Due to this I believe that my efforts in writing will start to show some positive results and I will begin to see progress in reaching my goals.

But in continuing to work on my tales I realize that I have neglected some aspects of the craft. Some of these are things that I cannot do anything about at this time and will need to hold off on those until I am truly ready to push my work out into the world. But right now I see that I have neglected a few of the basics or at the most let them slide a little too long.

One area that I have not considered of late is the world in which my tales take place. I have long known what this world is like but I have not written it down anywhere recently and the vast majority of my old notes are lost to moves and the ravages of time. And some pieces are lost in the clutter of a far too messy office.

This came to light in the last few days as I was thinking about the path my hero needs to take. As I pondered this I started to hit upon several questions that pushed me in different directions and led me to places I really had not considered. I then talked the matter over with a few people and realized that I had not even considered some aspects of history, character traits, and cultural aspects that would define what is truly happening throughout the story.

In other words, while I had built some structure for my story long ago, I and the world itself have changed so much that that structure is no longer sufficient. I need to go back to the beginning and start again to rebuild the world and give it enough flesh to truly support the story.

To that end I will be spending the next little while world building and seeking the bones that will truly support the tale I want to tell.

With that though I am seeking out ways to organize the data that I am building. Currently I am using Liquid Story Binder by Black Obelisk which I will review at a later date. But in the interim I wonder what software other writers use or what they have discovered while looking over the methods that are available.

I will return soon my friends. Until then be well

~Daniel

Unfortunately I did not finish on time, and I did not follow all the rules. But I have now finished and I think that I like the feel of this tale. So, for your reading pleasure here is my take on a little romance. Enjoy.

~ Daniel

***

“Alright, Katy, now you just need to fill the pot with water and set it over the stove to heat slowly.

“That’s it and carefully set the bowl of chocolate over the pot.

“Good, good. Adjust the flames a little. We don’t want to burn the chocolate as we go.

“Very nice. Now just keep stirring it until its nice and smooth as I showed you earlier.

“Careful. Don’t get too close to the stove. We don’t want you to get burned as well.”

“Yes, Daddy”

“I know you know what you’re doing little one. But I worry about you getting hurt at times.”

“Ill be careful”

“Ok, just keep stirring and turn the cream to very low heat once the chocolate is about half melted. I’ll keep watching while I’m on the phone.”

“Ok”

“Hello.

“Oh, hey Tom. What’s up?

“Nothing much here either. Katy is making a cake and I’m supervising.

“What? Chris too? I probably shouldn’t be surprised. Our kids do tend to spend a lot of time together. Do you know who he is making it for?

“Really… That’s too bad. Katy’s is for him.

“No, she can’t hear me right now, but I can still see what she is doing. I’ve got her melting the chocolate now and I’ll have her add the cream soon.

“Well she knows Chris likes the cakes I make so she wanted to make a special one for him. I’m letting her do the decorations however she wants but the base will be exactly as I usually make it.

Is April making something too?

Wow, Katy’s favorite…wait, is she making them for Katy?

“I don’t know if I really like this. The kids are way too young to be thinking about love.

“I know. Their starting out much earlier than we did. I want to blame their teacher since Katy says she has made a big deal out of valentines day in the last few weeks. But I know it’s not her fault.

“True I don’t know how any of them will react to the one their giving something to giving something to their other friend.

“Their young enough that I don’t think it will be a problem. They should be able to handle it and Katy already said that she is coming over to the bakery to help out after school.

“Right, so we will be able to watch them all and see if they need us. We will just have to be there in case of heartbreak.
“Anyway. I need to get going Tom. I can smell that the chocolate is just about ready and I’m still going to help Katy as much as I can till she doesn’t need her daddy anymore.

“Ya, I’ll be at the store around 3 so we should have plenty of time to get the last of the pastries made for all the orders we have. Mary wont be there till 9 but she’ll be closing up the shop as well.
“Yup, good luck with Chris. Bye.

“How does the chocolate look, little one?”
“It just finished melting dad.”

“Good, then we just need to add the cream next. Did you warm it like I told you?”

“Yup”

“Well done. This should be a wonderful cake your making for him.”

:”I know. He’s going to love it”

“Yes, dear. I’m sure he will.”

To do this I started looking for ways in which I could add some Japanese products to my life and start learning a bit here and there. Sadly most of the avenues I found involved purchasing the items from Japanese stores and having them ship what I want to me. This was not very feasible as the cost of shipping the products was often more than the cost of the product itself and thus unless I was making a very large purchase it simply was not a valid option.

However, in November I discovered a place in Arlington Heights, Il called Mitsuwa Marketplace. In many ways it was an answer to prayers that I never made. Mitsuwa is very simple a Japanese grocery store containing a lot of the items that most Japanese would expect to find at their local markets. It has pretty much everything from Japanese vegetables and meats, to soy sauces, curries, spices, various rice and tons of products that you just can’t get anywhere else.

The store also has other shops connected to it including a bakery (Pastry House Hippo), book store (Books Sanseido), liquor, small eelectronics, household goods (haven’t paid much attention to these yet), and also several small restaurants as part of a food court. In essence Mitsuwa is a small Japanese mall with a lot of good stuff. And these other stores are great for what they have but I’ll get into those more in another post.

Ideally, what the store does is bring a little bit of Japan to those Japanese which have immigrated to the US and might miss something from their homeland. I know of a few people that make frequent trips here just to stock up on specific goods that they can’t get anywhere else or that simply do not work as well for them as products that are designed for them. The good news is that since they want these products and Mitsuwa is willing to bring these products over for their consumption then I get a chance to try a lot of different things and in the process expand my knowledge of both the Japanese language and a little about their culture.

Yesterday I stopped by on my way out town for a little trip. Ostensibly the visit was to pick up some of the breads from Pastry House Hippo (I am going to write some posts about Pastry House later on as their breads are simply wonderful and I they are worth writing about), but I also grabbed a couple drinks. One of these was Milk Tea.

This is something that I have heard about several times in the past and really didn’t care one way or the other if I would ever try it. But seeing as was taking a trip why not start it off with something different?

Milk Tea is exactly that, a blend of teas with milk, and some sugar. Now I am a pretty big tea drinker. I typically have at least two pots of tea per day. One in the early morning with breakfast and another in the evening as I close out my day. My tea is usually drank with just a little sugar in it as I have yet to find a tea that I feel is enhanced by adding milk.

So while I wanted to be a little adventurous it was with some hesitancy that I bought the milk tea. The drink was about what I expected. The tea is a blend of assam and green that I found to be alright but nothing really special. The milk in it was marginal and as the label shows that it is simply a condensed milk powder. That in an of itself is no big deal. What got to me though was that the first ingredient in this drink is sugar. 18g of sugar per serving to be exact and since there are 2 servings in this bottle that means there was a whopping 36g of sugar in that drink. It’s a good thing I’m slow at drinking and it took me nearly six hours to finish that bottle because that is a lot more sugar in my tea than even I like.

From what I have been told Milk Tea is supposedly a drink for those that are not accustomed to drinking tea at its best and I think I can see why. It’s a bit weak, it has way too much sugar and the milk itself may act to cover some of the real tastes of the tea.

I will not say that the drink is bad because I’m sure it has its supporters and those that truly enoy it. But sadly I cannot be one of them. Milk tea may be a decent product out of Japan and I have plans to translate that label in order to better understand what other labels at the market may say but for me I will not be buying another bottle of milk tea.

My next cup will be my usual earl grey, loose leaf, with just a little sugar, and at a proper 195 degrees as it rests in my cast-iron tea pot.

Until next time my friends, be well.

~Daniel

Edit: After I wrote the above post it was suggested that the problem was likely that it was a powdered milk. So due to this I may give milk tea another chance and will see how it plays out with some real milk in good hot tea.  But first does anyone have any suggestions for tea that would be the most suitable for adding milk? Further, should the milk be warm or cool?

Thanks all.

First you need to remember that there are several different meanings for steak sauce and for steak. And here I am talking about one specific combination. But first I’ll explain specifically what version of sauce and steak I mean.

Steak sauce: Quite simply there are two basic sauces here. The first is the mass produced commercially available sauces you can get at any grocery store. Sauces like A-1, Bulls-Eye, Heinz 57 and a dozen others that can taste good in their own way. But lets face it, these are factory produced concoctions with quite a bit of preservatives and in the end their main function is to cover the meat in question to impart whatever flavoring they are toting. And that is where the problem really lies.

The second form of sauce is the home-made variety. Something you can make on the fly with a few simple ingredients. Usually I make these with some beef broth, cognac or sherry, the drippings from the cooking meat, and some other spices for kick. Overall, these are small batch items that you make for one meal (unless you like to think ahead and have a really great recipe in which you might make enough for a short while if you have a good way to preserve it), have a great flavor and can only compliment the meat with which your working. These certainly deserve to be on good quality steak as they will only enhance the meal you have planned.

Steak: As far as the steaks go we have three distinct options. 1)Chopped Steak, 2) Strip or other type of steak that is typically of a lower quality (or was stored improperly), 3) good quality Steak like a filet. I should mention that this post is really geared towards the steak and egg breakfast which tends to be when I have the most steak. I’m not really sure why but steak makes more sense to me early in the morning than at night.

Typically when I go to a family restaurant you will get the first option readily enough. This can be a good thing but a ground up piece of meat in a vaguely steak like shape is not really steak. It’s hamburger and really the restaurants should not even try to make it sound better by having steak in the name.

However, it can be very good particularly if the cook knows what he is doing and spices it well. I have had some great chopped steaks and they did not need any help, but these are few and far between. Typically the chopped steak is dull, lifeless and lacking in any real quality.

At slightly better restaurants you might get the strip steak. Sadly these are usually not very good. They tend to be fatty, greasy, tough, with little or no seasoning and overall a very unpleasant meal. I think I have had one good strip steak in this context over the years and that was a fluke at even that particular restaurant.

I would also be very careful of ordering this at most restaurants as I have found many of these steaks with an extra element of flavor which can only be described as the refrigerator or freezer. This is a taste that can only come from meat that has sat in their fridge for far too long improperly wrapped. Be warned my friends that many restaurants will not properly handle their meat and you can get a very nasty taste from it (this is certainly a time when steak sauce would be appropriate just to mask the added taste dimension, if you can even stomach what you are served).

The last category is the absolute best and the most rare. To find a restaurant that will serve a pair of fillet medallions that are well seasoned, cooked just right (always to medium rare, why would you ever ruin a steak by taking it pass this stage?), and presented by themselves or maybe with a few mushrooms is simple something wonderful. I know of one restaurant that has this and when they are on their game it is truly an enjoyable meal. Always look for the highest quality in your foods my friends as that is certainly a part of the path to happiness.

Now, steak sauce doesn’t belong on steak. This phrase means first the commercial sauces and second the quality, well made steak.

A steak by its very nature should be a cut of good quality meat containing just enough fat to render added flavor without making things tough. It should be something to enjoy that melts in the mouth with every bite. It should definitely be something well-seasoned and well-prepared. This is the steak that I am talking about here and I have to wonder why anyone in their right mind would cover the natural flavors of a good steak.

In my view the other items I mentioned are really not steaks. Ground meat of any sort is not a real stake, its ground beef, hamburger and really should be labeled as such on the menu. The strip steaks and others cuts can be steaks but if your going to leave them with so much fat and gristle that they are really not edible then why bother offering them? Overall, the only real steaks I know are good, quality pieces of beef that are handled properly with seasoning and heat to bring out the best flavor.

With all that being said, why would you ever cover a good quality steak in a commercial grade sauce? Why would you hide the delicious flavor and well-done execution of such a steak with an overpowering sauce that doesn’t enhance anything but merely masks? I cant think of no rational reason to do so and to me that is a bit insane.

This is what I mean when I say that steak sauce does not belong on steak. You don’t need it. Steak sauce is something that belongs on pieces of sub-standard beef that have not been prepared well. If you cannot find the beef to be tasty in its own right, then by all means cover it in some sauce. At least then you can get some protein for your diet but all you really will taste is the sauce.

Steak sauce does not belong on steak but if you insist on having it, then at least try to limit the sauce to your eggs. At least they almost never have any real flavor and the sauce becomes a blessing.

Until next time my friends, I bid you well and happy eating.

~Daniel

Since I started this little corner of the net I have wanted to fill it primarily with things that interested me and to focus almost exclusively on my writings. But, since it is rather boring for me to talk about how much I have written on any given day, giving you percentages, number of words or pages, etc. I have seldom posted anything that resembled straight statistics. Instead I would wait until I finished one of my works and perhaps give a snippet.

Unfortunately, this means that my blog remains somewhat silent most days and i realize that this becomes a turn off as most people would want to see some action on any given day.

So I am introducing this new method for me to have something out here every day. The Ramble will be primarily just that as I contemplate something in my life each day. Some days I will talk about my writing, others may involve my studies. Then there will be days where I may talk about nothing at all or just something a bit strange (for instance yesterday I may have talked about how steak sauce is not meant for steak but is best on eggs. Of course I will also touch upon some of my hobbies.

Essentially dear friends this will be a daily look into my life without being an actual journal entry.

I will try my best to make it interesting as we go forward. I should also mention that I will not be making this a political rant on purpose at any point although I may touch upon some things slightly if they truly catch my eye. Particularly since there are already an abundance of political blogs out there.

I think that should do it for this first entry to the Ramblings. And as I watch the snow fall outside, it looks like it’s already another 2 inches on top of the 20 inches we had in the blizzard on Wednesday, I wish you all a cheery and warm day.

Be well

~Daniel

Darkened Sands is a short piece I wrote a while ago but it has a feel for my style and is a piece of character history I wrote as I was planning out another series.

I hope you will enjoy this glimpse into Kistala’s world.

Darkened Sands

The sun god burned as he rode across the sky. His fiery steed strode with purpose as he always had, lighting the world below and keeping the ice at bay. The air shimmered with every step of his hooves, sending waves of light and heat through the sky which rippled with a thousand colors for the pleasure of the eye. But down below, under the sun god’s ever watchful glare a battle waged on and Kistala was too busy with her own troubles to enjoy the sight.

It had been a long day and she was sore all over. But still she had to press on; ignoring the numerous cuts she had endured at the hands of these invaders. They could not be allowed to take this beach.

She panted heavily, her steely eyes locked upon the rat before her. His own blades were held high and she could see the fear in him as he tried vainly to find a way to escape. They had come to her world to destroy them, and this one at least knew that it had been a mistake. She had vowed she would make them all regret that choice.

Shifting her weight, she dug her claws into the white sands below, barely noticing the dark stain from a nearby form. Her muscles bunched and she leaped forward with a deep growl. Her eyes flashed as she came down, her sword whistling through the damp air, but it found no resistance as the invader clumsily tried to block his fear making it nearly impossible.

She landed in the sands beside him quickly pulling the sword free of his body. It slumped to the ground adding its own stains to the sands as she stood up, letting her gaze wander over the beach.

“It had been beautiful here once..,” she thought. Her mind traveled back over the years and she remembered a time when she had visited this very beach with her family. She remembered swimming in those waves, wading out as far as she dared before the bottom of the cove gave way to the sea. Of battling the current as it tried to drag her out and the waves that tried to send her tumbling back in to the snow white sands.

The trees back then had all been lush and green, their leaves spreading out wide and shading most of the beach from the sun god’s ride. Even the rocks had been beautiful, tall in their majesty as they arced out over the cove, their faces a motley of grays, browns and reds. She fondly remembered climbing these same cliffs in search of bird eggs for her mother, and of diving contests with her cousins to see who was the strongest in the pride.

But those days were long gone and now the cliffs still sparkled, but they were covered in a network of ropes and timber as the rats were using it to bring supplies up to the staging area they had tried to build. The trees were mostly gone, and even the sands were no longer pristine. Instead everything seemed to have become ugly to her eyes. And these filthy creatures had been the ones who had dared bring such ugliness to her once beautiful world. She hated them for that and had vowed that she would see them removed from this place so its beauty would be restored.

She shook her sword clear of the last drops frowning as she lifted it to note how poorly it looked after this days battle, but she was not yet done in her struggles if she wanted to cleanse this place. Turning right she saw two of her comrades continuing their fight and she made a move to join them. Gasping in shock she looked down at her own body and there, out of her left side a spear head flashed in the sun.

With a cry of rage at her own stupidity she turned to regard the rats behind her, pulling the spear out of their combined grasp. She quickly hacked into the first of them, his body soon falling to join the one from before. But the others had quickly backed off, pulling their own weapons free as she killed the first one.

Taking a step back she eyed her opponents gauging the three of them and how well she might be able to fight them. She was still weak from the days fighting and this new wound would slow her terribly. It may even spell her demise. But even death would not stop her from removing their blight. She reached back, and to their horrified eyes she easily snapped the spear off near where it penetrated her leather.

“Come little rodents, this kitty still wants to play,” she laughed at them tauntingly.

One of them stepped back at her words, his blade falling slightly as some measure of fear triggered within him. It was all the opening she needed and with a roar she charged them, her sword striking quickly out at each of the ones that had not moved before she shifted focus on the weak one. He was relatively easy to dispatch and in a few moments her blade again glistened darkly.

But she could not let up as the others were apparently more seasoned and were quick to attack her while she was turned. She barely moved in time to block their blows, trying to snap back with her own thrusts. Around the fallen bodies they moved, their feet and claws shuffling through the sands.

Blades clashed against each other, throwing off sparks of light. She kick and managed to get one of them off balance enough that her next attack nearly took half the tail of the other, but though they were not as good as her brothers had been, she was far too gone to be able to withstand them.

Time passed swiftly upon that battlefield as the three of them danced with few opportunities made that would allow her to be rid of them. Her breathing had become laggard and she knew that she could not last much longer. Her opponents were almost as spent as she was, but she knew that if something did not change soon she would not survive this conflict.

As if the gods had heard her thoughts, one of the two lost his balance as his foot fell against the body of the one she had slain earlier in the day. She quickly took advantage of his situation, pouncing forward and slamming her blade into his chest. She only had a moment but before she could turn away the other one was upon her, his own blade cutting into her arm. She cried out, her hand falling away from the sword as she crashed to her knees. Her blood loss and exhaustion finally overcoming the little reserves that she had had left.

She looked up at the rat as he towered over her his own sword rising up to strike the final blow, but he merely looked over her head, a quizzical expression appearing on his face. She barely took notice of it as her body slowly fell to the side, the bloodied sands cushioning her fall.

Her eyes turned towards the sea and she could hear the gentle swells of the waves as they came in to crash upon the shore. She had not heard it before, and she smiled for it was a beautiful sound.

“It’s just as I remembered,” she thought happily, her eyes drifting closed completely unaware of the rat falling down beside her.

***

Her eyes shot open as she awoke with a start. Feeling dizzy she gazed around, momentarily confused as it seemed she still in the dream, but this was not the same place it had been back then.
She started to relax, turning her head to look down the beach, where she could hear laughter, but her movements were too fast. She gasped, her hand immediately rising to her side caressing the old wound.
“It still just as painful,” she thought as her eyes finally found the two boys playing down by the water.
“But they were worth it all.”

© Dae Dracos/Kierloth aka Daniel Graf – 2009

Please stay around my friends and I hope you enjoy what you will read.

~Dae

A Virtual Nap
©2011 Daniel Graf

With a terrible cry the greater green wyvern crumpled to the ground, its wings flapping feebly for a few moments. It tried to raise it’s head, struggling weakly against fate but time had already wound down.

A chime sounded, the beast lay still and above its body appeared a golden message granting 1,500 experience points to the young warrior standing nearby.

He reached down to the body of the wyvern and collected its scales and some random loot that he hoped he wouldn’t need to use if he was lucky.

“Menu, Log-out.”

Silence greeted his command as he gazed across the mountains surrounding him. This part of the world was very quiet. It seemed that nothing moved, but he knew that if he traveled in any direction creatures would start to appear.

“Menu, Log-out,” he called again, but only the wind howled in response.

“Come on work you piece of crap game. Log out already.

“Call, GM.”

“Call, GM”

“Call, GM”

…

He didn’t really think that anyone would respond, but he had to keep trying. Eventually they would fix whatever was wrong and he would be able to quit playing. Then he would rush home.

Home. For some reason he found it hard to remember, which was strange since he only started playing a few hours ago. But he knew Katie would be there.

She would be very angry with him. Of that he was certain. She never liked it when he played for hours at home and even if this was work she would probably spend 30 minutes yelling at him and saying how these games were a waste of his life.

He certainly didn’t think the games were a waste of his time. There were a lot worse hobbies he could have and he still made sure to make time for her and the children. But why did it seem like he couldn’t really remember what they looked like?

Ridiculous. Of course he knew what his family looked like and he would see them soon enough once they fixed the game. Until then he would just have to continue playing and seeing what else was wrong for his report.

Until then he would need to continue to play and return the wyvern’s scales to the village. Perhaps even get a mug of ale to help pass the time.

After what seemed to be several hours of travel, although he was sure it was only a few minutes in the real world he finally arrived back in the village and settled down in the tavern. The place never seemed to change and likely the developers still had some adjustments to make here but for now it was his home and would remain so until they fixed the bugs.

John, the name he had given to the bartender NPC, came over and placed an ale on the counter a smile playing on his lips.
“Well lad? Did you do it? Is the beastie dead?”

“Yes, John. It’s dead and here are the scales to prove it as you requested.”

“Good lad. It’s just what we will be needing. That old wizard said we could protect the village for another hundred years with these.”

“Sure, John, whatever you say.” he took a long pull on the ale before him no longer really caring if he played the game in character or not.” What’s next on the quest list that you needed John?”
Staring down into the ale it took a few moments before he realized that John hadn’t responded. Taking another drink he glanced up and growled around his ale. John had frozen in place, his mouth hanging open as he was about to deliver the next segment of the quest.

“Great, another bug. Well what do I do now?”

“I think calling it a day and going home might be best, Mr. Baker. Don’t you?”

“Go home? That isn’t possible, the developers still haven’t fixed the system and I can’t log out….”

Turning quickly he looked towards the back of the room to a young man dressed in simple clerics robes.

“Did you just say…”

“Yes, Mr. Baker, I did. Its time to go home. We have finally determined the best way to bring you out and are prepared to begin the process.”

“Then what are you waiting for? Get me out of here already.”

“As you wish. Please close your eyes as that should help to reduce the sense of discontinuity as we remove you from the game.”

Baker did as instructed and waited eager to finally be able to return home and see Katie and the kids again.

“Alright, Mr. Baker you can open your eyes. Your back in your own body, though you may feel a bit weak. You have been in that chair for quite some time after all.”

“Weak? I haven’t been here very long so I’m not weak. I Just want to get home,” he mumbled wondering why he did sound so tired.

“Not very long? Mr. Baker I don’t think you realize the current situation. When you entered the game to test it an error occurred that prevented us from reaching you or you to log out. It has taken us nearly 20 years to find a way to bring you out of the system without severely damaging your brain. I’m afraid that this world is not the one you left behind. You were declared legally dead quite some time ago I’m afraid and your life is essentially gone. Your wife has remarried, and your son died recently in the war. But you have nothing to worry about ICS will take care of you. We have an extensive benefits package that will see you living comfortably for the remainder of your days.

“Mr. Baker?…Oh dear. Molly, could you please come in here. Your father has passed out and I am not sure how much he heard. He will likely need your support when he awakens.

To give you an idea of what I am considering these days I am currently in the process of deciding what I will do with my life. As many of you know I am currently a tax auditor working for the government.  This has proven to be a pretty good job over the years since I graduated from college but unfortunately I am not happy and have not been for a long time. I have been wondering what is going on and decided that being an auditor just is not challenging for me and I cannot enjoy my daily repetitive work.

Consequently, I have been considering how to improve my life in order to make myself happy. The solution, very simply, is to quit the state and move on to another career. The options are either writing full time and thus becoming the published fantasy author that I have always wanted to be or to pursue a new career (I know, technically writing would count as a new career too, but in my view no matter what I do the novel writing will come along with that career choice).

The new career will be either as a teacher (english or mathematics), enter into financial investments, or go into a type of consulting practice that I have been getting training in for the last couple years.

Right now I believe that I am going to pursue an educational career.

This means that I will need to go back to school (I have absolutely no objections to this) and will either get a masters degree in literature, (or perhaps education), or mathematics. But before I do I am going to consult with a few people and try to gain some insight into what will be best for me before I proceed.

At this point I have plenty of time and know that I will not need to make the decision immediately but I want to make it soon so that I can determine where I am going to go as this will be a big turning point in my life.

Until that time, I will be doing a lot of research on how to proceed plus pursuing my stories even more.

I know I have not posted anything recently my friends but I am working on a few things and have done a good bit of world, character and plot building as I have progressed. Soon I hope to have something for you to read, something that will be a history for my characters and a taste of the world they live in.

Until I have completed my work I have decided to change this blog. My first change is to remove all my previous posts. I have saved these to my hard drive and will keep a backup of them.

If you wish to read one of my stories then simply send me a note and I can either repost it or give it to you directly to read.

• Darkened Sands
• Bears Heart
• Arcedium
• Dark and Stormy night

I will also be redesigning this blog as I have time and perhaps going with a slightly less dark feel.

Until I get things finished I ask that you bear with me my friends but I believe you will be happy with the results.

Until next time, be well

~Dae