The Boston Public Gardens are absolutely beautiful. My sister and I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the park.

Do I even need to say anything about this? Seattle sure as hell doesn't have anything this cool. The Space Needle? PFFFFT.

Or, as I was instructed later by my aunt, "Hah-vahd Yahd".

Little sis Caroline and I went to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in addition to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, but I have to confess that dinosaur bones can occasionally beat art as far as I'm concerned.

Provincetown


Such character! Normally I despise crowds, but even though Provincetown was filled absolutely to the max with people, I was totally relaxed. The diversity of the people and the stores that populated the downtown area was so rich and exciting.

Beaches

Yeah... I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life hanging out there.


Family

Caroline and I stayed with our aunt and uncle, and spent a lot of time with our cousins. Since we live across the country from each other we only get to see each other face to face every few years or so if we're lucky.

So the best part of the trip? Family.

Oh.

But I did see get to see Dropkick Murphys. In BOSTON. That might trump family.

This is me:

This is ALSO me:

They're going to lock me up one day.

I started writing this in August and never posted it - mainly because I was too lazy to get the photo I needed out of my camera. But here it is!

I woke up this morning with a start. Disconcerted and groggy, I flipped my clock over*. 6AM? I don't think so. But as I rolled over in a huff, prepared to go back to sleep with a vengeance, I froze.

The walls of my bedroom were bathed in an otherwordly reddish light. Gasping, I tried to think of what could be happening. Zombies? Nuclear explosions? Gathering my courage I whirled around to look out of my bedroom window, prepared for the worst, mentally calculating how long it would take to find pants, scoop up Stella, and flee from the path of whatever impending catastrophe happened to be barrelling towards me.

It turned out to be unnecessary.









Wow.

I got up, went outside to my front porch, and sat on the railing while I watched the sun come up.


*My alarm clock lives upside down on my nightstand because of its horrendously bright blue display that lights up my bedroom better than the 60 watt bulb in my lamp.

CAST:

NILS

BECCA

Becca had gotten the day off from work after manning the office solo for nearly a week with the express purpose of visiting Fort Worden with her best friend and honorary big brother Nils since their work schedules rarely allowed for days off at the same time. After trekking out all the way to the park, Nils and Becca were very excited to be at the beautiful coastal area (and, more importantly, not at work).

The day was starting off wonderfully. Nils and Becca were armed with a flashlight in anticipation of exploring the old bunker, gummy sharks, granola bars, and Propel water. They were a little bit sad that it was so cloudy and not sunny and warm so they could play in the water, but they weren't about to let that dampen their day. Then they walked on a little farther, and noticed the first ill omen.

Nils and Becca were a little bit concerned about the tsunami hazard sign, but the beauty of the park soon let them forget their concern.

Then....

Terror struck!

Fort Worden was infested with ZOMBIES!!!!

Fellow park goers were being attacked left and right! Becca and Nils had no idea where the zombies had come from, but there was no time to ponder these mysteries! Becca and Nils fled to the nearest secure looking structure, but it was locked.

So Nils and Becca fled to the ominous looking abandoned bunker in the distance!

Nils and Becca immediately started exploring the old bunker, looking to a place to hole up while they figured out what to do. The bunker seemed safe at first, and after a little while of searching, Nils and Becca allowed their guard to drop. Nils leaned up against a wall to take a break, then the zombies STRUCK! They seized his camera case and tried to pull him down to the room below!

(Becca was tempted to be mad at Nils for taking pictures instead of rushing to her rescue, but after a moment of reflection she decided not to say anything.)

Nils was getting angry. "That's it!" he told Becca. "We have to get that phone!"

"No, Nils!" Becca cried, still shaking from her near brush with death. "There are zombies down there, in case you haven't noticed!"

"Well, what else are we going to do?" Nils demanded. "I'm going, you stay here!"

Paralyzed with fear, Becca watched Nils descend to the lower levels.

Then she went after him. Unfortunately, her first attempt to find Nils didn't go very well.

Reunited, the two took a deep breath.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Becca demanded. "We don't have a phone, we're totally surrounded, and there are zombies all over the lower level!"

"Well...." Nils was unhappy. "I guess we should go practice martial arts on the beach and prepare for the worst."

Becca thought he was kidding.

He wasn't.

Suddenly Becca realized something. "Stay here," she ordered Nils, and before Nils could regain his balance as he came out of Shaolin Bear Strike, she was off, tearing across the roof of the bunker and down the ladder.

Five minutes and she was back with the phone. The national guard showed up a half hour later, killed all the zombies, and after giving Nils and Becca a thorough medical examination to make sure they weren't bitten, they were released and sent home.

What did Becca realize that allowed her to retreive the phone so easily?

Becca is really a superhero.

But don't tell anyone.