v24.6: Things are looking UP

Good morning folks,

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I think this may be one of my most anticipated musings ever.  I dropped an interesting piece of news on a couple family members yesterday and when prompted for more information, I told them to read my musing today.  I love the suspense of others.

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First off, things are going well with me.  While there are still some struggles, things are starting to look up.  The title of my musing isn't talking about that kind of up though, it is talking about up as in the gods.

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Yesterday I embarked on a strange adventure.  I was wrought with doubt and confusion yet by the end I was shown the light and my thoughts were clear.  It was an interesting journey and I wish to share it all with you now.

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It started yesterday around noon.  I was going downstairs to get a bite to eat from one of the many food places in the food court.  Normally I walk outside and around because it is faster and because I like walking outside.  Yesterday, however, was rainy and damp making walking outside an impossible.  I walked my usual route through the maze of hallways between my office and the elevators but this time I decided to deviate from my regular path and take another hallway that I was told would lead me to a different bank of elevators which would take me to the other side of the food court.

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I made my way through this hallway which was quiet and void of foot traffic.  I reached the end of the hallway and opened the door to the pedway which led to the parking garage on the other side.  I was a bit confused but walked across anyway hoping for a sign or sound that would point me to this "elevator" I was told existed.  I walked through the next set of doors into the parking garage and that's when I noticed the elevator doors; of course just as I was getting to them the doors began to shut and as I tried to pry the doors open with my hands I realized this wasn't a movie and calmed myself and pressed the Down button.

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Within seconds, the other door swooshed open revealing the elevator that would take me to my destination.  The overhead floresent light flickered slightly as I stepped inside and I pressed the button that would take me down to the food court.  The doors slowly closed and the elevator lurched and started to decend.

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Now if you've ever been in an elevator you will know that some are fast and some are slow.  Usually high quality elevators found in office towers will be faster making that trip from G to the 40th floor only a minute long; well this elevator must have came from the clearance bin because it was taking me from the E level of the parking garage to the A level and it was taking its sweet ass time.

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After a minute of decending at a snail's pace, the elevator started to slow (not that I could tell) and came to an abrupt stop.  Just when I started to mutter a curse under my breath and swear to take the stairs next time the doors swooshed open again.  I wasn't greeted by the food court however, it was a long dark hallway which seemed to stretch for as long as I could see.  The hallway was poorly lit by overhead florecent lights which seemed to flicker as my eyes moved along them.  It was then that I noticed that the hallway was only about as wide as the elevator which meant there was no way the second elevator would be able to make it to this floor I was on.  I was confused, a bit afraid but also very curious.  I stepped out of the elevator and the doors closed behind me.  Cautiously I began walking down the hall looking for anything other than walls and overhead lights.  I moved slowly at first but with each step came more courage to move quicker.  I turned to look back the way I came and I wasn't able to see the elevator doors any longer, the hallway stretched in both directions with no end in sight.

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I was starting to panic as I made my way back toward where the elevator had been.  After walking for a few minutes I knew that the doorway was gone; replaced by an infinite hallway with no apparent end in sight.  In an act of despiration I called out and listend as my voice began to echo down the hallway and just as the echo was dieing it began to intensify and come back at me as if I was stuck in an infinite loop like when you hook your mic up to your computer and speak into it close to the speaker and the mic picks up the speaker of you talking and loops causing feedback.  The reality began to set in and knowing full well what I would find I began to run.  The hallway never ended and the sound of my echoing foot steps started to intensify and drill into my head.  The constant looping of sounds was starting to get louder.

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I closed my eyes and I cried out for someone to help me and then everything went black.  I opened my eyes to complete darkness and not a sound could be heard.  I turned my head looking for any source of light I could fix on but nothing could be seen.  I lifted my hand up and placed it in front of my face and was unable to see it.  I began to wonder if I had been struck with blindness or if I was truely in a place so dark it was void of any kind of light.  That is when I rememberd I had my Blackberry in my pocket.  I pulled it out and pressed the button on the front that would light up the screen.  I came to life in my hands and as I expected, there was no signal but at least there was light.  I held the Blackberry up over my head and pointed it away from me to see if there was anything out there to be seen.  I was greeted by dozens of glowing eyes looking directly at me.  Startled, I dropped my Blackberry and it made no sound as it hit the floor.  The light remained on but I knew the powersave would kick in any second plunging me into darkness again.

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Slowly I knelt down while keeping my eyes looking ahead where I had last seen the glowing eyes.  I didn't know if these were people or animals so I didn't want to make any sudden moves.  My hand found my blackberry just as the light winked out and I pushed the button once again to bring it to life.  Standing directly in front of me was a humanoid shaped creature with an ape like face and tusks.  It's black eyes stared at me and it's top lip began to curl upward as it started to snarled.  I was scared, oh so scared and wanted to yell out for help.  My hand holding the Blackberry started to shake uncontrollably and I knew this was the end.

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I looked the creature in the eyes and did something I thought I would never have the courage to do to a 6 food ape like creature snarling in my face; I said hi.

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The creature's face changed immediatly from something sinister and angry to confusion as it cocked it's head slightly and looked at me.  Just then my Blackberry light went out and before I could hit the button again to turn it back on, a light appeared.  Small at first, this light began to grow and intensify as if someone had taken a match and lit a bonfire with it.  As the light began to intensify I looked around and saw hundreds of these creatures standing around me.  Their skin was void of hair like a human but they ranged from pale green to brown in color.  The one who had snarled at me in the dark was now walking around me sniffing and looking me up and down as if wondering what I was.  I too was looking at him and wondering what he was.  It was then that I recognized what I was looking at and where I was; these were orcs and I was in Azeroth!

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Immediatly recalling the lore I could remember from World of Warcraft I began to speak to the creatures.  I started off with the most basic greeting I could remember, Lok'tar.  The creature stopped and stepped back from me as if I had just grown a second head.  He had fear on his face and the rest of the orcs standing around me were afraid as well.  Then, all at once, every orc in this "place" began to kneel and bow their heads.  The sound of hundreds of orcs kneeling w

as deafining.  Then the orc who had been inspecting me looked up from his kneeling position and said to me, "Welcome home Warchief".

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To be continued...