Day Twenty One

The day started late, with me waking up at 11:00 to a warm shower and left-overs from the night before.  Of course, it was New Year's Eve, so I knew that I was to travel the distance to my fetching companion, but I was more wary than usual while driving; drunkards on the roads and whatnot.  I was lucky enough to come across exactly none, but I did notice the homeless, blind man from several days prior, idly chatting with some pedestrian, though, on reflection, I don't recall anything about him or their conversation. I was busy driving, though, so that's probably why.

The evening was, of course, delightful, despite my lacking memory.  However, this time I saw not one, but two sinister black dogs.  The first was Trevor, I recognised, and the second I decided to call Steve, and I mused on the adventures of those two ebon hounds.

Day Twenty

The day started at the typical 10:00 in the morning.  An hour and a half later, I journeyed once again to the home of my lovely companion, then together we adventured around town for several hours, returning to their abode early into the evening.  Staying well into the night, we greatly enjoyed each other's company whilst we were together.

Once again, I beheld the slender form of that sinister businessman, as well as that subtly threatening black dog.  However, my nearly constant exposure to those unsettling entities has rendered me desensitised to their eldritch presences.

Day Nineteen

The day started at 11:00, though no strange apparitions were present anywhere. Instead, I acquired the absolutely stellar Ride to Hell: Retribution and played that for a while.

Day Eighteen

The morning started typically enough, usual time of 10:00, and all that.  Shortly after that, though, I decided to drive the familiar path to my fetching companion's domicile, for a good, filling morning meal and to wander around at the mall.

Once I returned home, I decided to venture into the wonderfully remarkable A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce.  It was quite a captivating ride through the melodious words on the numerous pages.

Day Seventeen

The day started at 11:00, to much noise and commotion from the neighbours.  Amidst the regular yardwork and vehicle sounds, I could faintly detect a vague scream of some obscure nature.  Gazing through the window of my room, I beheld a man who looked strikingly similar to myself.  Same hair, clothes, everything, really. Turning away in awestruck confusion, I turned back to the window to no remaining traces of that mirror-figure. It was naught but a dream, a hallucination, I figured.

Nothing else of that day was really notable.  I managed to kill an entire party in a Dungeons and Dragons game, but that's really it.

Day Sixteen

The day started at the usual 10:00 in the morning.  Nothing in particular really happened, as it's the day after Christmas, and, as such, everyone is still paralysed and lethargic from the holiday's activities and larger-than-average meals.

Taking advantage of most people's inability or unwillingness to do anything of value today, I ventured forth to see my dear companion, thoroughly enjoying the less-than-typical traffic on the roads and highways.  I did not see that tall, oddly sinister businessman from days prior, the pale drunkard from earlier in the week, either of the homeless men, the black dog Trevor, really anyone of note today, due to the day's pervasive torpor.

Day Fifteen

Christmas day, it was.  I, as I said yesterday, ignored the note I had received and was merry today.

Day Fourteen

The day today started at around 11:00, to the sound of neighbours once again doing yard-work.  Realising that it was Christmas Eve, I recalled the note that the first homeless man gave to me early into my break.  "Don't be merry, man," it said, but I have resolved to pay it no heed.

I decided to venture out into town for a meal early in the afternoon.  As I arrived at my restaurant of choice, I beheld that slender businessman standing outside one of the small stores across the street, though this time around he was wearing a Santa hat along with his dark suit and red tie.

Day Thirteen

Today started an hour earlier than usual, as I was awoken by loud noises from outside my window.  I eventually realised that said noises were just the neighbours doing yard-work with loud instruments.  I was reminded of the creature from the previous night, however, but I remembered my assessment that it was just a pale-skinned drunkard, and the thoughts of it quickly dissipated.

Later in the morning, I ventured north to the dwelling of my favourite companion.  Since they weren't home when I arrived, I decided to explore the area some, and ended up getting quite lost, but I eventually found my way back and enjoyed the afternoon and evening with them as I anticipated.

Day Twelve

The day started at the usual time, in its typical lethargic manner.  Facebook, once again, occupied my morning, as well as my afternoon and into the evening. Finally finishing that, I then proceeded to wrap presents for the upcoming holiday, which demanded surprisingly little time.

Finishing the day's activities, I was strangely drawn to the window of my room, where I beheld a strange, pale, humanoid creature crawling through the back yard.  I was mystified, and slightly frightened, but after several moments later witnessing it move away into the woods, I quickly forgot about it; it was probably a drunk man who never went outside during summer.

Day Eleven

The day started at the slightly later than usual time of 11:00, with the rest of the morning spent wasting time on Facebook and, eventually, wasting time in Skyrim.  Early in the afternoon, my favourite companion, whom I've seen several times this past week-or-so, graced me with her presence for several hours.

Some strange apparition came to me in the small hours of the evening, after my fetching partner set out for home and I was alone again.  I can scarcely remember what it was, and so I have uncovered little in the way of its possible meanings.

Day Ten

Today started with more energy than usual at roughly the usual time of 10:00.  Browsing Facebook and other sites for an hour or two, I resolved to finally finish shopping for gifts for the upcoming holiday.  Several hours were spent driving in midday traffic as I raced throughout the streets and stores in an attempt to find the best gifts for my family and friends.

Outside one of the stores stood a haggard, dismally poor old man who on a quick glance appeared to not have eyes.  He held in his weathered hands a thick book of some sort, but I was much too busy to stop to chat with him.  I heard him say "don't be smiling, man" to another passer-by, and for a second I thought he was the madman from several days ago who handed me the rambling half-sheet of paper.  However, I was in quite a hurry, and so gave it little to no thought.

Day Nine

The day began at 9:30 with a warm shower, a light meal, and Facebook.  The winter air was, as expected, cold and moderately unforgiving, and a light rain further amplified the ever-present grimness of the season's climate.

The majority of the day, after making the drive at close to 11:30, was spent in the presence of my fine companion, last seen three or so days prior.  My joy in their company was insurmountable, and, as such, no feelings of fear or paranoia struck me today.

As I arrived, I beheld the presence of that familiar, yet ever-so-slightly sinister black dog, which I recall naming Trevor.  I once again pondered on the daily workings of that sleek, agile figure as I witnessed it running off into the nearby woods, presumably on the hunt for a meal.

Day Eight

I rose from sleep slightly earlier than usual, to the frigid winter air.  My dreams were haunting, lasting well into my daily activities.  Paranoia invaded my mind again today; some pervasive, sinister apparitions overcame my senses, causing me to become lethargic for the majority of the day.  A meal and rest did little to absolve my senses, unlike the previous bouts of fear.

Day Seven

At dawn I rose from my dreams, though my dreams in question are gone from my memory; perhaps they may return, though.  The day was lethargic, as I've come to expect from a break from school; a Let's Play of a mod of quite poor quality for Amnesia: The Dark Descent occupied near to two hours of the cold, quiet morning.  That sinister sense of paranoia returned today, to the point where I could almost hear an otherworldly whispering; perhaps just a symptom of what little horror existed in the Amnesia mod.

Several hours and a meal later, my pervasive paranoia disappeared just as quickly as it had overcome my mind.  Some strange compulsion to not inscribe this post encroached upon my thoughts, but I successfully fought back against the baying of that non-corporeal hound.

Day Six

Today started lazily at 10:00, as per usual, however I had a strong desire to disembark from my home and spend the day out and about.  I ended up at the local mall, waiting for friends to arrive.  As I stood in the almost frigid air, people who I used to know passed by, absorbed in conversation, and failed to recognise me.  Perhaps they were simply too busy talking to notice, but it raises an interesting point on how large amounts of time can alter one's memory of others.

Several hours were spent at the mall once my companions arrived, including a meal, but we were confronted by the crawling chaos of evening traffic for another hour or two, and seemingly inconsequential issues overcame one member of our little circle and engendered unnecessary moments of anger, the likes of which I did not expect.

Day Five

Today started back at the routine time of 10:00 or so, to a quiet, uneventful morning of Facebook and a  Let's Play or two of old DOS games. The only oddity is that I woke up in a different room than the one I fell asleep in.  Perhaps I was sleep-walking, or perhaps I am just misremembering in which room I drifted off to sleep.

Later in the afternoon, after a quick, light lunch, I was graced by the presence of my fetching companion from a few days prior.  Movies were watched, a meal was shared, confusion and disdain were expressed at one of the videos of a DOS game.

Day Four

This day started two hours later than usual at around noon, providing me the means to avoid all religious events of the day; my parents are religious, and so try to involve me, too, in their weekly rituals. I never really bought into such matters, as it all seemed pointless to me.

 Some odd sense of paranoia has been shadowing me for the whole day, accompanied by an uncharacteristically pervasive headache.  After a light meal and a nap, however, my condition improved, and I resumed the day's course of action and inaction.

Day Three

As with yesterday, the day started with much lethargy at around 10:00, followed by idly sidling around on Facebook for a few hours.  Concluding that, I went out into town for a meal and to cash a check, meagre as it was.  The meal was, for the most part, uneventful, if delicious.

Heading back to my aging car, I was accosted by a homeless man, one of a peculiar grey skin colour, and, amidst his insane ramblings, he folded a crumpled half-sheet of paper into my hand.  Much of the paper was, like his speech, mostly incomprehensible, however two phrases struck me off-guard. The first clause was "don't be merry, man," and the second was "this is not a blog," both from which I could derive little meaning.  The first one, though, seems to suggest some vague sense of horror in regards to the upcoming holiday; perhaps some strange apparitions played their awful games upon the man's feeble mind.  As for the second, I have little idea as to what it could mean.

Another odd occurrence was that the business man from the previous two days was absent from his usual location.  Then again, it is Saturday, and as such, he probably had the weekend off from work.

On Day Two

The day today started lazily at close to 10:00 with a pertinent struggle to rise from the night's slumber, but my eventual success was rewarded with a moderately long hot shower and a pop-tart.  Several hours later I braved the roads and highways on a journey to see someone very dear to me, someone who appreciates the destruction of an artistic medium with so few as ten words and the same picture twice.  Movies were watched, food was eaten, my abject horror at playing Five Nights at Freddy's was found hilarious by all involved, except for me, of course.

Of note:  At the same strip mall I beheld the almost-foreboding form of that same business man, tall and vaguely sinister.  Perhaps he simply works at one of the stores, or was on lunch break from some other nearby place of business.

Also, as I was arriving at the abode of my fine companion, there stood a black dog which conjured an almost unnoticeable sense of dread. However, there was to be no stopping my naming it Trevor and musing on the machinations of that colourless figure.

On my First Day of Winter Break

As you, dear readers, have probably guessed, the subject of this post is that of the first day of my winter break from school. I am a second year college student who studies computer science and attempts to play flute in his spare time.

On to the topic at hand: My last final exams were yesterday, 10 December 2014, and so today was the first day of a month-or-so long break. The day today started at 8:30 this morning as I finally got around to packing for my journey home.  About an hour and a half later, one of my roommates and I crammed our bags and such into the back of his pickup truck and filed out onto the roads for three and a half hours of scenic highways.

Arriving home at close to 2:00, he and I unloaded my belongings and haphazardly piled it all up in the middle of the entryway to my family's home. After several minutes of reorganising and unpacking I found myself settled in to the aged house. Finding nothing better to do, I then watched several terrible movies and cruelly mocked their flaws in an attempt at humour.

Nothing really out of the ordinary happened today.  There was a taller-than-average man, slender, if you will, dressed in a black business suit and red tie gliding along the sidewalk at the local strip mall, but aside from him, there's nothing else noteworthy about my day today.