Hiked

I made a last minute decision yesterday to go for a big hike that I had been contemplating, one consisting of trails I'd never been on.  It ended up being nearly two miles uphill at the start, which made me second guess myself and wonder if I should turn around...often.  But I kept thinking that I would just go to the top of the rise in front of me and see what happens.  Eventually the trail did stop going up, but man was I up.  I had my light rain jacket on and sometime after things evened out I felt water running down my wrists and realized it was coming from me.  I took the jacket off and the entire inside was soaking with my own steam.  I carried it for a while to air it out and to get some cooler air on me.  At one point there was a pretty good rain shower so the jacket went back on and I kept going.  It was over two and a half hours of nearly nonstop walking, up, down, all over.  I feel good about that.  And I came away with some bad camera pics:

Duck Encounter

As I was walking my usual route by the river two ducks came all the way up the hill to my feet in anticipation of me having some food for them. These are some spoiled ducks:

I snapped these pics and thanked them but they followed me as I walked away, so I shot this vid of them chasing me:

When I Was A Photojournamalist

I was strolling along the river, trying to think of something to write here, and listening to my mp3 player when I turned to look at the river in time to see one of the rowing teams bump up against a pillar of one of the bridges.  They scraped along it a little and then just sat there, as if waiting for someone to come up with a plan.  No one seemed all that panicked, but suddenly it looked like someone had given the order for everyone to get into the water.  It took a little while for me to realize that the river had made that decision for them when it wrapped that sucker around the column and dumped everyone out.  Three people floated downstream while the rest held on to the boat.  I watched as the spotter craft went after the floaters, throwing them lifevests and getting ready to haul them in.  Things seemed pretty well in hand so I started to walk on.

"I wish I'd had my camera," I thought, then realized that my mp3 player had a camera function so I returned to the scene and took these pics.  It also has a video functionality so next time I will not hesitate to get the whole thing documented for internet stardom's sake.

After posting these pics on fb I then realized that maybe the local rag could use them so I sent them along and moments later answered a call from the editor to whom I tried to relate the story.  The original article went up the next day and I was then called so that I could fill in the details with a reporter.

Here are some links to the rag (spot the spelling errors!):

http://www.gazettetimes.com/crew-member-clings-to-disable-craft/image_a0142a50-a361-11e3-97c5-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.gazettetimes.com/crewers-in-the-water-jpg/image_d87a6eac-a444-11e3-a3aa-0019bb2963f4.html

http://www.gazettetimes.com/news/local/shell-destroyed-osu-crew-members-safely-rescued/article_32ecdaa8-a361-11e3-be8f-0019bb2963f4.html

I have now started a collection titled BAD CAMERA TAKES BAD PICS that I hope to sustain with more examples of how a non-camera device attempts to use its sad power to take pictures.  Here are some more from near the scene of the wreck:

And some more:

Change of Pace

Wups has a YouTube channel now:

WupsTube

The Haunted House (pt. 13)

The water cannoned into the room through where the windows should have been and slammed me back and up against the wall which for some reason held, as did I.  At first all that I could do was hold my eyes closed and feel the pressure of what must have been immeasurable tons of water pushing against me which then gave way to an even weirder feeling, that of soft and slimy objects bumping into me.  I opened my eyes to see corpses, bodies seeming to have been in the water a long time in various states of decay, increasing in number exponentially like the ones that fell from the loft, only these appeared to be jostling to get at me, to run up upon myself and hem me in with their dessicated forms.

Once there was no more room for them to move about due to the sheer numbers, some type of instinct took over and I began to climb upwards, using heads, limbs, and torsos as hand- and footholds in a slippery ascent that seemed to go on forever, and now describing it I know somehow that air and breath were not a concern, for surely enough time had lapsed that I would be dead and drowned if that were to be my fate.  Finally my head rose above the water and as it did so the massive pile of forms beneath me receded, as if the water were still rising as I was carried continually further aloft.

I looked around and saw no hint of land in any direction and knew as I had since seeing that wall of water that I was in no doubt doomed.  I looked down at my limbs as I tread water and began to wonder why I bothered, why I didn't just let myself fall into the depths of fate that there surely was no escape from.  But then from behind and far below came a massive shadow, moving ponderously forward, with no discerned edge on either side for it was so large, and suddenly I was thrust into the midst of a foundational terror that had laid deep within me for all of my existence, that of being a tiny speck afloat atop an infinite ocean with some giant below me, to whom I was insignificant and powerless to prevent whatever whim may strike its fancy.  And so the dull sense of doom was shocked through with a visceral terror that tore at my senses and forced me into vivid life.  Finally I saw the end of it pass and continue on, though I was no less afraid.

And why would I be, since in a short time it came back again and I began a loud and seemingly endless scream as it grew darker, for no doubt it was rising to me.  Eventually I saw the mottled and cavernous flesh upon its head and then the beak-like jaws with a single fang upon both top and bottom, slowly opening and closing as it came closer and closer.  I had the odd feeling when I saw it that I had known it was coming for me from the time I first beheld the sea.  The mouth then clasped me and I felt as though my heart burst, yet I was not rent, I was not crushed, but instead held there as the monster dove again into the unending sea.

Again breath did not seem a concern for me as the interminable descent continued until I could see some detail before me, some mass of structure set apart from the darkness.  As we came closer I saw that it was a cliff, and closer still I saw the house again, still intact upon that edge and my body rushed to those windows that were not there and the beast seemed intent on smashing through the whole thing and I could not withstand it anymore.

The next that I knew I was lying on the floor of the living room.  I will not say that I awoke for I swear that was not the case.  However, the house was as it had been before, there was no water except that which was soaking me to the bone from the clothes that I wore.  I immediately scrambled to my feet, ran to the door, grabbed my bag and headed for my car.  After placing my bag inside I strangely was able to think of placing the house key in the lockbox as instructed by the rental agreement.  I then drove my car, my wet clothes now soaking the seat, as quickly as I dared back to my home where I attempted to recuperate over the course of several days.

Epilogue

I met my friend not long after at a tavern to put and end to to the whole thing in both of our minds.  He had by then come to the conclusion with the help of friends that he had simply had a mental fit that caused him a great distress brought about by some personal pressure.  As he said this he looked at me for confirmation, as if he was only partly sure that it was indeed the case.  I assured him it was for I had seen nothing of interest myself while I was there.  How I was able to convince him of this so easily was beyond me, for I am sure that there was no way for me to fully conceal what was roiling below the surface of my demeanor, but he accepted my word and seemed relieved of it.  

Now some may think me cruel for this, but I tend to think of it as a kindness.  Yes, my friend would now be plagued with the idea that his mental state was tenuous and that at some point in the future he might fall again to such an attack, but is this not better than what I myself must suffer?  For he is to never realize that there are things in this world that go far beyond the standards of our subjective existence, things that come at us without warning and far beyond our depth of understanding that can rend us apart, destroy our fragile understanding of ourselves and the shallow ideas that we hold of where we reside.

Yes, it is better for my friend that he not carry this realization around with him as I must, and that to the grave, in fact.

The Haunted House (pt. 12)

I had left the lights off in hopes of better enticement for the phenomenon sought yet the strong moonlight above the clouds had prevented me from being lost in complete darkness.  I'm not really sure how it was that I lasted from sunset to the hour of midnight, it was all somewhat like a dream, though I must assure the reader that what came next was by no means a dream.

Shortly after I had verified the time it began.  First was a sudden and very odd breeze upon my person, as if the windows had disappeared altogether, a breeze that smelled of the ocean beyond and was weirdly warm like some attempted comfort from a long dead sanctuary.  I had barely been able to absorb this change when I noticed that upon that wind I heard something which became louder as I focused upon it, a type of clomping upon the earth which turned my gaze to the southwest corner of the living room from which it seemed to emanate.  The volume continued to rise until through the wall emerged a white, glowing mass that resolved itself into the head of a horse which continued into the room to reveal its entirety of form:  a large horse, saddled, moving unflinchingly through the corner of the house.  Though amazed and terrified I was able to note that in one of the stirrups was a foot, leading to a leg, and eventually revealed as the full body of a person being dragged along the ground, just as white and luminant as the animal.  Slowly the horse pulled its burden first through the westward wall and then exited through the southern when only the body was seen until it too eventually disappeared beyond the wall.

At the very moment that it was gone another white and glowing form suddenly appeared at the top of the loft and fell to the floor.  Though stunned I was struggling to rise to see what it was when I was beset by the knowledge that it was a small child in a long nightshirt, the type that would be worn to bed in times past.  A sickness was added to my terror, yet this was not the last of it. Another, identical form appeared in the same spot at the top of the steps and also fell as the first, this one atop that other prostrate body, and as soon as it had another and another came until there was a mound of bodies piled nearly five feet into the air of countless small forms all simulating a fatal fall from the loft above.

My terror giving way to more fascination, this is when I was able to finally rise from where I had sat rigid on that couch, attempting to move closer to what I was seeing to try to reach out and test its veracity when something that had been happening finally caught my attention, the increasing roar from the ocean and the breeze still blowing upon me.  My head turned with my realization and I saw beyond the windows, beyond the cliff edge at the back of the property a massive wall of water, still far off but moving rapidly inland, so high that the top was hidden behind the ceiling of the living room.  Again I was frozen as I watched and heard the unbelievable approach of what had to be my doom.

The Haunted House (pt. 11)

This latest discovery did not deter me in the least in regards to the pursuit of whatever it was that lurked behind all of these odd doings.  In fact, I would say that my ire was raised a bit and I began to take things a little more personally.  I admit that I had hopes that I would return to my friend with nothing to report and nothing to back up his own reaction to the place, but now I felt that I must know where it all was coming from, being as how I knew that there was something there after all.

The first thing that I then did was to pack my bag and have it ready near the door.  I had a feeling that I might need to exit hastily and I did not want to ever have to even consider returning for something that I might leave behind in haste.  I then settled into the couch again with the knowledge that I would likely be parked there for a long while.  I occasionally looked out the windows at the beautiful day passing by with loathing, for there was no chance I would partake, being that I was now locked into the course I could no longer deny and it was such a contrast to what I saw out there that the ironic juxtaposition made me all the more angry, both at myself for being a fool on a fool's errand and at the house or whatever it was that had vexed my friend and now was toying sadistically with myself.

Over time I read a great deal, drank many caffeinated beverages, and when beset by hunger finally gave in to cooking the pizza that I had brought, though my mind did not seem to want it, yet it was my gut that won out.  It was a hard battle.  Eventually there took place a wondrous sunset that seemed so very mocking in its brilliance and as the darkness encroached upon the horizon I felt that time was finally progressing after having been frozen in all of that sunlight throughout the day.  I felt that I had finally entered the long hallway that would bring me to the threshold of what it was I was now expecting.

However, it was still a long time before the real experience began.  It seems somewhat foolish now but I never thought of how all of those stories had laid such significance at the hour of midnight, but it was apt that shortly upon the striking of that hour I was taken to the depths of what many would call hell.