Small Gallery of the pictures from the reunion.

In the dying light three men met. The sun hid itself behind the world and the darkness covered the city. The three men liked the darkness. It gave them a feeling of comfort. They believed it was safer in the dark, that somehow the absence of light could hide them from the cities consciousness.

They met in a closed health food store. Their secrets seemed like they would change the world, they believed that there was nothing more important than the pathetic dealings they were about to have. They were completely unaware of what was going on just the other side of the city and event that would make them cry had they known if was happening. Thankfully they would never need to show such weakness as the world ended as they shook each others hands.

After Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, here are my updated listings.

1. Star Trek (9.5)
2. Up (9.5)
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (8)
4. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (7.5)
5. The Proposal (7)
6. X-Men Wolverine (6.5)
7. Trasformers: Revenge of the Fallen (6)
8. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (5)

Idea stolen from Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary.

Wedding

I hate bloggers and web-cartoonists that spend all their time explaining, complaining and, bemoaning their lack of updates. However I do want to mention that I was married this June 12th and that’s the major reason for the 29 day hiatus. So for the 2 people who don’t know me personally and haven’t seen them yet, you can check out the pictures of my wedding at JenEricWedding.

Thanks for your patience.

The world we know ended quickly but it started with signs. Small innocuous little reminders on how to wash our hands, to push a door with our foot, cough in our shoulder, or that shaking hands kills plans. One day they just started to appear with a little logo saying Pandemic Planning and Preparedness meant to make everyone feel safe with alliteration.

It worked too, the world stood at a level 6 pandemic for almost a month before the riots. It would have gone higher but they had neglected to add a level for, “Oh god, Oh god, we’re all going to die.”

Those who survived the longest avoided human contact and hid in their houses, The internet was buzzing with Tweets, Texts, Mails, Walls, Posts, and all kinds of other things till one day it just went silent. No one had anything left to say we all knew it was the end of our world. Not our planet, she would shrug us off like fleas and in a hundred thousand years all traces of us would be gone except maybe shopping bags, those would last a long time.

In the last days of human civilisation those of us who were still alive and hadn’t been driven insane tried to rebuild. We tried to make a better life; we used renewable resources, recycled, and even managed to live for years after the flu. Sadly it left us sterile and this capsule is the last of what we and our race could accomplish.

Along with this narrative you’ll find the plans for our wind turbines, water purifiers, and basic agriculture. If there is human life on this planet somewhere that has been able to survive and you find this I hope you learn from our mistakes.

Now let me tell you about the last days of the twenty second century and what happened to a misguided but great civilisation…

This is a rough draft of a middle scene in Guise and Dolls. I’m thinking it would be in around the 1/3 mark.

The store face was discoloured and the painted sign simply said Curios. Its windows were lined with a thick layer of dust and the hours of operation was illegible. Despite its average and rundown look it gave Seanna shivers. Not the kind brought on by fear but those which are brought on by excitement. There was something exciting about the old store and once she had looked at it she couldn’t stop herself from going in and looking around.

The excitement of the store made her completely forget about the boy following her. She walked towards the door and saw a small wooden sign with the word Open carved into it. Putting one hand on the door she pushed it open and a small bell rang as she walked in.

For Seanna this was an amazing store filled with oddities and strange items. There was stuff lining shelves from ceiling to floor with the only exception being the far wall that was filled with old books. She spun in place only a few feet into the store and squeaked in excitement.

As for Randal the store looked dirty he was amazed that it wasn’t condemned. He walked into the store and felt he could taste the moist and dank smell. The only think in the store that interested him was the strange girl who seemed to be spinning and uncontrollably squeaking at everything in the store. Her hair was flowing out catching what sparse sunlight the dusty windows let in.

“Why are you so excited, this place smells like Mrs. Faulkner’s office and is filled with nothing but junk?” He covered his amazement with condescension.

“I wouldn’t expect you to see it. You’re blind to the wonders around you.” She said it without sounding angry, she sounded like a teacher about to explain something they though would change peoples worlds. “Everything here has a story, a history something amazing happened to everything here. Look at this brooch. You see that its tarnished silver with a small Viking ship on it. I see the fair woman who proudly wore it while her husband went whaling. I see that same woman in tears when her husband never returned and in her anger threw the brooch into the ocean. It was found years latter by two small girls who saw it for the wonder it was. They grew up always treasuring it until they died and their children sold it to this little shop.”

“How can you know that for sure. It’s just a brooch, a piece of tarnished metal in a rundown dusty old store.” Randal wasn’t able to hide the wonder in his voice.

“It’s called an imagination Randy. The world is filled with stories and ideas but if you’re confined by reality you’ll never see them. Why are you following me?”

“I…It’s… uhm… You’re weird…” His awkward stumbling was interrupted by a sharp intake of breath and Seanna running past him and towards two dolls.

“Aren’t they beautiful Randy?” She held up two wooden carved dolls. One was a representation of a woman and the other a man. They were in what seemed to be formalwear> the woman’s hair was painted yellow and the man’s was brown. They seemed lifelike to Randal. Like their tiny painted eyes followed him.

“They’re sort of creepy.” Randal said.

“When I was a little girl, my grandfather gave me a doll that looked just like me and I was convinced that everyone had a doll that looked like them, I though that it was to hold our souls after we died, holding them till we could be reborn into a new body, like a little phylactery. ”

Blinking several times Randal didn’t know what to say, this girl was strange and everything that should repel him but he couldn’t help wanting to be near her. He tried to smile and reached out for the male doll. Once his hands touched it he felt cold and the more he looked at it the more life like it became. He felt dizzy and reached out for Seanna’s arm.

There are times in everyone’s life where a decision changes you more then you could ever understand and a simple action leads to endless psychological consequences. This was not one of those moments. Granted it was a life changing one for both Seanna and Randal but it was forced upon them and no one can be forced to change. No this was the moment that changed Barbara and Kenneth’s lives. The Dolls that had been their prison for countless centuries finally released them, allowing them to take over the bodies of two people that where holding the prison and each other.

In the instant Randal touched Seanna they both experienced a nauseating sensation of spinning. It was a few seconds before their minds cleared enough for them to understand what they were seeing.

From the eyes of the Dolls, which had been replaced on the shelf, Seanna saw herself straiten to her full height, stretch her limbs, run her hands over her body and push her hair behind her ears. Seanna then heard her body say, “Thank you little one, this body will be a lot of fun.”

Randal’s attempts to scream were fruitless as he looked at himself do the same things as Seanna was. His body waited till Seanna had whispered to the doll and then he kissed here. From his place on the shelf Randal could see himself passionately kissing Seanna.

Pulling away he said, “It’s nice to finally be able to touch you again Barbara.” Taking her hand they walked out of the store. Randal, wooden on his shelf, scared tried to scream again but couldn’t get the satisfaction. He was trapped in a doll and the mere though was terrifying. He started to pray.

Next to him on the shelf was Seanna, inches away yet neither knew they weren’t alone. She tried to cry and realised her new body wouldn’t let her. She cleared her mind and watched the last of the sunlight disappear from the store’s front windows.

Main Characters: Seanna, Randal, Barbara, and Kenneth.
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Magic Shop/Horror
Theme: Coming of age/love story 
Main Action: A young Girl and boy (Seanna and Randal) enter “Magic shop”, girl finds dolls shows to boy. Dolls are soul carriers and switch their bodies with those inside the dolls (Barbara, and Kenneth).
The story will follow the two couples, one as they adjust to the 21st century and deal with the lives they’ve stolen and the other as they find their way trough “Other land”
Secondary characters: Seanna’s quirky family, Randal’s straight laced Religious Family, and a group of strange “Wizard of Oz” copies of their families. 
Tertiary Characters: High school teachers, students and other assorted people.

Seanna and Randal:

Standing in a corner looking at the books Seanna looked like she was trying not glance in his direction. She was wearing a black turtleneck with loose pink pants. She was visibly hunched which created the illusion that she was shorter then her six feet. Her chocolate brown hair fell straight over her dark rimmed glasses and danced on the page of her book.

Looking at her from a distance Randal wondered how she could read with her hair in the way. Looking up she glanced and him and he turned away, nervously passing his perfectly manicure hand over his light blond hair. Fixing his sweater vest he walked out of the library and towards his next class.

This blog has been silent for too long. I think I overdosed on writing during NaNoWriMo. Sadly I have yet to touch my novel. I’m scared to go back to it. I will soon and I’ll finish it even though I know it’ll take me twice as long to edit as it did to write.

I’ve decided that I have only two new resolutions for this year. I’ll keep the old ones and continue with them. The new ones are simple; 1. Marry Jen (My fiancée}. 2. Write everyday, other then emails.

In order to encourage the second resolution, I have added the Merriam-Webster’s word of the day to my Google home page. What I plan to do is write 500 words and include the word of the day in it. The writing could me a mini story, character sketch, place description, action scene, etc.

Hopefully it will give me an excuse to write and help me improve my style. Maybe it’ll even give me a good start for a new story or novel.

Let’s give it a try. Todays word is Indubitable

* * *

The forest opened into a small valley, it’s grass was a dark green spotted by tiny yellow flowers. The valley abruptly fell become a sharp scraggly cliff that looked over the ocean. It was dawn and the premature light sluggishly reflected on the surface of the ocean casting double shadows along the valley.

As the light grew stronger so did the shadows and their blackness, a striking contrast to the vibrant greens, yellows, and browns of the valley. Sitting on the edge of the valley in the front seat for the spectacle of morning was a single red rose. Several small drops of dew, still clinging to its petals, fell as the rose opened itself to the new day.

This was one of those mystical valleys that have become rarer these past few centuries. The air was fragrant and once the sun rose out of its dawn a small island could be seen at the distance, the only proof that anything existed beyond the valley. Pigs, dragons, and other shapes flew over the valley, formed of white fluffy clouds. Unicorns could easily have come out of the woods and been at home in the valley. There was no sign that any human had ever touched this mystical land.

Nothing could be farther from the truth however. This valley had been discovered and rediscovered by countless people. Thousands have lain on that grass and pondered its indubitable beauty; it was a secret that no one spoke of. The world stopped when they lay there and for that reason countless had brought their significant others, a few had brought them here to express their undying love.

It was both a place and day that movies try to reproduce but always seem to cheapen. It was a place the Romantics would consider utterly powerful and that the romantics would consider perfect for a picnic. The only thing missing from the valley were insects of the stinging variety, with the exception of the occasional bee, and no one complained.

Everything about the valley was wonderful, beautiful and perfect. It was in stark contrast to the murder that occurred that day.

* * *

Ok I think that went well.

Till later
Aspiring Something

There are few things that make Mondays seem exciting, The Pirates of the Caribbean Soundtrack is certainly one of them.

Dollhouse, the new Joss Whedon show, and Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles are going to be back to back on Fridays in Winter. The only show that’s managed to thrive in that timeslot on Fox was X-Files. This is the timeslot that killed Firefly. Sigh.