Finally back....and now for something completely different!

"The road under my feet is cracked and torn beyond repair. The sand on either side of me is endless and has seeped it's way into every crevice of my leather armored clothing ever since I managed my way across what's left of the states to the far west.

I was a child when it all went to hell. The war that was waged was a quick one, but no one was a winner. It left what was once called the United States of America a vast wasteland of ruined buildings and twisted highways where we survivors try and make a life for ourselves.

Many find work as traders. Others find work as farmers. Sadly, others join gangs and wreck havoc as bandits. I've found my personal calling as a mercenary for hire.

Need me to hunt down a group of bandits who have done you wrong? I'll do it. Do you need someone to find a specific item that is in a cave full of wild, undead dogs? I can get that for you. Do you need me to relay a message to someone in another township? Consider it done. For the right amount of bottle cap currency, I can make it happen. But if you're going to ask me to inflict harm on the innocent, I'm more likely to put a bullet through your head. It's hard to have morals in this world, but I have my own code I live by.

I've been walking this highway for what seems like weeks heading out to the town of New Vegas to search for a guy who shot me in the head a while back. Luckily he wasn't the best shot and I survived. Too bad for him 'cause he has one hell of a comeuppance coming his way. But, that's a tale for another day.

Right now my main concern is how I'm going to deal with the family of radscorpions that are blocking my way down the road. Rumor has it that before the nuclear war, these things were tiny little creatures that were the size of your hand. Now they're the size of a friggin' horse. And there are five of them up ahead of me.

I was stung by one not too long ago and it took weeks to recover. Lots of puking, crapping, blindness and dizzy spells for about a months time. If I hadn't gotten to a small town doctor right after the attack, I would have been a goner.

I'm going to squat down and move silently around them. Perhaps I can take shelter behind that dilapidated gas station to the side of the highway if I can be quite enough.....

CRAP! They spotted me. These mother's are quicker than the ones I encountered on the east coast!

I pull out my sniper riffle that I aped off of the dead body of a militia man a few months ago. I take aim and make a direct hit into the head of the first radscorpion coming my way.

Sod! It did little damage to the thing! These guys are far worse than the east coast buggers, for sure! I take another well aimed shot.

The prick is still bearing down on me with his brood just behind him! Time for some evasive maneuvers! I get up from my crouch and start bolting down the roadway in the opposite direction. They're right on my tale. I pull out a frag grenade and whip it behind me.

KAPOW!

I look behind me and see that they're a bit stunned. I whip out my shot gun since I'm close enough and unload one into the head of the leader and finally his six beady eyes explode and he falls limp.

I then take out my machine gun and let the other bastards have a spray of lead lovin'. Another two go limp. But, as I have to reload, the last two take chase of me again. I turn tail and once again run the other way.

As I run I try and reload the weapon, but it is old and heavily used and has been modified one too many times. I toss it aside and whip out the shotgun again. I turn around while running backwards and try and take a few more shots.

Luckily these two radscorps aren't as big as the others I took out and one explodes into a few pieces leaving one left.

He's on me pretty quick, but his stinger missed my leg by inches, giving me enough time to plant the head of my shotgun to it's head and let loose.

KAPLAMMO!

Now there's radscorpion guts all over my leather armor. Crap.

I pull out my blade and gut out its poison gland. Those can sell quite well with certain traders. I walk back up the road and gut out the others' glands as well. I figure I have well over 70 bottle caps coming to me for these glands. Not too shabby. On top of that I find a fresh dead body that they must have been feeding off of before they took to me. This poor bastard had a few bottle caps, a shotgun that I can use to modify and repair my used one with and a cool as hell helmet that will give me some more protection. I may have "a code", but this is survival, baby. He doesn't need this crap anymore.

I head back up the road toward New Vegas. Luckily, there's no time frame to worry about. My prey seems to be enamored with one of the casinos in that rebuilt Sodom and Gomorrah. He isn't going anywhere.

I'll probably take on a few more jobs along the way before I reach my main goal. I'm wishfully hoping that there will be fewer encounters with the creatures that happen to exist in this wasteland. Outside of the radscorps, I've come across zombie like ghouls, warring fascist factions, mutants and all sorts of odd and deadly creature.

This world is full of nonstop surprises and I have a feeling I'm going to encounter every single one of them.

Crap."


Ok, so if you haven't guessed it by now, I've been playing a ton of Fallout: New Vegas and finally found myself inspired.

I understand that its been been almost two months since I've posted anything here. You have to understand that the dark cold winter mixed with a relentless work schedule has sucked any and all of the creative juices right out of me. I haven't been at all inspired to do anything imaginative.

So what's going on with me? Well, first and foremost I'm going to become an uncle come April! My sister, Dizzy Lizzy, done and got herself all preggered up. So I'll be geeking out with a wee little one who'll I'll further refer to as G-Love within the next few months. Cross your fingers and send good vibes my sister's way for a healthy, sweet little one.

What am I listening to right now? I'm always glad you asked? It would be what is, so far, my favorite album of the year.... Social Distortion's Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes.

A darn good, hard rockin' epic with a nice touch of bitter sweetness to make it that much special.

I hope to pop up here more often than I have recently.

Enjoy the weekend!

Zangz.