A Magical Evening

A hot Indian summer day has given way to a magical evening at the Grand Oaks Mansion. The blooms of the lush gardens in the yard quiver in the dying breeze. Above, bright stars burst into visibility in the sapphire sky. The spanish moss, perches precariously from the branches of the mighty oak tree. The stream wanders along, trickling over pebbles and banks. The jasmine perfumed air hangs tranquil now, pregnant with anticipation. But the air is the only thing that’s still today.

Inside the kitchen, pots are boiling, and oven fires are stoked. Tablecloths who’ve spent their day sunbathing on the wash line are shook out, ironed and folded. Flowers are pruned and fashioned into bouquets. Candlewicks trimmed, silver polished, corsets tightened. Tonight is the wedding of the plantation owner’s daughter, Greta, and Jason, the handsome young barkeep from the neighboring town. And it looks to be an unforgettable event.

Out in the yard, the preparations are in full swing. There are small tables with board games like checkers and dominoes for the playful, rocking chairs on the porch for the weary, and a pile of straw hats and paper folding fans for the temperature sensitive. The tablecloths are white with vintage lace overlays and the centerpieces are simple jars with small bunches of flowers, with small votive candles providing a romantic light. In the corner a white sheet hangs by clothes pins from a wash line and onto it is projected a slideshow of family pictures. On the branches of some trees hang jars with illuminated fireflies. In dark corner an altar is set up for wishing good voodoo only on the betrothed. In another corner, a vintage camera sits on a tripod connected to a remote, an old fashioned photo booth, for the guests to photograph themselves.

On the dessert table a small and beautiful wedding cake sits for the couple to cut. It is surrounded by pies, and cookies, pralines, and candies. By the bar, there are metal buckets filled with ice and small glass coca-cola bottles. Large glass spigot pitchers filled with iced tea and blueberry lemonade await the thirsty. A miniature pirogue is filled with ice and raw oysters on the half shell rest beside the assortment of condiments.

As the guests arrive to the Spanish Plaza at the end of Canal Street in town, some board a real riverboat and are ferried, some board a street car and are transported to the Mansion. They arrive with their vintage handkerchiefs in their pockets and handbags. A gift sent to them from the couple, printed with save the date information which they will wave over their heads as a small brass band leads them out in a second line parade to end the evening.

Adam & Eve

I found this old thing. Obviously I was trying to work out a story idea. It helps me when I write things down.
Adam and Eve story with a romantic, modern spin.
The original must be the basis. They have a beautiful life and no worries. But someone must tempt Eve with something dangerous. The tempter must offer more knowledge for a tiny price. There also must be a God-like figure who will warn them and provide for them. But Eve will be the weak one, as always and she will take the bait and condemn her own self. Adam however will not be able to live without her. He will not let her take the blame by herself and by sacrifice alone, he will partake of the sin. It occurs to me now that Adam and Eve must be the basis for all true love tragedies. This is a love story, first and foremost and their connection must be the backbone, their strength.
They can live in New York City just to modernize the setting. They have fabulous jobs with no money problems. How did they meet? They were always together, maybe they grew up together, next door to each other. Ok now, what kind of life could they have where they don’t want for anything but at the same time, don’t necessarily know anything either? Perhaps Eve’s father is the provider. He wants to protect his little girl so she doesn’t know the injustices that the world holds. That’s sounding a little too Little Buddah for me. We’ll have to work this out some more.
So Adam and Eve are in love. They live in New York City. They are both young and struggling so Eve’s Dad provides for them as they build a foundation for their lives. Ok. Now Eve’s Dad will be the god-like figure? This is a little too predictable. Perhaps one of them has a super cushy job and the company provides for the couple. Adam is a lawyer? Hm… that might work. A partner in a law firm? I think maybe for this to work, someone connected to Eve has to be the provider so that she may be tempted greater. OR perhaps it could be someone connected to Adam, than they would bribe her with her love for Adam as a way to get her to accept the temptation. The more I type, the more I see this as something wacky. Like a Vonnegut allegory. We still need to work out something tempting.
What is the temptation?
What could tempt Eve so much she would not care about the great life she has? What is so tempting? In the original the serpent tempted Eve. Let’s play on that. This is interesting:
In the Wilkepedia Encyclopedia online, the angels expressed their concern over the creation of Adam, possessing something the angels do not: free will, they are worried about his ability to create evil. When God commands them to bow to Adam, one refuses and is banished from heaven. This is what will become Satan.
Apparently two women were created. (???) the first was created at the same time as Adam was but is mentioned nowhere after. The second woman was created out of Adam, and is named for the Hebrew word, living, Eve. Ok. Lilith. Now there’s an interesting character...
Lilith being the same as Adam, created the same and equal in every way was not satisfied with Eden and left. Than Adam was alone and to appease him, God made Eve who was subservient to him and that pleased Adam.(?)
She could for all intensive purposes be a woman, The Provider. According to this story, the forbidden fruit contains the knowledge of sex, sexuality and reproduction. This sounds like such feminist bullshit. But it could make some sense.
Ok for all intensive purposes, Eden could be anywhere in the world, It could even be a state of mind. As long as its blissful or happy or perfect and leaves our couple wanting nothing. Yeah, yeah we got figured that much already. What we need is a villain and a conflict. I am hoping that once we figure out Adam and Eve’s background, the conflict will magically appear to us. Lets try that.

Ok. Adam and Eve grew up in a small town in upstate New York. They went to the same school and were best friends. Hmm…. Maybe not. Or maybe so! Maybe Eve always had a crush on Adam but he began dating Lilith! And then-oh shit I smell Dawson’s creek. Ok enough self-abuse. So lets just say that happens. Finally they get together and all is well. They move to the big city and get great jobs. Adam is made a partner in his law firm, they want for nothing. But one day Eve is propositioned by someone. With something very tempting….oh shit. Would have to be Browning, wouldn't it?

"Adam, Lilith and Eve" (1883)
Poem by Robert Browning where a thunderstorm drives Lilith to confess that she truly loved Adam, and Eve to confess that she truly loved another man. After the storm is over, Adam naively laughs and dismisses their tales as falsehoods.

Eve was innocent in her betrayal. Meaning she did nor know she deceiving or being deceived. She didn’t know. Naieve. But he must make her doubt that which she has been told is right and true. Lets make this a Robbins-esque type story. Lets weave many different webs together at the climax. Ok. I think that’s a good idea. Ok lets work with characters now:

What if Adam was a vet? He was given domain over all the animals so maybe he could be a vet? That might be cool.


Any ideas for me? Not sure if that could still work. But something may sprout from something which may give birth to something else and the dark matter will ignite and create the spark, I so desperately need.

The Reason Train

So the earth is good. Life is good. Things do what they will do, what they always have done and what they always will do. We mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. Babies are born, children discover, people go to work and then you die. This is all just a blink of an eye. I look back through 26 years of life. I realize it is all cycles. It all comes in waves and ripples, like the ocean. “Everything comes and goes, marked by lovers and styles of clothes”, so says the wise Joni Mitchell. Like the random spiraling debate patterns of someone I know. It’s all confusing, it’s all chaos, and most of the time, much of that is fine. It’s a chaos that either we have grown accustomed to, or that we have always known. But then there are these moments, few and far between, like stars, where things become clear. The world slows down just long enough for you to grab the end of the reason train and let it whip you around in it’s wake for a while. Of course you cant hang onto this forever and eventually you will have to let go, but for that instant or for those moments, life is good. Life is cotton candy and kittens, and sex and laughter. And it becomes clear that perfection exists only in moments. It is the perfect moment where you look around and see your friends laughing and smiling. You look up and the stars are twinkling. You look down and the ants are crawling, not biting you, just crawling over you. Then someone tells you you have a nice smile and you realize things are good. Things are perfect. These are the moments that make the whole thing worthwhile. All of the heartache, and longing, and pain and suffering. This is the spot, this is the moment. This is the crescendo of the day’s song. The multiverse can do what it wants. Here is now, and now is good.

Kicking the Rust Off

#2:
How far was he prepared to go to keep this secret? Lawrence asked himself. Hadn't he already caused enough damage? Ah, so there was a voice after all. Though it bore a striking resemblance to Dr. Khadim, the brilliant biochemist from so long ago, Lawrence knew Khadim was gone. Long gone. He had no choice really.Had Khadim lived, he would have certainly told the world the truth by now. Then Lawrence would go down in the history books alongside Hussein, Hilter, and the other modern monsters. Was he a monster? Dr. Khadim said quickly yes.Lawrence pushed him aside and sighed deeply. He supposed so. Men always, always abused their power. But wasn't that the very nature of man? Lawrence decided it was.And rationalized his ten-year old decision to condemn millions of people to death into a pocket-fattening strategy, that any man in power would have come to. He desperately wished he could blame this on someone else, but it had been his own baby. He would bear this burden. If he had to. If worse came to worse. Until that time, he would, like any other powerful man in trouble, deny and distract until they either bought or forgot it. It was all anyone could do at this point. After all, it was a little too late for apologies.


(in the middle of this, I almost heard the gears click. As soon as I became conscious of them, I lost them)

A new approach

#1
When the idea first came to him, it, like all the others, seemed brilliant. Increase profits, and decrease spending. There were no small voices in his head telling him that this my come back to bite him. In fact, looking back now, he wasn't sure he was equipped with a conscious. He had never heard those voices in his head. They had always come from The Board. They had faces, names, paychecks, and most were replaceable as a paperclip. Actually, he didn't think he'd ever been second-guessed or questioned. Maybe he should have been. Maybe if questions were asked, and consequences were assesed, Lawrence Lathell would not be sitting here now, a burden of unimaginable proportions sitting on his desk, staring right up at him, through him.


A little tiny bit at a time. That's how I'm going to write this and overcome this block.

On Writer's Block

I can't breathe. I'm drowning in the deepest waters. Every day that passes just increases the immense pressure from the little voice in my head. It occurs to me that 'little' is a not a very good descriptive term because her voice is loud. She makes my stomach ache, she pounds my head into the cement floor, she runs through my brains filing system and throws my potential ideas into the air. She's ruthless, and she will not let up. Meanwhile, I keep slipping further and further under this sea of nothingness. An outstretched hand blindly reaching for just one great idea.

That's what it feels like to have my crippling writers block. Just one day of not feeling inclined to write will do this to me. Because it inevitably snowballs. Until it's been this long. Creativity is born of sadness, right? Or something to that effect. If you are happy, there is nothing to want and the struggle ends. Must I be unhappy to want to write? No. I already know the answer to that. But writing it down does help me figure out my problems. Maybe I'll create a favicon for this page. Get my mind off these terrible thoughts.

My Conversation with God

I'm posting this here because it's very creative for me...and silly, and abstract. For your reading pleasure, a conversation with God:

It all started with a comment I left stating:
Jul 23 2007 12:27P "i think you should draw a picture for me. of me, preferably. I'll accept stick figures and food art but no caricatures."

Jul 23, 2007 4:26 PM
dear disciple,
hey! saw u have a club....some boy club...what do u get for signing up?
incentives? discounts? free beer? oh and do you want a figure drawing of you?
if u do i need a nudy pic :) OK i don't REALLY need it, never know though, could
come in handy....or something. or i guess i could do stick people...do u wear
something all the time? u know like a charm or something?
and food sculpture...mmmm....i can cook...but...do u have an idea??
god is clueless :)

god

PS: don't forget, if u want me to damn something just tell me...."god damn_______"


Jul 24, 2007 12:30 PM

thank you for inquiring. your application is currently being processed. we do have monthly parties where we discuss yummy boys and post their pictures on each others pages. I am working on a cyborg with beer flavored nipples for the annual party next year. Will definitely keep you informed. I don't have any nudy pics but you are allowed to utilize your artistic license freely. I do wear a mayan calendar pendant around my neck all the time. Why? Do you want to bless it and make it holy? Food art. Mashed potatoes. Definitely.

*I then made a membership card for him to the yummy boys club and posted it
on his site with this message "congratulations! you've been accepted and elected treasurer!"

Aug 2, 2007 1:26 PM
RE: god damn fluctuating hormones
dear horny fluctuation,
what are u scared of?
censored,
god

Aug 2, 2007 1:35 PM
the gospel according to greta
oh boy!
what am i scared of? I'll make you a list:
sharks(big phobia), the dark, collapsing bridges, meteorites,
getting fat, wrinkles, death of loved ones, being smoten, disfigurement,
strangers, animals that can sound like people, children who speak like adults,
hm... I'm thinking...what else...illness, dragons, i guess that's it.
may i have a promotion to prophet?
thanks,
greta


Aug 2, 2007 2:20 PM
god doesn't know what "smoten" is. god is scared of knowledge.
shhh...secrets are sexy. and so is a space prophet. congradulations!
you need a long thick staff

the almighty

PS: dragons are god's bitches


Aug 2, 2007 4:08 PM
the prophet greta doesn't know what smoten really is either, but when i find out
I'll not tell thee. secret space prophet greta to the rescue!

Aug 2, 2007 3:49 PM
god is in the bathroom.


Aug 2, 2007 5:03 PM
dear god,
i hope everything comes out alright.
g


Aug 2, 2007 4:25 PM
ya it came out with sparkles! good times in the "jon"
OK i really need to go home.

i love Chinese! i want an animal...wait for it...wait for it...SHEEP!
you can thank me for Al Gore and the Internet inventing...thing.

http://chinese.astrology.com/sheep.html

scary accurate, but i don't primp...naturally kick ass.
pretty nice last night to the other gods, except that john smith guy.
fucking Mormon. :)

god


Aug 3, 2007 9:34 AM
haha! You should be a new age teacher! So it says. I agree.
Mine says I would make a great brain surgeon. eat that.
I primp constantly. Two peas in a pod.
So funny that this would be topic of discussion as this morning on the radio,
a numerologist was on and saying 2008 was going to be a great year for cancers.
How exciting!
Here is your horoscope for today:
You might be excited about beginning a new project, but you are better off now
building on something that you have already started. You will gain more in the
long run by paying attention to the details, and then incorporating what you know
into your current efforts. Don't just assume that you can do everything by yourself;
asking others for help makes more sense than making a mess.

Can god come out to play?

Aug 3, 2007 8:52 AM
good morning :) u shouldn't primp...naturally bad ass.
god wants to play...but...you never know what the future holds,
and when god might be on your door step! but for now i
hope that boy is sweet to you. karate chop! peace out pod body.

god-really random this morning

Aug 3, 2007 10:39 AM
that was supposed to be pod buddy. pea pod...ya sorry
i am running from office to dock loading trailers. so i write a sentence and
come back. and off again! prophets are automatically married to god. :)

Aug 3, 2007 12:44 PM
ha. i like pod body too. a little sci-fi...ish.
but pod buddy is naturally kick ass of course.
why run when you can just fly? or appear?

Aug 3, 2007 2:12 PM
i used to just appear, but i found myself appearing nude with a top hat.
little embarrassing on Sunday at church. and u know i was drunk if i was in church.
so i took up flying, and i was flying until a month ago when the FAA pulled my
privileges...i can kill a case and fly...no worries mon

Aug 3, 2007 4:51 PM
oh! that's where my hat went!
May i take a sabbatical to pursue a career as a sausage historian?
I just love bratwurst.

Aug 5, 2007 9:52 AM
you should definitely study bratwurst,
alot.
myself, i love some delicate peach pie. could lay around and eat all day...
of course with your top hat on.

*This is when I leave a comment saying something to the effect of (use your imagination):
[pic of bratwurst]+[pic of peach pie]=[pic of frolicking unicorn]*

Aug 6, 2007 12:14 PM
uh....sausage + _______?_____= a horny pony ride(ha)...
the one picture didn't pop up...or is it time to whip it out...the algebra :)

Aug 6, 2007 12:11 PM
god damn silly hot linking bans. I'm a-fixin it.
you're the math wiz... i do words.

*And then I go to his page and leave this comment: "what are you talking about?
I see everything quite clearly. It reads
bratwurst+peach pie=happy unicorn.

figures the establishment would be working with such out of date equipment."*

Aug 6, 2007 12:14 PM
can't believe i am all knowing and i forgot the pie...pie is VERY important.
are u at work? what type of work do u do again...sorry, god had alot of pot
this weekend

Aug 6, 2007 2:29 PM
i am a lady of the night. the moneys great but the people are shite.
OK seriously? I work at a catering company's office.
Trying to find out more about the worms that some places use instead of throwing
all that food away. My only question is what do you do with the compost when
the worms are done with it? I'd rather give it to homeless people but don't want
to deal with them. They're mean!

What did you ask me again?

Aug 6, 2007 1:37 PM
how much lady...of the night...ya how much.
mean homeless people...that's what u can do with the worms. roof top and
a bucket...aim for the boxers...boxers...arr boxes
compost is awesome for growing pot...or maybe a more useful plant...but they spring
up like crazy
who's your daddy...that what i told Mary, mother of Jesus before i tanned her hide

Aug 6, 2007 2:57 PM
bout 20% lady, 89% ball buster
one time a guy chased me naked with a chainsaw. he was naked, not me.
i had my top hat on.
we should be traveling comedians. we're so silly.

Aug 6, 2007 2:02 PM
traveling comedians? sure...but i get to chase you when u have your
top hat on. and i am doing the books, cuz 20% + 89% = 109%....i can see you
dividing your cut out now...

Aug 6, 2007 3:21 PM
well i am considering publishing this. so just notify your lawyer.
i know the math was off....i am just naturally kick ass like that.
i have our first act down already, i sing 'here comes the sun, doodoodoodoo'
and you make funny looking animals and then sacrifice them.
GOD AND THE PROPHET GRETA! ONE NIGHT ONLY!.....that makes me want to make a flyer
.... why did you ask me what i was scared of days ago?

Aug 6, 2007 2:40 PM
that's hilarious! people are starring now...oh well.(laughing quieter now)...
i like it

Aug 6, 2007 3:44 PM
i laughed out loud imagining you laughing out loud.
i thought you were sculpting my food portrait...hmph.
on an unrelated note, i cut my ankle a couple days back and it still hurts.
could you please heal it? thanks.

Aug 6, 2007 2:53 PM
food sculpture...hmmm...honestly not good at it...i was trying to do something
for ya though. waiting...for...i don't know...started though.
i noticed something though. your face is awfully close to Natalie....star wars
chick...peow! peow!
my brother in law's family told me Windex fixes everything...DON'T TRY IT THOUGH.
they are from the deep hills. or u can come up here and i can preform a
healing ceremony.

Aug 6, 2007 3:41 PM
this is gonna take me longer than i thought. trying to compile these so
i can publish them but its gonna take me a minute to remove all of the
drug references...actually, i think I'll leave them in.
i like the idea of god smoking pot.
wow. i just had a brain fart. got a contact high from
writing the mere word. stop erasing my responses. its easier.
as for the Windex, i was wondering...does that cure hangovers as well?
if so, how do you apply it?
i look like Natalie portman? kewel! never heard that one.
who do people tell you you look like?

Aug 6, 2007 3:57 PM
i look like god silly. actually, nobody specific, but i remind everyone of someone they know. as far as windex application, i would dowse a towel, wrap my head. wear goggles. actually wear goggles tommorow anyways/eitherway. publishing? danger. now i will have to edit a little more. mabey. fuck it, repricusions...pfff

Aug 6, 2007 4:06 PM
pfff, goggles. i love goggles. especially the dorky clear ones we used to have to wear in chemistry. i can't think of anyone either. maybe i'll try that face recognition software tomorrow. i've already farted around enough for today. thanks for playing! you've won a 1979 pinto. (actually wanted to put the kind of car Garth drove in Wayne's World but i cant remember what kind it was.tell me please.) wroteasongaboutitliketohearit?hereitgo:

Aug 6, 2007 4:19 PM
i used to wear a pear of red nerd goggles in the shower to keep soap out. my mom has a pic, apparently i used to wear them upside down all the time. amc pacer...the Mirf mobile....now u owe me. face recognition software eh? tell me more ye trusted deciple lady of the dark.