As the girls enter the room. “Gina this is Toby and Toby, this is Gina.” Carla announces abruptly, “Now that everyone knows each other. Let’s get started with Popcorn and a movie. Let’s see what we’ve got to pick from.” Carla walks over to a shelf in the living room and goes through some DVD’s.

“There’s ‘Crime City’ where Detective Dirk Hammer searches the gritty streets of Crime City for a mass murderer. There’s ‘Chasing Rita’ a coming-of-age romance set in the beautiful coastal town of Saint Lorraine. There’s ‘Joe and Larry’ the cartoon slapstick antics of everyone’s favorite Rooster and Pig in their very first full-length animated feature. What does everyone think?” Carla asks.

“Let’s do ‘Crime City’, I could go for a movie with action” Mark answered.

“I don’t want action,” Gina protested, “I want romance. Let’s do ‘Chasing Rita’.”

“Those cartoons are pretty funny.” Toby chimes in.

“Romance” Gina insists.

“Action” Mark counters.

“Since you can’t make up your minds, I’ll make it up for you. “Carla announces, “We’ll do the Romance movie.” Carla takes out the ‘Chasing Rita’ DVD and puts it in the DVD player.

“Ok, mom!” Mark teases, “Why does Gina always get what she wants?”

“Pipe down or I’ll send you to your room” Carla teases back.

The four young people sit down to start watching the movie. Carla and Toby sit close together on one side of the sofa and Mark and Gina sit close together on the other. The boys put their arms around the girls and each girl leans into each boy respectively.

The movie starts out with a wide angle shot of a beautiful beach where we see a small girl playing in the sand. As the intro music plays, a small boy teases her, and they have fun playing together on the beach. As the intro music keeps playing, we see the little girl growing up in a big city and by the end of the intro, the girl is back on the beach as a teenager. As she walks on the beach she catches the eye of a mysterious boy.

“I can already tell where this is going?” Toby says, “Those two hook up.”

“Yeah, no kidding, but it’s the journey of how they get there.” Gina says with a gleam in her eye.

“Yeah, I think I’ve already seen enough” Toby responds, and Toby and Carla start kissing and ignore the movie.

Mark follows suit with Gina, but Gina turns her head, so their lips don’t connect with each other. “I want to watch the movie” Gina proclaims. Mark stops trying to kiss Gina.

Mark was getting tired of Gina being hot and cold. He really wanted to break up with her, but he wanted to make sure it was the right moment. He wasn’t sure that Toby would go through with kissing Gina. He didn’t seem too thrilled with it.

Toby and Carla had a major kissing session going on while Gina insisted on watching the movie. She had waited the entire week with bated breath for the moment to be in Mark’s arms and when the moment arrived, she balked.

The movie was about two thirds of the way through when Carla abruptly stopped the DVD. “Time for a game” she announced, “Let’s play spin the bottle.”

“What are we, fourth graders?” Toby mocked. Carla ignored the comment and got out a bottle.

“Here is how the game is played. We will each sit across from each other, and one person will spin the bottle. Whoever the bottle lands on, that person will have to kiss on the lips.” Carla explained.

“Okay, but I’m not kissing Toby.” Mark declared.

“You go first Toby.” Carla announced. Toby spun the bottle. It landed on Mark. Toby spun the bottle again. This time it landed on Carla. Toby and Carla kissed on the lips.

“I’m next.” Carla announced. Carla spun the bottle. It landed on Mark. Carla and Mark engaged in a kiss. Gina felt a bit uncomfortable because it seemed way too familiar, like they had been practicing.

“Your turn Mark.” Carla went on. Mark spun the bottle, and it landed on Toby. Mark spun the bottle again and it landed on Gina. Mark finally got that kiss that Gina had denied him earlier.

“Now you get to go.” Carla tells Gina. Gina spins the bottle. It lands on Carla. Gina spins the bottle again. It lands on Toby. Gina hesitates.

“Go on Gina, kiss him.” Carla prods.

“I am not kissing Toby.” Gina declares.

“You have to!” Carla insists.

“She doesn’t have to if she doesn’t want to” Toby pipes up.

“You be quiet.” Carla replies, “Gina, you’re killing the mood.”

“I don’t care. I’m not kissing Toby.” Gina says again.

“Fine, will do something else” Carla says.

“No. we won’t.” Mark interrupts, “Gina, I don’t get you. You’ve been looking forward to this weekend and now that it’s here, you don’t want to have any fun. It’s like your hot and cold and hot and cold. I can’t take it anymore. What is up with you lately?”

“I don’t know” Gina says distressed, “Sometimes I have images in my head and they’re scary, but I don’t remember what they are. I just remember that they’re scary.”

“I don’t think I can do this anymore, Gina” Mark proclaims.

“What do you mean?” Gina says as tears start to form in her eyes. “Are you breaking up with me?”

“Yes. Gina.” Mark says coldly, “I’m breaking up with you.” Gina starts crying uncontrollably and runs out the door into the night.

“I’ll go after her.” Carla says as she starts to head out the door. Mark nods to Toby to get going. “No, I’ll go after her.” Toby announces.

Toby hobbles out the front door. Mark was such a jerk to Gina even if he did think it was for her own good. “Hey wait!” Toby screams. Gina ignores him. Toby hobbles faster to catch up with Gina. As he tries to increase his speed he stumbles and falls down. "Help!" Toby cries out. Gina stops and looks back and seeing that Toby has fallen, runs back to help him up.

“I’m so sorry that had to happen to you.” Toby says.

“It’s not your fault.” Gina assures as the tears pour from her eyes.

Toby isn’t sure he should go through with it. He wasn’t sure he believed Mark about the curse. Toby decided to stop thinking and act. He grabs Gina’s shoulders and kisses her on the lips. As soon as he does, a wave washes over him, and he remembers. He remembers everything.

Like a phoenix,

I slowly rise

from the smoldering ashes

of your once burning remains.

With fire in my eyes

I smile at your demise.

Cleansing the world of you

in holy, red and orange light.

Never to be seen again

by anyone who has ever had the misfortune of knowing you.

Pacific, pacifist pampered painstaking papa

parading par excellent paragon

parent (parenthetically parochial

particularly partisan) parvenu

passive, passionately paternalistically patient,

paunchy, peaceably pepped, perfectionist,

perceptive, perennially perky, permissively

persevering, persistently personable, perspicuous,

pertinent, phenomenally philanthropic, philharmonic

picturesquely pious, pioneering, piquantly pithy,

playfully pleasant, pleasurably plucky, plummy,

pluperfect, poetically poignant, politely pontificating, popular,

positively potent, powerfully practiced pragmatist,

praiseworthy, prayerfully precious, precise

predominant, preeminently preferable, preparedly

preponderant, presently president, prestigiously

prevailing, priceless, princely, principally pristine,

privately privileged, prized, proactively procreative,

prodigiously productive, proficiently profitable,

progressively prominent, promisingly prompt,

prophetically propitious, prospectively protective,

proudly proven provocative, prudently psyched, puissant,

punctilious, punctually purposeful pygmy.

just jabbering gibberish (A - J)

Again, another awkward ambitious

arduous attempt at alphabetically

arranging atrociously ambiguously

absolutely asinine avoidable alliteration.

Because...? Basically bonafide belching,

bobbing, bumbling, bohemian beastie boy,

bereft bummer, bleeds blasé blues, begetting

bloviated boilerplate bildungsroman,

boasting bougainvillea background.

Civil, clever clover chomping, cheap

chipper cool cutthroat clueless clodhopper,

chafed centenary, codifies communication

cryptically, challenging capable, certifiably

cheerful college coed.

Divine dapper daredevil, deft, destitute,

doddering, dorky dude, dummkopf Dagwood

descendent, dagnabbit, demands daring

dedicated doodling, dubious, dynamite,

deaf dwarf, diehard doppelganger, Doctor

Demento double, declaring depraved

daffy dis(pense)able dufus Donald Duck

derailed democracy devastatingly defunct.

Eccentric, edified English exile,

effervescent, elementary, echinoderm

eating egghead, Earthling, excretes,

etches, ejaculates, effortless exceptional

emphatic effluvium enraging eminent,

eschatologically entranced, elongated

elasmobranchii, emerald eyed Ebenezer,

effectively experiments, emulates epochal

eczema epidemic, elevating, escalating,

exaggerating enmity, enduring exhausting

emphysema.

Freed fentanyl fueled, fickle figurative

flippant fiddler, fiendishly filmy, fishy,

fluke, flamboyantly frivolous, fictitious,

felonious, fallacious, fabulously fatalistic,

flabbergasted, fettered, flustered, facile,

faceless, feckless, financially forked,

foregone, forlorn futile fulsome, freckled

feverish, foo fighting, faulty, freezing,

fleeting famously failing forecaster, flubs

"FAKE" fundamental fibber fiat, fabricating

fiery fissile fractured fios faculties.

Gamesomeness goads gawky, gingerly,

goofily graceful, grandiloquent gent, gallant,

genteel, geico, guppy gecko, gabbling gaffes,

gagging, gamboling, gestating, gesticulating,

garlic, gnashing, gobbling, gyrating,

gruesomely grinning, grappling, gnomadic

giggly, grubby, gastrointestinally grumpy

gewgaw gazing gesticulating guy,

geographically generically germane,

gungho, grave gremlin, grumbling, guiding,

guaranteeing, guerilla gripped gatling guns

ginning gumpshun.

Hello! Herewith halfway harmless hazmat,

haphazard haggard, hectored, hastily,

hurriedly, harriedly hammered, handsomely

hackneyed, heathen, hellbent hillbilly, hirsute,

hidden hippie, huffy humanoid, hexed, heady,

Hellenistic, holistic, hermetic, hedonistic

heterosexual Homo sapiens historical heirloom,

homeless, hopeful, holy, hee haw heretical hobo.

Indefatigable, iconographic, iconic, idealistic,

idyllic, inimitable, idiosyncratic, ineffable,

irreverently issuing idiotic, indifferent, inert,

ineffectual, ingeniously iniquitous, immaterial,

insignificant, indubitable, inexplicable, ignoble

itches, ineffectually illustriously illuminating

immovable infused ichthyosaurus implanted

inside igneous intrusions immensely

imperturbable improbable.

Jovial jabbering jinxed January jokester

just jimmying jabberwocky

justifying jangling jarring juvenile jibberish

jubilantly jousting jittering

jazzy jawbreaking jumble

justifying, jostling, Jesus;

junior jowly janissary joyful Jekyll

joined jumbo Jewess jolly Jane;

jammed jello junket jiggled

jeopardized jingled jugs.

There was this post where a woman stated that she hopes that women will pick "none of the above" when faced with substandard options. The woman who made the post is encouraging women not to settle, which brings up the point, in general, women are pickier than men are. Men are simple and women are complex. Men don't need a lot but women seem to need a whole lot. Why is that?

Well, it has to do with different mating perspectives. From a man's point of view (I'm speaking in generalities, there are always exceptions) it's about quantity not quality. A man will take just about any mating opportunity he can get, generally speaking. Women on the other hand, want quality. Since woman are the ones who have the most investment in any offspring that happen, women want the best offspring they can get which means they want to mate with the best genes they can find. To do that they have to be picky.

Now you may tell me that there are women who don't seem all that picky. Especially ones that are getting their grove on, but if you look closer, they really are. If you look at the kinds of men, they throw themselves at, they tend to be the best that particular woman thinks she can get (or try to get).

Women should be picky. The sad truth, however, is that everybody (except the lucky few) will have to settle or be alone the rest of their lives. Since there seems to be more narcissistic people roaming around it seems like more and more people are advising other people not to settle and it's not just women, it's also men saying don't settle. This will have dire consequences for future generations but I'm not in a future generation so I will happily add my voice to the chorus that tells women and men NOT TO SETTLE!

You're not finding that person you've always wanted but that's not the point, the point is that you DESERVE that person you've always wanted and if you can't find them, it's better to be single and alone and if you really need companionship, get a dog.

Early to rise

Rocks in my eyes

Suite and tie

Time goes by

Coffee brewing

Breakfast stewing

Lunch bag

Hair swag

Warming the car

Job is not far

Away we go

Traffic is slow

Stocks will boom

Meetings on zoom

Paycheck done

Time to run

Heading home

Check my phone

Soup and bread

Early to bed

Bath and movie

This day was groovy.

The rain fell cool and easy. There was a warmth behind it, washing away the cold winter ice. I closed my umbrella. I looked to the sky and asked for forgiveness. I was confused, lost. I knew what I had done was wrong but I didn’t feel it. And for that I sought redemption. Cleanse my soul oh great sky. She cried.

They had talked earlier that day. She told him they should go away together. He said he asked another girl if she wanted him. He was drunk the night before. He called out her name but forgot the next day. She opened up a new world to him. A place where he could satisfy the desire stewing silent. He betrayed his wife, and embraced his dark midnight. To him, she was a utility to freedom. To her, he was freedom. It began safe. She could be fearless and vulnerable because there was nothing to lose. But his wild grew hungry and wide and one-sighted. He forgot her back where he first found her. He still went to her, but only out of convenience and familiarity. And she kept her door open, and her bed and legs, and her heart. Breaking slowly she ended it with the tears of his lost innocence. And hers.

And to that, it was a beautiful demise. Long lost behind a beast hiding beneath our fallen angel. Love that could have been destroying everything in its path.

“Same shit, different smell.”

“Do you always wake up talking as if you're in the middle of a conversation?”

I looked toward Elon who was leaning against a white wall.

I smiled, “I remember my son used to do that. He'd wake up as if he'd never been asleep at all, full of energy and conversation, often continuing a thought he'd started before being overcome by sleep.”

“You remember your son?”

I closed my eyes for a moment. “I can't see his face clearly, but I know he existed. And I remember what I just described to you.” I laughed, opening my eyes. “He was wonderfully exhausting.”

He pushed off the wall and came to sit in the chair by my bed. “More puzzling by the moment. What did you mean by same shit, different smell?”

“This,” I gestured to the room. “Me, you, the newlifer world you're,” I made air quotes,” ‘creating.’ Same…”

“Same as what?”

“Let’s assume life did not spontaneously combust into existence. Let's assume someone or a group of someone's, call it God or gods or creator or programmer or whatever you will but someone wrote the original program, designed the Earth and everything else we can and cannot see in the universe, down to the most minute detail. Did you know there are 27 bones in a human hand? Twenty-six in each foot? A human baby is born with around 270 bones but an adult has 206. Babies' bones are soft and malleable - and every mother giving birth gives thanks for that little mercy.”

“No longer necessary.”

I rolled my eyes. “Every electron, proton and neutron in every possible combination was conceived. Or so we assume. And then he, she, it or they pressed the power button and sat back to watch. Or maybe they were deeply or sporadically involved for the first 4.25 billion years, perhaps even present and visible once humans finally graced the stage (maybe they were the inspiration for giants and dragons and fairies and wizards...and gods) Maybe after over four billion years of watching and waiting for they knew not what, they got bored with the show, or disillusioned or disappointed or perhaps they were perpetually and utterly oblivious as they moved on to other projects of which we have not even an inkling. They quit the room but left the game running.

“Or maybe somewhere in the space between each particle of light, or from deep within a black hole, they are watching you and thinking, same shit, different smell.”

He shook his head. “I am not trying to play God.”

“Your words, not mine.”

“I do not have a God complex.”

“Methinks thou dost protest too much.”

“Hamlet.”

“Not my favorite, actually. I'm partial to Macbeth. It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”

He stood up. “But it doesn't have to be that way!”

“Look, life as I knew it was both tragic and beautiful for the same reason: It ended. So it behooved one to embrace and appreciate every moment, the good, the bad and the ugly. Every day was an opportunity. One could always make a change, take a different path. One would make an effort to find joy in a sunrise or a drop of water on a leaf, a baby's laugh, a soaring bird, the whispering wind, the magic of the first snow of winter, the first flower of spring… And one appreciated all the goodness of life even when overwhelmed with the not so good, because one knew one's time was finite. This too shall pass. Not just bad things, those moments people usually said that phrase, but rather all things.

“Hence, beautiful yet tragic.”

“But I have changed that.”

I looked at him. “For some…Kind of…not really. You've got machines, semi-machines, and disgruntled biologicals all existing in pre-existing conditions. I don't know the ins and outs of this technological bubble you all live in, but it seems to me that you didn't create a new world . You are working within the confines of the existing one with all the original assets and agents. I mean, this might even be considered a virus in the alpha program. Or maybe we were living the beta program. In either case, this newlifer business is a serious bug in an old program.

“Do you have documents delineating all your work?”

“Of course.”

“Of course you do. Game Design Document. GDD. Almost looks like G-O-D…Same shit…”

“Got it.” He left the room.

Ink of the void

Sultan and wraith

Be still, and press on

For we, dance on faith

The blankets of white

Oppress, but we peruse

To faith, we shall dance

In light, just me and you

Ink of the void

Bleed night sky

Fulfill my dreams

My eyes are too shy

These blankets of time

Persistent and blue

Answering an enigma

Life’s sins so true

Ink of the void

Damned to tell the truth

Vivid memories are vast

The visions that soothe

To turmoil, we say nay

God, lift up night sky

Withering not my vision

For, life seems, to sigh

Ink of the void

A journal for prayer

To remind me of blessings

And remember to beware

Daily blessings

I count now, not envy

Because God gave me purpose

And strength over the enemy

From the top of the tallest hill, they could almost see the whole village— sights of lots of folks scurrying to the market ready to grab the fresh, new farmer’s healthy crops, fruits and vegetables- to the hustle, and bustle of even many more rowdier folks heading to the alehouse (the group that did not care for anything healthy to eat, or even drink like water). Their kaleidoscope and mirror like cloaks which made it easier for them to blend in their surroundings waved back, and forth in the beastly like super gale. The wind kept picking up- becoming stronger, and stronger with every passing quarter of an hour. The folks in the village did not seem to mind at all that a fierce storm was on the way. Even the waves that were not too far from the village rose higher, & much higher than the tallest hill in the village. While the village folks continued with their day, the cloaked strangers gave each other a slight nod, and carried on their leisurely stroll slowly down the tallest hill. One of them went toward the edge of the village, and toward the open sea to focus on guiding the waves. The other cloaked figure made his way toward the village. A few of the folks who were by the sea felt a sudden great powerful wave of heat coming from the sea. They spotted a kind of heavy mist emerging from the depths of the waters. The mist rose and soon covered the vast space by the edge of the village. It continued to move and when it reached close to the folks by the water’s edge, their bodies could not handle the heat from the mist, and their skin melted off their human bones. Their screams were heard all the way from the center of the village. Those in the alehouse quivered with each sip of their liquor, and wondered what kind of daemon could be roaming about in the human world at this kairos. The earth began to shake, even the folks in the alehouse felt the ground beneath their feet begin to quake. After the passing of the mist, snowflakes descended upon the village. It covered the entire land starting from the tallest hill, to the market, and the now sleeping waters by the edge of the now still, quiet village. The gods from the underworld had had their fill. After they had had their hunger satisfied, their harbingers of khaos returned to their own realm~ one that always just seemed to be shifting in all elemental forms, and had been around even before the beginning of time and space.

#CORVUS ©️ 23rd Jan. 2024

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D7xkAjHbMnY