13 June 2008

90. Avian Fortune…? (13 Jun 08)

As it is Friday the 13th, I thought it might be appropriate to examine some popular superstitions. For example...

It is lucky to be poo'd on by a bird

Is it? Or do "they" just say that to make you feel better about being the recipient of an avian defecation?

02 June 2008

89. Inane Dialogue #008 … romance (30 May 08)

"Your eyes sparkle," said Tom, "like…"
"A toiletful of wee under a neon striplight?" suggested Sally.
"Yes!" said Tom.
"Get out of my house and never return!" suggested Sally.
"But I only agreed with your suggestion!" said Tom.
"I suggest you put your finger in a live socket!" suggested Sally.

88. Inane Dialogue #007 … paperclips (30 May 08)

"Paperclips are evil," said paperclip#1 to paperclip#2.
"But you are a paperclip," said paperclip#2.
"Bugger me! You’re right, there!" said paperclip#1.
"I know," said paperclip#2.
"But you know what’s really weird?" said paperclip#1.
"What?" said paperclip#2 (who didn’t really care).
"So are you!" said paperclip#1.
"Oh shut up," said paperclip#2.

87. Inane Dialogue #006 … sausage (30 May 08)

"Don’t be such a dullard," said the gorilla to the sausage.
"That’s a sausage," said the cobra. "It doesn’t understand a word you’re saying."
"But you," said the gorilla, "are a soft, fleshy snake" – and he picked up the cobra and smashed it against a rock.
"Ouch!" said the cobra.

86. Inane Dialogue #005 … gerbil (30 May 08)

"Mind my gerbil!" said Horace (he of the enormous left elbow).
"Why?" said Jiminy Cricket’s niece.
"Because… erm…" said Horace, stumbling for a reason why Jiminy Cricket’s niece should mind his gerbil.
"Mind my elephant!" said Jiminy Cricket’s niece.
"Why?" said Horace.
"Because it’s really big!" said Jiminy Cricket’s niece.

85. Inane Dialogue #004 … cheese (30 May 08)

"Please may I have some of your," said Trevor the Viking, "cheese?"
"Why," said Harold the Egyptian Prince, "do you come round here requisitioning my cheese?"
"I am not requisitioning it," said Trevor; "merely requesting a portion."
"A portion of," said Harold, "cheese?"
Trevor concurred.
"Here y’are then," said Harold.

84. Inane Dialogue #003 … chalk (30 May 08)

"Happiness," said Pamela Von Carpetcheese, "is a small piece of chalk."
"How’s that then?" said Bob.
"It’s small, it’s crumbly, it comes in a variety of colours and you can write on a blackboard with it," said Pam.
"That makes no sense," said Bob.
"True enough!" conceded Pamela Von Carpetcheese.

83. Inane Dialogue #002 … tea (30 May 08)

"Eeh! I could murder a cup of tea!" said Simon O’Malley to Vlad the Prince of Darkness.
"Murder?" said Vlad. "What in Transylvania and the Hidden Yet All-Pervasive Kingdoms of the Demons of the Underworld do you mean?"
"Never mind," said Simon, who had decided he didn’t really like tea.

82. Inane Dialogue #001 … bored (30 May 08)

"I’m bored," said Fred. "Has anyone got a turnip?"
"Eh?" said Flavius Maximus, who was (evidently) troubled by the potential nature of the alleviation of Fred’s boredom by the means of a white rounded fleshy root vegetable.
"Never mind," said Fred, who had already started to think about something else.

17 May 2008

81. Happiness in Stationery (16 May 08)

On my desk at work, on the right-hand edge of an in-tray, are attached eight bulldog clips. They are spaced reasonably evenly (although not perfectly – I am not obsessive). The sight of them pleases me.

This is not related to the Nine Inch Nails song, Happiness in Slavery.

Then again…

80. Stench (16 May 08)

I’m a non-smoker. I hate the smell of the stuff. I can’t stand its acrid, lingering stench in restaurants, pubs, etc. Thank God for the ban! England is now a cleaner, fresher place.

Except…

The rows of smoking bins with stubby-out bits in Birmingham City Centre are like signalling towers!

79. Codpiece Fishpaste (16 May 08)

Codpiece fishpaste
Sounds rather unpleasant,
Does it not?
But it needn’t,
If you think about it.
If you break down the words…
Cod… piece… fish… paste…
…it is the paste of a fish made from a piece of cod,
Which,
If you think about it,
Could
(perhaps)
Be quite tasty!

78. A Dozen 50-Worders! (16 May 08)

In one day! So far! Including this one!
I may or I may not write more, but at the time of writing this, I am indeed at my dozenth… ‘dozenth’? Is that a word? Hang on, I’ll spellcheck…
Apparently not!
Neither, for that matter, is ‘spellcheck’!
Making up words!
Hurrah!

77. Drinking Tea out of a Scooby Doo Mug (16 May 08)

Tea, whilst containing caffeine, is a calm, relaxing drink, which is good for winding down at the end of a busy and perhaps stressful day. You know, working or mowing the lawn or something. Scooby Doo, however, is a bit bonkers - the pic on my mug confirms this. The irony!

76. Hadrian’s Wall (16 May 08)

Built by the Roman Emperor Hadrian, Hadrian’s Wall is a wall (or it was) which stretches (or did) across the English countryside, from east to west (or, if you like, from west to east), somewhere up north. It was built to keep out the barbarian hordes. Or something. Pretty impressive.

75. Eighties Charity Record (16 May 08)

We are, as some popstars once said, the world.
But are we really?
I mean, I’m not. Not literally.
But we, as a collective, the entire human race…
Are we the world?
I suppose, in a sense, we are.
But then again…
When all’s said and done…
We’re not really.

74. The Auditors (16 May 08)

They come into your office. They audit. But what do they really do?

They sit at your desks, take up your time, they ask for documents, fiddle with their spreadsheets…

They brandish their laptops like Shields of Truth.

Or something.

But what do they really do?

Buggered if I know!

73. Still Spring Water (16 May 08)

George the scientifically-inclined schoolboy examined the small plastic bottle, in which was ostensibly contained half a litre of the cool, colourless liquid known as ‘water.’ He unscrewed the lid and tentatively took a sip. He swilled it round his gob and swallowed.

"Yep," he declared proudly; "it’s still spring water!"

72. Max Payne Cheers Up (16 May 08)

"I don’t think it helps," said Max Payne’s therapist, "that you are stuck with a surname like ‘Payne.’"
"Do you think?" said Max Payne, as he frowned and pondered over the dark pit of gloom and death and loneliness that was his life.
He changed his name to Max Buttercup.

71. Lara Croft Suddenly Doesn’t Feel Like Raiding Tombs Anymore (16 May 08)

"And where do you think you are going, dressed like that?" said Lara’s mum.
"I’m off to a series of exotic locations to seek treasure and arcane knowledge which has been hidden for centuries from the eyes of mere humans!"
"Like heck you are," said Lara’s mum.
Lara sat down.

70. Sonic the Hedgehog is Brought Painfully Down to Earth by His Mum (16 May 08)

"Stop spinning!" said Sonic’s mum. "You’re making me dizzy."
"But I have to spin!" said Sonic. "It is my destiny!"
"Destiny my prickly arse," said Sonic’s mum. "Next you’ll be telling me you were put on this Earth to fight evil wherever it rears its ugly bonce."
"Erm…" said Sonic.

69. Cheddarina (16 May 08)

"What’s your name?" said the boy to the girl, who he bumped into whilst walking across the field of buttercups.
"Cheddarina," said the girl, with a sweetly shy smile.
"That’s a funny name," said the boy.
"Oh put a sock in it," said Cheddarina, who skipped off across the field.

68. What’s the point of writing 50-worders? (16 May 08)

Focus!
Precision!
No superfluity!
Learning new words like "superfluity"!
And it’s always nice if the piece has a nice shape.
Like the gentle swell of the side of a hill, for example.

Or maybe just
A simple block
Of words like
This one here.

But above all else…
It’s fun!

67. Kingdom (16 May 08)

The things people do in His name…
…this man of peace, forgiveness, tolerance…
……the things people have done.
The things people have done in His name…
…war, Inquisition, murder, rape…
……the things people do.

In the name of the Almighty!
In the name of Jesus Christ!
Forever and ever.

amen

09 May 2008

66. Define (8 May 08)

Who are you?
I am a plumber.
But who are you?
I am Dave the plumber.
But who are you?
What do you mean?
Beneath Dave… beneath the plumber… who are you?
I am a husband and a father of three.
But who… beneath everything… are you?
I don't understand.

65. Freedom! (8 May 08)

Imagine…
Being free of all things…
Everything…
Losing all of your attachments…
Could you be satisfied, fulfilled?
With nothing?
With truly no-thing?
No clothes…
……no money…
………no property…
…………no games console…
……………no TV…
…….………no phone…
…………………no connection to the World Wide Web…
No connection…
…to anything.
Could you be happy?

64. Blank Post-Its (8 May 08)

Would you just rip them off whatever they are stuck to?
Crumple them up and throw them away?
Or would they make you think?
Stop… consider… reflect…
Would you think about their inherent potential, the words that could exist thereon?
Would you write on them? Would you fear their emptiness?

09 April 2008

63. Zeroes/Ones (9 Apr 08)

The noise! The clamour! Chaos!

Peace……

Crowds of interesting, vibrant, good-humoured people!

A bubble of calm……

The external! The "out there"! The buzz! The connection!

Within……

A fusion of senses! Touching, hearing, seeing!

The empty silence of the soul……

All things! Potential! Multitudinous experience!

Drifting…

Mindless…

Calm…

Through endless space……

03 March 2008

62. “Tomorrow Never Comes” (3 Mar 08)

Not true. It does. Only when tomorrow comes, it becomes today. That’s not to say, however, that what was tomorrow yesterday does not arrive today. It just arrives having undergone a process of conversion from "tomorrow" to "today." And tomorrow it will be "yesterday." And so on and so forth.

16 February 2008

61. Farting in a Lift (16 Feb 08)

Not a good idea.
Enclosed space. Quiet.
Impossible to hide the shame!
The burning… the silent accusing…
And upon exit…
The lingering guilt.
Whodunit…?
Youdunit!

Unless, of course…
You take pride in your emissions.
You delight in your gaseous expulsions.
In which case…
Fart, fart, fart, fart and fart again!