Chapel Hill on Og Maciel's Journal

What We Carry

Sat, 22 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

What We Carry

I ran my fingers across the table’s surface, gathering a thick crust of ash that crumbled and slipped off once I reached the edge. I wiped the residue on my trousers, adding one more stain to an eclectic collection that already included blood— not mine —snot, rust, and worse. Hard to believe the fires had been burning for nine straight months with no respite in sight—judging by the cloudless sky and the air’s almost nonexistent humidity.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Seven

Sun, 16 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Murder Hornet: Chapter Seven

Photo byTatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

💡 This story is part of my ongoing series,Murder Hornet, a novel-in-progress unfolding one imperfect chapter at a time.

Chapter VII

I’d known Derrick all my life, best friends since I could remember. Come to think of it, there’s no single memory of my childhood without him in it. Derrick and Allen; Allen and Derrick, we were always together, inseparable friends.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Six

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Murder Hornet: Chapter Six

Photo byTatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

💡 This story is part of my ongoing series,Murder Hornet, a novel-in-progress unfolding one imperfect chapter at a time.

Chapter VI

“So, it was already close to the very end of the second half–”

“How many halves are there again?”

I gave her a look of disbelief. “Are you kidding me you don’t know how many halves there are in a game?”

Murder Hornet: Chapter Five

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by Tatiana Tochilova on Unsplash

If you’re new here, this is part of my ongoing experiment where I’m publishing raw, completely unedited chapters of a novel I’ve been writing (and rewriting… deleting… swearing at… and rewriting again) for the past couple of years.

If you’d like to catch up first:

This week, I’m sharing Chapter 5. As always, your feedback keeps this little experiment alive—so if you’re still enjoying the story, please let me know.

Murder Hornet: Chapter Two

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This post continues from the previous installment, where I shared the Prelude and Chapter 1 of Murder Hornet. If you haven’t read it yet, I’d recommend starting there to get the full story so far. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts — let me know in the comments if you’d like me to keep posting more of the unpublished chapters.

Chapter II

“Hey, what’s up, Roddy?” I said nonchalantly, trying to hide the fact that he scared the crap out of me.

Life at rPath: 4+ Years And Counting

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

It was around the end of 2006. Having spent most of my life living in the New Jersey - New York axis and close to my family, I bought a one-way ticket to RDU, packed my bag (yeah, one bag) and came down to North Carolina looking for a new job. Leaving my wife (who was expecting our second child) and young daughter while I went “job spelunking” wasn’t easy for me, but I was determined to quit the rat race once and for all!

There And Back Again

Tue, 31 May 2005 00:00:00 +0000

After driving approximately 1,014 miles over this Memorial Day weekend, I’m finally back home from Chapel Hill. Had a blast visiting my sister together with my wife and daughter. My older sister and uncle also tagged along to supposedly help out with the driving. Went to sleep at 1am on Thursday and got up at 4am!!! Managed to get there by 3pm and was completely overwhelmed by a feeling of peace. It felt like I was on a different planet all together. A planet where everybody slowed down to smell the flowers!!! There was so much nature and so little visible technology that I didn’t mind being cut out from the rest of the world for those 3 days. I woke up early every day and tried to make the best out of it. Besides relaxing and watching my daughter acting so happy all the time, I also managed to go to an open market (where I bought the best, juiciest peaches I have ever eaten in my life) Saturday morning and visit the Sarah P. Duke Gardens! One word: AWSOME!!! I had never seen such a beatiful place in my life either! Sunday we barbecued and big time pigged out while watching to some cool country music and drowning ourselves with some Belgina beer!