My name is Thomas Dahl. Tonight I’m probably going to die. Death. The End. The Final Frontier. I’m strapped into a chair in the middle of a far flung warehouse on the far edges of the city of Coldstone. A metropolis in which I’m charged with protecting the citizens, business interests and whatever else manages to populate our streets. I’m a Captain in the CPD and I’m a rough son of a gun. I’d use harsher words, but I told The Lord I wasn’t interested in that life anymore. And by The Lord, I do mean God. The Big Man. Kahuna. The Decider. Creator. All those and more names that I’m not really interested in having to remember in this small little insignificant moment I’m sharing with you.

You see, I’m set to die at the hands of some very bad guys. Ghosts, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Demons and everything else you can imagine in the deepest of those nightmares that marked many of our younger years. You know those monster movies that gave us the night terrors that drove our parents bonkers? Well, it’s real. All of it. Well, most of it. We’ve not yet had the outbreak of zombies that we feared but that’s thank to some government types that stopped it before it got off The Island. Yes, that’s what we call the former United Kingdom. That is a nasty place full of horrifying hordes of hell. That’s where it all started. That’s where the very gates of darkness were opened.

You see, some idiot started The End before it was ready to Begin. I now serve in the Army of the Light. Fighting against the darkness as Those We Serve begin to bring about the final battle as it was foretold. Ther are rules and regulations with this End of the World stuff and I never really realized it until I got pulled into this mess.

There are men and women out there who dabble in the dark and light arts. Guys that are called wizards. Not Harry Potter type wizards. These guys are tough as nails and given the chance would wipe the floor with whatever ectoplasm you have left after they’ve liquefied your brain. Then there’s us. The Good Guys. The Chosen Ones. The Protectorate. Together with most of the wizards, witches & magic makers we are holding a delicate line against The Darkness and The Warrent. It’s hard, it’s rough and it’s going to get me killed tonight. I’ve dodged it enough to know this is more real than those past moments of thankfulness at another day alive.

So I’ll tell my story to you. And maybe this will help you when everything starts to happen. Like everything, it’s inevitable.

I worked my butt off today at work. Didn’t get much else done. And so thus ends this catchup day post.

It’s sad to see an author go because that voice, that character and unbridled creativity can never be duplicated in complete form.  You’ll see bits and pieces in other books and authors that might remind you of the greatness we once had in our midst, but we’ll never have the full feeling in our hearts again.  Robert Parker, I knew so little of your writing but I feel as you’ve given me a little something off to the side to hold in my heart.

Reading and the worlds that it can create in your mind is something I love so much.  I used to read when I was kid and inhale tomes of books.  Piles upon piles.  My appetite hasn’t slowed but sometimes the demands on my time divert my attention elsewhere.  Part of this project is to drive more reading time to feed my brain.  So far this month, I think I’ve succeeded.  And there’s certainly more to come.

Chapter four is here and Chapter 5 is here.  Both were written today!

To the tale of the tape!

Keeping up with the fast pace of a first shift in hospital housekeeping is far different than the second shift I had worked on up until about two months ago.  The pace at the night hours was mundane and plodding.  It would make you wonder if you could keep going until the next crisis cropped up to give you something to do.  I yearned for first shift for a year and a half.  Thankfully for my mental sake God delivered me to the morning shift.

After hitting the ground running, stumbling and bumbling I’ve come to realize how lucky I was on the 3pm to midnight shift.  Now I’m trying to keep pace with the ever increasing rotating sprockets that push the day onwards.  I’ve got a long road to go but I’m firmly back on that road to success.  The New Year gives me a chance to strive for greatness, not goodness.

Let’s check in with our goals then shall we?

Terminator Salvation: The Official Movie Novelization by Alan Dean Foster

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The book itself is fairly mundane and follows closely to what I know of the movie. It’s a fun popcorn read and will keep you entertained. Meeting up with some more familiar characters was great but I grew to not really care for much of them as it just didn’t feel as if the writer was invested. Given that this is was adapted from script, it’s understandable.

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