The Treasure Hunters: Part One

Posted in the Throwback Thursday and Serial Sunday Presents

“Not all treasure‘s silver and gold, mate”
Jack Sparrow, Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl

The Treasure Hunters: Part One

It was just another day at the office. The lost and found box weekly walk through task had fallen on my desk this week. Procrastinating on starting the tedious job, I decided to get a refill for my coffee and take the box to an empty meeting room and sort out the lot there on the conference table.

I was starting with the task at hand, pulling each item and sorting them to their respective piles on the table. An odd glove, an empty wallet, a photo frame with a photo of a Disneyland visit, a few coins, when a crumpled piece of paper caught my eye.

I picked it up, curious, because the paper was yellow and thick, nothing like the printer papers we used for the office. It seemed older and more delicate somehow. I carefully unfolded the lump in my hand, and bit by bit, I had it fully open and spread in front of me. I could not believe my eyes.

The X marks the spot indeed; I was looking at what seemed to be, a treasure map and a price to seek.

I kept staring at the map in front of me, wondering if it was someone’s idea of a joke or the real deal. As I stared deeper and deeper into the mysterious map, I felt a dizziness and suddenly, I was surrounded by thick fog. A whooshing sound and there I was, standing on a beach, transported to an unfamiliar place.

The sun was shining warmly, seagulls above me, screeching. The waves gently rolling across the sand. I, myself, barefoot, dressed in fashion resembling an eighteenth century cabin boy. This was a completely different outfit to what I had been wearing before, not to mention the lack of footwear.

I scanned the distance and saw a tall ship. The crew was getting ashore and carrying many a boxes. The men were dressed in similar old fashion clothing I was and oddly enough, the whole set up resembled a scene from a pirate film.

I wondered whether my eyes were deceiving me, had I fallen asleep and was dreaming or had I just lost it all together. I pinched myself and felt the pain. “Great!” I said out loud in a sarcastic tone. Either I had stumbled into a wormhole or other dimension, this was actually real!

I started slowly walking towards the ship. It would be my best option to get more info on what was going on. Just hoping these people, who ever they were, would be the friendly sort.

To be continued…

treasuremap1

The Treasure Hunters: Introduction

Posted in the Throwback Thursday and Serial Sunday Presents

“I always say, ‘I’m not a pirate, I just play one on TV.'” Paul Watson

Treasure Hunters: Introduction

Welcome to Treasure Hunters!

In a new weekly series called “Serial Sunday Presents”, The Rantings Of A Third Kind will be showcasing stories published each week, on Sunday. Short stories, continuing saga and tales of the odd for your reading pleasure.

The first series posted, is the continuing saga of the The Treasure Hunters. A tale of time travelling, change of identities, treasure hunting, pirates and a little adventure on the side 😉

Parts one through four have already been posted. More to come next Sunday in Part Five!

ce13907ec4990b96b72824335acbf978

Scale (WP Developing Your Eye II) Four

Posted in WordPress Course: Developing Your Eye II
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Dialogue

Day Three: “Scale” — Experiment with Size

* A bakery in New Orleans, Louisiana, serves its famous king cake with a little plastic baby hidden inside. Here is one such figurine, posing on an iron fence in the Garden District during Mardi Gra
* Today’s Tip: Don’t just point and shoot. Observe your scene before pressing the shutter and consider how all the elements in the frame interact with one another. Make an object appear larger through a ground-level POV. Place two things side by side in an unexpected way.

Scale

“I went into a clothing store, and the lady asked me what size I was. I said, ‘Actual’. I’m not to scale” Demetri Martin

Dudes

Dudes from the present
Dudes from the past
Many a time may have been spent
But they’ll always have a blast

scale-4

Scale (WP Developing Your Eye II) Three

Posted in WordPress Course: Developing Your Eye II
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Dialogue

Day Three: “Scale” — Experiment with Size

* A bakery in New Orleans, Louisiana, serves its famous king cake with a little plastic baby hidden inside. Here is one such figurine, posing on an iron fence in the Garden District during Mardi Gra
* Today’s Tip: Don’t just point and shoot. Observe your scene before pressing the shutter and consider how all the elements in the frame interact with one another. Make an object appear larger through a ground-level POV. Place two things side by side in an unexpected way.

Scale

“I went into a clothing store, and the lady asked me what size I was. I said, ‘Actual’. I’m not to scale” Demetri Martin

Straight Line

“Who stepped out of the line?”

“Not I, Sir,
Not I!”

scale-3

Scale (WP Developing Your Eye II) One

Posted in WordPress Course: Developing Your Eye II
Photography /Poetry /Humour

Day Three: “Scale” — Experiment with Size

* A bakery in New Orleans, Louisiana, serves its famous king cake with a little plastic baby hidden inside. Here is one such figurine, posing on an iron fence in the Garden District during Mardi Gra
* Today’s Tip: Don’t just point and shoot. Observe your scene before pressing the shutter and consider how all the elements in the frame interact with one another. Make an object appear larger through a ground-level POV. Place two things side by side in an unexpected way.

Scale

“I went into a clothing store, and the lady asked me what size I was. I said, ‘Actual’. I’m not to scale” Demetri Martin

Left Standing

I am still standing
After all these years
The times have been demanding
Shed my share of tears
But growing stronger
The much longer
I here keep on standing

scale-1

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday: Seven

Posted in the World Wide Wednesday: Around the world in photographs
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Song /Travel

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday

vienna-21

“Österreich ist eine kleine Welt, in der die große ihre Probe hält.”
Friedrich Hebbel

Space Oddity in Vienna

“This is ground control: Major Tom, please respond: over”

“This is Major Tom: over”

“Major Tom, we have located your space pod: over”

A moment of silence on the receiving end before response:
“Um… Where exactly did you find it: over”

“City of Vienna, Austria: over”

A muffled “oops” is heard from Major Tom’s end:
“O-K, ground control. Um, any chance you could give me a lift there?: over”

“Roger that M T! By the by, we do not seem to be able to track you on the device: over”

“Well, I am kind of in a situation here…” odd noises heard on the background, “What if I just send my coordinates and you can send vehicle, OK? : over”

In the ground control, quick typing can be heard and in the distance, a loud O.M.G.
“Ah, we got your location. Sending extraction right away: over”

“A big thanks, ground control! End transmission”

 

Back at the ground control, the two officers are staring at the screen where the location of Major Tom is blinking. The other officer turns to look at the other one:

“I can’t believe he actually ended up there…”
“Yeah, me neither”
The officers continue to stare at the blinking screen, both shaking their heads in disbelief…

And what was the location where Major Tom had ended up in?
Well…

vienna-21

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday: Six

Posted in the World Wide Wednesday: Around the world in photographs
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Song /Travel

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday

vienna-1

“Österreich ist eine kleine Welt, in der die große ihre Probe hält.”
Friedrich Hebbel

Machinery

Machinery
Of the extraordinary
In this
Scenery

vienna-6

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday: Five

Posted in the World Wide Wednesday: Around the world in photographs
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Song /Travel

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday

vienna-4

“Österreich ist eine kleine Welt, in der die große ihre Probe hält.”
Friedrich Hebbel

Reflections at the Exit

When you exit
Across the glass made of plexi
Your face is reflecting

Fair warning: images in the mirror may not be as pretty as in real life (or in your own mind ;P)!

vienna-12

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday: Four

Posted in the World Wide Wednesday: Around the world in photographs
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Song /Travel

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday

vienna-5

“Österreich ist eine kleine Welt, in der die große ihre Probe hält.”
Friedrich Hebbel

Technisches Museum Wien

Highly geometrical
Absolutely spectacular
With oh so many decimals
A house of the technical

OK, so it’s the museum for Tech:
Go and check it out all you wanna be nerds!

vienna-11   vienna-10

vienna-18

vienna-20 vienna-19 vienna-7

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday: Three

Posted in the World Wide Wednesday: Around the world in photographs
Photography /Poetry /Humour /Song /Travel

On the Streets of Vienna for World Wide Wednesday

vienna-2

“Österreich ist eine kleine Welt, in der die große ihre Probe hält.”
Friedrich Hebbel

Ride on a Bike

Rent a street bike
And around the Österreich
You can easily hike
Or at least,
The streets of Vienna!

vienna-14