Story Number Two!

Hello! I am again shilling for my other blog, saturdaystory-time.blogspot.com, where a new original short story is available for your pleasure! The story is called "The Flight, the Hunt," and is great. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope you have fun reading it!

Exciting!

Friends! Countrymen! Enemies...

Starting tomorrow at noon (assuming that blogger isn't broken and manages to post things when I tell it to) there's going to be original short stories up on an entirely different blog. The name of the blog is Saturday Story-Time, and new stories will appear there every two weeks! As if by magic. Here's a link, but there won't be anything there until at least Saturday the sixth of April, noon. Saturday Story-Time.

The first story is an idea I've had for a while. It is titled Strange Heaven.

Please, enjoy! And if you do, tell your friends! And be sure to come back periodically!

All aboard

Sitting at a park bench. It's a nice, windy day out, my paper is fluttering in my hands. Doing the crossword, you know. trying to figure out what answers the hint "Baxter 57," three letters. Squirrels are hopping around, playing a capture-the-flag game with acorns. I hear a strange whistle, and it seems to be coming nearer. A caustic, piercing shrill cuts the air.

The train pulls in front of me, chewing up the grass. Smoke hisses and belches from its cast iron wheels. A conductor steps down in painful, blazing white and blue stripes. He looks straight at me. Come aboard, boy.

"I don't want to," I say. "I don't have a ticket."

Yes you do. He points. It's in your hand. I look. Yes, it is. All aboard the migraine train, he yells in my ear as I climb the wobbly stairs.

The inside is lit as bright as a theater stage, lights from every open spot on the wall pointed directly at me. I'm alone in the interior. I don't get to sit, the train's noises are ferocious and repetitive. If I look out the window the scenery blurs by. I recognize some things...If I squint I can see a person, or a tree, but they look different, detached perhaps. They move in a stop-and-go quick animation, I can't seem to focus.

A...man?...enters the cabin, carrying a clattering tray of utensils. I think I may be served dinner, but all he does is hold the tray up in my face and shake it, sending waves of crashing sound at me.

The train bounces, and the lights flash even brighter.

***

And so another trip on the Migraine Train. I used to be a frequent rider, taking a trip once or twice a week. I see a neurologist now, Nurse Practitioner Amy Larson. She's tended to my dad and I, and knows her way around the brain. I'm seeing her on Nov 5th for a checkup.

Migraines are a personal event. Everybody gets hit differently. I start with grey zones in my vision, a clear sign of the approaching train. It's like the whistle from off in the distance. I can tell how painful the migraine is from how much vision is obscured. If it's a little circle, or a crescent, I can expect a couple of hours. But sometimes a big portion, quarters or halves of my entire vision is gone, and I know I have a long day ahead of me.

Here is an examples of what you might experience with these auras:

This can happen any time, even when not reading "A Tale of Two Cities." It is frequently triggered by things such as dehydration or a sudden change to a sleep pattern, but not always.

These auras are strange. It isn't as if you can't see, it's as if your eyes are collecting the information, and it's just being let loose to wander around in your brain for a bit of sightseeing. I sometimes think "take a picture of the corpus callosum, that's something to show to your grandkids." You're getting the information, but your brain has no idea what to do with it.

Then, as illustrated by the train, things start to change. The vision obstruction disappears, and the pain gains a foothold closer to the front of the brain. You see, the back side of the brain holds the optical center, and as a migraine progresses, it moves from the back to the front. So it starts with the vision, then barges in next door. I gain sensitivity to light and sound, and during one particularly powerful migraine, nausea due to the memory of a smell. It was the smell of pears.

The vision and sound weakness will persist as the migraine takes over the command center. Yes, the frontal cortex. This is where the pain really starts to hammer, and it's best to take a lie down here. This part can last from an hour or two to, in the case of the one bad migraine I mentioned above, six hours. During which time I could bear no light, nearly no sound, and the barest of motions.

The brain fights back, deadening the pain more and more until the migraine ends. Most times, my brain can actually feel sore, like I was exercising it, or it will feel tender, like it is bruised. This period can last for a day, sometimes.

This is my experience, but again migraines are a personal event. Everyone reacts to them differently. I, for one, have only gotten nauseous the once, while others may have it be a prevalent part of their ride on the train. Some people don't get the vision auras, others may become very dizzy. They are unique.

***

I step off the train, far from my starting point. It is the next day. My ears are ringing, and I feel like every sound could set the train in motion again. I think my name is Boutros and I have no idea where my glasses are. I might be wearing someone else's pants.

I look behind me and see the train disappearing. As he fades into the day, the conductor intones I'll be seeing you again...

Two Albums

I'm a big fan of music, and I love Spotify and Pandora and Grooveshark, and iTunes if I have to. So, I decided to relay some thoughts to you about two albums I recently heard.

Clockwork Angels by Rush

The all-stars of the Canadian rock scene heave out their latest masterpiece, a steam-punk concept album written by drummer Neil Peart. Naturally, Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee join him for Guitar/backing vocals, and bass/keyboards/lead vocals respectively. Dang guys. Ease up on Geddy.

As well as being the inspiration for bands such as Metallica, Dream Theater, and Symphony X, Rush continues to push the musical envelope with their playing. Peart continues to display exemplary drumming, such as in Clockwork Angels song "7 Cities of Gold," which features crisp, pristine hide-bonking. I say they push the envelope, not because they are doing something different, but because they are doing the same thing: music that features three virtuosos that are well-trained in their art. They don't want to bow to the pressures of new music. They want to do what they love, which is near-perfect, sonorous progressive rock.

And they get very close to perfection indeed! Consider the grandeur of  "Caravan," the vocal genius of "Wreckers," the raucous serenity of "The Garden," or the musical zenith that is "Headlong Flight," in which Lee's rising and falling tones combine with Lifeson's accomplished guitar playing and the always-superior Peart-tone drums.

Overall, Clockwork Angels is an incredible album that highlights the best of Rush's abilities. Five out of Five.

The Nvrland by First Candle

First Candle splashed the canvas hard with their first album A Lonnely Birthday, and, with the addition of Marion Ghellickson, add an accomplished female front to their already strong lineup. Guitarist Ken Ramsey penned all but one of the songs on their latest misspelling, the exception being "Only Time I've Ever Known," written by keyboard-doer Amanda Cotard. Their drummer is Michael Ixaust, and their bassist (and known sitar-ist) is Jamie Smith.

The Nvrland excels over their last album Without Fael with not only the addition of Ghellickson, but with a surprising amount of tact applied by Cotard. Fael suffered from an over-abundance of synth and a lack of real piano accompaniment, instead having Cotard, in a way, play on her own and hope it does something for the album. Songs such as "Whoopity" or "Crass Block" do not benefit from this, and sound slightly deranged as a result.

However, The Nvrland allows Cotard to be both an accompanying instrument, to underscore Ramsey or Smith, or become her own instrument, giving her a few solos and background tracks. Songs like "Lost You, Found Me" and "Jumpfall" are exquisite, and title track "The Nvrland" is a fifteen minute masterpiece based on the story of Peter Pan. The album is weak only on their last track, "Comma Man," which features Smith's bass as the head instrument, and as such has a hard time allowing the other instruments to successfully add to the tone.

Overall, The Nvrland is a fine example of First Candle's adherence to an elemental sound, summoning thoughts of whispy woods, bubbling pools of magma, and a rushing stream. It's too bad it's a fake album by a fake band. @ out of Five.

Don't worry, Rush is real.