Here is my 365 day thread or as I titled it a year of Whimsi. Week I 001. New Beginnings 002. Cause/Effect 003. Peace of Mind 004. Childhood Memories 005. Speed 006. Mayhem 007. Gilding a Lily
Week II 008. First Romance 009. Orchards 010. Disillusionment 011. Guardian Angels 012. Different Ways of Thinking 013. Consequence 014. Gratitude
Week III 015. Explosion 016. Money 017. Traveling Alone 018. Irony 019. Lust 020. Identity Crisis 021. Being Replaced
Week IV 022. Jealousy 023. Insanity 024. Snow Day 025. Sculpture 026. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 027. Monsters Under the Bed 028. Japan Earthquake and Tsunami
Week V 029. Wonder 030. Highs and Lows 031. Catastrophe 032. Betrayal 033. Rules 034. Tomorrow 035. Rock 'n' Roll
Week VI 036. Refugee 037. Queen of Hearts 038. Hangman 039. Magic Tricks 040. Radio 041. Prostitution 042. Celebrating a Birthday
Week IIX 050. Graffiti 051. Empathy 052. Strangers 053. Pockets 054. Having a Stroke 055. Promises 056. Medicine
Week IX 057. Social Ladder 058. Four-Leafed Clover 059. Divorce and Separation 060. Brothers and Sisters 061. Perfume 062. Adoption 063. Blue Jeans
Week X 064. Paper Airplanes 065. Marijuana 066. An Open Door 067. Hiding Behind Lies 068. Archery 069. 1990s Cartoons 070. An Asian Food Market
Week XI 071. A Night to Remember 072. The Moon 073. Guidance 074. Dyed Flowers 075. Wheelchairs 076. Dedication Pages on Books 077. A Panic Attack
Week XII 078. Black and Blue 079. A Beautiful Place 080. Innocence and Guilt 081.Romance Addiction 082. Selfishness 083. Mockingbirds 084. Always a Bridesmaid
Week XIII 085. "Break a Leg" 086. Taking Initiative 087. College 088. Drama Queens 089. Unforeseen Tragedy 090. Loving Across Time 091. The Four Seasons
Week XIV 092. Abortion 093. Gunshots 094. A Masquerade 095. An Unexpected Twist on the Ending 096. Restless 097. Running Away 098. An Unknown Truth
Week XV 099. Persephone 100. Enlightenment 101. The Martyr 102. Alice in Wonderland 103. Wiseman 104. Natural Wonder 105. The Island
Week XVI 106. Eden 107. Drowning 108. Gamble 109. Thicker than Water 110. Clear Blue Sky 111. Rain 112. Halfway Home
Week XVII 113. Dead End 114. Stargazers 115. Insomnia 116. Skyscrapers 117. Butterfly 118. Smoke Screen 119. What Lies Beneath
Week VIL 302. Dreams of a City 303. Ice 304. Fire 305. Legacy 306. Law 307. Flying 308. Fight
Week VL 309. Single 310. Hesitation 311. Healing 312. Fantasy 313. Building 314. Hero 315. Disguise
Week IVL 316. Soul Reborn 317. Between the Lines 318. Fireworks 319. Can’t 320. Soccer 321. Heat 322. Raising the Bar
Week IIIL 323. Live Your Life 324. Parents 325. Transcending Time 326. In Spite Of Which 327. Naked 328. Further 329. Outcasts
Week IIL 330. Calling 331. Alternatives 332. Elevator 333. A Bad Decision 334. Slow Down 335. Past Forgiven 336. Tree
Week IL 337. Last One Standing 338. Drifting 339. Soldiers 340. The Right Reasons 341. Lists 342. Open Relationship 343. Riot
Week L 344. Invisibility 345. Second Chance 346. Bridge 347. Disturbed 348. Stitches 349. New Year’s Day 350. The Mile
Week LI 351. Perfect 352. Hurt 353. Exit 354. Good Riddance 355. Funhouse 356. Dark Horse 357. Sin
Week LII 358. If I Stay 359. Misguided Valentine 360. Pick Up the Pieces 361. The Bitter End 362. Missing You 363. Follow Me 364. Leave Together
Finale 365. Returning Home
Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 7:21 pm
Week 1: 001 New Beginings A train, long and grey dull from dirt it had gathered over its long journey, followed the track to a small town half way between the ocean and the mountains. It let out a whistle, long and clear, warning everyone it was coming. Inside the cabin a woman sat in a seat beside a well used bag decorated with bright colored strings and other trinkets from her travels. She continued with her reading giving the shaky sway of her ride no notice. The whistle muffled from the walls caught her attention and she looked up to see the countryside as the garbled voice on the intercom said something she could not make out. She stood up anyway and grabbed the small slip of paper that was tacked above her seat pausing to blow a strand of brown hair out of her face. She looked at the three letters written in all caps before slipping it between the pages of her book. She quickly looked around all the other slips held different combination of letters, a man stood up sending a shot of worry that she had missed her stop. It was all for naught as he headed for the bathroom. She smiled keeping her lips pressed together as she pulled a larger bag from the rack above the seats. Adjusting the straps of her bag she shifted as the train began to slow down and the first buildings appeared in the windows. She reached the door as the train came to a stop. The door opened and she stepped down taking in the quaint station and buildings beyond, it was the perfect place for a new beginning.
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:09 pm
Week 1: 002 Cause/Effect
She stares at the window sad and afraid. Her gaze ignores the woman in the room the one with the knowing eyes that stare, that see, right through her.
"How did you get to be this way?" the questions still rings in her ears. The other woman asks her name, she turns back to her, with brown eyes wide with fear.
The girl says something her face gone blank, her eyes averted.
The words are made of air there is no sound of her small voice, there never is. The other woman, with the piercing stare, wonders what made her this way, what stole the young girl's voice?
Posted: Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:39 pm
Week 1: 003 Peace of Mind
Peace of mind was not something she had ever had. As a small child she might of if she had been old enough to understand the concept, now as an adult she was not certain she did either.
She locked the doors at night, turned the knob for the dead bolt, and set the alarm. It was common sense to do so, everyone did it, but it did nothing for the dark. She walked up the stairs, they creaked as the house always did, turning the lights off as she went. A sense that someone was out there, someone she could not see, followed her and sat between her shoulder blades.
She attempted to shrug it off as she flipped the light in the room on. She changed into her pajamas catching glimpses of monsters and shadows outside her window. She stood by the door, her hand poised above the light switch, eyes focused on her bed.
She flicked her wrist and the light went out. It was a race to flop onto the mattress and her feet to clear the floor before the things she could not see could grab them.
At last the nightlight, an old failing lamp plugged into the wall, heated up enough to turn on and bask the room in a soft orange glow. It was silly that a grown woman would need a night light, but it gave her peace of mind.
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 6:42 am
Week 1: 004 Childhood Memories
A puft of wind on an autumn day sends the leaves rustling along the road and pulls of memories of days gone by. An old man pauses and rests his load.
The smell of apple and pumpkin pie drifts over and carry him back, with a twinkling eye and a wistful sigh, to look fondly on childhood memories.
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:16 pm
Week 1: 005 Speed
The fastest anything can ever go is a constant that we know two hundred ninety nine million seven hundred ninety two thousand four hundred and fifty eight meters a second, light cannot wait.
The speed of sound is much less fast and a barrier that did not last, three hundred fourty three and some more meters a second, we reached with a roar.
But how fast can time go and why, oh, why, can it be so slow?
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2012 12:21 pm
Week 1: 006 Mayhem
I sit upright catapulted from a dream that made no sense, it's quiet, far too quiet. I blink the sand from my eyes and pull my glasses on, the thick plastic lenses bring into view the reason.
Amongst shreds of paper and cotton batting and crushed plastic bottles are three dogs fast asleep. They look so innocent with their limbs in the air and twisted into an attempt at forming the letters to an alien language. I let out a sigh and a half formed curse, I had forgotten to put the puppy in the crate.
My head swims with the possibilities of what they could have gotten into while I was fast asleep. As I pick up the remains of dead stuffed toys the mayhem begins again. It is a game; grab what I am grabbing before I get it.
The mess on the ground has spread to the air as one piece is forgotten for the next. I throw the contents of my hands in the air and flop back onto the floor in defeat.
"Trick or Treat." I say as my face is swarmed by wet dog noses.
Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 11:36 am
Week 1: 007 Gilding the Lily
Selesta was beautiful, that much was clear. Had she been in a servants drab green she still would have earned the title of fairest in the land. Her hair was black as night and shone with a darkness not even the midnight sea could match. Her eyes were a brighter green than the Emerald Sea at high sun. By the grace of the spirits she had never been sick.
She was the pride of the Empire as the only child and heir to the Emperor. The dress she wore was of the finest weave and from the purest green grass mounts. The jewelry she wore weighed as much as she did and held more worth than the smaller kingdoms in the Warring Lands.
She looked into a mirror and smiled, she was now the Empress and the crown one of the servants was placing on her head amongst green drops in her hair named her as such. She turned around to the puppet and her handler. There was no motion or any sensation that she could feel, but when she turned back an unnecessary illusion for beauty had been placed over her.
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:58 am
Week 2: 008 First Romance
A puppy smuggled home inside a coat. Pleading and begging to let it stay. She does.
She grows quickly and sheds a lot. She barks at night and hogs the bed. She eats vegetables and splashes water on the floor. She makes a mess.
She's happy for scritches and the old tennis ball. Playing and rolling chasing leaves in the fall.
Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2012 12:36 pm
Week 2: 009 Orchard
A van pulls into the driveway of a house that's old and red, the grass shooting up around the edges gives it a look like something from a picture book.
The doors slide open and children in coats, their gloves and hats forgotten at home, step out. They run down the gravel sidewalk and pass the front door where buckets are waiting.
They reach the tree standing tall enough to reach the sky and twice as wide around. The tree is laden with dark red fruit a color so deep the apples appear almost purple. With chattering teeth the children grab the lowest apples; the only ones they can reach without the help of ladders.
"Girls." Their mother says from the deck on the second story as they bite into the first fruit of the frost crop.
They look up and turn to each other before giggling and grabbing another to hold in their other hand before running to the dock.
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2012 5:08 pm
Week 2: 010 Disillusionment
The truths come out, the heroes fade, they shrink in size.
They are simply men who once stood so tall so proud. They were unbreakable, unstoppable, who slayed shadows and monsters in closets and under beds.
They were our fathers and they once stood so tall so proud They once were unbreakable, unstoppable.
But time was a teacher and master who brought them to their knees and made us see the truth.
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2012 12:11 pm
Week 2: 011 Gaurdian Angels
When I was a little girl the men would sing songs as they picked the apples from the trees. They were in a language that had faded long ago but somehow the meaning of them had not.
I can remember their songs, the sound of them fills the air as much as the apple blossoms do in the spring.
"One little flower high on the branch, dreams of a someday, of catching the star, He is watching and holding, gaurding from afar."
I asked one of the old men when he had sat down for a break in the shade, what the words meant. He asked me if I knew about the lady of the Apple Tree. I had nodded and said I did, everyone knew about the Apple Lady, she had been our queen a thousand years before and legends said she had traveled into the void and back, that she had become part of the magic.
"Well my little one, the lady had a brother who swore and oath to protect her. But he died and when he did the lady buried him under the apple trees of her home, those trees still stand today. He became one of the great spirits, and so the men sing to him, to keep the harvest and watch over the ones they love."
It is said that on stormy nights when the wind blows off the void that he will appear to you. Some say it is just legend, like that of the Starbinders, but sometimes, sometimes when I am walking and a storm breaks out I can see a man calling to me from beneath the apple trees.
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Sat Dec 01, 2012 8:22 am
Week 2: 012 Different Ways of Thinking
A camera trained on a desk that holds a single computer that sticks up between pages of lose paper, notebooks that are stacked haphazardly, cups containing pens and pencils in a jumble with brightly colored straws and chopsticks balance on top of spools of ribbon and tape. The contents of the desk are basked in the glow of the monitor as an excited writer rolls in on the missing chair.
"Three, two, one, Midnight!" The writer says with all the excitement that had built up over a year as the clock rolls over to the first of November. Her hands fly over the keys and the words flow out.
Observation: The first day is a success.
Days pass as the camera and the observer watch the writer progress, the words still come and fingers type as fast as ever. The daily goal is met.
Observation: The next weeks are a success.
The month draws to a close, the camera continues to record the writer writing.
The chair sits at the desk and the writer walks slowly over to the desk and sits down, there is no spring in her step or playful rolling around. The writer has dark circles around her eyes and presses one key down at a time, she puts effort into poking each key with her finger.
Observation: The month has taken its toll, subject has become tired and weary. Writing appears to have slowed to a crawl.
The thirtieth day of the month arrives as the calendar and clock roll over. The writer is already at the chair still typing with the hunt-and-peck method. The page still bathes he and the desk in the white glow of a virtual piece of paper. She remains at the desk as they sky outside lightens and then becomes dark again.
The writer looks at the screen and pauses. The writer appears to have lost the function of her brain.
"I did it." The writer exclaims as she spins around in the chair and waves her hands and feet.
"Fifty K." The writer yells as the chair stops with her facing the camera.
Observation: The month is a success.
-
A man walks around the kitchen of a tiny apartment with a bowl of cereal in one hand and a video camera in the other. The writer comes through the entryway and stares at the man and his camera.
"How did the subject hold up?" The writer asks as she looks into the lens of the camera.
"Subject started of strong and full of energy, lost momentum and energy during the middle of the month along with noticeable sleep deprivation but managed to finish with the same amount of energy she started with.' The man says in a dramatic fashion.
"You forgot the honorary zombie status." She say as she steals the cereal.
So because of Nano I have neglected the challenge but I will be on top of it now. Also I think that it would be interesting to see a recording of myself during Nano to see how I change over the month.
Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2012 10:53 am
Week 2: 13 Consequence
Fren stared at the grass and the fire that burned in the middle of the tent the single blanket he had had fallen around his legs as he sat with them crossed.
Ri paced back and forth sparing a look at the fire and Fren every few steps, she rubbed her hands together and lamented the loss of her weapons. It was her fault they were quarantined inside the tent and it was her fault if they were infected.
She had been the one that the Band of the Red Tooth were after, she had been the one to react and create the Turzdkd, and she had been the one to run off to take care of them. She had known he was following her and she had still ran off to find the Turzdkds and had left him defenseless.
Now they were in a tent to wait and see if they were infected, she would go quickly if she was. A few seconds of pain and then her mark would attempt to heal her, then the infection would spread to her entire body where she would no longer feel anything. The brief thought that it was not to far off from how she had been in the Empire was pushed aside by what would happen to Fren.
He would be in agony for hours as his body fought the infection but would ultimately fail and he would turn as the others. It was her fault, she had let him fend off one if them when she knew he would not kill.
"This reminds me of the days I spent in the ruins waiting for my brother to come back from the trips." Fren said with a slight laugh as he shot a ball of water into the fire and watched the flames claim it.
"What?" Ri asked her attention pulled from her thoughts by his sudden speech.
"Wondering if he got hurt or injured by the scorpions or killed by the sand worms." Fren said as he shrugged his shoulders and caused the scars that wound around them to shift in the shadows. "Only now it is not knowing if you are infected."
Ri stared at him, there was nothing she could say.
"I always thought I would die when I got these." He said as he held up his hands where the scars started, "I never thought I would live past that day, dying now, I already have lived longer than I was supposed to."
Ri nodded at him and resumed her walking, fear ran through her as a sharp pain shot up from her foot. She fell to the ground as her magic claimed control of her body.
The swift changing shadows as she fell told her Fren had noticed and reacted quickly.
"It was just a rock." Fren said with his voice full of relief as he held up a rock with a jagged edge with a wet glean to it caused by her blood.
Ri sat up and rubbed the bottom of her foot where here fingers found new unbroken skin under a layer of something wet and sticky, she needed to get new boots.
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
whimsicaldreamer
Revered Nerd
Offline
Posted: Mon Dec 03, 2012 1:55 pm
Week 2: 014 Gratitude
Owls looked into her bag as it say partially open by her desk and the small object she had found and wrapped in rag that had grown too many holes and been grey for too long to be of any more use in cleaning, but worked just perfect for holding rusty oily dirt coated bits of metal.
She licked her lip and found the cut she had received the previous day from a thrown rock. A bruise on her left eye had been earned when she had tried to stand up and been pushed down. A boy with an oil smudge on his nose and goggles propped in his messy hair had chased them off. but he had ran off before she could say thanks. She did not know his name but she had seen him around the school and the city. She hoped he would like the think she had found.
She ignored her teachers words as she looked to the old clock protected by a wire cage so that no one could mess or tamper with it. Her fingers ran nervously along the edge of the few books and single notebook she had stacked on her desk as the small hand moved at a steady pace but still displayed the tendency for time to slow the faster she wanted it to go.
The bell rang and Owls grabbed the single strap on her bag and slung it over her shoulder before her quick feet carried her through the hallway and out the front door of the school.
The crowd paused as Owls noticed a sudden silence that meant the scrubbers had stopped. A shrill siren wailed out from the speakers that were mounted on every corner. Curfew was called early. Owls was caught in the swift moving crowd as they began to move again with permission given by the horns.
She stopped in the stone covered courtyard with her hand over her mouth and rose to her toes to find the person she sought. The yard cleared quickly as students raced home.
It did not take long for her to spot him, he stood in front of the flag pole and stared at it with a contraption over his face. She shook her head, he probably could not hear the sirens with the thing on.
She walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around with his head tilted to the side. His face was covered in a dark mask with a bunch of spinning parts on the lower half. The sight made her lower her hand and gasp. She shoved the cloth wrapped piece of metal into his hands as she ran away with all thoughts of saying thanks abandoned.
Reply
