Writings and Other Musings

This blog will be used to post my popular story, The Epic of Verarde. No longer will you come here for those new book posts. You should now go to above web address for new book posts.

The other blog is 360sportsjam.wordpress.com

This blog will be used to for commenting on worldwide sports news (hence 360), mainly more nationwide news, but world news as well.

I hope you enjoy my new blogs! Remember, please go to verarde.wordpress.com for my book, and 360sportsjam.wordpress.com for sports news. These two blogs are still in the making, so if you don’t see anything, don’t worry! Material will be posted.

Chapter 4.1

thisoldsoul — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:04:09 +0000

I couldn’t resist this, and the whole chapter was taking too long for everyone to wait much longer.

The Epic of Verarde

Chapter 4

“Be careful today,” Daniel’s mom yelled after them. “We don’t want any collisions with archrivals this game.” She smiled.

Daniel looked at Rachel.

“You told her?”

Rachel looked down. “Mom couldn’t get you to tell her anything, so she asked me. You know how it is.”

Daniel grinned. “I’ll get you!” She squealed and ran off. Daniel chased her, calling, “Get back here!” Behind them, their mom smiled, then went inside.

* * * * *

She immediately went upstairs, almost on a run, to the office. The children’s father was there.

”What’s the negotiations status?”

He shook his head. “No luck.”

“What do they want?” she asked.

“They won’t say.”

“We ended that part of our lives 13 years ago, Brian. Why do they need us now?”

“I don’t know. I suspect they have noticed Daniel and Rachel.”

She gasped. “Brian, are you thinking — no, they wouldn’t dare.”

Brian nodded. “I’m sorry, Lisa. But right now your job is to keep watch on them. Look for any move they make on the kids. We can’t let them take Daniel and Rachel.”

“I’ll pick them up after their soccer game.”

“Good idea. In fact, I’ll come with you. It’s time to take out what has been put behind. Time to reclaim our rightful position.”

She nodded and left. When she was gone, Brian sat in his chair and thought. What would he do? How would he and his wife reclaim their rightful positions? How would he protect his children and family? A million questions spun through his mind, each one presenting a fresh challenge needing an answer.

He jumped up and closed all the curtains in the room. He went to the closet and tapped in a code on the inside right wall. The wall slid open, revealing a room with an old box inside. The box was long and rectangular but wide enough to hold a gun. He slid it out of the room, out of the closet, and into the office. The box was brown, with two locks. The locks looked new, but in fact the box had come there 13 years prior and hadn’t been opened since.

Again, he sat in his chair, looked at it, and thought. He knew that if he did this it would be a treasonous action and would likely result in the death penalty — for him and his whole family. Then he stood. He knelt and opened the box, first the two hinges, then the lid. A shine filled the room as he lifted out a radiant sword. The remaining light in the room gleamed off the word on the hilt.

Essarl.

He took out a leather belt and metal scabbard and strapped them around his waist. He put the sword in the scabbard and then, thinking better of it, took it out. He opened the curtains and light flooded the room. He drew the sword, the sound ringing throughout the house. He held it straight and pointing forward.

Then Brian Verarde said, “It is time.”

* * * * *

Fourthmanstanding Publishing

New Rating Option

thisoldsoul — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 01:46:20 +0000

I have added a new wordpress.com option: the ability to rate posts, comments, and pages. To rate, you must specifically click on the post you want to rate in the widgets column I have to the right of your screen. Then right below the post are five stars that say “Rate This”. Choose your rating and you’re done! You can also rate comments.

2009-10 NFL Preview

thisoldsoul — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:16:41 +0000

‘Twas the night before football and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a fantasy football-exhausted computer mouse,

The father and sons slept with dreams of footballs in their heads,

The remotes were cleaned and the TV was shined,

Extra batteries by their chairs, chips and burgers smelled divine,

When all of a sudden… “Bwoooooooop”,

Power outage! Wait, it was just a dream. Well, here we are once again. The start of another amazing football season. A chance for the slate to be wiped clean. (I bet the Detroit Lions couldn’t wait.) And once again it’s time for my NFL Preview Post “Fake studio applause”. I’m your host, thisoldsoul.

AFC East: I will take the Patriots here. They would have won the division last year, had it not been for Tom Brady’s injury. The Jets, Dolphins, and Bills just can’t contest this year. Possible wild card for 1 of those 3.

AFC North: This will be contested between the Steelers and Ravens. The Bengals will fight valiantly but lose out, and the Browns will acknowledge another poor season. Steelers will most likely win, with Ravens being in the lead for a wild card.

AFC South: Titans vs. Colts here, with the Jaguars and Texans slipping in here and there. Tough call but whatever team doesn’t win the division will win a wild card. Best guess: Titans. Texans may have a possible wild card.

AFC West: Plain and simple: Chargers. They may be slightly contested by the Broncos, but the Chiefs and Raiders will not even pose a threat.

AFC Wild Cards: Colts and Ravens.

NFC East: Quite possibly the strongest division in the NFL at this point. I will take the Giants here with Eagles and Cowboys, and quite possibly the Redskins in wild card contention.

NFC North: I’ll take the Packers, with the Vikings and Bears lurking in the wild card and possible division contention again. The Lions should pop champagne if they get one win, celebrate by going out to eat if there are two, and if they win three, they should sit around and just stare in amazement. Give them a clap. Or two if they deserve it.

NFC South: Falcons will most likely win, but Buccaneers, Panthers, and Saints should all contend also. Expect those four to fight to the finish.

NFC West: Flat out Cardinals here. Rams, Seahawks and 49ers will not even contend for anything. Except possibly first pick in next year’s draft.

NFC Wild Cards: Eagles and Vikings.

AFC Championship: Patriots over the Steelers. (Sorry, pal.)

NFC Championship: Eagles over the Giants.

Super Bowl: Patriots over the Eagles.