Knock: A short, sweet horror story

There is a sweet little horror story that is only two sentences long: “The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door…”

- Opening line of Knock by Fredric Brown

I’ve been working so hard lately that I just realised that almost a month had gone by when I last read anything. Since I finally had a weekend off, I decided to pick up a short story that caught my attention a little while ago: Knock by Fredric Brown.

The story is very much short. I read it in approximately 10 minutes, but it is masterfully written. I found myself thinking and pondering on the story.

It may be a little hard to believe given the opening sentence, but the story is very much a sweet love story. Of sorts. I don’t know how to write about it without giving the story away. Suffice to say that the knocker was very much gladly received by the last man on earth.

The story made me think a little about being the last man on earth. He knew he was the last, but rather than feel sorry for himself, he made the best of the situation. But then again, he had a little help… but you’ll need to read the story to find out just what.

Apart from that aspect, I was also impressed by how different the short story is compared to a novel proper. It is a real art form to be able to convey your ideas, to build the characters, to flesh out the story in just a few short pages. Knock is a fantastic example of this medium. While there isn’t too much time to dwell with the characters, you can’t help but smile at the way the story ends…

p/s: You can find the text for Knock online. I’m not sure if it’s entirely legal so I’m not posting the link here, but, you know, Google.

When life hands you broken eggs…

So I dropped my carton of eggs. It was not entirely my fault, I had been drinking (one drink!). But the real fault was the hook on my mailbox on which I hung my bag as I fished in my pocket for my keys. The hook was apparently not attached properly and the whole carton fell on the ground. Upside down.

Opening the box, I found that a number of them were smashed. A couple more were cracked. Did I mention that the carton fell upside down?

So what to do when life hands you a carton of broken eggs?

Well let me tell you. You make an omelette. I threw away the two eggs that were completely broken. Took the others which were slightly cracked and boiled them. Took the ones that I could salvage and turned them into a late night snack!

I think that there’s a life metaphor in this story somewhere. Oh yeah, don’t hang your eggs on your mailbox!

Je apprendre le Francais!

So I’ve been planning for a trip later this year. It’s still up in the air but if I get enough results and publish, I will be heading over to Europe for several weeks! Since it’s also on my Epic Challenges list, I decided to try learning some French and Spanish before I go. I’ve started with the French because I felt that the pronunciation would be the hardest and therefore require the most practice.

Since I work insane hours each day, I have little time to go to a French class. Instead I have been listening to a fantastic podcast by the Radio Lingua network called Coffee Break French. I like this podcast both for its rather fun and conversational approach, as well as the way lessons are delivered in 15 minute chunks. This approach has been far more effective than my initial thoughts of learning French from a book (flipping through a few on Amazon made me realise that there was no way I would be able to pick up the right sounds).

I have to say that I’ve been quite impressed with the way my French is progressing. I would say that I knew close to zero about the language before I started and now I can understand as well as participate in a basic conversation. Of course the real test will come when I actually get to France but it’s been trés bien! So if you’re interested, check out Coffee Break French either on their website from the link above or on iTunes in the podcast section, which is how I get the program. There is a premium version of the podcast but so far I haven’t felt like at a disadvantage using the free material.

Here’s to the start of the next Great Adventure!

À bientôt!

p/s: At some point I will probably create a secondary blog to keep some notes and share some other resources that I find useful in mastering the language at least to the conversational level. I’ll keep you updated on that!

Reflections and Planning Ahead

Now and then it’s good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy – Guillaume Apollinaire

Sometimes you need to press pause to let everything sink in – Sebastian Vettel

The month has been such a rush. From my short trip back home to coming back and working over 55 hours a week trying to get results at work only to find that I had been barking up the wrong tree; to attending a new church where I didn’t know anyone; to having my best friend tell me that he just got engaged; to planning an amazing adventure later this year (more on that later!)… it has been full throttle for awhile. While I have been driven through every crazy, hectic minute of it, my body just cannot keep up. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in a month and barely any down time apart from waiting around at the airport. I was going through a bit of an emotional upheaval from being homesick and work woes…

Then two blogs that I follow recently posted about taking a break.

That reminded me that once in awhile it is good to take a breather.

Sometimes this life can be so busy, every day seems to pass by in a flash. But if you want to capture the moment, you need to slow down and consciously explore your surroundings.  To sit back and reflect on the time gone by and to see what lessons were learnt. To pause and let it sink it. To just be.

So this is what I’ve realised in the last month:

1. To me, relationships will always be amongst my highest priority. I enjoy being around people and building up good relationships with them.
2. That said, I have put very little time and effort keeping in touch with my current friends or making new ones. This needs to change.
3. Speaking of change, people’s lives change even when you’re away (startling discovery I know!). I need to find a way to be ok with this.
4. I need to take more frequent breaks to re-evaluate how things are going.
5. Thinking about my 5-year plan, where previously I thought I was forced to, now I think I want to be transient for the next couple of years before finding out where I want to settle down, both career-wise as well as geographically.
6. Taking this pause also gives me a chance to update my BHAC list, which I have renamed to Epic Challenges to be more inspiring. I’ve also started to split the challenges up into different categories and adding a whole bunch of things I want to do.
7. If I saved up really hard for a month, I could afford one of those shiny new iPads as well as a DSLR camera kit.
8. Pandora (an internet radio site) picks the best songs.

What about you? How was your month?

Just sharing a link

I have always held one truth dear: “Good food is always meant to be shared with good friends.” When I was back home recently, I had the privilege of cooking for my family and my good friend Mel. Mel recently wrote about the meal on her blog, so please go have a read. But ignore her hyperbole, I am merely o.k. in the kitchen!

BTW Mel, I have not forgotten about those pictures I took while you were making those interesting and fantastic miso cookies! They will be posted soon erm… as soon as I find the right memory card…

 

Travel photos: Back to Auckland

After the wedding, I headed back to Auckland. My heart was both happy and sad at the same time. I loved seeing all my friends, loved catching up with them… but there was a pang of nostalgia when I realised how far away I now was. Somehow seeing everyone else moving on made me feel very left out. Even more so when those who were younger than me were now getting married.

Maybe this is the curse of those who go on to do continued study. You become stuck in one place for four or more years, while your peers go on and get married, have babies, advance in their careers. But enough melodrama and introspection for one day. Back to the beauty of Auckland.

Dad and I went for one more walk up another volcano. This time it was Mt Wellington. The view is perhaps a little less inspiring; the area around Mt Wellington is filled with warehouses and other not so pretty buildings. But it’s easy to forget this once you reach the peak.

You can look out towards the city and, on a clear day, gaze out at Rangitoto Island.

I must say that the beautiful weather, the clear skies, the soft breeze did a lot to break me out of my funk. But more on that another day. I leave you with this last picture from a holiday that was too short. NZ, I will be back!

Travel Photos: From beach to mountain lake

Nowhere in New Zealand is far from the beach. If you’re in the South Island, you are also always near the mountains. We started our morning by the shores of St Clair’s in Dunedin. The weather was beautiful: the sun was shining and the day was calm.

We then drove 4.5 hours to the beautiful mountains of Queenstown. Although the freshwater shores of Lake Wakatipu is in stark contrast to St Clair’s, there is no mistaking the serene peacefulness from both places.