Hello, World!
Best thing about driving to the beach? The Beach!
This time, once again, in VA Beach. It was a horrible long drive. One with lots if traffic in DC, then in VA. 95 and 284 was all traffic. But chilling on the sand at the end of the day was worth it.
First things first, these rambling posts were inspired by watching the summer anime series, High School of the Dead. The first episode is standard zombie fare: the dreaded zombie outbreak with no explanation as to its cause. A school in Japan is where the mayhem takes place with students being attacked and attacking alike. The zombie hoard of recently killed students eating the remaining living students. Lots of blood flying in this one. I watched the episode with pleasure. Its fanservice was stupid fun, but it kept me wondering about zombie attacks and our reactions and responses to them.
Zombies (the monsters, the stories, and the movies) don't do too much for me. The George A. Romero, slow zombies aren't too frightening. The fast twitch, neu zombies do, but they are not what I'll be discussing today. I can't believe in fast zombies. The dead, because of rigor mortis, shouldn't move very fast. Plus, fast zombies are even more scarier. I just don't want to deal with them.
Why is it that in dealing with zombies the major problem arises from stupid mistakes of the survivors? "Don't open the door!" "Don't go out and save her!" "Don't let him in! He's infected!" Your chance of survival is directly proportional to doing common sense stuff and keeping away from them. I guess that's why the Zombie survival book was a big hit. It made explicit the common sense things to do in order to avoid death when the dead rise.
In the anime, the kids did the stupid things to die. If you do the stupid things, you'll die. The only way to live is to not do the stupid things.
And that's my problem with zombies. Through proper, rational thought, you should survive. Keep your wits about you, and you should live. By being sentient, you should live. Avoid being stupid. You'll be dead. Smart equals living. Dumb equals dead. Your intelligence will get you through the zombie infestation. It's that easy.
That said, if it's fast zombies, all bets are off.
I'm just about to make the change. I think it may help reduce repetitive stress disorders from using the mouse. It costs $69 plus state taxes and shipping charges. I'm buying it, as long as I don't have to go to the Apple store.
I like all things creepy by which I mean mainly ghostly. A spectre haunts my imagination. Ghosts, to me, are a million times cooler than any vampire, werewolf, or zombie. It's because I can't really know if they aren't real or not. It's because the shades and spirits spring from my own imagination.
I wonder why I like ghost stories so much. In my own library, I have several compilations of ghost stories. Plenty of old Victorian frights, some smattering of modern spooks, and plenty of early twentieth century ghosts. Authors as great as HG Wells, Mark Twain, and Ambrose Bierce have creepy stories. They fill several books with some scary things. These books' spines are well worn and plenty of pages are dog-eared.
One of my favorites is from the Twilight Zone television show. In this book, there's the favorite "House on the Square" story. We tell this story all the time. I think it has to be a favorite just because of how it was introduced to me. The Twilight Zone book isn't mine. It's my older brother's. One night a long time ago in the house on Cedarhurst, the story kept him from sleeping, so naturally, he comes into my room to read it aloud. It's about ghost hunters debunking haunted places. One ghost hunter is a believer. The other is a skeptic. My brother then focuses on the central detail of the story -- the Penang lawyer. It was one of the ghost hunters weapons, but was used in the house on the square to signal the arrival of danger. *KNOCK* went the Penang lawyer. *KNOCK* *KNOCK* again. After finishing the story, my brother went back to his room. *KNOCK* across the wall separating us. Ha-ha very funny, but very creepy as well. From that moment, I had to read the book, and since it is a favorite to look for some creepy stories.
There are plenty other ghost stories I love -- "The Shadow in the Corner," "The Judge's House," "The Red Room." All are frightening enough to have me leave the lights on before I close my eyes to sleep. I like the goose bumps I get from reading them. I like the hair on my neck to raise as I flip the page. I like that cold chill down the spine wondering if that creaking out in the hall is the house settling. I like ghost stories.
Labels: nendoroid, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, want
Labels: Baltimore Orioles, baseball, Camden Yards, winners
Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter), Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure
Labels: qotd
Yup.
It woke me up from one of my quirky dreams.
I was lying asleep on my stomach. I felt some shaking. I thought it was a heart attack, but then I realized that it must be an earthquake. I felt the trembling on my chest and barely heard the shaking in the house. At that early time in the morning, I thought that I was hallucinating and that it was just a dream. It was real.
So that's what earthshaking means.
Labels: dreams, get me out of here, hunh?
Labels: music break, time sink
Labels: hunh?, I'm a fool, movies, thoughts
Labels: I am me, mmm, so kawaii, zettai ryouiki
Labels: K-ON, music break
Labels: Bakuman, go there now, manga
Labels: automotive
Labels: independence
Labels: Baltimore Orioles, baseball, Camden Yards
Labels: hmm, just asking
