I had a birthday this past week. August 21, I turned 33. In my days of walking on this Earth, I have seen many things as you have read. I have also heard many things. This story takes place the day before my birthday. It was a nice and peaceful morning. I got to sleep in and I didn't owe anyone a thing. My boss was nice enough to give me 3 days off in a row and I was going to make the most of them. I spent most of this one inebriated. The events that happened quickly sobered me up. This is the first of many instances...

After the instances the day before, I was fully fine with being left alone the rest of the day. Jason and I just stayed as close to home as possible and hardly went anywhere. I got all my favorite foods and it was totally worth the headaches involved.

The night before my birthday, everything was far from calm. I spent most of it nicely marinated but functional. When you're dealing with what i'm dealing with, you might want to be inebriated too. TC had calmed down from our invisible visitor that morning and was roosting quietly on my shoulder. Jason and I had retired to our bed to watch some TV.

While living in North Carolina you hear stories handed down from centuries before. If you listen closely, you can sometimes hear a repetitive subject in the stories. Whether you come from Native American heritage or your family comes from the British Isles, the stories are a part of who you are.

There is a well known lake around here that a lot of people visit. It crosses the state border with the Catawba River and a couple different counties. It's a must go place for fishing and boating. At one point I think they found alligators living in it for the first time in a long time.

Having relatives that live about 20 minutes away usually leads to a pleasant drive to go see them. When it is almost 3 am, however, it can be treacherous. The backroads at night are usually covered in deer or some other four legged mammal. There are no street lights and the only light you receive comes from either house lights or the moon. When it rains, you're basically making a fool-hardy trek to the unknown.

Once again the early 1900's building that holds my studio space has not let me down. It is currently 2:32pm in the dead of afternoon and while we are closed, I am not alone in here. There are at least 5 other artists present with me currently. With the construction going on in the upper and lower floors, there have been changes with how the building feels.

It has been a while since I have given a story. Since I have started documenting my experiences, I have noticed some months that more occurs than in some others. This month, thankfully, was quite silent. That is, until recently.

While living in the South, many stories are told of the strange weather we get down here. Now North Carolina is considered a tropical climate with weather changing daily until it gets to the hot months. This year it was particularly warm in January with 70 something degrees for the month. The month of February into March consisted of 40 degrees and lower. This particular day's weather was even stranger.