G'day mate, you  called?


Crikey, where did that rhombus go? It's a one of kind creature, mates. Lets hope it comes  out of hiding.

You making faces at me? ME?!! The amazing wonderful  noble wise heroic Nahla?!! Are you aware who I am?! I won 'Worlds Most Awesome Person' every year.

Until you learn to respect your planets most awesome person, you are banned.

Guys I'm melting For a few days now we're having quite an intense heat wave with temperatures around 100 ?F/40?C. And tomorrow looks like Germany is gonna be ripped apart by storms. Some say it'll be like last year when a huge storm destroyed quite a bit of western Germany and killed 4 people. Hope that doesn't happen again and I hope we don't get yet another strong tornado...

Welcome to my world, Germany..hat is pretty much Australian Summer..just without the massive droughts and bushfires. Just stay in the shade, in Australia heatstroke is crazy in Summer and on average 4 people die per year in Australia from intense heat.  And  even more people die because of bushfires.

I didn't even know Germnay got that hot.

But right now, Australia is freezing over. -6?C/21.2?F right now, and for Australia that is freezing cold, we got snow everyday for the past week, there is snow and ice everywhere, July is the coldest month for Australia and it sure is proving that fact right now, my teeth are chattering sitting here.

Dear, Germany.
We want our sun back.

~Signed, Australia.

In all serious now, I'm just trying to stay warm, also there is  a massive Flu outbreak in my area right now...not fun. Hopefully we will all be okay though.

I thought we went over this, Ducky. I am NOT a geometrical shape. Are we clear?

I'm having some friends for dinner, care to join Ducky123? You can be the main course-I mean guest of honour....

Man O' War won the Triple Crown? Wasn't it War Admiral?

It was War Admiral . Man O' War won the Preakness and Belmont but didn't run in the Derby. War Admiral is also famous for the match race with Seabiscuit  in 1938 which Seabiscuit won. War Admiral was the son of Man O' War and Man O' War  was also the sire of Hard Tack who was Seabiscuit's sire.

Yes..I research these things, quiet.

Why is the Triple Crown so important? Well the prize money, sure but otherwise what makes it so special?

Well, most countries have a Triple Crown series consisting of three races, it is normally where the best three years of that country compete, very hard for one horse to win all three not only in America. Last English Triple Crown was won by Nijinsky way way back in 1970. The Australian Triple Crown had it's last winner recently in 2013, it was won by It's a Dundeel making him the first since 1996 making him the 5th overall since  the very first Australian Triple Crown in 1943.

Win all three of a countries Triple Crown and you're set for life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Crown_...#United_Kingdom  that lists each countries Triple Crown races, records and all past winners.


I read this Amercian Pharoah horse will most likely  be retired at the end of this year after the Breeders Cup, the horse right now is worth well over 50  million. But if he was to suddenly do poorly in races or even get injured his value will drop. Most likely his owner's won't risk it and retire him.

Also is his name really American Pharoah? That looks misspelled.

It is his name and it is misspelled the wrong spelling came from a mistake in the horse's registration paperwork and when no one noticed until the name was accepted and it was too late then. Poor horse, stuck with a misspelled name.

Now I am not a horse racing fan at all (mainly what happens to the horses when they retire) but I did watch the Belmont Stakes today and witnessed what is the first American Triple Crown winner in 37 years. the first of this generation.

I do not know much about American horse racing, but I'm aware that winning this is a huge deal, only 12 horses in history have won.

'American Pharoah led all the way to win the Belmont Stakes by 5 1/2 lengths on Saturday, becoming the first horse in 37 years to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes ó one of the sporting world’s rarest feats.

The bay colt with the unusually short tail defeated seven rivals in the grueling 1 1/2-mile race, covering the distance in 2:26.65 to end the longest stretch without a Triple Crown champion in history.

American Pharoah is the 12th horse and first since Affirmed in 1978 to win three races on different tracks at varying distances over a five-week span. He won the Derby by one length on May 2 and then romped to a seven-length victory in the rainy Preakness two weeks later.

Trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza ended their own frustrating histories in the Triple Crown. Baffert finally won on his record fourth Triple try, having lost in 1997, 1998 (by a nose) and in 2002. Espinoza got it done with his record third shot after failing to win in 2002 and last year on California Chrome.

Frosted finished second and Keen Ice was third.

American Pharoah delivered a victory for Egyptian-born owner Ahmed Zayat, who bred the colt and put him up for sale before buying him back for $300,000. His name came courtesy of the family’s online contest, in which a woman from Missouri submitted the winning moniker, but the misspelling wasn’t noticed until the name was already official

American Pharoah joined the ranks of Triple Crown winners Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed.

The crowd of 90,000 ó capped to avoid overcrowding and long lines from last year’s total of 102,199 ó roared as American Pharoah turned for home in front.

As he neared the finish line, drinks were tossed in the air and fans jumped up and down in celebration, many holding their camera phones aloft to capture history on a sunny, 75-degree day at Belmont Park. It’s unlikely the champion heard them since American Pharoah wears ear plugs to block noise that might get him worked up.

American Pharoah extended his winning streak to seven races. He matched the accomplishment of his grand-sire, Empire Maker, who won the 2003 Belmont, spoiling Funny Cide’s Triple Crown bid.

Since 1978, the rigors of the Triple Crown had done in 13 other horses who won the Derby and the Preakness ó with 12 losing the third leg and I’ll Have Another scratched with a leg injury in 2012. Their failures left the sport and its fans craving a worthy successor to the 11 previous champions.

American Pharoah ó his tail shortened after being bitten off on the farm as a youngster ó turned out to be that horse. He awed observers with his speed and a fluid, springloaded stride in which he appeared to float over the ground.

He was 2-year-old champion last year, and virtually cinched similiar honors for his achievements as a 3-year-old this year.

Unlike Affirmed, who dueled Alydar in all three races, American Pharoah didn’t have a specific rival since he was only horse to run in all three Triple Crown races. Going into the Belmont, American Pharoah had beaten all of his seven challengers before.

Five of his rivals lost to him in the Derby, then skipped the Preakness to await the Belmont, a competitive advantage to horses that didn’t endure the three-race grind. Tale of Verve finished second in the Preakness to American Pharoah, who had beaten Madefromlucky in the Rebel Stakes in March.

American Pharoah became the first horse since Afleet Alex in 2005 to run in all three races and win the Belmont, known as “The Test of the Champion.”'

I just hope they let the horse rest now, poor thing must be exhausted.

No idea why I am posting this but I guess it's pretty cool that is has broken history, and horse racing is a 'sport'..I guess...

I was speaking to a classmate of mine during lunch the other day and she told me about a nightmare she had that she said scared her a lot, I thought about it and since I'm wanting to get back into writing asked if she would mind letting me use the idea for a short story. She said fine as long as the real names were not used.

This is just a short little 'horror' story. Based off this classmates nightmare but I changed it to make it sound more like a story, and the names as she requested.

Anyway, onward shall we?

~


I sighed and blew a stray strand of hair out of my face, then rolled over and peered over the top of the bunk.

Jodie lay on the bed below me, reading some crappy book about romance, and when she noticed me staring at her she glanced up. "Why are you staring at me?"

"This is boring, Jodie. I know that you were excited to come to this holiday park for your birthday, but there's nothing to do. Plus, Sam won't stop talking to 'The Mystery Guy', so that wrecks the fun for all three of us," I replied, drawing out and emphasizing the 'boring' part.

Jodie smirked when I said 'The Mystery Guy.' It was the name that we had given to the boy that Sam wouldn't stop talking to. When she did stop talking to him and decided to chat with us (now that was a rare occurrence) she acted like he didn't exist, and when we asked her about him she refused to talk. The only words about him that we had managed to get out of her was that we must never ring him. Ha! As if we know his number anyway!

"Don't worry, we'll be going home soon," Jodie said, and looked down at the bright pink watch on her wrist. "Hey... Sam's said that she's going to be out for a while on her daily walk... what do you think about ringing 'The Mystery Guy'? Sam'll never know."

I sat bolt upright, smacking my head on the roof and cursing along the way. Damn, the cabin roof in this stupid holiday park was the lowest frikin' roof I've ever seen. "Didn't you listen to Sam yesterday? She said we must never ring him. Anyway, we don't know his number."

"When we first came here I saw Sam looking at a piece of paper and typing into her phone. I bet that if we find that piece of paper, we'll find his number. I think I saw her put it in her bag. And stop being so paranoid - Sam probably just thinks that we'll steal him from her."

I climbed down the bunk ladder just as Jodie rolled out of her bed. "Well..."

"Come on," Jodie said impatiently, pausing in the room's doorway. "She'll be back in about an hour."

We walked into Sam's room - just across the narrow cabin hallway - and Jodie started to search her bag while I checked the bedside drawers. After a few minutes of searching, Jodie drew her hand out of the bag an held up a small, crumpled slip of paper. "Bingo!"

I came over to her and read the writing underneath a phone number; 'DO NOT DIAL UNLESS YOU ARE SAM BROWN."

I shivered, and my eyes widened as I noticed that the middle part of the phone number contained the numbers '666'. That was way too creepy to be incidental.
"Jodie..." I started, meaning to tell her that I thought it was a bad idea and that we should just leave it, but she had already whipped out her phone and had typed the number in.

She turned the phone to loudspeaker, and we listened as the phone rang. Once... twice... three times... and on the fourth ring, a man answered the phone.

His voice was deep and contained a faint Russian accent - it made him sound like how I imagined Count Dracula to sound.

"Hello?" he said, "who is this and why have you called?"

Jodie plunged straight into it. "Hiya. I'm Jodie, a friend of Sam's. I wanted to know who you are - Sam is always speaking to you, but she never tells us about you. Sorry if your relationship with
Sam is private, I really can be nosy sometimes-"

"You shouldn't have called," the man interrupted, and hung up.

Jodie grunted and switched off her phone. "Rude!"

I released my breath - I hadn't realized that I had been holding it - then gasped as I saw Jodie punching his number in again. "No, come on, he doesn't want to talk. Let's not make him angry, he could tell Sam. Then she would never forgive us."

Jodie sighed moodily and threw her phone onto Sam's bed, picking it up a moment later. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with Sam. She doesn't tell me anything."


The next day we returned home, and you can't imagine how relieved I felt. Finally! My own bed, good food, and entertaining things to do.

As soon as we walked into our apartment (Jodie and I shared one) I flopped down onto a blue bean bag in front of our flat screen TV, and felt around the carpet with my hands until I found the remote. As I clicked on the TV, I noticed that the cute rabbit statue that Jodie had put on top of the cabinet where the TV lay was missing. Frowning, I called out to Jodie. "Hey, where's the rabbit statue that you put on the cabinet? Did you move it before we went to that holiday park?"

I heard Jodie dump her suitcase onto her bed, and then the thud thud thud of footsteps coming down the hallway. "No, I don't remember moving it. Are you sure you didn't?"

I stared at the spot where the rabbit had been four days previously. "No... maybe one of us moved it without realizing. I'm sure we'll find it later."
I wasn't as confident as I tried to sound, though. How could it just disappear?

We didn't notice it at first. It just started with the small, insignificant things that we barely used. But over a few days we noticed that more noticeable items were disappearing. For instance, I woke up one morning and flopped into the bean bag, holding up the TV remote to flick on the TV - only to realize that there was no TV.

After that morning we called in the cops, and explained what had been happening. Everything in the house was disappearing, one by one. But the cops couldn't do much - there was no fingerprints anywhere in the house, and regular passer-bys of the building had never seen anyone enter or leave out apartment except us.

The police said they would put a watch on this house, and I guess that was something. The only problem was it didn't work.

Things continued to disappear from the house, and it got to the point where if you so much as took your eyes off an object for a split second, it would be gone.

On the fourth day of being home I walked up to where Jodie (who was sitting in an old vintage chair that her dad had given her) was staring at an empty space in the cabinet where the TV used to be.

"Jodie," I started, "this can't be incidental. The days after we ring 'The Mystery Guy', all these things disappear. And the note had said the we shouldn't ring unless we were Sam. I think that whoever was on the other end of the line is the one who's causing all this."

Jodie laughed a bit, but I could detect a touch of nervousness in it. "But he couldn't steal all of this stuff. Some of it's disappearing right from under our noses. And how could we not hear someone open the door to our apartment, walk in, and walk back out while carrying a TV? It's just not possible."

"Maybe... maybe he's not what we think he is. Maybe he's something else." My eyes widened and my heart stopped. I had just remembered something. "Jodie, where the hell is that bombshell that your grandfather gave you?"

Jodie's eyes widened as well, and we dashed to her room.

Scrabbling frantically around the mess in there, I pushed myself to the ground and flipped up the bed sheet that was hiding the underneath of the bed from view. "Phew! Jodie - it's here!"

Helping each other, we managed to drag the bombshell out. It was old and faded, and Jodie's grandfather had left it to Jodie when he passed away. He had managed to obtain it for some old war, and had kept it as a 'souvenir'. I still don't know why he was allowed to keep it if he knew how to make it work again.

"Jodie, we can't let this out of our sight. What if he really is something else, and he figures out a way to reload this bomb? He could use it against us, or other people in the city," I said.

Jodie nodded. "We'll take turns keeping watch. You can't look away from it. You take first watch - you're less tired than me. Call me when an hour's up, and I'll come and take over."

I grimaced and shook my head slightly. "But how long will this go on for? We could have to watch this thing for years."

"I'll called the cops in the morning," Jodie replied, "and then they can keep watch of it. It's too late now - I'm pretty much falling asleep."

Jodie moved out of the room, and I kept my gaze fastened on the bomb shell.
Fifteen minutes passed. Then thirty. Then forty. Somewhere around the forty-five minute mark, my eyelids started to droop, and no matter how much I tried I just couldn't keep my eyes open.
I swear I only fell asleep for a second - but then again, that was all the time that he needed to take the shell. When I opened my eyes again, the bomb was gone.

"Jodie!" I screamed, leaping to my feet and glancing hectically around me,"the bomb's gone!"
After a moment Jodie came stumbling into her room - she had been sleeping on the couch - and gasped. "Oh no."

A high pitched whistling sound suddenly started, and we both clapped our hands over our ears in a vain attempt to block it out. It seemed like an eternity passed, but it was only a few seconds until a sound as loud as thunder crashed over our heads, and fire sprang up and danced around us.

I kept blacking out, but each time I woke it was different snippets of time; the sound of wood crashing down outside the room; Jodie frantically trying to open her bedroom door; flame engulfing most of the room; Jodie on fire, her skin bubbling, clothes turning to ash and her screams; Jodie laying on the floor, her figure almost unrecognizable as she slowly died a painful death.

I felt the flames charring my skin, and my blood felt like it was on fire. I could feel my life ebbing away.

This is it. This is the end, a voice in my head whispered. And then a very real, deep, Russian-accented voice filled the room.

"Don't Dial The Devil."


~

Like I said this was based on a nightmare, but being insane as I am took it to a whole new level of insanity.

And with that said, I never write horror or hardly even read it so this was a small attempt at it.

Wrote this over the weekend, pretty happy with it but then again what do I know about writing.

That is terrible, so sorry to hear that


But Happy Birthday nonetheless,  

Happy Birthday, hope it's a good one.

So many May Birthdays on GOF..I swear.

Got something against black and white? Zebras are black and white, you  just hurt their feelings. On behalf of Zebras all over the world I ban you.