… fancy a writing challenge?

OK, first of all, this post has nothing to do with yesterday’s post at all. The title seemed to carry on well with it, so I thought why not. And the post yesterday was, in a roundabout way, to do with connections. So, this post is kind of connected to yesterday’s post by that virtue.

Not that today’s post is really about connections, but again, in a roundabout way it is.

Talk about waffle! Deep breath. Gulp.

Roundabout now is April 1st – somewhere in the world it is, in other places it isn’t yet. To most people, it’s April Fool’s Day. To me, it is day one of my super new challenge, 101 tasks in 1001 days.

Already I’m appealing for help!

I’ve started to add a list of the tasks I need to complete over the next thousand days, but don’t bother reading it yet… I’ve only got eleven items at the top, and one at the bottom. There’s a huge space in the middle that needs to be filled. And this brings me to my appeal.

No, it isn’t for you to come up with the remaining suggestions for me, I’ll do that as time goes on. No, it is for help with task number 11, that I added yesterday.

        11. To appear in at least five random short stories on other people’s blogs

There’s no timescale for this (well, there is, it’s a thousand days from April 1st 2012)  to be completed, so it doesn’t need to interfere with any current writing projects or arcs you currently have on-going. It isn’t a competition, so there isn’t a prize, but I will post your story on this blog as a ‘guest post’* – something I have never done before. The story doesn’t need to be of any great length, and can be around any subject of your choosing.

Bear in mind that I have the body of a Greek God, many super-heroic abilities, occasional vampire tendencies, time-travel experience with a supernatural pull to the Seventeenth Century, various Inner Beings who try to take over my persona, and exceptionally unruly (at times) hair. I live in a Mansion that crosses the border between Reality and Surreal Reality that contains rooms even I haven’t seen yet. And I love to fly and soar through the wonders of the Universe.

I don’t mind how you portray me in your story, but the better you make me appear the more to the truth you will be. No! Only joking. Honestly. I’m actually leaving the handling of my on-line character in your hands. Can you actually say you have been given this much trust from a virtual ‘stranger’ at any time before? My Inner Child smiles as he says “Be kind”.

Now. The rules.

I don’t do the award things because of the rules, but this isn’t an award thing.

The challenge is that I appear in at least five stories on other blogs, so you will have to write about me on your blog. Sorry about that. And link back to my blog, if you feel the need.

Once you have published your story, I will then publish it on my blog, with a link back to your blog.

*If, by some random fluke, every blogger on the planet decides to take part in this challenge, I may not be able to publish every story on this blog. I will need to post my own posts as well, so I apologise in advance if this happens. Even superheroes have to do their day jobs.

And really, them’s the rules. If you would like to help out, please have fun writing. This is meant to be a fun challenge, so go and enjoy!

Please let me know if you are interested in helping me with this challenge, either in the comments or by email or telepathy. My telepathic skills aren’t the best, I’ll admit, but at times they are on par with my email service.

If you are interested in participating in the 101/1001 challenge, click here for more details – actually frequently asked questions provided by Sarah, the lady behind the challenge.

Oh, and White Rabbits! Happy April!!!

Do you ever…

Do you ever feel that your life is not your own?
Do you ever feel that you knew what you were shown?
Do you ever feel familiarity in a place you’ve never been?
Do you ever recognise a face you’ve never seen?
Do you ever notice a scent from long ago?
Do you ever sing a song that you just don’t know?
Do you ever know what is going to happen next?
Do you ever struggle to send a simple text?
Do you ever find yourself without a single thought?
Do you ever remember lessons never taught?
Do you ever find yourself sitting in a daze?
Do you ever wish to change someone else’s ways?
Do you ever sit and think of what could have been?
Do you ever regret a time when you were very mean?
Do you ever sit and be, take time to look around?
Do you ever notice all the greatness that’s around?
Do you ever stop and think “I’m a part of all of this”?
And do you ever ponder the complexities of all that is?

Do you ever find yourself thinking about the strangest things at the strangest times? I do. I woke up early this morning after dreaming about trying to write a computer code to generate happiness. Can you generate happiness – in someone else, I mean? Happiness comes from within – the best feel good feelings all start within, regardless of what is going on in the outside world.

I’m starting to see images of ships again in my mind’s eye. Whatever link I have back to the early Seventeenth Century seems to be calling to me once more. I wonder where things will take me this time? As always, with everything, only time will tell…

What’s that knocking?

When night time comes
And darkness falls
With silence all around
I settle down
And try to sleep
But can’t due to a sound
A gentle tapping
No – strong rapping!
Is coming from my door
I’m wrong again
It’s beneath me now
A knocking from the floor

The rooms below
Are all alone
For I’m here by myself
And I’m not so sure
That was what I saw
When the book floated from the shelf

The voice I heard
That wasn’t mine
Was strong, distant and fair
But can a voice
Just say “Hello!”
When there’s no one there?

The lights I see in the corners
Of both my room and eyes
Are strangely dancing
Glowing bright
Am I hypnotised?

A cold draught suddenly brings me back
The lights have disappeared
But there’s one thing that still remains
The knocking that I feared

▲○±Ð⌂ ƒØ § ∟µ ® II

It’s taken over six months, but the biggest and the best ▲○±Ð⌂ ƒØ § ∟µ ® franchise of all time is now open for business.

Visitors from Earth are queuing to leave the planet to experience the best, most relaxing, and most scenic wait in a fast food queue ever. Not that ▲○±Ð⌂ ƒØ § ∟µ ® serves fast food. None of that junk here; just pure quality.

And that pure quality is now available on 2002VE68.

2002VE68 is the name given to the quasi-satellite currently sharing and cohabiting with Venus, by Earth’s scientists. The satellite is expected to leave its Venusian ‘orbit’ sometime within the next five hundred years, and as such was an ideal location for this latest restaurant-come-sublime-experience to be built.

▲○±Ð⌂ ƒØ § ∟µ ®’s owners, who are a rather secretive consortium of intergalactic restaurateurs, defended their reasoning for constructing the expansive eatery on this asteroid rather than on Venus herself.

Their spokesperson, Malmath Splopp (possibly not their real name) said “We pride ourselves on finding locations with just that little edge of danger. The uncertainty of not knowing whether you have onions on your burger is vastly diminished compared with the uncertainty that the asteroid one is purchasing a burger on may be hurtled into outer space without a moment’s notice”.

Splopp continues, “Just like our sister restaurant on Phobos (one of Mars’ moons) may disintegrate and become a magnificent ring around the Red Planet, that ‘will it or won’t it’ pull seems to be quite popular with patrons, regardless of the lengthy waiting times. The effect of Mildred’s expulsion (Mildred is the name the consortium have given to the quasi-satellite – they wanted to keep things in line with the majority of places on Venus being named after females) is proving to have the same effect”.

The company is also proud of its magnificent re-designing of the logo for the restaurant to tie in with the Venusian theme. They are using the same red and green triangles, but rather than them being side by side, as they usually are, the red one is now ‘on top’ of the green one – and the they are pointing downwards, to represent the letter V. Malmath Splopp described the design as genius before its years, which just about shows their excitement and enthusiasm for their latest venture.

The food is of the usual inter-planetary standards. Curly fries and burgers, with or without lettuce and onions; only for Venus their fries come with a twist. They’re called Twisty F®ies. A secret Malmath Splopp didn’t want to share, but in his (her?) excitement had to reveal.      

The usual hair dressing and pampering services are available for those customers who do not want to wait in line, but they are charged a premium at this site, due to the new and experimental floatation tanks that have been installed. These floatation tanks are free to be used by patrons who use the hair dressing and pampering services, but a strict first come first served policy is in place.

Malmath Splopp and the consortium look forward to welcoming Earthlings to the ‘take away from the nearest star’ – now open!

Jupiter’s in the Tree!

I look out over the Grinds this night, to see stars shining through the early night. But, stars they aren’t, as it’s clear to see; they’re solid bright and twinkle free. The Lunar Light shines high above the planet named for a Goddess of Love. By Jove! Another rests before it too flies, casting more excitement up in the skies.

One Minute Ramble: Mobile Photography

Mobile phone in hand, I leant precariously out of the upper window in Aqua Mansion. I simply had to take a photo of this alignment before the display was over for another night. No more words – an image was required.
Grasping onto the wall with one hand, and trying to get the best shot in the viewfinder of my mobile phone with the other, without mistaking the street lights in the distance for my required objects, I pointed, clicked and hoped the image would take.
I didn’t want the flash to activate, and I wasn’t sure if the image would be captured, as darkness and mobile phones don’t exactly go hand in hand. You can see someone speaking on a mobile phone from the other end of the street in darkness – they are lit up rather brightly.
But… no flash! The image took! And here it is.
It’s rather grainy, but I’ll put that down to the angle the picture was taken at.
At least I have captured a moment of time in the skies above Cheshire.

It is actually in colour, but that’s quite hard to tell, considering the vast distances involved.

And yes, this is part of my new challenge. Image number one of Cheshire is taken and posted to the blog! Only a few more to go…

27/03/12. I’ve just taken this, again on the mobi, with the Moon and either Venus or Jupiter visible (only just) beside her, in the gradually darkening sky… having said that, though, the Moon is only just visible in this image too!

A Task or Two…

I seem to be getting myself involved in challenges at the moment. First, I took part in Cameron’s Story Circle, and now I have signed myself up for a whopper of a challenge.

It was Tilly Bud, The Laughing Housewife, who brought the challenge to my attention. I had seen the badge, above, on her site in the past, and I had even read what she was hoping to do in her challenge, but thought nothing of it until today.

It was like a switch being flicked to the On position when I read her post today.

The person behind the challenge was Sarsm, or Sarah. I visited Sarah’s site earlier and registered my interest, and since then I have been pondering what tasks I need to add to my list. Sarah has actually set up an FAQ page which goes into more details of the challenge.

The good thing about this challenge is that nothing is set in stone. I’m not too keen on the ‘rules and regulations’ that come with the awards that are regularly given (Generously I must add) so I don’t participate in them. This challenge is different.

It is something that is personal to me, but I can add tasks that involve other people. It is a way of adding something new and different to my life, in the way of new experiences. It’s a way of making time for me to do something different – something I wouldn’t normally do. And it’s a way for me to add just a little more of that ‘Feel Good’ feeling that I enjoy so much. For me and other people!

The challenge is good because if I feel I may not accomplish something, I can remove it from the list and add something else. I set the challenges for myself, and they can be tweaked at any time. In 1001 days time, I’ll be able to look back and see exactly what I have accomplished (Hopefully, everything on the list)

The thought of 101 tasks in 1001 days at first seems easy. 1001 days is a long time to do 101 things, but this is the challenge. It’s 101 tasks, not things. Some tasks may require a bit of work to complete. Some tasks may require the Universe aligning itself for me to complete one (or more) of the tasks. Some tasks may be made up of several smaller tasks. Although some tasks will be one job quick things, they will be balanced by the larger, and possibly, trickier tasks.

I’ve added a new page to my blog where my list is in the process of being built. Once a task is complete, I’ll update the list, so there will be regular updates as to how I’m doing. Some tasks may require that I make specific posts relating them, so in a way, the challenge is helping me on those days when inspiration for a post isn’t exactly ‘there’.

My list is a little empty right now, but it will fill up over the coming weeks – in fact, I’ve added this as one of my tasks to complete!

I will be starting my challenge properly on 1st April, but some tasks have started already, like the building of the list one. I need something to get me going! And yes, I am aware that this is April Fool’s Day – but would a fool miss an opportunity to make subtle and not-so-subtle improvements to their life?

So, I’m going to be a little busier over the coming months. I’ll still be posting, but every now and then there will be ‘task specific’ posts cropping up.

And possibly some surprises too!