All posts filed under: Strange Events

Year in Review

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I am still amazed at the transformation this blog has undertaken in the past year. I went from merely aspiring to get back into creative writing to posting three to four pieces a week. While looking back at my most successful posts, I realized that they all had a personal element that made them resonate. This is especially true for my most read post of the year, a haibun I wrote that dealt with my own Imposters Syndrome. It was very unlike anything else I had posted, and I wasn’t sure how it would be received. The response to it was so overwhelmingly positive, it has truly encouraged me to write more personal pieces in the future, and inject more personal themes into my horror writing. The spread of photos above are my top nine posts on Instagram, and the quote in the middle is pretty appropriate for my entire foray back into creative writing. No planning, no research, just decided the day before Napowrimo started that I would participate. Once the month was over …

First Snowfalls

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The first snowfall of the season is always exciting, although the first snow we had here in Charlotte was less than picturesque, snow mixed with a miserable freezing rain. This got me searching back through my old pictures fore some of the more ideal first snows I’ve experienced. The one shown above was taken in front of Faneuil Hall in 2012 during my time working in Boston. Charlotte, NC 2018 Charlotte, NC 2016 Charlotte, NC 2014 Taunton, MA 2018

First Snowfall

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My visit back to Massachusetts has been bittersweet. I traveled back this week for the funeral of my husband’s stepfather, and although saying goodbye was difficult, there were a few silver linings. Visiting with family, eating favorite foods we can’t find down in North Carolina, and a literal one, the first snowfall of the year for Massachusetts.

Star Wars in Concert

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Two years ago I hit the pinnacle of Star Wars fandom at the Charlotte Symphony, taking in a performance showcasing music from all seven films. Conductor Christopher James Lees took pauses between some of the pieces to give the audience background and insight to some of the pieces featured. I personally gained a new appreciation for Rey’s Theme from The Force Awakens after hearing it performed, but the highlight of the night had to have been Darth Vader storming the stage to conduct the booming Imperial March with his light saber. John William’s music is intricate and breathtaking, and the Charlotte Symphony shined while performing it.  

Monday Night Raw

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This past Monday I attended a taping of Monday Night Raw, the WWE’s flagship show airing weekly on USA. The show is part sport, part scripted drama, with a fan base that exudes as much enthusiasm as a science fiction franchise like Star Wars or Dr. Who. It was an interesting change watching the show in person instead of onscreen, everything had a little bit of a back stage vibe. Seeing the announcers backlight while giving on air commentary, cameramen getting up close shots and moving around the in-ring action, and how the commercial breaks were inserted during some of the entrances gave insight into how much work and planning goes into airing Raw live on TV. The show is three hours long, but flew by. As the final Raw before one of WWE’s biggest pay per views of the year, Summer Slam, there were plenty of the highlights.  Ronda Rousey faced off with Alexa Bliss’s new security guards, and introduced a match between Bliss and Ember Moon.  Finn Balor’s always epic entrance and his subsequent tag team match with Braun Strowman vs …

Japanese Tea Ceremony

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When I was a senior in college I attended a two week study tour in Hawaii. The collage had lectures for us to attend and activities planned, including visiting Pearl Harbor, a replica of a Japanese temple, and an art museum. One surprise on the trip was attending a Japanese Tea Ceremony on campus. Scheduled last minute, it became a highlight of my trip. It gave us the opportunity to visit the university’s tea house, Jaku’an, where thousands of students have been studying the art of the Japanese tea ceremony since the 1970s. It’s one of the first tea houses constructed outside of Japan. The tea house and the tea ceremony were both simple and beautiful, and I felt lucky to take part in it.

The Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival

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Today’s post comes from this month’s guest blogger, Jeff with Batch and Narrative. Jeff runs https://batchandnarrative.com with his wife Leah, where they write about cooking, writing, and everything else. Jeff is a high school English teacher, and Leah is a dietitian. They’ve lived in North Carolina for about a year and are so far loving it. Interesting in having a post featured on Everyday Strange? Submission guidelines are here. Every year the city of Harbin holds the world’s largest ice and snow festival. Harbin is in China, close to Russia, and it is VERY cold. Temperatures in the winter hover around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, yet there are banners up all over the city (in Chinese and in English) which read along the lines of “Move here, it’s great!” So no references to the fact that water freezes there six months out of the year, though that gusto and the Harbin people’s cold weather toughness are things I really admired. I had the opportunity to go to the ice festival in January of 2016 with some …

Southern Snowstorm

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A major snowstorm is a pretty rare event here in Charlotte, NC. Typically we only see a dusting of snow each winter, but this past Wednesday we were hit with a surprise winter storm. Of course, when I say major snowstorm, I mean the 2-4 inches it takes to completely shut down the city, weather that wouldn’t even cause a traffic jam in the northeast. However you define it, this snow was especially rare for Charlotte, light and fluffy, the type usually seen in colder climates like Minnesota. The kind of snow that gently clings to every tree branch, transforming my surroundings into a kind of ethereal fairytale-scape. Much more picturesque  than the usual mix of rain and heavy wet flakes that douse my yard in slush and then freezes into icy cement overnight. Although I normally prefer to experience winter through the view from my window, I decided to bundle up and brave the cold for a few photos while the snow was still falling. It was well worth it. The quiet created by a snowfall, which seems to muffle …

Repticon

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Last weekend I accompanied my sister on an unusual shopping trip. Instead of work shoes or year round Halloween decorations, we were shopping for a new pet. We arrived at Repticon with one objective, searching through the numerous offerering of twenty plus vendors for either a Mexican curly haired or Brazilian black tarantula. Until my sister bought her first tarantula a few years ago, I had no idea there were so many varieties of the hairy spiders. They range from slow and docile to speedy and aggressive, so researching before you buy is definitely recommended. This is really true for any critter you can buy at a convention, whether it’s a python or a hissing cockroach. Knowing the temperament and care required for any new pet is important, along with how big they get and how long they live. I met one vender selling baby turtles that would eventually grow to over 300 pounds and possibly outlive me if I chose to buy one.  After a few hours of perusing the endless rows of snakes, …