This would be it. The last post on this blog. I’ve waited for this moment for two years and at the same time wished it would never come. Goodbye to all; farewell, and all that jazz. I have officially disappeared and will never post nor comment here again.
But if you ever find a Wraith Daquell on the internet, you can be most sure it’s me, and drop me line please! Remember,
there is only one Daquell.
This is actually not the official end. The end end will come August 20, when all of my public email addresses, screennames, instant messenger accounts, and sock monkeys will be de-activated to comply with Bob Jones standards. I suppose I’ll have to post then to instantiate my invisibleness.
For now, this post describes the end of our vacation. We traveled north to Pennsylvania where we were inundated with history galore. We saw the Liberty Bell, the Centennial Bell, the place where Ben Gates ran away from some evil henchman, and the grave of Benjamin Franklin.
We also visited King’s Dominion in Virginia. What a place! I generally cannot stand amusement parks; it’s really great to be with your family, but when I was younger I couldn’t stomach most rides, so it was generally a time when I sat and watched the others ride. Now, however, I appear to be cured and henceforth rode the ‘coasters and twisters and scramblers all day. The park was the best out of six days of vacation. We even got Mom on a roller-coaster, and she would have enjoyed it if she hadn’t sprained (or cracked… we haven’t gotten x-rays yet) a few ribs due to an overly-tight restraint.
If you have any last minute tips, tricks, advice, condolences, insults, or pizza, this will be your last chance to post them. So…. until The End on August 21, g’night.
Last week our church hosted Vacation Bible School for the younger children, and what a great time we had. Pastor put me over the game time; wild director + wild children + 40 minutes = noise, fun, and noise. I almost lost my voice the first night.
My former Kenjutsu (the Art of the Sword) instructor presided as the main teacher. He left the martial arts to go into evangelism last year and apparently is doing quite well. On the last day, Friday, he and I did a demonstration for the kids. Actually, he did the demonstration. I just held the watermelon on my stomach as he chopped it in two. Mom refused to watch and the girls hid behind her back. But I lived and have only a small red mark to prove for my troubles.
For the past two weeks I’ve been off of work due to some leg surgery. It was nice getting to sit around all day, specifically sitting at the computer getting to program. Incidentally, my dream-child iTeacher will be coming out in a few weeks. It’s a full transcript maker/designer for homeschoolers and commercial schools. If you are a homeschooler and don’t want to shell out US$40 for Transcript Pro, write me. Please. I want to work with you. But more on that later.
Finally, in gearing up for college, I’ll be abandoning Reckless Abandon. Never fear, however, for I shall start a new blog and drop my alias and all. I’ll be a real person when I turn 18 after all - recognized by the government, ready to drive… eligible for the draft… able to serve time in a real prison… maybe I’ll stay a minor after all. 
Have a good day and I’ll report back on (or near) the 4th of August.
10-4 - Daquell
“It looks like rapid changes coming sir!”
I’ve decided to stop using Blogger after I quit this blog; it’s a little unwieldy for some of the tasks I want it to perform (and I read today in a book of good authority that ‘Blogger is a fine tool… for beginning bloggers’). I really don’t think it’s a beginner’s tool, but if there’s something better out there, I’m all over it.
Wraith Daquell has served well for the past couple of years. He too, though, is getting a little shaky; the other day I asked him to recall some important parts in his history and he came up blank. Being half-shapeshifter is starting to take its toll, I guess. Still, he seemed to be the type that would be around forever.
Tomorrow I head off to my homeland with the rest of family… we rented a van and are headed for sunny Tennessee. This will be the first time that I won’t visit my best friend for a week; my work won’t let me off for that long. Our rented van has a built-in DVD player, so my sisters are carefully plotting what movies to bring. Upon last inspection, they had chosen The Incredibles (1 star), Bambi (?), Narnia (4.5 stars), and Hoodwinked (4.5 stars). As long as we don’t get stuck watching Bambi, I’ll be happy.
Until next time - WD
Bob the Centipede - The Condensed Tale
Purple veins of lightning lanced down from the sky as dark clouds masked any indication that the sun was shining. Apart from the large clock on the side of a far tower that read twelve o’clock, midday, all nature seemed to indicate a dark and stormy night.
A small crowd had gathered near the road’s edge around a small figure. Robert Cephillious the Centipede, also known as Bob, was bidding his family and friends farewell.
“I go now across yon road,” he declared. The peril of this task was too great to imagine, and his mother fainted from fear. “It may come to pass that our paths will ne’er meet again. Thus, I bid thee all farewell, and good health,” and so saying, he clomb down the deep embankment and was lost from all sight.
Now, this tale being currently written in the script of the English of Olde, and that being sore difficult on modern eyes at any considerable length of time, henceforth will it be translated.
Bob reached the bottom with ease, and, coiling his rope over his shoulder, began his perilous journey across the road. I will warn you, O Reader, that he never accomplished his goal. Nevertheless, he had three adventures before the end, which I lay before you now…
Adventure One - The Four-Legged Boulder
Bob saw at once a long, yellow mountain range, many miles ahead. He set out straight for it, and estimated a day’s journey. Mile after mile he plodded, and hour after boring hour came and went, and though the cliff behind him grew distant, the hills ahead seemed resolute to never come closer. His strength would have given out by this time except for sheer willpower.
All in a sudden instant a boulder with four vast legs came hurtling down beside him, passing over his head with a flash of lightning. Two more passed without event, and then another. Quickly and expertly, Bob dodged left or right, forward or back, to avoid being flattened by these monstrous horrors. They came faster and faster, Bob grew slower and slower, and finally a leg from one of the terrors landed on him.
Bob did not suffer any hurt. For this reason, he is often called Saint Robert, for such a miraculous event could not happen to a mere mortal insect (I suppose the grid of the tire fit over him and saved him from an otherwise painful and hideous death). As quickly as it came, the hail or boulders subsided directly, and few came again during his travels.
Adventure two - Evil from the sky
Bob noticed that from his constant running from avoiding the boulders, he was much closer to the Yellow Mountains. Quickly reaching them, he began his descent. Up and up to the peak, then down into a low valley, then up once more and down. This took but thirty minutes. The storm had abated and left nothing but deep puddles. A haze formed from the moisture in the air; shadows formed in the haze above him. “SHRIEEK!” A sounding scream sent chills running up his spine. Bob had but a few seconds before he was pounced upon by some unknown creature and carried aloft. Higher and higher he sped, writhing against his captor, before he broke the vice-like grip and fell to earth with a sudden, stunning landing.
When he regained his senses, Bob found that he was once again unharmed and right on the edge of the roadside! He saw but one obstacle in his way.
Adventure three - The Vast Sea
All that lay between he and his goal was a sea of swiftly flowing water. He travelled first upstream, then down, and found no break in the stream. A long stick finally caught his eye, though, and upon testing it he found it to be sturdy. He began crossing. The makeshift bridge creaked and swayed; it shifted many times, almost causing him to fall. He never fell off, but the bridge fell of its own accord, throwing him into the foaming waters. Even with a hundred legs, the centipede cannot swim, and Bob began to drown. His life, full of brave deeds, flashed into his mind, and he smiled.
He did not die. A boat appeared in the distance, coming towards him rapidly. This, we assume, is another miracle. He clambered aboard and found no-one. He saw the ship’s name, printed on its side, and it was called Coca-Cola. It was a tight, snug little vessel. Thus endowed, and with three adventures behind him, Robert Cephillious abandoned his idea of traversing to the roadside and, accepting this new challenge, sailed in his miraculous ship, the Coca-Cola, off into the unknown void.
Yesterday we got together with my favorite family from our church and had a cookout/pool party. I didn’t swim though; I just shot my sisters and their friends with a water-gun from the side of the pool. We all had a great time, especially after my older sister (who also wasn’t going to swim) fell into the pool with her clothes on. Go figure…
Unfortunately, the rest of the week will not be a swimming success: I’m scheduled to have my wisdom teeth extracted on Friday. While I’ve always liked the taste of blood (like after biting through my tongue), the thought of tasting it for two days strait is already making me nauseous. But Que Sera Sera. The surgery will only have to be done once, and after that comes ice cream.
Edit—
I lived! Apart from a violent, blood-filled coughing fit that happened just after all my attendants left the room, the situation has been good: ice cream, sherbet, pudding…. the works.
While I break my workfest for a few days following the surgery, I’ll be doing some more work on Nitegames. The rules need a major overhaul; I updated them last month with a few pending tweaks, but they could use a slight rewrite. The entire site has failed somewhat due to my lack of a proper server; perhaps I can persuade the bigwigs down at Bob Jones to lend me some campus server space. Hopefully, hopefully, hopefully, hopefully….. maybe they’ll accept a bribe.
Until next time - don’t take any wooden nickels.
