Pook

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Pook's Place
The Pook’s Place One Year
and 50th Article Extravaganza!
5.03.05 - By Pook 

From beautiful Los Angeles, California, comes the Pook’s Place One Year and 50th Article Extravaganza! (cue theme music) And now, please welcome the star of tonight’s show, the one, the only, Pook!

Greetings all! Wow, one year. Has it really been that long? Or that short? Either way, it has been a heck of a ride up until now. We’ve a lot to get through tonight so let’s get the party started!
Actually, I don’t have that much to get through. I know, I lied, I’m sorry. But I o promise some great things. This article is going to be my reflection on the past year, as well as the sneak peek of something completely brand new to both Pook’s Place and Pojo! So let’s get started on looking back on the past year…

When I started writing these articles, I was about to finish my senior year of college. On a lark, I decided that it would be fun to write articles for Pojo. So I pitched the idea for my column – a mix of humor and information – and I was assigned to write a sample article. This article was the very first one posted, “Coming Out of the Yu-Gi-Oh Closet: A College Student’s Secret Addiction.” Out of all of my articles over the year, this one is still my absolute favorite. I still get emails from people telling me that they were in the same situation. Sure, some of the article was an exaggeration – it was more of a social commentary on other personal secrets – but there was some truth to it. Since then, many more people know that I play and that I’ve even become a published author on the subject. This article was my big break, and I’ll forever have a special link to it.
After that, I’ve covered everything in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe – decks, card strategies, things I hate, fashion, etc. I’ve even gone way out on a limb, comparing the show to Spider-man, and even made up my own live-action movie treatment. Some of my favorite articles are “Card Impressions, or, Man, Were We Bored”, “My Day In Anaheim – World Championship 2004 – Battle City!”, “All’s Fair in Love and Duel Monsters”, and, of course “You Play With Fire, You’re Gonna Get Burned!”. Not that I don’t like all of my articles, these are the ones that have had the most impact on me.
Alright, enough of that sentimental stuff. Now onto brass tax – dueling. Over the last 12 months, I’ve been fully engulfed in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, more so than I have ever been before. It wasn’t so much as rabid fandom or obsession; as I wrote, I had to explore every aspect of the game and gaming community. Because of that, my dueling skills have probably improved at least 10 fold. On top of that, because I write for such a well respected site, there was a lot of pressure on me to act the part of someone with a lot of knowledge. So what did I do? I studied…a lot. Hey, I couldn’t sound like I didn’t know what I was talking about. So now I’m just swimming in all of this information. Granted, I don’t know everything, but sometimes I feel so overloaded. Maybe now that I’ve proven I can do this for a year, some of the pressure will ease itself. Then again, maybe not.
All in all, it has been such a wonderful year. I just want to thank everyone who reads my articles, sends me emails, duels me online, and so on. I hope I won’t disappoint you during year two.

Ok, now onto the good stuff. Ever since the beginning of 2005, I’ve been touting that there will be a big surprise coming to Pook’s Place. Well, the time has finally come to unveil that surprise. About 6 months ago, I was reading the best-selling book “The Da Vinci Code” and I was taken in by the story. For those of you who haven’t read it yet, I suggest picking it up. What I liked best about the story was the way that the author, Dan Brown, took pieces of art and architecture in real life and wove a fictional story around it. So, I decided I’d do my own little take on that. I have been working on a story that will be sure to please Yu-Gi-Oh fans all over. Just remember, this story is fiction, so please don’t start your own worldwide expedition. And now, I present to you the prologue to my story, “The Millennium Quest” by Pook.


The Millennium Quest

Prologue

It was a beautiful afternoon in Los Angeles, California. The air was warm and there was a slight breeze rushing through the park. On a bench, Pook sat, reading from his book. Pook was a writer who was immersed in the world of Yu-Gi-Oh, the card game and anime series made popular in Japan, based on Egyptian mythology.
He was reading “The Da Vinci Code”, a story about a global adventure. Pook had often wondered what it would be like to embark on his own adventures, but unfortunately, he could not. However, reading this book had helped remove himself from reality, if only for a short while. Pook continued to read, and laughed out loud when the book spoke about the enormous Ferris wheel in London, England – the wheel, called the London Eye, had a second name, due to the fact it was constructed in the year 2000 – the Millennium Eye. Placing his bookmark in the page, Pook felt that that was the perfect place to stop reading for the day.
As he started to head home, Pook could not get the idea of adventuring out of his head. From “The Da Vinci Code”, he had learned about symbology – the study of ancient signs and symbols. Although he had no formal training in the subject, he began to grow curious about the science. He was so lost in thought, he hadn’t even realized that he had made it home already. Before heading his apartment, he went to the mailbox, taking out a few magazines and letters. Without reading them, he headed into his apartment, entered, and threw the mail down on the coffee table. He then went to the computer and began to write.
After an hour or so of writing, Pook noticed that he had an unread email. He opened the window and saw an email from a name he didn’t recognize. Instantly, he deleted it, thinking it was some sort of junk mail. Just then, the same email popped up yet again. Pook deleted the second email, only for a third and fourth to enter his inbox. His mailbox was being flooded too quickly to delete them all. After his inbox reached into the hundreds, he decided he’d read what the email said. All it said was:
OPEN YOUR MAIL

This confused Pook, because hadn’t he just opened his mail? He thought for a moment, and then realized that he had unopened snail-mail in the other room. He got up from his deck and filed through the mail.
Underneath his bills and magazines, there was an envelope with hieroglyphics written on it. Strange, thought Pook. He proceeded to open the letter. Inside was an invitation to the opening of “Mummies: Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt” at the Bowers Museum in Los Angeles. Pook had heard about this exhibit, but why was he sent an invitation to the opening? He continued to look at the invitation and looked on the other side of the card. For a moment, he could not believe what he saw. One the reverse of the card, someone had taken a golden marker and drawn a symbol he was quite familiar with – an eye, the symbol of the Millennium Items. Below the eye, someone had written the words:

THEY ARE REAL

What could this mean? Pook looked on the front of the invitation and saw that the opening was that very night. He had little time to prepare, but he knew that someone had sent this to him, and it was no accident. He scrambled to find some formal clothes to wear, for tonight, he had a museum opening to attend…

TO BE CONTINUED…


Well, I hope you enjoyed the prologue. Stay tuned to Pook’s Place for the continuing story of “The Millennium Quest”. Happy dueling!