(Spoiler Alert) Anyone who knows me or has been following my blogs knows that I don’t favor the live-action Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich. What I despise most about this six-film series is the …
On the day that Resident Evil Village released, I began downloading it shortly after midnight and left my PC on to let it work. By the morning, very little progress had been made, and the …
When I first heard that there would be a new Resident Evil game once again starring the rather-bland leading characters from the previous entry and with a setting partly reminiscent of the fourth title, I …
I enjoy the twisted plot of a horror movie or book and tried writing a story that would cause one’s blood to run cold. I read several books that sent chills up my spine. One …
I feel I started on the path to designing a video game back when I began taking courses in software engineering. And a contributing factor would be the gaming-related blogs I wrote to post on …
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine
Everyone enjoys traveling without a hitch. No one likes delays, cancelations, lost luggage, or any other problem. Now we have something new to worry about. If you fly domestically, you must have a federally compliant driver’s license called the Real ID to pass through security. This new requirement goes into effect October 1, 2020. To get this Real ID, take your driver’s license, proof of your Social Security number, and proof of citizenship to a Secretary of State office.
“If everything is in order, you’ll get a new license that has a gold star in the upper right corner – or an American flag on Michigan Enhanced driver’s licenses.” **
If you try to board a domestic flight on October 1, 2020 or later without the Real ID, you won’t be allowed to board the flight. “If you get turned away at the airport and forget to cancel your flight, you can kiss your ticket goodbye.” **
There won’t be a refund of your ticket.
Why haven’t we been notified about this before? 14 years ago, this mandate was signed into law; however, there have been numerous delays. Now the matter is urgent. Don’t wait until the last minute to take care of the matter. The lines will get longer, the delays numerous, and the urgency will hit all at once.
Amazing
Journeys Online Episode 3: Death Offers a New Perspective
The
wolf reached up, extending claws that dug into the tree trunk. In a smooth
movement, she pulled up, back paws gaining purchase. The wolf’s gaze never left
her prey.
Socrates
swallowed. He scanned his “Hero” sheet, which appeared as a white document
hovering in the air. The wolf visible through the translucent page. His stats
were the basic starter set, all tens except for agility, which was an 11.
“Hmm,
that must have been from the strikes with bow and arrow,” he thought. Of course
that would not help in this moment. There had to be something, some skill that
he could use to get himself out of the situation. The list was pitifully short:
Herblore – Rank 1: Locate and identify basic
herbs from levels 1-10.
Cat’s Landing – Rank 1: Cushion landing from
falls of 10 x Skill level + Character level for percent success: Currently 11%
for up to 10 feet. Half for each 10 additional feet.
Climbing – Rank 1: 10% bonus to success to
climbing, minus difficulty of the surface attempted.
Skinning – Rank 3: Skin animals for useable
leather: 14% bonus to success
Fletcher – Rank 2: Make and repair arrows: 12%
bonus to success
Bowyer – Rank 2: Repair and make bows: 12%
bonus to success.
Archer – Rank 3: +2% chance of critical success
to hits.
First Aid – Rank 1: Can make bandages and treat
wounds that are basic.
Nothing.
Socrates sighed. He looked down and jumped in fright. He landed while clumsily
grabbing for branches above him. Vertigo swam through his head as the branch
above him bent, lowering him forward where the wolf glared, her breath hot and
fowl against his face.
As he
scrambled for footing, the wolf reached a paw and sunk claws into the branch
beside his foot. He immediately stamped on the paw, once, twice, three times. The
wolf howled, snatching it’s paw back and scrambling down three feet.
Socrates
breathed hard, hugging the trunk, and glaring down at the wolf. All he wanted
to do was smash that smug face. Just once, before he became lunch. Suddenly, an
idea came to him. He brought up the digital character sheet and looked again at
his skills.
“It
might just work,” he murmured. He looked down at the wolf, who glared back
while extending a paw. “Either way I die. Might as well try and get some
payback at the same time.” Socrates leaned over to gauge the distance. About 40
feet to the hard ground. He then stared directly into the wolf’s eyes.
“Hey
you! Yes, you. Want a piece of me?”
The
wolf growled in defiance. Socrates almost lost his nerve. He took a deep
breath. “You can do this,” he said to himself. “Hope it works.” Socrates
stepped off the branch.
The
wolf’s eyes widened in surprise as Socrates hit her in the face feet first. The
force pulled her from the tree. She scrabbled with her claws for purchase.
Socrates bear hugged the wolf as they fell together. The ground rushed towards
them.
They
impacted the ground, the wolf yelping in fright and pain. The man grunted.
After
several long moments, sounds of birds and insects filled the silence. After a
longer breath of time, Socrates groaned and rolled off the wolf. Slowly,
stiffly, he sat up. Message bubbles filled his vision alerting him to what he’d
already known and felt. The damage he’d taken from the wolf’s claws in the
seconds of the fall were significant. Normally, that damage along with the fall
would have killed him, and sent him to the Death Waiting Room for nine hours to
reflect, before he could return to the game world. But, Cat’s Landing worked in
combination of using the wolf as a buffer.
Reminded
of the wolf, Socrates reached out, tentatively at first, to touch the rough
fur. The wolf did not stir. Looking closer, the life bar was empty. He smiled,
reached for his skinning knife, and stopped. Moving his hand through the fur,
it suddenly didn’t feel right to just skin it. The wolf would disappear once
the skinning was done. He wanted to savor the moment, the exhilaration of
defeating his first great foe, and being alive. He smiled, chewed on a healing
herb that healed over time, and arched back to feel the warmth of the sun and
the cool prickle of the grass.
Low
growls drew his attention past the nearest trees. Several wolves appeared.
There looked to be five, then seven, then nine. Most were adults, with a couple
of pups.
Socrates
scrabbled backwards. Pain aching through his body, as he used a tree trunk to
climb to his feet. Climbing a tree was out of the question, not with this pack.
Fighting was just as hopeless.
The
wolves did not attack. Something or someone held them back. Socrates took slow
steps backwards not turning away from the pack. He knew at any moment they
would leap forward and he’d be done.
Another
wolf appeared, larger than the others. The pack made space for the beast. It had
reddish brown fur. A scar slashed between the eyes and down the nose. It
woofed, and the pack grew instantly silent.
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine
Efficient packing for trips begins with great shopping. Your luggage choices depend upon your destination and how much you wish to pack. I suggest bags with wheels unless you’re traveling to cities that don’t allow wheeled bags that ruin their cobbled streets and walkways. A backpack to handle short excursions into town is helpful. When my husband, Roger, and I travel by plane we don’t use our twenty-seven-inch bag because I always overpack. That bag is reserved for our road trips when we don’t have to worry about weight limits.
When we travel by plane or train, we take bags no larger than twenty-one-inches. Usually two carry-on bags, a backpack, and a large purse work for me. Roger takes two carry-on bags and a backpack. Some of our friends asked how we can travel with so few bags. The secret is in the purchases we make prior to our trips. Some of our purchases were made at Travelsmith.com, Magellans.com, llbean.com, as well as other department stores.
I purchased a dressy black lightweight three-piece wrinkle-resistant outfit that I can mix with various colorful dressy tops. My wrinkle-resistant casual clothes include slacks, shorts, and a variety of tops. I pack one pair of dressy shoes, one pair of casual shoes, and I wear comfortable walking shoes. I also pack a sweater, rain jacket, a small lightweight blanket, and a foldable sunhat depending on our destination.
I keep my costume jewelry to a minimum in a small carrying case. My lingerie is hand washable and quick dry. The shampoo and conditioner I prefer to use on my hair are packed in small, reusable plastic containers as is my body lotion. We always carry a foldable cloth laundry bag to take our dirty clothes to a laundromat.
Roger packs a sport coat, wrinkle-resistant pants, shorts, sport shirts, hand washable quick-drying underwear, one pair of dress shoes, and a Dopp kit for his toiletry items. We each pack a camera and books to read. We still have room for small souvenirs we purchase during our trips.
Prior to our twenty-seven-day trip to Australia and New Zealand, I searched online for information on packing suitcases efficiently. My plan was to take only a wheeled carry-on bag, a backpack, and a large purse. Rolling soft fabrics and folding stiffer ones seemed like an interesting way to pack. Once my bag was packed, I took a picture of my opened bag so that I could remember where each item was placed. This helped me when I repacked for our return home.
Does this give you good ideas for your future travels?
I’ve just finished reading a great book! What do I mean by “a great book”? It’s the one that when it’s time to go to bed, and you know you have to be up early the next morning, you can’t put down. You just have to read one more chapter. You need to be sure the characters are going to be all right. In fact, you’ve forgotten that they’re characters. To you, they’re now real people.
The Lost Girls of Paris by Pam Jenoff is like that. It’s historical fiction. There really was a World War II and a Normandy Invasion. There really was a female spy ring run out of London to confuse the Germans and help the Allies. The real one was run by Vera Atkins of the Special Operations Executive. The historical fiction one is run by Eleanor Trigg. The real women were heroic and many didn’t come home. The same happens to the characters in the book.
The chapters alternate between the present: 1946 New York City with Grace Healey, who discovers a suitcase in Grand Central Station with 12 photographs of young women on her way to work one morning.
And the past: 1944 London with Marie, one of the 12, who was sent to France as part of a female spy ring to help the Allies. She was picked because she spoke French so well no one would suspect she was really an English spy. Marie had learned French, and her way around the French countryside, which turned out to just as important, when she was a child. Every summer, she and her mother had gone to France.
The Lost Girls of Paris is well written, vivid and inspired by true events. It has a number of plots and sub-plots to keep you sitting on the edge of your armchair waiting for the next thing to happen. The twelve photographs hold the story together as Grace searches to find out: Who were they? How were they connected? Did any survive?
There aren’t a lot of wartime books about female spies and women doing heroic things like blowing up bridges and sending back radio messages right under the enemies’ noses. If this is the kind of reading you enjoy, then this is the book for you.
The Road
Not Taken by Robert Frost is one
of my favorite poems. Fear can be a concrete barrier, miles high and unpassable.
But to have the courage and make the choice that has an unknown outcome, well
that is astounding. And as with all things hidden, I will fail sometimes. But I
must look onward and climb or knock down the concrete wall in my way.
Failure
is a bridge to success. I remind myself of this every day. I wanted the
reminder so badly I had my own words tattooed on my skin. I won’t give up the
journey I forged when I started my business, WjK ARTiSAN DESiGNS. I will
travel on media highways to get more attention, to gain traffic that will return
often. I will make contacts with store owners to build a retail
relationship that will last. And I will look at new outlets to sell my art.
As Mr. Frost iterates in his words, “Yet knowing how way leads on to way…” my travels through life have been one moment touching another as my choices have consequences, just as the first domino falls until the last. Without pushing over the first domino how can I or anyone succeed? That’s why I catapulted over fear and jumped feet first into the deep end of the pool to start my business. I don’t know where the last domino will fall, but as they keep falling the speed with which they tumble gets faster and faster. With every choice, I’m hoping that my success will gain speed as well. I must be hopeful.
So, with fear as my constant companion, and not allowing it to overwhelm me with my daily reminder, I continue down the unknown road because my hope is greater than my fear.
“I
took the one less traveled by…” to seek the success that I know I can
achieve if I keep traveling down “The Road Not Taken.”
The ideas expressed in this blog are solely the opinions and thoughts of the respective authors. Each author owns the copyright to their publications on the site.
