Encounter

The day is beautiful.

A soft wintry breeze occasionally blows on my face. It refreshes the ambiance, urging me to take deeps breaths. As I exhale I can observe my breath unfurl then slowly rise before another gust of crisp clear wind sweeps it away. I sit for a few moments and watch my breath appear, disappear and reappear. Every exhalation is nearly identical to the last.

I turn my attention skyward. There are no clouds lingering; the sun hangs lonely above me to the left. The warmth from his light creates a pleasant balance with the brisk biting breeze.

My mood is calm, content and unnerved. I hope she arrives soon.

I saw her for the first time just two weeks ago at this same location. I had a troubling day at work and decided I needed to clear my head. I took my lunch early, grabbed a book that I had just started reading a few days earlier and drove off looking for a quiet place to read. I came across a small park just half a mile from the office. It was empty when I arrived and had a simple setup. I walked around until I found a place to settle. A solid white picnic table was somewhat hidden from the rest of the park and far enough from the main street so that most of the noise from traffic could be drowned out by the sound of the wind rustling the leaves on the trees. I sat down on the bench by the table and immersed myself in my reading.

I'm not sure when she got there. In fact, I can't even be sure if she got there before or after I did. I didn't notice her until after I had been reading for thirty minutes. I had taken my eyes off my book so that I could check the time and confirm how much longer I had before heading back to work. I took my eyes off the book, glanced at my watch and calculated how much time I had left. As I tried to figure out if I should start the next chapter I began looking around me. It was then that I saw her sitting in the shade of a pine tree no more than fifteen feet to the right of where I sat at the table.

She sat on the grass distractedly toying with her hair with one hand and holding up a book with the other. I observed her intently and was fascinated and excited to be able to watch her, knowing that she was so absorbed in her book that she wouldn't notice. Every time she folded over a page she would stop playing with her hair, bite her lower lip and begin turning the page before being done with the last few words. I could tell because she would turn the pages very slowly at first and once finished with the last sentence abruptly fold over the page. She would then bring her hand back up to her hair and resume twirling the exact same strand of hair.

It suffices to state that she was very pretty. Fair skin, thin rose colored lips. Flowing light brown hair resting on her shoulders. Her eyes were almond shaped and colored. There was an air of elegance to her posture. But I was most attracted to her movements. She looked so gentle.

I wanted to walk over and talk to her. I wanted to touch her hand, smell the aroma of her hair and hear her voice. I wanted to know what book she was reading and what she thought of it. I wanted to find out what her name was. But I also didn't want to disturb her peace. I was thrilled by her character and movements and fought the urge to interrupt her charm.

But at last, it was time to head back. As I shifted my weight to stand up my movement alerted her and she looked up and smiled. She had a warm gentle smile and it stunned me. I smiled back and then realized that I had paused and forgot that I was leaving. I think she may have realized it because her smile widened for an instant becoming even brighter. She blushed lightly before turning her attention back to the book.

Now here I am two weeks later sitting on the same picnic table. I'm hoping to see her again. I want to introduce myself this time. I just hope I'm not too mesmerized by her again or I may end up unable to approach her.

/fiction

Blackwater

Blackwater gets banned.

Right after we FINALLY decide to bring home 'some' troops.

So let me guess. We'll be having to send troops to do the job of that these private contractors were doing?

But wait!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20070918/cm_thenation/15233815

"Who says? The occupying Americans. The Coalition Provisional Authority issued a "law" when they supposedly handed over sovereignty to Iraq--Order No. 17--that gave Blackwater and other US contractors immunity from Iraqi law. How clever of the American pro-consul."

So... if they are immune, how are they being prosecuted (those involved in the attack that started this scandal)?

This is a mess. Lets see what happens.

Wow to Torrents

So today I did a whole bunch of research on how to get the most out of my torrent downloads and I have to admit it was worth it. I learned to set up my Port Forwarding and my average download/upload speeds have increased tenfold. I'm stoked!

It Confounds Me

... how old fashioned people can be.

Seriously..

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSEIC47086020070904

An airline sacrifices two goats to please a sky god so that their air planes won't crash.

Ridiculous. How is this possible?

:-(

Just thought I'd share. There's one in particular that I was looking for from Time Magazine but couldn't find. I'll add it later if I do.













I should cite sources but I kind of saved these up over a period of about 8 months.... so shit. Please don't sue me.

Arctic

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4354036.stm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/08/070823-arctic-oil.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territorial_claims_in_the_Arctic


I saw some articles regarding this a few weeks ago. The articles mainly discussed which countries would have the most reasonable claims for the region (Canada, Russia, and Denmark). But as of today, after seeing the above articles, I'm starting to think that the issue is of much greater magnitude than I had previously fathomed.

First of all, I'd like to make a prominent exhibition of my disgust with the opportunistic nature of our worlds nations. Since I first became well aware of the issue of global warming I have always considered it a monumental issue. One not to be ignored. I have always been critical of the fact that our country has not done all it can to contribute to the solution (Including it's failure to agree to the Kyoto Protocol). As a result (and no, I'm not pinning the issue solely on the US) of the failure by our entire planet to prevent global warming from reaching such extremes, polar ice caps in the Arctic. Consequently, countries around the world are scrambling to find some sort of connection to the region so that they may lay claims to it and with it whatever natural resources may be found there.

Similar to the technique of licking or touching food I used a toddler to lay claims to the last cookie in the cookie jar or possibly the last slice of pizza, Russia has already sent a submarine to plant a capsule containing it's flag at the seabed of the North Pole. Most entertaining of all is the fact that Russia dumped tons of nuclear waste in the Arctic Ocean years ago. If they do end up annexing the region I hope they clean it up well. Denmark has taken no physical action to stake their claim but has vocalized it. Last, Canada is creating two new military bases in the Arctic to protect it's claims as well as budgeting Roughly 5.25 Canadian Dollars for eight icebreakers to map out the region.

One of the articles calls the Arctic the new Saudi Arabia. Let's hope not. If only so much effort were put forth to protect natural resources rather than for exploiting them, our world would be a far better place.

Copy Paste the ? Mark Below then Type something and it will come out backwards...

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