My Biggest Fear?

Me? What do I fear? I suppose it would have to be death; not fufilling any of my life goals, never finding love or a person who truly liked me for who I was, letting my family down, yeah. I guess that’s something reasonable. But the thing is, I used to have this dreadful fear. They say that in order to get over your fears, you must face them. So, how did I overcome mine? Well, it all just happened so fast. The therapist, my time at the hospital, my time recooping at home and finding my purpose.

Perhaps, the truth is that I wanted to live my life with a purpose instead of being fearful of disappointing anyone. And my way to that was to ask for help. Although at the time, my perferred method of treatment wasn’t to be in a place I didn’t think I belonged, but it helped immensely. I did gain the skills, knowledge and courage to admit my fears and make a plan to overcome them, to become my own person and not to be dominated by the things that scared me.

It was amazing how clear and beautiful the world could be when I wasn’t looking through dark and depressing lens. Discovering things that I enjoyed and a person who truly likes me for who I am has also been a very pleasant reward for getting over that hurdle. It’s truly amazing how much a person can hold themselves back when they don’t see any way out or a way to get around their fears. But there’s always a way. Don’t give up and keep fighting. That is the way to find happiness and success.

Who Inspires You

The one person who inspires me the most, to work hard and do my very best every single day is my girlfriend. We met a little more than a year ago and have been talking non-stop since the day we met day-by-day. She gives me courage to fight and to never give up, strength to alway get up when I’m knocked down, pacience when I’m angry or frustrated with life itself and love; always letting me know that no matter how bad things may get, that everything is going to work out all right. Everyday, it’s always incredible with her as I feel that I’m constantly learning new things about her, myself and life.

Everyday, she always amazes me. She is so passionate and genuine in every task she does or in every word she says, she always gives it her all and never let’s anyone try to stop her from reaching her goals. She is an Angel sent from above and she truly bring the best out in me. I feel that with her, I can do better than the day before and accomplish much more, day-by-day. It’s because of her, that I am the man who I am today. I know that no matter what, I can accomplish great and amazing things!

One Step Closer to Solving the Evidence Crisis

I wanted to build off the evidence that cypherpunk106 and katie temple had found about Millard Rausch a.k.a Jim Groom.  After exploring Jim Groom’s Social Media account Twitter.  It looks to be that Jim Groom has escaped a mental asylum and is now using Reclaim Hosting as a front to infect those who do not heed his directions.

I find it ironic that a day or two after his meeting with our beloved Martha Burtis, her hat comes up missing and she miraculously becomes sick.  With today’s modern medicine and healthcare how does one stay sick going on roughly 6 weeks now, unless their DNA is being manipulated by an individual such as Millard Rausch a.k.a Jim Groom.  I feel that Martha Burtis’s hat is being held by Jim Groom until we as a group cease and desist our class functions.  After re-reading the CDE memo I feel that Martha is infected with this virus.

I feel that Martha has exhibit 4 out of these 5 symptoms.  Symptom #1 she is becoming more and more transparent. Symptom #2 she states she sees things in the room with her during her videos I think these are observances only visible to her. Symptom #3  Cravings for non-nutritional comestibles such as the liquid beverage when she was in secret bunker #2.  Symptom #5 activation of previously undetected AI, her voice changes on a whim at times I think this is part of the infection taking over her body.

 

Symptom #1 Sudden Onset of anatomical anomalies

Symptom # 3 Cravings for non-nutritional comestibles

 

Symptom #5 Neural Transformations

Is it a coincidence that Martha’s hat is missing or that she has been sick for so long, I think not. Now that we have uncovered Millard Rausch’s true Identity I hope that we as a group, can combine our evidence to get to the bottom of this mystery and return the hat to it’s rightful owner Martha.

Christina Eliopolis’s Bucket List

 

That Bucket List Though (2 STARS): Create a bucket list for at least one character from your novel.

Pre-war, Christina Eliopolis was an FA-22 Raptor pilot, one of the most advance pieces of tech ever to tickle the clouds. And when fighting zombies, it amounted to little more than buyer’s remorse.  Eliopolis’s main mission went from winning wars to airborne resupply.  The Air Force with the help of Christina Elipoilis dropped in supplies, so they could keep on keeping on. Success meant dropping in anything from medicine, food, resources, machines, and sometimes even people.  While in the bathroom—portable chempot truth be told— she felt a jolt as if God’s boot just kicked the back of their plane off. The air pressure sucked Eliopolis out the back. She pulled her chute and noticed another chute made it out in time. She tried the radio but got nothing. That was the worst of it for her, just hanging in the air, helpless and useless. Thankfully, the Air Force had given her some training for this type of situation at the Willow Creek Escape and Evade program. Also, Eliopolis was more than use to occupying hostile territory. This was a little excerpt from the Book World War Z setting the scene for what was taking place.

  1. Find out what brought down the plane.
  2. Finding out if “Mets” was a figment of her imagination.
  3. If not an imagination, Christina Eliopolis wants to know where she can find “Mets” so she can thank her, for helping her get to safety.
  4. Find the reminents of her downed plane
  5. Become a skywatcher, to help others, like she was helped that day.

The “Real” Ending of “California”

I decided to complete the alternative ending assignment for my novel, California, because I finished the book with a need for more. I am going to tell the original ending since most of the class did not choose this book, so there will obviously be spoilers!

The Original:

They didn’t discuss his long hours. Or the talking-with-the-shower-running. Or how tightly he held her at night, arms straining to reach across her belly. On some days, there was a furtiveness to his movements, the way he looked left, then right, as he approached the house, the way, when one of Toni’s messengers came with new Correspondence, he let out an unnatural guffaw. “Well, here you are!” he’d say, like someone’s pathetic uncle. On other days, he acted so smooth and comfortable here that the world settled around them like water, filling the empty space. On smooth days, it was as if they’d always lived this life.

If at other times, things felt a little off, so be it. If something seemed wrong, if it seemed like he had something up his sleeve, she could ignore it. Whatever her husband had agreed to, he had the best interests of their family in mind.

Her job was not to ask any questions. She and the child, they would stay here.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said now, coming toward her.

Julie stood up to kiss her husband. “Good morning, Gray,” she said.”


I had a few problems with this ending. For those who have not read this book, Frida and Cal were living together in the wilderness post-apocalypse for a long period of time. They eventually ran into another family, who died, and they discovered an entire colony of people that was being led by Frida’s brother, who they all thought had died. This colony had no children or babies, and Frida revealed her new pregnancy to everyone before her brother and husband had wanted her to, causing them to be violently removed. However, her brother found them a place to live in a new community that is much more technological advanced, but they had to change their names, she is now expected to conform to gender norms, and they are constantly being monitored.

This was not ending I had wanted, and I was frustrated that the novel ended with sudden name changes. Here is my new (and I think improved) ending:

Alternative Ending:

Frida and Cal lived in the Community for several weeks, having nightly discussions with the shower running so as not to be heard. Cal struggled to reach his arms around Frida’s stomach. Her due date is only two weeks away.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Frida said suddenly as they were lying in bed.

Cal sat up suddenly, and ushered her to the bathroom, where he turned on the shower. “What do you mean you can’t do this?” Cal said. “This is the only place we’re safe. You know they won’t let us back on the land.”

Frida looked down. “I know we aren’t safe there, but we were fine on our own for years. How can we be expected to suddenly become Julie and Gray? Will our child even know our real names?”

Cal sighed. “Probably not, but we don’t have the resources anymore. We won’t survive on our own, Frida. I know you miss your brother, but Micah and Toni risked everything so we could live here. We can’t go back to where we used to be. They killed Sandy’s entire family, and they’ll kill us too.”

“But August-” Frida began.

Cal glared. “When they killed Sandy’s family, he just waited outside. He won’t save us. I know you don’t like the idea of not being able to do as much, but you’re going to have to get used to it. I won’t put our child’s life in danger for convenience.”

Without a word, Frida turned off the shower and they both walked back to their room. They got into bed, and Frida whispered, “Good night, Gray” before turning off the light.


It’s obvious that Frida and Cal would be killed if they went back to their camp, and an infant likely would not survive with the limited food and resources the couple would have living on their own. Their only choice really is the Community, but my alternative ending highlighted Frida’s stubbornness. She often thinks impulsively, but still wants what is best for her family. The original ending made Frida seem submissive and ready for a life where her only roles are mother and wife. This is not the Frida I grew to love (and hate at times) throughout the novel. Frida and Cal are both strong people, and it would have been difficult to have these huge life changes within a matter of hours.

World War Z Alternate Ending

Chesapeake, Virginia

[Charlee Faraday walks with me through the city she is currently living in and trying to raise back up (from the dead, so to speak). Her role is small but important, a local radio newscaster, talk show host, and DJ.]

I don’t know why you’re deciding to interview me, since I’ve heard your history of speaking with countless important figures and world leaders. But I’ll talk, if that’s what you’d like.

Before, I was a college student up in Fredericksburg. A couple friends and I had a little radio show that talked about shit that’s happened in our lives and on campus. We used the show to gain experience working with the equipment and maybe even fuel a latent desire in all of us to have our names known.

When the Great Panic started, we continued to provide coverage, and that got us into some trouble. Authorities don’t really like it if a handful of college students are inciting even more unrest than is already going on. But our listeners loved it, needed it. We were the main source of unadulterated apocalypse chatter. Where on campus was safe? Where was dangerous? Where had already been looted ten times over? We’d even get some names of people who checked in with us and broadcast them over the radio in case any of their loved ones were listening for some home.

Here, I carry around this little promo picture of our radio show group.

The foreground has the title “ALT-F4” with stacked binary 1s and 0s next to it. In the background is a blurred, green radioactive symbol.
What happened to the others?

We… went different ways, both literally and figuratively. Our sponsor, Professor James, didn’t really support us once the Panic hit. He was more worried about himself than our show, which I get. He bolted the first chance he got. Haven’t heard from him since.

Cypherpunk and Alex both stuck around and helped me with tech stuff, and boy did they get crafty once we had to go underground.

Underground?

Yeah, we were, for some reason, being targeted for spreading awareness. All we wanted was for others to be safe and to have a way of hearing the latest while also getting help about how to stay alive! But anyways, Alex and Cypherpunk connected calls and did all the techy things I was incompetent to do at the time. Naturally, I began to learn just by watching them. By the time Alex disappeared, I was able to do most of what he could before, maybe even better. Before you ask, yes I said he disappeared. I do not think he ran away, he’s too much of a chicken to have left us.

[Charlee laughs]

I say that playfully, our group would always make fun of each other like that. So when we had no clue what became of Alex, it was just Cypherpunk and I left and by then things in the world were getting a little too tense for us to keep up our funny shenanigans on the radio. We resorted to taking callers until service was dried up, then we would host people, give them a safe space to stay in exchange for being on the radio. A good amount of people wanted to stay, and our bunker was big enough that we let them, as long as they didn’t negatively interfere with our show.

At the first sign of someone being disruptive to other bunker-mates, we’d give them a warning. Second sign they were kicked out. That was tough, actually pushing people out of our bunker. With the first couple people, we felt so bad we let them back in. But there were some bad apples that were rotten enough that we knew it was for the best to kick them out. As you no doubt already know, the ability to broadcast on the radio got harder and harder. Eventually we didn’t even know if anyone was listening. We’d resorted to just talking about the end of days and how life in that dirty bunker was going. Some days we were loony enough to just start telling stories of Before. Finally, we had to disband because…

[Charlee trails off and then abruptly changes topic]

I like to think we saved some people’s lives. And you’d think that post-apocalypse my technology skills would have come up to nothing like all those Hollywood stars ripped down from their high horses, but I’ve made a life for myself. I work the radio communications for Chesapeake and the surrounding area, giving a healthy mix of news reports, music, and random commentary. I try to keep things light, optimistic, but still truthful. We have all been through the horrors of war. Even if those horrors are different for everyone, we are all impacted. Why should I continue making the worst out of that whole mess? I keep things light on my show, because as everyone now knows, too many heavy things will drag you down farther than where any zombie’s nails could dig.


This assignment that I am redoing is to write an alternative ending to a story. My previous attempt at this assignment was good, but I wanted to make something better.

I chose World War Z since it is the book I read for this class. I decided to use my character for the semester as the final speaker of the book only when I was thinking of a name to use and Charlee Faraday was the only one coming to mind. I have always thought that small examples explain bigger ideas better than ambiguous, abstract, or just plain large examples. So, because the ending of the actual book was sort of big and militaristic, I wanted it to be small and human by focusing on a single, mostly insignificant person.

My Interpretation: of the 8 principles of design.

So I figured I could find things around my home, around my neighborhood, my immediate area, but to my luck I couldn’t really find anything to fit the eight concepts.  In my area there are a lot of construction signs but I figured this would be bleh so I chose not to take pictures of these items.  I feel that I hit the design jackpot by going to the downtown portion of Fredericksburg right around the corner from school.  I knew this designblitz would take me some so I waited until today, Friday to complete this.  Here are my photos below.

  1. Balance –  Symmetrical on both halves of the stop sign

  2. Color

 

  1. Alignment

4.Repition

5.Contrast

 

6.Hierarchy

  1. Color and Space

  2. Proximity 

 

Meeting Evelyn Sparrow

Evelyn Sparrow was just a girl that grew up being defined by her last name, her parents’ name. They had been well known in the small town she was taken to at 15 years old. It was just a town over from where she was born, but they all knew. They all knew who her parents were. They had been liars and thieves their whole lives.

It all came crashing down on the day before her 15th birthday.

There had been cops at her house and her parents were telling her, “It will all be okay.”

She couldn’t believe them though. Not as they were being dragged out of the house for multiple bank robberies.

And murder.

She can only faintly remember what happened after they had been taken away. There was a blonde cop. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight bun and her green eyes had been hard as she sat her down on the couch. The cop was trying to ask her questions and explain what will happen now, but she couldn’t hear her anymore. Evelyn was overwhelmed with what was happening. She could only repeat what her parents told her to say to those who asked. She could only put on the mask she had learned to keep since she was four.

She had been told to say she knew nothing. That she hadn’t known what her parents had been doing all this time.

She had known everything.

Her parents taught her well.

Her foster parents hadn’t interacted with her much. Evelyn had been told they were relatives on her mother’s side, but how they were related had been lost on her. They had only taken her in out of obligation and pity, but that was fine by Evelyn. She only needed a place to stay before she could move onto a place for herself.

At 21 years old now, she was no longer defined by her last name. No one knew who she was here, but she still held fast to the masks she kept locked away in the back of her head. She knew what to say, how to look, what to do to make people like and trust her. She knew how to get what she wanted.

Her parents taught her well.

On Friday nights she was the drummer for an alt-rock cover band where she would perform on college campuses and bars. During the week days, she worked at the library on campus to pay for the tuition, textbooks, and residence. This was only temporary. She listened to all the rumors and the news across campus and the town that she lived in. She knew who sold fake licenses, who would let her stay with them (no questions asked), and the best places to hide while on the run.

She stored this information waiting for the day when she would need it.

Her parents taught her well.


The Making of Evelyn Sparrow

This is just a little background information on how I created Evelyn Sparrow. I really enjoy making characters up and figuring out what their names will be. It was interesting to have the topic of an apocalypse in this case since it would make a character I hadn’t thought of before.

Her role in a group is a bit unclear because she is the type to change her personality to fit where she can. She would avoid being a leader, or any important person in a group, at all costs though. She will try to be someone that seems to be needed, but if she were to run when things started getting dangerous, she wouldn’t be missed too much.

In this case she would use her knowledge of things to help the group out, but she would also keep a lot of it to herself. She would only ever aid the group when needed. She’s not much of a lone wolf though as she understands she needs people, or a group, to survive.

Whatever role the group needs, she will be.

(I also like the thought of her becoming attached to a group without her realizing it until it’s too late.)

I liked making her because I was looking up name meanings that would fit best in this case.  I decided to do names related to birds.

Evelyn is a Celtic name meaning “life, or giver of life”, or Evelyn is an English name meaning “wished for”. For her character, I’m going more towards the English meaning, but it would be interesting to see if she ends up being more of the Celtic meaning.

Sparrow is a bird with a very positive meaning. I found this really ironic considering she thinks of it in a negative way since it has only brought her bad things. A sparrow is seen as a sweet and gentle bird. It is a symbol of hope and renewal, or rejuvenation. It is also a symbol of companionship and intelligence. I think these will be seen as our story of The End will continue.

(And, no, she is not related to Captain Jack Sparrow)

Who is Charlee Faraday?

Charlee Faraday is a combination of the Lone Wolf and the Neutral Character. She prefers spending time alone, finding her time is most productive and beneficial that way. She also is okay going with whatever situation is given to her, as long as she has a direction she plans on going.

In school, Charlee had a hard time forming bonds that would last beyond the school atmosphere. Often, she wasn’t taken seriously, especially when it always looked as if she was content (her lips naturally curve upward). More so, she couldn’t exactly blend in with the crowd. She has always been tall for her age, and her full height ending up being 5’10”. Along with her height, her prominent voice was an attention-getter. Her low participation in class was only countered by her willingness to read out loud whenever she could.

Her mom always read stories to Charlee out loud, so much that when Charlee had to start reading on her own, she felt let down. When she could, Charlee would read aloud to herself, since it felt more natural to have the words be spoken and not simply read.

Her dream is to become an audiobook narrator, but she needs the funds to afford equipment. A lot of the money she gets goes straight into bills: as soon as she graduated high school her parents made her start paying rent and utilities. She doesn’t have her own car and is also putting money away for one.

She found her sole friends through her town’s local fencing club, which is just up the road from her house. Most of the people there were at least a couple years older than Charlee, but she didn’t let that stand in her way. She easily became the Most Improved member, with the help of the assistant instructor, Freya. In her thirties, Freya saw Charlee’s potential. Even though the girl didn’t like opening up to teammates, she put her whole into everything she did, and Freya wanted to expand that. Freya also offered Charlee a job at the the local art and hobby supplies store she worked at. This is also convenient for Charlee since it is just small distance from the fencing building, both of which are a good walk from her house.

Once Charlee graduated from high school, she moved from part time to full time. She did many things across the store, such as restocking the shelves, creating and building displays, and even doing repairs to the aging building. She enjoys working alone or with just one or two other employees. She herself doesn’t realize how much she valued the relationships she and her coworkers had, it being a tight-knit community. Especially important is the older owner of the store, Mabel (who happily works through retirement) and Freya, whom Charlee feels is like an older sister of sorts. Besides those close to her, however, Charlee generally acts apathetically to others.