Sunday, March 13, 2011
New Twitter
Will update from my new twitter more often than here... simple not around internet with this job. In North Carolina for fire training atm. Next week is camping and prescribed burns in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp. Loving my Phoenix crew and this job. Next update from Halfdrawnfish through twitter. peace.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Urgent Message
So I just have a few minutes again but have an important message for anyone who is keeping track of the tax cuts being deliberated in Washington right now. As of March 7 the entire Americorps program could be shut down or significantly cut all across America. Republicans in the house are trying slice our programs, NCCC included, because they think what we do is no longer necessary in America. While I support the need to reduce our national debt this is a bad idea on many fronts. In 2005 Americorps NCCC was on the verge of being cut but because of hurricane Katrina America realized the need for service members to be prepared for such disasters and community volunteer work. This has kept us alive for five years now but once again we may be seeing the last of our program. Current Americorps' members hands are tied - we cannot participate in the campaign to keep the program because of our non-political stance but if anyone is looking to help please call your local representative and tell them America needs funding for volunteers ready to help their neighbors through Americorps Vista and NCCC. We spend only 2.5 million dollars on our local campus every year while trillions of dollars have been spent on unnecessary and illegal wars in the Middle East. Tell your representative that the little we spend on these programs creates armies of volunteers ready at the drop of the hat to work for peace. I'll let everyone know what happens after the bill is passed and is sent to the White House. Thank you for your help!
Friday, February 18, 2011
I thought I would have all the time in the world to get online and keep up with my favorite TV shows, music and this blog but it turns out I'm filling every minute of my time here. This is a good thing. These past several months have been a recovery from many years of sadness and down time. Now I am taking up responsibilities like the people I once envied and it feels great, all-be-it exhausting. It even hurts a little to be typing this because my arms are so sore. Yesterday, per routine, I woke up at 5:00 A.M. and ran two miles with my fire teammate outside, another two inside and then weight lifting for about 45 minutes. Americorps NCCC picks a handful of women and men from the 213 to be trained as woodland firefighters. I tried out, wrote a letter of interest and got in which means I have to work out every day to be fit for assignments we receive throughout the year. We hear that several from the team end up working for the DNR or Fish and Wildlife Refuge as firefighters. Apparently it pays well. Immediately after my morning training I eat a quick breakfast, fix my lunch and jump in my team van which takes us to a local community center. Here we are being trained under the Red Cross for how specifically to set up, run and take down shelters in case of disaster. This runs all the way to 4:00 P.M. and includes lectures and several exercises that give us hands on experience before we actually go out and participate in disaster relief. We get back at 5:00 and my team immediately has PT (physical training) so I run up and change, run back and work out for another 45 - 60 minutes. Make and eat dinner while doing laundry. Clean up. Then each team member has individual meetings with my team leader for positions of leadership from 8 - 10:00 P.M. I stay up and make lunch for today and then head to bed only to wake up again this morning at 5:00 and start the whole routine over again. Time is precious. There is none. Training is still another three weeks from over before we go out on Spikes, or long-term community/disaster projects. But we still are involved in the community and are busy getting in ISP (Independent Service Projects) hours, 12 this week for me. Somehow I have to fit this into a schedule that has no holes. Also this weekend my team is joining four others in going to D.C. to work with intercity youth at a swim meet. Monday is off for President's Day but I have already signed up for an ISP having something to do with Legos (I don't know) so in all reality there is never time off, never time when we are not involved in training or community projects.
The people here are a surprise from my first suppositions. The faculty and team leaders are, for the most part, very chill and in general our age (mine is younger than me - weird) so they are easy to get along with and are busier than we are. The NCCC volunteers, 213, are a mix of about every personality. A solid handful are either here because their parents made them come or are brought in from Job Corps. Americorps policy is to be completely open to anyone coming in as long as they have the ability to work hard. This is very good but very bad at the same time. It allows those who otherwise might not be able to do this kind of work to be accepted but also lets in a lot of rotten apples. It becomes very frustrating when the days become long but I've tolerated a lot in these past few years and so keep my peace. I have a good group of friends now that are nothing short of brilliant, entertaining, forward thinking, individuals that push me to work harder and become a better person. They are inclusive and uplifting - as a phrase recently picked up, they don't yuck my yum. A lot of volunteers who have never lived in close quarters or done hard work or even lived outside of high school tend to complain quite a bit about the living circumstances or people they don't get along with, but these friends of mine are always looking for the virtue beyond complaint and I have decided to carry that baton with them. I am just getting used to my new team which I will have for the rest of the year. Two teams actually, my main team which I'll be going on spikes with and my fire team which will be going to further training in North Caroline on March 12 and then doing prescribed burns or fire fighting out West if disaster happens to strike this year. My personal team is pretty solid and relaxed which I am thankful for and my fire crew is nothing short of phenomenal. I will really enjoy our training together. I have also signed up for special roles within my team that I will find out if I got in today at some point. We are doing driving exercises and some other training today that I cant remember. I have to keep a schedule on me during the day to keep up with everything but left it in the room to come get the ever so rare internet signal to write this and check my email, facebook, etc. Every day is a new lesson, new friend and new experience and I can't remember them all but they are exciting and I have no idea what each day will bring. I've gotten my punk ass off the streets.
The people here are a surprise from my first suppositions. The faculty and team leaders are, for the most part, very chill and in general our age (mine is younger than me - weird) so they are easy to get along with and are busier than we are. The NCCC volunteers, 213, are a mix of about every personality. A solid handful are either here because their parents made them come or are brought in from Job Corps. Americorps policy is to be completely open to anyone coming in as long as they have the ability to work hard. This is very good but very bad at the same time. It allows those who otherwise might not be able to do this kind of work to be accepted but also lets in a lot of rotten apples. It becomes very frustrating when the days become long but I've tolerated a lot in these past few years and so keep my peace. I have a good group of friends now that are nothing short of brilliant, entertaining, forward thinking, individuals that push me to work harder and become a better person. They are inclusive and uplifting - as a phrase recently picked up, they don't yuck my yum. A lot of volunteers who have never lived in close quarters or done hard work or even lived outside of high school tend to complain quite a bit about the living circumstances or people they don't get along with, but these friends of mine are always looking for the virtue beyond complaint and I have decided to carry that baton with them. I am just getting used to my new team which I will have for the rest of the year. Two teams actually, my main team which I'll be going on spikes with and my fire team which will be going to further training in North Caroline on March 12 and then doing prescribed burns or fire fighting out West if disaster happens to strike this year. My personal team is pretty solid and relaxed which I am thankful for and my fire crew is nothing short of phenomenal. I will really enjoy our training together. I have also signed up for special roles within my team that I will find out if I got in today at some point. We are doing driving exercises and some other training today that I cant remember. I have to keep a schedule on me during the day to keep up with everything but left it in the room to come get the ever so rare internet signal to write this and check my email, facebook, etc. Every day is a new lesson, new friend and new experience and I can't remember them all but they are exciting and I have no idea what each day will bring. I've gotten my punk ass off the streets.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Americorps NCCC
This is just a quick update to keep in touch with my latest journey. Last summer when things were so bad I signed up for Americorps NCCC under the direction of a friend. After going through all the paper work and waiting all I heard back was that I was wait-listed and would find out soon if I was getting in. Months passed and I chose the internship at Agape Community instead. Last Tuesday I unexpectedly heard from Americorps again. Apparently there was a grant that allowed the program to hire on almost a hundred more members for the East coast branch of NCCC. So one week later and I find myself sitting at the end of the hall of an old VA hospital wing in Perryville, Maryland wondering how things can change so quickly.
NCCC stands for national civilian community corps, a group of 18 - 24 year olds who are trained in natural disaster, CPR, firefighting, education and various other specialties. The last group who came through here aided in the Katrina rebuild and other national efforts when they weren't here in Eastern efforts. There is an impressively diverse group of people here that have kept me on my toes. I've already started picking up a lot of sign language on account of a deaf kid in my barracks. It's not even 24 hours later. So I can't say what to expect but it looks like I'll be here for a few weeks in training and then head out to who knows where. I could be living out of a tent for the greater part of this year. The pay is decent and I'll get a lot of money taken off my student loans not to mention free room and board. I think I'll use it to save up for this Winter, maybe move to California or look into the Peace Corps.... anywhere but the absurd world that tells you to pay this and do that. I'll be working hard here and that should be the price of life.
There's a sergeant telling me it's time for lunch now... more later.
NCCC stands for national civilian community corps, a group of 18 - 24 year olds who are trained in natural disaster, CPR, firefighting, education and various other specialties. The last group who came through here aided in the Katrina rebuild and other national efforts when they weren't here in Eastern efforts. There is an impressively diverse group of people here that have kept me on my toes. I've already started picking up a lot of sign language on account of a deaf kid in my barracks. It's not even 24 hours later. So I can't say what to expect but it looks like I'll be here for a few weeks in training and then head out to who knows where. I could be living out of a tent for the greater part of this year. The pay is decent and I'll get a lot of money taken off my student loans not to mention free room and board. I think I'll use it to save up for this Winter, maybe move to California or look into the Peace Corps.... anywhere but the absurd world that tells you to pay this and do that. I'll be working hard here and that should be the price of life.
There's a sergeant telling me it's time for lunch now... more later.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Losing a Whole Year
The routine we went through our last few years in school was a comfort against the bitterness and angst of life at our age. After class each day I would gather my things, books, computer and notes from the previous day's lectures and walk the quarter mile from the West side of Holy Cross's campus to East side of Notre Dame's across the road. Even before dinner was ready at my own dining hall I fled to the university that was not my own. My campus was a no smoking zone so I would wait till I reached the road dividing the two school's to light up my cig. Then through the outer parking lots, the Rocke gym, Howard Hall, CoMo, Sorin Hall and the grass in front of the golden dome I would smoke away. The trip was so familiar that I would always burn out just as I reached the ashtray in front of Crowley Hall of music where I would bring the pianists I dated to see the Steinway. In the student center I studied what I cared to study (often little to do with my classes) before dinner back at my dorm. By that time I was ready for night, to be in Siegfried sipping wine or rum with Ryan. Starting on Fridays and Saturdays and quickly becoming earlier in the week Ryan and I ritually drank and listened to music at the expense of our well-being, morality and personal finances. It was a way of removing ourselves from misery and sustaining a hobby at the same time. Every hour or so we took a break from the 5.1 surround and Christmas lights that absorbed the room and stumbled downstairs to talk and smoke. The feeling was oftentimes the same - like coming out of a club and becoming overwhelmed by the buzz of silence and desolation of a late campus. It was the perfect time for open discussion. We were drunk. We were quenched with music. We were honest. On one occasion we instituted the discussion of existence and religion. "Why do you believe in god?" I asked. "Because there is music." he said. I couldn't think of a better way to express my love for sound - because it made me believe in god.
I fell for Third Eye Blind before I knew who they were. I was ten and had just purchased a little radio about the size of an iPod and a set of headphones so I could always be in touch with the latest songs. Before discovering that I could listen to whomever I wished without my parents knowing about it all I heard were the 60's and 70's mild rock that my mom and dad bought. On my tiny radio I began tuning into the local college station that allowed cursing and sexual reference without the FCC being aware. At night and under my covers I slipped the right and left channels into my ears and flipped the switch and started scanning. I felt so rebellious. In March of that year Ben Folds released Whatever and Ever Amen, an album that changed my perspective and changed my attitude toward authority. My sister and I had the CD but never let our parents know that some of the songs had cursing or else they would make us throw it away. When they were gone we put the album in and played it through till we learned all the lyrics and every song became a close friend. On my radio my innocent rebellion continued. I heard Jumper and Semi-Charmed Life and Graduate, the songs that introduced everyone to 3EB whether they later admitted liking these songs or not. In 1997 I had no idea that these were all from the same band. My sister, who had an account with BMG (It was all the rage back then) was the one who bought the self titled album. I never heard her play it and probably wouldn't have put it in the CD player even if I saw it because the name sounded so bizarre to me at the time. A third eye sounded grotesque and the fact that it was blind was a little unsettling. My minds eye was catastrophically undereducated and under experienced. My sister apparently didn't like the band and offered it to me one day when she was cleaning out her collection. I don't know why I took it from her but free music and the number of CDs one owned was a status symbol if nothing else. It was the first time I heard Losing A Whole Year, the first song on the first album. I didn't like it - I didn't dislike it. But I heard Jumper and Semi-Charmed Life and How's it Going to Be (another one from the radio) all on one CD from the same band and was instantly swimming with disbelief that these people all created these great songs in one go! And so I continued to listen and eventually sank into the greatness of the surrounding songs. Not one was worth skipping.
Along the same time I was starting my lust of a relationship with music - a love affair like any other that compelled me to hate what I endeared most. I don't know what got into me but I never wanted music to be loud and I was tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. I missed a lot of concerts my parents attended because I couldn't stand committing to the loud and constant noises. Stomp, a percussion band, came to town but I turned down the offer to go. I deeply regret not going but I later got the chance to see them when my episode passed. In the car my parents would listen to Dave Matthews or other jam bands but I couldn't stand it. Eventually they learned to play it quietly and with the fade toward the front of the car where they were seated. On the oppose extreme, when I was alone in my room, I soaked in the music of the mid to late 90's like a shroud covering me from the outside world, letting me die into beautifully chaotic sounds. Eventually Third Eye Blind released their second album, Blue, and I took to it like I did anything at the time, hating it at first listen so that I could drown in it the second and third and eternal times thereafter. There were songs in the Third Eye Blind collection now to claim them as my favorite band and great influence on life. I was student of scripture under my parents, under my religion and was told that the bible held every answer to every difficulty I could expect. I expected and experienced many difficulties and turned to Christ but only received my answers from the music. I felt different, more able to deal with life after coming out of a session with this band. Their lyrics understood me and and said, "fuck it, there is still beauty in life - so come experience it with us."
By album three, too many years later, I had a full-time job and was jamming with a work buddy, a friend of mine from younger days. He had a drum kit and I had just purchased a cheap, red, faux strat electric guitar. I had borrowed an amp from a friend of a friend who was in prison and couldn't use it for a few years. When I learned he liked Third Eye Blind I went out and bought the sheet music for the first two albums so that we could play a few songs together. We both sang Wounded all the time and wanted to work it out. My respect for the lead guitarist (I hadn't learned the names of the band members yet because I honestly didn't care who they were. I loved the music) rose along with my disappointment that I couldn't on any level play the music that was so eloquently and skillfully laid out on the pages of notes. All of my favorite songs were in different tunings and I hadn't dared try to work them out. I had just started playing guitar and hadn't taken lessons so I sucked and would rather admire the work of the masters than attempt it myself. When Out Of The Vein came out Westley and I waiting outside the doors of Target, missing school, so that we could buy the album. At the time Target released albums half priced on the day of any release and we were poor. It was the first time I anticipated the release of any band and it was exhilarating to be a part of something social, something new in a life moved by seclusion and grey. Though not what I had expected from 3EB, OOTV slowly found resonance with my current affairs and offered me something to scream to when life became difficult. Time passed, I left home, loved a girl - lost a girl and wound up in college. I hadn't listened to 3EB in awhile, having exchanged their voices for the sounds of my new life, love and friends. That first year in school I became ultra-challenged to experience everything, study my brains out and try to get the girl back. Soon I discovered MyTunes Redux and began listen to everything I could get my hands on that wasn't hiphop or rap or country. I often forgot about my favorite band until a few weeks into school when Third Eye Blind came to campus for a show. I went, first row, touched the lead singer's arm, screamed the lyrics and went back to listening to them with new fervor. Time passed again and SJ passed it with me.
Year two came in school and I met Ryan who, unknown to me, was in the front row at the same show the year before. Also unknown to me was that his favorite band was also Third Eye Blind. We didn't like each other at first. The first time I visited his dorm room in Siegfried was awkward and I wanted to leave but I noticed a shirt laying across his chair with familiar words: Third Eye Blind. What? He liked their music. We became instant friends and music was our number one topic. I was still discovering the infinite world of music but it always came back to our favorite and most related songs. We shared the release of new 3EB tunes and the long expected fourth album. At the same time we started befriending fellow fans across the world and talking to them most nights. By year three we were going to shows and meeting members of TVCY and Assembly, two 3EB groups online. I still keep in touch with many of them. Not long ago the band split up and remains as a broken and jaded version of it's former self. I think by now the music is just as jaded and broken. Third Eye Blind is not the most talented band by any measure and they are not who I listen to most anymore but they are a part of my life that can be returned at any moment. When all the other music runs into cacophony and grey I type in the words to iTunes and start at the beginning, Losing A Whole Year. I've lost many years but none of them could sink my passion for a band and sound that stays a backbone to so many experiences. They are entrenched in the playlists of love and hate, struggle and peace. As a friend so eloquently defined: to be added later... apparently.
I fell for Third Eye Blind before I knew who they were. I was ten and had just purchased a little radio about the size of an iPod and a set of headphones so I could always be in touch with the latest songs. Before discovering that I could listen to whomever I wished without my parents knowing about it all I heard were the 60's and 70's mild rock that my mom and dad bought. On my tiny radio I began tuning into the local college station that allowed cursing and sexual reference without the FCC being aware. At night and under my covers I slipped the right and left channels into my ears and flipped the switch and started scanning. I felt so rebellious. In March of that year Ben Folds released Whatever and Ever Amen, an album that changed my perspective and changed my attitude toward authority. My sister and I had the CD but never let our parents know that some of the songs had cursing or else they would make us throw it away. When they were gone we put the album in and played it through till we learned all the lyrics and every song became a close friend. On my radio my innocent rebellion continued. I heard Jumper and Semi-Charmed Life and Graduate, the songs that introduced everyone to 3EB whether they later admitted liking these songs or not. In 1997 I had no idea that these were all from the same band. My sister, who had an account with BMG (It was all the rage back then) was the one who bought the self titled album. I never heard her play it and probably wouldn't have put it in the CD player even if I saw it because the name sounded so bizarre to me at the time. A third eye sounded grotesque and the fact that it was blind was a little unsettling. My minds eye was catastrophically undereducated and under experienced. My sister apparently didn't like the band and offered it to me one day when she was cleaning out her collection. I don't know why I took it from her but free music and the number of CDs one owned was a status symbol if nothing else. It was the first time I heard Losing A Whole Year, the first song on the first album. I didn't like it - I didn't dislike it. But I heard Jumper and Semi-Charmed Life and How's it Going to Be (another one from the radio) all on one CD from the same band and was instantly swimming with disbelief that these people all created these great songs in one go! And so I continued to listen and eventually sank into the greatness of the surrounding songs. Not one was worth skipping.
Along the same time I was starting my lust of a relationship with music - a love affair like any other that compelled me to hate what I endeared most. I don't know what got into me but I never wanted music to be loud and I was tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. I missed a lot of concerts my parents attended because I couldn't stand committing to the loud and constant noises. Stomp, a percussion band, came to town but I turned down the offer to go. I deeply regret not going but I later got the chance to see them when my episode passed. In the car my parents would listen to Dave Matthews or other jam bands but I couldn't stand it. Eventually they learned to play it quietly and with the fade toward the front of the car where they were seated. On the oppose extreme, when I was alone in my room, I soaked in the music of the mid to late 90's like a shroud covering me from the outside world, letting me die into beautifully chaotic sounds. Eventually Third Eye Blind released their second album, Blue, and I took to it like I did anything at the time, hating it at first listen so that I could drown in it the second and third and eternal times thereafter. There were songs in the Third Eye Blind collection now to claim them as my favorite band and great influence on life. I was student of scripture under my parents, under my religion and was told that the bible held every answer to every difficulty I could expect. I expected and experienced many difficulties and turned to Christ but only received my answers from the music. I felt different, more able to deal with life after coming out of a session with this band. Their lyrics understood me and and said, "fuck it, there is still beauty in life - so come experience it with us."
By album three, too many years later, I had a full-time job and was jamming with a work buddy, a friend of mine from younger days. He had a drum kit and I had just purchased a cheap, red, faux strat electric guitar. I had borrowed an amp from a friend of a friend who was in prison and couldn't use it for a few years. When I learned he liked Third Eye Blind I went out and bought the sheet music for the first two albums so that we could play a few songs together. We both sang Wounded all the time and wanted to work it out. My respect for the lead guitarist (I hadn't learned the names of the band members yet because I honestly didn't care who they were. I loved the music) rose along with my disappointment that I couldn't on any level play the music that was so eloquently and skillfully laid out on the pages of notes. All of my favorite songs were in different tunings and I hadn't dared try to work them out. I had just started playing guitar and hadn't taken lessons so I sucked and would rather admire the work of the masters than attempt it myself. When Out Of The Vein came out Westley and I waiting outside the doors of Target, missing school, so that we could buy the album. At the time Target released albums half priced on the day of any release and we were poor. It was the first time I anticipated the release of any band and it was exhilarating to be a part of something social, something new in a life moved by seclusion and grey. Though not what I had expected from 3EB, OOTV slowly found resonance with my current affairs and offered me something to scream to when life became difficult. Time passed, I left home, loved a girl - lost a girl and wound up in college. I hadn't listened to 3EB in awhile, having exchanged their voices for the sounds of my new life, love and friends. That first year in school I became ultra-challenged to experience everything, study my brains out and try to get the girl back. Soon I discovered MyTunes Redux and began listen to everything I could get my hands on that wasn't hiphop or rap or country. I often forgot about my favorite band until a few weeks into school when Third Eye Blind came to campus for a show. I went, first row, touched the lead singer's arm, screamed the lyrics and went back to listening to them with new fervor. Time passed again and SJ passed it with me.
Year two came in school and I met Ryan who, unknown to me, was in the front row at the same show the year before. Also unknown to me was that his favorite band was also Third Eye Blind. We didn't like each other at first. The first time I visited his dorm room in Siegfried was awkward and I wanted to leave but I noticed a shirt laying across his chair with familiar words: Third Eye Blind. What? He liked their music. We became instant friends and music was our number one topic. I was still discovering the infinite world of music but it always came back to our favorite and most related songs. We shared the release of new 3EB tunes and the long expected fourth album. At the same time we started befriending fellow fans across the world and talking to them most nights. By year three we were going to shows and meeting members of TVCY and Assembly, two 3EB groups online. I still keep in touch with many of them. Not long ago the band split up and remains as a broken and jaded version of it's former self. I think by now the music is just as jaded and broken. Third Eye Blind is not the most talented band by any measure and they are not who I listen to most anymore but they are a part of my life that can be returned at any moment. When all the other music runs into cacophony and grey I type in the words to iTunes and start at the beginning, Losing A Whole Year. I've lost many years but none of them could sink my passion for a band and sound that stays a backbone to so many experiences. They are entrenched in the playlists of love and hate, struggle and peace. As a friend so eloquently defined: to be added later... apparently.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Thursday
This is another post I ripped off an old blog of mine. I don't know why I wrote it. I can't remember if I'm suppose to be Ed or Thursday.
Thursdays. For being the sort of day that bore a facade of subtlety, it masqueraded about in such flamboyant apparel to Edward, so as to suggest that is was rather quite the Friday-like character. This was no surprise to him. For years now, Thursday had been stopping by every week, like a bad friend who only remembers you at the most inopportune occasions. Looking to curb its most desirous appetite for evil, Thursday tried sneaking up on Edward as he was waking up during his ritualistic morning cup of tea. Edward knew he was there, though, he knew it from the very moment his alarm bells chimed "Oh, For the Last Time," yet another time. Sitting there, he did not even fancy the thought of turning around and facing the beast, instead, he stared into the clouds of his earl gray, feeling the deep breath of Thursday raising the hairs on his neck.
Feeling the rich warm steam from the mug, Ed forced his mind to relax. Knowing the attack from behind would come soon, he took advantage of the short blissful contents of the moment -- and then it came. It was in the form of a phone call, and it nearly made Ed spew the sip he had just taken. Regretting the decision to free his mind for a moment, he stood and turned to the phone on the wall. At times he had wondered why exactly he bothered speaking to the man on the other side, it was no longer an emergency that he come in early, it had now become the schedule of events, and in the background it was Thursday who stood laughing.
"Yes... Yes... Uh-huh, yes, quite alright. Yes, okay, cheerio." With a wry smile, Edward turned toward Thursday who was bent over his chair, drunk with laughter. After a moments hesitation, Ed decided not to say anything at all. Thursday, feeling the time was right, looked back at Ed ready to add salt to his recurring weekday wound.
"Ah, my good friend, it is merely an eclipse of the real world I give you. You should not blame me, I am only doing my job, besides, I just make up for all the bloody charity that Friday feeds you. Ha ha ha, quite the pity it must come again, eh old chap?"
Something was dreadfully wrong this day, however, and Thursday saw it coming his way. Ed, without a word, stepped back toward his chair and pushed in faulty friend aside. "I must get back to my tea," he thought, "why spoil the day with cold leaves?" Thursday, knowing all too well the lump of happiness before him, suddenly back off to the other side of the table.
"Work was canceled today, wasn't it?" he said sadly, "Well? speak up!" But Edward just leaned back and let the warm sensual liquid pour down his throat, trying not to let his smile show through.
"You know, Thursday..."
"Please, call me Thur."
"You know, Thursday," he repeated, "it's about time that you be on your way, I have quite a bit of absolutely nothing to do, and I would appreciate it if you would just go take a leap day! Friday will be coming around soon, and she never likes to have the other days of the week around. So, good day."
Thursday knew his place now and slumped over as he walked for the door. Today would just be one of those days. It was always people like Edward that seemed to come around every week spoiling his fun, like a bad friend..."
Thursdays. For being the sort of day that bore a facade of subtlety, it masqueraded about in such flamboyant apparel to Edward, so as to suggest that is was rather quite the Friday-like character. This was no surprise to him. For years now, Thursday had been stopping by every week, like a bad friend who only remembers you at the most inopportune occasions. Looking to curb its most desirous appetite for evil, Thursday tried sneaking up on Edward as he was waking up during his ritualistic morning cup of tea. Edward knew he was there, though, he knew it from the very moment his alarm bells chimed "Oh, For the Last Time," yet another time. Sitting there, he did not even fancy the thought of turning around and facing the beast, instead, he stared into the clouds of his earl gray, feeling the deep breath of Thursday raising the hairs on his neck.
Feeling the rich warm steam from the mug, Ed forced his mind to relax. Knowing the attack from behind would come soon, he took advantage of the short blissful contents of the moment -- and then it came. It was in the form of a phone call, and it nearly made Ed spew the sip he had just taken. Regretting the decision to free his mind for a moment, he stood and turned to the phone on the wall. At times he had wondered why exactly he bothered speaking to the man on the other side, it was no longer an emergency that he come in early, it had now become the schedule of events, and in the background it was Thursday who stood laughing.
"Yes... Yes... Uh-huh, yes, quite alright. Yes, okay, cheerio." With a wry smile, Edward turned toward Thursday who was bent over his chair, drunk with laughter. After a moments hesitation, Ed decided not to say anything at all. Thursday, feeling the time was right, looked back at Ed ready to add salt to his recurring weekday wound.
"Ah, my good friend, it is merely an eclipse of the real world I give you. You should not blame me, I am only doing my job, besides, I just make up for all the bloody charity that Friday feeds you. Ha ha ha, quite the pity it must come again, eh old chap?"
Something was dreadfully wrong this day, however, and Thursday saw it coming his way. Ed, without a word, stepped back toward his chair and pushed in faulty friend aside. "I must get back to my tea," he thought, "why spoil the day with cold leaves?" Thursday, knowing all too well the lump of happiness before him, suddenly back off to the other side of the table.
"Work was canceled today, wasn't it?" he said sadly, "Well? speak up!" But Edward just leaned back and let the warm sensual liquid pour down his throat, trying not to let his smile show through.
"You know, Thursday..."
"Please, call me Thur."
"You know, Thursday," he repeated, "it's about time that you be on your way, I have quite a bit of absolutely nothing to do, and I would appreciate it if you would just go take a leap day! Friday will be coming around soon, and she never likes to have the other days of the week around. So, good day."
Thursday knew his place now and slumped over as he walked for the door. Today would just be one of those days. It was always people like Edward that seemed to come around every week spoiling his fun, like a bad friend..."
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