The Orc Disaster (That Time I was Reincarnated as a Slime)
(A fun little poem about a city living on top of a giant. Pretty sure this stemmed from the first ‘God of War’ game where you reach a temple on a Titan’s back.)
Metropolis up high
On a monster’s flattened skull
Kept above the clouds
As the giant plods along
People walking slowly
As their world sways every day
No cars or buses to be found
For fear they will roll off
All ignore the stench of sweat
That wafts off the monster’s flesh
Over time they do not notice
As their noses have passed on
The city trudges on
With its buildings clothed in spikes
Long enough to pierce a hand
That may try to scratch them off
This city standing tall
Has no clue where it has been
As it tries to live its life
Atop the ancient titan
So, I really wanted to showcase something from Hawaii since I wasn’t seeing a lot show up in searches. This is mythology and folklore more than cryptozoology though. It should still count as far as I’m concerned.
The Menehune are dwarves who live in the wilderness of the Hawaiian islands. They do their best to stay away from human settlements. At the very least, they don’t want to be seen even though they leave evidence of their existence. In terms of size, stories have them as either two feet or 6 inches tall. Some believe they are actually an adopted version of the European brownies due to them not existing until after contact. The only problem here is that they supposedly had only oral traditions before Europeans showed up to do what they always do.
A big thing that the Menehune did was crafted impressive structures overnight such as ponds, temples, and houses. For example, it is said that they created the Kikiaola, which is an irrigation ditch connected to the Waimea River on Kauai. It is said that they have to finish before sunrise or they will have to abandon their creation unfinished. Another variation had it that they will continue working every night unless they are discovered by a person.
One story with these beings and their work involves the Alekoko Fishpond, which is about 1,000 years old. They only worked at night and were promised by the royal family that nobody would watch them work. This structure was for a princess and her brother, who decided to sneak out to watch them one night. The pair fell asleep and were discovered, so the Menehune turned them into two stone pillars that you can find there today. The fishpond was left unfinished as well, but the two gaps were filled in later by Chinese settlers. You can still see the difference in construction.
There are many other additions to the Menehune legend, which comes from different regions:
Their favorite foods are bananas and fish.
They love dancing and archery. One story says they will shoot a magic arrow into the heart of an angry person to make them feel love.
One origin story has them come from a floating city called. Kuaihelani. Their home came close to one of the Hawaiian islands, so a bunch jumped off to explore or make a settlement.
Another has the sorcerer named Kahano-a-Newa brought them over by stretching out his hand to the outskirts of the world. They walked over to inhabit several islands.
A third origin tale has them coming over from a flooded continent along with the Mu and Wa, which they wiped out. They would then intermingle with the native Hawaiians until they were driven away.
A theory about who they really are says the Menehune were the original inhabitants of the Hawaiian islands from long ago. They left these structures and the oral traditions eventually phased them into a more legendary status. It’s entirely possible given how much history has been lost over time. What do you think?
Not much of a set up here. This is the introduction for Hyde who is a crafting gremlin that helps Kira Grasdon out. I really need to remember this species though. Crafting gremlins turned out to be a great creation. Enjoy!
Pretty hard to tell what these things are. You can’t see them with the naked eye because they only appear on cameras. One could think they’re invisible, but there is probably more to them. Still, they are fairly interesting considering many do admit that they actually exist.
Studying videos and a few photographs show the Air Rods to be cylinders ranging from 4 inches to 3 feet long. They have no clear head, so you can’t tell the front from the back. Not when they’re zipping around at least, which is the only way you see them. Multiple pairs of either fins, wings, or limbs can be seen along their bodies too. They come up as streaking and squirming 3-dimensional creatures. The 3D part is important because it brings more credence to their existence.
Another aspect of the Air Rods is their behavior. They do not pass through objects like a ghost. Instead, they go around. Some sightings show them following people or animals either solitary or in a group. They may even circle the target who has no idea they are around and does not get harmed. Videos show they can move in groups and might be playing tag in the air. Either way, they appear to have some level of sentience and activity instead of being nothing more than mindless optical illusions.
So, what are they?
Clearly, they’re aliens that escaped from Roswell, New Mexico and have spread across the world. They stay hidden from view, but their technology doesn’t allow them to hide from the cameras that began getting used in the 1990’s. I mean, they crashed here so long ago that what was advanced before has been left behind by us. We might have even adapted their technology to create what we’re using now and improve on it. That makes sense, right?
Being more serious, Air Rods are thought to be (and possibly proven to be) nothing more than insects. These bugs move so fast that they leave motion blur in the video, which will hide their true form. It can also happen with birds, but it’s usually bugs. For example, moths darting around at night will be caught by surveillance cameras that only pick them up as streaks of light. The strange appendages that one might think are fins are created by the animal’s wings moving so quickly. So, it could all be an optical illusion . . . Or that’s what the aliens want you to believe.
Back on May 1, 2022, I did a post giving a bunch of information on sloths. Sadly, it wasn’t their holiday, but now it is. I couldn’t find any pictures from back in April on the blog, but that’s when my son and I got to experience a sloth encounter. By the way, all of the sloths were rescues that cannot be reintroduced to the wild. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about them. Enjoy and take a lesson from the sloth and take it slow today if even for a little bit.
This week didn’t go exactly as planned and I partially blame the weather. It got cold about halfway through and the sun is going down earlier. Makes it hard to take walks for exercise, relaxation, solitude, and Pokemon Go. This hasn’t helped my stress, which was high enough to reactivate my 3 AM panic attacks. So, I hit Friday with some energy, but was barely staying awake by about 1 PM. Muscled my way through work, an appointment, and time with my son before writing this post before bed.
I’d like to say I’m getting to sleep in, but I’m already away now because my son has an early morning appointment. Tomorrow is similar, but we’re going with my parents to a breast cancer walk at the beach. Need to get out of the house today and tomorrow by 8:30, which is going to wear us down for a full week of school/work. Guess it’s going to be early bedtimes for me and my son just to make sure we can make it through whatever is thrown our way.
My energy isn’t helped by last weekend and ensuing week being rather busy, which I’ll blow right through in one paragraph:
Fasting for Yom Kippur was a success even though I was running around for most of the day. Got a really bad headache with an hour to go, so I rested until food arrived. This event led into Sunday when I heard from an old friend and we hung out for lunch and then dinner. Forgot he said he would be around, but it was nice to chill and chat. Of course, this carried over into Monday when I decided to get my flu shot and then hunker down for editing. My body didn’t like the flu shot this year and wiped me out, so I had to take Tuesday off to recover. Went to work the rest of the week where the usual challenges happened then I would rush off to an appointment. Took time to sneak in a little Pokemon Go each day to do the event challenges and would get home to eat a late dinner, collapse, and wake up freaked around 3 AM with no idea why . . . No idea how I’m still standing, but I am.
This didn’t help with editing and I’m getting worried about my writing ability. I got through 3 chapters of Darwin & the Demon Game before I had to go back to work. I got one chapter done per day off, which doesn’t sit well with me. Can’t tell if I was being meticulous or unfocused. Even the Pokemon Go outings weren’t that bad since I made sure to edit first and only went out for 30-60 minutes before getting lunch. Can’t figure out why it’s becoming harder and harder to edit and write. My mind is definitely not as sharp as it used to be and the spark of creativity isn’t as potent. Just feels like something hit my mind so hard that I can’t muster any of my old ability and desire. It’s been slowing down ever since the divorce and then the court stuff at the start of the year, but now it’s downright pathetic.
Since I have my son this weekend, I won’t be doing any editing. I’ll be focused more on squeezing in a few December blog posts to get that off my plate. Really need to find a way to edit during the week too, but there are so many GODDAMN appointments after work that I can barely breathe. Been trying to do a little editing when I get in, but there are other early arrivals that result in talking. Same thing with lunch and breaks. Since I’m a TA, I don’t have an office or desk to retreat to, so I’m stuck walking around with a chapter of my book that I’ll never touch. Maybe I’ll get lucky this Wednesday, but I’ll definitely get to editing next weekend. Only one appointment then and it’s early morning. Still looking like I’m only going to be able to do 1 chapter per day with editing, which I assume will be the same if I ever get back to writing. As I said, pathetic compared to what I used to be able to do.
Only other interesting thing I did was watch a documentary on Vince McMahon of the WWE. It’s called ‘Mr. McMahon’ and it’s on Netflix. I used to watch WWE starting in September of 1998 through probably March of 2010. I watched a bit in the 80’s too, but then switched to cartoons. So, I was mostly into the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras, which was a big focus of the documentary. Have to say that I found it really fascinating, especially from a psychological perspective. Just seeing how different people described different events. The mentality behind certain decisions and the unapologetic personality of a few people kept my interest. Might be another reason I didn’t get a lot of editing down, but I was done by Sunday evening. I would really recommend the documentary for anyone into WWE, wrestling, or even looking for character inspiration.
Goals for the week?
Make it to next weekend.
Time with son when he’s here.
Introduce son to ‘Courage the Cowardly Dog’.
Rest up when possible.
Stay warm.
Try to reduce anxiety . . . Looking into herbal stuff since prescription meds always hit me with terrible side-effects.
Continue doing daily walks for exercise. The bike can’t be used until after Halloween due to my son’s costume being on it.
Legends of Windemere 