Gryphon

The shadowy form of Umbra-Gryphon hisses with concern upon hearing the start of the cheerleader chant coming from Mynx. Rapidly he dissolves into a shadowy mist the glowing eyes becoming two brilliant electric blue fireflies orbiting him and flows rapidly towards the disturbance just as Cryptomancer removes Mynx from the table and spins her onto the dance floor. The mist flows up and over her form briefly before disolving leaving nothing but a feather on the ground... Moments later the mist reforms to take Umbra's shape and the fireflys become his eyes again. He catches Mynx the cheerleader in mid twirl and steadys her. "May I have this dance?" he asks with a bow.

Meanwhile on the other side of the room from where Mynx-ah-la-cheerleader is distracting the entertainment Gryphon~umbra~ suddenly breaks off his conversation. He raises his head and the glowing red eyes flash to a cold icy blue colour... "I sence a great disturbance in the force..." Mynx-ah-la-cheerleader sips her highly suspicious drink Oh dear... someone let the cheerleader persona lose on the alcohol? The shadowy figure moves rapidly in amused pseudo-stress... and a stray Gryphon feather floats gently to the ground. ~umbra~

I was just talking to Mynx in RL and I told her I thought she was good at writing. For some reason she refuses to believe me - not too sure why... but basically I'd like to know if any other pennites agree with me. If you're at all familiar with her writing, can you post your opinion of it here? Please? Ta all.

On the path to Custos Manor a flickering glow appears resolving after few moments into a glowing ball of light. It bobs a few meters up towards the entry to the halloween party then hesitates and starts to shudder before splitting into two much smaller lights which seem to look about for all the world like they were two eyes. Passing through a patch of shadow on the path the darkness seems to attach it's self to the glowing orbs and shortly thereafter the shadowy figure of a man strides towards the entry of Custos Manor and the Pen halloween party. In it's wake a single Gryphon feather flutters to the ground. Regarding the others gathered for the party he speaks, a low quiet voice that leaves the impression that you might not have heard it with your ears... "Party time already? I hope I'm not late." ~umbra~

I'll see ya'll at the party - no WW game for me tho. I've time, but right now motivation lacks. I'll be coming as an old character of mine. Umbra - you cant miss me - I'm the shadowy thing with the glowing eyes.

Just to confirm that there is always going to be someone who likes that which everyone else does not I happen to like the Cadbury Dream chocolate... However if I were going to walk into the shop and take my pick of white chocolates - I'd go with the Nestle Milky Bar every time. And with Ice-cream you cant go past orange chocolate chip ice cream, except maybe if you're going past it to get to mint choc-chip, rocky road or jelly tip icecream. And then there's those Wonka's candies - I love the ones that have sherbert in the middle of a red licorice straw. Mmm... candy. gotta go now - I'm hungry again.

Gryphon stands stunned for a moment or three - long enough for a Mynx-type tigercat hug machine to huggle him then be off bouncing around the room... That is so cool... thank you Gryphon drops to a deep bow I am deeply honoured. A few muttered words and a gesture and some coloured lights go bouncing happily around the room to add to the celebratory nature of the gathering. Gryphon then goes off to mingle with the other members of the pen... and to find out who cast those illusion spells that were so good he couldn't pentrate them (Me talk shop? at a moment like this? ... Hell yes )

Time flows around me, And carries me on by. Through memories of friends long gone, Enough to make me cry. Time just keeps me trekking, Towards it’s lonely end, But as it floats me down its stream, I find a brand new friend. Time it flows so swiftly, The days go rushing by, But spending time with thy loved ones, Should be a cause for joy. Let time carry me where it will, Mighty river strong and fast, I will take it as I can, Treat each day like it’s my last. Fun. Here's one for anyone who feels like having a go: Like a new day dawning

A cold blanket of circumstance rolls over my body, chilling me and smothering the fires of life. The simplest gesture becomes and effort and the smallest setback a trial beyond measure. I strain against it, fighting, screaming, crying out against this injustice that has brought me to this pass. This generates a brief reprieve, before the chill touch descends again and I find myself once more enmeshed in its dark embrace. More disappointment looms, circumstance and fate come hand in hand seeking to destroy, to smother the last sparks of hope in my heart. Venus comes to foil them both. She supports me in the dark fanning her seed until it blossoms in my heart. Darkness is foiled for love can be a night blooming flower also, and so it is. Yet the blanket still binds and constricts, mocking me that my love cannot easily penetrate the darkness to see the beauty she has wrought. Still hope is mine now and harbour it I shall to support me in the never ending struggle to stave off the terrible despair. The flower blooms, blossoms, for it has found a wellspring to feed from. I know now that this darkness is not all pervasive, but is a by product of the tiredness in my heart and body. It is not a malaise of the soul, it is simply fatigue.

A tired looking Gryphonic shape drags its self into the Cabaret Room and collapses into a corner looking exhausted. I am so glad that it's friday today I need a weekend.. or maybe a week off. Still that's 3 and a quarter hours away still. Why am I so tired this week? I'm I the only one?

Thanks Katz... You're right. The exclamation mark does help capture the feel that I was trying to portray here. Such appropriate timing for the observation too since my house move starts today!

I can FEEL IT inside me, BUBBLING. Attempting to OVERWHELM ME, but I SUPPRESS the urge to SHOUT and run around in RANDOM CIRCLES to show my EXCITEMENT because adults DON?T DO THAT! Sometimes I want to GO MAD then run around and BOUNCE OFF WALLS to show the excitement that is BURNING INSIDE. Have I not got THE RIGHT to do so just because I WANT TO? Maybe the children are CORRECT. Being adult leaves the spirit CRUSHED under the weight of RESPONSIBILITY. Well not ME. Not NOW. Today I am going to BOUNCE WITH JOY. Let the responsibility start NEXT WEEK. This week I?m going to be a KID AGAIN. Lost in the excitement of MOVING HOUSE!

Gone the brilliant crescent of silver I march instead under the Paling magnificence of a full moon at dawn Marvelling as I travel at the White rimmed frost That turns the grass so Crunchy underfoot.

... and then you realised that no matter what the propoganda there is pain involved in every method of ending it - for others you love if not yourself.

Have you ever left someone? And then met them again years later? And found out the spark is still there (at least a little bit)? But been unwilling or unable to act on that because either you or they have someone else in their life now?

I had to take some liberties with my real thoughts on this topic to fit it into rhyme and nonsense verse, but I was just trying to have a bit of fun with it anyway. Let me know what you think or feel free to ignore the inconsistancy in what I've typed and add your own verses. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Long have I thought on the nature of time, You might even say it’s a hobby of mine. So I sit at work on this slow seeming day, And in so many words try to explain time away: I have described time as a large and grey sea, As this is the view that makes sense to me. I see people splashing in the ocean of time, Who’ll never have thoughts about it like mine. Time might be an ocean instead of a sea, It is larger and wilder and seems much more free. Let us consider the sayings that line, The paths throughout history all talking of time. Time is said to flow or crawl, Sometimes it races by us all. We’re shackled to measure time all day, And ask where it’s gone when it gets away. If an ocean is indeed the nature of time, Then all of these descriptions work out fine. I shall try and describe now to you, How an ocean of time make all so darn true. A great ocean current can flow fast and true, Zooming time right by people like me and you. Oceans as a whole move barely at all, For days when time just slows to a crawl. When exploring the ocean one tends to get, Totally and utterly, completely, wet. Once we figure out how to explore time, We’ll find we’re immersed in it, just like the brine. And should you hit the beach at low tide one day, You too will stand thinking ‘it all went away’. Be ocean or time its so hard to tell, Why both of them fit that statement so well. I’ve more ideas on this topic for you, The tricky part is that I just cant get through. It’s too darn hard and though I’ve been doing fine, There’s no way to put the rest into rhyme!

In the basement of the house two beings sat playing poker. One was human and male... he sat in a skungy singlet and boxer shorts, sweating at the thought of losing yet another hand to the other player. The other player was human too... or appeared human... humanish anyway. Sitting with his hand full of cards he was dressed impeccably in a business suit with dark sunglasses and he was smiling. He always smiled. All the time. This is what was making the man in the singlet and boxer shorts nervous, that and the glow that occationally seemed to come from behind the sunglasses. Upstairs there was a thuding sound like the front door hitting something - hard. In a desperate attempt to get out of the game (and avoid massive debt) the player that we know is human glanced sharply up and said "What was that? Maybe I should go and investigate." Without waiting for an answer for fear that it might be "no" he raced for the door from the basement to the house to see what was happening upstairs.

I'm living in New Zealand and Hellboy's been out here for a few weeks now. And we're always complaining that the US gets them before we do... usually anyway. It costs less to live here than in England, but the pay is less too.

I had a thought today. I was watching the start of Bedazzled and thinking that I've known people like Brendan Fraser was acting at the start of that movie... People who are nice enough in very small doses but after prolonged exposure to them they just begin to annoy you... lots. I expect that most people know someone like this. You might even count them as a friend some of the time, but every now and then you just wish they'd go away - but they dont - because thats not their nature. So I was sitting there and watching the start of Bedazzled, and thinking of some of the people at my own work who I think of in much that same way and my thought occured. What if some other people think that I'm like that? What if there are people I work with each day who think that I'm a pain in the a$$ and they wish I'd go away? Thoughts like that are enough to make you paranoid about what everyone around you is thinking... So here's the question - would the world be better or worse if people really knew what the other person thought of them? I suspect the answer is no... I hate paranoia inducing thoughts like this one. Am I the only one who thinks this way? - all replies and random responses are encouraged... unless you all just wish I'd go away... aaarrrgghhh!!

Syllable count and all that kind of thing aside... I believe this to be the very essence of a Haiku. The perfect capture of a single moment for all to experience in your words. Very nicely done.

I didn't go back over previous posts to see if I'm flogging a dead horse here, but what the hell... I saw The Butterfly effect on DVD the other night... then went back and re-watched it the next day. Fascinating movie. I'm not usually one for movies that make me engage my brain cells and get both of them moving in the same direction, but this one I enjoyed whilst still finding it truely thought provoking. The concept is based on chaos theory where one little change by the main character alters the entire course of his life... and of course altering things once and only once is not enough. The second time I saw it I had my brother in law with me - he's a physicist and he refreshed what little knowledge I have on chaos theory as we watched and he confirmed for me that they over-did it a little because the events being changed were actually quite large in comparison to the minute changes that chaos theory needs to work it's alterations on the world. However I thought the whole thing was done rather well and I'd encourage anyone who can get their hands on a copy to have a look and decide for yourself if I'm right about this one or if I'm just displaying my taste in movies to be as shoddy as ever.

I expect that if you had the vision and then acted to bring that vision into life as a reality - then ate it - that it'd count as a vision. Now if you did it the other way around, baked the pie and then ate it... and then tried to call it a vision I'd have to say it was a memory, rather than a vision. Visions tend to be things that have not happened yet, or something similar. Just my point of view anyway. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time warps in on its self, trapping a figure in it's midst, like a fly trapped in a strange grey amber. Spinning it takes him, altering his life yet again, shifting and turning, undoing that which he knew to be reality and imposing a whole new scheme of things in its wake... The young man stares at his cell phone, bemused by the words displayed on it... "But, I wasn't going to be moving in until the 26th!" he says, "The 6th is barely 2 weeks away!". Later in musing back on past words said he'll remember complaining that the change wasn't coming fast enough for him to be excited about now it seems in some strange way, for some unknown reason time has in this instance decided to humour him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think unless I screw up badly I should have somewhere between $2 and $50 available to the coffers at the end of every pay period... Unless I'm unfortunate enough to need to go to the doctor, or get my car fixed.. or something else that you cant really plan for. Besides, I already rushed on forth... I'm signed up so to speak, cant back out of it... I'm just allowing myself the 'luxury' of contemplating and considering and all now that it's too late to actually change my mind

In a faraway land an incantation echos to completion and a weary wizard surveys the results of that which he has wrought. Laying on a pedestal is a glowing sphere of shifting light and incredible beauty. Its muted glow throws the strangest light over the contents of the room, seeming to make the very surfaces it touches shift in nature from second to second. Well pleased indeed with his creation the wizard steps forward to claim his prize noticing as he does so the strange way in which the fine cloth of his robe seems to alter as the light hits it. Pausing in fascination he watches as his very clothing starts to turn into the roughest sack cloth, the lightest gauss, the most supple leather. He experiences a moment of concern, wondering if perhaps he has captured forces not meant for mortals to trifle with. For an instant he hesitates in the very doroway to wisdom before turning away, after all what can possibly be wrong with laying claim to your own creation? And so the exhilarated spellcaster reaches out and takes the orb from its resting place... As he does so a cold wind blows, chilling him to his very soul. Fear flickers across his face and a fire ignites inside him, casting body and brain toward madness. Throwing the sphere away the wizard seeks to escape his fate, but it is too late. His flesh twists, melds, alters; again and again. Crying out with horror and pain the spellcaster flees, never to return again to the place where he once in his hubris dared to try bottling for his own glorification part of the very essence of change. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sometimes I write this kind of thing on the way to work on the bus.. or on the way home again. Usually the stories and poems are short because there's only so much I can write in the length of one bus trip. I'm fairly certain that if only I could somehow connect all these story snippets or at least keep writing them to one theme I'd be able to publish a book by now. Regretfully however, each seems to come out as this one has - a brief scene isolated from what is surely a greater tale. Feel free to comment if you so desire - on any of this type of post from me. I'm interested in what others think of them and certainly dont object to comments or suggestions for improvement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stand outside time and it can be seen as a grey whole. Humans break it and play with it, naming seconds, minutes, hours. They pretend to measure it into days, weeks, months. They use it to define the measure of their lives, years... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Standing where time has no meaning, Watching its currents flow, Through the grey mass of forever, I step back inside and I wonder, Where did my week go, As my eyes reflect the grey, Of another dawn.