Archive for June, 2007
June 28th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Hello! I hope those of you that have taken the time to read Days One, Two and Three have enjoyed them so far. I’m considering changing up the format a little and actually trying to flesh out a few stories that take more than one day to occur. This means that I’ll need a way to differentiate the sections of the days that cover different people’s experiences and the best way I can think of doing that is by making sub-chapters within the Days under the name of the person. As you may have noticed, the people telling the stories don’t have names so far and I’d like a little audience participation if you would be so kind. So, I give you the NAME the DEAD Contest!
What I’m looking for are First and, if possible, Last names for each main character from the first three Days. Feel free to offer suggestions for one, two or even all three characters. If my panel of judges (which means me and the wife) choose a name that you have suggested, I will give you credit for it and link your blog or websiteif you have one. I know it’s not much of a prize but it’s all I got right now. Please feel free to submit your names in the comments for this post or you can e-mail them to me at cybrpunk13 [at) gmail (d.o.t] com.
I’ll take submissions for about a week or so, since I need to start adjusting how I’m doing this for a longer storyline that will take place around Day Five.
PS.
Yes, I know the young lady in Day Two didn’t actually die, but the mortality rate seems to be pretty high around these parts.
So she get’s included.
June 27th, 2007 by cybrpunk
No comments on Day Three yet? Awww….
I forgot to mention but we did eventually decide on a new digital camera for the wife. We went to the a little camera shop near my office called Hing Lee Camera on Lyndhurst Terrace to try out a few on our list. The guy working there was quite helpful and put together a good package for us. We ended up getting the Nikon D200 (just like Yoshi said) along with an extra Nikon battery, a Nikon SB-800 flash and a Nikon AF-S DX 18-200mm VRII lens. In addition they hooked her up with a nice Nikon sling backpack and cleaning kit. I compared prices later and found that we came out just under the prices we would have gotten from most trustworthy online retailers.
It’s going to take her a while to get used to using such a complicated camera but she’ll do fine. She needs to practice with it though, *nudge nudge*.
As a bonus, I no longer have to buy her Birthday, Christmas, Valentines, Easter, Anniversary, or any other day’s gifts for the rest of her life! Woohooo!
Oh, and we finally got to see Ghost Rider last night. It was freaking sweet! Ghost Rider has always been one of my favorite Marvel heroes so I was definitely worried they would screw it up. But I was definitely happy with it. There were a few things I probably would have done differently but overall I think it was a good summary of the character and his powers. Unfortunately the rental copy was severely buggered in one section so it stuttered like crazy for about 10 minutes during a fight. I’ll be buying it though so I can watch it again then.
June 26th, 2007 by cybrpunk
DAY THREE: HOTEL ROOM 1810
In March, my company had named me “Salesman of the Year” and put my name on the preferred parking spot sign right up front near the executive parking. With that prestigious award came the responsibility of flying to Chicago for a three day sales seminar on how to improve your time management or closing skills or whatever other little classes you bothered to show up for. I thought it sounded like a waste of time. Most people who went to these things just racked up the charges on their expense accounts. Obviously the guy who beats the sales numbers of 127 other people must be managing themselves fairly well already. At least that’s my opinion. Now it turns out I was more right about not wanting to come here than I could have ever imagined.
It’s been a few days since the start of the news reports about the dead getting up and wandering around. This also seemed to usher in the death of daytime soap operas and game shows. I suppose people have better things to do now. It only took the simple matter of survival to see that. It’s been two days since one of the fuckers bit off a chunk of my calf as I ran for the lobby elevators. I knew it was going to be dangerous but I figured I could make it. I realized I was wrong after slipping in the thick smear of blood, bits and pieces of some other poor bastard. I obviously made it to the elevators and up to my room but I keep wrapping the wound in my leg and it just keeps bleeding. Now it’s been one day since the cold sweats started and here I am: sitting in the hotel room I should have checked out of a day ago. I would have left but no one seems to care that I’ve missed my checkout time. The minibar’s empty too but I doubt I’ll be seeing a bill for that anytime soon.
Occasionally I hear a scream from somewhere distant. I’m on the eighteenth floor so it has to be coming from inside the hotel. Probably coming from someone too stupid to stay locked in their room. Someone too stupid to think that it might not be Room Service scratching and moaning at their door. I can’t blame them too much though. I’m so hungry now that I might just do the same.
I unconsciously shift my weight and let out a muffled cry as another wave of pain rips through my leg and nausea squeezes at my stomach. Sonuvabitch my leg hurts! I can’t believe I got bit! Stupid! It’s wrapped up in what was the last clean pillow-case and it just won’t stop bleeding. When I last wrapped it I saw that the edges had blackened and there were purplish spider web looking patterns all up and down my leg. It looked worse than an infection; at least not a normal infection. I’m going to die from this shit and then I’ll probably be scratching and moaning at this door trying to get out. I hear a faint shuffling sound just outside my door followed by a low growl or groan. Then it all goes quiet again. They can still hear me in here no matter how quiet I try to be.
Continue reading ‘DAY THREE’
June 25th, 2007 by cybrpunk
It’s been a busy weekend and today is starting out to be a busy day which will probably turn into a busy week. Take a look at the wife’s list of all the stuff while our friends Matt and Mae were in Hong Kong to visit. We had fun and I think they did too. Well except for the Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride of a bus trip from Tung Chung to Mui Wo. We were trying to get to the Pui O beach but we missed it or took the wrong bus or something. We never made it to the beach. It was too hot anyway.
Today I’ve been scrambling trying to fix a dead laptop PC and get another PC ready to replace it temporarily. Or permanently as the hard drive seems totally dead on this thing. Dunno, but I’m running out of ways to try and access the data. Stupid hard drives….
On a positive note, Day Three is complete and will be posted tomorrow. I’ve edited it as much as I can and just my Editor to check it over and tell me where the stumling points are. I’ve started using Microsoft Word to spell and grammar check in addition to the Wordpress spell check so that seems to be helping quite a bit. Although it just doesn’t seem to understand when I use bad grammar on purpose. It’s longer than the last two but hopefully not too long as to become boring. Day Four is also in progress and should be about halfway done by tomorrow as well. Day Five is outlined but that’s about it. Day Six and Seven have basic premises but no outline yet. We’ll see what happens with that.
I am HUNGRY! Hmm… need to find me some food. Didn’t realize it’s lunch time.
June 21st, 2007 by cybrpunk
Day Three is coming soon, I swear.
I got my hand torn to shit by a stray kitten I caught last night. I was bleeding from eight different places on one hand. Three were deep bite marks. If I start foaming at the mouth, someone get me some aspirin or something. If I start craving tuna, make some macaroni and cheese for me as they go together oh so well. Mmmm….
We’ll be meeting our good friends Matt and Mae at the Hong Kong airport tomorrow afternoon on their first stop on the way to pick up their newly adopted baby girl! We are so happy for them that this is all working out for them. We’re also really happy that someone is finally visiting us, even if it’s only for a day and for ulterior motives. We don’t mind! Woohoo! We’ve made the trip a few times so we know how tired they will be. I only with they had more time to show them the cool things here in Hong Kong. Ah well.
So to pass the time today, I will leave you with an old joke. Because, if you think about it, are there really any new jokes?
“Hi, honey, this is Daddy,” …. “Is your Mommy near the phone?”
“No, Daddy. She’s upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Frank.”
After a brief pause, Daddy says, “But you haven’t got an Uncle Frank, honey!”
“Oh yes, I do, and he’s upstairs in the bedroom with Mommy, right now!”
“Uh, Okay, then……here’s what I want you do. Put down the phone, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy and Uncle Frank that Daddy’s car’s just pulled up outside the house.”
“Okay, Daddy!”
A few minutes later, the little girl comes back to the phone. “Well, I did what you said, Daddy.”
“And what happened?” he asks.
“Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming, then she tripped over the rug and went flying through the front window… and now she’s all dead.”
“Oh my God!!! And what about Uncle Frank?”
“He jumped out of bed with no clothes on too and he was all scared and he jumped out the back window into the Swimming pool… but he must have forgot that last week you took out all the water to clean it, so he hit the bottom of the swimming pool and now he’s all real dead too.”
*** long pause ***
Daddy says, “Swimming pool??? Is this 555-7039?”
June 19th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Today is a public holiday here in Hong Kong so I have the day off. Big day for the Dragon Boat races. Hotter than hell out there too. I’m staying in the rest of the day.
June 18th, 2007 by cybrpunk
Talk about not living up to your potential. What if I was supposed to be the Miroku but never attempted to achieve enlightenment?
Too bad, I suppose. Better luck next time.
June 16th, 2007 by cybrpunk
If you haven’t checked out Violent Acres, do so at least for this article. It seems we have similar opinions on the whole celebrity thing although they have some new ideas that I hadn’t thought of about the celebrity’s happiness. Anyway… interesting.
June 15th, 2007 by cybrpunk
I am so glad it’s Friday. I’ve been feeling run-down all week it seems. I’ve been having some fun writing my series though. If you haven’t read Day One and/or Day Two, please do. They are sequential but you don’t need to read one to understand the others as the characters won’t be re-used from one Day to the next. Or at least that’s how it is at the moment. I may sneak something in to see if anyone is paying attention. If you like what you’ve read so far, link me on your site or something.
In other news, I’m kind of looking forward to Overlord. From the descriptions it reminds of the old Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper 2 games which I loved. The premise is the same in that you play as the evil overlord but you aren’t restricted to dungeons. I plan on downloading the demo to see if my aging PC can handle it. I assume it can though since it’s also launching on the XBox360.
Oh, and click on this link for some mangoes. I hate Weebl for making these things that haunt my brain for days. That’s why I’m sharing. Bob seems nice though.
June 14th, 2007 by cybrpunk
DAY TWO: AT THE OFFICE
How long have I been sitting huddled under this desk? I touch the side of my face and feel dried blood where it was running past my eye earlier. I don’t remember hitting my head but I sure have the mark to prove that I did. It’s quiet in here. So quiet it’s unnerving. To even think that I’m still alive after all that happened yesterday is overwhelming. Hell, I’m not even sure where I’m at. I know I’m in an office building or at least in an office. Something with a desk. It was getting dark outside when I ran in here and hid. I had tried to calm down and finally just hyper-ventilated myself to unconscious sleep.
Now I see a soft glow coming in from the edges of the window shade. The first rays of daylight turning the darkness around me into muddled greys and shadows. Shadows that my paranoid mind tells me could be hiding one of those creatures, but I know in my rational thoughts that that can’t be true. If they were here in this room they would have found me and killed me long before now. Like they killed my co-workers. All except Jason. Oh God, I wish I hadn’t thought of him. If I break down now… if I start sobbing… they might hear. How do those rotten bastards hear anything? I’m wondering about their hearing. Jesus, how the fuck are they even walking around? But they do both and if I so much as whimper they might get in here and tear me apart before I even figure out if there’s another way out. A way out. I need to pull myself together and see where I am and what my options are.
My neck and shoulders scream as I pull myself out from the cramped space under the desk. My legs immediately start to tingle and buckle from the rush of blood they’ve been denied for hours. I gasp at the pain and immediately regret it but thankfully there’s no noise from behind the door to the office. The office… gotta focus. It looks like I’m in some kind of doctor’s office. Not an examination room but a regular office with books on shelves and important certificates on the walls and a potted plant. Only one door since it’s a pretty small room. I dare to peek past the edge of the shade on the window. Shit… ground floor but with bars over the window. I plop down into a plush leather chair as reality hits me like a bucket of cold water. That probably helped keep me safe last night but it sure as hell is going to make it difficult to get out of here.
Dead people walking around are going to make it difficult too.
Continue reading ‘DAY TWO’
