Write a dialogue between mythological figures of different cultures.

The woman quietly sits at the edge of the lake, dipping her toes into the water warmed by the eye of Ra.  The gentle breeze blows her hair in her face, teasing her bare shoulders.  She sits with hands in her lap, contemplating the mysteries of the day.  Wishing on the stars that haven’t yet been chased into the night sky by Selene.  Feeling the joy of the trees with their branches reaching to the sky in quiet prayer.  Smelling the fragrant flowers as they pay homage to the bees.  She sits, oblivious to the conversation around her.

I’m tired, goddess, it is your turn.                         Hmmmm… sleeping.

You had all day to sleep.                                       I did.  I’m still tired.

Get your butt out of bed.                                     You’re not the boss of me.

I’m the boss of everyone.                                     I don’t feel like it.

Fine, I’ll give you another 30 minutes                     Ok, let me take a bath.

but that’s it.                                                        I’ll be ready.

Whatever.  Good thing it’s summer.                       Thanks.  I owe you one.

I want a vacation on Jan. 13 

and:  record a reading of your favorite written piece. 

http://promisesunshine.xanga.com/audio/3621f3992390/
 

i did it!  and i will be very, very quiet tomorrow.

Write something incorporating the clause (as a sentence or otherwise), “A silver splash, like an exotic fin, cut the lamplight, a form both receding into the shadows and looming closer.”

(continuing to spew.  almost done with scavenger hunt)

i’d never heard this one- a combo of bizarre and peaceful. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCvffcG9-eI

http://plantinthewindow.xanga.com/757343811/finitys-wsh-22-record-a-reading-of-your-favorite-written-piece-4-points/

it is a bedtime story told outside around a campfire, whispered so as not to disturb the sleeping birds.  it is camping deep in the forest where no city lights can penetrate the blue of night.  it is bats flying high in the trees, chasing slow bugs.  it is children cuddled in sleeping bags fast asleep, too tired from the activities of the day to stay awake a moment longer.  it is constellations high in the sky, the ones i know the names of, the ones i do not.  it is one planet, brighter than anything else in the sky, save the the moon, upon which my dreams are wished.  it is the moon, shaded by clouds or tinted gold, glittering or slivered, playing tricks.

night is for listening, i’m not practiced enough for the days.  yes.  only nighttime brings the quiet i need to be still.  walks under the moon.  lying on the cool grass watching nothing.  thinking nothing.  being.  just being.  because…

deep inside me there is a place of moon and stars, and of silence.

Write something in which the French touché is actually used as intended, not just to mean “good point.”

Said the barbed wire line to the picket fence,

“Your whiteness makes me tense.”

Said the picket, “I’m sorry to carp,

but your points are very sharp.

Do you mind backing away?”

The wire shyly said, “Touche.”

write something that includes this totally random phrase, “She will get a job as an agent’s assistant by January.” 

I’ve looked at squirrels from both sides now.  Mild fear and amusement.  Those are the two sides.

My undergrad campus was filled with squirrels, well fed squirrels, by the thousands.  And I thought squirrels were a little scary.  Because they wanted to bite my ankles.  I was sure of it.  There was really no way to avoid the squirrels.  It’s a big open campus filled with trees and all the kinds of nooks that squirrels love.  And lots of nice college students to throw them tasty morsels.  Happy, happy squirrels.  I did my part to feed them out of self-preservation.  I’ve long had a love affair with Twizzlers.  They are my go-to treat when I need a pick-me-up.  They are for special occasions now, but in those days, special Twizzlers days were pretty much the days ending in “y”.  But it was self-preservation, as I said.  Because if the squirrels’ little mouths were busy chewing on bits of Twizzlers, they couldn’t bite my ankles.  This is the only reason there could be for sharing Twizzlers. 

Fast forward a lifetime.  I find myself with a backyard full of trees and all kinds of nooks that squirrels love.  So I have a constant supply of squirrel guests.  Perhaps I’m a little less neurotic (about squirrels), but I no longer fear for my ankles.  Instead I enjoy sitting outside or looking out the back window to watch the show.  Really, squirrels give an entertaining little performance.  It’s fun to watch a squirrel run up a tree.  When two of them chase each other in a little spiral, it’s amusing.  The squirrel who twitters along that big wire that leads the house and then stops suddenly- eye to eye with me but about 8 feet away- as if to say “what the heck are you doing there?” 

Yesterday our little psychoninjakitten was practicing her hunting skills in the backyard.  I saw the branch she was looking at as it shook a little bit, then paused, then shook some more.  And she assumed the hunter pose, not the one where the butt wiggle is required but the one where stillness is vital.  So I knew it wasn’t another cat she was watching so carefully.  Then scritchety scritch scritch, the squirrel leaped out of one tree, skittered across the grass, and launched itself up the big pine tree.  All the while, the kitten studied.  Her eyes glued to the squirrel.  And then she got serious, hunkered down and was seconds away from pursuit.  Yikes. Because first of all, she’s not much bigger than a squirrel and second she gets stuck in trees.  I was leary of the end of this story.  Thank goodness something moved in another direction and she remembered that she wasn’t interested in chasing that squirrel after all.

Once the squirrel was certain that he wasn’t being followed, he climbed to the branch that overhangs the big honking wires.  Entered the wire highway, skulked to the prearranged rendezvous location.  Meanwhile, the other squirrel climbed the pole and joined her compatriot for the clandestine meeting on the high wire.  The first squirrel said the code phrase, “That one gives Twizzlers, don’t eat them.”  The second squirrel gave the appropriate response, “She will get a job as an agent’s assistant by January.”(whoop, there it is) And the two conspirators snuck off together.

All of this show merely for my amusement.

Write something that incorporates the following words: conflated, sintering, diffuse (adj.), risible, lissome.

Summer Sunset

In any form, explain your relationship with God.

When I look in the sky, I feel like a microscopic piece of something beyond the scope of my vision and understanding.  Is it the universe created by a supreme being?  Maybe.  Probably.  Perhaps.  I don’t presume to know.  I know that I am a part and the universe is a gift from somewhere/someone/something.  It might as well be God.

I know what I feel when I look into the sky, and it’s not just small.  One a clear bright day, I feel awestruck.  The bluest of the blue makes my heart feel at rest.  That no matter what, this day brings me something miraculous and fine.  On a gray day, it’s harder to feel that peace.  I fight it most of the time.  But a gray sky makes me feel like something is not quite right in the world.  Of course, there are many things not right in the world at every moment.  And sometimes a gray sky gives rain- necessary, vital, refreshing, enriching, sometimes irritating, sometimes like the tears I cry, but a part of existence that cannot be avoided, nor should be.  A white sky full of snow has its own images: snow day, blazing fireplace, loud children outside, snowballs, snowman, snowflakes on eyelashes, cozy mittens, shoveling- hard work, but satisfying.  Aside from clear blue, my favorite is probably thunderstorm.  I love the violence, noise, light of a wild storm (if I’m inside staring out the window.)  Is it the gods bowling?  Probably not.  Is it God sending a message?  Again, I don’t know.  But I like the show.

Is God watching me?  I have no idea.  I personally think he’d have more important things to do.  Do I make my choices based on what he might see if he happened to look at that moment?  I’d like to think not.  I think I choose to be how I am (when I’m choosing and not just being) because it’s the kind of person I am.  I mess up, often.  My punishment comes from within.  God doesn’t put me in a time out.  Maybe, like the parent I try to be, he made it so I learned right from wrong and no longer need to be watched closely. 

So here I am, living on this earth that was probably made by an omniscient celestial being, screwing up as much as the next person, in my quest to be as good as I can be.  And that is that.

Warning:  I have some spewing to do to finish the winter scavenger hunt. 

I’ve been thinking about circles recently.  It’s interesting though how my thoughts have changed.  A week or so ago, my circle theme was concentric circles of pressure pounding into a tiny sphere (yes, I know that I’ve switched perspectives, but I am not 2 dimensional much).  Pushing until the ball condensed to nothingness.  I was going to write about it.  I was going to paint it.  And then I didn’t.

Perhaps I didn’t “do” that circle theme because of the expanded version of circle that is my new theme.  I’m not so set in how I see my new circle.  Maybe a planet, even though that’s pretty trite stuff and I do dislike being predictable (even if I am.)  Ok, now I’m laughing at myself.  I had the funny, ridiculous, completely egocentric mental image of my being the sun.  Because it’s all about me.    Can I just talk about it that way, with the full understanding that I KNOW I am not the center of the solar system?  No.  Nevermind. No.

Because there we are.  All interconnected.  Overlapping circles.  The kindness that someone shows me is connected to the kindness someone had for them.  The amazing feeling of someone saying that I inspired them to write something (oh my golly!!) is directly related to my having been inspired by someone else.  And yes, I want to pay it forward.  Perhaps I already do in my own way, but imagine what can happen if I’m intentional about it.  A few weeks ago I was a little bit humbled or awed (not sure which way I need to go with that).  I went into my close-by gas station and just smiled at the guy behind the counter.  Nothing big.  Might have said a word or two, but really just smiled.  And I could see it in his face that my smile did something.  I do not know what was happening in his mind or his life at that moment, but the fact that I walked in and moved my face around in a way that is very easy for me, made his day a little better.  And 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon (or however many it is), just think about where that smile that brightened the day of that random guy at the gas station ended up.  And, yes, I’m being a dork, it was just a smile.  But it’s amazing to think about how I’m a microscopic part of something so much bigger, but yet that I’m as close to some other microscopic part hundreds/thousands of miles away as I am to my empty cup of coffee.

It’s raining.  And freezing. I was sitting here contemplating nothing.  and decided that I have had more than enough of those stupid outdoor Christmas lights.  I did put on shoes. and a coat.  I originally wasn’t going to.  As I’m heading outside the voice of reason has the following conversation with me.

reason: going somewhere?

me: yes, taking down the *** lights

reason: NOW?

me: is there a better time for that?

reason: (incredulous stare followed by smile followed by …) a month ago?

The good news is that I could take them down with a broom unlike the stepladder scene I enacted putting them up.  The whole procedure took about 5 minutes.  B’bye Christmas.

In other news:  littleloudone is a ninja again today.  and she didn’t do her math homework.  and she begged me to read The Hobbit again last night. and was even willing to practice her drum to get it.  and she’s been enjoying a little bit of personal hygiene this week (dreadlock-free for 5 whole days).  while i was reading and she was not doing her math homework, she drew a self portrait.  i was hoping to find it laying around the house to scan it.  it’s either under a pile or she took it to school.   it really was pretty awesome, even though it had those big anime eyes.

In other, other news: spawn has drawings on deviant art.  Is this something I should be freaking out about?

I can’t think of a song to share today.  This is how quiet the voices in my head are right now.