This is the beginning for a story idea I had. Maybe if I put it up here I won't neglect it.
It had been one of those days.
We’ve all had them before. The kind of day when you wake up late and get toothpaste on your only clean shirt. The kind of day where walking to classes becomes more like a tight rope walk than an every day activity. The kind of day where you trip up the stairs, spill soup on your homework even though you weren’t eating soup, and manage to get your coat stuck in a locked car door. The kind of day where everything seems to conspire against you, all to make you the anecdote of the world.
It had been one of those days.
I guess that’s why when the strange man walked up to me I didn’t see the “I’m about to change your life in a big way,” label that was printed on his forehead.
I was just sitting outside having lunch under a tree, minding my own business when this guy who looked like he’d walked straight out of a bad 80’s fantasy film approached me. He was tall, kind of dark and had a hair cut that could only be described as a medieval mullet.
“Is your name Madison?” he asked me in a deep, scary tone.
Now, I’m from a big city so when a strange creepy guy walks up to me and starts asking questions he already know the answer to, I put up my guard a little. “Who wants to know?” I asked him, trying to sound tough.
“You are Madison. I am your teacher Mikhail. You are the chosen one. You will come with me.”
As I’m sure you can imagine, I had a few problems with that demand. “No thanks buddy. I have teachers,” I said as I checked my watch, “And there’s going to be trouble if I’m not to class on time. So, excuse me.”
I tried to leave, but the man grabbed my arm. “You are in great danger,” he said. “You must come with me and begin your training so you may complete your destiny. The dark forces may find you at any minute.”
Dark forces? Great Danger? Destiny. Who talks like that? No one talks like that. He sounded like he got his dialogue from a recent George Lucas film. Cleary this man was whacked out. I pulled myself free from his grip.
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” I said and started to look for one of the campus panic buttons. I had started to walk away when suddenly the man tackled me! After a few seconds I realized that it was because he was saving my life.
“They are here, you must come with me now!” the weirdo said and pulled me to my feet. “You are the chosen one, we must keep you safe!”
Quite against my will I was being dragged by a crazy man, dodging bullets and being called “the chosen one”.
It had been one of those days.
I would eventually come to find out that there was a chosen one and that this little incident was really a reflection on my companion’s people skills, not his sanity. But the problem is this. I am not the chosen one. And I never was.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Batroom light
The other night our bathroom light burned out. Our bathroom is about an eight foot by four foot room, maybe, with no windows in a basement. Therefore, it’s rather dark in there. My roommates and I felt very fortunate to find that there was a surplus of light bulbs in the up stairs hall closet. Feeling ambitious we dragged a chair into the tiny chamber and tried to pry off the peculiar light fixture. It took a troubling amount of effort. When we were finally able to open it up we found out, much to our dismay that we did not have the light bulbs necessary to light our bathroom. In the place of a normal 60 watt soft light bulb there were round florescent lights. Who uses round florescent lights?
There was only one thing to be done, head to the home depot. This is the first year I’ve been able to have a car at school, so I was eager to use the freedom that transportation gives, so I was eager to go out. Pulling the bizarre bulbs from their sockets my roommate and I went in search of those knowledgeable people in the orange vests. After some time we managed to get a hold of one who told us where and how to find the kind we needed.
I felt very odd that night; I felt the urge to wander. To go someplace, anyplace. It didn’t really matter where. We decided on ice burg to get milkshakes. After a while I realized that our other roommates probably needed to use the bathroom and we should probably bring light to the masses.
We returned home victorious, and with a little effort were able to get the light bulbs in place. We were triumphant.
A day or two later I was taking a shower and the lights went out. This of course perturbed me slightly. I do not enjoy being caught off guard like that. But, with the use of my emergency flashlight I was able to complete my shower. Later that night, the light started to work again. This happened various times throughout the week. Two or three days ago the light went out and hasn’t come back on.
So much for our triumphant return from the home depot.
Six girls share this small bathroom, and hygiene must go on. Our system of lighting started out with just using my flashlight and pointing it at the mirror. A little while later we added candles. No one has yet bothered to call our land lord. I don’t really know why. Basically, we’re still showering in the dark.
Tonight I had a very unfortunate experience. I thought about all of the things I wasn’t satisfied with. I saw some striking resemblances between my life and our dark bathroom. I am a senior this year and should be graduating in the spring. For the first time in four years, maybe more, I’ll really have to think about what I’m going to be doing with my life. As if that isn’t scary enough, I really have no idea what I really want to do. All this time I’ve been focusing on getting through school and it turns out that what I need to worry about is what comes next. I thought I needed one thing, and it turned out I needed another. The freedom I have gained being a college student is somewhat of an allusion, because I haven’t really faced responsibility. I’m still searching for what I really want. And in some ways I feel like I’m just adding enough happiness to my life to keep going without really fixing the problem. The problem is, I can’t really see where I’m going.
I’m not really sure where that leaves me, in life or in my story about myself. Call it a tragedy or an epiphany. I keep hoping my life is a comedy. All I know is this. Tonight I was fed up with showering by candle light so I took my desk lamp and put it on the back of the toilet. It brightened up the room considerably. I took matters into my own hands and was able to see a little more clearly. Still maybe it’s time I called an electrician. The future is up to me I guess. I just know that I’m not going to live my life being satisfied with “good enough”. I may have to evolve a little bit, but someday I’m going to be guided by the light in me.
There was only one thing to be done, head to the home depot. This is the first year I’ve been able to have a car at school, so I was eager to use the freedom that transportation gives, so I was eager to go out. Pulling the bizarre bulbs from their sockets my roommate and I went in search of those knowledgeable people in the orange vests. After some time we managed to get a hold of one who told us where and how to find the kind we needed.
I felt very odd that night; I felt the urge to wander. To go someplace, anyplace. It didn’t really matter where. We decided on ice burg to get milkshakes. After a while I realized that our other roommates probably needed to use the bathroom and we should probably bring light to the masses.
We returned home victorious, and with a little effort were able to get the light bulbs in place. We were triumphant.
A day or two later I was taking a shower and the lights went out. This of course perturbed me slightly. I do not enjoy being caught off guard like that. But, with the use of my emergency flashlight I was able to complete my shower. Later that night, the light started to work again. This happened various times throughout the week. Two or three days ago the light went out and hasn’t come back on.
So much for our triumphant return from the home depot.
Six girls share this small bathroom, and hygiene must go on. Our system of lighting started out with just using my flashlight and pointing it at the mirror. A little while later we added candles. No one has yet bothered to call our land lord. I don’t really know why. Basically, we’re still showering in the dark.
Tonight I had a very unfortunate experience. I thought about all of the things I wasn’t satisfied with. I saw some striking resemblances between my life and our dark bathroom. I am a senior this year and should be graduating in the spring. For the first time in four years, maybe more, I’ll really have to think about what I’m going to be doing with my life. As if that isn’t scary enough, I really have no idea what I really want to do. All this time I’ve been focusing on getting through school and it turns out that what I need to worry about is what comes next. I thought I needed one thing, and it turned out I needed another. The freedom I have gained being a college student is somewhat of an allusion, because I haven’t really faced responsibility. I’m still searching for what I really want. And in some ways I feel like I’m just adding enough happiness to my life to keep going without really fixing the problem. The problem is, I can’t really see where I’m going.
I’m not really sure where that leaves me, in life or in my story about myself. Call it a tragedy or an epiphany. I keep hoping my life is a comedy. All I know is this. Tonight I was fed up with showering by candle light so I took my desk lamp and put it on the back of the toilet. It brightened up the room considerably. I took matters into my own hands and was able to see a little more clearly. Still maybe it’s time I called an electrician. The future is up to me I guess. I just know that I’m not going to live my life being satisfied with “good enough”. I may have to evolve a little bit, but someday I’m going to be guided by the light in me.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Who'd of thunk?
WHO’D OF THUNK?
When thinking a thought
you’d do better than not
after thinking the thought you have thunk
to make sure you act
before reason or fact,
make you stop and get caught in a funk.
It’s always quite tricky,
and get’s rather sticky,
un-sticking yourself when your stuck.
And falling in plot holes
is like walking on hot coals
and is a rather bad turn of your luck.
It’s a most awful place
that we as writers must face
when we come to a jam in our path.
And ideas like to tease us
as they pretend to appease us,
and the rest of the crowd likes to laugh.
You think over and under,
you think lightning and thunder
trying to get it to budge
But often it won’t,
and though you want to, it don’t!
no matter how forceful the nudge.
When your muse is amused
at the tactics you’ve used
to get over the block in your way,
it takes quite some time
for either story or rhyme
to say what you want it to say.
I make no pretensions
with my good intention
of saying just what’s to be done.
But, if you let go,
and you write what you know
suddenly writing’s more fun.
Who would have thunk
when you thought you were sunk
really you were getting ahead?
Just as losing you mind
and, or, getting behind
helps you get where you’re going instead.
If you’re stuck or you’re stomped,
if you’re blocked or you’re swamped
remember this rule to subsist:
logic and reason
may both have their season
but impossible just doesn’t exist.
When thinking a thought
you’d do better than not
after thinking the thought you have thunk
to make sure you act
before reason or fact,
make you stop and get caught in a funk.
It’s always quite tricky,
and get’s rather sticky,
un-sticking yourself when your stuck.
And falling in plot holes
is like walking on hot coals
and is a rather bad turn of your luck.
It’s a most awful place
that we as writers must face
when we come to a jam in our path.
And ideas like to tease us
as they pretend to appease us,
and the rest of the crowd likes to laugh.
You think over and under,
you think lightning and thunder
trying to get it to budge
But often it won’t,
and though you want to, it don’t!
no matter how forceful the nudge.
When your muse is amused
at the tactics you’ve used
to get over the block in your way,
it takes quite some time
for either story or rhyme
to say what you want it to say.
I make no pretensions
with my good intention
of saying just what’s to be done.
But, if you let go,
and you write what you know
suddenly writing’s more fun.
Who would have thunk
when you thought you were sunk
really you were getting ahead?
Just as losing you mind
and, or, getting behind
helps you get where you’re going instead.
If you’re stuck or you’re stomped,
if you’re blocked or you’re swamped
remember this rule to subsist:
logic and reason
may both have their season
but impossible just doesn’t exist.
Monday, September 10, 2007
lost in night
The night has eyes that burn in ways that man can never understand. Perhaps that’s where the fear comes in when darkness falls across the land. We hear the wind that speaks in ways that are different from the day, instead of laughing heartily, a strange music it now will play. It echoes of a different world, a time that man forgot, that left behind in silent epitaph, but did so all for not. Night masks distractions of the day that pretend we’re bigger than we are, and opens doors to unknown worlds that once seemed oh so far. A different star a different dream our sky no longer holds us down, we look beyond our own storm tossed souls to see the eternal crown. Some fear the night because they can’t see what’s always told them where they are, but in the night time your only guide is a distant burning star. A star that burns in gratitude that tells us stories old, that fills the rift of misery and makes our hearts grow bold. Sometimes we don’t know where to go, we’re lost in endless night, but maybe what we need to see is our own inner light. I cannot pretend to know for sure what happens when I let go, when I step into the dark where I can’t see and hope that I’ll somehow glow. But night is not what we should fear, for night is just like day, it has its time it does its work it glories than goes away. What we fear is the unknown, and how vast the unfamiliar night, but sometimes seeing is what really happens when we loose the gift of sight.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
What ifs?
The “What ifs?’ are a dangerous crowd
But oh so fun to know
cloaked as possibilities
the “what ifs?” like to grow.
Sometimes they play a funny game
Where the sky is green or red
And grown ups do odd and crazy things,
Like jumping on the bed.
Some “what ifs?” are a hoot to see
They make you laugh inside.
But others are a scary bunch,
Who make you want to hide.
Under the bed or in the dark
They whisper in your ear,
And much like a great poet said,
They fill you full of fear.
What if today the earth will flood?
What if it snows or droughts?
What happens if I cannot sing?
I become a down and out?
They grow inside your worried thoughts,
and twist reality.
Until you are messed up inside
and you've forgotten how to see.
How to see the light inside you,
to see how great you can be.
The "What ifs?" have just made you
your greatest enemy.
When the “what ifs?” turn against you
And you find yourself distraught
Just remember my dear children
What most grown ups have forgot.
What if the “what ifs come for you?”
What if the sky would fall?
If they’re bad or if they’re scary
You can beat them all.
What if all ideas were possible?
What if we learned to not fear?
Those are the “what ifs” I choose to know
And the rest I do not hear.
You have a choice to make each day
It’s not easy, so I’m told,
But if you dream instead of worry
Then you’ll never become old.
The “What ifs?” are a dangerous lot
We know this to be so,
It now is time to take a stand
And choose what “What ifs?” you know.
But oh so fun to know
cloaked as possibilities
the “what ifs?” like to grow.
Sometimes they play a funny game
Where the sky is green or red
And grown ups do odd and crazy things,
Like jumping on the bed.
Some “what ifs?” are a hoot to see
They make you laugh inside.
But others are a scary bunch,
Who make you want to hide.
Under the bed or in the dark
They whisper in your ear,
And much like a great poet said,
They fill you full of fear.
What if today the earth will flood?
What if it snows or droughts?
What happens if I cannot sing?
I become a down and out?
They grow inside your worried thoughts,
and twist reality.
Until you are messed up inside
and you've forgotten how to see.
How to see the light inside you,
to see how great you can be.
The "What ifs?" have just made you
your greatest enemy.
When the “what ifs?” turn against you
And you find yourself distraught
Just remember my dear children
What most grown ups have forgot.
What if the “what ifs come for you?”
What if the sky would fall?
If they’re bad or if they’re scary
You can beat them all.
What if all ideas were possible?
What if we learned to not fear?
Those are the “what ifs” I choose to know
And the rest I do not hear.
You have a choice to make each day
It’s not easy, so I’m told,
But if you dream instead of worry
Then you’ll never become old.
The “What ifs?” are a dangerous lot
We know this to be so,
It now is time to take a stand
And choose what “What ifs?” you know.
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