able to happen this year.) I might do an A-Z thing on Netflix later, too. I've been wanting to do that for a while - start with the "Recently added" section, and find the first movie that begins with A, and then watch that. Then, move from there on to the B title, and so on. (If there is no movie with the correct letter in the section I'm in, I would move down to the next section, until I found one.) Anyway, that's a possibility for later in the year, especially if I'm lacking in interesting titles of things to watch.
Work on the Project (yes, the very same project I was mentioning on this blog back in [sigh] 2007.)
Ex...er....cise?
Read at least half the amount of books that Stephanie reads this year. I'm pretty sure that she is shooting for a goal of 60. I think I can manage to read 30 books in 365 days. I always give my star-rating on Goodreads.com, but I might start jotting down quick notes/thoughts about the books too. As I get older, I find that having things documented is a much better way to remember them. Heh.
That's more or less it. Or at least, all that I can think of right now. Bring on 2015!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
These go to eleven
I didn't spin a 10 yesterday, despite not writing.
I spun a 6, but, I was pretty exhausted by the time I got a chance to go online, and I'm just not feeling the Heroes story. at. all.
So, I spun twice today, thinking that I'd make it up. The numbers I spun were 1 (doing it now!) and 5 (...we'll see.)
I really did want to write while at work today, but just didn't get a chance to.
And I am not even UTP@. I am seriously serioulsy beyond that. Like, if UTP@ went to 10...well. yeah.
But the vampire ship story has been on my mind today (since I spun it, after all), I'm just not sure if I have hte mentael capacity to actually contribute anything to it right now. So, this "1" may (leaning toward "will") be today's entry, aftter all.
On the bright side, tomorrow is the one day this week when I get to take the van to work, which means I get to sleep in somewhat, and therefore, presumalby. won't be as tired (don't see how I coupld possibly BE any more tired). So, depending on what number comes up tomorrow...
OH, and I've come up with an idea that's a tweaking of the spinner thing that i think will work better for me, which I hope to implement in December. blah blah blah.
ALl right, i am barely keeping my eyes open at htis point, and I've written, so consider my work here finished. Enough. "Good enough for guv'ment work." ...phrases are weird.
oh, i should do a word count total thing at this point, but...that sounds like too much work, so i'm going to simply say that i'm at 28% now, which sounds ...plausible. (although not super impressive, is it? ah well.)
I spun a 6, but, I was pretty exhausted by the time I got a chance to go online, and I'm just not feeling the Heroes story. at. all.
So, I spun twice today, thinking that I'd make it up. The numbers I spun were 1 (doing it now!) and 5 (...we'll see.)
I really did want to write while at work today, but just didn't get a chance to.
And I am not even UTP@. I am seriously serioulsy beyond that. Like, if UTP@ went to 10...well. yeah.
But the vampire ship story has been on my mind today (since I spun it, after all), I'm just not sure if I have hte mentael capacity to actually contribute anything to it right now. So, this "1" may (leaning toward "will") be today's entry, aftter all.
On the bright side, tomorrow is the one day this week when I get to take the van to work, which means I get to sleep in somewhat, and therefore, presumalby. won't be as tired (don't see how I coupld possibly BE any more tired). So, depending on what number comes up tomorrow...
OH, and I've come up with an idea that's a tweaking of the spinner thing that i think will work better for me, which I hope to implement in December. blah blah blah.
ALl right, i am barely keeping my eyes open at htis point, and I've written, so consider my work here finished. Enough. "Good enough for guv'ment work." ...phrases are weird.
oh, i should do a word count total thing at this point, but...that sounds like too much work, so i'm going to simply say that i'm at 28% now, which sounds ...plausible. (although not super impressive, is it? ah well.)
Monday, November 18, 2013
Nora's Ark 03
She came to just a few seconds later. Her heart was pounding.
Nora was mildly religious. She believed in God, and the family attending church on Christmas, but only made it to services a few times a year otherwise. Religion just wasn't such a priority in her life. But to have been chosen by the Creator...well, it seemed unusual, truth be told.
The other thing to consider was that she was not actually hearing God's voice at all, but was losing her mind, or perhaps sick somehow.
She wasn't sure which option scared her more.
Nora was mildly religious. She believed in God, and the family attending church on Christmas, but only made it to services a few times a year otherwise. Religion just wasn't such a priority in her life. But to have been chosen by the Creator...well, it seemed unusual, truth be told.
The other thing to consider was that she was not actually hearing God's voice at all, but was losing her mind, or perhaps sick somehow.
She wasn't sure which option scared her more.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
We Could Be Heroes 03
She remembered flying. As if in a dream. It must have been a dream, because people can't fly.
She opened her eyes and viewed her surroundings - they were unfamiliar. She was in a white hallway that appeared to extend in both directions for a remarkably long time. The lights in the hallway had started off dim when she woke, but as she sat up they grew brighter enough for her to see. This indicated to her that she was being watched by someone who could, at the very least, control the light settings. She looked up, trying to see a camera, but there was none visible.
"Hello?" her voice cracked in the middle, as though she hadn't used it in a long time.
A barely audible thrumming sound behind her caused her to turn, and she saw the wall form a small indentation about half a foot deep. She stooped down to look into the newly created window, and saw a glass of water resting there. She was deeply suspicious of this, of course, but her thirst won out. She grabbed the glass and gulped the water greedily. It was heaven.
She held the empty glass in her hand, unsure what to do with it. She decided to return it to the cubbyhole that it had shown up in. The moment she did, the wall closed back up.
Where was she?
She looked down the hallway, then down the other direction. "Hello?" she called out. "Thanks for the water," she added softly.
Then, figuring she had nothing else to lose, she started walking.
She opened her eyes and viewed her surroundings - they were unfamiliar. She was in a white hallway that appeared to extend in both directions for a remarkably long time. The lights in the hallway had started off dim when she woke, but as she sat up they grew brighter enough for her to see. This indicated to her that she was being watched by someone who could, at the very least, control the light settings. She looked up, trying to see a camera, but there was none visible.
"Hello?" her voice cracked in the middle, as though she hadn't used it in a long time.
A barely audible thrumming sound behind her caused her to turn, and she saw the wall form a small indentation about half a foot deep. She stooped down to look into the newly created window, and saw a glass of water resting there. She was deeply suspicious of this, of course, but her thirst won out. She grabbed the glass and gulped the water greedily. It was heaven.
She held the empty glass in her hand, unsure what to do with it. She decided to return it to the cubbyhole that it had shown up in. The moment she did, the wall closed back up.
Where was she?
She looked down the hallway, then down the other direction. "Hello?" she called out. "Thanks for the water," she added softly.
Then, figuring she had nothing else to lose, she started walking.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Vamp Ship (working title) 01
Anders signed on to the inmate computer, and logged in to his email account.
He knew that his emails were all monitored, which was fine. He was smarter than they were. His code hadn't been cracked by anyone reading the messages.
There were three hundred and seven new emails - it was astonishing (and slightly flattering) how many of the worms still wanted to correspond with the inmates. He supposed a great deal of it was the allure of the unknown. That, coupled with the safety of knowing that he was locked away in his airborne prison, 35,000 feet above them. Of course, that distance was going to be reduced very soon, once Anders put his plan into motion.
Anders clicked on the one email he was most interested in, scanned it's contents, and did the mental calculations to decode it's message. "He will be there."
Anders smiled. Fantastic.
It had been 90 years since he had been caught and put on board the Icarus, but next week he was going to escape. And then there was going to be hell to pay.
He knew that his emails were all monitored, which was fine. He was smarter than they were. His code hadn't been cracked by anyone reading the messages.
There were three hundred and seven new emails - it was astonishing (and slightly flattering) how many of the worms still wanted to correspond with the inmates. He supposed a great deal of it was the allure of the unknown. That, coupled with the safety of knowing that he was locked away in his airborne prison, 35,000 feet above them. Of course, that distance was going to be reduced very soon, once Anders put his plan into motion.
Anders clicked on the one email he was most interested in, scanned it's contents, and did the mental calculations to decode it's message. "He will be there."
Anders smiled. Fantastic.
It had been 90 years since he had been caught and put on board the Icarus, but next week he was going to escape. And then there was going to be hell to pay.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Things I've discovered
- Writing by hand first helps. The two entries I'm proudest of so far were both written on days when I was able to write a rough(er) draft of them by hand in a notebook before actually blogging. Apparently, writing stuff down first, and then sitting down to type improves the quality (marginally).
- Stopping the momentum is not a good thing. Spinning 10s (or 1s, to a lesser degree) seemed like such a good idea back at the beginning of the month, but now, when a ten comes up, I'm sad, because that means less words written, and another day where I'm not working on one of the stories. That being said...
- Working on multiple stories at once is killing my enthusiasm for some of them. Or maybe I'm just finding out that some of the story ideas can't sustain themselves for as long as I thought (We Could Be Heroes, Fast Food of the Gods, and I'm worried about Holy Touch, if it ever comes up.). Others seem like there's plenty to keep mining (Still Life, maybe Nora's Ark...Wolflow and the Vampire Ship story (which still needs a better title) will probably be good ones too... if they ever come up).
- There is no way I'm going to reach 50,000, or even 25,000, words by the end of the month. Which is fine. At least I'm writing again.
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Still Life 01
This is the story of Jay Castle, one of the most important people in the universe.
Jay didn't know his importance. For the first 24 years of his life, he was, if anything, extraordinarily ordinary. He lived a common lifestyle of a lower-middle class American citizen during the early part of the 21st century. Jay rarely gave a thought to the future, living moment to moment. Jay made his living as a freelance camera operator, most recently working on a reality television show that highlighted performers on the Las Vegas strip.
Jay knew his job was a great one, with many perks and connections to people who could help him get things not readily available to the public. Which is how Jay scored two tickets to see the New Year's Eve concert of one of Jay's favorite bands - The Freaking Whatevers. The show had been sold out for weeks, but one of the producers of the reality program had managed to get an extra pair, and had given them to Jay as an early Christmas present or maybe it was for his birthday, which was on the 21st. Jay was just ecstatic to receive the tickets, regardless of the why. Jay would come to question the "why" of many things later, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
After Jay had the tickets, he contacted his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Alicia, who was living in LA. She was thrilled to be able to go see the show. New Year's Eve was on a Wednesday, so the plan was to stay in LA thru Sunday, and return to Vegas Monday morning. Alicia was working as a waitress while interning at DesnoTech, and her place was not big enough for Jay to stay at, so Jay contacted his friend Miguel to arrange living conditions for the extended weekend. Miguel asked if Jay was going to be flying out. "Nah," Jay told him, "I'd rather drive. Gas has dipped back down to under six bucks, so it's probably cheaper. And with all the security hassles with flying, it might be quicker to just walk."
So Jay rented a car (a '34 Dodge Natural, for those wanting to know) from the Hertz dealership on Tuesday, December 30th, 2036, instead of flying, which most likely saved his life. If he had been in one of the 47,803 commercial airlines that were airborne on January 5th, 2037 at 5:41am, Pacific Standard Time, things would have ended very differently for Jay. And everyone else, too, of course.
Jay did have a fantastic time. The concert was most definitely the best Jay had ever been to, there were several parties that Jay went to, and the LA crowd knew how to throw parties. And, naturally, he and Alicia engaged in many sexual activities during the four days he was in town. It was at some point during the first few days of 2037 that Jay seriously considered taking the next step with Alicia. Jay often thought back to those days in the time that was to come, and considered them some of the best days of his life. Of course, compared to what Jay had to deal with starting on 1/5/37, practically anything would have been preferable.
Like many people at that time of day, when 5:41am struck, Jay was sleeping. The rental car had been driving Jay back to Vegas for just over an hour at that point, and so he had chosen to lay his seat back and catch some z's. Sleeping while your car is on auto-pilot was not technically legal, but practically everybody did it, especially on long stretches of freeway, such as the I-15.
While dozing, Jay could sense that the movement of the vehicle was decelerating. Jay sat up and looked out the front window. He didn't see anything that should cause the Natural to slow down. There were taillights of a vehicle ahead of them, but it was easily a mile or two down the road. There were headlights behind him as well, also roughly that far back. The auto-drive lanes generally kept a good safe distance between cars, after all. The speedometer read 40. 39. 38.
It was then that Jay noticed the music he had been resting to - The Freaking Whatevers' "Mayor Dog" - was also slowing down. The phrase, "couldn't hack it as the mayor, couldn't hack it as a dog"was being dragged out. Assuming the car must be having some sort of mechanical failure, Jay sat up entirely and placed his hands on the wheel. He addressed the car's computer. "Gerry? I want to go to manual mode, please."
Gerry responded with what sounded like a drunk, slurring voice, "Maaan-u-aalll mo-o-o-o-de". The car had decelerated to a mere 4 miles per hour at this point.
"c o u l d n't ... h a a a a a c k", Jay switched the music off completely, in order to focus clearly on driving. Manual driving was not something that was done all that often, and it made Jay nervous every time he had to do it. Fortunately, the car had relinquished control over to him. Moving was another matter. Gerry, being a computer, felt it was prudent to alert Jay that being in Manual Mode while remaining in an Auto Drive lane was unsafe. Unfortunately, the speed of Gerry's speech was greatly reduced, which only caused Jay's irritation level to increase. "I'm working on it, Gerry!" Jay had the gas pedal floored, but the vehicle was not moving fast enough to register on the speedometer. It was still moving, though. Jay managed to inch the car onto the shoulder.
Once there, he switched to Park and put the emergency hazards on. They blinked on - and remained lit up.
Jay grabbed his Glasses, and fired up G-chat. "Call Alicia, Miguel, Parents," he commanded. "Oh, and Triple A." he added.
Jay stared at the space in front of his face where four separate windows should have appeared as his phone called each of the people he'd listed. But nothing had happened. In fact, his Glasses were not even done loading up to the 'net yet. That never took more than 3 or 4 seconds. Perhaps 7 or 8 in places where coverage was spotty...
Jay glanced forward and saw that the taillights of the other car hadn't gotten any further away. And the headlights of the car behind him hadn't gotten any closer. So whatever was going on must have something to do with the system controlling the auto-driving cars, Jay surmised. But, why weren't the other cars switching to manual? Or were they also having the same problem he was?
He considered getting out of the car, walking down to the car behind him (it seemed like it might be closer than the one ahead of him), then thought better of it. It was January, in the desert, and the sun wasn't even up yet. And even if the auto-drive lanes were down, didn't mean that EVERY vehicle was inoperative. Walking along a dark freeway in the early hours of the morning was a recipe for disaster.
Just then, his Glasses connected to the internet, and the four windows popped up. The dialing was monstrously slow. What in the world is going on? Jay wondered. The hazard lights suddenly blinked off. They had been "on" for about 45 seconds, Jay figured. Although this whole situation was making him uncertain of how much time really was passing. Miguel's face appeared in the bottom left of his vision, Miguel wearing his own Glasses. The connection was horrible. Jay was only able to see and hear Miguel every few seconds. What he was able to hear was "...Stopped. ...ire. ....cra... et... you... wi... hear..."
Alicia popped up shortly thereafter, with similar results. And then, with a sudden snap, everything the connection cleared up, and the hazard lights began blinking at the rate that they should have, and the car that was behind him zipped past.
The three of them spoke rapidly, and Jay was able to discern that evidently everything electrical in Los Angeles (and possibly other parts of the country, the reports on television and the net were hard to understand at that point) had slowed down, and effectively stopped. This had resulted in numerous automobile crashes (mostly in areas where auto-driving streets had not been constructed yet) and, worse, several plane crashes, as well as one known helicopter crash. Miguel and Alicia were looking things up on the internet, and Jay watched as they slowly realized that it had, in fact, been a worldwide phenomenon.
"Are you both safe?" Jay asked, and he wondered why his parents hadn't yet answered their phone. Although it was still before six, and they might not have heard it. But what about Triple A?
His friends confirmed that they were both all right, though mightily shaken.
And then, at 5:55am, Jay was hit with a powerful feeling of deja vu mixed with vertigo. He closed his eyes for just a second, but when he opened them, he saw that the video on his glasses had frozen again. "Damn it." He smacked the side of the Glasses. "Alicia? Miguel? Can you guys hear me?"
It was as he looked at his girlfriends feed that he noticed behind her the clock with the second hand. It was still ticking. The clock was moving, it was Alicia that had stopped.
Jay didn't know his importance. For the first 24 years of his life, he was, if anything, extraordinarily ordinary. He lived a common lifestyle of a lower-middle class American citizen during the early part of the 21st century. Jay rarely gave a thought to the future, living moment to moment. Jay made his living as a freelance camera operator, most recently working on a reality television show that highlighted performers on the Las Vegas strip.
Jay knew his job was a great one, with many perks and connections to people who could help him get things not readily available to the public. Which is how Jay scored two tickets to see the New Year's Eve concert of one of Jay's favorite bands - The Freaking Whatevers. The show had been sold out for weeks, but one of the producers of the reality program had managed to get an extra pair, and had given them to Jay as an early Christmas present or maybe it was for his birthday, which was on the 21st. Jay was just ecstatic to receive the tickets, regardless of the why. Jay would come to question the "why" of many things later, but we're getting ahead of ourselves.
After Jay had the tickets, he contacted his on-again-off-again girlfriend, Alicia, who was living in LA. She was thrilled to be able to go see the show. New Year's Eve was on a Wednesday, so the plan was to stay in LA thru Sunday, and return to Vegas Monday morning. Alicia was working as a waitress while interning at DesnoTech, and her place was not big enough for Jay to stay at, so Jay contacted his friend Miguel to arrange living conditions for the extended weekend. Miguel asked if Jay was going to be flying out. "Nah," Jay told him, "I'd rather drive. Gas has dipped back down to under six bucks, so it's probably cheaper. And with all the security hassles with flying, it might be quicker to just walk."
So Jay rented a car (a '34 Dodge Natural, for those wanting to know) from the Hertz dealership on Tuesday, December 30th, 2036, instead of flying, which most likely saved his life. If he had been in one of the 47,803 commercial airlines that were airborne on January 5th, 2037 at 5:41am, Pacific Standard Time, things would have ended very differently for Jay. And everyone else, too, of course.
Jay did have a fantastic time. The concert was most definitely the best Jay had ever been to, there were several parties that Jay went to, and the LA crowd knew how to throw parties. And, naturally, he and Alicia engaged in many sexual activities during the four days he was in town. It was at some point during the first few days of 2037 that Jay seriously considered taking the next step with Alicia. Jay often thought back to those days in the time that was to come, and considered them some of the best days of his life. Of course, compared to what Jay had to deal with starting on 1/5/37, practically anything would have been preferable.
Like many people at that time of day, when 5:41am struck, Jay was sleeping. The rental car had been driving Jay back to Vegas for just over an hour at that point, and so he had chosen to lay his seat back and catch some z's. Sleeping while your car is on auto-pilot was not technically legal, but practically everybody did it, especially on long stretches of freeway, such as the I-15.
While dozing, Jay could sense that the movement of the vehicle was decelerating. Jay sat up and looked out the front window. He didn't see anything that should cause the Natural to slow down. There were taillights of a vehicle ahead of them, but it was easily a mile or two down the road. There were headlights behind him as well, also roughly that far back. The auto-drive lanes generally kept a good safe distance between cars, after all. The speedometer read 40. 39. 38.
It was then that Jay noticed the music he had been resting to - The Freaking Whatevers' "Mayor Dog" - was also slowing down. The phrase, "couldn't hack it as the mayor, couldn't hack it as a dog"was being dragged out. Assuming the car must be having some sort of mechanical failure, Jay sat up entirely and placed his hands on the wheel. He addressed the car's computer. "Gerry? I want to go to manual mode, please."
Gerry responded with what sounded like a drunk, slurring voice, "Maaan-u-aalll mo-o-o-o-de". The car had decelerated to a mere 4 miles per hour at this point.
"c o u l d n't ... h a a a a a c k", Jay switched the music off completely, in order to focus clearly on driving. Manual driving was not something that was done all that often, and it made Jay nervous every time he had to do it. Fortunately, the car had relinquished control over to him. Moving was another matter. Gerry, being a computer, felt it was prudent to alert Jay that being in Manual Mode while remaining in an Auto Drive lane was unsafe. Unfortunately, the speed of Gerry's speech was greatly reduced, which only caused Jay's irritation level to increase. "I'm working on it, Gerry!" Jay had the gas pedal floored, but the vehicle was not moving fast enough to register on the speedometer. It was still moving, though. Jay managed to inch the car onto the shoulder.
Once there, he switched to Park and put the emergency hazards on. They blinked on - and remained lit up.
Jay grabbed his Glasses, and fired up G-chat. "Call Alicia, Miguel, Parents," he commanded. "Oh, and Triple A." he added.
Jay stared at the space in front of his face where four separate windows should have appeared as his phone called each of the people he'd listed. But nothing had happened. In fact, his Glasses were not even done loading up to the 'net yet. That never took more than 3 or 4 seconds. Perhaps 7 or 8 in places where coverage was spotty...
Jay glanced forward and saw that the taillights of the other car hadn't gotten any further away. And the headlights of the car behind him hadn't gotten any closer. So whatever was going on must have something to do with the system controlling the auto-driving cars, Jay surmised. But, why weren't the other cars switching to manual? Or were they also having the same problem he was?
He considered getting out of the car, walking down to the car behind him (it seemed like it might be closer than the one ahead of him), then thought better of it. It was January, in the desert, and the sun wasn't even up yet. And even if the auto-drive lanes were down, didn't mean that EVERY vehicle was inoperative. Walking along a dark freeway in the early hours of the morning was a recipe for disaster.
Just then, his Glasses connected to the internet, and the four windows popped up. The dialing was monstrously slow. What in the world is going on? Jay wondered. The hazard lights suddenly blinked off. They had been "on" for about 45 seconds, Jay figured. Although this whole situation was making him uncertain of how much time really was passing. Miguel's face appeared in the bottom left of his vision, Miguel wearing his own Glasses. The connection was horrible. Jay was only able to see and hear Miguel every few seconds. What he was able to hear was "...Stopped. ...ire. ....cra... et... you... wi... hear..."
Alicia popped up shortly thereafter, with similar results. And then, with a sudden snap, everything the connection cleared up, and the hazard lights began blinking at the rate that they should have, and the car that was behind him zipped past.
The three of them spoke rapidly, and Jay was able to discern that evidently everything electrical in Los Angeles (and possibly other parts of the country, the reports on television and the net were hard to understand at that point) had slowed down, and effectively stopped. This had resulted in numerous automobile crashes (mostly in areas where auto-driving streets had not been constructed yet) and, worse, several plane crashes, as well as one known helicopter crash. Miguel and Alicia were looking things up on the internet, and Jay watched as they slowly realized that it had, in fact, been a worldwide phenomenon.
"Are you both safe?" Jay asked, and he wondered why his parents hadn't yet answered their phone. Although it was still before six, and they might not have heard it. But what about Triple A?
His friends confirmed that they were both all right, though mightily shaken.
And then, at 5:55am, Jay was hit with a powerful feeling of deja vu mixed with vertigo. He closed his eyes for just a second, but when he opened them, he saw that the video on his glasses had frozen again. "Damn it." He smacked the side of the Glasses. "Alicia? Miguel? Can you guys hear me?"
It was as he looked at his girlfriends feed that he noticed behind her the clock with the second hand. It was still ticking. The clock was moving, it was Alicia that had stopped.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
We Could Be Heroes 02
super (ha ha) tired, and not really feeling this story right now (or any of them, sadly) so instead of continuing the narrative from previously, I'm just going to kinda mention what I had wanted to have happen.
We'd find out that Rosemarie's abilities aren't permanent. In fact, they only last for about 24 hours, after which, she is just an ordinary woman once more.
An ordinary woman who is not bullet proof.
Her powers would wear off in the midst of her doing something heroic (hadn't decided what yet - stopping a murder? removing weapons from a war? something along those lines), and she would wind up taking a bullet or two. She wouldn't die right away, but would instead be hospitalized for a couple of days before finally succumbing.
After her powers had left, someone else on the planet inherits them. And they only get the powers for one day as well. Suffice to say that not everyone who becomes a Super has a working moral compass.
Fortunately, most people who get Suped up stick to their own lives and dramas. Especially after it becomes common knowledge that the powers are going to be temporary. AND after seeing how screwed up the lives of the ex-supers wind up - the media, the government, scientists, mobs of fans, mobs of NON-fans, people who want fame, people who want to be saved - all play a whirlwind of factors in not letting anyone who had ever exhibited super powers have much of a chance to return to a normal life.
Originally I had wanted to have this story focus on one person every "chapter" - each one a different person who got Suped up for the day, and how it affected them, and hte ones around them.
There would also be a group (probably would be more than one in the real world) who was trying very very hard to determine a pattern to figure out who would be the next Super and/or trying to find a cure - or a way to make the powers permanent.
The one person gets powers every day "curse" would continue on the planet for one year, and then, suddenly, just stop. At first, people wouldn't be sure - not every person who got Suped would alert themselves to the world, after all - but after a few weeks when no new Supers had made themselves known, the world would finally acknowledge that just as mysteriously as the powers had started, they'd stopped. Life would get somewhat back to normal, a few months would pass, and then, every single person who had been a Hero - all 365 ex-Supers, even the ones that had died - would disappear off the planet. If I spin a 6 again, I guess I'll continue the story from that point.
We'd find out that Rosemarie's abilities aren't permanent. In fact, they only last for about 24 hours, after which, she is just an ordinary woman once more.
An ordinary woman who is not bullet proof.
Her powers would wear off in the midst of her doing something heroic (hadn't decided what yet - stopping a murder? removing weapons from a war? something along those lines), and she would wind up taking a bullet or two. She wouldn't die right away, but would instead be hospitalized for a couple of days before finally succumbing.
After her powers had left, someone else on the planet inherits them. And they only get the powers for one day as well. Suffice to say that not everyone who becomes a Super has a working moral compass.
Fortunately, most people who get Suped up stick to their own lives and dramas. Especially after it becomes common knowledge that the powers are going to be temporary. AND after seeing how screwed up the lives of the ex-supers wind up - the media, the government, scientists, mobs of fans, mobs of NON-fans, people who want fame, people who want to be saved - all play a whirlwind of factors in not letting anyone who had ever exhibited super powers have much of a chance to return to a normal life.
Originally I had wanted to have this story focus on one person every "chapter" - each one a different person who got Suped up for the day, and how it affected them, and hte ones around them.
There would also be a group (probably would be more than one in the real world) who was trying very very hard to determine a pattern to figure out who would be the next Super and/or trying to find a cure - or a way to make the powers permanent.
The one person gets powers every day "curse" would continue on the planet for one year, and then, suddenly, just stop. At first, people wouldn't be sure - not every person who got Suped would alert themselves to the world, after all - but after a few weeks when no new Supers had made themselves known, the world would finally acknowledge that just as mysteriously as the powers had started, they'd stopped. Life would get somewhat back to normal, a few months would pass, and then, every single person who had been a Hero - all 365 ex-Supers, even the ones that had died - would disappear off the planet. If I spin a 6 again, I guess I'll continue the story from that point.
Monday, November 11, 2013
hey hey it's a working day
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Fast Food of the Gods 03
Previously - part 1, part 2
We were given a pop quiz on Friday, and I was not enthusiastic about my performance on it, but was looking forward to a 3 x 3 burger from In-N-Out to help take my mind off it. When we arrived, the place was already packed, as usual. I don't think I had ever seen the restaurant with less than 30 people in it, and the drive thru was almost always at least two or three vehicles deep.
As we walked in, there was a brief power outage. Actually, it was when Erica stepped in. The lights in the building flickered for about two seconds, causing everyone inside to look up in awe, as people tend to do when they are out in public and a disruption in electricity happens.
"Guess someone forgot," Andy started to quip. Erica finished the thought with him, "...to pay the power bill this month."
Andy stared at her, momentarily knocked into a rare bout of silence.
"I...didn't realize I was becoming so predictable," he said.
"I knew you were going to say that," I interjected (I was pretty proud of myself for that one - Andy is generally the one who receives accolades for his quick wit - well, and groans for his not so quick wit - but I felt that my bon mot was particularly amusing).
Erica simply smiled and said, "You must have used that one before is all. Why don't you guys go find someplace for us to sit - Richard and Janet and the kids...I mean...that family down at table 17 is about to leave." I looked around the restaurant and saw a mother and father with a toddler and an infant in one of those bucket seats, but no other families, and they didn't appear to be leaving. Erica continued, "Go. Grab the table. I'll order for us."
Becca began to tell her her order, but Erica cut her off. "Don't worry, Becks. I know what you all want."
We were given a pop quiz on Friday, and I was not enthusiastic about my performance on it, but was looking forward to a 3 x 3 burger from In-N-Out to help take my mind off it. When we arrived, the place was already packed, as usual. I don't think I had ever seen the restaurant with less than 30 people in it, and the drive thru was almost always at least two or three vehicles deep.
As we walked in, there was a brief power outage. Actually, it was when Erica stepped in. The lights in the building flickered for about two seconds, causing everyone inside to look up in awe, as people tend to do when they are out in public and a disruption in electricity happens.
"Guess someone forgot," Andy started to quip. Erica finished the thought with him, "...to pay the power bill this month."
Andy stared at her, momentarily knocked into a rare bout of silence.
"I...didn't realize I was becoming so predictable," he said.
"I knew you were going to say that," I interjected (I was pretty proud of myself for that one - Andy is generally the one who receives accolades for his quick wit - well, and groans for his not so quick wit - but I felt that my bon mot was particularly amusing).
Erica simply smiled and said, "You must have used that one before is all. Why don't you guys go find someplace for us to sit - Richard and Janet and the kids...I mean...that family down at table 17 is about to leave." I looked around the restaurant and saw a mother and father with a toddler and an infant in one of those bucket seats, but no other families, and they didn't appear to be leaving. Erica continued, "Go. Grab the table. I'll order for us."
Becca began to tell her her order, but Erica cut her off. "Don't worry, Becks. I know what you all want."
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Nora's Ark 02
Previously
Having had her sleep disrupted by the voice - although as more time went by, the more she was able to convince herself that she had dreamt it - Nora found herself irritable and groggy as the day progressed. It didn't help matters that the tractor wouldn't start, despite her and Thomas's attempts.
"I'll get in touch with a mechanic in town," Thomas sighed. "See if any of them are willing to come out here - and will work on a payment plan for their job."
Nora fumed - why couldn't the damn thing have kept working for another three months? - but simply said, "I'm going to feed the hogs."
While she was feeding them, she heard the voice.
"Nora, you must listen."
She knew without a doubt that she was alone -aside from the pigs, of course - but she still whirled around to see if she could locate who was speaking to her.
"Who are you? Where are you? This isn't funny." she spun around twice, eyes taking in her surroundings, trying in vain to find any other soul who could have been speaking to her. She had raised the slop bucket slightly, in a defensive stance. This mystery speaker was seriously unnerving her.
"Be not afraid, Nora."
Nora noticed that the voice was not coming from any specific direction, but was more...inside her head. This fact did very little to calm any fears she had.
"You keep saying that," Nora replied. "Why don't you show yourself? So that I know I have nothing to be afraid of."
Nora wasn't sure if this was the proper thing to say to whomever was behind this prank, but she figured she had nothing to lose at this point. She was convinced that it was a prank. There had to be someone behind this - maybe it was some hidden camera program, or some of Hank's friends from the high school. The alternative -that she was hearing voices, and thus losing her sanity - was not something she was willing to consider. Yet.
"It is not time," the voice said.
Well, at least it was communicating with her. Maybe she could get some answers from it. "Well, who are you? What do you want from me?"
And then the voice said the four words that caused Nora to faint. "I am the Lord."
Having had her sleep disrupted by the voice - although as more time went by, the more she was able to convince herself that she had dreamt it - Nora found herself irritable and groggy as the day progressed. It didn't help matters that the tractor wouldn't start, despite her and Thomas's attempts.
"I'll get in touch with a mechanic in town," Thomas sighed. "See if any of them are willing to come out here - and will work on a payment plan for their job."
Nora fumed - why couldn't the damn thing have kept working for another three months? - but simply said, "I'm going to feed the hogs."
While she was feeding them, she heard the voice.
"Nora, you must listen."
She knew without a doubt that she was alone -aside from the pigs, of course - but she still whirled around to see if she could locate who was speaking to her.
"Who are you? Where are you? This isn't funny." she spun around twice, eyes taking in her surroundings, trying in vain to find any other soul who could have been speaking to her. She had raised the slop bucket slightly, in a defensive stance. This mystery speaker was seriously unnerving her.
"Be not afraid, Nora."
Nora noticed that the voice was not coming from any specific direction, but was more...inside her head. This fact did very little to calm any fears she had.
"You keep saying that," Nora replied. "Why don't you show yourself? So that I know I have nothing to be afraid of."
Nora wasn't sure if this was the proper thing to say to whomever was behind this prank, but she figured she had nothing to lose at this point. She was convinced that it was a prank. There had to be someone behind this - maybe it was some hidden camera program, or some of Hank's friends from the high school. The alternative -that she was hearing voices, and thus losing her sanity - was not something she was willing to consider. Yet.
"It is not time," the voice said.
Well, at least it was communicating with her. Maybe she could get some answers from it. "Well, who are you? What do you want from me?"
And then the voice said the four words that caused Nora to faint. "I am the Lord."
Friday, November 08, 2013
Saved by Zero 02
Previously
It was about three months ago that Charles and I met.
We were both sitting at the bar, me nursing a beer, him simply waiting. The television was displaying the latest of Zero's exploits - he'd rescued fourteen people from a burning apartment building.
"Thank God that Zero was here," one of the now homeless people was saying to the camera.
Charles scoffed loud enough that he got my attention. "Not a fan?" I asked.
Charles looked at me, and around at the rest of the bar. He glanced at his watch, then said, "Hundreds of firefighters do the same thing every day. Or did. Who knows how many rescue workers he's put out of work. And none of them feel the need to hide their identity behind a mask."
I felt my eyebrows arch up somewhat. Had never heard anyone bad mouth Zero before. At least, not so brazenly. Charles looked to be the type of guy who didn't take back talk from anyone though. He was six foot four, and looked to be pure muscle. He appeared to be in his early 50s, but could easily keep pace with any 20-something. His entire demeanor screamed 'police officer'. "Did he put you out of work?" I asked.
A grimace was the response I got to that one. "Yeah, more or less," he said. "Although I guess I've found other means as a result." He chuckled once at that, although I didn't know what was amusing about it. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Charles."
I took his hand - his handshake was extremely firm - and introduced myself to him.
"Can I buy you a beer?" I asked him, happy to have some company. "Thanks, but no," he replied. "Waiting on my friend to get here, and then I'm heading out for the night. I will sit with you, though, if you'd like."
On the television, footage of Zero running into the building was being played back, again. The news had even edited music to it. "So, what about you? What do you think of the masked wonder?" Charles asked me.
I took a sip of my beer, then said, "Guy definitely puts on a good show, I'll give him that much."
Charles was nodding. I continued.
"But something about him just doesn't sit right with me. Why the secrecy? I mean, nobody has ever seen his face because of that mask he wears all the time. It's like you said, ordinary folks who do good deeds don't need to hide who they are."
We chatted for a few more minutes, bonding over our distrust of the most trusted man in the country, until Charles' friend, Ken, showed up. Charles introduced us to one another. Ken was physically the opposite of Charles - thin, short, and wearing glasses that constantly needed to be pushed back up his nose. The guy was like a textbook sterotype of dweebish. I wondered how the two of them were friends - what could they possibly have in common?
Ken saw the television report and asked Charles where it was that it had taken place. Charles told him, and Ken said, "Okay, I'll have to reevaluate the info, but I'm thinking that this will narrow the possibilities down to a 15 mile radius."
Charles must have seen the confused look on my face, because he decided to share. "My man Ken here thinks he's tracked down where the Zero lives. We're gonna pay him a visit."
It was about three months ago that Charles and I met.
We were both sitting at the bar, me nursing a beer, him simply waiting. The television was displaying the latest of Zero's exploits - he'd rescued fourteen people from a burning apartment building.
"Thank God that Zero was here," one of the now homeless people was saying to the camera.
Charles scoffed loud enough that he got my attention. "Not a fan?" I asked.
Charles looked at me, and around at the rest of the bar. He glanced at his watch, then said, "Hundreds of firefighters do the same thing every day. Or did. Who knows how many rescue workers he's put out of work. And none of them feel the need to hide their identity behind a mask."
I felt my eyebrows arch up somewhat. Had never heard anyone bad mouth Zero before. At least, not so brazenly. Charles looked to be the type of guy who didn't take back talk from anyone though. He was six foot four, and looked to be pure muscle. He appeared to be in his early 50s, but could easily keep pace with any 20-something. His entire demeanor screamed 'police officer'. "Did he put you out of work?" I asked.
A grimace was the response I got to that one. "Yeah, more or less," he said. "Although I guess I've found other means as a result." He chuckled once at that, although I didn't know what was amusing about it. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Charles."
I took his hand - his handshake was extremely firm - and introduced myself to him.
"Can I buy you a beer?" I asked him, happy to have some company. "Thanks, but no," he replied. "Waiting on my friend to get here, and then I'm heading out for the night. I will sit with you, though, if you'd like."
On the television, footage of Zero running into the building was being played back, again. The news had even edited music to it. "So, what about you? What do you think of the masked wonder?" Charles asked me.
I took a sip of my beer, then said, "Guy definitely puts on a good show, I'll give him that much."
Charles was nodding. I continued.
"But something about him just doesn't sit right with me. Why the secrecy? I mean, nobody has ever seen his face because of that mask he wears all the time. It's like you said, ordinary folks who do good deeds don't need to hide who they are."
We chatted for a few more minutes, bonding over our distrust of the most trusted man in the country, until Charles' friend, Ken, showed up. Charles introduced us to one another. Ken was physically the opposite of Charles - thin, short, and wearing glasses that constantly needed to be pushed back up his nose. The guy was like a textbook sterotype of dweebish. I wondered how the two of them were friends - what could they possibly have in common?
Ken saw the television report and asked Charles where it was that it had taken place. Charles told him, and Ken said, "Okay, I'll have to reevaluate the info, but I'm thinking that this will narrow the possibilities down to a 15 mile radius."
Charles must have seen the confused look on my face, because he decided to share. "My man Ken here thinks he's tracked down where the Zero lives. We're gonna pay him a visit."
Thursday, November 07, 2013
Nora's Ark 01
"Nora."
The voice caused her to jump slightly. She had her earbuds in, and the music was all encompassing. It was how she had performed her work on the farm for years, especially driving the tractor. Plug the music in to here head, and let everything else fade out. The work just got done without her having to be present. But this voice had somehow managed to cut through her musical barrier, as well as the noise of the tractor.
"Nora, listen."
She brought the tractor to a stop, letting it idle. She could hear the unhealthy chug of the engine now over Pink Floyd's melodic saxophone. She was curious as to who was addressing her, but she felt a small tinge of fear as well. A sense that whatever they had to say would not be anything good.
She had her hand on the key to the ignition of the tractor, not quite wanting to turn it off. Knowing that if she stopped the engine, it would be a fight to get it going again. The tractor had been on it's last legs for a season and half now - it was unlikely that it would see the end of this harvest, despite the fact that they couldn't afford a replacement for it.
Nora looked around, trying to identify the speaker. She knew it wasn't her husband, Thomas. The voice was too deep, for one thing, and he was still on the roof of the barn, replacing shingles. She didn't think it was her neighbor, Jeremy, either. Truth be told, the voice wasn't one she recognized at all.
"Us and Them" concluded and "Magic Man" by Heart started to play. Nora paused the song and removed her earbuds.
There was nobody around. She was in the middle of her field, with absolutely nobody else around, and yet she had distinctly heard a male voice - an unfamiliar male voice - address her by name.
Wiping the sweat off her brow, Nora croaked, "Hello?", then cleared her throat and asked again, confidently, "Hello? Who's there?"
There was no reply. A gentle breeze blew, and the engine of the tractor shuddered, as if to say, "if we're not gonna move, I'm quitting". Nora leaned out of the tractor in order to get a better view and looked in every direction. "Anyone out here?" she called out over the idle of the tractor. She may have said it loud enough for Thomas to hear - or perhaps he simply noticed she had stopped driving the tractor, because she could see him standing on the barn roof, facing her, one hand shielding his eyes. He gave her a questioning shrug - "Everything okay?". He probably feared that the tractor had finally died. Nora gave a quick wave, looked around one more time, and began driving the tractor again. It stalled - ever so briefly - before picking back up and continuing on it's way. Nora left her earbuds out and completed her chores without music. She didn't hear the voice call her name again. That day.
At lunch, she nearly brought it up to Thomas, but decided to keep it to herself. She had imagined it was all. By dinner, she had completely forgotten about it.
Two days later, the voice woke her up at 2:05am.
"Nora."
Half asleep, and thinking it was Thomas, she muttered a "Mm?" in response.
"Nora, listen."
That same two word phrase got her attention. She opened her eyes, her pulse quickened. She looked over at Thomas, who was sound asleep, snoring lightly.
The bedroom was dark, of course, so it was impossible to tell for certain where the other person was, but it was enough to know that they were in her house. In her bedroom, even.
"Thomas," she whispered urgently. Her husband stopped snoring, mumbled something incoherent, and then started snoring once more. "Thom-" she whispered with more urgency, a little louder.
"Nora, be not afraid," the voice said.
Fat chance.
"Get out of my house!" she yelled. "We have a gun!"
Thomas was startled awake by his wife's screams. "What's the matter?" he asked, as he reached over to the lamp near their bed. Once the light was on, Nora could see that there was nobody in the bedroom but the two of them. She was breathing hard. "There was someone in here!"
Thomas instantly reached into the dresser where he kept his handgun, and drew it. He got out of the bed and headed to the door. "Stay here," he told Nora, and went to check the rest of the house. Nobody was there who shouldn't have been.
Five minutes later, sitting at the dining room table with her slightly shaken husband and three children, Nora declared, "I... must have dreamt it." To her own ears, she sounded like she was trying to convince herself of this statement.
Hank, her oldest, reached out and squeezed her hand. "'sokay, mom. I'm just glad that there wasn't really some guy in our house." The other two, Sean and Jason, followed Hank's lead as the always did, and nodded in agreement. Nora smiled wanly. "Yeah," she said, "me too."
"We have a few hours before we need to wake up," Thomas said, "Why don't we all try and get some more shut-eye?" Everyone agreed that sounded good, and the children and Thomas were all able to fall back asleep within minutes. Nora, however, could not.
Next
The voice caused her to jump slightly. She had her earbuds in, and the music was all encompassing. It was how she had performed her work on the farm for years, especially driving the tractor. Plug the music in to here head, and let everything else fade out. The work just got done without her having to be present. But this voice had somehow managed to cut through her musical barrier, as well as the noise of the tractor.
"Nora, listen."
She brought the tractor to a stop, letting it idle. She could hear the unhealthy chug of the engine now over Pink Floyd's melodic saxophone. She was curious as to who was addressing her, but she felt a small tinge of fear as well. A sense that whatever they had to say would not be anything good.
She had her hand on the key to the ignition of the tractor, not quite wanting to turn it off. Knowing that if she stopped the engine, it would be a fight to get it going again. The tractor had been on it's last legs for a season and half now - it was unlikely that it would see the end of this harvest, despite the fact that they couldn't afford a replacement for it.
Nora looked around, trying to identify the speaker. She knew it wasn't her husband, Thomas. The voice was too deep, for one thing, and he was still on the roof of the barn, replacing shingles. She didn't think it was her neighbor, Jeremy, either. Truth be told, the voice wasn't one she recognized at all.
"Us and Them" concluded and "Magic Man" by Heart started to play. Nora paused the song and removed her earbuds.
There was nobody around. She was in the middle of her field, with absolutely nobody else around, and yet she had distinctly heard a male voice - an unfamiliar male voice - address her by name.
Wiping the sweat off her brow, Nora croaked, "Hello?", then cleared her throat and asked again, confidently, "Hello? Who's there?"
There was no reply. A gentle breeze blew, and the engine of the tractor shuddered, as if to say, "if we're not gonna move, I'm quitting". Nora leaned out of the tractor in order to get a better view and looked in every direction. "Anyone out here?" she called out over the idle of the tractor. She may have said it loud enough for Thomas to hear - or perhaps he simply noticed she had stopped driving the tractor, because she could see him standing on the barn roof, facing her, one hand shielding his eyes. He gave her a questioning shrug - "Everything okay?". He probably feared that the tractor had finally died. Nora gave a quick wave, looked around one more time, and began driving the tractor again. It stalled - ever so briefly - before picking back up and continuing on it's way. Nora left her earbuds out and completed her chores without music. She didn't hear the voice call her name again. That day.
At lunch, she nearly brought it up to Thomas, but decided to keep it to herself. She had imagined it was all. By dinner, she had completely forgotten about it.
Two days later, the voice woke her up at 2:05am.
"Nora."
Half asleep, and thinking it was Thomas, she muttered a "Mm?" in response.
"Nora, listen."
That same two word phrase got her attention. She opened her eyes, her pulse quickened. She looked over at Thomas, who was sound asleep, snoring lightly.
The bedroom was dark, of course, so it was impossible to tell for certain where the other person was, but it was enough to know that they were in her house. In her bedroom, even.
"Thomas," she whispered urgently. Her husband stopped snoring, mumbled something incoherent, and then started snoring once more. "Thom-" she whispered with more urgency, a little louder.
"Nora, be not afraid," the voice said.
Fat chance.
"Get out of my house!" she yelled. "We have a gun!"
Thomas was startled awake by his wife's screams. "What's the matter?" he asked, as he reached over to the lamp near their bed. Once the light was on, Nora could see that there was nobody in the bedroom but the two of them. She was breathing hard. "There was someone in here!"
Thomas instantly reached into the dresser where he kept his handgun, and drew it. He got out of the bed and headed to the door. "Stay here," he told Nora, and went to check the rest of the house. Nobody was there who shouldn't have been.
Five minutes later, sitting at the dining room table with her slightly shaken husband and three children, Nora declared, "I... must have dreamt it." To her own ears, she sounded like she was trying to convince herself of this statement.
Hank, her oldest, reached out and squeezed her hand. "'sokay, mom. I'm just glad that there wasn't really some guy in our house." The other two, Sean and Jason, followed Hank's lead as the always did, and nodded in agreement. Nora smiled wanly. "Yeah," she said, "me too."
"We have a few hours before we need to wake up," Thomas said, "Why don't we all try and get some more shut-eye?" Everyone agreed that sounded good, and the children and Thomas were all able to fall back asleep within minutes. Nora, however, could not.
Next
Wednesday, November 06, 2013
oh, for the sake of momentum
so, yesterday was, obviously, a "10". And today was a "1". Two days in a row where the fictional writing has taken a backseat. Weird.
I spent a good portion of today thinking what I was going to blog about, and didn't really come up with anything suitably interesting. Probably because I'm so out of practice.
I was thinking of changing the #9 story prompt from the Choset story to something different, but I haven't decided what. I suppose I can decide if/when I ever spin a nine, huh? Part of me is against editing the post that I made back then, though, which is silly. That's what edit buttons and changed minds are FOR. [EDIT - yup, went ahead and changed it to "Holy Touch"]
We watched "This Is The End" last night (I don't think I'll do a Haiku Review of it - I'm also out of practice on composing those). It had moments that were very very funny, but overall it was just kinda dumb. Guess there are worse ways to spend two hours.
Hmm. What else?
I was thinking about Doctor Sleep (the latest Stephen King novel) earlier today, and I had something I was going to say about it, but now I've completely forgotten what it was. Ha.
I did reread The Shining a few months before reading Doctor Sleep (since DS is the sequel to The Shining, and I wanted a refresher going in), and I've picked up the Kubrick movie from the library - just need to find time to watch it. Harper wants to view it with me, too. Guess I've been spending a lot of time with the Torrances lately.
Okay, no real good way to wrap this up, since there isn't an overall theme to it - just random stream of consciousness writing, so I guess I'll do what I was going to do every 5 days during the November writing thing and do a word count.
1910 / 25000 words. 8% done!
I spent a good portion of today thinking what I was going to blog about, and didn't really come up with anything suitably interesting. Probably because I'm so out of practice.
I was thinking of changing the #9 story prompt from the Choset story to something different, but I haven't decided what. I suppose I can decide if/when I ever spin a nine, huh? Part of me is against editing the post that I made back then, though, which is silly. That's what edit buttons and changed minds are FOR. [EDIT - yup, went ahead and changed it to "Holy Touch"]
We watched "This Is The End" last night (I don't think I'll do a Haiku Review of it - I'm also out of practice on composing those). It had moments that were very very funny, but overall it was just kinda dumb. Guess there are worse ways to spend two hours.
Hmm. What else?
I was thinking about Doctor Sleep (the latest Stephen King novel) earlier today, and I had something I was going to say about it, but now I've completely forgotten what it was. Ha.
I did reread The Shining a few months before reading Doctor Sleep (since DS is the sequel to The Shining, and I wanted a refresher going in), and I've picked up the Kubrick movie from the library - just need to find time to watch it. Harper wants to view it with me, too. Guess I've been spending a lot of time with the Torrances lately.
Okay, no real good way to wrap this up, since there isn't an overall theme to it - just random stream of consciousness writing, so I guess I'll do what I was going to do every 5 days during the November writing thing and do a word count.
Monday, November 04, 2013
We Could Be Heroes 01
Leann sat at the front of the room, watching as the crowd settled in. Some of the faces were familiar - Jennifer and little Georgie, Reginald in his wheelchair, Yolanda and her girlfriend Mary. Others were new, which saddened her. It seemed there were always new additions joining the group. The amount of pain that the Curse could inflict on the world was, evidently, limitless.
As the last of the stragglers found available seats, she spoke.
"Good evening, everyone. Welcome to FABS - Families Afflicted By Supers. As most of you probably know, I am Leann Riverton. My mother was Rosemarie Riverton - the first known Super." In the past there had been autograph seekers - people who were obsessed with Supers and all those impacted by them-but they had become much rarer over the last 8 months, as humanity as a whole adjusted to what was going to be the new reality of having random superheroes among them. Still, her personal bodyguards were always nearby. Some folks held grudges against the Supers, after all. And since they might not be able to take their anger out on the Supers themselves, striking out against their families was seen in their minds as the next best thing.
Some of those attending these meetings knew all that, of course. When a person became a Super, it was rare for it not to have some sort of impact on those who knew them.
Leann gave the crowd a very quick history lesson - she doubted any of them truly needed it - the entire world knew Rosemarie Riverton's story, after all. The single mother of one living in Ontario had woken one day with the ability to fly. And god-like strength. And super speed. She had several other abilities as well, all of which were straight out of the comic books, and all of which had been tested and confirmed by scientists studying other Supers.
Rosemarie may not have been the first human to have been "Suped", but she was the first who made her abilities known to the public. The videos recorded by shocked onlookers of her flying 40 feet in the air and then showing off by juggling (empty) buses went ultra-viral. The world very very quickly discovered who she was (it was not uncommon for later Supers to don disguises, or to simply try and lay low) and all of Rosemarie's family were suddenly beyond famous.
Realizing too late her error in letting the media find out about her family, Rosemarie hid them. She came home, grabbed Leann, and flew her to a remote island in the Bahamas. (Leann had had very little time or inclination to argue. She had more or less been in shock since waking up to see her mother splayed on CNN.com) Rosemarie also took her younger brother, Richard, and his wife, Marta, to the same remote island. It was there that the family finally had a chance to talk about what was going on. Rosemarie informed them that she was going to hold a worldwide press conference, and would ensure that they would all be safe. Richard was dubious.
It turned out that he had every right to be. Within a week, Rosemarie, Richard and Marta would all be dead.
As the last of the stragglers found available seats, she spoke.
"Good evening, everyone. Welcome to FABS - Families Afflicted By Supers. As most of you probably know, I am Leann Riverton. My mother was Rosemarie Riverton - the first known Super." In the past there had been autograph seekers - people who were obsessed with Supers and all those impacted by them-but they had become much rarer over the last 8 months, as humanity as a whole adjusted to what was going to be the new reality of having random superheroes among them. Still, her personal bodyguards were always nearby. Some folks held grudges against the Supers, after all. And since they might not be able to take their anger out on the Supers themselves, striking out against their families was seen in their minds as the next best thing.
Some of those attending these meetings knew all that, of course. When a person became a Super, it was rare for it not to have some sort of impact on those who knew them.
Leann gave the crowd a very quick history lesson - she doubted any of them truly needed it - the entire world knew Rosemarie Riverton's story, after all. The single mother of one living in Ontario had woken one day with the ability to fly. And god-like strength. And super speed. She had several other abilities as well, all of which were straight out of the comic books, and all of which had been tested and confirmed by scientists studying other Supers.
Rosemarie may not have been the first human to have been "Suped", but she was the first who made her abilities known to the public. The videos recorded by shocked onlookers of her flying 40 feet in the air and then showing off by juggling (empty) buses went ultra-viral. The world very very quickly discovered who she was (it was not uncommon for later Supers to don disguises, or to simply try and lay low) and all of Rosemarie's family were suddenly beyond famous.
Realizing too late her error in letting the media find out about her family, Rosemarie hid them. She came home, grabbed Leann, and flew her to a remote island in the Bahamas. (Leann had had very little time or inclination to argue. She had more or less been in shock since waking up to see her mother splayed on CNN.com) Rosemarie also took her younger brother, Richard, and his wife, Marta, to the same remote island. It was there that the family finally had a chance to talk about what was going on. Rosemarie informed them that she was going to hold a worldwide press conference, and would ensure that they would all be safe. Richard was dubious.
It turned out that he had every right to be. Within a week, Rosemarie, Richard and Marta would all be dead.
Sunday, November 03, 2013
Fast Food of the Gods 02
Previously
Of course I was unnerved. Friends don't speak to one another in the bathroom, let alone complete strangers. And how did this guy know my name? And what was he talking about anyway? Afraid of who? I turned my attention back to the business at hand, and said aloud, "Look, mister, I don't know who you think..." I had finished up and was turning back to better address the strange guy, but I was alone.
I washed my hands quickly, and walked out of the restroom back into the lobby. The gang was at our table, but my bathroom visitor was nowhere to be seen. I walked past my friends over to where the man had been seated when we first arrived. His newspaper was still there. I absentmindedly picked it up, and went back to where Erica, Rebecca and Andy were sitting. The three of them were watching me with mild curiosity.
"Did any of you see that old dude?" I asked.
"He walked past me when we sat down," Andy informed me. "Headed into the restroom right after you did. Isn't he still in there? I didn't see him come out."
"Yeah. He..." For some reason, the idea of discussing the "conversation" I had had with the stranger with my friends gave me pause. The whole exchange had weirded me out, and while I knew sharing weirdness made it more comfortable, something held me back. "...Well, he must have left already." I finished lamely.
Rebecca's order was called and mine right after. I got up and told her I'd get both of them. "Such a gentleman," Andy said.
I walked to the counter, pausing momentarily to throw out the newspaper the old man had left behind. As it was leaving my hand and entering the trashcan, I could have sworn that I noticed the date on the paper was not today, nor even the day before, or even a week ago, which all would have been normal. The paper the strange old man had been looking at was dated from April 14th, 1995. Who reads a newspaper that is almost twenty years old? And even more mysterious - that day was Erica's birthday.
Of course I was unnerved. Friends don't speak to one another in the bathroom, let alone complete strangers. And how did this guy know my name? And what was he talking about anyway? Afraid of who? I turned my attention back to the business at hand, and said aloud, "Look, mister, I don't know who you think..." I had finished up and was turning back to better address the strange guy, but I was alone.
I washed my hands quickly, and walked out of the restroom back into the lobby. The gang was at our table, but my bathroom visitor was nowhere to be seen. I walked past my friends over to where the man had been seated when we first arrived. His newspaper was still there. I absentmindedly picked it up, and went back to where Erica, Rebecca and Andy were sitting. The three of them were watching me with mild curiosity.
"Did any of you see that old dude?" I asked.
"He walked past me when we sat down," Andy informed me. "Headed into the restroom right after you did. Isn't he still in there? I didn't see him come out."
"Yeah. He..." For some reason, the idea of discussing the "conversation" I had had with the stranger with my friends gave me pause. The whole exchange had weirded me out, and while I knew sharing weirdness made it more comfortable, something held me back. "...Well, he must have left already." I finished lamely.
Rebecca's order was called and mine right after. I got up and told her I'd get both of them. "Such a gentleman," Andy said.
I walked to the counter, pausing momentarily to throw out the newspaper the old man had left behind. As it was leaving my hand and entering the trashcan, I could have sworn that I noticed the date on the paper was not today, nor even the day before, or even a week ago, which all would have been normal. The paper the strange old man had been looking at was dated from April 14th, 1995. Who reads a newspaper that is almost twenty years old? And even more mysterious - that day was Erica's birthday.
Saturday, November 02, 2013
Saved by Zero 01
You probably think you know about Zero. Even if you don't live here in Greater Heights City - the place he typically seems to show up the most - you've undoubtedly heard about his exploits. Perhaps you've even seen him a time or two. He does get around.
If you're like most people, you've bought the hype, and believe that Zero is a hero. Our savior. A benevolent super-god who stands for justice, goodness and wholesome family values.
Not everyone thinks this, though.
Some of us know the truth.
And a few of us are planning on doing something about it.
I'm going to dig up Zero's secrets - find out who he is, where he came from, what he wants - and I'm going to expose him for the fraud that he is.
Charles - a friend of mine who feels the same way about Zero as I do - tells me that people won't buy it. That even if the truth comes out, that people are too used to seeing him as a hero to change their opinions. If that's the case --well, then if it comes to it, I'll just have to go one step further than exposing Zero.
I'll actually have to kill him.
If you're like most people, you've bought the hype, and believe that Zero is a hero. Our savior. A benevolent super-god who stands for justice, goodness and wholesome family values.
Not everyone thinks this, though.
Some of us know the truth.
And a few of us are planning on doing something about it.
I'm going to dig up Zero's secrets - find out who he is, where he came from, what he wants - and I'm going to expose him for the fraud that he is.
Charles - a friend of mine who feels the same way about Zero as I do - tells me that people won't buy it. That even if the truth comes out, that people are too used to seeing him as a hero to change their opinions. If that's the case --well, then if it comes to it, I'll just have to go one step further than exposing Zero.
I'll actually have to kill him.
Friday, November 01, 2013
Fast Food of the Gods 01
It was ten minutes until 3rd period was over, which meant that the class was essentially finished. The final fifteen were pretty unstructured, and just devolved into the whole group chatting. The topic du jour, of course, was where we were going to eat lunch.
Erica suggested In-N-Out, which predictably resulted in Andy making a less than clever innuendo.
Rebecca was the one driving us, though, so we deferred to her. She said she wasn't in the mood for burgers, so the Bell was the default winner. The only places close enough for us to get to, order, eat, and get back to school in time were all burger joints - In-N-Out, Wendy's and a McDonald's, with a Burger King that was iffy since it was three miles further down the road - or the Taco Bell, which was where we wound up a good percentage of the time. It was close, and it was cheap, so the downside was that it was popular, and during lunch got extremely crowded.
That wouldn't be as big an issue today, though, since Mr. Higgin suddenly announced, "If you can keep the noise level down as not to alert the rest of the school, you may be dismissed now." Instantly 30 teens began packing up their belongings to head off to someplace other than US History. "Don't forget to read chapter seven before Friday!"
Erica and I sat in the backseat of Becca's car, since Andy called shotgun. Our knees touched, and I wondered if Erica was feeling the same electric jolt in her belly that I was. I doubted it.
We got to the restaurant before the huge rush (thanks, Mr. Higgin!) although a handful of other kids from our class were close behind. I held the door for all of our group, with Andy giving me a "Thank ya, guvnah!" with an exaggerated bow.
I noticed the old guy in the corner of the store. He looked up from his newspaper as we walked in, and it felt as though a swarm of bugs had just crawled over me. I noticeably shivered, and the old man returned his gaze to the day's news.
We ordered, and sat down at one of the free tables. Before our food was ready, I excused myself to go to the bathroom.
As I urinated, I could sense that there was someone next to me. "Are you afraid of her yet?"
I turned to face the old man. "What?" ("the hell are you doing talking to me, you creepy old man" didn't escape my mouth, but remained stuck in my mind)
He didn't repeat himself, just stared at me for a half second. "Mm," he said, "Well. You will be. When it happens, Jack, come find me."
Next
Erica suggested In-N-Out, which predictably resulted in Andy making a less than clever innuendo.
Rebecca was the one driving us, though, so we deferred to her. She said she wasn't in the mood for burgers, so the Bell was the default winner. The only places close enough for us to get to, order, eat, and get back to school in time were all burger joints - In-N-Out, Wendy's and a McDonald's, with a Burger King that was iffy since it was three miles further down the road - or the Taco Bell, which was where we wound up a good percentage of the time. It was close, and it was cheap, so the downside was that it was popular, and during lunch got extremely crowded.
That wouldn't be as big an issue today, though, since Mr. Higgin suddenly announced, "If you can keep the noise level down as not to alert the rest of the school, you may be dismissed now." Instantly 30 teens began packing up their belongings to head off to someplace other than US History. "Don't forget to read chapter seven before Friday!"
Erica and I sat in the backseat of Becca's car, since Andy called shotgun. Our knees touched, and I wondered if Erica was feeling the same electric jolt in her belly that I was. I doubted it.
We got to the restaurant before the huge rush (thanks, Mr. Higgin!) although a handful of other kids from our class were close behind. I held the door for all of our group, with Andy giving me a "Thank ya, guvnah!" with an exaggerated bow.
I noticed the old guy in the corner of the store. He looked up from his newspaper as we walked in, and it felt as though a swarm of bugs had just crawled over me. I noticeably shivered, and the old man returned his gaze to the day's news.
We ordered, and sat down at one of the free tables. Before our food was ready, I excused myself to go to the bathroom.
As I urinated, I could sense that there was someone next to me. "Are you afraid of her yet?"
I turned to face the old man. "What?" ("the hell are you doing talking to me, you creepy old man" didn't escape my mouth, but remained stuck in my mind)
He didn't repeat himself, just stared at me for a half second. "Mm," he said, "Well. You will be. When it happens, Jack, come find me."
Next
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)