rain bad for corn….mazes Saturday, Sep 13 2008
my day 11:38 pm
today was day two for my week working the corn maze the shrine is putting on and we have had rain both days. yesterday it let up about 3 hours before we closed. we actually had a group of kids and a parent show up at the end of the day to go through. today we had nothing, lol. at least we had a trailer to sit in and watch the football games to pass the time. tomorrow looks to be more of the same. scattered storms till monday. it should get better the next couple of weeks with better weather and more exposure that the event is out there in clio. at least i have time to sit and think about characters and story lines
characters: preping for nano 08 Sunday, Aug 31 2008
my day 12:50 am
I sit here with a new character in mind that will help and probably bug the hell out of poor Kyle, LOL. as I create, or should I say try to create her personality I feel like I keep going to someone I know as the base-work for her. the more I try to go away from a personality I know in real life, she marches right back in with another reason to use her. as much as I can see it working I worry about it. She is alright with it, or she at least was last year when I joked about writing her in. It’s weird writing someone into a story and know they will probably be reading it. wondering if they will make the connection and hoping they don’t see it as a bad portrayal of what the writer thinks of them. that scenario happens in the T.V. show “N.C.I.S” , it was funny to watch, but now that goes through my head as I go further with the character. I’m probably just over-engineering things again, lol.
writing again, sorta Tuesday, Aug 19 2008
my day 8:49 pm
this is the last chapter I wrote during november last year for the NaNoWriMo. i will be finishing the main story and continuing the adventures this november if I can wait for it. the writing buzz came back when I was stuck at a delivery location for work. doing nothing I thought about what i might do for NaNo this year. i filled a sheet of paper with a rough outline of ideas to at least close out this story. and a line or two of how to start the continuing saga for Kyle and his armor. i almost want to just start writing right now, but I’ll try to keep to noting ideas and fleashing out some new characters. so behave or I’ll put you in my novel, LOL
The Armor: Chapter 4 Tuesday, Aug 19 2008
The Armor 8:40 pm
Earlier that day Durkin and his band of fighters headed out after the caravan. the caravan had a five and a half hour head start. they knew it would be moving slower due to the weighted down wagons. the caravan will go as easy on the oxen as the cargo will allow so they are ready for the mountain trails ahead. as Durkin came upon the first of many forks in the road he looked for signs of the caravan. being the main road there was no indication which tracks were more recent. each of the three trails eventually goes to the Eastern city state, but none of them join back up. he would have to find correct trail the first time or they would never reach the caravan in time.
Durkin climbed down off of his horse and started going through his saddle bags. he pulled out a semi precious stone necklace. the stone looked like an arrowhead. he started spinning it in front of him and chanting. the stone started to glow steadily and then faded till it was only glowing when pointing in the direction of the left road. when Durkin was certain of what the necklace was indicating to him he stopped. seeing the confused faces on the fighters faces he told them what the artifact was. “this is the Cursor of Power, it can tell where the followers of the Dark Knight are when they are in groups. this is how i knew they here gathering in the central city state.
as they headed down the trail one of the fighters asked “how can the Cursor of Power point to these men in particular if you have never seen them yourself. Durkin knew he would have to tell them eventually so they were properly prepared for what they will be up against. “the Cursor doesn’t point out the man, it points out the armor itself, each suit of armor has been enchanted by the Dark Knight himself. these Cursors where made to see where the Dark Knight was and eventually were used to track his followers after he was killed. but as there numbers were fewer and they spread through out the land it failed to give a definite direction.
Part of his story was actually true. mages developed these Cursors of power to see where Durkin was and where he was heading to attack or lay in waiting if he was coming there direction. after Durkin possessed this young fighter he went through his vast collections of artifacts the man has obtained in his travels. he spotted a necklace that looked familiar. he picked it up and realized that it may be one of the cursors of power. he remembers the chant used and tried it out to see if it was truly one of these artifacts. as he spun the necklace and chanted it glowed and indicated a single direction the same way he sensed the armor pieces were, but this was more accurate and could be explained easier to the fighters . hopefully it will help him find the last piece after he gets these three pieces back.
now the men understood why they must sneak into the camp and attack the men without warning, because they will be dealing with magic users. they rode through the night in hopes they would come upon the caravan still under the cover of darkness to aid them. dawn was fast approaching when they closed in on a group of three men on the outskirts of the encampment. two of the men were asleep as they saw the third one approaching.
Hal’s dreams were bothered by a dark feeling surrounding him. he awakened to see Spencer picking up Kyle’s vambraces and look up at Hal. Knowing he was caught he backed up quickly and tried to use his gauntlets,nothing. panicked he turned to run but never made it two steps. there was a bright flash and a burning pain that caused him to fall down and shake uncontrollably. all he could think of was “why didn’t the gauntlets work, what did I do wrong”. as the convulsions stopped he felt a new sensation. a sharp pain in his side and warmth running down his side. putting his hand there he hit something metallic and realized that it was Hal’s sword. everything slowly went dark. the warmth he felt was replaced by a coldness and then nothing.
Hal withdrew his sword and wiped it off on the thief’s shirt as he pulled the gauntlets and the vambraces off of the now lifeless body. he hauled Spencer into a bush knowing he would not be missed. replaced his gauntlets with Spencers and put his inside the satual that was next to him Kyle stirred a little and began to awaken. he felt the darkness but didn’t see Spencer around. He asked Hal where Spencer was and noticed Hal had a serious look on his face and was wiping his sword down. He knew what had happened and didn’t ask anymore. next he heard a slight rustle in the morning air and looked away from the encampment to where the noise came from. A group of men came charging out of the bushing towards them. Hal extended his hands to them and nothing happened. with a confused look on his face he backed up and grabbed his sword. he felt a sting under his arm as he reached. an arrow hit him just below his arm and went into his side. he yelled to Kyle “Fire! a wall of fire, now!” hesitantly he did so. as the wall was raised one fighter tried to dive through. Kyle raised the fire and the man came out completely engulfed in fire and screaming. the fire increased as Kyle closed his eyes to shut out the old images of another man’s screams. Hal got up and readied the horses as fast as he could. when he heard the scream and turned to see the man and the raging fire he went over to Kyle and tried to snap him out of it. as he turned to Hal he saw the blood coming out of his side running down his leg. “We have to get out of here and head back to the Central city state for help. Kyle got Hal onto his horse and climbed on top of his own. as the headed out Kyle dropped the fire wall down to a small brush fire so the caravan could handle it. Hal pulled off the gauntlets and handed them to Kyle. ” these piece of armor don’t work when you have two of them on and apparently are the cause of the dark feeling we were experiencing when there were three of us in close proximity. I think those men are after us for the armor for some reason. what ever happens they must not get them. as they came to a narrow passage Hal had Kyle ride ahead a bit and he managed a Lightning strike on the Cliff walls to cover the road making it impassable. ” this should give us the time we need to get into the city and find help. Hal started to feel the effects of the blood loss and fell off his horse. Kyle patched him up as best he could but the arrow went too deep for him to survive without a healing potion or a trained healer. as they approached the city they saw a group of fighters at the road leading into the city. the doubled back and circled the city for one of the other road’s leading into the city. each one was guarded the same way. they decided to head for the western city figuring the northern one may have been guarded the same way. they rode through most of the night till Hal fell off of his horse from shear exhaustion. “Kyle, you must take all the armor pieces and ride ahead. I will not make it to the western city state and the enemy is surly gaining on us with me slowing you down in my injured state. if there is an armor piece in each of the outer city state there may be one in the western city state. they may be able to help you or that may be the missing piece to the armors true power. it is your only chance. they can not get the armor. Kill if you must but understand this. the ones you will kill would kill hundreds more if they had this power for themselves do not let this hap…” Hal never finished what he was saying before he passed out. Kyle tried to wake Hal up but he just kept drifting farther and farther into the darkness from which he will never waken. Kyle replaced Hal’s breastplate with his own and put on the magical armor. the next morning he rode into the center of the city state and he went to the town hall. there was no one there so he rode to the tavern to inquire about taking care of his former mentor. as he entered the tavern people looked strangely at him and saw one man whisper to the woman behind the bar who ran up stairs. she came down shortly after shaking her head. everyone seemed to relax but still kept an eye on him. Kyle approached the bar to talk to the bar maiden. “um good day, who is the local grave digger. My mentor was shot and killed by a group of raiding fighters. I tried to save him but his wound was too deep.
The woman’s look of suspicion turned to pity and regret as she pointed to the man at the end of the bar. Kyle walked down to the man to discuss burial services for Hal. they talked for a while on what should be written on the grave stone and all other details. The grave digger stood up and asked to see the body so he can have the local carpenter start on the casket.. as they exited the tavern there were a couple of people standing around the horse Hal’s lifeless body was tied on top of.. Kyle looked confused and looked at the grave digger and asked ” have they not seen a knight before?”.
then he realized that each of the outer city states was given a suit of armor that had enchanted armor pieces concealed within them. “They are looking at the armor, aren’t they? you have a suit of armor that looks just like it here too, don’t you?” Kyle stated to the grave digger. the grave digger said nothing in response. this told him that there was a suit of armor here. his thoughts drifted to when he first entered the tavern and the bar maiden ran up stairs only to come back down shaking her head. from what he has learned about the armor they have been around for countless generations. here they would look at it as a treasured family heirloom.
Kyle’s thoughts centered back on the men were after him and how that they were not surprised by the fire he produced. confirming what Hal that they must be after the pieces of armor. they will eventually figure out that I have either gone to the western or northern city state and will be coming after him and eventually. the armor that is hidden here, somewhere. he would have to tell them what has happened so they will be prepared or possibly help him defeat them. he walked down to the horses and motioned for the grave digger to lead him to his place of business so Hal can be taken care of while he goes back to the bar to talk with the bar maiden. even if she isn’t the owner she may know who it is., besides, he needed something to calm himself down.
as he walked into the tavern he spotted the bar maiden and sat at the bar as far away from anyone else as he could. She poured a shot of whiskey and walked over to Kyle. ” It is on the house, you look like you could need it. By the way, My name is Gwendolyn Rose” came the mournful introduction from the young lady. To which Kyle replied “my name is Kyle Parkins, can we talk a bit, please?”. She walked to the other end of the bar, grabbed a stool, and came back with it.
Kyle started with his own suit of armor. about how he was from the southern city state and was the lone survivor of the devastating fire that swept the land. the people of the Eastern city state saw the smoke and came to investigate. they recognized the suit if armor that he was hiding under. they took him and the suit of armor back to their city state. there he was raised to be a squire for Hal Starks, the man he is having buried today he added to clarify. who also had a suit of armor that was identical to this one. they had a history and figured that each of the outer city states was given a similar suit of armor.
thumbnailed pic, lol Tuesday, May 13 2008
Uncategorized 5:59 pm
here is my injury a day later. it’s only a dull ache and throbbs when I grab something, but I work anyways, lol
Grinder injuries hurt less then the treatment Monday, May 12 2008
my day 9:20 pm
I was at work, putting a 45 bevel on a large piece of c-channel, the last piece mind you. as i moved the grinder along the surface I must have caught the thumbof the leather glove I wore. thus causing it to bite in through the glove and right into my thumb. I shook my hand by reflex and pulled the glove off, it didn’t really hurt, just felt weird. and that is when I saw how bad it was. right along the nail was a trench that was over 3/16″ wide, at the deepest part about 3/16″ deep, and traveling about an inch. the grinder cauterized most of the blood vessels luckly. so off to the hospital I went.
the occupational clinic sent me to the ER for them to look at it first to see if it needed stitches. it did, so as I waited in the ounge I found no good magazines.
they gave me a light up pager/coaster thing you see at some restaurants, lol. when I was finally checked out initially and a room opened i sat back and watched the Sci-fi channel in between the nurses and the doctors as the preped me, waited for my thumb to go numb and give me a TB shot.
now as a side note, just this morning I made the stupid mistake of thinking to myself “with all this rust coated iron I am working with and getting occasional nicks, I should really get a TB shot” just shoot me.
the only part with the hospital visit that sucked was getting the injections to numb my thumb. the doctor made several injections around the base of my thumb to numb the whole thing. the initial stick hurt, mut when she patially pulled it out and angled it and pushed it back in to hit a different section hurt and freaked me out a bit as much as the needle was bending around. after an hour and a pre-stitch second injection into the wound itself since I could feel a little bit still we were ready to go. one of the stitches they had to go through the nail to get it.
pictures will be posted in a couple of days. only after surgery pics, my camer was at home, and I didn’t think about my phone at the time. the really bad thing is I have an optic trackball mouse and the gauze covered thumb has no grip to roll the ball, lol
sweet toolbox Friday, Apr 25 2008
my day 10:03 pm
I recently purchased a tool box and some more much needed tools for my trade in a sheetmetal shop
I decided to spray paint the chrome trim metalic red. I lightly coated the whole box, so it’ll have a slight red tint to the black. what can i say, i was bored, the paint was here not being used, and it looks sweet, lol. this is only the new tools. the rest of them will fill the box up nicely
the truth about me Sunday, Apr 13 2008
my day 8:24 am
Ten Top Trivia Tips about Dan!
- Plato believed that the souls of melancholy people would be reincarnated into Dan.
- California is the biggest exporter of Dan in the world!
- Japan provides over thirty percent of the world’s Dan supply!
- A sixteenth century mathematician lost his nose in a duel over his love for Dan, and wore a silver replacement for the rest of his life.
- Dan can clean his ears with his tongue, which is over thirty-nine inches long.
- Devoid of his cells and proteins, Dan has the same chemical makeup as sea water.
- A thimbleful of Dan would weigh over 100 million tons!
- Dan is 1500 years older than the pyramids.
- If you lace Dan from the inside to the outside, the fit will be snugger around your big toe.
- Julius Caesar wore a laurel wreath to cover up Dan.
