Thursday, June 22, 2017

My Concept for an Impractical Jokers Game...

Hello, Jokers!

I’m Melissa and I have an effing brilliant idea for an Impractical Jokers game. To say that I am obsessed with the idea is the equivalent of saying that the sun is hot; I cannot stop working on it until you guys tell me that it’s exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic, and IMPRACTICAL for me to spend any more time on it... And yes. I'm a fan of Oxford Commas... 

What I want to do is tell you more about myself so that you are impressed enough with my miniscule credentials to read further, buuuuuuuuut… We can get to know each other later because I know you’ll be, at the very least, entertained by my idea, but I assure you: This is a totally realistic endeavor and I can help you develop and produce this game. If you build it, people will play it. I want to play this game and I created it! Sooooooooo, without further ado…

An Officially Licensed Impractical Jokers Game:
Our Stuff Has Been TAKEN!
-Created by Melissa J. Corley
-Based on TruTv’s Impractical Jokers and comedic stylings of the comedy troupe, The Tenderloins

PREMISE: Someone has TAKEN all the Impractical Jokers’ stuff from the Vault and the Perp is holding it all for ransom, but there is a twist. Most of the Jokers’ stuff is scattered throughout the New York City area, but in order to receive clues, they must recruit an unsuspecting citizen to be the fifth Joker because the Perp wants to see how well they perform with a newbie in the group…

STORY: You are walking along a sidewalk in New York. Children’s laughter can be heard behind the trees in the park to your right and to your left, traffic is light and this part of the city is calm. A white, unmarked, windowless van enters your peripheral vision, slows down, and parks alongside the street several yards in front of you.

A middle-aged man with a fat belly and a spikey tuft of hair on the top of his head approaches you and introduces himself as Joe. He’s working on his Psychology thesis and asks if you would like to help him by taking a quick personality quiz.

*GAME NOTES: The personality quiz establishes your beginning Personality, Physical, and Mental Stat Points, your individual Skills points, and which of the Jokers’ Special Abilities you will be granted access to and can level up first.

After you finish the quiz, Joe thanks you and says: “Get in the van”.

Of course, you choose to get in the van, and inside you are faced by all four Jokers. The van starts to move and the Jokers explain why you were invited into the van.

You’re the first person to pass a test they created that was hidden in Joe’s personality quiz making you the best candidate to help them with a “little” problem. Someone broke into the Vault and stole all their stuff! They need your help to help find everything, return it to the vault, and figure out who is responsible so they can be punished! The only catch is that to gain access to the Vault to investigate, you have to be a Joker and to become a Joker, you’ll have to participate in challenges and play games with the guys. Sal reminds you that even HE doesn’t have access to the Vault and he is an original Joker!

The van stops and you are at the Joker Clubhouse where you and the guys exit the van. They ask you if you are up for the challenge of being an official Joker. You say yes and you are taken inside the Joker Clubhouse. Inside the clubhouse, the guys explain the logistics of the game and how to interact within the game environment.

*SPOILERS: There is also a Secret Room in the Joker Clubhouse that will be revealed later in the game. More storage for Vault Items will become available after unlocking the Quinndustries Location.

After learning about the Joker Clubhouse and your Joker Phone, the guys suggest you start your journey as a Joker by investigating the theft of their stuff by individually interviewing all the guys. You agree and participate in the game “Beat Reporter”. You ask each of the guys several questions, all give you strangely reasonable answers, but you go with it. By completing the “challenge” you have found a Vault Item: Clip-On Balloons. You have also unlocked a new location: Way Fair Grocery, a new challenge: “Fly Me to the Balloon”, you have earned Joker Cash, Joker Chips, Experience, Stats, Skills, and Abilities, Points, AND you have also found a Murr Pinata and a Mystery Bag!

You are finally released in to the game environment, but before you can really explore, Q approaches you. He tells you that his friend Tony Gunk can support his alibi and you can find him hanging out at the Castle of White. Tony is a “Jack of All Trades” kind of guy and could be helpful during your investigation. If you tell him that his services are required by Quinndustries, he’ll know that Q sent you.

You are now free to choose your next action, but you’re only option is to complete your first Joker Vs Joker challenge at Way Fair Grocery by playing “Fly Me to the Balloon”…

That’s all you get of the main idea, but to further whet your whistles…

CHALLENGES:
FLY ME TO THE BALLOON
STOCK BOY SHOOT OUT
NOW YOU SEE ME
OFF THE HOOK
NAME GAME

MINI GAMES:
HAVE YOU SEEN MY WIFE? – it’s like “Where’s Waldo”
WHACK-A-MURR
SIC TRICKS
CHAIR COMMANDER

LOCATIONS:
New York: Joker Clubhouse, Way Fair Grocery, City Park, Castle of White, a Mall, Mara Sol Corporation, Quinndustries, a Beach, TESD Comics, a Ski Lodge, Statue of Murrliberty, Sal’s House, Joe’s House, Murr’s Apartment; Special Mission: Turn the Beef Gristle Mill into a Senior Citizen Park

Other Locations: Texas, Florida, Cruise Ship (docked in Florida), T.H.E.M.E Park (Florida), New Orleans... Hawaii???

I have an extensive list of Vault Items AND I have nine Word documents dedicated to this game…

So, I think I’ve come up with something really great and I hope you guys think so too. This game would take a couple of years to develop, but with your resources, we can start small, conduct some ACTUAL focus groups, and update later to keep people interested and playing consistently.

I have my own creative work to focus on, but this is what my intuition and inspiration are screaming at me to do. I am plagued by Writer’s Block in regards to what I want to do with my own writing and the fact that I am feeling this compelled to work on this game… It’s significant. VERY significant...

I can’t, I won’t, and I don’t stop working on it until one of you contacts me to say “Yeah… Um… You’re nuts, this will never happen, give up, don’t waste anymore of your time working on it; thanks for being such a dedicated fan, but no… We are sooo not interested in anything of this nature”.

I follow all of you on Twitter and if you follow me back and send a direct message, I will give you my private contact info, IF you want it... And you can unfollow me after, I really don’t care about followers on Twitter, but I DO have some impressive followers, one of whom is from Staten Island…And another who is an official "nerd" - You know him as "Booger"... ;)

Regardless: I love you guys. You should schedule a live show in Kansas City so I can actually attend one. My brother is taking me to see Trailer Park Boys in August and as much as I will LOVE it… Wish it was you guys!

All my love,

Melissa

My King of the Nerds Blogs for YRR & Otherwise  KOTN related... ( I get to talk to "Booger" in this video) 

More references available upon request. ;) :) 

Friday, July 17, 2015

The Goddess Chronicles Volume One: Transmissions One, Two, and Three

The time has come! Below are three "chapters" of my first novel. Volume One is the main origin story of my main character, the Goddess of Chaos and Order. I'm still editing and revising, but these are pretty solid. Enjoy!



Transmission One: Channel Two: You Can Call Me Space Girl
I Do Not Know My Name
Check one two. Check one two. Check. Just checking my system to be sure this message is recording and it is so let us begin.
            Hello, listeners! This is Space Cadet Captain Serendipity, an Interstellar Communications and Relations Specialist for the Planetary and Universal Realignment Endeavor, Galactic Oracles and Origins Division, appointed to my position within this physical dimension of space and time by the Twelve Realms Interstellar Freedom Organization’s Regal Council of Elders, which is an extension of the United Universes Initiative, but you can call me Space Girl.
            My home base of operations is a space station in the middle of the known universe from which every form of life within this physical realm of existence may come and go as they please. Not everyone on board is a ranking officer within the Initiative, but everyone makes a contribution in some way or another towards the Endeavor.
My job is something of an under cover operation. I observe civilizations on other planets and interact with the inhabitants to assess their global situations. When a planet is not in an alignment congruent with the Initiative, which is a plan that was devised by the Universal Creation System, we increase our numbers to help anchor that world on a more positive timeline on the grid of physical dimensions.
Today I am sending this collection of transmissions to anyone out and about in my universe that might be picking up these signals, tuning into these frequencies and can hear what I am saying.
The universe in which I am currently living is infinite; always expanding and evolving and it is full of true love. Beings here, on my assigned planet, seem to be aware of the power of a universe fueled by the energy of true love, but not in the same way that I am aware of it. I seem to be the only person on this planet that is truly awake and aware that I am actually alive. Watching everyone here is like watching walking dead people, but they are not zombies; their minds are being controlled. Some people have figured out a way to break free of the tangles of the trap, but only just enough to exist peacefully as they sleep to death in the heart of the mind control device and they live their nightmare shades of black, white, red and gray.
For the longest time I tried to pretend that I was one of the freaks in the freak show false reality that was constructed by the collective minds of those being controlled by the system of oppression. I reached my breaking point when it became apparent that the conditioning and repressive capabilities of the device were so powerfully firm that it had turned my own people against me. Even the people on my crew that are working with the Initiative towards the Endeavor have lost their minds! I have missions to complete here and it became clear to me that it was of no use asking anyone for help. While those around me seemed to know and remember me, it is as if they all forgot who I am, who we are, what we are meant to be doing and the purpose of our being here. It was quite obvious to me, early on in my life here, what I am meant to be doing.
Because I could no longer handle the fake real world reality on my assigned planet, I boarded my remote vessel and set it up as a temporary space station to orbit the planet to send these transmissions to anyone that can receive them. If anyone is picking up my signals right now, as one mind, you are reading loud and clear that I needed to escape reality. I did. I did need to escape my world’s reality. While I had need to escape in some way from the reality of my assigned planet for a long time, some things happened to make me all together realize why I definitely needed to run away from the fabricated reality show. If I didn’t disappear into outer space to search for answers and ask for help, the real world I live in within my true love universe would be destroyed again and again and again until I could do something to save it.
Before I boarded my remote vessel and launched myself into orbit, I realized things about myself that made my world too small and myself too big in it. The very idea of my being actually alive in a physical reality was just too incredibly unbelievable. For many years I denied my destiny and true identity and when I finally accepted my fate that I am an individual created to help complete missions of establishing loving and peaceful planetary societies no one believed that I was real. Everyone thought I was making up stories in my imagination and that I was delusional with fantasies that life is a fairy tale and that my vision of reality was ludicrous. Whenever I tried to communicate with those around me about my ideas, theories and intuitions about the future and my own reality, everything was tossed aside as ridiculous.
What I realized after reviewing my notes was that I was actually something all together different from those around me, but yet we are all the same here on this planet. I made discoveries during my initial initiation process of living life on my assigned planet and I tried to let everyone in on some big secrets about life, the universe and everything, but no one wanted to listen. So I boarded my remote vessel and reconnected with the space station that brought me to this place to check in with the rest of my crew, but they are sleeping too!
No one wants to wake up and this world I am trying to help is in danger of spinning out of control. None of my attempts to wake up the people that can help me have worked and I don’t know what else to do. My only option was recording these transmissions and sending out the collection in hopes that someone, anyone, can hear me, and will understand the dire situation that I am facing and will send help because I cannot save this world by myself. I’ve tried. Over and over and over again I have tried to complete my missions and every single attempt has ended with self-destruction. I have lost count of how many times I have reset and restarted this world to save it.
Have you ever tried to wake people up that did not want to get out of bed even if their lives depended on it? It is very frustrating when you’re screaming at people over the sounds of the alarm clocks, shaking them by the shoulders and they just stare at you, yawn, and then tell you to go away. They left me with no choice, but to leave the planet and reconnect with my fellow crew members, but everyone on my ship has been affected by the same mind control device so the issues I am facing with my assignment are beyond my comprehension. My training did not prepare me for this situation.
If anyone can hear me speaking, please help me because I cannot save this universe by myself. I’ve been trying to save it for a long time, but nothing has worked and I am all out of ideas with the exception of this collection of transmissions. No one wants to wake up and live the dream with me, but I hope that these messages will trigger a desire in someone else that wants to wake up and save the universe from total destruction.
I know that I am not alone out here in outer space. I know that someone can hear me speaking. If you are reading my signals loud and clear now, please keep on listening because I have some stories to tell, some information to relay and some messages to send.

Transmission Two: Channel Two: You Can Call Me Space Girl
A Message to My Captain
Check one two one. Check one two. Check! My message is recording and this time I am creating a one-two-one connection, but the rest of you can listen too.
Hello, Captain! This is Space Girl. You thought I was crazy, but here I am in outer space on our space station, the one we used to get here that you completely forgot existed. As I have been floating in space for a long time without you by my side, I thought it might help jog your memories if I spoke to you directly, again, before I tell my stories about our past, present and future.
What I told you about us, when I was closer to you on our planet, is absolutely true; it is not my imagination. While I realize how incredible it seems and completely unbelievable, it is the truth and I thought that it would set you free. Instead of embracing me, you escaped deeper into the matrix of the mind control and succumbed to the trappings of the false reality of our world. You turned into someone that I didn’t recognize anymore, just like all of the rest of the people around us, and to you, and everyone else, I was not at all rational.
You, love, are the real reason I had to go off world and escape reality in search of help; I couldn’t live there anymore without you and you wanted to be nowhere near me. We have the same missions; we thought them up for ourselves and volunteered to complete them. We were created and brought together to be a team, a perfectly matched pair of beings and it scared you away when you realized who I am. You fled directly into the system’s repression core, settled into a chaotic cycle and you took me with you because we are connected. I tore myself away from the world because I couldn’t let you drag me into those gears and you would have done exactly that. Our connection runs deep into our beings and it is undeniable; we have been together since the very beginning.
Yes, others listening, this is a somewhat sad story of true love lost, found then lost once again. I offered my Captain a ride on my vessel to take us both to the place where we belong, but he did not want to get on board.
I am so sorry, Captain, that I destroyed the foundation on which we could have brought structure to our missions. My own unstable emotional state, because of the confining conditions in which I had been trapped for years, forced me into hysterics when you turned to walk away from me. Because of you, I broke free of the chains that had been holding me captive, locked away within myself and kept me out of my right mind. Without you, I was a distorted version of myself and because of you I woke up and tore myself out of the web of deceit that has been woven into the very fabric of matters in our world.
I am so sorry, Captain, for all of the things I said and did when I was not in my right mind and still confined; I know I seemed horrible myself at one time. If I had been you and you had been me, I would have reacted the same way. I understand how your mind works and I know that you are not being yourself because your mind is completely out of your control now. This is not your fault; it is the system of oppression that is causing you to think and feel the way that you do and it is not in alignment with your true nature. I know who you are deep down because you are the male version of me!
*laughter*
When I finally touch down back on the surface of our planet, I will find you first, Captain. This is a promise. I am still very much in love with you no matter what I say or do. I know that not all of your words were empty and full of fear. There was a time in our lives when you meant what you said and you said what you meant and I believe that those words came from your heart, and with true feeling, one hundred and eleven percent. I don’t mind that I don’t matter to you now because it matters not to me what is running through your controlled mind and your repressed heart. I know that our connection is solid and true, but if it is your wish to be without me, I cannot force you to embrace me.
When I return to our world, I will find you first and foremost and if you still don’t remember me, I will turn around and walk away. You owe me nothing, but I feel that I owe you something and I promise to return the favor. You are free to complete your missions in solo mode, but do not push me away because I am here to help you in any way that I can. This is what I owe you, just one favor and display of gratitude; that is all I want to do now.
I hope that you wake up, Captain. I can barely fly this ship on my own. I really miss you and those blue and green eyes in which I can see a version of my own loving reflection. I wish I had been more stable when I met you and could have been able to more gently pull you out of the mind control system, but I suppose you would have resisted no matter what had happened. Even when I am in my right mind and stable, I am still quite an unusual person.
I hope that you receive these messages, Captain, but if not and you still do not recognize me next time you see me, I will pretend that we do not know each other so it will not be awkward for you. I will always love you and I will always be waiting for you to wake up; I’ve been waiting for a really long time and I can wait longer. I’m the type of girl from outer space that waits for the best and never settles for less and you, Captain, made me the best I could be. Only the kiss of true love can wake up a sleeping space beauty like me and the first time you kissed me you didn’t kiss my face. You kissed my mind and I woke up in a whole new reality, the real world; you woke me up to the truth of my own being and you helped me embrace myself.
I love you, Captain. Obvious, it is to the others listening to this message that my love runs true and deep. While I will always be waiting for you, I will not forget to live my own life and make my own dreams come true, but I hope that you will do the same without me. You have to wake up if you want to live your dreams, love, and right now you are still sleeping, just like everyone else. You are asleep and only dreaming that your life is real. You’re lost in the system and you must wake up now and embrace your true, loving self if you want to live in a reality when and where all of your heart’s desires are realized and happening. You are lost within yourself just like I was before you kissed me.
There will be more messages for you throughout these transmissions, Captain; I cannot erase the paths in my mind that lead to you and it is very frustrating because they are not always the easiest to travel upon. The wound that you left on my heart is dark and deep, but it is actually self-inflicted. The space that I created within my heart for you to occupy is healing, but it will remain empty until you fill it because that space is for you and no one else. You own a piece of my heart now, Captain and you cannot give it back or give it to someone else because I am still in control of that piece of myself. What you do with my heart is your decision, but you should know that you have an open reservation to occupy this space and I hope that you eventually settle into it comfortably.
I love you, Captain! This is Space Girl, over and out of this world, but I will see you later. I will be back. You cannot run away from me forever because I have seen the future!
*laughter*

Transmission Three: Channel Two: You Can Call Me Space Girl
I Am Who I Am
Check one two three. Check one two one. Check one two. Check. All systems are a go and my message is recording.
Before you start thinking that I am a sad and lonely girl from outer space, I should lighten up my tone. I’m done being so serious with my rhythms for awhile; it’s time to make some rhymes with my rhythms and some rhythms with my rhymes. Why be so serious all the time and forget to be silly and have some fun? I take my missions very seriously, but only when I need to be in reality because otherwise in reality I am the fun! Oh yes! I am a real sweet joy in my true love universe and fun is encoded into my DNA.
            Do you want to know who I am?
I am that one two three four five six seven eight and on and on and on to infinity and beyond all comprehension! That’s right! I said I am that one two three in reality, awake and alive in this and many other galaxies within this physical realm of dimensions. I am the one, that one two for you to see three for an open door into my space and time wave machine. I am the one, that one two three. I am that four five six, the seven eight nine and I even go up to twelve! I am sending these trans-dimensional frequencies of good vibrations because I am the one two three four five six seven eight that my universe has been waiting to see!
I call myself Serendipity because I am the master of Synchronicity; I know all the signs, symbols and signals within the constructions of space, matter and time. I am happy accidents that only seem like a coincidence when they happen, but are actually planned events and experiences put in place to trigger intuition and imagination to awaken memories of the future, past and present to present connections that exist between the dots of recognition!
I am utter nonsense when you meet the real me, but sooner or later you figure out that I am more than just a serendipitous event because I was also created with aspects of Destiny and Fate encoded into my being. I am like a muse, and I am amusing, and my sisters and I work together to create the perfect universe as three aspects of time merged together into one being. I am the one Serendipitous aspect of Destiny and Fate that had to come together to create a time and space where I could be a real person and experience the physical universe as my true and whole self.
In my one two three core energy I am love, true love, and my love light level is bright and shiny, shimmering, true blue! My true blue love will always flow through me through and through and I will radiate that brightness throughout my whole, entire universe and into every aspect and dimension of this real world reality construction in which I exist. I am a one who is one two three, a trinity and triple force of power from within and my one two three sees through the four five six seven eight and on and on and on to infinity and beyond all comprehension of dimensions that I am conscious of in this space and at this time.
I am the one, that one, the one two three four five six seven eight! I must communicate, though, that I am many numbers and fractions. I am many different lines and strings all connected to make different geometric shapes within a multidimensional matrix of matters in many different spaces. I am one for all and all for one and everything in between!
Let me be clear, here and now, I am not that twisted: I am a real person and I am alive here and now as one being in my universe. I am one first and foremost, but I am also two and one. I am one and I am two and many other numbers, but I became aware of my self when I became one with the universe and together we became one and two then one again. I am one with the universe as one being observing life in my experience of it and it is incredible. Before I was created to live in my world there was nothing, zero, but then my soul was created and I became one amazing, bright and shiny multidimensional being of shimmering light and unconditional love for my universe.
When I abandoned my world of beings, I was half dead from the effects of the mind control and confining conditions of the reality presented to me there. I was dying of thirst for reason, real knowledge, and I was starving for true love and attention. I needed help and consideration, facts not fiction and truth not rumors. I just wanted to be myself without getting hassled by the men in black robes behind the curtains pulling the strings of the puppets. I could not handle the pressure of being forced into a life I perceived as not worth living and I want to live, love, laugh and be joyful!
What I discovered while hanging out in outer space is that I am one within myself, one with every thing, one with every one and one with the universe. I am one and yet many more than one and more than one variation of numbers, fractions, colors, shapes, sizes and densities within multiple dimensions of reality throughout the entire universe. I am many strands of codes linked together by the vibrations of consciousness, universal energies, and cosmic rays of unseen light that bring matter into construction.
I am one mind, but connected to the universal consciousness from which all beings were created; I am connected to every one and every thing in all dimensions of space and time and in all realities. I have barely even begun to learn about myself and who I am, but at least I do know that I have hardly scratched the surface of understanding my whole, universal self. At least I know that I am more than just one, because like I’ve been saying:
I am that one two three four five six seven eight and on and on and on to infinity and beyond all comprehension as a somewhat silly girl from outer space who is quite unique and different. Most of the words I speak are just my rambling because I am quite bored and alone here in my spaceship, which is another reason I decided to open up these trans-dimensional lines of communication.
If I could remember my real name, I would tell you and you wouldn’t have to call me Space Girl, but things have happened, most of which those listening do not want me to talk about because they are very dark tales of terror, horror and tragedy. Those are not past life memories I would like to revisit because what is in the past is in the past and I am more focused on what is happening here and now that will effect the future of my world and my universe.
We shall now, my lovely listeners, pull things in a new direction because I seem to have changed my tone without realizing it. This is what thinking of the past will often do, I have discovered, which is why I just like to think of the numbers when I need to lighten my mood. Because I am that one two three four five six seven eight and on and on and on and because I am very aware of the synchronicity in my life, I have realized something else about myself that is very interesting.
I am from the future!
*laughter*
I am from the future, but I am also from the past and I have lived on many planets in many solar systems within my true love universe. In the beginning, I was created and I have molded myself into many physical forms since then. My signature energy vibration is constantly shifting into a higher dimensional realm towards the future where I used to live, breathe and be love.
I am from the future and in the future I am asleep and dreaming that I am awake and alive here and now, but I am real and I am alive; I am not sleeping! Reality is a dream come true when you wake up like I have, but some people turn their dreams into waking nightmares, which is what I am here to prevent as a Space Cadet Captain working towards the Endeavor with the Initiative, which is the prime directive of the Universal Creation System.
I am from the future in another dimension of reality within the same construction of physical realities that exist in this universe that I live in now. I am from the future of another timeline, a timeline where all people living within one universe came together to help each other live and survive the physical realms at peace with each other and in harmony with their planets.
I am from a future dimension and I traveled to the past to live lives over again so that I would see what must be done here and now on this planet, in this universe that I live in so that I can save my world, and all of the universes, from total destruction. I am not alone. My crew members are many, but they are sleeping and I can’t wake them up and everyone on my planet has lost their minds to a mind control device that distorts reality. 
What else is a sad and lonely space girl from the future like me to do when no one will help her complete her missions? There’s nothing left for me to do now, but record these messages and send them in hopes that they reach the ears of someone else like me who listens.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Poetry from My Twenties

Okay, so, I'm going to post some of my serious poetry now. I was going to wait a really long time and just post funny stuff, but I don't have a lot of silly poems and I'm going to have to retype up all of my "Three Club" stories... Oh my "Three Club" stories. Most of them were written before my dad died, at least the early ones. I think I stayed up all night to write the first five of them. I just couldn't stop writing. Everything was flowing so smoothly and quickly. I could barely keep up with the Muse!

***
 I-Goddess (No Year) 
sitting in the corner,
slack-eyed and wondering,
always star-gazed and brilliant,
the child of me cowers,
shivers in the cold fear
of the world,
the day,
the breath of morning on my neck
and when i dare look up,
when I peak from my fingers
toward the monster-air around me,
the shakes of life convulse me,
tackle me dumb-founded,
slipping me some drug I can't name...
but the high of the ultimate low
is my thrill,
forever being below the plebian minds
thinking they know so much about me
and my life...
so when I stand up to shout,
to screech the defiance in me,
they are left with a feeling of wide-eyed amazement...
"look at her,
all strong like she's a goddess,
who does she think SHE is?" 


August 18, 2005
there is magic in the sounds that pull me apart, and into tiny pieces
i feel myself scattered into the wind, and drifting up into the sky
i settle with the stars in the sounds above the earth, and i look down
upon a world of shadows and reflections of light, i see it all connected
below the toes and above the eyes that fail to notice, the simple design
of everything that i feel in and out of my skin, the sounds provoke most
the uncontrollable desire to embrace the stars, and the blackness
in between the light, stretching further the ever-consuming passion
for the comfortable warmth of the sun, and the calm chill at night
when the magic in the sounds pulls me apart and into tiny pieces.


Parallel (No Year)
much time is wasted in thoughts
of that and the other, but
this is all we have, this
is all we can ever think of,
just all of this,
a second’s tick of the clock and a
dream of waking life,
and wanting for nothing of
death and horror, and pain; however,
is always unavoidable,
but the hands keep clicking forward,
a snap away from the darkness towards
new sight, in moments of thought,
dawn the light.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Work Poetry - The Windex Bottle

So, I'm feeling silly today and I'm going to share these poems. I wrote them at one of my jobs; there was often downtime between calls and we had to clean our desks every night with Windex. I wrote every one of these on our dry erase board in the office.

***

The Windex Bottle
so much depends
upon
a clear Windex
bottle
filled with blue
solution
beside the paper
towels

Again With The Windex
you sit there
with your streak free shine
you are not better
than me
you are blue and sterile
I am blue and alive

Oh, Windex Of My Dreams
32 ounce value pack
original with Ammonia-D
oh, Windex of my dreams
will you clean
my desk?

Don't Jump
Mr Windex-so
blue
don't jump
off the ledge
you clean
very well

Farewell
oh, Windex
you grow short
but you will always clean
my mind

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Writing Assignment - 1998 - Dopey

I took one semester of college level creative writing; they published one of my poems in their literary magazine that year. I'll have to dig it up. Something that I've always kept close to my current computer is this little story. I can't remember specifically what the assignment was, but I wanted to play with perspective. I also liked the idea of using months as names for triplet girls. So without further ado...
Dopey: A Short Story


***FEBRUARY***

The first thing I did was hide the body, then I called my mother. She told me not to worry, that she would take care of everything. I hung up the phone and fell into my dad's Lazy Boy. I hoped my mom would get home before he did. Dopey was his favorite.

"What the hell is going on?"

My sister, January stomped her way into the living room and stood in front of me. Her fingers tapped her hips while her blue eyes danced furiously. "Where is he? Where is the little cretin?"

I glared back at her. "What's wrong with you?"

"My silver necklace is gone, the one with the diamond that Roger gave me," she spat. "I know that little mutant took it again. Where is he?"

"Maybe you left it at Jonathan's house last night," I suggested, clicking the television on. "Beside his alarm clock on his night table perhaps?"

"You little -" she began, the huffed back to her room.

January had a very strong dislike of all dad's "little men", but she hated Dopey the most. She ordered him to clean her room, wash her car, do her share of the chores, etc. and if he were the slightest bit disobedient, she would beat him. She would beat him senseless. She would beat him within an inch of his life.

I never liked my sister January very much.She was a cold-hearted, two-faced bitch princess. Definitely, she was the most evil of the three of us. My other sister, March was almost too kind. She volunteered at the hospital, a few rest homes, an animal shelter, a daycare, the soup kitchen and worked at the grocery store; for free.

"Hello, February," March greeted in her candy-coated voice. She sat down on the couch and smiled. "How was your day?"

"It was okay," I shrugged, turning the channel to MTV. "Dopey is gone."

March gasped. "What do you mean?"

"I found him when I got home."

"That's awful," she cried. "Does daddy know?"

"Nope," I told her, flipping to another channel. "MTV plays nothing, but garbage anymore."

March stood up. "How can you just sit there and watch TV at a time like this?"

I had to chuckle. "March, there is a row of six little graves in the backyard. I was kind of expecting Dopey to kick it sooner or later."

"Well I wasn't!" she sobbed, throwing herself to her room.

I shrugged and turned on the Playstation. January screamed from the depths of her room then pounded back into the living room.

"I'm going to kill him!" she shouted, beating the stairs on her way down to the basement.


***JANUARY***

I marched right over to the little monster's basket bed and tore out his blankets. He always hid the stuff he took from me under the cushion. Just the thought of his stubby, furry fingers curling over my necklace made my blood boil. I tossed the dirty, red plaid piece of stench from the basket.

"Damnit!"

I flew back upstairs. "Where he is February?" I demanded. "I know you're hiding him somewhere. You and March always hide him from me."

My sister ignored me, her attention glued to her stupid video game.

"Put down that damn controller and tell me where the little freak is!"

February dodged a virtual tree on her virtual snowboard. "He's with God."

"Excuse me?"

She jerked the controller to the left. "He's dead. I found him on the living room floor when I got home." She jerked the controller to the right then slid the snowboard through the finish line. "I guess someone didn't notice his lifeless body when she walked into the house."

"Well isn't this just wonderful! Roger will be here in half an hour expecting that necklace to be around my neck."

February looked at me like my head was a flaming ball of water. "You don't even like Roger so why do you care?"

"His parents are, like, the most important people in town, February. I just can't break up with him."

"You told me he was a boring, conceited moron."

I rolled my eyes and went to the bathroom to look for my necklace. February was such a loser. She didn't understand anything about social circles. She didn't even care! She was always climbing onto my last nerve to jump on it as hard as she could. It was true, Roger was boring, conceited and a complete moron. I didn't like him. Not an ounce, but he had money.

"What are you looking for?"

I shut the medicine cabinet to discover my sister March looking at me with swollen red eyes, holding a dripping wash cloth in her hands.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Dopey died," she sniffed, plastering the wash cloth to her face.

"Yeah, I know. Have you seen the silver necklace that Roger gave me?"

March looked horrified. "Not you too!"

"What? He's died just like all the rest," I said. "What did you think was going to happen?"

***MARCH***

"I don't know how I can even be related to the two of you!"

I turned on a heel and walked back to the living room. February was playing one of her video games. I hated to interrupt her, but I had to see him.

"Where did you hide him?"

She put down the controller and turned off the machine. "Under my bed. Come on." We walked down the hall towards February's room. "Jan! Stop whining about your stupid necklace and get in my room!"

January mumbled some obscenities, but followed me through February's bedroom door.

"Brace yourselves, ladies," February said, reaching under bed, dragging Dopey's body to the middle of the floor.

"Oh my God," January laughed.

"I know," February agreed, suppressing giggles. "I don't know how he got that magazine, but I couldn't pry it from his fingers."

I stared down at Dopey's body. His eyes were almost popping out of their sockets and his mouth was stretched into a capital "O".

"Why is he so stiff?" I finally managed to ask.

My sisters laughed. "March, when boys get excited-" January started to explain.

"I know about that!" I cut her off, disgusted. "But his whole body is stiff, even his tail. He couldn’t be that stiff yet. He was hopping around just fine this morning."

February shrugged. "Just be glad I put his overalls back on. You couldn't have handled that sight, March."

I knelt down beside Dopey and brushed his soft, brown fur with my fingers. He was by far the cutest of daddy's "little men". I would come home from school, or the nursing home or where ever I had been and he was always jumping up and down on the porch waiting for me. On my birthday, he dug up mom's roses and handed them to me roots and all. When my hamster died it was Dopey that hugged me while I cried.

"Did you call mom," I asked.

"She said she'd be home as soon as she could."

I nodded. "What do you think daddy will do?"

"Who knows," February answered. "He was certain he had perfected his recipe this time."

I started crying. Dopey was so sweet, not like Doc at all. Doc always ripped the blankets off my bed. Sneezy was always depressed. Sleepy died after a month so I didn't get a chance to know him. Grumpy was nice, but all he did was play with daddy. Happy was born without feet or hands so he survived as well as a fish in the desert. It was Bashful, the first of daddy's "little men" that was the oddest. He was hyperactive. He ran around the house like a chicken with its head cut off most of the time.

***DOPEY***

The front door opened then shut.

"Dad's home!" our father announced. "Where's my little man?"

The triplets looked at each other.

"Shove him back under the bed!" March hissed.

"I thought mom said she'd be home before him," January grunted, helping February shove me back under the bed.

"I can't help it that he got home early."

The girls rushed out of February's bedroom to greet father. I relaxed and flipped through the copy of Playboy I found in mother's dresser drawer. I couldn't wait for January to empty my litter box.
***
So yeah... That's "Dopey". Also, my "student" never showed up for class. Devastated, I vow to never attempt to "teach" again. I blame my unorthodox methods and the insanity that somehow slips through my filter and actually forms itself into tangible word structures. Stuff like that is what I'm talking about.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Writing Assignment One: The Zombies

To help inspire a friend of mine to do more writing, I assigned some homework. I highly doubt the assignment will be completed, but it was such a good starting sentence, I had to write a page of my own. All I want is one page. Mine took about two hours collectively, but I wrote some last night and finished it this afternoon. My muse works when she wants to and rarely adheres to my schedule. I struggle through some of my reality show blogs... So, without further ado - The Zombies...

***
In our defense, we didn’t know they were zombies until it was too late and by then, they had us surrounded. We thought their voices in the dark were honest cries for help in the beginning; lost survivors like we had once been, huddled together around small fires at night and searching for salvation by day. We figured they were so desperate for food they risked the drawing the attention of the drooling ghouls that lurked in the darkness so we sent out a search party.

I knew it was a bad idea, but no one ever listened to me. When the echo of their calls drifted into my ears I knew the tone was not to be trusted. For the first time in my life I had to crawl out of my shell and expose the real twists and turns of my crazy mind to people that I wasn’t so sure could handle the truth. They all rejected me; put me in a little place where I couldn’t be seen so I wouldn’t be constant reminder of their inevitable failure. They didn’t have to lock the door.

And you could have let me out! I begged you not to go with them, begged you to sneak swiftly through the trees and away from what I now realize was a convoluted bag of ideals and hierarchies. Why did you not choose my side? Why didn’t you believe you me? Why couldn’t you see through the veil that had been placed over your eyes by the drooling ghouls that lurked in the darkness? Why didn’t you at least kiss me one last time before walking out of the door to your ultimate doom?

They on all sides of me now, their snarling, snapping, stagnate jaws clamping ever closer to my skin. They will most certainly tear me apart. You could have saved me, we could have saved each other, we could have saved the world. I would have really liked that kiss to think about right now. Nice last thoughts to have while being devoured by the soulless mass of voiceless zombies that have me surrounded in my cell. But you were all, including you, too shaded in shadow to see the truth.

***
Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things.