Regel

Time? Let's assume (however unlikely) I am correct. "Two words, my answer is only two words. To keep me, you must give me."

Best Wishes Ayshela. Hope your day was everything you had hoped for.

Silent as snow falling Rising in the dark I feel it coming Pulsing like my heart. Strong and tall I'll yield to its will. Watching the coffee fall I drink it with a pill. Constant companion Bring your worst I will still manage a smile Feels like I've been cursed. Dressed and moving now A routine so well rehearsed Persuasion and invitation I quote it chapter and verse.

It's often a person's belief that gives him the reason to wear the uniform. In some ways the sadness I read in this poem suggests that the reasons remain the same. Nicely worded poem Mira.

There is a certain whimsy to this that I quite enjoyed Finnius. In this focused, organized, goal oriented society it is a wonder if we don't become lost. Your story spoke to me about small mental holidays I call day dreams. The time we take to step back and give the more creative part of our mind a chance to breathe. It was an interesting bit of navel gazing, I think.

Happy Birthday to you all.

Beggars can't be choosers.

Dear Falcon, It is always a good day when a friend has had a good week or some success that we (your disfuntional extended Pen family) can revel in. I would suggest to you that we (the world in general) are largely self absorbed but for some reason here we are less self absorbed in here. I am very happy about your promotion, as well as your expanded sleeping period. I suspect that some day real soon you will be announcing to us all that you have found some young lady that makes your heart beat quicker. Hope things continue to improve for you. Best wishes, Regel

Regel walks over to Ayshela gives her a hug. "Welcome back."

Falcon, I have made a list of things that will reduce you to the standards that you have requested. Rule #1: Care only about yourself. Rule #2: Lose your personal integrity. Rule #3: Lower your expectations in life. If you follow these simple rules and you will slip into a very comfortable level of mediocrity. You find lying and cheating comes a whole lot easier. Deception will become second nature to you. You will begin to believe that the person you once were was an idealistic sap. You might find a person willing to be taken advantage of, and you will. Don’t worry about those people that held you in esteem they will get over it and you. By the way that guiltless sex you wanted. Any sex you have will be guiltless any theft you commit will be guiltless, slacking off at work will be guiltless. So what if you lose a job or two or some friends you didn’t need them anyway and then maybe you will be happy.

Dam! For a second I thought there might be someone here older than me. Happy birthday to both of you.

You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want But if you try sometimes you just might find You just might find You get what you need. The song has been buzzing around in my head ever since I read this Wrenwind. The struggles between what we want and what we need. For ever one there is a minimum, a bare minimum that we need to exist. Air, water, food and shelter head the list in this catagory but we need more that just basics so we struggle and strain. To thrive we need more and we deserve more. I have a question for you. Can a flower pulls it's root out of the ground and walk to reach the sun? Or will it grow tall, bend to reach the sun? The little boy in this story seems to know that to his mother he is her air, water, food and shelter. I wonder if she knows that she can't pull her roots out of the ground. Maybe she's a walking plant.

....went with the four easier payment plan. "Good choice mate." said the travel agent with a smile. "Now would you like to purchase some travel insurance?" As the travel agent looked at the befuddled knight's face yet another portal appear behind him. Something resembling a scaley disembodied claw reached out of the dark abyss...

1. Are you more of a shy person or more of a social butterfly? I used to be shy, but I grew out of it. 2. Do you feel like being shy makes the dating world harder/easier? Without a doubt shyness makes dating harder. Unless you have the good fortune to meet a clairvoiant you have to ask someone out to let them know you are interested. 3. Do you feel like being a social butterfly makes the dating world harder/easier? I take acception to the word social butterfly, however if that is the alternative to being shy then social I am. I assume that being confident in what you bring to any realtionship can help you, but it's how a person accepts rejection that matters more.Rejection used to bother me alot. It bothers me less now because I have a better appreciation of who I am. 4. Finally, how do you view the aspect of shyness/social butterfly-ness in a perspective companion? It is a non plus. It is something that I have come to realize about people that their outward behaviour does not always tell you about the person inside. Social butterflies can be over compensating and quiet shy types could just be bored or uninterested. If I meet someone I like I will take the time to find out what is inside. If I like the inside I will warm up to the outside, the outwardly attractive person has often turned out to have warts that you can't see, but you can feel.

Oh my patriotism, to love, support and sacrifice for ones country. Well it's a given most of us love where we live or we would move. Most of us also pay something called taxes to support the governing body that is (at least in theory) supposed to be looking out for the well being of it's citizens. I pay taxes and continue to live in my country so I am a patriot in the sense that webster defines the word. Where love of country gets you into trouble is when you cease to think for yourself and begin to believe that there is only one vision for your country. It can become a problem when you start to believe without question that the people currently running your country truely know what is best for it's citizens. I will make sarcifices when the cause is right, but I retain the right to decide for myself what that might be and what I will do at that time. I am not sure if being a patriot is a good thing. I wish I could replace with a title like "citizen of the world" where the well being of all the people of this world was the focus. So long as we only consider what is good for just one country's citizens there will be strife in this world of ours. We need to see a bigger kind of love, support and sacrifice towards all the world's people, and not just our own.

This house has many dark corners. Damp with moisture, There are places where flies go to die. The cold drafts and creaky wooden floors, Have more than once fooled me Into believing I was not alone. Alone and dark it stands now quiet. It was once alive with the sights and sounds Of children’s laughter. This house was once a home, Its cracked boarded windows Still filters light on to vinyl tiles. Trapped here for all eternity Earthbound, restless, empty A shadow of what I once was. The smells of corruption fill my nostrils, As I stride downward to the basement Are the echoes of footfalls in my mind? There, in the darkest corner I shutter at what I might find, A nightmare spectre or a body defiled.

I really enjoyed this on several levels Parmenion. The metaphors and analogies aside the work obviously speaks of a special relationship. Having heard from both your first mate and a member of your crew I would also like to sign on. Good Captain, if the story of your life was a book it would still be in the early chapters. As an avid reader I would bet that this chapter maybe over for now but the theme will be revisited some day with a crew and good captain well seasoned. Well done my friend.

Warmest wishes to you Yui. Belated Happy Birthday!

The pen is indeed mightier than the sword. The piece you wrote Wrenwind proves it.

A very happy birthday to both of you! Just for a giggle I also celebrated a birthday in August. Unfortunately if I add both of your ages together I still have ten years more. That is alot of celebrating to catch up on! I suggest you both get started!

This one took me a very long time. It is not what the world sees but what I see. Son, Brother, Husband, Father, Emotional, Stubborn, Steadfast, Passionate. Before anything else I was the son of two wonderful parents. They taught me the context of a successful marriage and a good and loving home life. While I lost my dad my mother continues to strengthen and enrich my life everyday. Becoming a brother taught me many things. I learned how to share without jealousy. I learned all about responsibility and that blood is indeed thicker than water. Call me old fashion but as a young man I never felt complete until I met this woman I married. The lessons here are on going and although you give something up to be this I realized a long time ago that without her I had nothing. Father is probably my most difficult and challenging role. I love each of my children with a passionate fire. The trouble is what other people feel this role should be. I am teacher protector, provider but the word pal was something I never understood. I see other father and son relationships and they are the best of pals. When did best of friends ever compare with the love between a father and son? It sounds hard as the words crash down loud against peoples ears but I have been heard to say the exact phrase my own father used to use. "I don't have to be his friend, I am his father!" Any way he said it I knew what it really meant. My only hope is the my own sons understand what I meant. Emotional is a given, and too me a great strength. Why? I think it is because I have a full range of them. I can feel happy or sad, I can be funny or deadly serious, I can feel empathy for others and offer my love and support or vent my displeasure. However for alot of my male friends emotions are not masculine traits so they hide them. Stubborn, oh my is that a double edged sword. I won't quit even if it seems the situation is beyond all hope. Argumentative, competitive, aggressive, call it what you may but to the ideals I believe in only death will wrestle them away from me. Steadfast, that trait is why I do what I do and also what I don't do. If I am your friend I will remain your friend, unless you betray that trust. Do that and we are done. (see above under Stubborn) Passionate is something you either are or you aren't. How can you tell if you are passionate? Here are some examples for you, finishing a soccer game with a dislocated shoulder while playing goalie or playing the fourth quarter of a football game with a damaged knee. Not one of these things is necessarily the smart thing to do, but I think it clearly illustrates the image I have of myself.

Chelsea Greens was parkland that saddled up next to the Thames River. The city valiently tried to keep this a viable playing surface for soccer but as it was constructed on a flood plain, the dips and valleys on this field were often deep enough to lose a player in (land bunkers). The field was boxed in on three sides. A steep embankment and a train tressel formed the backside, a light industrial park behind a six foot chain link fence the left side and the Thames river the right side. Access off of Adelaide was from a small dead end street called Ada. It was central to four sets of cousins. We would gather there arriving from seperate directions, play until exhausted and then go our seperate ways. The Aristone brother's John and Joe as well as the Cuzzocrea brothers Don and Frank came in on bikes from the east end. The Ambroggio brothers Frank Don Perry and Pat would often be accompanied with their young neighbour and friend Scott Reardon. The five boys and the family dog Butch would meet up with the Fotia's Frank and Paul on Maitland Ave and cross the train tressle over the river and then descend the steep bank (often at a gallop) to the soccer field. I would stroll down the hill from Adelaide St and meet them there. Soccer was our summer sport and between cousins and some friends we could usually count on six players per side. Most of us would have gladly played on half the field but not my cousins. It would be the whole field, six players a side and no goal tenders. Teams would be selected and the game would begin. Competition between brother's and cousins would heat up and sometimes spill into disputes that would rage throughout the game but along with our energy all hostilities would be spent by the end of the game. The game would typically be a marathon of sorts that would end regardless of the score with the famous phrase "Next goal wins!" It was well past five in the afternoon as the game finally broke up. We waved good bye and the Aristone's and Cuzzocrea's mounted their bikes and rode home. They exited they way they came as did the Ambrogio's and the Fotia's as they all headed back up the steep slope towards the tressel. The only screw up was Butch. The black and tan hound loved me and although the boys he arrived with were heading home Butch was trailing me. No amount of coaxing could get Butch to follow them. So I suggested that Butch could follow me home and later my uncle Tony could drive by (accompanied by all my cousins of course) and pick Butch up by car. Butch was a hunting dog and often rode in the trunk when my uncle took him hunting. I was secretly pleased with Butch's decision as I love the smelly old hound as much as he loved me. We walked three blocks together without incident when out of someone's backyard an overfed corgi sheppard cross charged out and jump on Butch's back. In the blink of an eye the friendly hound turned into a snarling aggressor. Butch threw the corgi off and went after the dog. Realizing he may have literally bit off more than he could chew the corgi attempted to run back into his yard. Unfortunately the gate had closed shut and he was forced to flee in a different direction out into Adelaide St. What happened next was simply awful. Time seemed to slow to half speed. I could see it coming but I couldn't call Butch off. A half a block away at Edna St a city bus had just started to pull away from the bus stop. The late afternoon sun in the driver's eyes covered the fleeing corgi with glare. I gave chase screamed out one word waving my arms "STOP!" The bus rolled over the poor creature's midsection. It exploded from both ends. The animal was completely destroyed as I watched in horror. Butch had pulled up short as the bus narrowly missed him. He seemed to be in a state of shock as well as I came up and grabbed his collar. I had no leash for him so I walked the remaining two blocks with one hand wiping my face and one hand hanging on to Butch's collar. I blamed myself for not chasing Butch off. He should have gone home with the boys. Why did I let this happen? The bus never stopped. It drove away like nothing had happened. It is a memory I would love to forget but I can't. The stain in the road would be gone that evening as the street washers would roll by in the night. This event happened thirty eight years ago and I remember it like it was yesterday.

As with many of the members here the character Regel started on Archmage. I had started playing as a solo mage named Leger (a newbie). Leger was killed for sport by a villian in a guild named Empire. I reincarnated the mage and he was quickly killed again. Once more I reincarnated the mage Leger and you guessed it. So I thought to myself I need a name that the mage that killed me won't immediately recognize. So I twisted the name around into Regel. I used this mage name to get Leger's killer. I slayed him in battle and revealed my name on the final attack. Regel became my mage name from that day forth. It went from sounding french (Leger) to sounding german (Regel). So that is where my role playing character Regel came from.

Regel hugs Lady Celes Crusader.

Hmmmm, that's a tough one. Permanent neurological damage vs. maimed and possibly disfigured? Ok I have it. After considering both I agree with Doctor Evil.