Changing Lanes, Chapter 15

[MikeL]

C James has released Chapter 15 of Changing Lanes.

 

Picture this.

[Bondwriter]

Eric riding his bike. Fast. Danger looming in the shape of a truck hidden in a side street.

 

 

Who thinks CJ was about to pull a shadowgod on us?

[Phantom]

Hmmmm... a little foreshadow of what is to happen?

 

 

“You’ve just got to learn to think positively about the volcano situation: one way or another, this wedding is gonna be a blast.”

 

 

I'd declare this to be a tense ending but then again... I might be wasting my breath.

[Pai-kun]

Hmmmm... a little foreshadow of what is to happen?

 

 

 

[Benji]

.........I loved this chapter, full of errrr! moments; spoilers below!!

 

A small side street, barely more than an alley and one of many, lay concealed, hidden in the deep and dark recesses of the afternoon. From shadow unto sunlight it lumbered forth, alabaster and grime, belching a demon

[Drewbie]

Yea it will be a blast, since we also know now that The scar really wants another run around with Eric, I love Helen's smart arse response to Mr Eric

[MikeL]

Well, the volcano which may or may not erupt during the wedding, continues to build as a cliffhanger. CJ's cliffhangers don't have to be the obvious, abrupt, end-of-chapter variety. They can build slowly over the span of several chapters, with different clues, many of them subtle, leading to the climactic moment. As Benji pointed out, "

Lots of mountains, real tall and cliffs all over the place.

"

 

A picture really is worth a thousand words. Just consider how much Scar learned from only two snapshots.

[Conner]

"...and cliffs all over the place." As far as I'm concerned, all this means is that CJ has created a safe environment for Chase and Brandon to have their wedding and party. I mean, goats are comfortable around cliffs, so it's perfectly natural for CJ to include cliffs.

 

If anyone thinks that this volcano is just gonna sit there and blow smoke rings for all the wedding guests, you don't know CJ very well. CJ is the most prominent action/adventure goat in all of Goatdom. Can't you just hear him say, "J, CJ," in 007 style?

 

There will be a blast (volcano) after the blast (strippers and pool party).

 

That said, an eruption of the volcano could not be considered a cliffhanger. We've all been warned up front. CJ has even cited plausible evidence for such a disaster. I'm sure you'll agree my reasoning here is faultless. :wacko:

 

Two things, though, CJ. The volcano cannot erupt before the strippers and pool party! If it does, you will have a lot of explaining to do. Try and not wipe out the continental easterm seaboard of North America. I'm ok if you do do that. I live on the west coast!

 

Conner

[C James]

Eric riding his bike. Fast. Danger looming in the shape of a truck hidden in a side street.

 

 

Who thinks CJ was about to pull a shadowgod on us?

 

I'd never do that! That would be evil!! I'm far to nice.

 

However, I will mention this... Had I been inclined to use cliffhangers, I could have moved that scene with Eric to a chapter end, and cut it, just before he regains control. But, of course, I don't use cliffhangers, so i didn't.

 

Hmmmm... a little foreshadow of what is to happen?

 

 

 

[C James]

Yea it will be a blast, since we also know now that The scar really wants another run around with Eric, I love Helen's smart arse response to Mr Eric

 

Helen does love zapping Eric. It's her hobby.

 

Well, the volcano which may or may not erupt during the wedding, continues to build as a cliffhanger. CJ's cliffhangers don't have to be the obvious, abrupt, end-of-chapter variety. They can build slowly over the span of several chapters, with different clues, many of them subtle, leading to the climactic moment. As Benji pointed out, "

Lots of mountains, real tall and cliffs all over the place.

"

 

A picture really is worth a thousand words. Just consider how much Scar learned from only two snapshots.

 

Cliffhanger?

 

But, Your Frogishness, one measly little cranky mountain does not a cliffhanger make! By that logic, every story set on the big island of Hawaii would be a cliffhanger, as Kiluea has been erupting continuously for over 20 years.

 

Yep, the title is based on the old saying: "A picture is worth a thousand words". In this case, it told The Scar where Eric is, too.

 

"...and cliffs all over the place." As far as I'm concerned, all this means is that CJ has created a safe environment for Chase and Brandon to have their wedding and party. I mean, goats are comfortable around cliffs, so it's perfectly natural for CJ to include cliffs.

 

If anyone thinks that this volcano is just gonna sit there and blow smoke rings for all the wedding guests, you don't know CJ very well. CJ is the most prominent action/adventure goat in all of Goatdom. Can't you just hear him say, "J, CJ," in 007 style?

 

There will be a blast (volcano) after the blast (strippers and pool party).

 

That said, an eruption of the volcano could not be considered a cliffhanger. We've all been warned up front. CJ has even cited plausible evidence for such a disaster. I'm sure you'll agree my reasoning here is faultless. :wacko:

 

Two things, though, CJ. The volcano cannot erupt before the strippers and pool party! If it does, you will have a lot of explaining to do. Try and not wipe out the continental easterm seaboard of North America. I'm ok if you do do that. I live on the west coast!

 

Conner

 

Howdy, goat-buddy!

 

Umm, goats are comfortable on cliffs? but, umm, I keep telling everyine that a goat would never have anything to do with a cliff... So shhhh, we mustn't spread goat secrets!

 

As for the volcano... it may be perfectly benign. After all, the one in Hawaii is, except for some slow moving lave flows. I don;t think Kiluea has has an explosive eruption in almost 200 years.

 

Good point on the warning! You're quite right, that makes it not a cliffhanger, no matter what happens.

 

CJ

[TalonRider]

Two things, though, CJ. The volcano cannot erupt before the strippers and pool party! If it does, you will have a lot of explaining to do. mad.gif Try and not wipe out the continental easterm seaboard of North America. I'm ok if you do do that. I live on the west coast! tongue.gif

 

Thanks a lot Connor. If CJ decides to wipe out the east coast, that could take out a third of the Admin team, a good part of the Tech Support team, and a good portion of the membership, which would include some of his fans.

 

However, we do know he would be capable of doing it. He did set off a nuke in Australia and came close to doing it again on U.S. soil. And who knows, maybe the effects of the wave hitting the east coast may cause vibrations to cause the west coast to slip into the Pacific.

[wildone]

Hey CJ, thanks for the chapter .

 

So I read it on Tuesday, but a couple of things caught my attention besides the reference to cliffs and the garbage truck . So I got the opportunity to re read again tonight. Here is what tweaked my spidey senses:

 

First off, I found it interesting that the Scar kind of brushed off the information on the GPS data stick and just figured he would ask General Bradson, and he would tell them what is on it. Instead he spent more time in figuring out exactly how the General got onto the island. I didn't really think on how he got there was really that important other than impressing Felecia on his capabilities. More so, what is exactly encrypted on that GPS device that the general brought?

 

Second thing, the Scar mentions when Yuri questions the General's intentions that he confirmed that he knows for a fact that General Bradson's son is in Iran. Since the Scar is/was a arms dealer, I wonder if he got that confirmation from someone in Iran. I have a feeling that the Iranians will be working with the Scar to use the General's son for a purpose that will somehow end up assisting the Iranians with their intelligence of the US and give them an advantage when dealing with the US. Not a good feeling from that at all.

 

Lastly, I thought I would point out this:

 

A small side street, barely more than an alley and one of many, lay concealed, hidden in the deep and dark recesses of the afternoon. From shadow unto sunlight it lumbered forth, alabaster and grime, belching a demon

[jfalkon]

CJ claims that goats don't like cliffs but acording to Wikippedia, the mountain goat "is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America...," and "It resides at high elevations and is a sure-footed climber, often resting on rocky cliffs that predators cannot reach."

 

I think we are in for lava, tequila, and maybe more DIY weapons of mass destruction.

[C James]

Thanks a lot Connor. If CJ decides to wipe out the east coast, that could take out a third of the Admin team, a good part of the Tech Support team, and a good portion of the membership, which would include some of his fans.

 

However, we do know he would be capable of doing it. He did set off a nuke in Australia and came close to doing it again on U.S. soil. And who knows, maybe the effects of the wave hitting the east coast may cause vibrations to cause the west coast to slip into the Pacific.

 

But, Talonrider... I wasn't the one who created the collapse problem in La Palma... Mother nature did that.

However, it may not be as bad as it seems. The report I linked to at the end of the chapter is controversial. There are several extrapolations in the data that have no basis in fact. For one thing, they refer to the water tunnels as a source for geologic evidence. OOPS! Big problem; the water tunnels are not in Cumbre Vieja, but on the extinct volcanoes to the north. They also postulate a faultline of 25 miles; there's only hard evidence for nine miles.

 

My personal take on this... it is more likely that a collapse is likly, but on a smaller scale than they postulate, and more in tune with the many prior edifice colapses (massive landslides) that have occured there in the past. The likely east-coast tsunami would therefor be no worse than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Of course, looking at the size of some of the prior collapses in the Canary islands, the article I linked to might not be that far off.

 

BTW, Hawaii has edifice collapses too. The island of Molokai gets it's shape and extreeme geography from edifice colapses. As a result of these colapses, there are coral fragments at over a thousand feet of altitude in several locations in Hawaii. That could only be the result of a thousand-foot tsunami. The most likly Hawaiian location for a new collapse is the southern end of the big island; there's a big fissure system there, and the south side has slipped. Given a major earthquake, it could go.

 

And don't blame me for the nuke in Australia.. Dimitri and The Scar did that.

 

Hey CJ, thanks for the chapter .

 

So I read it on Tuesday, but a couple of things caught my attention besides the reference to cliffs and the garbage truck . So I got the opportunity to re read again tonight. Here is what tweaked my spidey senses:

 

First off, I found it interesting that the Scar kind of brushed off the information on the GPS data stick and just figured he would ask General Bradson, and he would tell them what is on it. Instead he spent more time in figuring out exactly how the General got onto the island. I didn't really think on how he got there was really that important other than impressing Felecia on his capabilities. More so, what is exactly encrypted on that GPS device that the general brought?

 

Second thing, the Scar mentions when Yuri questions the General's intentions that he confirmed that he knows for a fact that General Bradson's son is in Iran. Since the Scar is/was a arms dealer, I wonder if he got that confirmation from someone in Iran. I have a feeling that the Iranians will be working with the Scar to use the General's son for a purpose that will somehow end up assisting the Iranians with their intelligence of the US and give them an advantage when dealing with the US. Not a good feeling from that at all.

 

Lastly, I thought I would point out this:

 

 

[/size]

I can't figure out if you are using symbolism to make the garbage truck, or the alley to represent Shadowgod, but either way what I took out of this is that if you follow Steve, eventually you'll end up in the sunshine . That was your point, wasn't it?

 

Steve

 

 

The Scar tends to be over-confident at times, doesn't he? In this case, he has no means to access the data, so asking the General is his logical alternative. It might also serve as a good means to gauge the General's intentions.

 

You hit on a very good point. I can't say quite why, but The Scar is indeed interested in how the General got to the island. Part of it is that he's worried, at least a little, that the General might not be on the level. This served as independent confirmation that the General arrived as he said he did. There might also be other aspects..

 

I can't answer regarding how The Scar knows the status of the General's son, sorry, except to say it's covered in a coming chapter, and is rather important.

 

Ahh, yes, Eric on the motorcycle... Lest we forget, HOW did Eric come to be astride a motorcycle in the first place? That was Shadowgod's doing! (he influenced Eric, by rading hell-for-leather in front of him.. The Shady-1 license plate, remeber?)

And now, we have Eric, who is getting reckless on the bike. That garbage truck.. hmm, yes, it IS suspicious, is it not? Where did it come from? Why, "from shadow unto sunlight it came". Yes, from shadow. And breathing a devil's breath, too!

 

The thirty-five, then forty five, miles per hour were a hat tip to the immortal Mother of All Cliffhangers, Living in Surreality 26!

And please bear in mind... If I'd have been inclined to use cliffhangers, Eric's ride would have occrued at the end of a chapter, cutting right at the point where he's about to hit. But, I didn't do it... I never use cliffhangers, and this is proof that I take pains to avoid them!

 

CJ claims that goats don't like cliffs but acording to Wikippedia, the mountain goat "is a large-hoofed mammal found only in North America...," and "It resides at high elevations and is a sure-footed climber, often resting on rocky cliffs that predators cannot reach."

 

I think we are in for lava, tequila, and maybe more DIY weapons of mass destruction.

 

Well, um, I live at 7000 feet. I do like to climb. But cliffs? No, cannot be! A goat would never have anything to do with a cliff!

 

As for Weapons of Mass Destruction... You missed the most dangerous one: Eric, on tequila.

 

BTW, the title of chapter i6 is "Spreading the News".

[C James]

BTW, the title of chapter i6 is "Spreading the News".

 

Umm, oops! Wrong title! I decided to go with "Surfer Strip Show" instead.

[wildone]

Umm, oops! Wrong title! I decided to go with "Surfer Strip Show" instead.

 

 

I see, another example of CJ misdirection

[C James]

I see, another example of CJ misdirection

 

Would I do such a thing as that?