otoh

Elpis Has Left the Building

Abandon hope,
dash the spirit,
leave faith defeated
in the dust.
Foolish soul
that dared believe,
wither now
like faded flowers.
Whither now?
This road is ended.

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Note: In Greek mythology, Elpis was the personification of hope.

Rock the Baby – Episode 4

New episodes of Rock the Baby are posted each week. Read from the beginning here.

Creeper

I feel like crap. I tried sleeping but the place I holed up in was hot as hell, I was sore as hell, and the floor was hard as hell. I looked outside and the moon was up. There wasn’t much of a breeze but it was way better than being inside. I wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but I started walking again.

It was freakin’ creepy walking around in the middle of the night. There was enough moonlight though that I could see well enough. And I was surprised at how many other people were out and about. Turned out that was a good thing because there were some trouble-makers out too. Kids. Too scared to admit to being scared so they gotta act all tough instead. Lucky for me, by then I was tagging along with a group going in the same direction as me. Safety in numbers, you know.

After the sun came up we were close enough to my parent’s house that I split off by myself. I walked the streets of the neighborhood I grew up in and felt kind of like I was a kid again. I even started whistling “Feeling Groovy” for a little bit until I realized I probably looked like a freakin’ idiot. Not that anyone was looking as far as I could tell, but it was still probably better not to draw attention to myself. Mom used to sing that song all the time. Funny the odd bits we remember sometimes.

When I got to Mom and Dad’s house it was locked up tight. Of course I have a key. It’s on the same ring as the key to my car and my apartment. The same ring that I left on my kitchen counter because I didn’t see the point in carrying them when the car doesn’t work and the apartment isn’t worth going back to. But I remember hearing that yo-yos used to be weapons so I tried flinging mine at the window by the back door. Yeah, it bounced off and hit me right in the face. I found a rock in the garden that worked much better. Note to self, if I have to defend myself… use a rock.

I wonder where my parents are. Their car is here. I can’t believe they would take off and not leave me a note. I can’t believe they would take off at all. Were they already out somewhere when the old world ended? Was that Mom’s bunco night? That would explain why she wasn’t here. And Dad always sneaks off for a few hands of poker when she plays bunco. I don’t know whether they’ll be back at all. Not if they feel safer where they are. No, that can’t be right. Unless they’re together somewhere, they’re both going to come back here. If they can.

Today I’m giving the yo-yo a rest. I’m collecting rocks.

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Please come back next week for Episode 5, Loop the Loop.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Road Rash

too many miles between us
so we blame the road
at least I think we agreed
it was the asphalt

3X17=51 Hmmm

Here’s a 3-Song Playlist I put together for personal reasons just for today.

Rock the Baby – Episode 3

Walk the Dog

Maybe I should have stayed in my apartment, but without food or water or electricity there wasn’t much reason to stay. The grocery stores were empty in a few hours after the old world ended. People were fighting over every last scrap of stuff. Looting everywhere. It was really scary. And you know, without electricity most of that stuff is going to be spoiled in a couple days. Serves the bastards right if they get sick off it.

Something else that’s scary is that I didn’t make it to my parent’s house like I planned. I’m guessing, based on the progress I made today, that it will take another full day to get there. Part of the problem is that I got a late start. I had a 12-pack of beer that I didn’t want to leave behind and didn’t want to carry with me. I drank ten of them last night. While I can drink that much in a night, I can’t drink that much in a night and get an early start the next morning.

So I got up late today, a little hung over and not completely packed. I probably should have waited another day. I was a little… impaired. But I threw some stuff into my backpack and started out in the early afternoon heat. After an hour, I had already finished off the last two beers. I was going to be really thirsty the whole way.

But I wasn’t lonely. Lots of other people were out walking too. I was reminded of the nursery rhyme about the guy going to St. Ives. I didn’t meet a man with seven wives, but I did meet a guy with a dog named Walk. I thought that was pretty funny. I wonder where everyone is going, but I don’t ask. Everyone looks more glazed than a Krispy Kreme donut. Zombie-like, but we aren’t after each other’s brains. We don’t seem to know what we’re after really.

Now it’s getting dark though and I don’t think it would be safe traveling at night. Besides that, I’m freakin’ tired as hell. My feet and my head hurt. Come to think of it, so does pretty much everything in between. So I’ve ducked inside a looted store and I’m going to hunker down for the night. And I’m learning to yo-yo with my left hand now.

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Episode 1 is here. Episode 2 is here. Please come back next week for Episode 4, Creeper.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

Flash in the Pan now on B&N

My e-chap Flash in the Pan is now available as a free download on the Barnes and Noble website. A collection of micro-fiction and flash fiction with a food-related theme. From a screaming salad to other-worldly sweets, from humor to mystery, this is a plateful of tasty tidbits.

I expect it to be available also on Sony and Kobo in the next week or so. Release dates for Amazon and Apple are TBA. Aspiring writers should check out Smashwords.

Flash in the Pan cover

Cover photo by Jurvetson (flickr)

Rock the Baby – Episode 2

Forward Pass

I suppose we should have seen this coming. More of us, I mean. There was an article on line, I think, a few weeks ago. I saw the headline. I started to read it but only got through the first paragraph or so. Then I watched an episode of Chuck on TV. I remember because the article was predicting the end of the world and Chuck was saving us from the end of the world. At the time I thought that was so cool.

I guess I’ll never see that show again. Or any show. Did I tell you that electronics don’t work now? Do you have any idea how many things there are that don’t use electronics? Not very many, let me tell you.

When I was in high school I had to read a perfectly awful book about what happens when the moon gets knocked out of its normal orbit by some meteor or comet or something. The story was totally inaccurate and unbelievable. Even though we have lots of time to read now, don’t waste your time on it.

Anyway, we don’t have electricity. Or running water. Even if I had electricity, it wouldn’t make any difference. Not even the battery-operated stuff works now. My cell phone? Doesn’t even make a good paper weight. Everyone’s phone is nothing more than a worthless chunk of plastic. I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t feel so bad about not paying my bill last month.

Wouldn’t you know, I filled the gas tank in my car only two days ago. Fat lot of good that does me now. Cars are all electronically controlled these days which means, of course, I have like a half-ton paperweight out there in the parking lot. Anyone have a shitload of paper they want to slip under it? Go ahead. The keys are on the kitchen counter.

Tomorrow I’m going to my parent’s house across town. Damn, that’s going to be a long walk. And I’m moving my yo-yo to my index finger. Stupid slipknot is giving me a blister. It’s getting too dark to write now.

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Episode 1 is here. Please come back next week for Episode 3, Walk the Dog.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

My Favorite Florida Things – Wilderness

Before I moved to Florida it meant only two things to me: beaches and theme parks. While we have both in abundance here they don’t make my list of things I will miss when I’m gone. To be fair, I have had some good times on beaches, but given a choice I’ll head to the mountains. I even have some pleasant memories from theme parks. [You haven't seen "It's a Small World" until you've seen it with a five-year-old.] By and large though they mean paying lots of money to be in big crowds — two things I detest.

After I moved to Florida I learned that there is a whole other world away from beaches and theme parks [and usually, but not always, away from crowds]. This other world includes natural springs, rivers, and hiking trails. For example, Wekiwa Springs State Park is just a few miles north of Orlando and has a gorgeous swimming area at the springs. There are miles of hiking trails and canoeing on the Wekiva River. Outside the park, the adjacent Rock Springs provides a wonderful canoeing experience too.

A little further north is Blue Spring State Park, best known as a Manatee refuge. The waterways are closed to swimmers and boaters from mid-November through March each year as the Manatees winter in the 73°F water.

There are something in the neighborhood of 150 state parks and historic sites that run the gamut from springs and rivers to beaches to coral reef. [John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park was the first undersea park in the U.S.] And we have a few national parks and preserves too. I’ve barely scratched the surface in exploring all these places and when I come back to visit these are what I’ll be looking for.

Rock the Baby – Episode 1

Sleeper

You can call me Ray. It’s what I call myself. My parents named me Jay, but in a cruel twist of fate I can’t pronounce the “J” sound correctly. I avoid it as much as possible. It was the last letter added to the English alphabet so I think we simply aren’t designed to say it. So I call myself Ray instead.

Some speech therapist that I went to in school told me that it’s a “voiced palatal-alveolar affricate” as if that made the problem easier to understand. She said I should put my tongue behind my upper teeth like I’m about to make a “T” sound, but then blow with a buzzing sound. My tongue kept slipping out and I gave her the raspberries. Every freakin’ time.

I’m writing in this notebook to document the beginning of the New World. Today is the first day in the New World. New Year’s day. New World’s day. Day one. Year one. Do over. Reboot.

No one is celebrating though. There were no New Year’s Eve parties last night. You see, we didn’t know the New World was starting today. We didn’t know the Old World was ending yesterday. But it did.

In the Old World I would be posting this on a blog I suppose. I was a blogger since I was in high school. Yeah, I got beat up a lot. But when I’m not reading something I’m writing something. There aren’t blogs any more. Nothing electronic works any more. I have this old notebook and a couple cheap ballpoint pens. And a yo-yo. I have a lot of time now to practice with the yo-yo.

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Please come back next week for Episode 2, Forward Pass.

Find other participants in Tuesday Serial on Inspired by Real Life or Twitter.

My Favorite Florida Things – Tai Chi

As I prepare to uproot myself I am acutely aware that there are some things about central Florida that I will miss a lot. One of them is my Tai Chi class. I’ve been studying with Master Chang for eight years and my classmates are wonderful people. There was much sadness when I told them I will be leaving in a few weeks. They want to have some kind of celebration before I go. [As a naturally shy person, I was a little tempted to just slip away without saying anything....]

Anyway, I figure I’ll be able to find another group to study with whenever I get resettled. One of the first things Master Chang said to me though after I told him I am leaving is that he wants me to teach Tai Chi in my new home. [He has talked to me before about how he wants his traditions to continue here in central Florida and that would mean that I and some of the other students would be taking over the teaching.]

“Okay,” I said, “I’ll try teaching it.”

“No,” he told me, “you will teach.”

“I will teach Tai Chi,” I agreed.

“And some day you will bring your students here to visit.”

Won’t that be a hell of a field trip?!?

Master Chang