Wise Words

“Give up on yourself. Begin taking action now, while being neurotic or imperfect, or a procrastinator, or unhealthy, or lazy, or any other label by which you inaccurately describe yourself. Go ahead and be the best imperfect person you can be and get started on those things you want to accomplish before you die.”
-Shoma Morita


(h/t Andrew Sullivan, who got it from Oliver Burkeman, who, I assume, got it from Morita)

They Used To Call Tom Gordon "Flash"

But his attitude about flash fiction was unknown.

The 52/250 clock has rolled over again, and my story for this week's theme, "Floating Away", is here

A Violent 100: "He Wouldn't Dare"

Velvet Verbosity is the progenitor of the 100 Word Challenge- accept no imitations! This week's word is "Stabbed", and my contribution is called "He Wouldn't Dare"







"Stabbed", she thought. You often hear it in reference to something else- "my headache feels like I'm being stabbed in the eye", or "I have these stabbing pains in my back". But that's not really right. Nothing feels like being stabbed. There's the pain. But there's the wrongness of it, also- it feels unusual, and vaguely not real- an experience far outside what you usually feel.

She looked at the handle of the knife, sticking out of her belly, then up at Roger. He had said he would, and he looked surprised that he actually had.

It's All About Flash

The fine folks at the 52/250 Flash have compiled another quarterly review, which contains a contribution from yours truly located here

The Year In Pictures, Part Three: Here Comes The Sun

The Year in Pictures, Part Two: City of Townsville

City of Townsville, and it's raining.

Post 2200: The Year In Pictures, Part One

Sadly, this is only some of my pens. I have a really unhealthy fascination with pens, owning far more than I need or should have.

The Flash: "To Be Fair"

The 52/250 Flash has rotated another cycle around the sun. Almost. This week's theme is "spontaneous combustion", and my entry, "To Be Fair", is located ici.

100 Words: "Learning To Read"

Velvet Verbosity hosts the 100 word challenge here, and, in her spare time, negotiates Mideast peace. This week's prompt is "Spirit", and my entry is called "Learning To Read".









What's that word?" It was his constant refrain these days.

"That says "Wine and Spirits"," I told him.

"What that mean?"

"That tells us what this store sells."

"Which one we gettin?"

"We're going to get a bottle of wine."

"Why?"

"Mommy asked me to. She needs to bring it to a grownup party."

"There be presents?"

"No, buddy." I didn't think I could explain to him that being an adult meant you had to go to parties and pretend to like people because your boss was there.

"That sounds boring."

"It is, pal. I assure you."

It's way past Friday, but the Flash is the Flash

The 52/250 Flash is located at 52250flash.wordpress.com. This week's theme is "Silence", and my story, "Still Small Voice", is here.

This Seems Apropos

A video using digital tools to retell the nativity story. Very clever, I thought.

A Post That Will Almost Certainly Get Me Into Trouble

Since I can't think of anything useful to say, I figured I should get myself into loads of trouble by updating my Top Five Celebrity Crush list. 

1.Aditi Roy from NBC Philadelphia

2.Christine Woods, most recently of ABC's "Flash Forward"

3.Nataly Dawn from Pomplamoose, aka The Girl On The Hyundai commercial

4. Sela Ward

5. And, of course, Flo from Progressive.

Kevin Smith On Life

Film director Kevin Smith with a mini monologue on the meaning of life, originally posted on Twitter but collected into more coherent form on his blog here. Well worth your time, IMHO.

(Fair warning- Smith is a potty mouth, so I would have to consider this link NSFW. But if that sort of thing really offends you, I'm not sure why you're reading this, frankly.)

100 Words: It's All An Act

The 100 Words Challenge, elegantly hosted, run, and ruled over benevolently by Velvet Verbosity over here, is the leading online 100 word challenge since the battle of Austerlitz. This week's word is "Act" and my entry is called, "It's All An Act".







I did something wrong, and she came to fix it for me. I watched her work, her fingers dancing over the keys in a rehearsed rhythm. It was something simple, but in the intense bureaucracy we worked in, this was something she could do, and I couldn't. She was so beautiful, I had trouble breathing when she was nearby, with her jet black hair, gentle tan skin, and hourglass figure concealed by thick clothes because of the wintry conditions we worked in. I was in love with her, and she had no idea.

"What?", she said.

"Nothing," I lied.

Flash Fishing!

The Friday Flashes are up! This week's theme is "Missed The Bus", and my sports-themed story, "I'd Rather Be Fishing", can be found here