An Epic Poem... and my opinion.

This is a poem I came upon and really appreciated.


THE FORECAST
By Dan Jaffe


"Perhaps our age has driven us indoors.
We sprawl in the semi-darkness, dreaming sometimes of a
vague world spinning in the wind.
But we have snapped our locks, pulled down our shades.
Taken all precautions. We shall not be disturbed.
If the earth shakes, it will be on a screen;
And if the prairie wind spills down our streets
And covers us covers us with leaves, the weatherman will
tell us."

What I got out of the poem was this:
People won't experience change, they'll watch it on a television.
And if a force of nature would enter our constructed world, we'd just wait for the news broadcast to confirm the event before acknowledging it.

The dramatization of our tendency to avoid any engagement with the world is amazingly true. It's almost painful to think about... but by thinking about it, maybe we can do something about it.

The (Dead) Dragonfly

I recently found this huge dead dragonfly at work. We have like 4 of them flying around in the greenhouses.
Anyway, I thought the wings were amazing. Hence these pictures.
Lemme know what you think of them! I love reading comments. Haha.

Jimmy and The Evil Eyewear: A Short Story.

Jimmy Rockford was an actual boy, living in an actual town, in an actual state, in an actual country, on an actual continent, on a potential planet.
He had a small pet beaver, called "Curtis The Dwarf". A treehouse in his backyard, called "King Tut's Castle at Plymouth", and a sister, called "Anne".
All was well in young Jimmy's life, until one rainy Wednesday afternoon, while walking down the street towards his beloved home, he stepped on a pair of stylish-looking sunglasses lying in his path. Of course dear Jimmy felt a deep sorrow in his heart for the person who had misplaced their belonging, but, not knowing what else to do with the unharmed eyewear,he slipped them on. As soon as his eyes opened and he looked through the dark lenses, his brow furrowed in confusion. The street ahead of him now looked completely different. Everything was changed into black and white, as sometimes happens with sunglasses, but the houses themselves lining the street looked as they might have a hundred years ago. Jimmy automatically moved to the side of the road when he heard the sound of a car approaching him from behind, but once it had passed, he witnessed that it wasn't a motor vehicle, but a horse-drawn carriage.
Jimmy, being a normal boy and thinking like any other normal boy named Jimmy would think, assumed that the sunglasses enabled the wearer to see into the past! Very much frightened by this idea, he ripped the eyewear from its perch on his nose and threw them violently onto the road at his feet. After a few quick glances around to insure than no one was in viewing distance, Jimmy brought his boot-clad foot down hard on the sunglasses. But no sounds of crunching plastic and shattering glass met his ear lobes. He removed his foot from atop the item and peered down at the perfectly intact lenses and scratch-free plastic edging. An unexpected fire built up in the poor boy's chest then; a mission to demolish the hazardous accessory set itself in his mind.
So Jimmy Rockford tried everything he could think of to properly destroy the sunglasses. From paying a passing 18-wheeler driver $10 to run over them repeatedly, to stealing one of the neighbor's axe from their backyard, and bringing it down, swing after swing, onto them. But alas, they remained unscathed. Not sustaining one chip from the abuse.
There was only one more thing young Jimmy could think to do that would prevent the sunglasses from being used for dastardly purposes; throwing them into the nearby river. Eloise Bridge stretched over the entirety of the roaring waters of the river, and once standing in the center of it, Jimmy dropped the evil eyewear in question over the railing. And with a wicked grin and toss of his cascading blonde hair, he skipped off home, pleased with himself at being too brilliant for his pants.

~~~

The charming tugboat known as the "Macarena" had just passed under the Eloise Bridge, heading for northern Poland. One of the Macarena's sailors, Hector McStort, was moving some of the hefty rope bundles on deck when he heard an odd clatter behind him. Lying in someones forgotten puddle of citrus juice, was a stylish-looking pair of sunglasses.

Possible opening...

"Throughout our lives, we're told many things that we automatically assume are true. Because it's easier to just believe them, rather than demand or search for proof. Things like the supposed fact that magic doesn't exist, or that there are no such things as fairies, wizards, dragons, trolls or Barney. Even with ideas that have been proven impossible, like pigs flying or the sky falling, we still believe what people tell us. Whether those people are our parents or the President of the United States. We just can't help being gullible and blind towards the fabricated walls separated fact from fiction, real life from fairy tales, virtual impossibilities from very real possibility, and our world -- from theirs.
A few people in the world have simply created a door in that wall -- or just torn it down all together. Am I one of those people then? No, I just know things most normal people don't about certain topics. Certain topics that they would all very much like to know... but unfortunately for them, it's an insiders secret."


As you can probably guess, this is a rough draft for the opening of something I'm working on. I'm tossing around the title "The Insiders Secret".

Hehehehe. I had to.

I know, I know.... I'm sorry....

To my dear followers... (all three of you.) Please accept my most humble apologies for not posting in such a very very long time. My life has become more hectic than I imagined. "Sure, sure." You're thinking, in a high, nasally voice. "That's what they ALL say." But seriously. A mix of cramming school so I can actually complete this grade, working and associating myself in a few social circles has taken over my previously somewhat boring life. That which was made of rainy, reading filled days, month-to-month movie meetings and finishing school early. Now I ask myself how that was even possible.
I've almost survived this horrendous writing class I've been taking under force for the past few months... it ends tomorrow, with the big BANG of a four-page research paper about (of all things I could've chosen) human body part cloning. Now folks, /I, am somewhat of a procrastinator. I shove things till the last minute to get done, and during the time when I should be doing it, I have a literal mental breakdown because of the stress of doing it. Yes, I know it isn't healthy. And I don't do it with everything, just mostly the homework for this stupid class. Because of the fact I hate it with an unearthly passion, it's hard for me to put a lot of the necessary effort into the projects. Therefore, I put them off. Now, mind you, 75% of my papers and stuff I get 100% on. But still, I need to stop. And the classes will be over soonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. Thank you Lord, for getting me through it. Well, barely. The research paper is... going. I had to do it on a current "hot topic". So I couldn't do it on anything historic, which is my strong point. I hate to say it, but I really wouldn't beat myself up if I got a less than impressive grade on it. I just want it over with... but I don't see a reason for a bad grade. It's not that bad. But I have to stinkin' read it aloud. Which I HATE even more.

I'll now move smoothly onto a more delicate topic....

Yes, I was just grounded from facebook and gmail(for reasons that will not be listed)for the past week. So I would have posted something a little earlier... probably. I will now make a list of little things that bother me, and little things that make me smile. (No, this is not an original idea. )

Bothersome:

-People who verbally say "Knock, knock" when entering a room and "Beep, beep" when moving past you.

-People who are bent on asking you thirty-seven questions, than answering them before you've gotten two words out, or coming up with a reason your answer was wrong.

-Woodgrain facing the wrong way.

-The sound of a dog constantly licking themselves, or some other object.

-Any form of light when I'm trying to sleep.

-BBC lighting and camera angles. Hahaha.

-Bent paper-clips.

Smileysome:


-Setting butterflies free.

-Braille on signs and stuff. (Yes, I have fun with that.)

-Jars. Yes, jars. Especially baby food jars.

-Singing in the car with the windows down and sunglasses on. (Again, not original.)

-Paperclips. And those other clip thingys that you hold papers together with...

-Blue skies + green grass.


Alrighty, I know for a fact you've had no fun at all with this post. There has been nothing random, nothing funny at all.

My family is in the other room arguing about the different beverages from which steam rises best in mugs. And Bethany keeps saying, "Bon-Qui-Qui!" My Dad just made some sort of analogy between a shoe and a football... I should probably go...
Someone just yelled "Red Delicious!" Hahahahaha.


Oh, and if you get the chance, read John 1:1-5. I find it very... wonderful. It sums so much up into a simple, few sentences.