A ticket sold in Winner for the May 27, 2009 Powerball drawing won the jackpot. The ticket was claimed at South Dakota Lottery headquarters in Pierre, on June 5. The winner, Neal Wanless, chose the cash option, and received approximately $88.5 million after withholdings.[11]
North Carolina, coached by Dean Smith, won the national title with a 63-62 victory in the final game over Georgetown, coached by John Thompson. James Worthy of North Carolina was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
North Carolina State, coached by Jim Valvano, won the national title with a 54-52 victory in the final game over Houston, coached by Guy Lewis. The ending of the final is one of the most famous in college basketball history, with a buzzer-beating dunk by Lorenzo Charles, off a high, arching air ball from 30 feet out by Dereck Whittenburg providing the final margin. This contributed to the nickname given to North Carolina State, the “Cardiac Pack”, a reference to their often close games that came down to the wire — in fact, the team won 7 of its last 9 games after trailing with a minute left in the game. Both Charles’s dunk and Valvano’s running around the court in celebration immediately after the game have been staples of NCAA tournament coverage ever since. North Carolina State’s victory has often been considered one of the greatest upsets in college basketball history.
Others: Carter (Jordan Tar Heel clone), Paxton (Jordan Bull backcourt mate).
have a decision whether to head to Ashville again today, Hucka D., or remain in my beloved Blue Mountain for the weekend. Which would you choose?
Hucka D.:
I’d go to Ashville [if I were you]. Direct link between Bill Mountain aliens and Dead Center Hill. Fulfillment. Blooming. That’s an outlet. Do you see?
bb:
I suppose, Hucka D. Long drive there. And back.
Hucka D.:
Stay over in Mythopolis. No pressing items Monday and you can finish your database document and also enter some acc. Time to ketchup. Can you mustard the needed energy?
bb:
I relish the opportunity (smile).
—–
So it looks like I might be heading to Ashville again today, after getting a bit more sleep. Or else I spend time at Harrisonia — take the toys. Maybe the latter. Maybe head up to the True Labyrinth again, even. False Labyrinth. If so I must make a symbolic gesture of reestablishing a toy avatar center in Blue Mountain. Harrisonia may be the most powerful center outside of Frank and Herman Parks themselves, and perhaps Granddaddy Mountain. And I have a new spot there to focus upon — take pics. Will be a beautiful weekend.
Very important note: All the pictures below were taken the night *before* I learned about the Woodrow Wilson Toy King. Keep that in mind. What we have unfolding in these pictures, as I determined at the time of their snapping, is a basic split between those who wish to head to Ashville to create a new toy avatar center, and those that wish to stay behind in Blue Mountain and keep developing the homestead area. It was perhaps inevitable that a fight broke out between the more aggressive in each camp, namely the Silver Surfer (Blue Mtn. camp) and Leany Golden Guy (Ashville camp). Sometimes leader Lazy Sideburns Man looks on from his clam shell throne, protesting the fight but, as usual, not stepping in directly. Lazy old man. Silver Surfer’s more intelligent and calm cousin Big Head Silver Boardless Surfer (we just call him Bob, usually) attempts to grab the leaning leg of LGG, understanding that a tussle will do their side no ultimate good. Grinny/scowly watch certainly seems agitated at the events as well. Of course he is unable to directly intervene, being only a “head”, period, with no limbs or torso. I’m not even sure which camp he’s chosen to follow. I believe Lazy Sideburns Man decides to stay with the Blue Mtn. group simply because he is too lazy to travel to Ashville for new adventures. There’s a chance his *twin* might go, if we can find another one of his kind. I’ll have to check asap.
Homer Simpson looks on with excitement, always enjoying a good scuffle. He’s sided with the Blue Mtn. group, for similar reasons as those of Lazy Sideburns Man. Space Monkee in front of Homer here also goes with his new boss (same as the old boss). He can manipulate LSM to do his bidding and enjoys the power and doesn’t want to sacrifice that. And to be honest he thinks Blue Mtn. is a better long term choice for a center.
The rest of the Blue Mtn. group. Now, very important here, take note of that *cyan colored horse*. We’ll return to that in the next blog post.
Now the rest of the Ashville group. Yes, I put them in a pack and took them to Ashville, and, yes, the pack made it all the way to at least the edge of Dead Center Hill. But I didn’t take them up the hill. When I returned from the top (see following posts) a blacksnake had positioned itself on a tree in front of my pack, seeming to point directly to it if my memory serves. Was it sent to *eat* the renegade toys, as some kind of punishment? Or was it there just to *point out* it knew (and, in resonance, the *hill* knew) about their coming and potential threat? Threat? Treat? Trick?
Leany Golden Guy II perches on a compass. Jacks look on (red and yellow, like Jack’s VW in The Shining book and movie respectively). The Shining is certainly a good Halloween movie. Cpt. America attempts to cooperate with darker forces on his squad. Baboon Boy holds an empty promise of success between his arms. Other members of the group have their own problems to deal with. The agitation within was just too great for success. The hill would remain toyless for now. But the chairs were already set up; Lazy Sideburns Man would ironically feel right at home on the top.
While Leslie was in Beaufort, we were Nosing around our Ashville property and scouting out the future house location. Noser Mill is a symbol of this house, then.
It’s 2130. It’s out of bounds currently. Will Blue Mountain make a counteroffer?
One problem I woke up thinking about tonight is the more constricted areas I’ll be hiking in. Just enough people frequenting the paths I plan to walk to make it more difficult to set up a successful, alternate reality in the style of a Billfork, a Whitehead Crossing, a Lion’s Roar. Woodrow Wilson College is private property and I could be banned, possibly, for stomping around the woods there. Who knows. In Blue Mtn. I’ve never been caught doing that in many a year, and I don’t think it will happen. It’s something I have to be conscious about. Might be a problem, and might not be.
Today I plan to go to Ashville again and check out things. Hike the WW trails again. Check out nuances. Take more pictures, of course. Whatever, it can’t fully *replace* Frank and Herman Parks. It’s large, but still a much smaller area compared to those 2 parks.
—–
If UMaps has been interpenetrated by Pierre’s synchs, then Carrcass+1, the largest, will be easy to spot. And it is — Pennsylvania. Penn. is also coded into the Herman Park’s Herman’s legthy epitaph found on the back of his gravestone, which is a plaque, actually, of the full obiturary from a local paper. The plaque represents Pennsylvania. Further along this same mountain, which is TILE Mountain (or Yards Mtn.) there is the brown and white bottles found and transported to Lion’s Roar in 2012 that point to this location (LINK), later amplified by the presence of Klinger and MASH symbols (Urban, Red Cross, Klingerstown, etc.). Brown’s, White’s and Bower’s Island point to Chuck Brown or Chuck Laser of brown coloring (uniform). He is a Zapper. He lives next to Zap Cannon Creek in yet another 2130 house, the entry point for the ultra-mysterious 4th way into Whitehead Crossing.
Hucka Doobie, The Bill, and other blog spirits can’t tell me whether we’ll end up in Ashville or not in our old age. I don’t think it’s been settled yet, even. Too many variables yet to sort out. But at least I have *2* good options, thinking back on the recent, more microcosmic Noru vs Rubi situation as well. Both were good choices going in, and there were no real winners and losers. More choices along the way eventually indicated that Noru was a better pick than Rubi. Noru might be Ashville, you see. I have to think carefully about that covering my woodsy tracks thing in relation to Ashville. Blue Mountain, like I said: not as much a problem, although I have to think about it here as well.
I don’t look like a college student any longer. I was in my early 30s when I first staying in Ashville. Now I could just look like a creepy old man, pheh.
Hucka D.:
Go back to Bill Creek. Explore a bit more. Take the last train to Clarksville. Shuffle off to Buffalo. See you soon!
Big decisions in next 6 years. Whether to remain in Blue Mtn. or move center of operations to Ashville. Above is a picture of a house in the center of the Ashville Arts District, whose future development plays a role in the decision for certain. Not 50 percent or anything like that, just a definite fraction of some kind. So what I might start doing in this blog is give updates on this District… big things are in store for it soon.
We also have a chance to really develop the property we will possibly set up a modular home on. I won’t give a *lot* of details, just some. The parcel we will own will probably be a little under an acre, quite a bit of land then, and double what we have currently. We’re planning on eliminating close neighbors — ones we shared a drive with, ones whose porch is about 15 feet from our porch, and so on. We will have more *breathing space*, yet be convenient to downtown and all the amenities there.
Another area I want to study in Ashville is the Woodrow Wilson College, named after the Princeton man president. Wilson famously appears in the last shots of The Shining. He is holding down the right arm of Jack, who seems to be attempting to reveal the contents of a piece of paper held between his thumb and fingers on that hand. Is it now the mystery of Woodrow Wilson College? What of the more recent UMAPS find called the “boss glyph”? (more on that soon) Woodrow Wilson sometimes called Woody Wilson at the college.
We lived in Ashville for 3 years already. Wife grew up there. We may move back near old homestead. I remember long walks listening to Sibelius at the time. Then Sibelius (and Eno State Park) got me through the subsequent 2 years in Durham.
We got tired of Ashville before after 3 years. We went to Durham, soon to move back to Blue Mtn. Why would this time be different? We would have family in Ashville. Friends. We don’t really have that in Blue Mountain. As stated before, Blue Mountain is really Bluefield. Maybe Brammie the Bramwell dog has answers… if we can find it.
The wife and I spent part of the weekend in Ashville, the only other place in Ame. perhaps that we would retire in except for Blue Mountain. Blue Mountain, by the way, and I’ll only say this in a few places in this blog, is actually the Bluefield VA/WV area. To remind, we live here…
… but are looking to move here…
Well, if we move to Ashville, then what about the Frank and Herman Park mythology, I ask myself (and I hear the reader or readers asking me, in turn)? Isn’t this blog suppose to be all about that, and, by extension, Blue Mountain? That’s the big question. I have about 7-10 years to figure it all out; we’re “stuck” in Blue Mountain because of our jobs until then. What’s the attraction to Ashville? Well, it’s a considerably larger town, with more entertainment options. At least 4 Starbucks at last count. Lots and lots of restaurants, and, maybe most importantly, a still growing art scene, thanks in part to the oh so nifty River Arts District. As regular readers of my blog know, I’ve started a Sunklands site where I just display my collages without commercial attachments. Sitting behind them are the carrcasses, which I *know* I’ll never make any money off of but still must produce on a semi-regular basis — or, more correctly, when the time comes to make them. I *have* to make them. So I don’t think that’s going to stop, and also I must figure out the best ways to preserve my carrcasses for the future. Collages — since they’re born digital — not so worried about in that respect. And I think now that collages have the upper hand over carrcasses. Hard to explain, but a subtle shift has occurred lately with the recent creation of so many collages in the Gilatona-Lis and Falmouth series. And that is reflected in the Sunklands site’s creation. Cobbling it together is making me realize that the carrcasses, while still being produced, must remain hidden and perhaps separate from the “ordinary” (2d/flat) collages, more attached to Second Life. And that’s another thing: I believe I’ll always have a regular or semi-regular presence in a virtual world. How long it will continue to be Second life is a question I can’t answer right now. But someday it will shift to another world, and I have a feeling a much cheaper option will develop, a more parallel set-up between web and virtual world. Right now I’m pretty happy with the continued development of Collagesity and the possibility of more collages being added onto the large Falmouth series, extending its depth and breadth even further. And here’s a relatively new idea: I might lump *all* digital collages produced so far into an overarching “Embarras” (pronouced AM-braw) concept, named for the river that flows through Jasper County, Illinois and past almost all the namesake towns of the various series created so far, beginning with 2004’s Greenup.
But I might name it Ambraw, an archaic, phonetic spelling of the river.
I thought I’d collect all my facebook related posts about our spring visit from R. Pine Ridge. Enjoy!
Coolie Brighton
March 19 ·
I did it. I invited the lead singer of The Residents to stay with us this summer for a day, a week, a month maybe. All drinks on us. Edna is preparing to move in with our best friend. But I think our best friend might want to stay with us when the visit is in progress, honestly. We’ll go to Linville Falls of course. Beech Mtn., but most of all I have to talk to him about the *aliens* in the woods near our house. I think he and he alone might understand them. And, oh yeah, there’s the synchs. The glorious synchs.
Coolie Brighton
March 21 ·
Several people have written to me about the recent invites to several aging rock stars to come stay with us this summer. I thought I’d post my emails to both ARS for the curious.
—–
[Randy], you don’t know me but I want to invite you to stay with us in the beautiful mtns. of North Carolina, this summer if you wish. A day, a week, yes even a month. Just to get away. I have some awesome fan videos to show you, not 1, 2, but maybe 8 or 9. All an hour approx. We’ll have plenty to watch. And drink! We’ll supply you with any drink you wish. And we’re cool with all the alien stuff. Heck, I know of aliens in these here woods, and I’ve made contact (audio) myself! You’ll love it here in the NC mtns. You won’t regret making the decision to come stay with us for a spell.
—-
Hi Ray. If you ever want to get away from it all come join me and the wife in the beautiful NC mtns. Drinks on us! Come for a day, a week, a month. Randy Rose, lead singer of The Residents, might be joining us, another super hero of ours. I have unique fan videos for you and him both! Hrs. and hrs. and hrs. of entertainment. You hit a home run at the Olympics. Go Brits. Go Kinks! Go Ray!!
—–
Possible future invites: Ringo Starr (McCartney probably too busy), Ralfe Band (Edna’s idea), Tom Waits (oh yeah!… but I’ll have to admit to him that his voice makes me want to run into the hills and scream), David Bowie (but he’s afraid of Americans), David Lynch (!), Fred Frith.
I think I’ll try Fred’s number in California again.
Coolie Brighton
April 3 ·
A 2 day visit from aging variant rock legend Roger Pine Ridge, all expenses paid, is apparently locked in for the Brighton family from May 2nd through 3rd. Lucky us! Roger is presently on tour in Tibet and Hong Kong with comedians Lum and Abner. Follow all the excitement on http://www.roger-pineridge.com; I’ll keep you guys posted!
Coolie Brighton added 2 new photos.
April 4 · Edited ·
I’ve emailed the honorable Mr. Pine Ridge about our home situation, and the remedies he promises in conjunction with his oh too short stay in our fair hamlet. At the top is where we currently reside, and below it is the house we’ve handpicked for Mr. Pine Ridge to buy us. We’ll start paying him back as soon as we’re able to sell the present place. Thanks so very much once more Sir Roger, and we’ll see you after the Lhasa gig!
Coolie Brighton
April 6 · Edited ·
R. Pine Ridge has requested to keep him abreast of my music listening before his early May visit so’s he can choose and pick what we talk about. Good idea! Here’s what I heard several times during our Virginia trip yesterday. So different, so profound. Well, maybe not as profound as different. The Resident’s reinterpretation of a John Phillip Sousa classic. Whaddaya think, Roger? Profound and different or just different?
Coolie Brighton
April 9 ·
Sorry Roger. I forgot to listen to anything in the car Mon. or Tue. I did look at a couple of videos with lots of music. I’ll talk to you more about them the night of the 2nd. We have parking room for a compact car in the drive. Otherwise you’ll have to walk up the 2 big hills. Oh, sorry, *we’ll* park at the bottom of the hills if it comes to that honorable guest!
Roger?
Coolie Brighton
April 11 · Edited ·
Roger Pine Ridge (left) with his best mate also named Roger Pine Ridge (right) shortly before the Meat Wars. I want to say c1877 but that could be 1977. Or ’67. Doesn’t really matter.
Coolie Brighton I might like this photo better, where they switch places. Roger Pine Ridge is, of course, on the right now. And on the left. Doesn’t matter.
Coolie Brighton
April 14 ·
Before Edna and I had one study apiece. Now we have 40 apiece. Hurray for R. Pine Ridge and the enormous royalties he reaped from “Light Side of the Sun” and other psychedelic legacy pieces! We are not sponges, just lichen (it).
Coolie Brighton
April 16 · Edited ·
We have a downstairs commode on order from Lowes to be delivered in the next several days. And all for R. Pine Ridge’s visit. That’s plural Rogers, because we don’t know which one will show up at the door, or both, or neither. But we have a new center of the downstairs bathroom for him… them… whatever. Oh never mind you ceiling, floor, 4 walls. We’ll get to you’n’s soon enough. Did you ever see Season 5 of Break’n Bad and they have all that money piled up in the warehouse and there’s nothing they can do with it really? We’ll, like most of us that’s not us. All hail Roger(s)!
Coolie Brighton
April 29 ·
R. Pine Ridge. This weekend! We’ll open the door and 1 of the 2 will be standing there. Or both. Or neither. Excitement!
Coolie Brighton
April 30 · Edited ·
R. Pine Ridge, one or the other or neither or both, in *2* f-ing days! Edna got so excited this afternoon that she left the house and went down to stay with her best friend in Asheville to rest, she said. I’m sure she’ll be refreshed and ready for riveting convo with The Ridge upon return. Tomorrow, right Edna? Come to think of it, she didn’t say. But it has to be tomorrow, because the next day. The Next Day! ARRIVAL.
Coolie Brighton
May 1 · Edited ·
O___N___ E_____D___A___Y. I HEAR HE’S IN ARKANSAS NOW. But not without a rifle thankfully.
Coolie Brighton
May 2 · Edited ·
He’s almost here. He’s in Kentucky! He said he had to stop by this place on his way east. Understandable. But which of the Rogers will show up? That’s a question to keep asking. Until we know. http://www.kyatlas.com/ky-pine-ridge.html
Coolie Brighton
May 3 ·
It was him. It was him. It was him.
It was him.
It was him.
Coolie Brighton
May 5 ·
I will update soon about Roger’s visit. As soon as I become sober.
Coolie Brighton
May 6 ·
Okay, just to stop the steady flow of questions coming in I’ll post about Roger’s visit. That’s not Rogers’ visit mind you. And it was a visit so someone showed up. I’ve stated that both of us brought videos and popcorn (aawk-ward!). I believe he’s from the future, or else I’m from the past. Doesn’t matter. We watched the videos which was surprising since there was nothing in the present to play them on. See note about past/future above. Still doesn’t matter. Where’s my drink? (to be continued?)
Coolie Brighton
May 6 · Edited ·
We watched the videos, which was surprising. His was on something called s-chord; mine was on betamax. He was 105 and I was 7, but we were both the same age. We watched the videos at the same time, but we didn’t and couldn’t, see. I’ll tell my half. We watched [delete two word name]. He didn’t laugh until [delete first name] showed up wearing an Opel sports shirt. I explained that when he said he’d been on tellie that was actually in the future. Roger understood this but only in the future. Then Roger took a visit to God. That’s how he put it. He pointed to the screen at one point — point — and said, “That’s me.” He was pointing to a flat square, and God was a golden rounded sphere or just golden sphere would do. The Sphere was God. (to be continued?)
Coolie Brighton
May 6 · Edited ·
Roger stopped the betamax video 25 minutes in. Baby Lemonade was playing. Bart and Millhouse were selling lemonade. Roger didn’t like this. We began to argue. Roger said that art was a science and I said it was a religion. Roger said religion was a science and I said religion was and is an art. He talked like he was from a place where art and science and religion had ceased to exist. He was being a complete bastard. I coaxed him into playing a game — cards — Old Kentucky Rook to be exact. 25 minutes in the rook cards were flying like released geese into the air. Roger was bored and I was losing him. The front door beckoned. (to be continued?)
Coolie Brighton
May 6 ·
And that’s about it. I remember being hit on the side of the head by a beer bottle and when I woke up several seconds/minutes/hours later Roger had left. He’d even cleaned up the bottle fragments, and also there were no rook cards on the floor. But, then again, he’d never really been there, and all this was fantasy. Except it wasn’t. Hope you enjoyed the story of my visit! (not be be continued)
Coolie Brighton
May 12 ·
A message from Roger:
—–
Merk, so sorry to leave you with a headache (insert smiley face). It’s just that something within me snapped and I what I found inside was dead black instead of living green. Thinking of your http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisteria, and thanks for sharing. I hate you.
Love,
Roger.
—-
I’ll have more to say about this soon.
Merk Coolie Brighton
May 27 ·
Roger Pine Ridge (2 of 2) update soon! He got stuck in Texas! (but not without a silencer, har har har)
Coolie Brighton
June 4 · Edited ·
Update on R. Pine Ridge’s whereabouts. He’s still in the area! He came by yesterday to borrow a comb. I told him he could keep it! He refused, used, and returned. I threw it into the woods out back just as soon as he was out of sight. He said he was in Kansas. I naturally assumed the state. No, it’s *that* Kansas, the one that’s about 2.75 miles from my house as the jayhawk flies. He’s been reading my secret blog! He’s been playing with my antique pots and pans and bottles out in the Forest. He’s in that gorge. He’s in Kansas. I ain’t Lyo’n.
I’ve had another talk with Mr. Pine Ridge. Turns out he has quite the critical tongue, and around our house there’s a lot of targets for such abuse. I liked the other Mr. Pine Ridge better in this respect, even though he did knock me out with a beer bottle. This newer, second Pine Ridge (the critical one) now wants to live in our basement; fix things up ’round here. He suggested we watch Grey Gardens to get an idea of the what’s ahead down the road — 30 or 40 years — without intervention. I said that perhaps he should stay in his Kansas (local gorge) and work on developing something there instead — art. He doesn’t believe in the Forest aliens, lumping them with fairies, gnomes and elves as “stuff of dreams”. He admitted he thought some wood critters are very clever, approaching human intelligence. Raccoons were specified. Ants. Then aardvarks, jokingly. One of the few laughs we shared. We talked about the other Pine Ridge, the sensitive, dreamy one. “He’s done,” Roger said plainly.
Coolie Brighton
June 6 · Edited ·
The Contraption at Kansas.
What I know.
Bigger than breadbasket.
More powerful than a locomotive.
Can upload/resize its own profile picture on Facebook.
Can clone itself.
Clones can clone themselves but not ad infinitum (still working on a calculation).
Always reports time in plural (times) not singular.
Laurel and Hardy films repulse it and make its spinners retract.
Sensitive about its offbeat color scheme (repeat: DON’T make jokes about this).
Can eat its own weight in aluminum.
Weighs less than a jumbo sized uranium paperweight.
Can run on AC or DC or both at once or none at once.
Air conditioned; 2 way sneeze vents.
Can exist in up to 5 different hyper-dimensions simultaneously.
Raccoons could make it but it would take them 1 billion years.
Ants also could — 10 billion years.
Aardvards don’t have the ability to build this using any time span, and they should bite their dangly lying, bragging tongues about being able to.
Sheldon of Big Bang Theory could make one but it would take him 10,000 years.
I can’t even figure out how to turn it on.
Needless to say this is what interests R. Pine Ridge The Second about Kansas (gorge). It generated him and the other R. Pine Ridge, to begin. He’s using this to change reality itself. Not only mine but yours as well. You’ve been alerted, even warned.
Chuck was thinking about Whitehead Crossing, and the 4th way in, discovered (and then amplified by unknown hands!) only this past spring. 2130 — the mystery of the far corridor (of the recently derezzed Confluence Place of Westend). He decided to remind his 2 comrades, plus Karoz, about the centrality of The Crossing and this particular, perhaps more paramount 4th. You see, it was Chuck, as I’m remembering now, that lives at the end of this 4th, or does in past/present/future. Story Room lives at 2130. I can see them now lined up in red, yellow, blue on the porch overlooking Zap Cannon Stream. “Collagesity’s losing steam, despite the best efforts of Karoz.” “He’s bought enough time for it to last into September, surely,” I respond back. “Probably,” replies Chuck, who I’m tempted to call Charles or Charlie. “I’m going to take a look at the collages on Floor 1 (of the Fal Mouth Moon). I’ll be back.”
Sunklands 