GeldrinHor

Ahhh...a smoking pillar is a concrete and sand ashtray. They usually have them outside buildings in most places in the US. Some taller than others. In California, for example, they are a minimum 20' from the front door of most buildings now. While here in my home state (well, home for now) of Oregon, they are usually right nxt to the doors. As I recall, most European train station that allow smoking in any areas are the open air type (meaning the sides are opened for incoming and outgoing trains and pedestrians, but there is usually a roof overhead to keep out rain and such.

Overall, I can see a deep seated need to announce "I shall follow my own rules, and not accept the rules laid down by others, I have no fear of your opinion, I only fear shutting down my heart" I can see, from your opening remarks, that you will ACCEPT opinion, both negative and positive, without compunction. The pacing set the mood for this piece. I saw many faces in this....fear, angst, anger, and near-madness. Interesting overall. Thought provoking, as long as one can suspend their own beliefs, however temporarily, and read the piece for it's poetic value, instead of content. I have to chew this one over a bit longer, but I think you did nicely in this work.

Just a note to say, SORRY if this seems a bit apolitical...just stuff in my head I HAD to get out. Can't think clearly with Tom Lehrer, "Wierd Al" Yankovic and Bob Rivers (Twisted Tunes) running through ones mind. I am feeling MUCH better now...LOL.

It strikes me a bit odd, but today, for some reason, my mind went back to my childhood again, sitting with my Uncle George (4 yrs my elder) and listening to some strange recordings in my Grandmother's house, down in the Garage-converted-into-a-music-room. He and I used to listen to new rock, Like Elton John (Captain Fantastic & the Brown Dirt Cowboy) as well as some old stuff. Now I have loved comedy and satire my whole life as far as I can remember, but Tom Lehrer was, in my eyes, the Wierd Al of his day. He had a Masters in Mathematics, and wrote MOST of his songs in the late 40's and 50's. Then he wrote some "political" stuff in the 60's...here are a small selection of songs I listened to in my grandmothers music room... The Folk Song Army One type of song that has come into increasing prominence in recent months is the folk song of protest. You have to admire people who sing these songs. It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against, like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on. But the nicest thing about a protest song is that it makes you feel so good. I have a song here which, I realize, should be accompanied on a folk instrument, in which category the piano does not, alas, qualify. So imagine, if you will, that I am playing an 88-string guitar! We are the folk song army, Every one of us cares. We all hate poverty, war, and injustice Unlike the rest of you squares. There are innocuous folk songs, yeah, But we regard 'em with scorn. The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience, Why, they don't even care if Jimmy Crack Corn. If you feel dissatisfaction, Strum your frustrations away. Some people may prefer action, But give me a folk song any old day. The tune don't have to be clever, And it don't matter if you put a couple extra syllables into a line. It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English And it don't even gotta rhyme... (excuse me: rhyne!) Remember the war against Franco? That's the kind where each of us belongs. Though he may have won all the battles, We had all the good songs! So join in the folk song army! Guitars are the weapons we bring To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice. Ready, aim, sing! ============================================== Send The Marines What with President Johnson practicing escalation on the Vietnamese, and then the Dominican Crisis on top of that, it has been a nervous year, and people have begun to feel like a Christian Scientist with appendicitis. Fortunately, in times of crisis like this, America always has its number one instrument of diplomacy to fall back on. Here's a song about it: -------------------------------------------- When someone makes a move Of which we don't approve, Who is it that always intervenes? U.N. and O.A.S.,* They have their place, I guess, But first - send the Marines! We'll send them all we've got, John Wayne and Randolph Scott; Remember those exciting fighting scenes? To the shores of Tripoli, But not to Mississippoli, What do we do? We send the Marines! For might makes right, And till they've seen the light, They've got to be protected, All their rights respected, Till somebody we like can be elected. Members of the corps All hate the thought of war; They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means. Stop calling it aggression, Ooh, we hate that expression! We only want the world to know That we support the status quo. They love us everywhere we go, So when in doubt, Send the Marines! ========================================= One of my ALL-Time favorites was The tune of The Major-General's Song, by Sir Arthur Sullivan, from Gilbert & Sullivan's The Pirates Of Penzance. The Elements Now, if I may digress momentarily from the mainstream of this evening's symposium, I'd like to sing a song which is completely pointless, but is something which I picked up during my career as a scientist. This may prove useful to some of you some day, perhaps, in a somewhat bizarre set of circumstances. It's simply the names of the chemical elements set to a possibly recognizable tune*. There's antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium, And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium, And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium, And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium, Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium, And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium, And gold and protactinium and indium and gallium, (gasp) And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium. There's yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium, And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium, And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium, And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium, and barium. Isn't that interesting? I knew you would. I hope you're all taking notes, because there's going to be a short quiz next period... There's holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium, And phosphorus and francium and fluorine and terbium, And manganese and mercury, molybdenum, magnesium, Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium. And lead, praseodymium and platinum, plutonium, Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium, And tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium, (gasp) And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium. There's sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium, And also mendelevium, einsteinium, nobelium, And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium, And chlorine, carbon, cobalt, copper, tungsten, tin and sodium. These are the only ones of which the news has come to Hahvard, And there may be many others but they haven't been discahvered. ==================================================================== The Vatican Rag Another big news story of the year concerned the ecumenical council in Rome, known as Vatican II. Among the things they did, in an attempt to make the church more... commercial, was to introduce the vernacular into portions of the Mass to replace Latin, and to widen somewhat the range of music permissible in the liturgy. But I feel that if they really want to sell the product in this secular age, what they ought to do is to redo some of the liturgical music in popular song forms. I have a modest example here; it's called The Vatican Rag! First you get down on your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect, And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect! Do whatever steps you want if You have cleared them with the Pontiff. Everybody say his own Kyrie eleison, Doin' the Vatican Rag. Get in line in that processional, Step into that small confessional. There the guy who's got religion'll Tell you if your sin's original. If it is, try playin' it safer, Drink the wine and chew the wafer, Two, four, six, eight, Time to transubstantiate! So get down upon your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect, And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect! Make a cross on your abdomen, When in Rome do like a Roman; Ave Maria, Gee, it's good to see ya. Gettin' ecstatic an' sorta dramatic an' Doin' the Vatican Rag! ===================================

Ahhhh, Mardrax, A deep and hearty congratulations to you! I have had the chance to read quite a bit of your work here and must say you make it QUITE enjoyable to be the reader... Great Work! and once again, CONGRATULATIONS!

Phoenix, I am just an old soul come back to roost after a long absence. I was a member of the Pen back in 2001/2002 for a few months (Pen name then was Lord GeldrinHor), when to my deep friends regrets and worry, I sorta dropped off the face of the planet, as it were. About the only one I spoke to during my long absence was Peredhil, as I have him on my Yahoo Messenger and like to harass him from time to time. I got the chance to come back home and they had to practically build a wall to keep me out... . And my words were heartfelt....I formed ALL the pictures in my mind as I read the words on the screen. I was THOROUGHLY taken by the words, and felt what I could only imagine you felt as you put the words down. As was once mentioned, a man (or woman) with the right word(s) is stronger than nearly any army on Earth. I once again, applaud your words. /me bows deeply. 2 .......teeheeheeheeheehee (The giggling old mage wanders off down a hallway, his chuckles echoing as he moves away)

Wow....I must admit, My FIRST true novel I read was an old Robert Silverberg book....not even sure which number in the Lucky Starr series, but it got me INTO the Sci-Fi world whole hog...Lucky Starr and the Red Sun Mercury! After him, I started devouring books (and authors) including some rather bizarre and wondrous books be Fred Saberhagen, Isaac Asimov (The Robot series is a major classic), Spider Robinson and Harry Harrison. Over the years, I was hooked by such wonderful authors as Heinlein, RL Asprin (Especially Thieve's World series w/ Lynn Abbey), and Piers Anthony. My preferences from Anthony leaned more towards his Phaze series (Apprentice Adept, et al) and his MOST triumphant (in my eyes), The Incarnations of Immortality. Then I found the world(s) of Valdemar, by a fabulous Fantasy/Sci-Fi writer....Mercedes Lackey. Over the last few years, I have discovered quite a few decent authors, and even a few Wonderul ones (Sara Douglass, .C. Dale Britain, Terry Pratchett and even Tanith Lee). Now, I have even extended my readings to include mystery/spy/murder suspense novels by such writers as Lawrence Sanders, J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts...who'd a-thunk it?), and I even read titans like James Joyce and Robert Ludlum. In fact....lately, I have been reading entirely too much....hehehe...NOT!

Heya Rev....I know what you mean about the effects of Vicodin. Unlike yourself, I have a much higher tolerance to prescription strength drugs, but Vicodin is a pain-reliever extraordinaire. As some may remember, I hurt my back at work last month, which gave me the need for vicodin, and allowed me the time to be home while I recovered. The hallucinations ARE inconvenient at times, but tolerable. And, like yourself, I caught a bug...tho mine was basically a VERY mild flu (14 hour fever, broken, then 36 hours of ick, and I was all better). But, unfortunately, it brought back the sinus migraines I suffer occasionally too. Now, I am being processed by Unemployment so I at least have some kind of income while I fight off my problems and await the return of my wife (aka The Nurse!). Also, until I am allowed back out or my sinus/sleep apnea issue becomes too untenable, I will sit home each day. my next deadline is March 8th. So I CAN and do know how ya feel.

Well, let's see. Being a guy....one might assume this to bring about an arousal...whether physical or mental, of GOD-like proportions. Maybe I'm just special....I don't know. But I took a great deal of heartfelt self-romanticism and at the same time guilt from this poet's work. Wonderful to see someone who shares a deep and utter understanding of what it must feel like to question one's own motives in the game of Love (or lust!) Instead of stirring lust in me, it turned itself around and I saw the inspiration of lust and love, of devotions and betrayals flashing before my eyes. It was both wondrous and frightening. I truly enjoyed this work not only for it's content, but for the courage our writer took to post it. Keep the courage up! Submit your words to our graceful, tender mercies, and fear not, for there are those here who would not flourish so well, without your wisdom and sensual abilities. Very nicely written, and I felt the whole pace of it was well done. I must admit, in my minds eye, as I read this, I SAW the story flow. and I enjoyed it VERY much.

Very nice rhyme and meter. Flows very well. Story like quality is abundant without being syrupy. Excellently done!

*blink* *blink* We....ummm....discuss things in here??? <scratches head contemplatively> Wow.....I am really GLAD I never entered into this discussion.....tough room... Actually, to be honest, I FOLLOWED this discussion, but never even ATTEMPTED to render an opinion, as I am a religious freakazoid, and a Political leper. I will also be open about this....I don't discuss religion, due to a complete and utter lack faith in a man-derived state of interpretations by hundreds and hundreds of different versions of ONE book. So now, I am Pagan...LOL I don't like to .discuss Politics, as I started off a Republican at age 18 in 1980...and yes, I voted for Reagan, gods help us all, then became Democrat in 1992 (Slick Willie be damned) and now my political persuasion is somewhere between disgusted and depressed... HOWEVER....I did enjoy reading the varying degrees of certainty that many of the opinions displayed, and must admit to feeling that, even through all the bashing and banging of the subject, a good thing came out of this "objectionable or not" debate. I would like to THANK each and every opinion and poster for a lively, and yes sometimes, smoky debate. It has opened many eyes that may have, for one reason or another, been squeezed tightly shut, but it also got the rusty old guys in the front office up and shambling around their desks again. All this was VERY enlightening AND entertaining, as I would MUCH rather watch a debate or Poetry reading, or childs' spelling bee than plop myself down to watch the ever-phony pugilistic pursuits of 250 lb men in tights who scream at cameras and throw their opponent to the mat. Much more fun to watch a metaphoric wrestling match....really, it is!

more to come, obviously....here's my contribution... 1. adjective- Grossly 2. verb- drove 3. noun- councillor 4. body part- finger 5. verb- staked 6. body part- throat 7. emotion- fright 8. adjective- charming 9. noun- cow 10. noun- fabric 11. pronoun- them 12. emotion- delight 13. adjective- respectful 14. adjective- quiescent 15. body part- breastbone 16. verb- flew 17. noun- turtle 18. verb- drowned 19. body part- earlobe 20. emotion- anger 21. verb- travelled

Whoa....thought provoking and haunting at the same time. I have some experience with just such thoughts...and no, not from personal usage, but that of a friend...I never cared for needles myself, taking my entertainment in other ways...a smoke here, a snort there. I'd tried many an escape thru the world of prohibited contraband, but never to the point of an addict. Living on the streets for two years made it rather difficult NOT to partake, at least a few times. But those were easily overcome....just wish cigarettes were as easy to defeat. Thank you, Whisky. Very nice poems, with deep meaning behind it.

As the old man steps out the rear doors of the Keep, obviously lost in some odd thought, he shouts suddenly, grabbing at his shin. He looks down to see what he had stumbled upon, when he realized that dusk had arrived and there were a number of GLOWING beings surrounding him. As he focused better on his immeiate surroundings, he realized he was being encircled by a small army of gnomes. Not your ordinary, everyday, machine shop and magic emporium type gnomes, but instead, smaller, ruddy, grubby looking statues of their elderkin. The only truly odd thing was....why in blazes were they glowing? After several moments of rubbing his shin, and the occasional blast of old-style expletives, the old man returns to his thoughts. Finally, having found a bench with at least a scant amount of room on which to place his posterior, he sits and looks up into the darkening skies. "I haven't the faintest idea what entertains a gnome. I mean, do they play cards? Board games?" From behind the old man, a deep harrumphing noise could be heard, and he turns to the sound, spotting a VERY luminescent and overly tall Garden Gnome struggling with a rather nasty looking wolf pup. "Hey.....you know anything about Barbaques?" Smiling gently, the old man nods, and lifting his arms up, he begins intoning a very potent, but miniscule amount of power. Several yards away, in a nice open spot of grass (Painted??? Already...but it's spring!) the ground starts to rumble slightly, a deep ominous hum emanating from the center of a four square foot area, Moments later, a nice round mound of earth begins to rise, taking on an odd shape as it does. After the mound stops, a deep forest green glow surrounds it, and sparks begin to flash here and there, and several of the residents appear to don smallish helmets with tinted glass on the front (Welding masks in THIS day and age? Really, old man....get more creative...LOL). After several more moments, the old man finishes up his spell, and reaches into his voluminous robes, pulling out several long tools, tongs, forks and even a long handled pliers looking apparatus, leaning them all up against the side of his Creation. "My tiny friends....I present to you....a Gnome-sized BBQ!" At this, several more gnomes come out, looking over the brick oven style bbq, with a shiny grill on top and an old-fashioned iron grating in front....all that, and only two feet tall. Satisfied, the old man rises from his bench, wandering off through the side gate, whistling as he heads off toward the conservatory and other libraries.

Well now, having sat down and reading this in one whole, I appreciated many of the little twists in it, giving it a start up to a very enjoyable plot. I hope that our author has not disappeared, only to return in ten years to tell more of the story. I am looking forward to seeing just who they will follow on their personal quests, other than Prestia....or will the primary be the only first hand, while the others relate their ups and downs, fames and fortunes upon their return for Mid-Summer Festival. Very enticing storyline...a few minor flaws with speech and spelling, but easily overcome as they are in places where the obvious thought or word were already in the readers mind. Well done, thus far, and looking forward to more....hopefully soon.

Wow Aard....great taste....SciFi Mystery, great leadup and finale....nice taste for stuff to come....all together, great grabber. Congrats on a fabulous teaser story....makes one BEG for more!

73 - Your Emotional IQ is good - higher than average in fact. This means that, in general, you are able to express your feelings clearly in appropriate situations. You are optimistic and positive, and adapt well to altering circumstances. You are comfortable with yourself, and you know and appreciate your talents and strong points as well as your weaknesses. You are able to motivate yourself, and find the energy and the strength necessary to complete what you need to do to reach your goals. You are one of the resilient people who bounce back after major drawbacks, survive hardship without bitterness, and still manage to empathize with others. These skills will certainly bring you long-term benefits such as stronger relationships, better health and personal happiness. HA!!! Fat lot they know....<evil laughter rolling across the background>

Caesar Romero and Clive Barker Salute you! Very well done!!!

I look upon my past as others look upon a page/ I wonder what I see there, of all that I could change/ I often think how some things happened, could I have done that wrong?/ or was that just the way of life repeating it's own song// I sit, some nights, much later than most folks have gone to bed/ and try to organize my memories, thoughts run through my head/ the smiles, the tears, the anger, how can such things affect my life/ the warmth I feel each night when my arms go around my wife// I look upon my pets, my friends, the cats who share my home/ of how they live so carefree, not caring where they roam/ their existence is so simple, "pet me, feed me, lie down there"/ as my Shaman lies down carefully on my pillow, face in hair// Oh Tigerlily, ash and brown and black, all royal air/ for Siamese are so finicky, not one single misplaced hair/ She would spend her days all curled up, snuggled closely in my lap/ And Hoppy, he would have a blast just wrestling with my cap// I worked so hard my whole life long, why can't I take a rest/ reflect upon the things I've done, of how I passed life's test/ but then I realize it's time to go, got things to do again/ it's back to work to earn a check, pay the bills, oh man// **note: will continue this at a more reasonable hour**

Rev....your criticisms were neither harsh, nor uncalled for. I have, from time to time, taken a long hard look at this poem, trying to find small flow bindups and looking for alternative ways to fix them. Your ideas were very welcome. Oh,....and I'm not really new here....just been in hibernation a bit longer than nature had intended... Whisky: Hmmm...thank you very kindly for your words. Poe was an inspiration from my childhood....back in the 60's, I read my first Poe short story in second grade (don't recall the story title off hand) and by the time I was in 5th grade I had read 40% of his works (stories, shorts, poems and novels). It wasn't really until I started into Jr High (7th and 8th grade) that my teachers took an interest in having me explore poets and writers outside that small scope. I have to admit, schools on the opposite sides of the country have very differing styles of teaching. I started grade school in my home state of California, then attended 2 thru 5th grades in Virginia and North Carolina, returned to Cali for 6th grade, before finishing my schooling in Arizona. It can be a bit disjointed, being a military brat, but it does have it's advantages as well. I did develop an affinity for a wide variety of subject matter, and drew inspiration from MANY sources. Anyway...I'll go over that some time when I am not wasting everyone's space...

Keep in mind, at the time I wrote this, I was going into a period of depression (finally defeated that frustrating mindset 2 yrs ago.....feeling MUCH better now. ). Most of my writings, poems, haikus and such are self-taught as far as prior study goes. I took no formal writing training outside the public school basic curriculum. No Creative writing courses, no poetry classes....just my own little mind, ever-trying to expand the known Universe...and an imagination so vivid it could cut diamonds. I am, to be perfectly honest, fairly set to live life with a rather short attention span, (ADD, ADHD, short attention span theatre, what have you) and so my inspirations to write come mostly from small spurts that I have to piece together as I go. It's one reason I work so hard and so long trying to flesh out the mannerisms and character traits of my online personas (in games, at least). Well, that, and I don't write down on PAPER enough of the ideas that flash before my eyes, instead choosing to float it off into one of my mental storerooms for absorption into one of my character backgrounds I keep stored in there. It's one of the reasons I am NOT currently a world renowned Fantasy Sci-Fi writer.....lousy habits. LOL. Being a truck driver, it's not like I can just pull over and dig out the computer to jot these things down, or even grab a pad and pen(cil) to keep it fresh. Business is, well...being busy!

Hiya folks....a sort of out of the way question, but here goes. Does anyone here know of the original old "Bard of Terra" graphic that was circulating in Sigs on the old UBB Archamge boards (as well as a few guild boards out there)? I'll give my best description. small graphic overlay with a white feather at about a 45 degree (right leaning) angle with a nice script font that simply said Bard of Terra. I would LOVE to find that graphic again, should anyone know of it. Not positive on the font name, but it was a very soft styled script (I have only about 118 fonts on my computer right now, more than 200 on my home unit, but too lazy to finish up the rebuilding I started last week at the moment). I know it was on sig files for a number of folks for a while. Just the musings of a vain-glorious old man working on some makeshift sigs for himself, once again!

Is the idea, then, to choose a Pennite, then make descriptor, while not actually revealing the one described until after a sufficient number of "guesses"? Just curious, as this seems an interesting way to go with it.

1. The day I met my wife....20 yrs ago...and the first time I saw her after being apart 3 weeks...this past year. 2. When I was a child, in Northern Virginia (dad was a Marine based at Quantico) there was a huge hill right next to our unit of housing with a 100' tall water tower on top...the trails behind that water tower were almost magical in their sledding slopes....snow or mud! And the main trail ended at the base golf course! 3. Ummmmm...No! Have you ever... Stopped on a highway because the snowfall was so heavy you couldn't see the nose of your truck (or car)? marvelled at the squeal of laughter coming out of a 4 yr old girl because you sneezed BIG!? (we're talking grab a washcloth and change your shirt BIG!) ..ever pulled over when out driving by a park, just to run through a meadow during butterfly season? ..ever swung an honest-to-god medievil broadsword....then a bastard sword? ( I was in SCA for 8 yrs when I was younger....the tourneys used mock swords, but I collect artifact weaponry and own a 44" broadsword and 58" bastard sword) ..ever bowled a near perfect game? (several years ago, my wife and I were in a league...I had a 158 Avg and bowled a 279 game!!! I still have the box my Century award came in...AND the award as well, a watch!)

Oh PLEASE, YES! I would love to take part in this little debacle, errr, I mean escapade!