May 2007

QotD: Gifted

What is the most creative gift you have ever given or received? 
Submitted by Nacwolin.

A few moons ago, I had a friend that is/was a DJ.  He's completely into his music and real vinyl records.  His birthday was coming up and I wanted to do something cool for him.  Off I went to the store and came back with some stuffing, some fabric, a little spray paint, a needle and thread.

I sat down and wrote him a poem called "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life".  Then I asked him to borrow an album.  I used that to trace two circular patterns on the fabric (it was black, btw).  I took those and sewed them together and stuffed it full of stuffing then closed it.  I painted something on it, I don't remember what now, but it ended up looking like an album.  I wish I had a picture.  Anyways, One Love Sushi Digital really enjoyed his poem and his record pillow. 🙂

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Only funny at home

I love my daughter.  I love my boyfriend.  I love the bonds that we share.  Stories that are told in our house are somehow only funny to us because we get each other.  That, my friends, is love.  Or there's something funny in the air at home.

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5 word challenge – Lexi

Lexi had no idea how long she had stood staring at this head, this body.  She had entered a trance-like state of disgust, confusion, and fear.  When she woke, she was once again scared out of her mind.  Just out of the corner of her eye, she could see a person.  It wasn’t close enough to harm her but she feared for her life anyways.  This thing that she was now looking at looked about 7 feet tall.  It had huge arms and legs, like tree trunks.  These alone should have been enough to have Lexi running and screaming, but she couldn’t get past this thing’s outfit.  There was a giggle building inside her that she knew she wouldn’t be able to contain for very long.

Before her, this tree trunk of a creature stood garbed in a horizontally striped sweater that alternated green and orange stripes.  The sweater was tucked into a pair of long shorts that had suspenders.  Lexi knew there was a name for this contraption and she took a moment to think of it.  (She couldn’t stand not knowing the names of things.)  LEDERHOSEN!  That’s what it was.  It also wore some sort of boots and an odd little hat cocked to the side of its lumpy head.

It was a standoff of creature and child.  Neither moved, waiting for the other to make the first move.  Lexi, being the stubborn little girl that she was, was militant in her desire to protect her little area of the woods and therefore refused to move.  Somehow, she just knew that this thing wasn’t what caused the death and destruction that she had witnessed.  Lexi once again glanced over at the macabre display and caught a whiff of what she thought was lilac.  Confused by the smell of flowers when previously all she smelled was death and evil, Lexi chanced another glance over at the thing, but to her dismay, it was gone.  She turned around to look for it and walked directly into it.  It had moved so quickly and silently that she hadn’t noticed.

The scream that pierced the silence of the woods sent birds flying and small animals scurrying.  No matter how tough Lexi thought she was, she was now scared beyond words.  Frozen in her tracks, all she could do was stare at this monster.  To the best of her knowledge, Lexi could only figure that she was seen as a disport to the monster as what could best be described as a slow grin spread across the creature’s face.

A gnarled hand reached out to Lexi.  As Lexi hoped her life would be spared, the hand opened to show her a small flower.  Surprised as she was, Lexi managed to reach her tiny hand out to the creature and make a gesture of acceptance.  She was careful not to get too close, but before she knew it, the monster’s paw had encased her hand.  Another scream was rapidly rising in Lexi’s throat, but it had to battle the bile that was also rising there.  Neither managed to escape.  The monster could see the fear and disgust in Lexi’s eyes and on her face and immediately released its grip.

Free from this ogre, Lexi took a couple steps back.  She kept her eyes on its face and what she saw made her rethink things.  Oddly enough, it looked as though the thing was sad.  She had always had a special connection with animals that her family couldn’t seem to understand.  Whatever ran that connection chose this moment to show up.  Lexi knew that this thing meant her no harm now.  The thoughts of a conflagration to erase everything she had seen, heard and felt up until now were erased.  She extended her hand to the monster, palms up to show she meant no harm and waited for the thing to once again connect with her.

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Should have been hers

Since you've been patiently waiting…

Part One

Part Two

Saturday was sneaky as Saturdays usually are.  It took forever to get there and it got there in the blink of an eye at the same time.  Dannie had carefully planned both what she would wear to work that day and what she would wear out that night.  She tried to go with cute but comfortable, and as she would find out later, it was a good thing that she did.

 

As the day dragged on, all Dannie could think about was the upcoming evening.  She and Steve hadn’t yet worked out the logistics of getting there; Dannie had just assumed that they would leave from work in their respective cars.  The perma-grin that was attached to Dannie’s face was a dead giveaway that something was up in her world.

 

“You’re awfully chipper today, “Lori observed.

 

“Well, yeah.  It’s Saturday and I have a date, I think.”

 

“What?!?!” Lori squealed.  “Were you even going to tell us?”

 

“Probably not,” Dannie said as she stuck out her tongue and walked away.

 

Chuckling to herself, Dannie’s perma-grin changed to an evil smirk without her knowing it.  As she walked towards the stairs, she saw Steve coming down.

 

“Hey, Dannie.”

 

“Hi Steve.”

 

“Listen, about tonight, is it okay if we stop by my place so I can change and then leave from there?  You can leave your car and I’ll drive if that’s okay with you.”

 

“Sure, that sounds great.  I have clothes in the car.”

 

“That’s my girl, always prepared.”

 

Were it not for her dark complexion, Dannie would have flushed a wonderful shade of red before she could mumble something about checking the bar and run upstairs.  Once at the top of the stairs, she damn near fell back down them in the excitement of the moment.  The rest of the day would fly right by, she was sure of it.

 

As expected, Dannie’s day ended in the blink of an eye, the shake of a tail, and every other cheesy clichĂ© that’s out there.  She ran into Steve as she was making a last round of the store.

 

“Almost ready, D?”

 

“Just about.  Maybe fifteen more minutes.”

 

“Okay then.  I’m going upstairs to have a drink.  Meet me there?”

 

“Sure.”

 

Dannie finished up with all of her tasks and the butterflies started migrating south to her stomach while the rest of her migrated north to the bar.  She pulled up a spot next to Steve and ordered a drink.  They chatted a while and finished their drinks.  Noticing the empty glasses, the bartender stopped over to see if refills were needed.

 

“I’m good, thanks.  Do you know how far I have to drive to get home?” Dannie queried.

 

“No idea,” replied the bartender, but at the same time, Steve whispered “About 10 minutes.”

 

And the Oscar goes to
Dannie for acting like she didn’t just have a heart attack.  Was he serious with that comment?  Dannie was just plain floored, but somehow managed to laugh it off and suggest that they get going.  Steve agreed that it was time to go, so they tipped the bartender and headed over to Steve’s place.  When they arrived, Steve offered his bedroom so Dannie could change which she did as quickly as she could.  Once she was dressed and ready, Dannie watched some TV while Steve got ready.

 

Steve emerged from the bedroom looking more fantastic than Dannie had ever seen him.  It was just jeans and a t-shirt, but boy did he look great in them.  The dark hair, the light eyes, the tattoo creeping out of the top of his shirt, it all had Dannie aflutter.  He asked if she was ready to go and she answered in the affirmative.  As promised, Steve drove them down to the club.

 

It was obvious that Steve had been to this club before since he had a ‘usual’ parking spot.  Dannie wondered how he remembered, but she was soon to find out.  Steve was kind enough to pay the cover for both of them and ushered Dannie inside.

 

The club was a little dark and smoky but otherwise clean.  It looked like the opening band had just finished so they were right on time.  In the moment that Dannie had taken to look around, Steve had somehow snuck away to the bar and was already returning with beers for them both.  Steve handed her the beer with one hand and started dragging her to a table with the other.

 

“Come on, everyone’s over there.”

 

Everyone?!?!?  Dannie was not prepared for that.  They wound their way through the throng of people and made it to a table that was full of beer and people.  Right away, Dannie recognized the other Steve, but the rest of the people were strangers.  This was so unfair, Dannie thought to herself.  Steve never even mentioned that there would be a bunch of people there that she’d be expected to socialize with, but, always up for a good time, Dannie made the best of it.

 

Introductions were made and drinking commenced.  The band came on and Dannie enjoyed them a lot.  She enjoyed them enough to pick up their CD, although it would be tough to say that it was simply for the music and not a memento of the evening.  Steve’s friends took Dannie in and made her feel welcome, and by the end of the evening, she knew a little something about everyone and vise versa…..

 

 

 

 

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From my "Weird Files"

Occasionally, strange things happen.  More often than not, strange things happen to me.  Yesterday was another episode of my own personal X Files.

I take an herbal supplement twice daily.  I have a very difficult time taking pills, so it's an ordeal.  I thought that this particular capsule had gone down rather easily.  I chucked it back and drowned it in water and thought that everything was okay.  I thought.

But then I burped, which, in and of itself isn't odd, but the cloud that came out of my mouth was very odd.  I'm not talking about cartoon cloud of smelly burp, I'm talking literal cloud of dust came out.  I thought that I was seeing things or going crazy.  That may have been better.  Somehow, the little guy that lives in my throat managed to get his grubby little hands on the capsule and he broke it open in my freaking throat.

There's a reason that stuff is in a capsule.  It tastes TERRIBLE!  Five glasses of water later, all was back to normal, but that incident surely did nothing but make my pill-taking issue even worse.

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