Maybe Summer Is Just Ending

For a while I thought I might be developing allergies, but now I think I just need to pluck my nose hairs more often. Honestly, I've been much less sneezy and stuffy since I brought out the tweezers.

Then again, this is a personal observation, so I may just be crazy.

Opinions should not be confused with criticisms

The book hit the ground with an unsatisfying flap. It was too thin to manage a thud, and too thick to be crumpled up or ripped apart in a timely fashion. Josh had thrown it anyway, hoping that perhaps if he threw it hard enough it would at least make a passable smack, but the pages had just spread a bit and slowed it down. So.

Flap.

Josh glowered in the general direction of the book from where he was lounging, wanting nothing more to do with it, but also unwilling to take the chance that if he left it where it had fallen, he would trip on it as he was leaving and crack his head open. That would just be like the unreadable sonuvabitch, too.

He was still lying on the couch as he tried to decide if it was worth it to move the book to the fireplace, or if he should just set the fire in the garbage can under the desk.

The stars are always there

Frequently Asked Questions

So, tell me... tell me about Crechy.

hugh... graw... fff... fuggof...

No. Now tell me about Crechy. Where does he get his orders?

Fuck. Off.

Where...

RRRRGHGRGHRG!!!

Does...

RRR-

He...

RGHRG-

Get...

RAAAUU-

His...

AAAAAUUGHGRHG-

Orders?

GHGHGHGHH!!!

I'll let you catch your breath, think it over for a second.

... haughaukkk...

That's it, take your time. No hurry.

From Simple Beginnings

The rocket came slamming down the gravity corridor, getting dangerously close to the moon (at least from a mathematical perspective) before pulling back on the throttle and easing in to land like a feather on the pad. All in all, it had taken less than a minute, which was still thirty seconds too slow. The tinstars had the ship surrounded, and were about to start flooding it with sleeping gas when all the airlocks exploded out. Three of them were too slow to get out of the way and were crushed by the flying doors, and the rest were left retching by the foul gas that had come billowing out once the ship was opened. Things only got worse when someone finally panicked and fired off a shot from their gun, and it was discovered that the gas was flammable...

And THEN, that's when the alien drones showed up. Of course.

Bragging Rights

I met him once, you know.

You don't say! What was he like?

Oh, atrocious. Absolutely horrible.

So, everything the gossip says about him, then?

And then some! I swear, it was like having a caricature in the house! Completely unreal.

Oh, I WISH I had been at that party! It must have been a scream.

Well, it was hard at the time, but for the next month simply EVERYONE was talking about it.

You don't mean... no, not THAT party?

Yes!

The one where everything burned to the ground?

The very same.

Ooh, I couldn't be more jealous right now, not for anything!

It was completely worth it, too.

Happy Workers

The trick to getting projects done is to throw yourself in to them, and just pick a place to start from. If you can actually start from where you've chosen, all is good. If you can't, well, you just have to adjust your starting point and work from there. Whichever the case, you work on the portion you've chosen, finish it, and move on to another area. If one thing is taking a long time to do, feel free to switch around, just to keep from getting bored. The point is, keep working, and eventually you'll be done.

Then again, this is a personal observation, so I may just be crazy.

Chapters

You bump into each other at the bookstore. You feel as if you should be awkward, uncomfortable, but really you just don't have anything to say. So instead of hums and haws, instead of stumbling conversation where neither one of you lets the other finish a sentence, the both of you just hold each other's gaze a little longer than anyone else would be comfortable with and go back to browsing the titles.

When you leave, you have two books you've read before but didn't own, three books you've been hunting for, and a numb place in your chest that doesn't even hurt.

Point of Order

"But what's the point?"

"The point is to avoid the point!"

"The point is to be pointless?"

"No, the point is to point out that there is a point."

"Without actually pointing out what the point is?"

"Right, just to point them in the right direction."

"I see your point."

"But what if they miss the point?"

"Then it's up to us to point that out to them."

"In fact, we should make a point of it."

"I just wish they could see it from our point of view."

"I know, they seem so dull sometimes. Some days, it just seems so pointless."

"Painful."

"Persistent."

"Yet we persevere."

"But what's the point?"

Ye Auld Anglishe

I have tried to read the Canterbury Tales by Chaucer before, but that was years ago. I am learning again, what I learned then, that the best way to approach the material is with a running start, and to not allow yourself to slow down. The way it is written is very phonetic, and if you ignore the words on the page and just listen to the sound of your voice, you can make much better sense of everything.

Then again, this is a personal observation, so I may just be crazy.

The spurs of a moment are sharp and hooked

You are there when it happens, although you do not realize it at the time. All you know is that you are trying to get to the stop before the bus pulls away, when suddenly from behind you there is a sound like every door in the city being slammed at the same time. You are stunned by it, and worse, caught in midstep. You come down on your foot wrong, and twist your ankle.

As your leg buckles under you and the ground rises up, your first thought is that there is no way you will be able to make the bus now, and the last is that the sky looks far, far too red.