Current poems in progress...

the ghost with the sign

Tempo was walking down the street with some friends who wanted to go and see what was playing at the theater.

Or rather, the 'feater', as Rabbit Gerry would say. The journey involved walking past the Sunday swapmeat (covertly so that Pac the Rat would not notice any of them), and then a straight cruise down to the square by which the feater stood.

It was on the stretch of the cruise that Tempo saw the sign. "I'll bet you $1 that you will read this sign."

Rabbit Gerry went apeshit. "The fign," he cried out, "did you guys read the fign?"

The others all stopped, walking up to see what Gerry was freaking out over. Tempo sighed and joined them. Noticing their interest, the writer of the sign stood up, gathering his rags about him, and came over. He grinned all around, and said "So come on guys, where's the dollar?" He was probably not a few years over twenty.

Everybody, some without hesitation, others shaking their heads a little, fumbled into their pockets for one dollar, and gave it to the young man, who collected their donations in a small felt hat. The melody of money pouring in was loud - ching-ching-a-ching, ching-ching-ker-roo - some of them even started to shift their feet along t6o the music.

But when it came to Tempo, the music stopped.

"Your donation, sir?" asked the boy.

Tempo glanced back. "Huh?"

"For reading my sign."

"What sign?"

The young man grinned. "You read it. I know you read it. You owe me a dollar."

Tempo shook his head, looking puzzled. "Clever was it? Writing worth writing, not to mention, reading?"

The young man's smile faded. He became grim. "Fuck you, man. I know you read the sign. I saw you."

Tempo simply looked back to his friends. "Why are we standing here? I thought we were going to check out what movies were playing?"

The Old Hat walked up to Tempo, putting his arm around his shoulder. "Come on man. Don't be like that. Give the boy his dollar."

"I don't see any boy," insisted Tempo. "What boy? Are you beggars seeing ghosts?" The others started just shaking their heads, standing there. "Are you people coming, or not?" asked Tempo.

None of them moved. So, Tempo simply shrugged, turned around, and walked on, to the movie listings. Behind him, his friends called out, begging him to pay the dollar to the ghost. Others around the street started calling out, "Boo."

Boo.

/wc
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neat! - N
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based on: www.flickr.com/photos/24917549@N04/2415535734/

/wc
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a begging ghost. interesting device.

when i was in chicago, the final sunday morning, a street person was squatted hunched against a building close to the coffee shop i was attending. i had a US $20 in my pocket i hadn't spent and thought i would give it away as a gesture to this new city i loved. as i approached beggar, on my return to the hotel, the person started to pour a paper cup of coffee onto a free hand, watching intently as the brown fluid dribbled down onto the concrete. i got closer, took the bill out of my pocket and stopped in front of what was actually a weather worn white woman, who dressed up in all those raggedy clothes in the 85 degree heat, with a baseball cap pulled low over her face had looked like a slender male. we made eye contact. she stopped pouring the coffee long enough to accept the bill. politely said thank you. then returned to her fascination with pouring the coffee onto her free hand. madness swirled in the eyes i had glimpsed. i wondered, as my jet plane left the chicago tarmac whether she comprehended the amount i had passed to her and hoped she used it for things other than coffee. but i didn't care. i didn't make the contribution to feel good about myself. it was for her to do as she pleased with it.

janet
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probably decided to take another ride on the magic dragon! hahaha - N
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could be. she didn't give off druggie vibes. more deep insanity. i didn't see many women beggars on the streets in chicago, at least in the downtown area I was in. she was the first.
janet
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i lived in downtown Birmingham AL for a quarter in college. they were just starting to revitalise the downtown at that time. you could not step on the street w/out being asked for money. there was this one little woman who was just sitting there crying all day long. the first time i saw her i was distraught - i sat down beside har and was asking her what was wrong, gave her money etc. but as the quarter passed i realized she and so many others were gonna be out there every day and i stopped giving. my friend todd had a policy of never giving money but he would buy a meal for them...I don't know ...- N
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are you an emo? /wc
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yeah, it's hard. i give money now annually to a charity that feeds and clothes folks who need help. it also provides some services directed at children. other than that, i don't usually give out money on the street. it's dangerous to do that here and mostly it goes to fuel drug addictions, so it's counter productive in my view to be generous in that way.
janet
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i do it just to strike up conversations with them. /wc
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now i am a hard hearted proponent of tough love. these young able bodied men on the streets of knoxville asking for hand outs just need to get a job - N
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to do writer's research? i have thought of asking if i can take pictures. i see my world through a lens even when i don't have a camera with me. is it repugnant for me to offer money to the poor, homeless and struggling in order to take their picture? i haven't done it yet becuz i'm conflicted about it.
janet
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take their picture... and steal their soul...- N
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only repugnant if you ask them to pose nude or some something. hahaha - N
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i agree N that some folks, those without serious health and emotional/ psych issues would find it helpful to be focused and employed. my home city, vancouver, has a HUGE homeless population that is mostly drug and alcohol addicted people with serious mental illness. they can't hold down jobs. years ago there was a large institution in the area, where they lived and were helped with medication etc. then a philosophy that said institutionalization was dehumanizing swept across north america and many of these facilities were emptied. the stated goal was to move the critical services these folks require out into communities and to reintegrate the people. mostly that never happened and we have a disastrous and shameful situation in both our countries where folks who can't self medicate or hold down a job live in the streets, are preyed upon by pimps and dealers, and are chronically in trouble with law enforcement, etc experts from around the world come to visit Vancouver's Downtown Eastside area to see for themselves and almost without exception proclaim it is the most shocking situation they have ever seen, approaching or on par with third world conditions. hard to understand how this continues in what is considered the world's most liveable city.
janet
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LOL - nude would cost an extra $20...
janet
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but on a serious note about the desire to take pictures of the homeless, i have a similiar wish. once i was driving down a dirt road in tennessee and there was this girl and I guess her boyfriend, he was leaning against this old run down, rusty car. and she was standing there with her arms crossed looking down at the dirt and they seemed like they had the weight of the world on them...but it was beautiful somehow... i mean, they were both super super thin - emaciated - and behind them was this crazy shack that one of them, maybe both, were living in and just random debris in the "yard", it was surreal - but there was something beautiful about their sorrow...know what I mean...?...- N
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i've always thought that would have been a beautiful picture - i would like to document the downtrodden of appalachia - but once you ask for a pic it becomes contrived - loses something... - N
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the photograph thing is not the same.

the photographer and his/her subject are always separated. so even if you give your money and tell the person you'd like to photograph them (which they may or may not really comprehend), you are always separate from the subject.

when you finally take the picture, you are there, posing in your little photographer ways to photograph the to be photographed.

it is not the same as, say, handing a little cash to gain the opportunity to sit freely with the person, and just do your own thing, all the while listening.

this activity is cumulative. it captures the cumulative essence of the subject, but not only that - it is also possible to express in a similarly cumulative manner. Your final recount (which you paid for with your few pennies), is not simply a snapshot of the subject, but a rendition over time.

A videographer may be similar. Such a person could capture the subject over time, possibly even with a concealed camera.

/wc
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yes, i know what you mean. it sounds outstanding from your description :) that's right, i wouldn't want the person to change, but once you know your pic is being taken the aspect changes.
janet
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irfan, that's a good point. and if a person was self conscious, perhaps over the course of the time spent, with a video camera rolling, the self consciousness would fade, the camera's presence forgotten and naturalness would resume.
janet
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i am just now reading your entry above - somehow I missed it a second ago -about the homeless. under the right, or wrong, circumstances any of us could end up homeless. i don't know what the solution is... - N
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i don't believe there is a silver bullet for homelessness. i hope we are all always held close in the love of our families and life is good to us.
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The fact is that some people just like being homeless.
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that is ONE fact. there are many reasons why people are on the street and stay there.
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Ok, drugs, bad choices, bad friends, and bad luck...AND people like to be at the bottom cause they can't fall any lower. There...homelessness

Rabbit Gerry

Rabbit Gerry was once known
as Bluetooth Balls.
Since he could intercept any nearby sins
over cellphone acks and syns.

He'd use it to womanize women
or husband husbands.
He'd fling his balls all over the place
listening in.

Now, he wasn't really a mean guy,
no harbors were grudged.
Yet you can see why certain folk
wanted his ass on platter.

When they squished, by force
Bluetooth's amazing balls
they also happened to accidentally
snap off his central incisors.

/wc
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jeez (lol). sometimes thoughts of revenge are sweet.

janet
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it's not a poem about revenge. it's about the transformation of Bluetooth Balls to Rabbit Gerry. /wc
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hahaha - N
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why did they squeeze his balls? that's why i thought someone was implementing revenge. he could have been transformed through revenge as well as via your conveyance.
janet
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Well, yes, that was revenge, but it wasn't the point of the piece. The revenge is incidental. I mean, it could have been that Bluetooth was simply a victim of a freak subway door mishap while travelling to Coney Island to spy on people there.

/wc
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obviously ;) OK
janet
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revenge is a poor thing to trump, and my work is not about that, is all i'm saying. /wc
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yes, that's fine irfan :)
janet
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yes, that's fine irfan :)
janet
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doubly fine

the swivel chair experiment

hundreds of swivel chairs were arranged in grid at the outdoor festival. the grid was made of strong metal bars.

participants were instructed to enter any swivel chair available. once seated, helpers would come to blindfold them.

at this point, the participants were told to grab on to the nearest section of the grid, and push with all their might, in order to swivel the chair they were sitting on.

"Enjoy freely swiveling sensation while eyes closed," said the Japanese announcer.

The participants started to do as instructed. It was not a bad feeling, except for when, sometimes, when you reached to swivel some more in the metal grid, your hand might touch the hand of someone else who was also swiveling.

"This is planned part of experiment," said the announcer later, in an interview.

/wc
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is this a real experience? funny how we react to the touch of a stranger.
janet
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(hey, i felt that...?... - N)

a man

three. i have three cell phones. two are work related. then there is my personal cell.

on friday, just as i parked my car in the parking garage at the office my personal cell rang. i managed to shut the car engine off, get my purse open and grab the correct phone in time to read the call display. it was a name i didn't recognize. but something felt familiar.

i answered on the final ring, "Hello." as I expected, the person on the other end heard my voice, then hung up.

i felt annoyed. displaced annoyance; it was going to be a nasty day at work managing crisis communications around multiple protests and we were short staffed.

about 1/2 hour later at my desk, the personal cell phone rang again. i was not surprised. it was the same number according to the call display.

why did i expect to hear your voice? "Hello?"

"oh... hello?", a young man said with a perfect south asian inflection.

"yes?" i responded.

i listened into the receiver, deeply.

"i believe i must have the wrong number" he boldly proclaimed having gained courage.

i was delighted to hear such a lovely young man on the line

"yes, i think so" i replied. "i believe you are correct"

there was silence as we both strained to ..... what?

after several moments silence i hung up.

why do i wonder if it was you?
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because you have these touchy feely feelings and i discarded them years ago. nice try. /wc
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if you really want to watch a psycho movie about being in a carpark with a cellphone, you should rent P2.

/wc
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i hope that you don't misunderstand. i am not suggesting or indicating anything. i am writing and that is what i thought and felt displaced as it is. you are nothing but a voice here at this site. a fine creative voice. please do not make assumptions as to what my writing means.
janet
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...okay... that's my cue to leave. ya'll have a great night. talk to you later. - N
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i guess i was being anal.

i'm sorry you are being harassed, or perhaps, unfulfilled, by a man with a perfect south asian inflection.

*checks his accent*

yeah. i guess i don't have to be so paranoid. sorry, janet. /wc
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why would you go N?

why is there a double standard at this site where everyone else is permitted to write whatever they want but when i write creatively there are accusations and bitterness? come on, grow up. cut me the slack you cut each other. i am an artist too.
janet
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irfan, i don't know that i was being harassed. it was simply a recounting of an event. you folks need to relax.
janet
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janet - no no no - I wasn't saying anything about your writing girl! you are fine. but I too was jumping to conclusions there - i thought you were talking specifically to ...oh sorry, never mind ...but i do need to be going. it's 2:08 here - N
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just suddenly felt like i was listening in on a private convo, know? - N
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i know. my bad.

i don't know why that was her 'cue'. still, who knows about the mysteries of -N?

I suppose, the last line 'why do i wonder if it was you?' seemed a little open in our little space. but sure, without strange implications, it is innocent. please proceed with your recount, which i found quite readable.

/wc


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...upon reflection, you did say south asian, i'm a nut! but ...still, i need to sleep. k? *hugs all around* good night. - N
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why do you nuts need to sleep? it's only sunday /wc
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it's not sunday yet here and i am wired on coffee :) if you go, have sweet dreams N.

thank you both for lowering your paranoid quotients.
irfan, there is nothing more to recount; that's it.

janet
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well then. perhaps the next time this mysterious south asian calls, you should ask him his preference on the curry scale.

-5 = korma -> +5 = phaal

phaal: www.nypress.com/18/52/food/E&D2.cfm

you should do this even before he starts talking, which will astound the fellow, i guarantee.

/wc
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LOL - i must write that out and keep it at my desk :D lol
janet
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i will take leave now. ciao.
janet
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(btw - great article. i love this: if you can finish the phaal you are "inducted to the P’hall of Fame, where you are forever memorialized online as a “Curry Monster.”)
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you also get one (1) free beer. /wc

the army men who come out to play after -N sleeps

"Is the baby of the site still sleeping?" asked General Hotfozio, otherwise known to higher echelons as 'Hoz'.

"Yes, Hoz."

"Roll out the fucking submarines, then! What the fuck are you waiting for?"

The men started to build nuclear stations.

Hoz walked over to the technology consultant, a Mr. Hiroshema Naga. "Sup, Naga," said Hoz, "I thought I asked for submarines. What's this dallying with ground structures?"

Naga covered his face with his pollution mask. "We need the nuclear to build the submarines."

Hoz was aghast. "I thought this shit was instantaneous. What other options do we have?"

Naga shuffled his feet.

"Out with it man!" said Hoz.

"We only have the barbarians. But -"

"Well, fine, then. Bring them out. They can probably swim the Atlantic."

"But they are still trapped in the ziploc bag," said Hiroshema Naga sadly.

Hoz's brain exploded. There, the headless plastic general stood, in front of his consultant, incapable of issuing further order.

"This is a shitty end to the birth of the Nation," remarked Hiroshema Naga.

A private nearby shrugged. "Oh well. At least Jesse Helms died."

/wc
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"I thought this shit was instantaneous." you are killing me! too funny. - N
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the birth of a nation. lol

don't do the things you do. don't have to oblige you.

Everybody wants you to be or do something.

Or embrace some aspect of their lives
that has nothing to do with you.

Like, there was a guy I knew who wanted everyone to
'get' his obsession with office origami.
I did not indulge, claiming a gastrointestinal issue with
folded papers.

I was never invited to his bachelor party.
They went paint-ball shooting, apparently.

.

You can't even fake it.
You need to *really* join them.
I tried to attend this front-desk officer Mandy's kid's
sixth birthday party, once.

My brownbagged jim beam didn't go down well.
I swear, I didn't pull it out until they started to hit the piniata,
but still, somebody noticed, and alerted somebody.

"My god, I can hear the smell of your alcohol upon your chiming breath!" I remember Mandy screaming creatively as I was pushed out of the suburban home, realizing it was going to be very hard to call a cab in this area.

Somehow, I got home. The next lunar cycle, everybody got to go to Bill Schmaltgeizer's bar/t mitzvah, except me. Damn, I really wanted to see those twins come to age.

.

I tried to go to the young people's bars and clubs instead. You know, the places where kids from college hang out. The stint didn't last long, because I would always ask if we could burn some buildings down for kicks and giggles, and the new kids were all gen y and shit, and didn't see the profit in the business.

I would walk home completely drunk from those places, thinking, "Shit, shouldn't I have had a heart attack and died in that there puddle by now?"

When I came home, I'd smash the light bulbs with my shoes. I'd curse the man who left them on, wasting electricity in these difficult times. Then, grabbing a bottle of rum from the fridge, I'd head on to the computer section, and type in the screensaver password.

A new puzzle always awaited. Somehow, in some alternate reality, I would have set myself up with puzzles to solve when I got home.

My fingernails grew, as did my beard. When it became a hassle because the beard hair was tangling my fingers and screwing up the keyboard sensors, I shaved.

Everything was like new again. I could go back to do my thing.

/wc
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inspired by ( mp3shara.net.ru/uploads/posts/1192262000_hole_ask_for_it_1995_43003.jpg ) /wc

rapidly shrinking wallet of spendy

Ep. 1

Spendy had cute. No one else had the kind of cute Spendy had.

"Mommy," he would say, sucking on his pacifier, "I want boob now."

His mother would panic, shifting her eyes here and there for an opportunity to expose a breast. "Spendy, just wait a moment," said his mother, wheeling the carriage quickly.

Spendy was unable to comprehend the request. "BOOOB!" he cried out, in the middle of the shopping complex.

Spendy's mother stopped the carriage gently beside the fountain. She undid his safety belts, and then carefully lifted him up, to her bosom. Then she sat down and uncovered one of her breasts. Spendy grinned toothlessly, happily at the oncoming nipple.

As the mother was breastfeeding her child, a mall security man came over and started watching.

"Yes?" asked Spendy's mother. Suddenly, Spendy choked at the nipple, making gurgling sounds. He let loose of the nipple, revealing it to the security guard.

"What the fuck?" said Spendy's mom, dropping the baby to the cold mall floor, and standing up, buttoning her exposed mammary. She started to approach the mall guard, who began to back away nervously.

As Spendy's bruised head sent signals instructing him to cry, his mother started chasing the man down the aisle. When she reached the security guard, she quickly unsecured his grasp on floor by a tackle to the foot. Soon, his pants were undone, and the guard's underwear was shoved up his anus.

Spendy's mom stood up, breathing heavily. The guard beneath her moaned. From down the mall aisle, Spendy was crying. "Look what you've down now!" said his mother. She kicked the man's nose at full speed with the side of her heel, and then walked away, leaving his bloody mass bleeding through the nose onto the floor.

Finally, reaching Spendy, she fell onto the floor, poising her body almost artistically to feed the crying baby with her breast. Spendy's mouth latched on greedily to the amazing voluptuousness.

Nearby, sirens rang, coming closer.

/wc

rapidly shrinking wallet of spendy ep. 2

Officer O'Mally was holding Spendy close to one of his man-tits, but this proximity did not seem to sate the crying infant.

The mother looked bitterly at him from the back of the squad car. "The baby needs me," she said.

O'Mally didn't look back. "Ma'am, you charged with manslaughter at least - homicide at worst. What makes you think I'm going to give you the baby?"

Spendy crawled up O'Mally's shirt, and the aging officer supported him. The baby hung his face on the shoulder, and looked sadly back at his mother. The scene was like this, from then on to the end of the ride to the police station - a special bond between Spendy and his convict mother.

None of it to last, however. At the station, as his mother was being processed, many of the women officers paid attention to Spendy. He thrived in this kind of environment. His cuteness was made for it.

When they finally dragged his mother off to jail, Spendy didn't even notice, because he knew that Officer Del Tomate-Maduro was going to take good care of him. She kept showing him off to other officers, who Spendy secretly suspected of being impotent.

"Ha ha ha" laughed Spendy. "I am what you can never give birth to, Hemmingway!"

/wc


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these last several pieces you've writtten here, taken all together are so sad.
i think about Hemmingway a lot and his kind. and genetic engineering. like if potential parents could be given the choice to engender someone like Hemmingway - someone who would have great personal achievements in the midst of personal anguish - would any parent go there? no one would choose that kind of sadness for their kid. we'd have a world full of bean counters and doctors and lawyers. no artists. and that would be a tragedy.
anyway, I digress. your writing is fascinating. - N
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Please. The man took to maiming bulls because he could not reproduce.

There are many people who outclass Hemmingway, yet are also capable of producing issue. So, indeed, why would any of these Gattaca parents you consider even choose him?

/wc


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they wouldn't, that's my point. and his contributions to the world would have been lost.
i didn't know about the maiming bulls thing. what did he do exactly? i'm curious. I knew he elected to have shock treatment to try to relieve depression.
but anyway it's beside the point - people aren't perfect. and shouldn't have to be. - N
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"The man took to maiming bulls because he could not reproduce." - what are you talking about? - N

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He was in novieros (small time bullfights). It is in some circles considered that he was impelled to such activity due to his impotence.
Also, I'm sorry about spelling his name wrongly, with two 'm's instead of one. Oh well, there goes my claim to knowing the greats :)

/wc


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I wish amber would have been alive in his times. She could have told him to 'grow up'.

Plus that would eliminate her from my time space. /wc
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i knew he was interested in bullfighting. i didn't know he was impotent. I don't see how the two things correlate.
about the spelling - you know I am a stickler for that stuff, so don't let it happen again. - N
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there there poor baby....:) - N
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You figure out how it correlates, and I'll try not to let it happen again. /wc
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i try to embrace my excentricities, telling myself that i just better make good and damn sure i accomplish some big something. cause until you "harness the cosmic rays", you're just a nutjob lining up pigeons on your window seal (tesla). - N
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sill - N hahahaha
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...eccentricities...? and problems with spelling...- N
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ductionawy.com is yourrerrerererere-rerererereurerrer (shit i revealed myself) your friend.

there are even plugins for firefox. in fact, if you use the firefox browser (available at www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ ) instead of that shitty browser provided by microsoft, or steve job's sad 'Safari', the damn thing will actually underline words in textareas you type into in red, to alert you to any horrible spelling. there is really no more excuse.

(hemingway, sadly is not in the dictionary, as names usually would not be).

/wc
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also, did you know that that deaf guy edison believed in ghosts? /wc
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thanks for the spelling tip, amber,...uh...i mean /wc. - N
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about the ghosts - no I didn't. - N
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yeah - let's keep telling ourselves this stuff...i'm okay, you're okay...we are messed up in the head, but we are in good company. hahaha (seriously) - N
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the alert will warn us if anything horrible happens. they are, after all, switching the bulb to ... amber. :!) /wc
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hahaha - N

rapidly shrinking wallet of spendy ep. 3

When Spendy was eleven, he elected at his Reviewing at the orphanage to be sent to Iowa. He wanted to go there because an older boy had told him that the people there had never seen the same movies as the movies they showed here, in New York. Of course, he chose his new orphanage carefully. It would have to be a town with a cinema, which he found to be Dubuque.

He was sent to this small town, where everyone at the orphanage was, perhaps, a little bit kinder than at New York. Spendy lost no time in researching the cinematic enterprise of the town, and was led, eventually, to a Mr. Horace Boysworth. Spendy first approached the man as a pauper.

"Sir," said Spendy, putting on his best Oliver Twist voice, "I'd like to be in the movie business."

Boysworth, otherwise a reject from his heavily farming family, was happy to take the child in. Nobody else, except the general public, had embraced his love for cinema, but here was this small ripe boy. "You love the cinema, don't you, little Spendy?" asked Boysworth of the boy.

"I do sir. I love it with all my tiny little heart." Boysworth, there and then, gave Spendy the job of assitant. The vigour by which Spendy grasped the cinema business was astounding. In mere days, he could easily roll reels onto projectors and calculate the timing available to still keep selling popcorn to the public.

/wc

sunset at qwerty

when those vamps in the moon see us
you'd think they'd have the grace
to let us hold on to our chewy biscuits
and finish off the race.

don't like flavor of ginger
nor spearmint to be sure.
silver bullets for homeless folks
i can flick, honey, i assure.

yet another night with knights
their metal armor so cold.
also don't like the other blue gum flavor
whatever it is called.

also, i hate cinnamon flavored mints.
i hate smoking those djarums,
they slowly kill me.

.

sunsets at qwerty
are the last highest alphabet a human
could send at the demise of its species.

the hope is that the charred remains will be found by thinking beings,
who record in their annals that, "this species was trying to tell us

that it tried its best."

.

yeah, yeah. i know it's not very convincing. but that's what the guy in the subway told me to write.

/wc
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do you even ever ride the subways anymore, /wc?
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*snorts*. nah. i just teleport these days.

/wc

how to teleport

first you hire at least twenty people who look pretty much just like you.

don't be arrogant about your face. it is entirely possible, i assure you. you can find these people.

you do whatever it takes to get them under your control. you bribe, you threaten to expose them, you somehow let them know that they must come under your command.

once this is accomplished, you train your army of yous. you tell them how *you* would act under various circumstances. you erase whatever piffling history lies in their minds. all of them are now you. be creative. exalt them with your flair.

all of this is only for plan B, in case plan A does not work.

/wc
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what is plan A? :)
janet
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more expensive that slutty smilies, dear janet. /wc
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than. you see, the firefox thingy doesn't do grammar off the shelf. /wc
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"slutty"
;)
u r silly
janet
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gotta poke fun, always, even when choking. /wc

Firestarter

for /wc

Firestarter Mashup - Exactshit

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzS0U0TEz-E

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gets interesting about 1/2 way in.
-------
what does an *extreme* softcore porn video starring peter north and christine young have to do with me?

oh. shit. it's david byrne and some unnamed little girl.

why is it interesting about 1/2 way in? cos of the rap and shit?

i think there is an even more interesting part in the original firestarter video between 1:34 and 1:37.

watch for yourself, touche turtle. www.youtube.com/watch?v=28ow4TLMTqM

/wc
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(and no, don't hurt yourself. it was a cool video, and i enjoyed it). /wc
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i thought it got off to a slow start. and someone impatient like yourself, the middle is when the pace picks up and there's lots of explosions to excite a boy...
janet
-------
you did a good job. /wc

let's all gather around for hugs and kisses, and to watch a poor video by a family man probably trying to make his family children smile without being too hurtful

kids. i know you've seen it before. but not sitting down with us, your family.

please note the sort of exact cues and nuances this man explores in his attempt to provide mirth, probably to kids who didn't get a wii for christmas.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc17zmeMlSI

/wc
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he shouldn't be allowed to fondle stuffed toys and gargoyles. what a perv!

love it :)
janet
-------
do you think the woman's overvoice is, like, provided by his wife, who sees how lame her husband is, but still makes an effort to support him - for the children?

/wc
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lol. - N
-------
i would ask children's services to find me a new home ;)
janet
-------
the lyric parody was fun, lol
j

speeding up the bullshit between relationships

i find myself doing the same shit as before. nothing is that different. just more 'teachings' i should employ in future interactions.

an ex-girlfriend emailed out of the blue, saying she'd been listening to 'ghostland observatory', and i simply popped into her head.

what the fuck does that mean?

i asked her for her phone number (so that i could play the dimitri message into her voicemail).

/wc
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lol! show some mercy to her. i dreamt of an old boyfriend the other night and when i got my morning emails there he was. stuff like that happens all the time.

also, after the dimitri stuff here, i was told the next day by a suitor that my writing is "elegant" - that was weird!

janet
-------
he must truly see you for what you are. /wc
-------
do you mean that in a creepy way? now i don't know if he's to be trusted.
janet
-------
/wc is morphing into dimitri - N
-------
no. he is merely reabsorbing, like the t-1000 (since we're discussing schwarzenegger domain shit), a part of him that has fulfilled its purpose.

/wc
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that memetic poly-alloy is good for making sharp knives and stabbing weapons...- N
-------
yes. and simple tools like dimitri :) /wc
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yes - perfect. - N

my life is like a bloody episode of blackadder, except percy is trying to woo the queen, and baldrick found darwin's book about tortoises

"Time, Baldrick," says Edmund. "Please think - time is so important. It is how we synchronize our various daily rituals."

"So," replied Baldrick, trying very hard. "If I put a deenosporus with an egg, and bake over time, we get birds."

Edmund brought a skewer closer to his person from the fire. "Paleontology is not out subject today, Baldrick. Time, Baldrick. Calendars and watches, and ... and bloody Mayan knots - Time!"

Baldrick was making coo-cooing sounds.

Edmund slapped the man's face, and brought him back to the table. "There is no such person as Charles Darwin, Baldrick," said Edmund.

"Yes there is. I had tea with him after his child's funeral and all."

This was too much. "You had 'tea' with a Charles Darwin?" Baldrick nodded sheepishly. "In 1851 - more than three hundred bloody years from now? From now - you understand? From? Not since. From?"

Baldrick nodded nervously. "He had some pretty orchids," added the servant.

Edmund threw his hands up in despair. "Where the hell is that buffoon Percy?"

/wc
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they seem educated, but how would they 'know' about the future?
janet
-------
okay - i had to look up blackadder. watching you tubes now - hilarious! - N

Collision

rewrite

flesh and glass united
warmth creeps over crumpled steel
the pink membrane offers its keep
amid jaggged edges
I am opened
and all that is rushes in
fields
trees
houses and their distant mysteries
pass into me
I feel the highway's rhythm
see the rain for the first time
am aware of my body - mortality
and the moments are spread out
like a feast
am intricate and amazing dream

- N

-------
beautiful description of how we open/perceive in a crisis.

janet
-------
it is a great piece. /wc

Distinction

Atomicity and revision.
With automated metadata inscription.
Controlled explosions.
Letting all the ashes unto Collision.

It has always been asked, why I burn all bridges?
"Don't you want to see the remains again?"

Now all of that can stop - I'm sending it off into the Collision.
And in my true burning heart, I suppose
never again.

/wc

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cut to the quick. nice.

janet
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I love this. - N

irritating communication

some of the most profoundly irritating behavior one can experience is when attempting to communicate with others. admittedly, i am not the best communicator in the world, and i am guilty most often of not communicating, period, rather than communicating poorly. of the latter, here are some instances i've experienced which drive me up the wall. these commonly occur in relationships.

First Scenario:
Me: I've thought about Situation A and come up with a solution.
Other Person: oh really? i'm all ears!
Me: From my view we have options C, D and E.

I proceed to explain C, D and E in detail.

Other Person (interrupting halfway through): well, I don't think C will work because of X (where X equals some minutia that is peripheral to the situation and represents a mild threat that I have already considered and accounted for, and then discarded). also, D and E aren't really viable because of blah blah blah. so i don't like any of those solutions. *sits patiently with hands in lap*

Me: Well, these are the only options we have under the circumstances. I don't suppose you have thought of any.

Other Person: no, of course i haven't. but i certainly dislike all of the ones you have proposed.

Me: So what will we do now? Do you have any ideas?

Other Person: none whatsoever. I plan to entirely ignore Situation A until it gets out of hand!

Me: you would rather wait and be bowled over by Situation A than take action and implement an admittedly imperfect or undesirable (to you, anyway) option to address it?

Other Person: that is exactly what i will do. i am planning to do that starting now. let's pretend to discuss this later while i open up my laptop and pretend to do work.

Me: *sighs, proceeds to face Situation A alone, implementing best strategy at hand*

Other Person, later: *extremely excited or upset* what are you doing?

ME: I am dealing with Situation A.

Other person: ok, back up. i thought we agreed to put our heads in the sand! you aren't keeping your end of the bargain. what the hell am i supposed to do now?

ME: i am not comfortable with our heads in the sand, it exposes our asses. so I am employing X.

Other person: *blinking a few times as though seeing bright light* well, it looks like it's actually working. good job! i'm so glad we resolved this. keep up the good work! i was really starting to worry about Situation A. *puts headphones back on and continues watching internet porn*

Other person, at a dinner party: Yes, we resolved that terrible Situation A. my god, it was amazing! here is how we finally solved that problem...

Other guests at the party: Brilliant!

Me: if you need me i'll be over here by the ferns, getting terribly drunk..

Scenario 2

Me: I've thought about Situation A and come up with a solution.
Other Person: Situation? what situation?
Me: um, situation A. you know, the one that's looming. unable to be ignored.
Other person, genuinely mystified: there's a *situation*? oh my god, why didn't you tell me about it before?
Me: well, it's kind of obvious, so i thought you would notice it. i've actually delayed taking action because i kind of hoped you'd be the first to bring it up.
Other Person (offended) : you know i don't take initiatives!
Me: yes, but given the pressing nature of Situation A i had hoped you would actually view it as an emergency situation.
Other Person: well, i never take notice of my environment. i go through life blithely unaware of dangers. i have no concept of action and consequence. that part of my brain is broken.
Me: so i suppose you aren't going to help me deal with it.
Other Person: absolutely i'll help-- don't want you thinking i'm a bad guy. what did you have in mind?
Me: i had hoped you'd have also been thinking of a solution.
Other person: nah. i never think ahead. so what did you come up with?
Me: well, from my view, we have three options-- X, Y and Z.

I proceed to explain the three options in detail.

Other Person: well, those all sound good. which one do you want to go with?
Me: I was thinking option X.
Other Person, without missing a beat: no, let's go with Y.
Me: why?
Other Person: why what? let's go with Y.
Me: why?
Other person: why do you always argue with me?
Me: *sighs* forget it.
Other person: fine! be that way!

Several days later..

Me: hmm.. i see situation A is still looming. there may still be time to deal with it. i will begin implementing solution X.
Other Person: what are you doing?
Me: I am implementing X.
Other person: why?
Me: No, X.
Other person: no, i mean, y?
Me: no, I mean *X*. dammit, you are really starting to piss me off.
Other person: fine, be that way!
Me: if that's how it's going to be i'll just let you deal with Situation A on your own. i'm going to the bar.
Other person: i'm sorry honey, i'll deal with situation A. you go ahead and relax.
Me, genuinely surprised: thank you!

Several days pass..,.

Me: oh shit, it's Situation A!
Other person: oh yeah, situation A. well, i decided not to do anything about it after all.
Me: in god's name why?
Other person: because if i told you the truth you'd realize i don't really care about you or Situation A all that much and you'd be mad, then you'd walk out, and i really like to keep the semblance of a relationship with you because you always solve all the problems and keep things running smoothly around here.
Me: too stunned to speak
Other person continues: .. besides, other things such as internet porn, video games, watching sports on TV and drinking with my friends are more important to me than you, but i still like to keep you around while exerting minimal effort to do so. it's better for me that way.

Situation A, in singsongy voice: hey youse guys, i'm still heeeeeere...

amber
-------
both scenarios are maddening. can you extricate yourself from the "position" or are these broad metaphors? you are so smart that others may have no concept of your value to them. if i worked with you it would be an interesting dynamic. i would enjoy getting to know how you process and how we could work together in accomplishment. do you find it easier to work with other Ph.D.'s or generally, do the level of education not make much of a difference in that these two scenarios are pretty standard? lol.. lots of questions, but i'm curious and you threw it out there.
janet
-------
"does" the level of ...
-------
it makes no difference, really.. i've known a lot of highly educated stupid people. possessing knowledge and understanding of a concept(s) do not mean one can synthesize, use or integrate information in a productive, creative or intelligent way. on the other hand, my husband is one of the most intelligent and accomplished people in his field, and he grew bored with college and dropped out; he has a high school diploma. he is able to keep up with me mentally and while he is intrigued by academia, like so man others he simply does not learn effectively in a classroom.

in the case of this irritating experience, well, it is across the board although the Scenario 1 is more common in more highly educated types and Scenario 2 more common in people who do not have advanced degrees or pursued higher learning.

my only real desire is to add value. working with someone who can receive it and make full use of it is very fulfilling.

amber
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oops.. 'man' = many
-------
if you "ran the show" so to speak, what sort of thinkers would you surround yourself with? or do you prefer not to lead in a general management sense? several pieces you've written over the years indicate that you were actually being the leader but in a covert way due to not being the assigned director or lead.

janet
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"oh shit, it's Situation A!"
hahaha this is good stuff. - N
-------
Funny, and easy to relate.

The scenarios you present are quite (understandably for the purposes of your piece) simplified. For e.g. in each case Situation A seems to be a 'common' problem for both characters. There's not an introspection of the actual responsibility of either character (stakeholders) toward resolving the problem.

In a workplace or goal-oriented environment, this vagueness in responsibilities can directly be appropriated to obscene failure of higher management. The fact that these conversations are even occurring, allowing one person to amble along scot-free, and causing the other frustration, displays that these people have not been educated or instructed as stakeholders toward whatever end.

Furthermore, I think it outlines the value of a responsible project manager to facilitate problem solvers. At a certain point in my career a while back, I was actually faced with the decision of whether I wanted to continue to be a developer, or whether I wanted to shift into management (of other developers). I chose to be a developer, because that is what I love and do best, but making the choice highlighted for me the importance of the project manager role.

Problem solvers/creators (developers, scientists, etc) should be able to focus on their work without having to mediate responsibility and participate on pissing grounds with each other. A responsible project manager would provide that kind of mediation and keep each stakeholder in his/her team focused on their particular objectives.

All of this, of course, is in a workplace or goal-oriented environment - usually for-profit, but also an entirely usable (and indeed used successfully with non-profits).

It becomes more complicated outside of these. In scenarios such as relationships, impromptu activities (amateur bands, protest groups) and so on - that is, scenarios without the amenity to robust job specialization - members of the group must bootstrap themselves to get things done.

Here, the vagueness of responsibility toward Situation A can cause even greater havoc, and often, without the convenience of a mediator. Certain answers are available: In relationships, you can have counselors. In a band, group actions such as 'voting the arrogant lead guitarist out' can help the group at large.

When dealing with macro-scale problems - for example, when Situation A refers to the pollution and destruction of the natural earth - the usual answer (besides forming goal-oriented non-profit orgs) to the problem of responsibility lies in forming the kinds of organizational structures that will gradually weed out non-performers, or at least render them non-volatile to the higher goal, while keeping high-performers motivated through whatever rewards are most meaningful, be they a sense of accomplishment, a sense of altruistic pride, or otherwise.

/wc
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@ janet: i prefer to surround myself with thinkers who have different knowledge and complimentary strengths. i am very independent, however, and i don't like working with others one on one. i do not like being micromanaged but like monthly or weekly meetings with mentors (preferably several mentors) to discuss progress. in a group setting i do tend to lead mainly because everyone else is concerned first with social pecking order rather than activities and productivity. while they sort out the ranks, i get to work, and generally have a structure in place once they have decided who has the nicest shoes or is the smartest or wittiest or has the most money. i work best in environments with other people who are like me, but can be more outgoing or friendly, so that we can make nice with other groups who will help us; i prefer to be direct with people and i don't spend a lot of time around the water cooler gossipping, sharing and being 'nice'. i am not mean, just aloof and prefer to focus on work.

a person like this generally winds up leading from below the surface because they know infrastructure the best and how to manipulate it. while observing petty struggles from afar, one can discern how various group members respond socially and how they work best. if your goal is to maximize productivity, you can readily discern how they are motivated and how stable that motivation is. one of the strongest moves an underground leader makes is to get rid of people who are bad for the organization-- fomenting discord, not focusing on their work, incompetent or unproductive. the ways in which you get rid of these people of course depends on the situation and what that person is doing. it's also good to foster responsibility among group members and to take responsibility for doing things no one else wants to do. the tighter-knit, focused and more responsible group members are the more productive that group will be.

i rarely attend functions; i have a hard time with small talk and while i realize it is to some extent a political necessity i try to minimize it. on the other hand, i love being "on stage" giving presentations, sharing knowledge, teaching and mentoring people who truly want to learn. i dislike having to be assigned to someone or working one on one with someone. i dislike management in general. there is leadership, then there is management. each person should manage him or herself in the best scenario, and leadership should be provided by a person with vision who is occupied by promoting that vision rather than hounding people for data and holding pointless meetings.

i agree with /wc that problem solver/creative types should be left to focus on their work without having to engage in turf wars or be responsible for things. the role of a manager is the following: find the strengths and see where each individual adds value, define what that value is and how it will be obtained, provide all the necessary resources for the talented person to do their job and therefore add value, and then hands-off-- leave people alone unless they are doing poorly or not meeting deadlines.

i agree with the rest of what you said-- well-put.

amber
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" ... problem solver/creative types should be left to focus on their work without ... be[ing] responsible for things ... "

Just to clarify, it isn't that they don't have responsibilities. They are responsible for tasks/goals that are assigned to them. It is the *mediation* of responsibility - having to figure out amongst themselves what each persons' responsibilities are, that should be the task of a manager in a well distributed work environment.

In software development (as I'm sure in other areas) there are levels of expertise in problem solver/creative roles. Roughly, you have beginner, junior and senior developers. Senior developers do take on guidance and instructive responsibilities, but too often these are confused with project management, and senior developers often get stuck into this limbo where they're doing two jobs at once.

The kinds of things a senior dev would do is to impart their experience upon less mature developers, and guide them in matters actually related to software development. A lot of time senior developers have basically graduated from simply being 'programmers', to being 'software architects'. They plan and design solutions/software - and it is part of their responsibility to make sure that other developers are capable of following what is going on.

Personally, I enjoy this kind of interaction, where I am able to impart methods and teachings to less mature developers. One thing that I find works quite well, and can be quite enjoyable, is the practice of 'pair-programming', where two developers (often a senior and junior dev) sit down together and write or fix code. It is a great way to see directly how the junior dev. is tackling the problem, and to show them principles or techniques that will help them raise their own skills.

But this is a very different kind of guidance/help, because it is specific to items concerning the art of software development. Project management is a whole other area, and really has little to do with software dev. at all.

/wc
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i am a senior strategic advisor who also leads cross organizational teams. i flourish in both functions. however, i share a certain aloofness with amber. it's an odd combo :)
janet
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i realized that after i wrote that sentence. without the qualifier, it contradicts what i said. thanks for picking up on that and commenting, for clarity.

there's this push toward management in the corporate world. as though a junior developer is just the larval stage of upper management. almost an expectation that all are seeking to manage. my husband has his preferred niche and wants to stay where he excels while he invests his time and energies into developing other areas of his life. he is someone as you describe, who wishes to remain working in a highly skilled capacity in his environment, adding value in that manner, but without having to manage. i like the idea of mentorship, and working side by side to increase skills address a problem in software development is probably essential.

i know very little of project management or how it is integrated into corporate structure/hierarchies.

on another note.. there is always this expectation of leadership and management without one first asking the question of whether or not one should follow that path in the first place. tons of incompetent leaders, many lost folks looking for guidance, and a lot of chaos ensuing.

amber
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i agree, not everyone should "manage" in the official capacity, but indeed most do mentor or lead in some way due to each of us having individual talents and technical capabilities, etc. i know many people like your husband (i quit high school in grade 10 cuz i hated it; returned to college/university in my early 30's - never finished my degree, but keep on learning/educating myself) who get along well with his perspective. i don't have a degree but i am highly experienced and also an intelligent person who has a role to play.

i am really enjoying this tread :D thanks folks!

janet
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you certainly are :). the prevailing model for education and learning doesn't work for everyone. at the time he entered college my husband knew more than his professors about his area of interest and had access to better equipment than they did through his job; he once failed a homework assignment in one of his software development courses because he wrote the program using software his professor did not have access to and could not open the program. instead of praising his resourcefulness or at least enlisting his assistance in opening the damn program so he could evaluate it, the prof flat-out failed him. my husband soon became frustrated, lost interest and quit school shortly afterward to start his own company, and he has soared ever since. he does lament not getting a "classical education" but when he has spare time he reads technical manuals or michael crichton novels instead of the classics, lol.

if my field of interest did not require a Ph.D. in order for me to accomplish the same objectives i might have chosen a different path. i did struggle with it though. sometimes i only kept with it because it would have been a shame to break the commitment.

keep on learning!

amber


-------
i'm glad you persevered, amber. it's a ticket. sometimes there is no other practical way to achieve our goals than to go through the system. you are set to soar! i'm very happy for you and your husband :)

janet
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Come on, people, break it up! This is where I come to Escape the conferences! - N
-------
:) just kidding
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lol..

The Importance and Benefit of Prayer

I was standing in the shade that muggy Big Apple afternoon, a cigarette on my lips and the refactoring of a very kludgy interface into two distinct definitions on my mind, when a kindly looking older woman approached me.

This woman started talking to me. She big round glasses, and small woven basket within which I could see a stack of leaflets. "Do you think we can be saved, sir?" she asked.

"We?" I replied, a little befuddled.

"Us all. The humans. Do you think we can be saved?"

I have always been curious as to why these people approach me. There were many other people to choose from on the street, including guy sitting on the pavement in torn, paint-sprayed jeans, with metal rings on his nose. Was it because I was smoking? Perhaps in some seminar the lady had attended, they had told her that people who smoke are inherently weak of heart and mind, and can be good prospects for introduction to the Work. Perhaps it is because I am Indian, and there is some deep-seated belief that the heathen must be converted.

In any case, having studied her face for a few moments, I took a drag of my cigarette, and nodded. "Yes," I said, "yes, I think we can."

She was very pleased. "How do you think we will be saved?" she asked.

"By God, of course. By the Almighty. He will save us."

This excited her even further. She started again, "Yes! Yes! Well, you see, I am from the Order of -"

"I'm sorry to cut you off, ma'am," I interrupted, putting on my most empathizing face, "but I was actually in the middle of a small prayer when you came up to me, and should very much like to finish it."

"Oooh ..."

"Yes. My friend has taken ill in hospital, and I am trying to spend every free minute I can get to ask the Lord for her quick healing."

"Aah, I'll leave you to it, then. God bless you, and may God bless your poor friend".

I raised my hand in farewell as she walked off, my smile ever so sad, my brows knit with the sorrow - the painful, horrid sorrow - of having to have cut short my encounter with the sweet old thing.

/wc

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*grin* good one!

have you ever taken on the JW's? [Jehovah's Witnesses]

i'd love to hear about that match ;)
janet
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greetings from the bible belt! this is priceless.

maybe you could help me come up with a tactful response to a frequent question i get - "where do you go to church?" once i jokingly said, 'i don't go to church, i'm a heathen'. it was not considered funny.

anything that would keep me from getting stoned to death on my front porch would be helpful. - N
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this is fucking brilliant! i wish i would've thought of it. $40/pop X god knows how many rabid christians = nice vacation for amber !

www.youvebeenleftbehind.com/index.html

LOL!

amber
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"messages sent 6 days after the rapture"!!!!! i can't believe this! (those people are definitely going to burn in hell!):)- N
-------
Lawdy!!! Dis be a Goldmine unto my Bank Account!!! Praise da Internet!!!

REV AL
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Amber...am I correct in assuming that you erase my comment to wc/...? I think it is a good point and it was a good point. wc/...I made a comment to the effect that I think you could have carried it on a bit by having the ploy backfire on the main character...after all...not unlike amber... old ladies can be crafty...ask her husband, I am sure he will agree. If you would like to read the real comment...it's in completed poems...I'm sorry man, but the original was stolen by none other than that thief Amber....who painted a fake and put it on display, leaving the original to moulder in the dark. Still, I, as always, very much enjoyed the piece...I just saw a facet unchiseled on the diamond...that's all. Amber, I would request, now and in the future if you wanna fight about it that we start our own poem so that this lovely piece doesn't get dirty...even if it's a fake.
-------
If your original point was that I should have prolonged the interaction w/ the lady, I'm not sure it would have benefited the piece much more. I could have squeezed in more smartass jabs, etc. for sure, but no point, really. Writing is about knowing when to stop as much as it is to write, I'm sure you've heard.

As far as the repositioning of the poem sans your comment - well, I don't approve of that act, even though your post was a messed up. Cos you know, sometimes people have bad days (I say that in the same tone 'Dimitri' uses when he says ' ... you know, cos sometimes people leave early from work ...' :)

But I'm not sure how you would know that it was Amber who did it. Do you have some kind of special antennae that get a feel for these things? In any case, your commentary stands at a lower point of merit because you have not signed your name - thus I am more compelled to believe that it is you who is doing something dodgy. Come on, just tag your name to the end of your comments - it's not that hard.

/wc
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excuse me? i don't talk to people who communicate in run-on sentences and make wild accusations. quit starting problems.

i second /wc's comment that writing is about knowing when to stop. perhaps you should take his advice.

in the future, please refrain from addressing me at all, since you have been trolling me for a long time now and i'm tired of dealing with you. you followed me from General 1 into this salon for whatever reason, and you never write poetry, but only make inane remarks that generally target me. i am not interested in receiving your comments or attentions. thus far they do not serve any purpose and do not seem to be accomplishing their objectives.

for the last time, stop targeting me.

amber
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we can file disruption reports and have the person banned. i would hate to see this salon slide back to the poverty of the past.

janet
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as long as people (by people I mean James) stop with the continuous harassment, i will not make any such report. it is only when it gets out of hand and i am targeted wherever this individual happens to see my name that i have made reports in the past. i would have thought that given the sexist/racist remarks James has made in the past that he would have been banned already. ann is a lot more tolerant than i am. this is entirely ridiculous.

if he simply leaves me out of whatever his problem du jour happens to be, we'll be fine.

amber
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I am sorry for not signing my name wc/ James

Let me finish, please ... let me finish ....

www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-cohen/bushs-banned-interview-an_b_111804.html

(video at bottom of article).

/wc
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yeah i saw this video quite awhile back. he is one arrogant s.o.b., but at least he was able to school that poor ignorant woman on the correct way to conduct an interview. - N
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(kidding of course)

Where Do You Go to Church?

Materials needed:

1) Have prepared, at all times at home, tape of baby or toddler crying, rewound and placed in a cheap boombox or other stereo device. MP3s are ok also.

2) Chocolate, in somewhat melted state.

---------
Where Do You Go to Church ?
---------

I was almost at level 8-2 of Ninja Gaiden, when there was a ring at the door. It broke the whole fucking scene. All the concentration, focus, and my intuition built had been messed up. I cursed, pausing the game, and got up, throwing the controller to floor, then praying to god that I hadn't wrecked it.

When I opened the door, I found a small group of people standing in the afternoon sun in what, for these backwaters, one may call their 'Sunday best'. I recognized Mrs. Gretchen because of those horrible varicose veins, but the others were just the common village fluff. I hoped to god that nobody would recognize me.

"Do you hope to God?" said one of them suddenly, startling me.

I nodded quickly. "I do. I do hope to god. Very much so."

This monstrosity surveyed me, clad in my plain skirt and sports bra. I could tell that it disapproved, because the bunned up hair on its head seemed erect and prepared to attack, like some river punk on a night gone horribly wrong. It had a small mole and the left eyebrow was bushier than the right.

"Where," said the creature, raising it's left eyebrow, "do you go to church, young lady?"

The spreading legs of a million butterflies twitched. The hairs on my arms stood, and I knew this was the moment I had been waiting for. I leaned on the frame of the door, and nodding my head casually to the left, said "Over there. In those woods."

There was confusion in the group. They started querying with each other, some of the heads shaking negatively, other pretentiously nodding wisely. Finally the creature turned back to me. "A church in the woods?"

I nodded matter-of-factedly. "Yeah yeah yeah. Old Mr. LaVey's church. Up there in the woods."

There were gasps in the crowd. "You go to this church in the woods?" said the creature, with big, round eyes.
"All my life," I said. My parents took me." At this point I asked, extremely politely, with saccharine on my lips, that I just needed to go in for a bit and check up on some things.

The baby had started crying. I needed to check up on it.

When I returned, my hair was in disarray. My clothes were soiled in brown filth, only to be marred and perverted on my face by streams of tears. I sobbed. "Sorry. The baby ... it's very demanding."

The crowd started to step away - away from my soiled self and the demonic wails of the crying child. "Is it yours?" asked the creature, recoiling.

I nodded. "My fifth, actually. Started when I was twelve."

They all ran away.

/wc (didn't have so much time to spend on this, but you get the general idea. also, anon, i removed the previous post with this title, because your comment came before i had finished my work. hope you understand.)


-------
hahaha interesting idea! - N
i feel bad poking fun. really, if this were to happen these people would probably offer to help. condemn, yes, but also offer help. similiar scenes have happened several times (sans the demonic baby crying etc. of course) when i moved to where i now live, last october, i think every church in town extended an invitation. i caught myself lying saying i went to my sister's church (2 and 1/2 hours away) untill it occurred that i was probably going to burn in the fiery caldrons of hell for it. haha - N
-------
for posterity, let me say that it is not the notion of God that i reject, just organized religion. - N
-------
you just made fake ears out of mushed up pasta, and send them in reply. /wc
-------
made = make. /wc
-------
for God - no hard feelings, right? (i hope that this won't prevent you from granting that request i put in regarding the tennessee lottery...) - N
-------
well, i do reject the notion of 'God'. but i do this stuff simply mess with 'his' silly little 'envoys'. /wc
-------
i had commented on the other entry as it was being closed out, i guess... the problem around here is that your participation in church impacts seemingly unrelated things like work. i regularly get those crazy e-mails from my boss insisting that i forward these religious e-mails to a bunch of other people and back to her. i never do it but i wonder... - N
-------
my notion of God is very vague. i thought this guy came kinda close to how i think about it when he said this - "I believe that the universe is one being, all its parts are different expressions of the same energy, and they are all in communication with each other, therefore parts of one organic whole. (This is physics, I believe, as well as religion.) The parts change and pass, or die, people and races and rocks and stars; none of them seems to me important it itself, but only the whole. The whole is in all its parts so beautiful, and is felt by me to be so intensely in earnest, that I am compelled to love it, and to think of it as divine." -robinson jeffers (via N)
-------
:) "it is too late for the pebbles to vote" (kosh, babylon 5).

why don't you just filter her emails to trash?

when she asks why you didn't get the message about attending the (work related) important meeting, just say that, 'oh, i think i missed it between the calls to send the other messages to god'.

/wc
-------
i'm just afraid her response might have something to do with me resigning..."get your Jesus ticket punched and up to date or get the hell out" like it's part of the job requirements - N
-------
would you really want to work in a place where your boss was that? /wc

Beijing wants dogs off menu during Olympics

www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ed9ea0a-4e8c-11dd-ba7c-000077b07658,dwp_uuid=9c33700c-4c86-11da-89df-0000779e2340.html?nclick_check=1

----------
Cowardly sniveling cultural back-treaders!

Wtf?

It is this kind of bullshit pandering that will homogenize us.

Now I can't have my fifi-filet flambe. I'm cancelling my tickets. This is crap.

/wc
-------
back-treaders = flip-floppers /wc
-------
yeah...i have to say i would be offended by dog on the menu...- N
-------
yes, but why should an entire culture have to bow its head simply to satisfy the likes of you?

it's like if some prince from saudi arabia came to michigan and the local government asked women to wear hijabs. /wc
-------
i got your point in the first place, and i didn't say i would demand them to remove it, i merely said it would offend me. i didn't say that my offense was "right" in some universal way.
but if i was in charge over there and there were potential customers coming whom i knew would be offended by certain things i would be thinking of how to maximize profit...- N
-------
"why should an entire culture have to bow its head simply to satisfy the likes of you?" - ...and because I am special. :)- N
-------
they're there. they're not going anywhere else.

it's not like they've packed some nutri-bars 'just in case there's only st. bernard left' for meals.

they will eat (chicken, or beef, and other such lesser meats) when their stomaches complain, despite dogs being roasted.

so why so cowardly?

/wc
-------
i find it extremely cowardly. i don't want to live in a world where some little guy in some godforsaken alley in china is unable to sell his common (and family tradition) roasted dog meat just of because some pompous assholes are coming to town.

/wc
-------
maybe they are just rethinking their position on it - how much can they really believe in their current practices if they are concerned that continuing to do them will go against "presenting their best face".

i guess we will have to see how the local restaurants and hotels respond.

to use your example, if my local government asked women to wear hijabs, i'd be going around half naked just to make a point. - N
-------
you say this easily, but if it did happen, in reality, with all of the socio-political overlay, i seriously doubt it. /wc
-------
i mean - you can't even overcome your christo-psychotic boss. /wc
-------
...then again, i am a vegetarian. so i am not jumping up and down about the serving of meat in general...however, i'm not protesting it either... - N
-------
i said i neither forward these e-mails, nor go to church, how exactly would you have me "overcome"? shall i stroll over to her office and explain in no uncertain terms that i feel Jesus Christ was an extraordinary man born from a woman who wasn't a virgin??? and what would be the point of that? - N
-------
no. you just leave the job. /wc
-------
i mean, there are other ways, but it does not seem you have stomach for those.

so, why not just leave the job? is it that frightening of a prospect? /wc
-------
...okay...i guess it has to do with degrees of being offended and admittedly comfort level. i am not "offended" by her faith, annoyed, but not offended. i would be offended if someone implied that i needed to cover my face.
and probably people would back me up on the hijab thing, but i would be standing alone challenging her sharing her religious enthusiasm. other people show they like what she is doing. - N
-------
and people who have been eating dogs for hundreds (thousands) of years don't share this form of sentiment?

/wc
-------
my God you are burning a confession out of me - i Do need to leave the job.
but i am too attached to my material possessions to burn bridges when i do it. - N
-------
www.experienceproject.com/uw.php?e=1779

/wc
-------
back to my original point - WHY are they considering that they are not putting "their best face forward"? the fact that people do things traditionally for many years is not good enough reason to continue.

consider slave trade. oppression of women by many countries.

maybe it is not just a westerner ass kissing party as much as a re-thinking in general.

but, like i said, i'm coming at this from the perspective of a vegetarian - who's really thinking that eventually people won't eat meat at all any more...centuries from now... - N
-------
that experienceproject link is pretty funny. - N
-------
so then why not just rewrite the constitution?

this is not about some oppressed human body being flayed off its rights. can't walk up Tiananmen Square and say you love puppies.

if you're such a vegetarian, show us your ninjavegetarian skills!

/wc
-------
i'm just proposing the possibility that there might be something larger, than the desire to pander to westerners, at work in the minds of those in beijing who are calling for this removal of dog meat... - N

"this is not about some oppressed human body being flayed off its rights" - no just oppressed dogs! stupid animals, right?
-------
mrs. cumbersome's poodle is not very sharp, no. /wc
-------
perhaps the eating of dogs is but a faulty meme that has run it's course. - N
-------
i don't like poodles but i would be offended if you ate one. hahaha - N
-------
or perhaps not. your conjecture has neither substance nor stature. /wc
-------
why is Anything 'right' or 'wrong'? substance and stature are relative things. 'you' have opinions 'i' have opinions (as do westerners and easterners), the one who is 'right' is the one who convinces the most people. that's the way it goes. life isn't fair. - N
-------
you don't have opinions. only memorizations. /wc
-------
and by the way, i highly doubt you'd have the guts to look the little old church ladies in the eye and say, "i don't believe in God". - N
-------
you don't have opinions, just chips on your shoulders...nah i don't mean that. but watch your mouth. - N
-------
i doubt your ability to read my mind - N
-------
maybe you should spend your whole little life becoming a church lady, then come over and test your theory.

;) /wc

-------
(won't be veering far off from course) /wc
-------
i do think your ability to produce cogent arguments is obstructed by your underlying resentments - N
-------
you have not said anything that demonstrates your capacity for thought. /wc
-------
yes.
i have. - N
-------
the culmination of your 'argument' was to suggest i become the church lady. are you thinking you impress? - N
-------
oh, that wasn't the 'culmination'. and it may be best for you. and i do. /wc
-------
i think the best thing for you riht now is to go eat a dog. - N
-------
spice:

"oh, that wasn't the 'culmination'".

though i can see why someone from a village like yours may think so.

(glee) /wc
-------
dog eater - N
-------
i just had seafood. maybe for breakfast. /wc
-------
you probably ate dolphin - N
-------
hahahaha - N

-------
the shit they sell in tins is mostly tuna. i have to poke around to find real dolphin meat. /wc
-------
and monkey...? -N
-------
(kind of like how talking to you is to finding intelligence) 'hahahaha' /wc

(hahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)
-------
looks defensive. what about monkeys? i like monkeys. /wc
-------
you wouldn't recognize intelligence if it ninjavegetarianed it's foot off in your ass - I am about to exorcise your demons!!!! - N
-------
Whaaa hahahahahaaaaaaaa! - N
-------
1) Proceed

/wc
-------
KaBLOooooUEY!!!!! to the moon! - N
-------
1)

my brain is missing words

i'm noticing
that what i think
slyly comes out garbled.

not mangled. or twisted.
but little pieces, cunning joiners
are eluding me, and i'm typing unlinked structures.

it's annoying.

/wc


-------
welcome to the club, baby. - N

come on, teme. work harder ...

memes and temes
www.ted.com/index.php/talks/susan_blackmore_on_memes_and_temes.html

/wc

linkman

linkman

has ipswitch clams and
new england clam chowder
for delicious munchings

but he cannot stop linking,
so i, the greedier infestation

sell his meat as shark fin soup.

/wc
-------
*so i can relinquish the shell, and go on eating* /wc

temperature aperture science portal stickman

don't be such a dick, man
dispense with the shitman
conscience and quagmires
afterlife of a live wire.

wanting to be stated
instead of mating
concepts --

-- ting spacecraft mission drink.
dang powder.
sweet on
skin.

nam ,kcid a hcus eb t'nod
namtihs eht htiw esnepsid
serimguaq dan ecneicsnoc
eriw evil a fo efilretfa

/wc

ebert

sometimes i just end up watching the opening credits
of movies,
then turn it off.

i already know what a waste of time it will be. just by the credits.

then, i like to go on netflix
and rate the movies.
based just on the credits.

/wc
-------
(you write the review as though you watched the whole movie. nobody knows it's just about the credits except you). /wc
-------
there was a spelling mistake in the title. it's actually e-bert.

/wc
-------
do you really do this?? of course, no one would know ;)

janet

e-bert reviews schindler's list

At first I didn't know why anybody would want to make this movie, let alone watch it.

All of the characters are very dull, very staid Arial types. It's all black and white, no technicolor, which the director probably thought accentuates the lifeless zombie-like personas of people who used to live in the 1940s.

There is no pacing to the movie, to evoke any higher emotion or sense of empathy. They didn't do any of the cool effects like in Spiderman 3, where the web is weaving through the plotholes of Peter Parker's life. I used my timer to calculate each event, and initially found that the gaffer had no real system in his lighting. Some of the characters seem to be very dull at the top, as though a cheap bulb was being shone from below.

It was only after my 19th time viewing the movie in 2 days that I realized that Spielberg had hidden subliminal messages in the background. You actually can't see it under normal conditions, but I was wearing some gamma specs to read my Transformers BioCards, and just happened to turn, and caught a picture of Hitler wearing a bikini on the screen.

This was a revelation in movie-making! I threw of my specs (and Transformers) and ran to my remote control.

If you fiddle around with the brightness and contrast during the movie, you'll find lots of exciting things happening amongst the dreary names of people. Goebbels sitting down and eating Kellogs' Frosty Flakes is one. There is also, at maximum luminosity, a picture of Aribert Heim sitting in an E.T. like pose, sadly touching the finger of a small child.

These, and the many other subliminal messages in the movie force me to change my score of what I thought was simply a typographic farce into an A+.

e-bert
-------
lol... clever
janet

The Chip on the Shoulder

We had been arguing about the proper color for supermarket trolleys, when Pocky accused me of having a chip on my shoulder regarding the issue.

I was flabbergasted. I looked around worriedly, but could see nothing, so I turned back to Pocky and asked "Which Chip?"

Pocky stared back with a scornful kind of sympathy. "Whatever are you talking about?"

"Which Chip? I mean - there's Erik Estrada, and the other guy that nobody remembers the name of. Which Chip is it?"

Pocky went off to bed, then.

/wc
-------
'No, (whispering) I'm asking you - again - to please stop eating the food before we check out...it's embarrassing..and you're making a mess. You've got a chip on your shoulder,' said Pocky.
-------
- N
-------
'...but if you must know, it looks like one of the Ming Tsai Blue Ginger Hawaiian Sea Salt Potato Chips. But you've got so many different bags open, there's no telling...' - N
-------
(note to self - drink more coffee. i hate it when i fall asleep on the refrigerated fish) - N
-------
fall asleep on the fish ????
LOL
-------
)()))*)

Business and lies

It has come to my attention that the world has suddenly increased in the amount of liars. Since I started my landscaping business yesterday....every person I have talked to so far has told lies....lies....and more lies.
-------
i need some landscaping done. in my chelsea studio. /wc
-------
Wc/....it would more than please me to do wonders with your yard...but unfortunately, I live in Canada man. Of course, if you mean up north by the chelsea river/ hudson oil sands project... I will be hunting moose there in the fall.

the very short story of brody

Brody was the kind of kid that would drive his parents insane by always asking "Why?" For example, in third grade, he was fiddling with the air-conditioner vents in the car as his mother drove through some arid savanna near, well, Savannah, and his mother yelled at him to stop doing it.

"But why?" asked Brody.

His story really climaxes during age 11, when he had started to read Dostoevsky. Embracing the culture, Brody would now intersperse his inquiries with a new accent.

"Don't you take the money from the top shelf to go buy comic books, Brody," his father would warn.

"But vy?"

That is really the end of Brody's story, as nothing further of consequence happened in his life, up to the point when, at the ripe old age of 68, he was murdered deep in a Myanmar jungle by his guide.

/wc
-------
always good to come home to

the brief terror that overcame larry the lamb

it is too hot these days to write long flowing things with the usual buttonage, so i am conserving energy by writing small pieces.
------------

On July 11th, Larry was abducted quietly in the early morning from his brethren and taken by the Devil's hands to a far away shed.

There, despite his yelling and bleating, he was held firmly in place while another demon came to comb his hair with a noisy, vibrating brush. Being unable to move, and alarmed by the humming, buzzing instrument against his body, Larry fainted.

They found him sometime later, still out cold and lying on his side, further up in the grazing fields. He was shivering, his poor naked body exposed to the cool summer evening air.

Some say it wasn't the Devil that took Larry, but alien sheep from other planets. Others live in terror of the deranged eleven thumbed human who would abscond with innocent young lambs and take advantage of them in isolated sheds, gleaning their wool for his perverted ends before tossing them off like broken heels into the open.

But perhaps the most twisted tale is the one that claims that the pillows in the barn - the ones that they rest upon by night - are filled with the wool of long dead sheep from decades past. Young lambs shiver when this tale is told, and even mighty rams are known to laugh nervously, trying to convince each other it is simply an old ewe's tale.

/wc
-------
always good to come home to

what do people Look like?

okay. i know that is a crazy question. but seriously, i'm writing this scifi piece (i'll enter the next part of it here later tonight)- the one i started called The Number. and i want a segment in it to deal with genetic manipulation. in this future the whole of mankind look more similiar to each other than we do at present - kinda like we're all closer to being the same "race" in the future. i thought it would be neat to have geneticists "pulling from the archives" producing commemorative edition humans with phenotypical traits of the past - of specific regions and eras. all of them very different and equally nifty. i wanted to imply they made several dif types of people like this and i was going to list three or so examples. it's a very small part of the story that i thought would be simple to mention. not so. i realized i don't really know definitively which characteristics i should assign. i looked extensively on the internet for phenotypical traits - traits of races. i got nothing. the message i kept getting was that race doesn't really exist, which is great, i guess. but not for the purposes of my story. it's like to say that people look different is anathema. the only thing i could find was on nordic people. i just need 2 or 3 other examples. anyone have any thoughts on this or ideas of what i should search under? - N

-------
"phenotypical traits of the past - of specific regions and eras"

here are a few traits that might be suitable and could conceivably (in the context of a science fiction novel) be genetically mapped.

- the retention of the epicanthic fold in asian populations (due to flatter nasal bridge--another trait)
- morphology of the outer eye in general, which is often a distinguishing feature among ethnic groups
- the thick brow ridge and large jaw of early humans (neanderthal)
- red hair (already mapped)
- albinism (already mapped)
- pigmentation and melanocyte distribution giving rise to black or brown-toned skin
- hirsutism
- blood type (already mapped)-- while not an obvious phenotype, perhaps you could make it so by attaching associated metabolic features, such as lactose intolerance or high stomach acid content which would predispose one blood type toward vegetarianism and another toward eating meat
- dwarfism/pygmies (already mapped)
- any number of genetic abnormalities such as down's syndrome and fragile X syndrome
- autism (maybe the genes of the future?)

just a few ideas. you may want to try looking at a few textbooks on physical anthropology and human genetics.

amber
-------
"phenotypical traits of the past - of specific regions and eras"

here are a few traits that might be suitable and could conceivably (in the context of a science fiction novel) be genetically mapped.

- the retention of the epicanthic fold in asian populations (due to flatter nasal bridge--another trait)
- morphology of the outer eye in general, which is often a distinguishing feature among ethnic groups
- the thick brow ridge and large jaw of early humans (neanderthal)
- red hair (already mapped)
- albinism (already mapped)
- pigmentation and melanocyte distribution giving rise to black or brown-toned skin
- hirsutism
- blood type (already mapped)-- while not an obvious phenotype, perhaps you could make it so by attaching associated metabolic features, such as lactose intolerance or high stomach acid content which would predispose one blood type toward vegetarianism and another toward eating meat
- dwarfism/pygmies (already mapped)
- any number of genetic abnormalities such as down's syndrome and fragile X syndrome
- autism (maybe the genes of the future?)

just a few ideas. you may want to try looking at a few textbooks on physical anthropology and human genetics.

amber
-------
oops.. sorry for twice-posting
-------
thanks! this is great stuff. i should have refreshed the screen sooner, i have been on line looking for HOURS to find ethnic traits. you wouldn't think it would be that hard. but i found it nearly impossible. most of what i found either danced around the differences (actually there is no dif between up and down; red, yellow, blue and green are all the same color; and the oceans are made of pudding; etc. - like a jedi mind trick) or were biased in some negative way that wasn't helpful to me. what i eventually found was: (these are posible traits)

cherokee indian - high cheek bones; aquiline nose; reddish-brown skin tone; course, dark hair

sudanese - deep bluish black skin; thin, long limbs; curly, black hair; full lips and nose

scandinavian - fair complexion, blue eyes and blonde hair

Now that you have given me all these other ideas - i love the pygmy posibilities, and i wanted to use red-hair but didn't know "who" to attach it to (also i don't know if red hair is dom or res) and even if i don't use hirsutism, someone definitely should! - i'm compelled to keep going. but it is a very small part in this story. i'll have to write another one devoted more to this stuff.

you've got a lot of interesting info stuffed in there - hours of discussions worth. (i listened to that autism podcast someone posted a while back - it was thought provoking. and i have heard of the idea of making dietary decisions based on blood type - never read up on it - keep meaning to.) anyway, thanks so much for the info. - Nangaleema
-------
O man, I read this book around christmas about gene mapping and the foibles of patenting genes. It was rather startling...maybe if I could remember the title you might be able to check out the author's sources....
-------
N, a suggestion--if you are trying to link obvious phenotypes to a few genes or gene clusters, choosing one or two specific traits that are, in the present age, very closely linked with phenotype, makes for a more believeable read. at the moment, physical appearance is governed by a vast number of genes and is heavily influenced by not only the presence, absence and variability of those genes but also the condition of the protein(s) they encode. if the gene is not expressed or not properly expressed due to errors in protein translation, one may have the correct genotype but not the associated phenotype. in addition, environmental factors such as diet and the presence of environmental toxins influence protein expression levels and whether the proteins form correctly. FYI-- red hair is mapped to chromosome 16 and is more prevalent in northern european populations. here's some info: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_hair

the blood type link to metabolism is way out there-- intriguing enough to be good fiction. there is a vast following devoted to the 'blood type diet' for which no real data exists to substantiate it on a scientific basis. apparently, people with blood types O, B and A need to follow specific diets due to the expression of various genes that influence their metabolism of certain proteins. google "blood type diet" to read up on it.

some tips for your search-- enter the phrase "genetics of (trait you are interested in)" or "genes responsible for (trait)" into google for more specific results.

amber
-------
you are a Gold Mine! unfortunately i have to admit that i didn't really understand for sure what you said. (it is ironic that i am so interested in trying to write science fiction, when i have so little knowledge of science! hahaha) especially the first part - were you telling me that it looks like i may be heading in the wrong direction or no?

also the more reading that i do, the more i question whether the word "phenotypical" was even the word i should have used...? it's comical, as i write this thing, i am having to look up something every few minutes. really i have neither the words nor the knowledge to create the world i want this story to take place in. when i bust out and put the next part on here, i hope you will read it and tell me which parts are making no sense.
thanks for all the info. i'm loving this stuff! - N
-------
might i suggest taking a few days to do some research before jumping into writing. you can certainly write your story however you want, and if the part you are writing is small it may not make a big difference how detailed you get. the word you want is "phenotype" (n), or "phenotypic" (adj).

amber

Opportunity for travel

Yes! I have decided to open up my travels to the general public of Ann's world. Anyone who wishes to go to eastern europe with me may do so with 2 months free accomodation, cheap booze and cigerettes and great food....and you will also have the pleasure of being in a society that puts a higher emphasis on physical appearance and fitness..ahem ahem.
In the interest of your personal safety, please remember that it's a jungle out there...anyone who wishes to have further details may contact me at dzejms649@rock.com It's a winter gig people. As an added bonus, I may also have an apartment in beijing for a month. tata for now...James

The Number (continued)

Two weeks earlier.


Safeer was in a heap in a darkened corner of his room in a self inflicted trance when he became aware of a call coming in from Steve. He quickly gathered himself, shook off his melancholy as best he could, raised the ambient light of his room and mentally allowed the call to come through.

“Damn, Safeer! This place is a mess,” Steve said as he appeared, mockingly stepping forward over things in Safeer’s floor. The contents of Steve’s room spilled into Safeer’s, shifting into view like a dream becoming solid, merging with reality.

“Everybody’s over here to celebrate Anna’s ‘Selection’. Aren’t you coming?”

Safeer could see Anna in the middle of a crowd, behind Steve. Her white skin and corn silk hair glowing, he thought, almost angelically.

He felt physically ill.

“Yes, I’ll be right there. I was just about to leave,” he said, closing the call abruptly.

---------------------------------------

At the party, Steve shouted acknowledgement from across the room, “Safeer!”

“In the flesh,” Safeer replied flatly.

“Good of you to grace us with your ‘physical’ presence. This MUST be a special occasion,” he chided, approaching. But as he came nearer, a look of confusion and concern came over his face.

“Hey, buddy, are you…ready to party?” he said haltingly. He had almost asked Safeer if he was “okay,” but despite Safeer’s bizarrely disheveled appearance, Steve stopped himself. He had questioned Safeer’s wellbeing on numerous occasions lately, and it had become a point of contempt.

The two young men had been friends for half a century, but ever since what was whisperingly referred to as “the incident,” Safeer had been different. Among other things, he started increasingly attending work virtually. That is acceptable, when it is absolutely necessary. After all, there is very little one can accomplish physically that one can’t accomplish virtually. There is no visual or sensory difference, but everyone can usually tell, neurally, that you are not “really” there. It’s considered rude, when one is in the vicinity, not to make the effort to be there in person. The higher ups had started to take offense. Steve didn’t like the way it reflected on the team. At their latest presentation on ___________(* something about infusing embryos with computer technology - I haven't decided what to call it yet...?? - N*),a few days ago, Safeer had had the audacity to show up virtually AND late and covered in a thin layer of moisture to boot.

“Is that…sweat? asked Steve, stupefied.

“It’s hot… here,” said Steve.

“Where ARE you?”

Safeer didn’t answer.

After the presentation, Steve confronted him.

“I can’t BELIEVE you! You virtied yourself in to our presentation. And you were LATE! That’s unheard of! What’s going ON with you, man?”

“Nothing’s going on, alright?”

“No! It’s not alright. This presentation was important. I don’t even KNOW you anymore. You need to have yourself checked. Have some diagnostics run. You are not…right,” he delivered the ultimate insult.

Safeer became incensed.

“I am tired of hearing that from you!” he shouted angrily. No one ever shouted angrily. “Don’t EVER say that to me again. Don’t suggest I have my hormones balanced, my psychotropes tweaked, or my neural programming adjusted EVER AGAIN!”

That was the last time they had spoken, until today. Steve still wanted to find out what was going on with Safeer, but now was not the time to get into it. Today was Anna’s day.


Nangaleema

-------
“It’s hot… here,” said Steve. Correction - should be Safeer saying this, not Steve. - N
-------
Interesting story, -N. You build your piece slowly. How long do anticipate the piece will be?

janet
-------
I'm not sure. It's like I haven't even really gotten to a point where I can tell the story yet - just trying to set up the world it takes place in. - N

No Title

A man and his castle
Are very important to a girl
It seems...
Most precariously to the gene pool
I think
Is that if a man has a castle
It doesn't matter if he
Is a genetic hassle
Some people
Just shouldn't have children,
But they do.
That's why I think
Hillary Clinton's plan
to reinstitute sterilization
and breeding programs
are the shizznit.
Lol I just can't help myself sometimes,
here's to the scorpion and the frog. Kisses
-------
Hillary has that plan? Can we see the link?

pearls from the brilliant mind of gary busey

fantastic gary busey quotes to kick off your weekend right. holla!

ÒImagine the peace symbol. The peace symbol has three pieces in it. One piece is emotion, that's your body. Another piece has spirit in it, that's your fuel. Another piece has intellect in it and that's your steering wheel. You can never overdo the fuel that goes into the body, which is the emotions and the steering wheel to drive it.Ó

ÒFear is the dark room where the Devil develops his negatives.Ó

ÒI've been told by doctors and surgeons that I have the energy of ten men who have normal jobs.Ó

ÒThe experiences that God gave me to go through... which were cocaine, which were extravagant living in the fast, fast, fast, fast, fast lane, see?Ó

"When you get lost in your imaginatory vagueness your foresight will become a nimble vagrant.Ó

amber
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interview with gary busey (GB) (1990):

MR: What's your cat's name?
GB: Ariana.
MR: Okay.
GB: Sweet little Princess Ariana Royal.
MR: Are you a cat lover?
GB: I love this cat. I'm not a cat lover, no.
MR: Have you ever seen any of those people obsessed with cats?
GB: Yeah.
MR: They're a little scary
GB: Yeah. We have two familiars, they could be latent witches.

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fun stuff :) thanks for sharing.

janet
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this is my fav quote:

"When you get lost in your imaginatory vagueness your foresight will become a nimble vagrant."

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nuggets of wisdom! gary busey - the next jack handey! - N