Flowing Flexuous Movement.

Four Days Previously…

Why do I feel compelled to do stupid shit, goofing around and making things worse? I hurt my back some weeks ago lifting something heavy when in a bad mood. Don’t ever lift something heavy when in a bad mood; it’ll stick to you for weeks maybe months. Since then I’ve gone between resting it properly, still doing stuff but nothing too strenuous, to then having the sudden notion that I’d like to do some cartwheels and handstands. Then bam: back to square one. Today it was leaping over some logs in the woods. My back felt ok before that. I’d been doing yoga and gentle stretches, my back had been feeling fine for a short while. Not anymore. Not after that giant leap I did. I felt it when I landed. Hot and stiff. It’s been four weeks like this; to the day. Four weeks of being forced to reign in my yearning for pushing my body into flowing flexuous movement.

Typically I acquired an epiphany about four days after I initially did my back in. This epiphany was something like this: youth is all about the body. The only thing I truly have any ownership of is my body, yet I do nothing much with it. I was inspired to get fit, strong, flexible so that I can have the freedom of movement and total command of my own faculties. But I keep doing stupid shit that means I have to wait for another however long until I can really do anything more than the easier yoga poses.

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(For Monday)

Stone

I have a new story published on the very excellent Dogmatika website, which I am very excited about. I've only ever read really good stuff on Dogmatika, so having one of my stories accepted there is a really encouraging thing for me.
Please go and read Stone at http://dogmatika.wordpress.com/2009/04/27/stone/



In other news: I was lifting a really heavy bag of compost stuff and as I was walking along with it; shit! I did my back in. Pain.
I'm reading the manuscript of a novel written by my school mate John Tyson. So far, so good. Got to finish reading it by Wednesday, because if I do I get a dedication. :D

Arcade Robot

My latest Rave image has not worked out very well. I got this far and I think I might have now given up on it. It probably needs a total redraw, and I'd rather get on with some writing to be honest.
I'm working only on my novel at the moment; no short stories. But one I wrote before will apparently be featured on a great ezine soon; more on than later.
I'm worried about my onions. They look sad and droopy.
But my pot marigolds, nasturtiums, butternut sqaush, echinacea and camomile are going great guns, loving all this sunshine.

Let's Buy Happiness

I've been away for a week doing other people's DIY. Doing other people's DIY is much more fun than doing your own DIY.

Neon colours and electronic music have very much been destracting me lately. I downloaded Oi Oi Oi, a Boys Noize album, then I borrowed Homework by Daft Punk from the DIY people. This journal is named after a Boys Noize song; so is this drawing I made yesterday. I've not done any digital colouring in such a long time. It was fun, but now my hand hurts like hell.

I'm loosing patience now. The day is sunny and bright. I have so much to do, yet I waste time here. My marigolds are being eaten by an unknown source. Mr Kite's peas are getting eaten by a known source: slugs.

Fables of Folly

I went through a phase of writing a lot of spontaneous fables. I think that a lot of people failed to understand them. But I have read them back, a couple of years later. And I like them.
I might post a few of them every so often, because I don't think anyone will ever want to publish them. Magazines and ezines have no room for such things in amongst tales of dramatic tension and poignancy. These stories feature no such thing. This is not a failing, nor is it a success. It just is.

The Investors

The investors realised that the big money was in the sun. People need energy. They want to watch TV, play their Wii, own cars and overheat their home. This requires energy, and energy costs money. So the investors sucked the sun into a big tube and extracted the energy, selling it for five times the cost of storing it. The world now was dark and cold. But the people bought energy off the investors. They lit and heated their homes with it. Animals and plants died. People who belonged to the land died. No one really noticed or cared. As long as they could buy their energy, they had nothing to worry about.

Cheese Sandwich

"If your writing isn't working, the reader will go into the kitchen and make a cheese sandwich and never come back." -Alistair MacLeod.

Ex Libris

I'm thinking of getting a Bookplate/ Ex Libris designed for my book collection. I've got too many books to fit my shelf space and no space to put more shelves. This means that my books will have to start spilling out into my mum's collection. I don't want arguments to start about who owns what book when I move out and take my collection with me. This means that a bookplate might be a good thing to have in order to know what books are mine. I also really like them.

I'm not sure what I want my bookplate to feature. Bookplates reflect the owner of the collection and their general interests. Mine are rural and nature based. I think I'd like a snowdrop in there, because they are my new favourite flower, recently knocking Ramson off the top spot. I love white flowers, and ramsons are beautiful, but Snowdrops are something altogether more wonderful; their smell is amazing, and the difference between a young snowdrop and a mature one is incredible! They also mark the start of spring, and are a sign of hope. My preferred time of year is early spring, because I prefer coldish temperatures. (Though it must be said I love all times in the year.)
So I think I'd like a snowdrop in the design.
I also love trees and woodlands and combes, but they are more difficult to include in a smallish bookplate.
Perhaps a Red Kite (bird) would be a good feature too, since my best friend is Mr Kite, and he is a large part of my life.
Of course, I love books and writing, but I feel it is unnecessary to pay homage to that aspect of my life, since the very fact I'm going so far as getting a bookplate designed suggests my love of books and stories loudly enough.

It's difficult to decide, since the design will have to stay with me my whole life really. It's like a tattoo. I could go for something everyone else has; but I'd rather think carefully about it and be able to smile every time I see the bookplate nestled in the front of one of my books.