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Every Parent Can Relate to This.
June 15th, 2011 under Unrelated Posts. [ Comments: 1 ]

I think the book pretty much speaks for itself.


OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD!
May 2nd, 2011 under Current Events. [ Comments: none ]

What a great day for America! We have killed the leader of Al Queda… the mastermind of the September 11th attacks, who was responsible for the deaths of close to 3,000 innocents.

Cheers to the US Military and President Obama!

I don’t think I’ll be getting much sleep tonight. This is a great day!


Topaz, Chapter Two.
March 28th, 2011 under About "Topaz". [ Comments: none ]

I feel a bit inspired tonight, and in the mood to share a bit more, so here’s chapter two:

Three Days Earlier

Jake Corgan awoke to the humming of the vessel that he had paid his entire Christmas bonus to book an interior cabin aboard with his only child. Two weeks in the Pacific with the only thing that he had left of his marriage… a marriage that had left him broken and dueling with the notion of taking his own life.

He sat up, looking first at his sleeping son beside him, then to the false window that illuminated his interior cabin. He leaned back on the headboard of the bed, wondering if there was something he could have done different that would make his ex-wife materialize between him and the boy. There was nothing that he wouldn’t give to make his family whole again, but he had fucked it all up quite thoroughly. How do you convince your wife that it was all a misunderstanding when she comes home early from a sub-prime lending conference in Bangor and finds you in bed with a man she introduced you to just three weeks earier? He was conflicted as to who he was, and wanted that family lifestyle back again. It was there, securely nestled within its structure, that he could begin to feel like a normal person again. Or so he kept telling himself.

Jake gently lifted the comforter up and placed his portion of it over Brandon. He stood up and walked around the bed to his cabin door, turning the knob ever so slowly so as not to wake his sleeping son. Opening the door, he stepped into the hallway.

It was quiet. Why would anyone be awake at 4:37AM on their vacation? He turned left and walked down the hallway toward the elevator. Upon reaching the lift, he ascended to the shop level and emerged into a much livelier scene. The bustle of gamblers, tired of pissing their money away in the casino, and a few families eager to greet the day, amounted to a few dozen people slowly trolling the tiny mall.

Jake wanted coffee. He walked eagerly to the Starbucks he had visited every morning since their boarding, effortlessly weaving through the crowd. Arriving at the counter, he was greeted with a smile.

“What can I get for you, Sir?” The Barista asked him. She was tall and thin with cherry-red hair. Perfect complexion. Perfect body. Perfect personality. He made these observations, thought they did little to entice him. To Jake Corgan she served one purpose…

“I’ll have a large, regular coffee, please,” Jake said.

“Coming right up,” she responded, sparing him the grande, venti, whatever, jargon that he had hoped to avoid. She turned around, walking to the serving station behind her, and poured his coffee. She slipped a cardboard sleeve around the paper cup she had dispensed the hot liquid into, and turned around, placing it on the counter before her. “That’s $2.80, please.”

Jake placed a five dollar bill down on the counter, “Just put the change in your little tip jar, there,” he directed, pointing at a small, glass jar next to the cash register that held less than a dollar’s worth of loose change and boasted a small, hand-made sign on college-ruled note paper reading, College Fund. As if a college student would be working aboard a cruise ship when the Spring Semester was about to begin.

Jake took his coffee and started back toward his room, stepping around an elderly man who was slowly making his way down the promenade with the assistance of a walker. He barely took notice of the man, though in the aftermath of what was to come, he would never forget that frail figure.

He was the first man Jake had ever killed.


Topaz
December 13th, 2010 under About "Topaz". [ Comments: none ]

I’ve started writing again… I suppose it was only a matter of time. Believe it or not, this is a technological thriller.

——————————————-

Topaz
The first few pages

——————————————-

“We’re going to be okay, you know,” Jake said, looking in the direction of his seven year-old son.

The boy sat, back turned to his father, mindlessly picking up handfuls of sand and letting the tiny grains run through his slowly spreading fingers. He gazed out at the bay they had washed up in, studying the waves as they crashed upon the beach. For a boy his age, he now had a great understanding of the power of nature… and immense respect for its wrath.

Brandon rotated about on his hands, his lower half remaining planted on the ground. He faced his father, “How do you know?”

Jake thought about this for a moment. He hadn’t expected this little boy he knew to question him. Perhaps the trauma that had preceded their little day on the beach had shaken Brandon more than he had imagined. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his shoulder-length brown hair, acknowledging the gritty sand and dried salt that now mingled within his once-perfect hair cut. He sighed, “Because God is watching us, and he doesn’t let bad things happen to good people.”

Brandon thought on this for a moment, inching his knees around to come full-circle in facing his father. He glanced back at the angry ocean that had delivered them to the beach, and then back to his father, “Then why did the boat catch on fire?”

“I don’t know,” Jake responded, quickly adding, “but we’re alive aren’t we?”

Brandon did not respond. His attention drifted from his father’s sun-burned face to the thick palm forest that lined edge of the beach, stretching down the sands for what must have been miles. He looked to the life-boat that his father had arduously dragged ashore. They had spent two days in that boat… just the two of them, with no food, and only half a 20-ounce bottle of water. Even Brandon, a child who naturally had never before been joined with thoughts of his own demise, knew that their chances for survival were bleak. Yet, here they were, presumably the only survivors of the trans-Pacific cruise that they had departed Long Beach, California on six days earlier. They had survived.

Brandon stayed silent for a moment, giving thought to what his father had said, though not in the way that Jake had intended him to. He wondered if there was a reason why they were still alive. Just as quickly as the thought had entered his mind, it left him, persuaded by a very persistent message from his body.

“I’m thirsty,” Brandon spoke, uttering the two words that Jake had heard from his son incessantly since their first night adrift. He shot the little boy in need look at his father, an expression that he had learned to employ long before he became a castaway

Jake looked at the dwindling reservoir within the water bottle. There was barely a sip left. Even though they had washed up on dry land, he didn’t dare assume that they would find fresh water any time soon. Still, they weren’t going to find it just sitting on the beach.

“Then let’s go find some water,” Jake said, standing up. There was no need to hang around the beach any longer. He had enjoyed a good ten minutes of rest since dragging the boat ashore, and despite being slightly overweight, he wasn’t in that bad of shape (or so he had convinced himself).

Jake watched his son slowly get to his feet, concerned with the boy’s lack of energy. He had been giving him twice the rations of water he had been taking for himself and it still wasn’t enough. He needed to find water and food fast.

“On second thought, why don’t you stay in the shade by those trees over there,” Jake said, deciding that he would rather have Brandon conserve what little energy he had left. He pointed to the tree-line, “You rest up while I take a look around and see if I can find us some water.”

Jake anticipated resistance, but received none. He watched as his son nodded and walked toward the trees. The boy plopped down in the shade, leaning back against the trunk of a massive, fruitless palm. He closed his eyes.

Is that how exhausted we are? Jake thought. We didn’t think to sit in the shade until this moment?

Jake shook his head, trying to collect himself before walking up to his son and kneeling down beside him. “I love you,” He said, placing a hand on Brandon’s shoulder.

Brandon responded without opening his eyes, “I love you, too, Dad.”

“You okay?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You sure?”

Brandon’s eyes opened. He met his father’s gaze, “I’m okay, Dad.”

“Okay,” Jake said, confident as he could be that his son would still be alive when he returned. He watched as Brandon’s eyes closed once again before looking into the thick mess of tropical vegetation that lay before him. There was no telling what kind of wildlife lurked within. His mind raced with images of poisonous snakes and insects. His various phobias concerning the creepy and crawly could very well be tested in this place.

Jake stood perfectly still and listened for a moment, trying his best to distinguish any other sounds beyond the thunderous crashing of waves behind him. Films like The Swiss Family Robinson, and television shows like Gilligan’s Island had taught him that tropical islands were just teeming with wildlife… yet he heard nothing.

With one last look at his son, he stepped off of the beach and into the tropical wilderness.


Just Vote
October 30th, 2010 under Uncategorized. [ Comments: 1 ]

D’Anna, you told me that I should put a new post up here, so here it is:

Get out there and vote this Tuesday, People. You have a choice: 1) Vote for the candidates you like, or 2) take your political opinion and shove it for the next two years. If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain or defend.

It doesn’t matter who you vote for, just VOTE!


Yay, Billy Corgan is still strange
March 23rd, 2010 under Uncategorized. [ Comments: none ]

I’ve been obsessed with The Smashing Pumpkins since I discovered music. That said, I’m not too impressed with the stuff that Billy Corgan is putting out these days. It’s decent quality, and worth putting up here (if for anything to give a band that has vanished into obscurity some new exposure — like I get that much traffic), but it just doesn’t hit me the same way that Siamese Dream did. I will always be loyal to Corgan, so I’m doing my duty. There.

YAY! A POST! Proof that I’m still alive!


Wow!
December 10th, 2009 under Completely Random and Pointless, Current Events. [ Comments: none ]

Holy crap, what became of November?! Either I had trouble finding anything interesting to post here, or I was too busy with school work. Like it matters…

I came across this little chart today and was amazed. I like to believe that I have a pretty good understanding of exactly how much data flows through “the tubes” every day, but this really puts it in perspective. Enjoy.

the-internet-is-large.jpg


The Whitest Kids You Know: Water Balloons
October 26th, 2009 under THE WHITEST KIDS YOU KNOW. [ Comments: none ]

Another hilarious sketch from The Whitest Kids You Know sketch comedy show (which isn’t broadcast where I live… eff you, Time Warner). It picks up after about a minute. Enjoy.


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