This is late news, but I am now a proud uncle. That’s right, my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on New Years! That’s right, she is a New Years baby. I feel so proud of this, I have always wanted to be an uncle and now I have that chance. Just call me “Uncle Jim”!
Saw The New Cloverfield Trailer!
I’m honestly surprised they are not only making a new Cloverfield, but that they kept it so hidden. J.J. Abrams is the master of keeping his projects hidden until the last possible second. Only two months and we have a brand new Cloverfield, that is such a surprise, honestly. I’m not even a Cloverfield fan, but I love drama films and thrillers so this will hopefully be more my thing than the original. The only real problem I see with this film is that it’s a directorial debut, and sometimes debuts don’t always work out that great. However, everyone has to get their start somewhere. Who knows, maybe this director will prove himself to be legendary? All the same, I am excited for this new Cloverfield film.
Samuel Ash And The Blades Of Ginga Chapter 1
Chapter 1: The Nervous Young Man And The General
Author’s Note: This is the first chapter, but I reccomend reading the introduction as it does provide some of the lore I have built up around this world. Parts of the introduction will play a much larger part in the story later on. Something to note is that the character of Rona was something I came up with a sort of “Anti-Female Protagonist”. I get so tired of every female lead in every source of media being an impossibly beautiful young woman. I pictured Rona as a tough hard-headed woman with a large muscular physique, the opposite of what you would expect from a female lead.
It was a cold day inside the space colony known as “Ginga”. The weather itself was artificially created, used to emulate the seasons of the earth. It was a reminder to the humans who lived there, a reminder of the planet they loved and lost. On this cold windy day, one human made his way through the virtually created weather towards a large building in the middle of the colony. This young man was no ordinary being, for there something inside him that some would consider makes him inferior. However, this one thing was something that defined this boy and would empower him greatly. He just didn’t realize it yet.
The young wore a thick red coat along with a blue scarf and a matching blue Canadian toque. He also wore a pair of black pants and white shoes. His attire didn’t scream formal, despite the fact that he was destined for a formal meeting. The young man entered inside the building that belonged to the Ginga Military Base. You see, this young man was chosen as a candidate to pilot a Blade Of Ginga. Very few humans and non-humans are chosen for this prestigious honor. So few are chosen that information about The Blades in this day and age was scarce to many of the inhabitants.
Even the young man was in the dark on a lot of subjects when it came to The Blades. Still, he had come there for a reason and he wasn’t about to say no just because of a lack of info. Once the man entered inside the building, he removed his toque and unbuttoned his coat. Upon removing his hat, the young matted his shaggy black hair. He tried his best to comb his mangy mess of a hairstyle downwards, yet it was an uphill battle for him. Each attempt to mat down his hair was met by resistance, causing more and more of his hair to pop up with each attempt to keep it controlled. The man just decided to ignore it for now and made his way to the front desk.
Sitting at the desk was a young female attendant who was busy typing away on her computer. The young man made his way towards the desk where the attendant was sitting. As soon as he was within range, the woman’s head perked up and she took notice of him. “Why, hello there!” She said with a friendly demeanor. This made the man start to sweat as he bashfully avoided eye-contact. He was nervous when talking to pretty much anyone he had never met before. “H-H-Hi, I’m Samuel Ash. I’m here to meet with General Williams.” The woman looked at Samuel in disbelief. Why wasn’t he making eye-contact with her? Was he really that nervous? She had a feeling that there was something more to this boy, what he exhibited was a behavior a little more odd than just bad manners and nervousness. Still, she smiled all the same and picked up the phone at her desk. The woman took her index finger and pressed it against the phone numbers so hard that it nearly caused paint to peel off of her manicured nails. “Sir, Samuel is here to see you. Uh-huh, I’ll send him right up.” The woman then hung up the phone and put it back. “The general will see you now.” Samuel smiled and nodded without saying anything.
The boy awkwardly shuffled towards the elevator. The whole time he was walking there, he made it his goal not to look at anyone he passed by. He made it his goal not to talk to anyone he didn’t need to on his first day. He walked with his eyes trained straight ahead as he didn’t want to talk to anyone. Samuel was nervous when talking to people, always afraid of being judged for who he is and what he was. Samuel wasn’t like everyone else and he was afraid that revelation would weaken people’s perception of him.
Samuel entered the elevator and rode it all the way up to the 22nd floor. He nervously shook in the elevator as the doors opened. He slowly scuttled out of the elevator and nervously shuffled down the hallway. He made his way towards General William’s war room. Once he reached the large metallic doors, he took a deep breath. He then proceeded to take one step forward as the two mechanical doors slip open. Samuel entered inside the room and took a look around. The walls were covered in fancy blue wallpaper and the fabric on the carpet was expertly woven. Truly, this was a room with class!
As Samuel marveled at the wonderfully decorated room, he almost failed to notice two people in the room with them. One of them was a blue translucent hologram of a man wearing a blue officer’s uniform. The hologram undoubtedly belong to General Lance Williams. He sported a black scurry beard and possessed a rather large nose. One being was a woman, large and muscular. She sported a blonde pigtail and had a bit of an overbite. She wore jeans as well as sporting a black top. She looked at the scrawny 19 year old with absolute dismay. “This is our new recruit? He looks rather weak to me.” Said the mannish woman in a fairly deep voice. Samuel gulped as he looked up at the rather brutish-looking woman. He was afraid that mannish woman would beat him up!
The General decided to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation and piped in. “Excuse me, Rona, but this young man is our newest pilot recruit. He had surpassed the practice tests for Blade piloting and has some of the highest scores in years!” Exclaimed the holographic man with a rather large amount of enthusiasm. Samuel stared at the holographic man and stared at him. Samuel memorized his movements and the way he spoke. Nothing about it was natural, it was almost odd in a way. Samuel had become an expert of analyzing or over-analyzing people’s movements as he used to make many awkward movements as well. It didn’t take too long for Samuel to piece together what the general actually was. Samuel wasn’t paying attention to the words of the general and instead was uncovering who the general actually was. After listening to the general talk, Samuel opened his mouth to speak. “You’re not human, are you? Could you be an AI, perhaps?” Rona’s mouth nearly dropped to the floor as if the general not being real was some kind of revelation to her. It wasn’t, she was more surprised with his ability to notice the general’s true state of being outright.
The holographic general couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. “I see I have not chosen incorrectly. Samuel, this may or may not come as a shock to you, but you the first person to correctly guess that I was an AI upon first impressions. It usually takes a person to week to come to that realization, yet you were somehow to pick up on my movement and speech patterns rather quickly. The real General Williams has long since passed away, I am but a virtual construct of his inner-mind. You were able to see through my guise quite easily, I applaud you for such an act!” Samuel nervously chuckled as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “It was a lucky guess and nothing more, trust me!” Rona stuck her tongue out at the young man. “You’re right, it was a lucky guess. However, we Blade pilots don’t rely on pure luck alone. If that’s all you’ll bring to this team then I suggest you walk out the door.” The muscular woman said as she eyed Samuel. The young man sweat profusely as the large masculine female eyed him like a slab of steak. Samuel refused to return her glance, once again choosing not make eye-contact with the person he was talking to.
There interaction was cut short when the AI shouted at Rona. “I suggest you be nice to our new recruit, Rona! Let’s not forget you were rather nervous when you were first brought here as well.” Rona sighed and turned to face the AI. “That’s true, but this kid is so green that he’s practically foliage! He doesn’t even make proper eye-contact, he’d be a terrible soldier. I doubt he can help us fight “The One True Existence”. Those guys would tear him apart and turn him inside out.” Said Rona as she crossed her arms. “That remains to be seen, Rona. For now though, I politely ask that you leave as I feel you’re making Sam rather nervous.” Rona frowned and walked towards the exit. Before leaving, she turned her head to face Sam. “I hope you prove to not be a liability, kid. I don’t need unnecessary obstacles.” And with that, Rona left the room leaving Sam alone with Williams.
Williams cleared his virtual throat as a look utter dismay formed across his face. “My apologies for Rona’s behavior. You see, she doesn’t always understand that other people can sometimes be a bit… Different. I feel that within time, she can learn to appreciate you once you prove yourself.” Samuel smiled slightly as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “Yeah, I hope so too. I don’t like being enemies with people I just met.” Williams nodded in response, “It’s not her you need to worry about. The real enemy is out in the vastness of space. Rona poses no threat to you, however her behavior does bring up an interesting question. It’s a question I ask many soldiers: Why are you here, and what are you fighting for?” Samuel gulped, he knew the answer to this question yet he didn’t know how to phrase. “W-Well, I…” His nervous demeanor returned with a passion. Samuel paced awkwardly back and forth not knowing exactly how to respond to such a blunt question. After a minute of pacing, he decided to tell the general what he needed to know. He needed to explain the sole reason had had wanted to become a Blade pilot. He needed to know the truth behind his lineage, whether the information tears him apart or not.
Favorite Kamen Rider Series
I’ve recently been watching through Kamen Rider Ghost and have been enjoying what I’ve seen of it so far. It got me thinking of what Kamen Rider series I consider my favorite. And that’s really a tough choice considering there are 25 series or so Kamen Rider series and a lot of them are pretty dang good. Honestly though, my favorite has to be 2008’s Kamen Rider Kiva.
It’s a show that crosses vampire hunters with superheroes and focuses on two lineages of people dedicated to protecting the world from a deadly threat known as “Fangires”. The main character is Kamen Rider Kiva AKA Wateru Kurenai. It’s up to this young man to hold back the menage, while working alongside his friends and a group of Fangire hunters. It’s a wicker awesome show with an amazing theme song. I actually still watch parts of the series every time Halloween rolls around, it’s really that good. I honestly reccomend it if you’re one of those fans of vampire of Halloween-type shows.
Been Playing Some Pillars Of Eternity
Just this Christmas I recieved a gift from my sister and brother-in-law, it was Pillars Of Eternity for PC. I’ve been meaning to get my hands on this game all year and it was so satisfying to finally get to play it. It’s such a unique experience and it feels so much like those classic RPGs I grew up with.
I genuinely enjoyed the time I have spent with the game so far. In said game, you play as a character gifted with a special ability to see the spirits of the departed and essentially talk to dead people. You choose from 11 different classes that are all unique from each other and set off on your quest. It’s a fun game that could fundamentally take you hours to fully complete. I wholeheartedly reccomend this game if you enjoy old-school RPG experiences. I had a blast with it and if you’re anything like me, I’m sure you will too!
Syrup With A Side Of Writing 