Night Visitor

          Author's note: Below is a short story I had written as a writing exercise for the 2010 East Texas Writing Project. It is by no means my best work (as I said, it was only an exercise), but for some reason I felt like sharing today. And in case if anyone wonders: yes, it is a true story. Enjoy!

NIGHT VISITOR

          It was another Saturday night—another trip to Mercer Bayou. Taking out Jason’s boat and having a campfire had become common practice over the past few months. I learned to look forward to these trips, offering relief, a kind of sanctuary, from our everyday problems.

Route 66 Journal - Day 3

7:42 a.m.

Red Rock Canyon State Park

I was awakened by the warden, coming to collect the camping fee—a bit sooner than I expected, but I did not really mind. Despite the early hour, the temperature had already begun to climb, slowly rendering the inside of my polyester tent uninhabitable.

I washed up and had a quick breakfast, then broke camp and went on to explore Red Rock Canyon State Park before heading out to find a mechanic. The tour, however, did not last as long as I initially thought it would. While the park was nice—a network of small fields nestled at the foot of red cliffs—there was really not much to see. It was more of a weekend destination for families than the adventurous wild I was looking for.

Route 66 Journal - Day 2

 
10:45 a.m.

After leaving the motel, I spent the rest of the morning looking around in downtown Shawnee. Though not too large, the city center had a pleasant atmosphere. Quite a few newly restored buildings and streets paved with bricks stood as mementoes of the locals’ efforts in trying to restore the traditional look of their historic district. Work still had to be done in the future of course, but it was nice to see a reasonably well kept Southern downtown for a change.

Nature's Glory: Sierra Nevada

Below is a short film I made about my visit to the Sequoia National Park in July, 2010. Enjoy!

Route 66 Journal - Day 1

2:25 p.m.

The iron horse

After a morning of last minute errands and goodbyes, I was finally able to hit the road, a moment I had been waiting for a long time. Going down on Route 66 had been a fascination of mine for as long as I can remember, but I never had the time or the money to do something about it. With school at its inevitable end, however, the summer of 2010 had finally provided me with the much sought opportunity. Although I still lacked the necessary funding for a truly extravagant trip, it did not stop me from leaving. In fact, my limited funds actually went nicely with my plan: I wanted to experience the Mother Road like a modern day nomad, leaving behind the comforts and security of everyday life as much as possible. I wanted an adventure!

The Run

Author's note: This piece was originally a writing exercise at the 2010 National Writing Project. But I liked the idea and eventually developed it into a short story. Since then, it made its way into the Writing Project’s anthology and received favorable responses.

While the story is based on the game, Halo 3, I tried to make it as accessible to readers who are not familiar with the series--or even with video games--as possible. For that reason, aside from a few dialogues, the story has no specific references to the Halo universe. Nevertheless, fans of the series will no doubt find this writing familiar in many ways.

Mass Effect Redemption Review

It does not always give me a good feeling when I see a video game franchise grow and migrate to other mediums. Too many film adaptations, for instance, had turned out to be crappy on the big screen, ruining an otherwise great game universe. Fortunately, not everything is bad, and there are quite a few good adaptations out there. Besides books, I also enjoy video game comics quite a bit. Though, similarly to movies, they tend to fluctuate greatly, there are some really good ones—such as Dead Space, a true masterpiece from award winning artist Ben Templesmith. Recently, this small group of good video game comics grew with a new arrival: Mass Effect Redemption.

Aiptek AHD - H12 Test

The saying “you get what you paid for” describes Aiptek’s latest digital camcorder perfectly. I purchased the AHD - H12 during Memorial Day weekend for the reasonable amount of $200. Even though I had my suspicion that, for this price, the image quality cannot be too good, I went ahead and purchased it anyway. A full HD video camera for this price was just too darn good to let it get away. I figured, if I can get a decent 720p quality out of 1080p, it was already worth it!

Alan Wake Book Review

Before I begin, I have to confess: I have not yet played Alan Wake. Even though I am very interested in this latest Xbox classic, I am an old fashioned guy and not a big fan of downloadable content; something that I am sure Alan Wake will receive plenty of in the future. As much as I would love pick up the controller and get lost in the chilling world of Alan Wake, I decided to wait for a game-of-the-year edition, which hopefully will contain all the DLCs. Nevertheless, not playing the game did not stop me from dwelling into the book based on the video game and getting a little taste of what millions of players are experiencing on the TV screens.

World's Funniest Test Answers?

Well, perhaps. They are definitely funny though... :D