55 Flash Fiction

Her heels clattered, creating an echo against the bright scarlet steps. The rounded wall arched away from her on the right as she descended into a monochrome hallway of unrelenting blood-red intensity. Reflective surfaces surrounded, even the ceiling. A faint memory of Dante’s Inferno occurred. Luckily, this was the perfect place to check it out.

It's Thursday

When I loaded my MP3 player I did it as quickly as possible so I ended up with whatever.
This song was on there and ya know, I've been enjoying it even though I wouldn't have selected it myself.



I can be a nightmare of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it’s going out of style
I have the bravest heart that you've ever seen
And you've never met anyone
As positive as I am sometimes.
You see everything,
you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here
I blame everyone else, not my own partaking
My passive-aggressiveness can be devastating
I'm the most gorgeous woman that you've ever known
And you've never met anyone as everything as I am sometimes
You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here
What I resist persists and speaks louder than I know
What I resist you love, no matter how low or high I go
You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can’t relate
And you’re still here.

A Tag from Weirsdo

INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so
.1) bipolar notes from underground (off meds)
2) This Side Of Reason
3) Full Moon Rising
4) Stuffed Animal Tales
5) It Really Is a Dog’s Life

Next select five people to tag.
Be sure to try and make them feel really guilty if they don't want to play!
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Um, I didn't finish this part, ok, if you haven't ever done this meme, you suck! Get with it, dude.


What were you doing ten years ago?
In the summer of 1997 I was living on Whidbey Island with my one year old son and Mr. Logo was off serving his country. I chatted in pIRCh and ICQ. I lived 5 minutes from the beach and had a couple great friends and neightbors. Some similar stuff to now.

What were you doing one year ago?
Last summer I was blogging, if you really want to know you check the archive. Mr. Logo and Thing One went to Montana, I started my other blog, I was doing alot of 55 Flash Fiction, I dyed my hair an interesting shade of plum for a couple weeks, alot of the same stuff I'm doing this year. Yes, right, well, thank you for pointing out the redundancy of my life, I feel so good now.

Five snacks you enjoy:
1. Granny Smith Apple slices
2. Tortilla chips with just pico de gallo or even fully loaded, mmmm
3. Actually, most chips will work for me, Tim's Cascade Chips has a Wasabi 'tato chip I really dig
4. Cajun flavor crunchy mix, with the nuts and whatever in them, mmmm
5. M&Ms, especially the dark chocolate kind

Five songs to which you know all the lyrics:
1. The Song that Never Ends
2. The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore
3. The William Tell Overture
4. About 10 or 20 Roy Orbison songs
5. I Want to Love Madly

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:
I would hire someone to come in and do all those little home and yard projects we want done and pay the place off, I'd go visit some friends, send Mr. Logo to do the same, and invest the rest.


Five bad habits:

Weirsdo listed...
1. laziness
2. procrastination
3. fidgeting
4. staying up late
5. losing my temper

Ya know, I could very well use that EXACT list and be completely accurate, in fact, I think I WILL!


Five things you like doing:
1. reading
2. riding Red Molly

3. hanging out with friends
4. blogging and chatting online
5. learning new stuff

**News Update**

~Mr. Logo mowed the lawn
~The Esteemed Elder Sister drove 7 hours to come visit
~Thing One is going to camp for a week
~My left knee itches
Thank you, that is all

How many times a week is too many?

Frankly, in my opinion, having to do it more than once a week is far too taxing.

You are MEAN!!

I just meant Mr. Logo wouldn't mind paying a $25 sitting fee for pictures of the kids!
Good grief, what is wrong with you people?!
^_^
Thanks for the Father's Day wishes and hope you are all having a good week.
Now if you will excuse us, Mr. Logo and I have a couple miles to walk.

Happy Father's Day!

My honey is a good man, and a fabulous father...most of the time.

:p

Of the following four images only one, in my opinion, would accurately describe his approach to life.

But I am letting you guess which one.

Things I've learned since arriving home

1. Staying at a doggy hotel can produce stress in a dog. When dogs have diarrhea it is incredibly unpleasant.
2. Cleaning dog poop off your walls, floors and getting it out of clothing is also incredibly unpleasant. Having to bathe your dog 3 times in one day is incredibly annoying.
3. Six loads of laundry is a depressing amount of folding.
4. Grass that has not been cut for two or three weeks is incredibly tall, and thick, and difficult to mow.
5. Deep tissue massage on a post-motorcycle vacation body hurts sooooo good.

Things I've learned this week.

1. The force with which the exoskeleton of your average flying bug strikes the shin when one is travelling in excess of 80 MPH results in a painful experience.



2. Riding on a motorcycle for more than 90 minutes continuously or for a total of more than about 5 hours a day is uncomfortable (that is the medical use of uncomfortable, as in, it hurts like a ***********!).



3. It is not as easy to find a hotel with an indoor pool and hot tub as one might optimistically assume, though it certainly can be done when one is dedicated and has friends who will conduct internet searches for you.



4. Motorcycle travel makes weather conditions a VERY important factor.



5. When one is travelling by motorcycle on switchbacking mountain roads with a 7% grade and very tight corners one can usually handle the curves safely at 10 to 20 MPH faster than the yellow caution signs indicate. Loose gravel on the roadway will alter the previous estimate.



6. Eastern Washington and Oregon bear a remarkable resemblance in places to desert-like mid-western states.



7. A week of motorcycle travel will make one long for a professional massage therapist like a meth addict jonesin' for a hit.

Here are some photos of the trip.

The bikes at our lunch stop on day one, Leavenworth, WA.

Here are the Things enjoying some swimming while I soaked in the hot tub and visited with my friend Avvy on our first night in Kennewick, WA.
The second day we made it to our destination in Baker City, OR. The Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally is hosted by the town of Baker City and everyone was very welcoming. Our two junior motorcycle riders attracted a fair bit of attention and they were repeatedly informed that they are very lucky young men. The riding harness we use on Thing Two was also appreciated.

Ice cream, a recurrent theme of the trip. It seems scenic sights are lovelier, music is more lyrical and everything is better when the Things have ice cream in their hands.

The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center overlooks a preserved portion of the actual trail where you can still see the wagon ruts in the ground. The Things got to pack a wagon, deciding what things they would leave behind and what they would choose to bring along. The fine china was left in the east and the 50 pounds of salt came along. Frankly, if there was no soft serve and waffle cones I doubt they would have made it.

Sunday evening we were travelling west into an incredible headwind and sadly enough Mr. Logo's poor little Sporty petered out of gas. He and Thing One entertained themselves on the side of the road...

rescuing tumbleweed from fences filled some time until

help arrived. Finally we crossed the Columbia and returned to Washington, even if it was still the wrong side of the Cascades. The Columbia is rather pretty though.Here is a World War I memorial in Klickitat county. It bears a notable resemblance some stone monument located in Europe.
While historian generally discount the notion that the original stone alter was ever used for human sacrifices we thought we would try it out.

Monday we stopped in the little town of Toppenish, WA. Home to dozens of murals dedicated to the history of the town and the Yakima Valley.

Mr. Logo could not resist the opportunity to express his appreciation for fine art.

Tuesday we hit the last stretch of highway headed for home with a brief stop off at Snoqualie Falls since the Things had never been to see them.
As you can tell from Thing Two's expression the ice cream was purchased AFTER the picture.
We arrived home and picked Ariella up from the puppy hotel yesterday around dinner time.
Now if you all will excuse me I am scouring the phone book for a massage therapist with an opening today.

It's good to be home.

I need a vacation

I have everything Thing Two needs as well as all my own stuff for a week's vacation packed in this bag. I mentioned this to a male friend and he did not express adequate appreciation for this amazing feat. Two people for a week in one small bag, people, come on, I'm a freaking miracle worker!

We are heading to eastern Oregon on the motorcycles.

I know the motorcycle riding makes alot of people think of this song...

But personally, when I am cruising along, I hear this song.

So we are taking a couple days to get to the Hell's Canyon area of Oregon, with a stop off in Soap Lake so Mr. Logo can see his giant lava lamp. Far be it from me to deny a man the important pleasures in life. We are taking back highways and planning to enjoy ourselves on a leisurely family trip. We will hang out there for a couple days and then meander our way back home.

Since I am not going to be around to entertain you here I thought I would invite you all to entertain yourselves and each other in the comment section. I'm going to start a story here each of you can add to it as you like. You've till next wednesday, have fun!
It was almost time for another stop for fuel and stretching. The countryside was beautiful and the road was fun but their gas tanks and their backsides were ready for a break.
As they rounded the next curve...

Are you looking to waste time on the internet?

Well, probably, I mean, you are HERE, right?
Well, have I got a deal for you.
I'm going to hook you up with some of my very most favorite time wasting places, because that is just how much I love you.

I LOVE the Shakespearean insult generator, I've linked it before, I'll probably link it again, its fabulous.

For some word play you can try the online fridge magnets.

Here is a fun site that shows a graphic representation of how various, movies, music and artists connect, Live Plasma.

Here is a game that I love to play, Set. The rules are listed in the left toolbar.

For those of us with aspiration of taking over the world here is the evil overlord list. It's an old one but a good one. It contains important tips such as:
1. My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.
2. My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.
11.I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.
12. One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
16. I will never utter the sentence "But before I kill you, there's just one thing I want to know."
87. My vats of hazardous chemicals will be covered when not in use. Also, I will not construct walkways above them.

If you like THAT list, here is a whole slew of them catagorized by topics.

Here are some optical illusions.

If you are someone who reading Postsecrets you might find True Wife Confessions interesting. Some of the confessions are heart-warming, some are bone-chilling but who knows, it could also be eye-opening. There are also, to be fair, True Husband Confession, though the site is less active.

Finally, for those of you who do not mind TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE PICTURES, here is a site which takes photos that have been submitted to Craig's List in the Looking for Love section and adds some VERY amusing commentary. It is completely and totally NOT SAFE FOR WORK, not suited for those of a delicate condition and so hilarious it nearly made me sprain my spleen I was laughing so hard. Check out Desperately Seeking Something.

There ya go, if you still have alot of free time when you get done with those, well, why haven't you IMed me??

OK, so my pal The Grunt, who is a tortured genius, loves to pass on both his genius and the torment.
He tagged me with an original meme of his own design. Apparently he passes his time in various meeting by filling out his Franklin Covey organizer with misinformation for the purposes of amusing himself (see why I adore him so?).
He wanted to know how we would fill out the Record of Conversation form.


"Record of Conversation": Can I get this in a 45 LP format?
Project: That's it baby, project, you're a beautiful pouty princess!
Subject: Our subject today is mid-thirties mother of two, let's see if we can break her!
With: With or without you, I can't live, with or without you.
Telephone: Now, dang it! I've been waiting to hear from you for days, don't you love me anymore?
Meeting at: What's a good time for you? You know I don't really have a preference, whatever you want to do if fine with me, no, really.
By: Bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry...
Date: I only date Mr. Logo currently, but once I've frustrated him into the grave or the mental hospital give me a call.
Topic Discussed: Well, I promised not to repeat it to anyone else but if you can keep a secret...
SO CAN I!
Action: You put your left foot in, you take your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all all about.