H N Arabian Blog - Random Tales

    The Long Way from Harpers Ferry A Memoir – 1983 Our last day on the Appalachian Trail was approaching, and six of us, devoted wilderness enthusiasts and classmates from the Class of 1983, were making our way toward Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. We had come together to escape the familiar demands of work, family responsibilities, and deadlines, and to fulfill a dream we had carried since our younger days: walking beneath the canopy of old-growth forests, following mountain paths, and enjoying the simple pleasure of being outdoors. By the time we reached the Lodge at Harpers Ferry, our legs were tired, but our spirits were high. We settled around a table, ordered fresh meals, and soon emptied a pitcher of beer. The conversation wandered freely through memories of school days, youthful mischief, and the adventures that had somehow become funnier with age. We were no longer carefree students. We were fathers now, carrying the never-ending responsibilities of family, work, and ...

  The Two-Headed Surprise on the Venice Run A Sunday morning run, with Buena Vista Social Club providing the soundtrack. The morning of the LA Marathon had a way of making everyone feel like a runner. The sunshine was inviting, the ocean breeze refreshing, and the streets seemed to belong to people who had decided that sitting still was not an option. I was motivated. I started my run at the Santa Monica Pier, heading south toward Venice Beach. Rather than join the marathon crowds heading west toward the busy streets around the Farmers Market and the La Brea Tar Pits, I chose the ocean route. It was familiar territory, with plenty of room to find my own pace. As I passed Muscle Beach, the usual Venice spectacle was unfolding. Surfers were riding the waves, competing with the ocean rather than with one another, while Sunday walkers crowded the path. Everyone seemed to have a destination, although nobody appeared to be in much of a hurry. My own destination was somewhere farther down...

  The Cobbler, the Tap Shoes, and the Noisy Door A Friday Afternoon Story For weeks, the contraption above our office entrance had been driving me crazy. You know the kind: a hydraulic door closer, with its mysterious piston and little adjustment screw, designed to bring the door gently and obediently back into its frame. Ours had developed a personality of its own. Every time someone walked through, it made a terrible racket, and lately it had stopped closing the door completely. I had grown accustomed to the noise, although I certainly hadn't learned to love it. Then came Friday afternoon. Tall John walked through the door and immediately heard the commotion. He stopped, looked up, and diagnosed the problem with the confidence of a man who knew his way around a mechanical contraption. On his way to the cobbler, where he was dropping off his designer shoes—the very ones he uses for tap dancing—he turned to me. "Herald, give me a small screwdriver. I need to adjust the piston....

  The SandShark and the Mudslide A Baja California adventure — and a lesson in listening to Marie I have always considered myself a positively inclined adventurer, the kind of fellow who prefers experience over warnings and adventure over caution. So when Marie told me that El Niño had severely changed the weather in Baja California, Mexico, I listened politely—and promptly ignored her advice. The morning looked promising. We left our hotel early, anticipating a glorious day of sunshine, a refreshing sea breeze, and waves rolling lazily onto the beach. What could possibly go wrong? After finding the perfect spot to soak up the sun, I spotted a sign advertising sand-buggy rentals. The dunes beckoned. Why waste a perfectly good opportunity for adventure? “Marie, I’m going to rent one of those buggies and explore the dunes. I’ll be right back,” I announced. Marie, apparently more interested in enjoying the beach than challenging the laws of nature, settled in to absorb the sunshine. I...

  You Snooze, You Lose! A short story from the world of engineering, where the smallest detail can cause the biggest commotion. After countless meetings, endless revisions, and more than a few heated debates, the big day had finally arrived. Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. — the official production-release meeting for our new electronic shelf-labeling device. This was no ordinary product. We believed it would set the trend in supermarkets and retail stores everywhere, giving us an edge over every competitor. As chief engineer, I had spent months steering the project through hardware design, software development, production planning, sales strategy, and marketing expectations. Now, all that remained was the final sign-off. The conference room was ready. Marketing had generously supplied donuts and coffee, and representatives from every department arrived looking cheerful and confident. Everyone was eager to celebrate the finish line. Everyone, that is, except Chad. At our previous meeting, Chad ...

  The Critic, the Dream, and the Waffles It was a chilly autumn Sunday in Watertown. At 7:30 a.m., I opened my eyes to a bedroom still wrapped in darkness. Rather than face the cold, I decided to stay under the covers until eight, giving the morning sun time to warm the room. I closed my eyes. Just for a few minutes. Moments later, I was on the phone with Armand, our book club’s lead organizer. He was not calling to wish me a pleasant Sunday. He had serious concerns about the story arc of my latest piece. “Did you find my criticism and suggestions valuable?” he pressed. “Are you going to revise your story?” I defended my artistic vision while trying to sound receptive to his advice. Armand was persistent, and our discussion was growing intense. I was in the middle of explaining why my protagonist’s choices made perfect sense when— “Breakfast is ready! Eggs and waffles!” Armand kept talking. “I'm asking you seriously. Are you going to revise it?” “Just a moment, Armand,” I said, bar...

  *** The Open House is a quiet, reflective short story about time, marriage, aging, and the emotional layers hidden within ordinary moments. On the surface, very little happens: a married couple unexpectedly visits a model apartment while on their way to coffee. Yet beneath this simple event lies a meditation on life’s transitions — particularly the movement from youth and family-building into later adulthood. The story belongs to the tradition of domestic realism, where emotional depth emerges not from dramatic plot twists but from subtle observations, small gestures, and understated dialogue. *** The Open House The OPEN HOUSE sign stood at the curb like an afterthought, half-hidden beneath the branches of a maple tree just beginning to turn gold. If I had blinked while driving past, I might never have noticed it. Marie did. “There,” she said, touching my arm lightly. I slowed the car. Beyond the sign rose the new apartment complex beside Avalon — all clean angles, bright windo...

*** At its surface, The Spice Bandit is a light rural anecdote about a garden pest caught in a humane trap. Beneath the humor, however, the story works as a meditation on adaptation, perception, and the strange ways neighboring worlds influence one another. *** The Spice Bandit  By the time I reached Vick’s place, the evening fog had started rolling low across the pasture behind his house. The sheep beyond the fence looked like drifting clouds themselves, grazing silently beneath the orange glow of sunset. Vick was waiting beside the herb garden with the excitement of a man who had either solved a mystery or accidentally created one. “Come look at this thing,” he whispered dramatically. The humane trap sat beneath the basil plants, rocking gently. Dill brushed against the wire sides as the wind moved through the garden. For weeks something had been chewing perfect little crescent bites through the herbs. Vick took the offense personally. Nobody robbed his basil and escaped justice...

  Jumanji vs. Welcome to the Jungle vs. The Next Level Jumanji vs. Welcome to the Jungle vs. The Next Level A comparison of the original classic and its modern reinventions 1. Jumanji (1995) Directed by Sony Pictures The original Jumanji remains the most emotionally grounded film in the series. Built around Robin Williams’ performance as Alan Parrish — a boy trapped inside a supernatural jungle game for decades — the movie blends childhood fantasy with surprisingly dark themes: abandonment, fear, lost time, and reconciliation. The practical effects and animatronics give the film a tactile, chaotic energy. Stampeding rhinos crash through living rooms; giant spiders lurk in attics; monsoons flood suburban streets. The movie feels dangerous in a way family blockbusters rarely do now. Strengths Robin Williams brings warmth and melancholy. Strong emotional core about family and growing up. Practical effects still hold charm. The board game itself feels mysterious and curse...

  Book Review:  The Irresistible Attraction of Gravity Author:  Luciano Rezzolla Review of The Irresistible Attraction of Gravity by Luciano Rezzolla Luciano Rezzolla’s The Irresistible Attraction of Gravity: A Journey to Discover Black Holes is that rare science book capable of making readers feel both humbled and exhilarated. Written by one of the astrophysicists involved in producing the first image of a black hole, the book combines rigorous physics with a sense of cosmic wonder that recalls the popular science classics of Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking. Published by Cambridge University Press in 2023, the book traces humanity’s understanding of gravity from instinctive everyday experience to the strange geometry of Einstein’s spacetime and the extreme environments surrounding black holes. Rezzolla structures the work as a “journey,” beginning with simple observations — why objects fall, why planets orbit — before guiding readers toward neutron stars, gravitational...

  Movie Review:  Man on the Moon (1999)  Miloš Forman’s Man on the Moon is less a traditional Hollywood biopic than an elaborate prank played on the audience — which makes it the perfect film about Andy Kaufman. Instead of trying to “explain” Kaufman, the movie embraces the comedian’s greatest talent: making people uncertain whether they were watching genius, insanity, performance art, or some combination of all three. Jim Carrey delivers one of the boldest performances of his career. He does not merely imitate Kaufman’s voice or mannerisms; he captures the strange emotional tension beneath the comedy — the need for attention, the delight in discomfort, and the almost childlike obsession with testing audiences. Roger Ebert described the performance as “heroic,” noting how Carrey disappears into Kaufman’s peculiar worldview. The film follows Kaufman from awkward nightclub appearances to cult fame on Taxi , his invention of the grotesque lounge singer Tony Clifton, and fi...

  Book Review:  The Everglades: River of Grass Author:  Marjory Stoneman Douglas Marjory Stoneman Douglas’s The Everglades: River of Grass is one of the rare environmental books that changed how an entire region understood itself. Published in 1947 — the same year Everglades National Park was established — the book transformed the Everglades from what many Americans dismissed as a useless swamp into a living, interconnected ecosystem worthy of protection. What makes Douglas’s work remarkable is not simply its environmental message, but the elegance of its writing. She approaches the Everglades with the eye of a journalist, the patience of a historian, and the lyricism of a novelist. Her famous opening line — “There are no other Everglades in the world” — still carries the force of revelation nearly eighty years later. Rather than presenting the Everglades as a static wilderness, Douglas describes it as a “river of grass,” a slow-moving sheet of water flowing from Lake ...