A year in review

So another year has gone and (almost) gone. It was an interesting year, I lost my best friend and made tons of new ones. Melissa and I continued to strengthen our bond and took our selves to new levels of awesome in more fields than I care to admit. I finished my AA degree and in the process found myself on a path that I had never dreamt I would be on. Back to that whole friends thing, yes I lost my best friend this year. Molly was our family dog but it always kind of felt like she was really my dog. She always listened to me and would follow me around the house whenever I was home. She passed away at the beginning of December and I miss her every day. But on the bright side Melissa and I made a boatload of new friends this year. Some like Zack, Eddie, and Jessica and become staples in our lives and all really awesome people. Others like Jon and Misha, Blair and Mistah J, and George have all been great additions to our lives. Overall it was a year of change, both personally and professionally. Next year looks like it will hold even bigger changes for me and more importantly for Melissa and I as a whole. We are moving into a new place and getting a new roommate and finally start at USF. Here's to a year gone by and to a year ahead.

A year in review

So another year has gone and (almost) gone. It was an interesting year, I lost my best friend and made tons of new ones. Melissa and I continued to strengthen our bond and took our selves to new levels of awesome in more fields than I care to admit. I finished my AA degree and in the process found myself on a path that I had never dreamt I would be on. Back to that whole friends thing, yes I lost my best friend this year. Molly was our family dog but it always kind of felt like she was really my dog. She always listened to me and would follow me around the house whenever I was home. She passed away at the beginning of December and I miss her every day. But on the bright side Melissa and I made a boatload of new friends this year. Some like Zack, Eddie, and Jessica and become staples in our lives and all really awesome people. Others like Jon and Misha, Blair and Mistah J, and George have all been great additions to our lives. Overall it was a year of change, both personally and professionally. Next year looks like it will hold even bigger changes for me and more importantly for Melissa and I as a whole. We are moving into a new place and getting a new roommate and finally start at USF. Here's to a year gone by and to a year ahead.

something big is coming

okay, so I have an idea for something big. Have to work out all the details first but if all falls into place it should be awesome. Stay tuned

Has it really been a year?

Wow, so apparently it's been a year since I abandoned blogspot for the magic of Twitter but I'm back. I have had a lot of people that have been wanting to read the short story I wrote for my Sci-fi class so I thought that putting it up here would be the best place for it. Bear in mind that I wrote this in 2 days and have barely proofed it.

“No loose ends”

by Paul Kraff

Jack Morgan awoke as he always did, sick and sore, two of the symptoms of repeated time travel. Nevertheless, by then he was used to it, anyone that had been working for the TEA as long as Jack had to be. He showered and dressed for work, putting on his Wristwatch first, meanwhile his kitchen was automatically preparing breakfast for him. Jack always hated breakfast, which consisted of a specially engineered liquid “meal.” This was once again another gift from his employers at the TEA because of a regulation stating that there is to be no solid food in the time stream. Upon locking his door, Jack walked downstairs and across the street to The Building. The Building was the headquarters of the Time Enforcement Agency, a special branch of the Unified World Government tasked with the preserving the time-stream. Jack sauntered into the lobby, past the receptionist, and headed for the elevator. There elevator was full of people but Jack managed to squeeze his way in, none of them would be going to his floor anyway.

Jack had to wait for the elevator to clear before he could select a floor, then pressed a button on his Wristwatch and felt the elevator shudder for a moment before briskly moving into the bowels of The Building. With a “ding”, the doors slid open to reveal an enormous complex that seemed to stretch for miles. A simple sign above the elevator informed Jack that this was the Department of Corrections and Omissions, but he already knew that having worked there for quite some time.

The Department of Corrections and Omissions (DCO) job was to study the time-stream and find anything that was missing or misplaced. Every heard the saying “wrong place at the wrong time?” The DCO takes that saying very seriously and in order to fix any issues it finds in the time-stream the DCO uses Temporal Agents. These are specially taught men and women who can travel the time-stream in order to alter events and ensure the prosperity of life. These alterations can be anything from making sure someone crosses a street all the way to making sure the right person dies at the right time. To help them complete their missions Agents are given a wristwatch that lets them alter a period of time, but only once. Jack Morgan was the first of these Temporal Agents and he’s the best. Over his illustrious career, he has achieved every accolade that the agency awards, including a few they made up just for him.

Jack walked through the halls of the DCO towards a secured door at the back, waited for the retinal scanner to detect him, and passed through the doors as they slid open with a whir. He proceeded towards the large machine that now stood in front of him; this was the crown jewel of the TEA, the Time Displacement Manipulator. It allowed the TEA to send people back through time and retrieve them when they are mission is done. A woman approached Jack and handed him a file, this was his mission plan for the next assignment. Jack thumbed through it until he found what he was looking for, a picture of a computer generated face of a man that had been dead for 500 years. Jack’s mission was to make sure that this man died at the right time and in the right place.

As Jack headed towards the ready room a man called out to him to stop, the man was rather old looking was a sleek black suit and red tie. This was Jacks superior, Mr. Archer. Jack stopped and turned around, greeting Mr. Archer with a smile and a handshake. “Good Morning Jack. Ready for the next mission?” Archer asked.

“Always ready sir, just need to get a few things from the ready room.”

“That’s fine Jack, when you return there is something we need to discuss. Come see me in my office after the mission.”

Mr. Archer walked off and Jack proceeded into the ready room. Once inside Jack reviewed his mission and found the appropriate clothing for the time. He came out of the ready room wearing slightly oversized pants, a pinstripe suit, and a fedora; it was the precise attire he needed for a trip to the 1920’s. His target, a bootlegger by the name of Micheal O’Calahan who went by the moniker Sweetmeat McKenzie. He was supposed to die in 1924, but a temporal “hiccup” left him alive and well up through 1962; Jack needed to correct that. He headed into the main chamber of the Time Displacement Manipulator and stood on the central panel of the device. A woman came over to check his vitals and have him go over The Rules. Jack had The Rules memorized at this point and mimed them back at the young attendant as she said them.

“Rule #1: Don’t change anything you aren’t supposed to.”

“Rule #2: Only use the Wristwatch in emergencies. Remember, it is a single use item in the past.”

“Rule #3: Leave nothing behind.”

And the last and most important rule

“Rule #4: No loose ends.”

Once the prep procedure was done, all the personnel cleared the main floor and over the speakers, Jack could hear the countdown. The hairs on the back of his neck started to tingle….5……4…3…..2…Jack took a deep breath….1…..a flash of light engulfed the room. Jack could feel air breezing past him and the flood slid away from beneath his feet, then suddenly he found himself standing on Broome St. in the Lower East side of New York City. Jack checked his Wristwatch, five hours, that is how much time he had before he would be brought back to the 25^th century, he wouldn’t need it. From the mission dossier, Jack knew that Sweetmeat would be at the Manhattan florist shop within the hour. He found the building with relative ease and staked out a spot on the roof across from the shop. His pulled out his weapon of choice, a customized sniper rifle designed to fire special ice bullets stored in a liquid nitrogen chamber of the rifle that evaporate after impact. Rule #3. Just like clockwork, Sweetmeat showed up right when he was supposed to, Jack relaxed his muscles, took aim, and fired. The bullet whipped through the air and entered Sweetmeat’s chest and out through his back, he fell to the ground dead. Before anyone could figure out what had happened Jack was off the roof and down the stairs of the building. Now, with the mission done and 4 hours 35 minutes to kill Jack felt it was time to relax. By this point Jack felt confident that he knew what he could and could not change to affect the time-stream. He had done this countless times before on countless missions, a little trip to a shop here, a bite to eat there, after hundreds of missions it was his way of making these trips through time bearable. He had even met a lady or two on these “excursions” of his, although those are secrets Jack would rather keep to himself.

At the five hour mark Jack once again got blinded by a flash of light and then found himself standing back in the Department of Corrections and Omissions, around him people were patting each other on the back for another job well done. Jack meanwhile walked off to his office where he lit a finely crafted Cuban cigar, his latest trinket from his time in the past. He knew that Mr. Archer wanted to see him, but he saw no sense in rushing, the old man could wait 20 more minutes.

When he finished his cigar Jack walked to the ready room, changed back into his own clothes and headed down the hall to Mr. Archer’s office. After flirting with Archer’s secretary, he walked in to find Mr. Archer looking over some files on his desk. He asked Jack to have a seat, then after commending him on another successful mission, had a very drastic change in tone. He went from sounding very jubilant to a sounding like someone whose mother had just died, his face reacted accordingly looking like someone had just sucked all the life out of him.

“Jack, we have a problem.”

“With the continuing advancement in temporal technology, the higher ups feel that there is less and less a need for people like us and the work we do. They feel that the time-stream can be better defended by AIs then by living breathing humans. That’s why they are shutting us down Jack. You’ve been here as long as I have and I thought it best if you heard it from me first, I’m sorry Jack but it’s over.”

Jack suddenly felt a surge of anger flow through him, “So that’s it then, we’re just going to stand aside and let them take all of this away from us, is that what you are saying?” he asked.

“Not exactly Jack, the higher ups still have one more mission that needs a human touch. They’ve asked that you take it up as a kind of “thank you” for all the work you’ve put in over the years. Nothing too fancy, just a simple assassination.”

“Well then” Jack said, “lets get it over with.”

“Here’s the dossier for the mission, and Jack, please take your time looking it over.”

Jack walked out of Archer’s office feeling angry and sad, but somehow happy to leave this all behind and maybe, finally have a normal life. For the last 40 years, all he’s known has been his work at the TEA, no friends, no family, just the job. It was decided then, forced retirement or not, Jack was looking forward to some quiet. He thumbed through the mission dossier but couldn’t help thinking about Archer and how upset he look, but then again if he was in Archer’s position he would probably feel the same way. Looking over the details of the mission, Jack noticed that he would only be going back 100 years, then he looked over the details of his target. The target’s name was George Benson, a young sailor who was scheduled to die 2454 but did not. Nothing special Jack thought but for some reason the man’s name seemed familiar, he just wasn’t sure why. No matter Jack thought, after today he would be free to do whatever he wanted.

He got ready, went down to the main room and took his position just as he had done hundreds of times before. Just as the countdown finished Jack could see Mr. Archer standing off to the side looking at him with what looked like tears in his eyes. After the flash Jack found himself in a part of London that looked rather familiar to him. He was in White Chapel, the place he grew up, but years before he had ever existed. He looked at his Wristwatch and realized that he still had 2 hours before Mr. George Benson would be coming by so he decided to take a stroll and check out a piece of his own past. He walked by the house that he would later grow up in, past the teleport pods that would later be his high school, and eventually to the park where he used to play with his brothers. Jack would miss this part of the job most of all, he realized. Then he thought about Mr. Archer and how upset he looked as Jack left, the poor guy probably has nothing else. Does he even have any family, Jack wondered. He never really got to know the guy outside of work, oh well they can hang out and be retired old men together now. Just then Jack looked at his Wristwatch and realized that his target would be showing up very soon. He walked back down the streets to his stakeout spot, an alley across from the docks where Benson would be.

A few minutes passed before George Benson showed up. By this time Jack had already loaded the ice rounds in his rifle and was patiently waiting. Then it was time for Jack to strike, he picked up his rifle, took aim, and fired.

BANG!!!

George Benson hit the ground just as the bullet exited his chest. Jack started to get up to make his escape when suddenly he felt something was terribly wrong. The world started to slow around him, he felt like his legs were made of cement. He reached for his Wristwatch and activated the emergency feature, but instead of being brought back to the present a hologram of Mr. Archer appeared before Jack. He had the same sad look on his face that Jack saw as he was leaving for the mission. As Jack writhed in pain on the floor of the alley the hologram began to speak.

“I am terribly sorry Jack, but they left me with no choice, you see with the department being dissolved the TEA had no use for you or the other temporal agents anymore, so they instituted a plan. Have each agent terminate himself or herself through an ancestor. They would have no idea until they were done and by then it would be too late.”

Jack finally realized why George Benson looked so familiar, it was his grandfather.

“Archer you backstabbing weasel!” Jack shouted.

The Archer hologram continued talking “You were the last, and I really am sorry to have done this to you Jack, but the agency left me with no choice. Besides, you had to know this would be the final outcome in the end, remember the rules: No loose ends.” And with that the hologram faded away just as Jack felt the last breaths leave his body.

Behold! I have emerged from the place of spells and fairies!

Wow! Um...I don't know what to say other than February was a hectic month. So after I had posted that prose piece a number of things have happened:

1) I discovered Twitter
2) Mel and I went to Megacon
3) I got more than I expected on my tax return
4) I appear to have gained some unwanted weight
5) I have decided to finally read The Hobbit
6) I got a new phone that's all nifty and touchy

Now to go over these things in more detail

I had already joined Twitter on Mel's request, but have since discovered the fun of being able to tell people who care very little about what I'm doing at any given time exactly what I am doing at said given time. I especially like that I can update it from my phone via text.

During the last week of the month Mel and I went to Megacon in Orlando. Whereas last year I had a focus on getting all of my stuff signed, this year I was looking to get sketches, which can cost a considerable amount. Fortunately I have a great little book called the 3 minute sketchbook that had blank pages in the back, which are now filled. I got 5 sketches that were each done in 3 min or less; Brandon Peterson, Jose Marzan Jr., Amanda Conner, Chuck Dixon, and Tony Bedard. And yes, two of those names are writers and not artists, it makes things interesting. Mel had a great time, she got a much of stuff signed this year and we both got to meet Gareth David Lloyd from Torchwood, which was very cool. I also picked up a commissioned sketch by Sergio Carielo of Galactus that was awesome and didn't cost me an arm and a leg. Overall, we had a pretty good time, but now we are really looking forward to FX Con in April since it will have many artists and writers that I haven't met before which is awesome.

I'm not sure what to make of my weight gain. I appear to have enlarged around the belly area sometime after starting my swimming regimine. I have now cut back on my swimming in order to focus on abdominals and running to return my belly to its proper place directly below my chest (as opposed to slightly extended from it.)

So I don't know what has compelled me to do so, but I have picked up a copy of Tolkien's The Hobbit. I'm quite enjoying it so far and will probably take a crack at the Lord of the Rings books after this.

Lastly, I signed a new contract for my mobile and in the process picked up the new G1, with the Android OS. Overall, I do like it although there are few issues I have with the phone, such as battery life, the awkward keyboard, and the lack of a virtual keyboard in landscape or vertical mode.

I think that about wraps up the month of February, hopefully I will be more willing to update this more often this month. Untill next time, bye

The Desert

The sun rose over the horizon, bringing with it the sands and wind that welcomed the day. Starting at the edge of The Forest a wave roared up and slowly worked its way out across the stony landscape. In it’s wake a million grains of sand slid and fell onto the ground forming dunes and valleys as it travelled. The wave quickly engulfed the entire plain with sand, save for a few spots that seemed strangely bare. From these spots the ground began to tremble as a puddle formed, which then grew into a pond, and then ultimately a lake. All around the lake’s edge palm trees shot out of the ground, hurtling towards the sky with mad desperation. All throughout The Desert cacti began to spring up like jack-in-the-boxes, their spiked leaved brushing the sand as they surfaced. Then a new sound broke the silence of The Desert, this one far different than that of the sand wave or the trees. It was the sound of Life, even if it was just barely. Snakes and lizards began to emerge from the sands in their search for food. The leaves of the palm trees folded back to reveal the wings of vultures and their roots released their grip on the rats and mice. In the distance the cranks and gears of The City could be heard, but in The Desert only quiet solace reigns.

Lots of catching up to do.

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. Sorry.

To begin catching up, of course everyone knows that the big game is this weekend. We are really hoping that business will improve and that we will be able to actually make some money but I'm not holding my breath.

Some of my works from my creative writing class may be finding their way onto here in the coming months, although that probably won't happen until we start writing short stories and not poetry (i hate my poetry.)

Melissa's new cat Tank has finally warmed up to the idea of living with us and now greets me whenever I come over. I'll post some pictures of him later this week, he will most likely be eating plastic in them.

The next section in my prose stories series will be up later this week once I finish it. It is titled "The Desert."

Finally here is a link to a video Melissa shot at Czar this week of the guy from The Academy is... doing an acoustic cover of Alkaline Trio's Radio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5-aF3cTs1c&feature=channel_page