25 + 30 points
A Clue by Vena Nightmare
February 8th, 2008 1:47 PM
2/6/08 Day1 4:45-5:50
I walk out of my house and see a flag with what I think looks like magnolia flowers on it. So I pull out my bike and ride to Magnolia Street. A sign stops me with Do Not Enter and a One Way sign tells me to turn around. I find a trail sign and an arrow pointing forwards. I ride that way. I meet a small boy who doesn't talk to me and mother hurries into the house after she sees me talking to him. I wonder if this is a clue and when I decide probably not I see another kid so I go talk to him. Really casually I talk to him and he answers me this time. Looking back I realize that both of those kids had basketballs but I didn't notice then. I was preoccupied with the kid's dog and so I head on over to the dog park which was in that direction anyway. I pause to take a few picture of the sign for the dog park when I look over and see some joggers pointing, then they immediately jogged around me and kept going. At last! I think, Conspiracy! I go the way they point and find another trail sign. Behind the sign I find another sign, a secret sign? I think and I read what it says. [vp] 0AP99. The numbers and such don't interest me, but the [vp] reminded me of VFD and the Baudelaire children and I continued on my way, hoping to see something that would let me know what this meant. Valid Politician-Very Political-Vice President, none of these things seemed to fit!
Then I saw it, the Lafayette River at low tide. Hmmm, could it be Very Putrid? I catch a whiff and decide that yes, it is very putrid. I kick down my bike stand and wait for some more joggers and then a lady with her child and dog to pass by. Then I lower myself onto a slimy pipe, still holding onto the edge and then take the plunge. That is to say I stepped down off the pipe and onto what I thought was solid, or at least soggy, ground. To my immediate shock I sink and least a few inches down into the sludge. I pull my self up and examine my clearly ruined favorite shoes (Yeah, why did I wear those?). I sigh and take them off, not ready to give up. I brave the muck once again and quickly spy a mysterious bag lying in some puddles. My first reaction is It's a severed head! My second was Gross! It turned out not to be a severed head but it was still gross. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a bag of sand. Strange, I thought. Who would steal sand, put it in a bag, and dump it in the river? Can sand even be stolen? I left the bag of sand where it was (Who am I to resteal sand?) and go back to my stuff. I leave my shoes off and decide to explore the dog park some more, more inportantly I search the sand for signs of disturbances. I also tell myself to remember to mark the Lafayette river as my territory, because it certainly is now.
I don't have to go very far and find a suspicious hole almost immediately. It's about two feet deep and half as wide and the length of my foot (I wear a woman's 91/2-10). The hole is a perfect circle and is the bottom is submerged with water. Most of the hole's sides aren't sand, but in fact some sort of clay. I am so confused and lost (metaphorically of course). I decide to doggedly keep going on the pretense that clay is used for classical art and books kind of fit in with classical stuff so I should go to the library. But I was really just directionless.
I find what looks to me like an antiquated refrigerator on the side of the road. Crossed out are the numbers 2800 and written below that is 1100. Written in the cement is JSC ACR 2004.
Continuing to bike riding down the road I brace myself because I'm nearing the place where I had a horrible bike accident two or so years back. This causes me to notice a pile of garbage on the side of the road. Feeling particularly adventurous I scrounge through it (trying to not actually touch any of it) and happen across a clay pot. Bingo! The next piece of the puzzle (hopefully)! On the bottom it says K's Collection. Who is K? I wonder, and Why does she have a collection? Is it even important?
For the moment I decide it is. I plan to look in the K section of the library. Going down the sidewalk I come on many a mysterious thing. The first print I find in the cement looks kind of manly and the shoe print seems kind of hiking boot. The second print, farther down the block, appears to be a large dog. I remember the picture of the red dogs I had taken earlier, after the hole and before the trash. I had thought it might come it handy. I turn a corner and come upon a lady getting out of her red voice activated car. Before it was a problem of which K to look through, but now I had it. The audio-books!
On the path to the library I skirt around a lady and her dog. Haven't I seen that dog before? It's the same type the boy had before, the one that talked to me. I hide my bike in the back, next to the.. What is that anyway? A large green box type thing that had always been there but I had never taken the time to get to know. Signs all over it shout to me Caution! Caution! I park my bike next to this thing, wondering if I should have brought my bike lock so I can put it in the bike place like a normal person. I forget all about the cautionary box and examine my shoes one more time. I wince as I pour some water out. I put them on and curse the library for not allowing people without shoes in. I mosey on over to the outside book return to see if my letter from yesterday is still taped on there. It's not and I curse the establishment, but not too loudly because I think it's actually a law that you can't do that, and I head into the library.
I scan the K section of the audio-books (after having finally found them! I think the library was switched around a while back) for anything the jumps out at me. Nothing except one book looks even remotely interesting. I pull that one out and look at the title- Stone Kiss. I remember K's Collection. K's, Kiss, it could work. I put it back and roll my jeans back down because the library catalog is right in front of the main desk and my lower legs are smeared with mud. My legs hidden I sit down at the computer and look under Keyword the phrase Stone.
The wait for the search was ridiculously long and while I was waiting I overheard the librarians say something that to me seems highly incriminating. I inconspicuously hold up my camera (Please respect others and only use your cellphone in our entrance hallway or outside.) and snap a photo. Somehow a boy was right in front of the librarian's face! I was so surprised by this I totally forgot what the librarian said. I get frustrated with the wait and check out the children's area instead, hoping to find a book with the word stone in the title. There are hundreds of books down there! I take a break to read a book I remember fondly from my childhood called A Bad Case of Stripes. I am calmed significantly by the story, one about a young girl afraid to be herself, and continue my search in the catalog database. It finally goes through and I look again for something to pop out. I look for something published in 2004, the same year JCS and ACR carved their names in the cement. After two or so pages I find the book I'm looking for, 100 Things You Should Know About Inventions. However, the catalog tells me that the book is not at the library that I am. I go check the call number anyway, 608 BRE. At this call number I find the book, Everything Inventions & Patents Book.
Okay, I've gotten this far and have a strange book in my lap. I search my phone for pictures of things I took previously to help me figure out what to do. I zoom in on the dog park sign. At the bottom for some unexplained reason are the number 6-16. Alright I say, I've got to read those chapters. Somewhere around chapter 7 or 8 I find the phone number for the organization USPTO. General questions it says. The number is 703-308-4357, and at the other end is just an error message.
So, a dead end. I have the overwhelming feeling that I've been had and the trail I've been following all this time was the wrong one. Signs on the way home tell where not to park and another trail sign is just pointing in a random direction, my gloom sinks deeper. I also pass a street sign that reads Myrtle (I never saw that before!) and that reminds me of the movie Juno where the main character who is pregnant gets called 'fertile myrtle'. At night I'm at home, after having scrubbed my feet with shampoo and a brush that really hurts, and I now I research. I go to the USPTO, and type in the numbers 1100 and 2800. 1100 leads me to a long list of somethings labeled 1100 Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) and Pre-Grant Publication (PG Pub) and so on. 2800 is more productive (was the cross out a cover up?). I find Patent Technology Center 2800 Contact Info, and when I click on this it brings me to 2800Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components.
Day One's findings:
Semi conductors, electrical and optical systems and components
Every Kiss begins with K(ay)!
Why do children seem to be a main theme?
When you look up 'big red dog' on Google it comes up with leashes not Clifford.
Will there ever be a Day2? I'm so tired...
I walk out of my house and see a flag with what I think looks like magnolia flowers on it. So I pull out my bike and ride to Magnolia Street. A sign stops me with Do Not Enter and a One Way sign tells me to turn around. I find a trail sign and an arrow pointing forwards. I ride that way. I meet a small boy who doesn't talk to me and mother hurries into the house after she sees me talking to him. I wonder if this is a clue and when I decide probably not I see another kid so I go talk to him. Really casually I talk to him and he answers me this time. Looking back I realize that both of those kids had basketballs but I didn't notice then. I was preoccupied with the kid's dog and so I head on over to the dog park which was in that direction anyway. I pause to take a few picture of the sign for the dog park when I look over and see some joggers pointing, then they immediately jogged around me and kept going. At last! I think, Conspiracy! I go the way they point and find another trail sign. Behind the sign I find another sign, a secret sign? I think and I read what it says. [vp] 0AP99. The numbers and such don't interest me, but the [vp] reminded me of VFD and the Baudelaire children and I continued on my way, hoping to see something that would let me know what this meant. Valid Politician-Very Political-Vice President, none of these things seemed to fit!
Then I saw it, the Lafayette River at low tide. Hmmm, could it be Very Putrid? I catch a whiff and decide that yes, it is very putrid. I kick down my bike stand and wait for some more joggers and then a lady with her child and dog to pass by. Then I lower myself onto a slimy pipe, still holding onto the edge and then take the plunge. That is to say I stepped down off the pipe and onto what I thought was solid, or at least soggy, ground. To my immediate shock I sink and least a few inches down into the sludge. I pull my self up and examine my clearly ruined favorite shoes (Yeah, why did I wear those?). I sigh and take them off, not ready to give up. I brave the muck once again and quickly spy a mysterious bag lying in some puddles. My first reaction is It's a severed head! My second was Gross! It turned out not to be a severed head but it was still gross. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be a bag of sand. Strange, I thought. Who would steal sand, put it in a bag, and dump it in the river? Can sand even be stolen? I left the bag of sand where it was (Who am I to resteal sand?) and go back to my stuff. I leave my shoes off and decide to explore the dog park some more, more inportantly I search the sand for signs of disturbances. I also tell myself to remember to mark the Lafayette river as my territory, because it certainly is now.
I don't have to go very far and find a suspicious hole almost immediately. It's about two feet deep and half as wide and the length of my foot (I wear a woman's 91/2-10). The hole is a perfect circle and is the bottom is submerged with water. Most of the hole's sides aren't sand, but in fact some sort of clay. I am so confused and lost (metaphorically of course). I decide to doggedly keep going on the pretense that clay is used for classical art and books kind of fit in with classical stuff so I should go to the library. But I was really just directionless.
I find what looks to me like an antiquated refrigerator on the side of the road. Crossed out are the numbers 2800 and written below that is 1100. Written in the cement is JSC ACR 2004.
Continuing to bike riding down the road I brace myself because I'm nearing the place where I had a horrible bike accident two or so years back. This causes me to notice a pile of garbage on the side of the road. Feeling particularly adventurous I scrounge through it (trying to not actually touch any of it) and happen across a clay pot. Bingo! The next piece of the puzzle (hopefully)! On the bottom it says K's Collection. Who is K? I wonder, and Why does she have a collection? Is it even important?
For the moment I decide it is. I plan to look in the K section of the library. Going down the sidewalk I come on many a mysterious thing. The first print I find in the cement looks kind of manly and the shoe print seems kind of hiking boot. The second print, farther down the block, appears to be a large dog. I remember the picture of the red dogs I had taken earlier, after the hole and before the trash. I had thought it might come it handy. I turn a corner and come upon a lady getting out of her red voice activated car. Before it was a problem of which K to look through, but now I had it. The audio-books!
On the path to the library I skirt around a lady and her dog. Haven't I seen that dog before? It's the same type the boy had before, the one that talked to me. I hide my bike in the back, next to the.. What is that anyway? A large green box type thing that had always been there but I had never taken the time to get to know. Signs all over it shout to me Caution! Caution! I park my bike next to this thing, wondering if I should have brought my bike lock so I can put it in the bike place like a normal person. I forget all about the cautionary box and examine my shoes one more time. I wince as I pour some water out. I put them on and curse the library for not allowing people without shoes in. I mosey on over to the outside book return to see if my letter from yesterday is still taped on there. It's not and I curse the establishment, but not too loudly because I think it's actually a law that you can't do that, and I head into the library.
I scan the K section of the audio-books (after having finally found them! I think the library was switched around a while back) for anything the jumps out at me. Nothing except one book looks even remotely interesting. I pull that one out and look at the title- Stone Kiss. I remember K's Collection. K's, Kiss, it could work. I put it back and roll my jeans back down because the library catalog is right in front of the main desk and my lower legs are smeared with mud. My legs hidden I sit down at the computer and look under Keyword the phrase Stone.
The wait for the search was ridiculously long and while I was waiting I overheard the librarians say something that to me seems highly incriminating. I inconspicuously hold up my camera (Please respect others and only use your cellphone in our entrance hallway or outside.) and snap a photo. Somehow a boy was right in front of the librarian's face! I was so surprised by this I totally forgot what the librarian said. I get frustrated with the wait and check out the children's area instead, hoping to find a book with the word stone in the title. There are hundreds of books down there! I take a break to read a book I remember fondly from my childhood called A Bad Case of Stripes. I am calmed significantly by the story, one about a young girl afraid to be herself, and continue my search in the catalog database. It finally goes through and I look again for something to pop out. I look for something published in 2004, the same year JCS and ACR carved their names in the cement. After two or so pages I find the book I'm looking for, 100 Things You Should Know About Inventions. However, the catalog tells me that the book is not at the library that I am. I go check the call number anyway, 608 BRE. At this call number I find the book, Everything Inventions & Patents Book.
Okay, I've gotten this far and have a strange book in my lap. I search my phone for pictures of things I took previously to help me figure out what to do. I zoom in on the dog park sign. At the bottom for some unexplained reason are the number 6-16. Alright I say, I've got to read those chapters. Somewhere around chapter 7 or 8 I find the phone number for the organization USPTO. General questions it says. The number is 703-308-4357, and at the other end is just an error message.
So, a dead end. I have the overwhelming feeling that I've been had and the trail I've been following all this time was the wrong one. Signs on the way home tell where not to park and another trail sign is just pointing in a random direction, my gloom sinks deeper. I also pass a street sign that reads Myrtle (I never saw that before!) and that reminds me of the movie Juno where the main character who is pregnant gets called 'fertile myrtle'. At night I'm at home, after having scrubbed my feet with shampoo and a brush that really hurts, and I now I research. I go to the USPTO, and type in the numbers 1100 and 2800. 1100 leads me to a long list of somethings labeled 1100 Statutory Invention Registration (SIR) and Pre-Grant Publication (PG Pub) and so on. 2800 is more productive (was the cross out a cover up?). I find Patent Technology Center 2800 Contact Info, and when I click on this it brings me to 2800Semiconductors, Electrical and Optical Systems and Components.
Day One's findings:
Semi conductors, electrical and optical systems and components
Every Kiss begins with K(ay)!
Why do children seem to be a main theme?
When you look up 'big red dog' on Google it comes up with leashes not Clifford.
Will there ever be a Day2? I'm so tired...
6 vote(s)
Terms
(none yet)3 comment(s)
posted by Augustus deCorbeau on February 8th, 2008 9:20 PM
Excellent sleuthing!
Strange, I thought. Who would steal sand, put it in a bag, and dump it in the river?Someone trying to summon Zombie Emiliano Zapata out of his shallow grave in the deserts of Mexico, perhaps?
posted by JTony Loves Brains on February 8th, 2008 11:20 PM
Excellent adventure! Thanks for taking along in such a great way (the write-up was great)!
Love the writeup: happy and hopeful then in the dumps after the library.
And who am I to blow aganist the wind, sorry, to resteal sand...