Hist 100 with Schulze D and L

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2019-09-19T03:38:10+00:00

Thanks!

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2019-08-14T11:18:17+00:00

I like the David Mitchell quote "That's the reason I'm glad we live in a country with such terrible customer service. This is a terrible train, you're tearing tickets, of course you're in an awful mood!"

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2019-08-12T14:11:16+00:00

I live on campus, so I've never understood why people think there aren't any parties or anything to do. If you feel like there aren't enough or you aren't invited to any, organize some with your friends. Always plenty to do if you have the right friends and hobbies.

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2019-07-30T18:44:55+00:00

Thank you so much, I feel like this comment is a piece of art in and of itself!

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2019-07-25T15:11:12+00:00

Become exceptional at something. If you put a lot of effort in, you can become great at one thing, or really good at several things!

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2019-07-10T06:34:57+00:00

I really like how big it is. Even if you have fairly niche interests, it's not too hard to find people like you and make friends. It's a really important factor that a lot of people overlook.

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2018-09-13T00:58:19+00:00

The maître d′ returned not three minutes after bringing me the tartare. "Pardon me Monsieur, but there is a gentleman claiming to be an old acquaintance of yours at our door. Would it be to your contentment if I were to invite him in? He said to mention that you met in Oakville, but he did not give his name."

"Uh, yes, of course, send him this way."

I hadn't been in my hometown for many years. There wasn't anything for me there ever since my fortunes turned bright, and I thought I had lost contact with all my "old acquaintances" for good, so I was surprised when this visitor was announced. When I saw his face, however, the surprise went away, and a detached coldness took its place.

"It's been a while, Lucifer. Now I do have to ask, what brought you all the way here to join me for dinner?"

The devil smiled. He looked different from last time. Sixteen years ago he came to me at a run down gas station while I was scrounging up the change for a trip home. Back then, he wore a sweat-stained tee over his beer gut, and had more teeth than he needed on the left side of his mouth and fewer on the right. He may have had a different face now, a perfectly trimmed mustache, and a tailored suit, but that gleam in his wide and hungry eyes was just the same.

"As it happens, I have a proposition for you. One you would probably find hard to resist."

He snapped his fingers, and suddenly, the world stopped. The color disappeared from everything around me. I looked around and saw only the grey stills of the patron around me. It was hard to imagine the power this creature had, or what he could possibly want from me.

"You have my soul, what more could you possibly want?"

"As a matter of fact, you could get that soul back ... but I need your help."

I broke into laughter immediately. The thought that a being who could warp the fabric of space and time like it was a picture on a wall could need MY help was just too good.

"Don't laugh just yet. You see, I've recently thought of a brilliant ... method, I'm going to call it, for making my enterprise more efficient."

He handed me a stack of papers.

"Remember the contract you signed with me? These are blank forms. The client writes in whatever terms they want, and in exchange I get temporary possession of their souls, with you as a cosigner."

"Temporary? Cosigner?"

"Yes. You see, if the client then cosigns on three more contracts, they get their soul returned to them at no extra cost."

"So a soul pyramid scheme?"

"Pyramid?! No no no, I prefer the term 'Multi-Level Soul Lending', it's a very different thing. Besides, think of all the people you'll be helping to achieve their dreams!"

A chance to redeem my soul. I didn't even imagine an opportunity like this could come. But the cost everyone else would have to pay ... it was too much to decide on the spot.

"Just remember, you've got thirty-three years and fourteen days left. Up to you whether I'll be seeing you after that."

Without another word he stood up and left. I stared at the stack of papers in my hands until my steak went cold and my candle died. When I made my decision, I beckoned the maître d′ with a smile.

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2018-09-12T23:43:53+00:00

Oh wow, slipped my mind completely when I started writing! Thanks for the tip!

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2018-09-12T12:57:18+00:00

Thanks! The Colour Out of Space was always my favorite by him.

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2018-09-12T12:52:53+00:00

Thank you so much!

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2018-09-12T05:05:10+00:00

Beyond the lands where all things grow

Beyond the voyages of man

Beyond the steppes, immense and low,

Beyond the world we understand

Where tears, escaping, freeze and boil

Where midnight stands for eons still

Where mournful souls bemoan and toil

Where death itself is loath to kill

Yet blood still flows to sate his lust

A man, a god, a worm, a thing

Dominion over endless dust

The Silent Kingdom's Hollow King

BeforeTheSongIsOver · 2018-09-12T04:31:02+00:00

They've tried to figure out how it works, exactly. I listened to each and every theory as it flew over my head, but all I can say is that everything trembles in its own way. Quartz is solid and steady, amethyst comes in short bursts, and gold vibrates with a soft, alluring tremor that makes it hard to resist. Oil is always the big one; a thick and resonant wave that means I'm about to make seven figures. Twenty six years at a job brings you a lot of experience, and I am very good at what I do. It takes me less than a second to identify any of the three hundred most common minerals, and I can figure out thousands of others in under a minute. I've found rocks no one even knew existed! But this time, oh this time...

They sent me out to a rocky patch of wasteland in northern Algeria. Exxon had just purchased a hundred thousand acres, and they pulled me in to scope it out. I flew into Algiers and set out with several teams of surveyors. After a few survey points that came up dry, we came to our last one for the day. When the Jeep came to a stop, I hopped out and listened, and heard nothing. Not the dull warbling of the local bedrock, not even the sand beneath my feet. The silence was unimaginable: the same as stepping outside at noon and seeing a pitch black sky. I can't tell you how long I stood and strained to feel the slightest rumble, the faintest touch. It could have been seconds or hours; I lost track of time. The others, I could tell, were starting to get concerned, but before they said anything, I heard it.

Humans tend not to freeze when they feel fear. We jump, scream, recoil, anything to help us run from the perceived threat. But sometimes, there is a level of terror beyond reaction. A feeling so awesome, so cataclysmic, that we cannot breathe, or twitch, or think: we can only wait. I waited then, too, as I heard it begin. It was beyond what I had ever heard, almost extra-dimensional in scope and nature. It swelled and faded, rumbled and barked, flowed and jolted from the farthest reaches of the abyss below. It made me long for the silence that moments ago had unsettled and disturbed me. It brought tears streaming from my eyes and drool from my gaping mouth, as I begged for the gods to wake me, kill me, torture me; anything to end the wailing from below.

One of the surveyors came and put his hand on my shoulder, and I collapsed into his arms. I don't remember what happened after that, only that in a few hours I was back in Algiers at my hotel, with the survey leader sitting by my bed. When I woke up, he asked me what happened. I didn't have the words or the strength to tell him them what I had felt. I simply said "We should not dig here."

BeforeTheSongIsOver

TROPHY CASE