Urban Exploration

Photo credit to startribune.com

Just the other day I was browsing some dank memes on Reddit.

I got really bored so I went to “reddit.com/r/random/” which directs the user to a random subreddit.

After three attempts I finally stumbled upon a decent-looking subreddit that I had never even heard of: /r/urbanexploration.

I spent the rest of my evening on that subreddit. The subreddit is dedicated to exploring ruins in urban areas. It’s all about people’s findings of abandoned monuments frozen in time.

Spanning from secret basement doorways that lead to a massive tunnel system that were likely used by Al Capone, to old Yugoslavian monuments from the 1960s.

Photo credit to Michael Mehrhoff

The subreddit is mostly crap, but every few posts is an amazing story. The stories are really just a bunch of captioned pictures in the order of their findings.

My favorite was the post titled “Bad Ass Bunker.” The album is a series of 31 pictures with detailed captions.

The person who explored the bunker was visiting his old friend in northern Germany, which was formerly GDR.

They found a massive bunker. Some of it was already explored and had been tagged by teens. But the further and deeper they went, the more they found.

Eventually, the bunker was flooded and they had to turn back.

Photo credit to Johnny Joo

Urban explorers find a thrill in going through these abandoned buildings. Some even travel around the world.

They love it because the building tells a story and they get to be the ones to figure it out. Like what is this place, who was here, why was it abandoned?

Urban explorers are each like a modern-day Indiana Jones. Some of the explorers are photographers that actually take photos of abandoned places for a living.

Photo credit to Daniel Barter

For those who want to get started, the subreddit is a great place to get advice and learn of new locations.

Keep in mind, in most cases breaking into abandoned places is trespassing, and a lot of people on the subreddit have been arrested.

But there are websites that can be found on the subreddit that help avoid this issue.

The Great Adventures of Tim Part 2

Photo credit to http://www.static.tvtropes.org

About four weeks had gone by since Tim had been trapped in the 2D world. He thinks he had been dreaming. Until he was walking to class and he suddenly  appeared in a semi trashed apartment with a man wearing a black and red outfit. Tim asked this Mysterious man where he was. The man replied “Hollywood.” Tim was confused, thinking how did he end up in Hollywood. The man interrupted his thoughts and said “My name is Deadpool, owned by 20th Century Fox, and I am a video game and comic book character. I am fully aware I am trapped inside in this game.” Tim was in shock and he asked the Deadpool “we are in a video game?” Deadpool said “yes.” Tim asked: “How do we get out?” Deadpool paused for a minute, then said “I don’t know, I have never tried. I like being the star of a game. Its pretty awesome.” Pausing for a minute, “But there’s these minion things I’m supposed do to beat the game but I tend to just kill people for fun rather than go do the mission. I’m sure if you do them you will get out.”

Tim was on his way to his first mission when he suddenly woke up. He was back in his dorm room and it was two days before the Deadpool indecent. He was really confused. He decided to do some research on Deadpool. He researched his game, how he was aware he was in the game and what other game characters know there in a game. That was when he came across a batman game. The batman game had a villain named Fear. Fears power was that he could find people’s deepest fears and exploit them. In the game, this villain figured out batman was controlled by someone whose biggest fear was losing unsaved progress. He decided that it was all crazy, that games are just games and he was simply dreaming. So he got dressed and went to breakfast. At breakfast he noticed some people did not have cups, but they still would make movements to drink like they had cups. He immediately thought that it was a joke. After breakfast, while he was walking back to his room, he saw two cars drive through each other. There wasn’t a scratch on either car and they just kept going. Tim say to his friend “Dididid you see that?” Everything turned black, and there was no sound no light. Just blackness.

EXPLANATION: This is for those who are totally lost in what just happened. Part one is where Tim gets trapped in a Mario like game, but he did not realize its the worlds famous Mario because the game was a spin-off. Tim is not a normal person he is in fact a character from his own game. This is implying that all of us are trapped in a game. The system that the game is on has corrupt files so when the user switched games Tim would enter that game. Deadpool and fear are game characters that are like Tim. They realize what they thought was reality was in fact just a game. The story is written from the perspective of the computers monitor and the blackness was because the computer crashed. Before the computer crashed things where missing because the corruption had destroyed it. The black screen was because there was nothing for the monitor to display after the computer crashed.

 

The Great Adventures of Tim Part 1

photo credit to http://www.readretro.com

Tim is a student at a small school. He is known by all his teachers and classmates and he is a very responsible student. His life was very normal and things always seem to work out just fine. Until, one day, during his math class he asked to use the restroom. When he went to the restroom he got sucked down the toilet and popped out in a 2D world.

Immediately after entering this 2D world, a giant Ape took a princess. The princess said “Save me time. You’re my only hope.” The ape ran off. Tim was confused and didn’t know what to do, so he went forward. It was his only choice ,considering the world was 2D.

He jumped from brick platform to brick platform until he reached a wall with a door. He entered the door and a new setting appeared. Now there was not only brick platforms but there were coins and angry muffins walking around. The angry muffins chased him, so he instinctively ran, collecting as many coins as he could. He ran through about 5 doors before he reached a merchant. The merchant had what appeared to be an apple hat. Tim was unsure if it was a hat or an actual part of him, so he just didn’t ask. The Merchant sold apples, but these were not just any apples. They had the ability to make whoever eats it large or shoot fireballs.

Tim Bought one of each apple and when he went to pay he pulled out coins and a star he found. The merchant instantly said “HIDE THAT STAR!” Tim asked why and the merchant continued: “The star has the ability to make you invincible. Its your only hope to defeat the ape.” Tim put it away, then asked how the merchant knew about his mission. The merchant was unsure, he just did.

Tim moved on to the next door. Through this door was a bunch of slanted platforms. At the top of these platforms was the ape. He was holding a bunch of barrels, and then he heard the princess scream for help. Tim rushed up the platforms as fast as he could as the ape began to throw barrels. Tim jumped and jumped over the barrels until he reached the top. The ape said in a very confident voice “Do you think you can beat me?” Tim reached in his back pack and ate all the apples and the star. Tim became an invisible fire shooting giant and attacked the ape, winning the fight in seconds. He saved the princess and was talking to her when he suddenly appeared back in the restroom. Only three minutes had passed since he left the math room. He went back and sat down at his desk still confused about what happened.

UP.

“Thanks for the adventure. Now go have a new one.”

– Ellie

I watched this movie three years ago, and I was moved by the exciting adventure of a flying house.

Then I watched the movie last year, and I was moved by the interactions between two generations.

Last night, I watched it again. And I discovered a part that I’ve ignored for a long time – the memory between Carl Fredricksen and his wife Ellie.

The film “centers on an elderly widower named Carl Fredricksen and an earnest young Wilderness Explorer named Russell. By tying thousands of balloons to his home, 78-year-old Carl sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America and to complete a promise made to his lifelong love.”

I did not realize that the memory was really playing a big role throughout Carl’s entire life.

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Papa Adventures

Let me start off by saying that I love my dad. He and I have always been very close, but especially so after the divorce of my parents four years ago. He is there for me to talk to whenever, and about whatever.

I can tell him about my friends, school, boyfriends. And no matter what he will listen and help me work through my problems.

As a kid we would go on “Papa Adventures”. In fact, we still do. During a Papa adventure, my two little brothers and I are rounded up and told to get into my dad’s dark blue Toyota Tacoma stick shift (the car I would very much like to inherit someday), and buckle our seat belts.

We never have any idea where we or going or what we are doing. But believe me, we sure do try to get it out of him.

Sometimes we drive for ten minutes, other times for four hours. But somehow we’d always find a way to play our song, “Live Like You were Dying“, by Tim Mcgraw. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we would be able to take turns sitting on his lap and steering while on an empty dirt road.

We used to roll around in the backseat laughing our heads off as one of us sat on my dad’s lap and purposely steer the truck off the road, causing my dad to freak out, and then laugh along with us once we were back on track.

My favorite Papa adventure was a long drive up a very rocky road, which we all of course found very fun, especially while unbuckled and playing jello. After hours of driving, and about a mile of hiking, we would end up at this beautiful lake nestled in the middle of a crater.

Petroleum Lake, Aspen CO

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