Robert Frost and the Penguin

sometimes i feel just like a gerbil running around and around on his wheel!
am i accomplishing anything with my life???!!!
im moving yes, but lets be honest im not going anywhere.
im becoming more like the mindless gerbil. blind or numb to the world beyond my day to day.

everyday its the same thing. alarm goes off. get up. get ready. walk dog. drive to work. sit at desk. proofread reports. go to water cooler. submit reports. use restroom. microwave lunch. pretend to be busy. go home. walk dog. make dinner. watch news. refill dog bowl. walk dog. go to bed. hit repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat.this cd has been played way too much. its worn out and covered in scratches. before long its going to start to skip. get up. get ready.  walk dog. drive to work. sit at  desk. proofread reports. go to water cooler. use restroom. microwave lunch. pretend to be busy. go home. walk dog. make dinner. watch news. walk dog. go to bed. hit repeat. get up. walk dog to work. sit at desk. pretend to be busy. walk dog to bed. get up. got to bed. get up. go to bed. repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat. repeat. ggggggeeeeettttt upppppppp--suddenly! my dulled senses start returning. i realize there's dog poop all over the place the dogs asleep in the empty bag of dog food, i don't smell so hot myself  most likely i've lost my job and im more than a little hungry. clean myself up feed the poor peta case and clean him and the place up as well. rents due. no money coming in. landlords gonna have to wait. i've got a stack full of blank cds.its time to take a new look at the world.i go for a walk. i real walk. not a predetermined path for animal bowel movements.a lets just see where my feet take me walk.i walk through a wooded  path. ive taken this path before it leads to a fork one way leads down a road i can walk in my sleep. the other? i've passed by millions of times, never thought much about it and now i find myself stumbling across its not so smooth terrain.time passes thoughts whirl and whirl. i shouldnt have said those things.whats the point? you cant win. i should do more. i could've tried harder. i cant believe i lost it. am i lost? does it matter? my self indulgent pity party is interrupted by the sound of music.carousel music to be precise.i think i must be imaging things.i keep walking. the music grows louder and louder.i freeze in fear until curiosity overtakes me. what choice do i have really? i have no idea where i am now.
 
the music is almost deafening and then i spot it. shinning in the sunlight this vibrant perfect carousel
.there were all the animals you could ever imagine it was the most beautiful thing i've ever seen in my entire life. why it was there never crossed my mind. i just knew i wanted to ride it. no not wanted. needed. i felt like i was ten again weightless and carefree i took off running full speed straight to it! then without a hint of warning a gentleman appeared in my path calling me to a halt. i call him a gentleman because of his attire his demeanor was less than gentlemen like he was dressed in a very formal tuxedo complete with tailcoats and spats he looked as though he'd just walked  out of a painting of some party in the 1920s and appeared somewhat annoyed. his sudden appearance startled me but he didnt appear to be surprised to see me. i managed to stutter out something that might have resembled "youwhoare?" he sighed heavily rolled his eyes and said"turn around and leave." i gave him a confused look he repeated himself louder and more forcefully. i looked at him and then the beautiful carousel.the overwhelming need to ride it spiked up again before i could take open my mouth to speak he sighed heavily again muttered something inaudible under his breath and gave me what must have been the most redundant line of his life his tone was impatient and dry" i am the operator. you may ride the carousel.if you  must but be warned once you get on you can never get off. the ride stops for no one. no matter how much you beg and plead, the ride will not stop until its time." he disappeared almost as soon as the words left his lips. where'd  he go? who was he? and why was he so insistent on me leaving? i caught a glimpse of my reflection in the carousel and stared at it until it didnt look real anymore i wasnt staring at myself i was staring into nothing my thoughts drifting. i dont have any of the  answers. i didnt before i got here. i may never have them. and this carousel is so lovely... i have to ride it! i dont care about that stupid operator! i ran towards it again and no one stopped me. i got on chose a beautiful white stallion with golden hair and the ride began. i felt the purest of joys spreading throughout my whole being! from my horse i could see all the animals more clearly some of them appeared to be wearing clothing there was a cat with a straw hat and sundress, a  monkey in cut off blue jeans and a red striped tank top and i noticed a penguin wearing spats that i hadn't seen earlier it gave me a smug grin and mouthed
"i told you so."

flexing brain muscles

still havent really pieced together what direction this blog is headed in but one of my new years resolutions was to write something worth reading so im gonna go down a few roads and see where they lead me.

loose road map going to attempt to a-z blog in april and in the meantime im going to use a few writing prompts/exercises from the write brain workbook  by bonnie neubauer to keep the posts shorter and avoid copyright infringement im not going to post the exercises  themselves just their results. if you want the exercises go buy the book. the real book.with pages and stuff. like from a book store.


next post: round 1

heroes

they come in many forms and shapes and leave such impressive footprints on the hearts and minds of many in their wake. one of  mine happens to be mister ray bradbury. there are many things i could say about him and many things have been said none of which come close to doing the man justice. if you've never read anything by him i suggest you go to your nearest retailer and pick up any and everything by him and i highly suggest everyone take an hour or so of their lives and experience the following videos you wont regret it. if you do well you're dead to me.


an evening with ray bradbury
a conversation with ray bradbury

belated new years resolutions

make new years resolutions
renew library card
use library card
be more physically fit
write something worth reading
make bucket list
start crossing them off
actually keep a new years resolution

Doubles again?

https://apps.facebook.com/saveyourtoken/

                                                                   

          Monopoly has a new contest to drum up business. They're retiring one of their classic pieces and replacing it with a new one. You can now vote to save one of the classics and vote on a replacement. Shocking! I mean those things are classic. You just don't mess with the classics! Well actually apparently Monopoly does. The game at one point had wooden peg-like pieces until they introduced their signature die-cast metal pieces. They've already retired a few pieces since the games inception in 1937 in the 1950s they decided that they had to let go of the Lantern, Purse and Rocking Horse. Most people today have probably never even heard of these pieces they certainly were not in the set I played with as a child. Well even the set I once played with has had a few cuts to the line up Howitzer and Man on Horse pieces have been put out to pasture. Parker Brothers has even added a few special edition pieces here and there notably the bag of money and the locomotive engine. There's a billion different versions of the game out there now each with their own tokens. Insert State Monopoly, Sponge Bob Monopoly, Dr. Who Monopoly etc etc etc... But for the most part the classic game has kept the same line-up: the Car, Hat, Shoe, Iron, Wheel Barrow, Battleship, Thimble and Scottie dog. One of those classic pieces is about to get a permanent vacation. Taking its place? Potentially: Toy Robot, Diamond Ring, Helicopter, Guitar or a Cat... The toy robot is cute but honestly it belongs in the sci-fi edition of the game not the classic. If one of these has to become a part of the classic game the diamond ring seems more fitting to me just because it echos the era of the games origins. But in all honesty the cat will probably win. You know EOE they've got a dog they gotta get a cat just to be fair.                   
         Am I the only one outraged? Probably so.I asked around the office and most of my fellow co-workers don't like the game. They say the game never ends, that its boring, or that they don't play board games. People don't play games anymore, at least not in person. Computer games in their pocket connecting them to anyone at anytime. A world of infinite social-media and instant gratification. The one-on-one un-plugged interactions just don't happen anymore. Time is such a priceless commodity and anything that takes longer than five minutes is seen as "a waste of time". One lady told me she never finished playing a single game of monopoly but she could remember playing the game for hours... I don't think any of the tokens should change. I love them all. This game was such a part of my childhood. Why do they gotta change somethings so iconic? It will only let you vote for one token to save. I wanted to vote for them all. I voted for the hat because the version I grew up playing we always stuck the hat in the center as a place holder/paper weight for the free parking money pot.I'm sure the car and dog will get their fair share of votes, or at least those are the pieces I remember everyone fighting over who got to be. Sadly I think its gonna be the iron or the wheel barrow that ends up with the axe or perhaps the thimble. Such common place objects at one point and time, now are seen more as relics from the past.The new tokens are cute and more modern and probably more relatable to today's generation. But they're just not the same. The weekends coming up, turn off your cellphones and computers and dust off those board games sitting in your closet. You know, for old times sake.