Dylan’s Neighborhood

The shade of the aqueduct cleared a path through the wide swatches of sunlight, broken here and there where the workmanship had ruptured over the centuries.  The harsh insect sounds of the desert scratched around the deep shadow, pausing only when the traveler passed through.

A week of walking had taken him along miles of the structure.  Always in its shadow, he walked through the nights and days.  The infrequent and troubled rests lent his steps an occasional stagger.  As the sun reached the curved edge of the world on the last day of the journey, he gave up trying to keep to the shade and stumbled alongside the time-eaten curve of the aqueduct.  A scattering of other stones peered out from the dust and sand alongside.  Following the path of the stones, he finally found the lake.   

The land dipped deep where the water had once been, leaving rings around the small valley. At the edge of the first ring were the ruins of the city.  The remnants of the aqueduct tapered into them and ended amongst the rubble.

He followed his guide to its end and found a place to sit on one of the larger stones.  Leaning up against the cooling rock face, he waited for the others to arrive.

Now that my hubby & I have gotten the 'full' creature creator for the Spore game, our careless hands have been hard at work creating all kinds of creatures.   The displacer beast has to be among my favorites right now. I didn't want to be shown up, so I've made us a kobold.  Put a spear in one hand, an iPod in the other, & a Walmart vest on him.... and he'd fit right in with the other Kommandos!  

I've been slacking.  In general.  I'm going to blame it on vampires.  Not because they had much to do with it, but because it's fun to blame things that don't have any connection to the real causes.

About those vampires.  Pants & my hubby were recently discussing the glut of crappy teen vampire books that are overwhelming the market.  According to the Pants, I simply need to write some vampire trash to get my break in publishing!  Genius, I say!

Well, I actually might or might not give that one a try.  But I thought it would be nice to have a novel where the attractive, tortured male vampire has a younger vampire 'sibling' who is anything but attractive, athletic, sexy, emo, etc, etc, etc.  A sibling who watches the classic vampire romance take place & gets to make commentary.  Like if Edward from Twilight had someone who saw what a silly, over dramatic, whiner Edward really is.  (Sorry, Pants, but that's how I feel about him).  This person could try to talk sense into the girl who will inevitably have terrible things happen to her because she is so obsessed with the romance of her vampire romance.  (Though, I doubt that this tactic would work.  Have you ever tried to talk sense into a teenager in love with an idea?) 

What a delight to have a character who could make snide comments on the vampire romance from inside the story.  Because no matter how much we might enjoy the escapism of our teen vampire romances, there will always be that little voice in the back of our heads saying, "Really?  Really?". 

What do you know about yourself?  What are your stories?  The ones you tell yourself. and the ones told by others.  All of us begin somewhere.  Though I suppose the truth is that we begin more than once; we begin many times.  Over and over, we start our own tales, compose our own stories, whether our lives are short or long.  Until at last all our beginnings come down to just one end, and the tale of who we are is done.

where are you dashing apartment man? i asked myself this again and again as i made 5 trips up to my 3rd floor apartment with millions of pounds of groceries.  i'm sure he's out there. somewhere in the complex. and someday - sadly not today - he will see me, heavy laden with grocery bags, trudging up the stairs and offer to help me.  and i, of course, will graciously accept his kind offer.  we'll smile, we'll laugh, he'll carry the heavy things....*sigh* it'll be amazing.

i was texting with a friend tonight and asked him if he wanted to hang out tomorrow night.  i didn't realize until i got his "sounds good to me! i would love to!" that i'd already resigned myself to something along the lines of "well, i'm not sure what's going on yet but i'll let you know" or "maybe, i'll have to see what's going on tomorrow" or "i might be busy, but ..." or any of the many other variations i've gotten.  i was so surprised and pleased by his response! apparently i've gotten used to people, guys especially - even when they're just friends or family, having something better to do. or the hope of something better to do. i realize that with my last "involvement" with super-non-committal-lying-bastard guy i got the message that i wasn't enough.  i was always trying to sweeten the pot with the offer of food, or beer, or a movie he'd been wanting to see, etc. because i so frequently got that hesitant "well...." until i threw something else in there. 

well fuck that.  i've worked too hard to come to grips with my self loathing and rampant doubts to reinforce them with those kinds of thoughts and actions.  if you want to spend time with me, fabulous! i'd love to.  but if i'm not good enough then maybe you aren't either.

it was so gorgeous out yesterday that i just couldn't stay couped up in my apt.  i wanted to drive, to feel the wind in my hair, and get out of boise.  thankfully erin was game for my crazy ideas and we went to swan falls dam.  on our way out there we discovered just how dumb whistle pigs are.  seriously people. dumb.  there are thousands of them and they just run all over the road.  not seeming to care at all that there are cars going 60mph headed right towards them.  sadly, despite my best efforts, at least one bit the asphalt. we also stopped at dedication point on our way out.  it was beautiful.  i just love so much that you can drive for half an hour and be completely out of boise. i definitely need to take advantage of it more.

well, i decided to finally give it a chance and joined eharmony a few minutes ago.  i'm pretty skeptical about the whole thing, but figure if i'm going to complain about being a singleton i should at least be able to say i've done what i can to rectify the situation.  the thing that tipped me over though was a girl from work who's been having some good/interesting experiences with it.  i figure if nothing else it'll be an experience right? i've been very hesitant to do any online dating in the past, but for some reason it seems like the thing to try right now.  so i am.  and....we'll see...