2016

The dull roar of moving wind filled Heather’s ears. She shivered a little, looking for some point of reference to orient herself. All she could see where rocks and narrow passageways. An eerie amber glow was everywhere, emanating from a hole in the wall. It was too far and small for her to reach in to see what it was though.

Still, she tried. Heather tiptoed and stuck her hand in, trying to reach the strange object without success.

As she tried to stretch further, a low groan reached her ears. Her frantic eyes looked about and saw a large dark form crawling towards her…

–

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In my senior year of Walters State in 2009, I slowly started to take a liking to gardening. I never cared for being outside and still feel that way a little; but putting something to grow and letting it flourish had a sense of accomplishment along to it.

I equated it to the same level as raising fish; it was a hobby, and something that I liked. What set me on that path even more was the stories of rare and odd trees that people would grow, or rare seeds from a special flower. The one that I got hyped on was the heirloom category, genuinely interested in letting 100-year-old strains of peppers or tomatoes to bloom freely out, the rare fruit being yours.

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**Note: This is a bit more of a recollection like a Storytime as it draws some parallels from the review. If you want info on the book, scroll down. Otherwise, enjoy the read.
A long long time before super-modern tech of 2010 existed, people were battling to find the giant squid. Moreso, actually see a living one and real pictures.

I was no exception. Even since 2003, I remember trying to Google the giant squid. It was on the level of a creature from cryptozoology for me, and I was desperately trying to find any sort of picture and information about it.

My search didn’t really give me anything concrete. Just some white carcasses in 200px pictures, and one badly written web-page from theshadowlands.net (still surprised these guys are around 13 years later!)

Then The Search for the Giant Squid showed up in my local library.

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Some hours had passed, and the family had left Heather alone in the living room. The room was barely illuminated by the embers in the fireplace, the wind still howling outside. Heather shivered despite the quilt given to her, still fearing the worst.

There’s still time. I can make it home! Heather crept as quietly as she could off the couch, pushing her coverings aside. She slipped off her shoes and tiptoed across the floor towards the parlor.

“It’s pitch black out there. I need some sort of light,” she told herself. Heather’s eyes glanced around the entryway for where the family stored their lamps. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration upon finding none, making her way into the kitchen. She found a box of matches at least, finally finding an old miner’s lamp near the door to the cellar.

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Over the ages, people have followed toy trends, always wanting certain ones, or brands, or the hottest thing that was out that season. I remember in 2001, the biggest thing was scooters. Call of Duty 4 was the biggest thing when I was at Walters State. I don’t remember a lot of the other store rushes, though.

One was a big thing back when I was about 9 was collecting Hess trucks. My family had never gotten any period, but a cousin or two would get one every year. Each were released every year as sort of a collector’s edition, having a different frame and even a date stamp. May of them were play-quality, having features such as lights and rubber tires.

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The Magic Tree House was a book series I never really got into until I picked one up in BAM (my shorthand for Books-A-Million) around 2006 or so. Back then my family would travel to Knoxville almost every weekend, and we’d visit bookstores or Sam’s Club. I’d dread the latter (it was a bland store back then), but the bookstore was like a library, except a lot more recent books.

Why am I giving a review about a randomly numbered book out of Mary Pope Osborne’s series? It’s because it was my first Magic Tree House book. It was the first one that got me hooked on her series, and it was the first book I bought of her series years later. That one has stuck with me throughout the years especially.

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Heather leaned forward, spine tingling a little. “You mean like…I don’t know. Ghosts? Spirits?” Her hands wrapped around her knees.

Elizabeth had a faint twinkle in her eyes as she smiled a little. “Well, they could be called that. They certainly act like spirits, but look very real. More like nightmarish figures.”

With the silence afterwards, Elizabeth knew she had all the youngsters’ attention and it was time to spin her tale. With a deep breath she began.

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I highly debated ever telling this story, even five years after it took place. The people that were involved had long gone their ways, and one of them ended us knowing each other on an extremely sour note.

However, if you take all of that away, it was one of my “adventurous” college moments. It also is one of the most dangerous driving conditions I’ve ever driven through. With all of the snow that’s happened in the last week or so, and having my own taste of winter weather this Sunday, I decided it’s time and okay to share this.

Okay, deep breath. Here goes.

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Before I got this, my method of typing was taking an Apple Keyboard with a stand wherever I went. Worked in a pinch, but took up a lot of valuable real estate when plopping my iPad mini down. And it worked horrible on your lap without a lap desk or something hard to put your stuff down on. Especially bad for traveling.

That all changed when I got the Zagg Folio Case.

I first spotted this thing when I had gone into the Verizon store to upgrade my iPhone 4 to 5S, circa launch day in August of 2013. While I was waiting in line, I had spied iPad Mini accessories on their racks, which one was a folio case.

“Wow,” I thought to myself. “Illuminated keys?”

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Still trying to put this evening into words. I won’t bore you with a forever long story, but I was called into the office today, and was given a choice; be let go or take part-time pay. Totally a left-field curveball. I told them part time, took my check and drove home.

So it looks like I’ll need to be looking for another job now. I’m pretty sure the part time thing is just a step into laying me off in the future.

The worst part? I’m single AND going without work. Way to go, Valentine’s Day weekend.

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