Archive — Mike Blackaby
1 Dec
“The China Wall”
I clearly remember the ski trip that shattered my male sense of invincibility. It was the time I experienced the “China Wall.” I wouldn’t say that I was the best skier on the mountain, but I was far from the worst (no offence dad). Before long, my cousin JP and I had conquered almost everything, but as we studied our map, I noticed one slope we had missed. It was called the China Wall and it had more diamonds than a deck of cards–all of them black.
17 Nov
Short Sighted
Saturday started like any other day, except for the pressing weight on my conscience for the poor that somehow fly under my radar everyday. This was not a new feeling; it had haunted me for several months, yet never cultivating into action. To pursue this growing conviction, I drove to downtown Raleigh.
7 Nov
The Cost of Cool
We cruised around town, and everywhere we went people seemed to know us! As we were about to pull out of a parking lot, I noticed a pretty girl looking my way. “This day just keeps getting better!” I thought. She waved at me, flashing a big smile and I smoothly smiled back and returned her gesture of friendship. Her smile grew and, to my glory, she started walking towards the car. “Travis, check this out,” I said excitedly. I rolled down the window and stuck my head out to greet her when I noticed something:
30 Oct
Needles and Reflections
I was attached to numerous machines and thought things couldn’t get any worse when suddenly two beautiful nurses entered the room. All thoughts of my previous gloom disappeared in an instant! Then I realized why they were there.
27 Oct
“Sherlock Blackaby”
The night before my birthday, I could only think about what might await me the next morning. Thanks to an overactive sense of curiosity, it didn’t take long before I sneaked downstairs in the dark to uncover the mystery. Sure enough, there was a package waiting for me at the kitchen table. I carefully removed the tissue paper, peered inside the bag and saw …a pair of kneepads.
22 Oct
“Peak” Performance: Beware the slippery slope…
The first step to skiing is getting the right gear, and my mother was not cutting any corners. She bought a brand new snowsuit, gloves, head band, goggles, woolen socks, neck warmer and thermal underwear–all name brand of course. Then it was time to choose equipment. She bypassed the cheap and used section and walked straight to the top-of-the-line display (much to the glee of our sales person!).
17 Oct
Old Faithless
It started as a flicker, and later it became a black out, until exploding into full blown Narcolepsy. Without warning, the T.V. screen would suddenly shutdown. My brother and I would be seconds away from beating a level (after the 763rd try) on the Playstation and it would black out; the Stanley Cup final would be in it’s last moments and it would black out; breaking news about aliens harvesting earth could be flashing and our T.V. would choose THAT moment to black out.
3 Oct
Burning Ring of Fire
When you are a male, there is an instinct that attracts you to fire. With danger involved and possible destruction, man is drawn to fire like a teenage girl to a shoe sale. However, every once and a while, man underestimates the power of fire.
A couple years ago, I was hanging out with several friends at my parents’ house. When it started to get dark, someone eagerly suggested we use the fire pit in the back yard, and I jumped at the opportunity.
26 Sep
Rock and Roll…
I was having one of those days where I couldn’t seem to stay awake. After class I went out to my car and started driving home. When I finally pulled up to the apartment complex, beautiful thoughts were beginning to fill my head: Thoughts of my soft pillow; thoughts of my quiet room; thoughts of the giant rock right in front of me. GIANT ROCK?!
22 Sep
It’s all Greek to Me…
Blood ran thick with battle lust. The line between friend and foe became blurred. The fierce would defeat the fainthearted in pursuit of the ultimate prize. There would be casualties, but that is the price of war. It was sixth grade class presentations and only one set of parents would be left standing.
