tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60375304654808986712024-03-13T06:26:01.177+00:00Oh you think so do you?????Ah ya know....just a place for me to put my ramblings and stuff. I tend to ramble about science, skeptisism, religion, football, reading, and writing.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-59463698326371754242018-07-22T11:06:00.000+01:002018-07-23T11:02:06.341+01:00The road to becoming Vegan(ish)<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Day 1 : Sunday 22nd July 2018<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAmMffKj9ZMNXgrjxNjnasekvM5CuS_J8D4P1b85aUZLh31SNPp_M6wRI8AjFykCvhn8cvz11530MfvGGN6kfvRlcKvhdzwUQRSjhhDtP-OWIr3CzfyRT2erLZwvv0tEFRAK8Uhe5JnXW/s1600/Pvmp_plan_%2528Premium_Vegetarian_Meal_Plan%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="900" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPAmMffKj9ZMNXgrjxNjnasekvM5CuS_J8D4P1b85aUZLh31SNPp_M6wRI8AjFykCvhn8cvz11530MfvGGN6kfvRlcKvhdzwUQRSjhhDtP-OWIr3CzfyRT2erLZwvv0tEFRAK8Uhe5JnXW/s200/Pvmp_plan_%2528Premium_Vegetarian_Meal_Plan%2529.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-20e99c3f-c696-6c9a-1648-182403555c5c" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Day 1 : 22nd July 2018</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">I just watched Cowspiracy. I plan on doing some fact checking on the stats but to be honest, if that are even half right, eating meat is ridiculously expensive and costly. So I am going to go vegan. But not immediately. I don’t think I could do that. Years ago I gave up sugar in my tea and coffee. I was taking three spoons per cup (yes, I said three) so to stop I took myself off it slowly. I went from three to two. It took about a week or so and I was ok with it. Then I went from two to one. Again, another week and I was ok. So I made the final step. I went from one to none. And it took months to be OK. But what happened in the time before I enjoyed no sugar, was that I realised I didn’t like one sugar. I was stuck in a no-mans land but I had to keep going. To paraphrase Lady Macbeth quote. I was steeped in sugarlessness so far that should I wade no more, returning would be as tedious as go-ore.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Aaaaaany, pretentiousness aside. I will not go hell for leather into Veganism. I have a lot of meat in my house, that I bought. I’m not going to waste it. But I will start to plan shopping better. I am also going to switch to a vegetarian diet first. I will get comfortable with switching to some of my meals being vegetarian, then half, then a majority, then all (when possible, like eating out or at others. I don’t plan on imposing my decision on others - this may change as I do). Once that is done I will start the same ratio switch to a Vegan diet. At this point my two biggest worries is the lack of cheese and eggs. But let's cross that bridge when I come to it.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">So!! To google vegetarian recipes! :D</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Here goes!!</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">End of the day:</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">I will be completing the diary at the end of the day from now on (or the next morning) and recap on the days progress / struggles.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Today was OK. Technically I had two vegetarian meals. I need to start having breakfast more just because it’s healthier. But the eating out was an easy test to pass. I should have had a mushroom pizza but for no other reason than the stuff I got was mank.</span></div>
<br /><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Meal Diary :</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Breakfast : Two cups of coffee. Vt</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Lunch : Half a ham roll, pork chop & egg</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Dinner : Garlic Cheese chips & potato pie Vt</span></div>
</div>
</div>
De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-34851530885369700272016-09-08T11:18:00.000+01:002016-09-08T12:26:44.091+01:00The Ballad Of Shep and Tam<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What are you reading?” Tam asked.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
ignored him.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What are you reading?” Tam asked again.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
ignored him.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Well..?”
Tam paused. “What are you reading?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
looked up at Tam. Stared long enough to
convey his annoyance and returned to his book.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
stared at Shep reading for a while. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What are you reading?” Tam asked.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Will you leave me alone??” Shep screamed, exasperated.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
smiled. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Never heard of
it. Who wrote it?” He asked, prodding
the nerve.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“OK.
I’ll tell you.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Excellent!”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“It’s called ‘Fifty Shades Of Why Don’t You
Fuck Off’” Shep returned to his book.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Never heard of it. Who wrote it?” Tam asked, trying to hold back a laugh.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!” Shep screamed, closing the book.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Is there a reason you are annoying me?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
smiled again and got ready for the reaction.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yes.
We’re partners today.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
groaned loudly and forcefully to make sure Tam knew he was not at all happy
about this.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Why?”
Shep said. “Why? Why? Why?…what
did I do to deserve this? What did I do
to deserve you?” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">’s cheerful expression
was designed to please himself and annoy Shep, like a smile on a thief’s face
as he pockets your wallet.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Just lucky I suppose. Some people win lotteries, some people get
me. Who can say who the real winner is?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Shut up Tam.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yoh kay doh kay.” Tam said patting himself, looking for
something. He took a sheet of paper from
his pocket and handed it to Shep.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You’ll be happy. We only have one today.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Well thank fuck for that.” Shep said snatching the paper. “Ah crap. It’s on Earth.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You really are a joy to be with you know that
Shep?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
ignored the insult and stood up.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A pure joy. You’re a gem of a partner. I have had such assholes before.” Tam continued. “But I must say that this has been the best
conversation I’ve had in years. I’m so
privileged.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Shut up”
Shep said automatically.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“And we’ve only just started. I think I may actually be luckier than you.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
groaned again. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Come on Shep.
Cheer up. It’ll be just like the
old days remember. All those long days,
and longer nights, causing mischief and mayhem.
D</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ipping and diving across
the realms, picking up women, and drinking till they puked.</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep gave Tam a sideways stare through
half closed lids.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“We’ve never
worked together before Tam. Shut up.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yeah but
imagine what it </span><i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">could</span></i><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> have been like!</span><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">” Tam smiled and
slapped Shep on the back. “We would’ve
been great!”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">oOo</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">They
landed. Well it was more of a
materialisation. The people who were
near just glanced over and glanced away again.
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Brilliant.”
Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What is?”
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Them…over there, and there.” Tam was pointing at various people and groups
that had they had just appeared among.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
looked at them, barely masking his expression of disgust.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What’s so brilliant about them? They are stupid hunks of meat who think
they’re in some way evolved.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yeah I know, but that’s great. I love these people for their innocence,
arrogance, and levels of self delusion.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I hate them for it. Fools.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
was looking up and down the street.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I mean, they saw us but they don’t seem to
care. It was just a glitch for them,
like a moment of deja vu or something.
They’ll always manage to rationalise the odd, the weird, and the
downright strange if it means not facing up to it.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Idiots.”
Shep said as if he was spitting out a bad taste.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No.
It’s endearing.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Whatever.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So where are we supposed to be going again?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
sighed. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“It’s called ‘The Pigs
Trotter’”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A bar or something?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yeah, or something. I think it’s a private club or disco or
whatever they’re called now.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“And who is the mark?” Tam asked.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
looked at him raising an eyebrow.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“The ‘mark’?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yeah, the contact, the victim, the john.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What are you on about?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Come on, Shep, don’t tell me you didn’t watch
some Earth movies before we came.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No you won’t tell me or no you didn’t.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No I didn’t”.
Shep was reviewing the details in the paper. “Her real name is Mary but
her spirit name is ‘Filth’”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I like it.”
Tam said. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Odd spirit name to pick.” Shep said.
“Although, these people don’t surprise me.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“But it’s kinda cool.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yeah, but most people pick names they think
sound fantastical, like ‘Astro’ or ‘Essence’.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So?”
Tam said. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So, a name like ‘Filth’ is just unusual.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Maybe I suppose.” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
started walking.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“How will we know her? What did it say?” Tam said.
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Huh?”
Shep turned back towards Tam, who was pointing at the sheet.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“How will we know who Filty Mary is? Will she be tall? Small? In uniform? Will she be wearing a wetsuit?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
was only just about managing to contain his anger. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“A fuckin wetsuit? Why would she be wearing a wetsuit?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
smirked at how easy Shep was to annoy.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Who knows?
She may be into kinky stuff. Or
surfing!”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
turned and started to walk away again.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Surfing is probably more likely though.” Tam said to himself, but loud enough.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
threw the paper over his shoulder at Tam.
</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Go have a read for
yourself.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yoh kay doh kay.” Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“And if you say that one more time I’ll impale
you.” Shep threw that over his shoulder too.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yoh kay-” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
stopped but didn</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">’t turn around.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
finally failed in holding back his laugh.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">oOo</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Walking
up to the locked door the place looked closed.
Faint muffled sounds and a dull rhythmic beat belied the
appearance. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Look, the metal door has a slot. I’ll get us in.” Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“How?”
Shep asked.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Watch.”
Tam strutted towards the door.
His over exaggerated swagger was designed to annoy Shep as much as
possible.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">After
two knocks the slot drew back with a squeak.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What.”
The pair of eyes said. It wasn’t
so much a question as a grunted full stop.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“We’re here. Let us in.” Tam said, turning to smile at Shep.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
eyes scanned the two. Tam met the stare.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“We’re here to see Dave.” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
slot closed and the sounds of unlocking could be heard.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
raised his eyebrows questioningly.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“There’s always a Dave.” Mouthed Tam.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">They
made their way through the main throng before reaching a quiet room.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You know…I amaze myself sometimes with my own
greatness.” Tam said as Shep drew alongside
him.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
gave him a withered stare and moved ahead.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So where will she be?” Shep asked.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“In bar number 2. The one with the best strippers.” Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Bar 2.
The Pigs Trotters. Best
Strippers.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What are you on about?” Shep said stopping.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Everyone knows that.” Tam said, “It’s on the slutty slate in the
dark toilet on floor 3. Best place to
get tips on sleaze. I would have thought
you’d know all about it.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
was elbowing Shep in the ribs. His
exaggerated winking included an odd mouth contortion for effect.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Has anyone ever told you that you’re very
annoying?” Shep said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Em..no actually” Tam said pausing “but a lot
of people ask me that.” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“There she is.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mary
was dancing on one of the raised platforms.
She was wearing a very revealing outfit that suggested a lot to the
imagination. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You want to do it or me?” Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Don’t care.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“OK. I’ll do it.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
walked up to Mary. She glanced at him in
a glazed way but returned to look again as recognition settled on her features.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Tam!
What are you doing here?” Mary
said, not really expecting an answer.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Shep
looked at them, his confusion evident.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Have you got another job for me?” Mary said, looking over Tam’s shoulder at
Shep.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yes.
You know the deal. Simple clean
up job.” Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yes. No problem. What’s he done?” Mary asked.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Apart from pissing off everyone he works
with, he’s been pissing off the bosses too.”
</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“OK.
Leave him here. I’ll send the
bill.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
walked back to Shep and shot him in the face.
He was dead before he hit the floor.
Tam stared at the body as the pool of blood grew around his head like a
halo.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You ever think about having kids Mary?” Tam asked, still staring at Shep.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Nah, don’t think I could handle them. Once they start to walk and talk they become
a pain. I’d end up killing them.” Mary paused for a bit, thinking. “What’s the word for that?”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Infanticide.” Tam said.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No that’s killing babies, not the older, more
irritating ones.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Pesticide then?” </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tam
turned to Mary and saw her head thrown back in laughter. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Good to see you again Tam.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Till next time.”</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">And
Tam disappeared.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-13992306063777319762015-09-23T07:11:00.000+01:002016-09-08T11:16:31.978+01:00The Price<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 12pt 0cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
yacht was docked and gently swaying with the waves and the early evening breeze
brought some respite from the heat of the day, causing a gentle echo of sail
lines ringing off masts.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">He scanned the
other boats along the marina.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Most were
unoccupied but those that weren’t were too far away to care.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">He usually liked the solitude here.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Jim,
no one cares enough about you to want to hurt you.” Tom finished his drink and wiggled the glass
over his head.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Of
course they do. Everyone hates me for
who I am and what I have.” A girl
arrived and topped up Tom’s glass, she glanced at Jim's. A minimal finger wag was enough to for her to
turn around and leave.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I
don’t.” Tom said sipping the cool wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Well
I know you don’t hate me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No,
I meant I don’t hate you for who you are and what you have, I hate because you’re a pain in the ass.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim
slipped his sunglasses to the end of his nose.
“Yeah, but I’m a rich pain in the ass.”
His grin was wide for effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yeah,
that’s true. But let’s not focus on the
adjective in this case. Seriously though, you don’t actually believe you are
being….what did you say….’hunted’?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> “I do.
And it’s not as crazy as it sounds.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“That’s
not saying much Jim. Cos it sounds off
the wall mental.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim
sipped at his drink. He stared back at Tom. He was wondering if he should have told him
any of this. Tom knew him long enough to
be able to talk back to him like this, but he still got annoyed when he
did. Power and money had given him a force
field. It was a barrier that shielded
him from negative comments. People
seemed to believe that because he had money, he had superpowers. To criticise him was to risk losing their
place on his coattails. He hated it and
hated them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He
looked around. He felt cold, but it
didn’t seem to be caused by the weather. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> “Yeah, I know.
I just can’t shake the feeling.
I’ve been just on edge I suppose.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Yes. Now can we just get drunk and drop this whole
stupid business. The girls will be —”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There
was a loud crash from the galley, followed by a scream and further sounds of
shattering glass and splintering wood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim
jumped to his feet. “Oh no.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Stop
it Jim.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Something
rolled along the deck. The sound became
more pronounced in the aftermath of the earlier racket. It had a rhythmic cadence to it as it crept
towards Tom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“It’s
got a dent in it.” Tom showed Jim the
source of the rolling noise. “And why do
you have canned soup here anyway.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Because
I can’t cook, and is that really what you are most concerned with right now?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Tom
looked into the fear frozen face of Jim.
“Ah Jim, relax, it’s just Gloria.
She probable slipped and knocked over something.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“No. I’m telling you. Something is trying to kill me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Something?” Tom looked from Jim to the galley and
back. “What the hell are you talking
about?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“Something
or someone, I don’t know.” Tom’s eyes
were as wide as poker chips.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
doors leading to the deck shattered.
They burst outward from the point the creature touched them and spread
to the edges in a ripple of shards and twigs.
The creature took a lumbering step towards them and stopped. It seemed to take up more space than its
physical presence, as if its shadow had mass.
The two men itched to cover their noses but were afraid to move as the
stench crawled its way into them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“So,
here we are.” Said a mild voice. It didn’t fit the beast. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim
looked to Tom in confusion, but Tom was rigid, a wet patch around his
groin. He sounded like he was trying to
talk or scream but his voice was fighting against letting him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A
slight man walked around from behind the beast and strode calmly towards Jim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“You
owe me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim
started to nod, but caught himself. “I
don’t know what you mean.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
smile from the little man didn’t even have a hint of warmth in it. It contained pleasure, but only for
himself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“We
made a deal, didn’t we.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What
did you do to Gloria?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“She’s
fine.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
amount of time that passed between the can of soup striking the little man’s
head and the creature reaching Tom was practically non-existent. It began peeling Tom apart. He was lifted in one of its hands as the
other one ripped away parts of him, his torso was cracked and snapped into a
damp red bundle and dropped in a sticky mess to the deck. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
little man rubbed his temple but never looked.
“You owe me.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“What
do you want? Anything! I promise!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“That’s
more like it.” The man said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I
want you. I own you.” The man pointed to the beast. “That one is done now.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim looked at the giant of hair and bone, it seemed to be sagging.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">“I
need a new one.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 12.0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
beast wasn’t actually shrinking but still seemed to becoming less of
itself. It was still there, but it held
less of a presence. The little man
smiled at Jim. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Jim felt it deep inside
himself. It wasn’t a pain, more of a
pressure. He felt himself stretch and
solidify at the same time. He suddenly
understood and looked at the creature one last time. He heard snapping of his bones as they
reshaped and reformed. The pain began
now, not a physical pain, but one of loss.
His life was over. His new life
was about to begin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-43898928718454121322015-08-05T12:18:00.000+01:002015-08-05T12:18:10.050+01:00Dead Reckoning<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">
“Wow this place is quiet.” Bob said.<br />“Really? Is that your first impression? Quiet?” Ted had started breathing again. Only an exhale, he was still hoping he could avoid an inhale.<br />“Yeah. I’d say there would be a great echo in here.”<br />This was his worst nightmare. Ted had to jog passed cemeteries, and forget about getting him in one. The cold comfort of the bodies being six feet under and dead for years was supplanted by the sheer number of them. Funerals were the opposite. He only had to cope with one body, but the freshness was off putting and having only a thin piece of wood separating it from him was too much. But now here he was, standing with anxious sweats, and Bob, in a morgue.<br />“Don’t you dare!” Ted looked at the smirk on Bob’s face.<br />“As if. I’m just saying.”<br /><br />They looked around the room, getting their bearings. It was nondescript, but this is what it looked like; square. There was a table in the centre of the room and around the walls were lockers. Ted didn't know if that was the correct word for them but that's what they looked like. There were seven per row, three rows per wall, on three walls. So 63 naked bodies lurking behind the slender metal locker doors.<br />“Let’s just do this and get out as fast as possible.” He shivered and tried to pass if off as being due to the chill in the room.<br />A smile crept along Bobs face. “You’re afraid aren’t you?” and it exploded in his eyes.<br />“Whaaat?” Ted said an octave too high.<br />“You ARE!” Bob started to hop with excitement. “I can’t believe it! Big man Ted is afraid of morgues!”<br />“Shut up will ya, someone will hear you!”<br />“Maybe one of them?” Bob said gesturing around the room, “and maybe they’ll answer back!” Bob was really enjoying this.<br />“STOP! If you say one more word.” Ted was managing to enunciate clearly through his clenched jaw. “I’ll make sure you get the next free slot in here.”<br />Bobs laugh echoed around room making Ted freeze, making Bob laugh again. He slapped Ted on the back.<br />“Ah it’s only a bit of fun. Relax!”<br />Ted was far from relaxed, far from being able to relax.<br />“Just quit it will ya!” Ted took a deep breath. “You know you’re really starting to annoy me. Has anyone every told you how much of a pain in the ass you are?”<br />“Nope. But a lot of people ask me that.”<br /><br />Ted took a few cautious steps into the central area. He could feel his nerves jangle, but he was gaining a bit of self-confidence. If he didn’t get this situation under his control, Bob might spread stories about him later. Rational fear of lost reputation was taking over from irrational fear of dead bodies.<br />“Did you bring the marker?” Ted asked.<br />“Yep.”<br />“And it’s permanent?”<br />“Yep.”<br />“OK, let’s find him. What box is he in?”<br />Bob looked back into Ted’s enquiring face. If Ted though he was being annoying before he was really going to love this. “I don’t know. I thought you did.”<br />Ted stopped breathing again as the room felt like it was shrinking, while the number of boxes seemed to simultaneously multiply.<br />“Are you kidding me?”<br />“No. Greg told me that he told Sam to make sure that Jimmy passed on the box number to Harry. Didn’t you meet Harry?”<br />“Harry never said anything about Jimmy. He said that he told Frank to text Mack with the box and he was going to pass it on to Sam for you.”<br />“But I haven’t seen Sam in weeks.”<br />“Oh Sweet Jesus.” Ted dragged his hand over his face. He counted the boxes again, calming slightly when it was still 63.<br />“Ah no big deal.” Bob said. “Maybe they’re not all full.”<br />“But if we don’t do this right, Johnny boy will kill us.”<br /><br />“OK, let’s work this out.” Bob said, sounding serious for the first time. “We know he’s a man, so we can rule out any women. We know he was Irish so we can rule out any foreign looking bodies.”<br />“No we can’t!” Ted was suppressing a scream.<br />“Why not?”<br />“Irish just means being born in Ireland.”<br />“Yeah?”<br />“So you can be black and be born in Ireland. You can be Asian and be born in Ireland. How you look has no bearing at all on your Irishness.”<br />“Yeah but if you were born in Ireland you’d still know they were Irish once they spoke.” Bob didn’t like being made feel foolish, but you’d think he’d be used to it.<br />Ted stared at him, waiting for logic to kick in and join up all the individual facts.<br />“Oh yeah.” Bob finally said.<br />“OK. Get the marker, let’s just do this.”<br />“How?” Bob was as confused as he looked.<br />“Like you said, we can rule out half of them and some lockers might be empty.”<br />“Well, you’re assuming that half of the bodies in here are women. Might not be true.” Bob said in a flash of statistical insight.<br />“Just shut UP!!!”<br />“There are going to be a lot of pissed off families, and closed caskets.” Bob said smiling.<br />“As long as it includes the one we want, that’ll just have to be. Johnny wants to humiliate him even if he’s dead.”<br />Bob tapped the marker against his lips, as Ted pulled out the first corpse.<br />“I’m thinking a pair of glasses and a mustache.”<br />“I don’t care what you draw, just get on with it.”<br />Bob’s tongue poked out of his mouth as his artistic nature kicked in. Ted scanned the room. 62 to go.</div>
De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-41682333183093377252015-01-01T13:16:00.001+00:002015-01-01T13:19:41.566+00:00First of Jan<p dir="ltr">Just like the queues of well meaning unfit people outside gyms, I'm here on my blog with the hungover and well meaning notion that in 2015 I'll resurrect this blog and try to write here more often. </p>
<p dir="ltr">We'll have to wait and see I suppose. </p>
De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-37797075795438922322011-12-01T20:56:00.001+00:002011-12-02T09:28:21.952+00:00NaNoWriMo<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="http://files.content.lettersandlight.org/nano-2011/files/2011/11/Winner_180_180_white.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://files.content.lettersandlight.org/nano-2011/files/2011/11/Winner_180_180_white.png" /></a>It's been a while hasn't it!! And to think I was so committed to writing more regularly. Well let me fill you on why I am back. I had been tipping away at a novel for a while but not getting very far with it. I had written about 8000 words and had a rough outline for the rest of it. I was unsure of what to do with it and where to go with it so it had stalled. Then, just by chance, on the 31st of October, I heard about something called <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/en">NaNoWriMo</a> (which is short for <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/en">National Novel Writing Month</a>). The idea behind it is that you write daily for the 30 days of November and you 'win' it if you write 50000 words. <br />
<br />
I though well why not!! So I ditched the 8000 words I had written and started again. I decided that I wanted to write 60000 words cos I felt 50000 seemed short for a novel. 60000 is short too, mind you but it's more than 50000!! So I started a routine of writing 2000 words a day. 1000 in the morning and 1000 in the evening. I said to myself that if I can do this for a month I would achieve 2 things. 1) I would be able to say I wrote a book, and 2) I might get a habit of daily writing from it.<br />
<br />
Well I did it. Yesterday I finished my 62000 page novel called Twins. It is mine and I am delighted. I have no idea what the writing is like. I am certain that there are many plot holes in it and that it would need a huge amount of work to make it readable, but that is the point of <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/en">NaNoWriMo</a>. It is about experiencing the joy of writing and completing a book and about suppressing the inner critic and editor. As I was writing I would be aware that I needed a character to have a certain skill. To suddenly introduce that skill at the time it is needed is poor writing. So I will have to go back and mention this as part of the characters description earlier in the novel. But that's OK. Normally I would have stopped the writing and gone back and done it. But with NNWM you just plow on.<br />
<br />
And today is the first day that I have not had the book to write. I kind of miss it. I feel there is more I could add to the people I have had living in my head for a month and they grew as the word count grew. Some characters ended up doing things I hadn't planned and that dictated the direction the novel took. But that's good too. I think the whole plot hangs together well. Now I'm not saying I have a blockbuster on my hands, but I have my 1st book.<br />
<br />
As for the daily habit, well here I am. I would like to write 1000 words every day but I think I will settle for anything between 500 and whatever. I will probably use the daily writing as a sort of journal for a few days before I start on another story. Who knows it may form the basis for the next novel I write.<br />
<br />
I will be leaving Twins alone for at least a month to 6 weeks (on the advice of Stephen King in <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0340820462/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d2_g14_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1NG256QNN14FPXC89BD2&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294">On Writing</a>) and during that time I plan to study the way fiction should work and learn a little about editing. There is a <a href="http://www.nanoedmo.net/xoops2/">NaNoEdMo</a> in March for editing the book. I don't know if I can wait that long but we'll see.<br />
<br />
There is a scriptwriting equivalent called <a href="http://scriptfrenzy.org/">Script Frenzy </a>in April so I will probably so that. And there is no reason why I can't just so a MyNoWriMo in any month I choose. So that's it. I would recommend <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/en">NaNoWriMo</a> to anyone and everyone who has ever felt they had a book in them. It helps you to just write it.<br />
<br />
That's it for now. <br />
<br />
<br />
I will be writing daily from now on (I created a chain on <a href="http://dontbreakthechain.com/">Don't Break The Chain</a> and I would like to keep it unbroken) so I will be back. <br />
<br />De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-50838658698323881752010-09-10T05:01:00.013+01:002010-09-10T07:46:30.803+01:00Why I don't like Ratzinger.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.comedonchisciotte.org/images/ratzinger.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 392px; height: 248px;" src="http://www.comedonchisciotte.org/images/ratzinger.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Firstly...read <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-catholics-its-you-this-pope-has-abused-2074029.html">this</a>, then come back here. (If you went there and thought 'this is too long!!' here is a summary :- Good people in the Catholic church should boycott the Popes visit to the UK because he was directly involved in the cover up of child rape, and he lists some individual cases to show this fact.)<br /><br />I am an atheist. I have been for a long time. My reasons are many and varied but just to be clear about it, because I have often found myself correcting this, I did not become an atheist out of laziness. My atheism was a definite, clear and deliberate decision and act. Through reading, researching, thinking and learning, I came to realize that the situation that makes most sense to me is that there is no God. It wasn't just a laziness thing or through apathy that I just fell out with God and religion. I sincerely believe, from looking at it in many ways, there cannot be a God.<br /><br />But I am in a minority. I am aware of that. People have many different reasons for believing in God. From my experiences I think the most common reason is that they were raised that way. The second most common reason is they like the comfort of it. These are observations, not any sort of scientific study or survey and of course are probably inaccurate. But if a person feels they are improved by religion, so be it. I of course believe these good people are good anyway and religion had nothing to do with it, but that is another blog altogether. But what is the point of religion if there is no good from it? (And I don't count simply spreading 'the word' as doing good!)<br /><br />About a month or two ago I left the Catholic Church. I didn't know you could do this but a friend of mine told me about a site that showed you what to do. I was delighted and I used the information on <a href="http://www.countmeout.ie">Count Me Out</a> to do it. There were varied reactions. Some people were shocked, some surprised, some thought I was petty and some were not surprised at all.<br /><br />People wondered why I did it. Most people know I am an atheist. So why actually leave the church. Isn't it being a bit spiteful or controversial just for the sake of it? Well no. And if you read that article at the start before getting to here you now know why I did it and why I didn't want my name linked with the Catholic Church. <br /><br />That horrible and disgusting man who calls himself The Pope is not a spiritual leader. He is not a moral guide. He is a bureaucrat more interested in keeping the business and image of the church intact than caring for the children who suffered while under their supposed protection. I do not want my name listed as being part of his church.<br /><br />Next to my name on the baptismal registrar of my local church is says 'defected'. And I am proud.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-65237130375962348572010-08-31T12:59:00.000+01:002010-08-31T13:00:09.855+01:00World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale<object width="540" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ne6tB2KiZuk?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ne6tB2KiZuk?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="385"></embed></object>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-43719236800425643932010-08-30T12:57:00.004+01:002010-08-30T12:58:28.605+01:00Sir David Attenborough's view on Science & Religion - Life on Air<object width="540" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gfa88SeNohY?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Gfa88SeNohY?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="385"></embed></object>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-35016496333216807822010-08-24T21:05:00.002+01:002010-08-24T21:35:06.606+01:00write away every day<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://larl.org/fosston/files/2010/02/writing.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 200px;" src="http://larl.org/fosston/files/2010/02/writing.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I've been writing a lot on <a href="http://twitter.com/demerybadersaye">Demery Bader-Saye</a>'s blog <a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/">write away every day</a>. It's a great site where she gives you a photo prompt to get your creative juices flowing. Here are links to my entries, but give the others a look too cos there are some very good writers on there!!<br /><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/slumbered.html?showComment=1282657371087#c7730987484303915295">slumbered</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/guaranteed.html?showComment=1282575679397#c266524166259834198">guaranteed</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/bugged.html?showComment=1282462750912#c7758161303491545262">bugged</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/sheltered.html?showComment=1281706135205#c7834962925172722541">sheltered</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/powered.html?showComment=1281620294884#c5240288997077518667">powered</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/spent.html?showComment=1281611601876#c8327355608163201360">spent</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/found_10.html?showComment=1281473259392#c2616443234236162291">found</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/parked.html?showComment=1281434671685#c1108945113201002556">parked</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/pined.html?showComment=1281302963233#c733159940469586516">pined</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/howled.html?showComment=1281215005821#c6969479948085492991">howled</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/treasured.html?showComment=1281116582215#c9049175372561169804">recycled</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/dispatched.html?showComment=1281021602433#c1754095043739543239">dispatched</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/yearned.html?showComment=1280936088263#c6360139018109814117">yearned</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/found.html?showComment=1280848016202#c5073560181792481338">found</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/08/unearthed.html?showComment=1280768560839#c2570321773609816422">unearthed</a><br /><a href="http://writeawayeveryday.blogspot.com/2010/07/tasted.html?showComment=1280412314640#c8385614712165115921">tasted</a>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-23643098049070026672010-08-24T16:14:00.003+01:002010-08-24T16:19:46.408+01:00My One-Liners!!!OK after bashing my brain I finally managed to hit a one-liner vein and these came to me in about 30 mins this morning. They are more likely to be candidates for the worst one-liner than the best.<br /><br />Enjoy!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">I woke up this morning staring in someone else window. I think I was stalking in my sleep.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I'm going on a package holiday next week. I'm posting myself abroad.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />I've joined one of those pyramid schemes. My mummy convinced me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I swapped the keys on my keyboard to see if it would help my Dyslexia. It qjusf.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Do colour-blind people get blue jokes?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I bought pills on the internet that help your memory. I dunno if they arrived yet.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">I woke up this morning talking about black holes. I think I was Hawking in my sleep.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">I was going to go to a motivation seminar, but then I, well you know.</span>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-75311391958039730182010-08-24T09:45:00.003+01:002010-08-24T09:52:52.946+01:00Funny One-Liners<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bloggedyou.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/laugh_ha_ha.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 281px; height: 249px;" src="http://bloggedyou.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/laugh_ha_ha.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Yesterday I read what the funniest one liner from the Edinburgh fringe festival was. It was this. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again."</span><br /><br />Not too bad. But not great either. Not really my kind of joke. They also voted for the worst one liner. It was this. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">"Why did the chicken commit suicide? To get to the other side." </span><br /><br />The worst? That was FAR better! That is a great joke. Now maybe this says more about me than the competition or the entries themselves. Maybe it says I am a depressed individual or a sadist who likes to see other people (chickens?) suffer needlessly. But I think it was great.<br /><br />It got me thinking though, I could write a better one liner than that.<br /><br />So I started thinking.<br /><br />And I thought.<br /><br />And thought.<br /><br />And I can't.<br /><br />Not a single one liner came to me. Nothing. I was depressed. I was miserable. I even started to doubt myself and question my own identity. It was a bad few minutes.<br /><br />But then I had a coffee and everything was good in the world again. Now if I was any good I would be able to finish this blog entry with a spot on one liner.<br /><br />But nope. I can't think of them on the spot.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-71012821313569949002010-08-23T11:59:00.004+01:002010-08-23T12:06:24.417+01:00This Weekend? Next Weekend?Please help me settle a long standing argument and answer the poll below...<br /><br /><br /><script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="http://static.polldaddy.com/p/3660623.js"></script><br /><noscript><br /> <a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/3660623/">What weekend is Saturday 28th August in?</a><span style="font-size:9px;"><a href="http://polldaddy.com/features-surveys/">online survey</a></span><br /></noscript>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-36152936040207207792010-08-04T09:10:00.006+01:002010-08-04T11:34:40.461+01:00I Forgive You.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSasLBUsWmZLKIsGt9-p4esI7Fn6ovTHQiRjzcZz453wbpFdQ39r-ib40taBra1DQH1wgte1ismNT6rFIriKbZzeGo0-NVxvY-5L8wg4drH0pvnxhxw-l9FR3nI-ygHMcC29N5ZM9n83j/s1600/cutefan.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjSasLBUsWmZLKIsGt9-p4esI7Fn6ovTHQiRjzcZz453wbpFdQ39r-ib40taBra1DQH1wgte1ismNT6rFIriKbZzeGo0-NVxvY-5L8wg4drH0pvnxhxw-l9FR3nI-ygHMcC29N5ZM9n83j/s200/cutefan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5501464511104825810" /></a><br />Ok...I forgive you. I forgive you for leaving me. Back in May when you left me I didn't know what I would do. How would I get through the long summer days without you? I felt a void in my gut like it was carved out with a rusty knife. My life, my meaning was gone.<br /><br />But yes, I will take you back. I will forgive you and I'm sure we can start to live for each other once more. But before we start, I have a confession. Well it's not really a confession as it was you who left me, so it's more of an admission. I think it's best to get these things out in the open before we try again.....<br /><br />During the summer I had a fling. There, I said it. It was mostly on my holidays but it started before I went and finished a bit after I came back. She was foreign and although it was great fun and we shared some brilliant moments together, it just wasn't the same. She wasn't what I was used to. And she was also quite noisy too. But I suppose she helped me in a way. She helped me get over my terrible time from when you finished it in May. <br /><br />Don't worry, about her though. It all finished a few weeks back (July 11th to be exact) and she will not be around for 4 years, but she did say her little sister will be visiting for the summer in 2012. Not that I am making a threat or anything. I'm just saying.<br /><br />So we are here again. It seems like you love to annoy me, to tease me. With these meaningless, empty summers. But I will give things a chance. Maybe on Sunday we can have a trial run. It will be good if it goes well but if it doesn't well the fact that it happened might be good enough.<br /><br />The Saturday after we can try for real. We can start to plan some regular time together and see if we can end on a bitter sweet high next May again. Sweet (hopefully) because of the triumph, and bitter because you will leave me again.<br /><br />Chelsea for the Premiership!!!!!!!<br />Chelsea for the Champions League!!!!!!!<br />Chelsea for the FA Cup!!!!!!!De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-10593199950636725662010-07-29T12:23:00.001+01:002010-07-29T12:24:46.093+01:00A crazy person vs. a moral pillar of society<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4826055496_c531424f6d_b.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 321px;" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4093/4826055496_c531424f6d_b.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-69102272853929963562010-07-27T09:06:00.004+01:002010-07-27T09:12:04.379+01:00That's Cheating!!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cectic.com/comics/191.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 662px;" src="http://cectic.com/comics/191.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Courtesy of <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/the_special_case_rule.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+scienceblogs%2Fpharyngula+%28Pharyngula%29&utm_content=Google+Reader">Pharyngula</a>.<br /><br />You are a skeptic or you are not. You don't get to choose one meat to be exempt if you are a vegetarian, so why or how can you apply skepticism to everything except religion. It's cheating. So stop it. Or I'm going home. And I'm taking my ball.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-61277283523102077822010-07-25T10:36:00.010+01:002010-07-25T11:24:34.862+01:00It's all Fantasy isnt' it?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://fantasyfineart.com/jedruszek/hero.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 263px; height: 400px;" src="http://fantasyfineart.com/jedruszek/hero.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I was thinking about Fantasy books, and how they follow a kind of thematic blueprint. Now before you say anything, I know not all stories follow this trend but a lot of them do!! OK!! So I don't read a HUGE amount of Fantasy books, so anyone who has will probably scoff at what I have to say, but I don't care a great deal and I will say it anyway. (Or in other words....just deal with it OK!!!) <br /><br />But there is a kind of trend in some stories. It's kind of a coming of age story. The hero begins as a kind of nobody and has a regular (if not poor) life in which he trudges along. He dreams of better things but by and large he is happy with his lot. He has a loving family and a comfortable life.<br /><br />We then get a glimpse of something else. Something from outside his life and usually his past comes back and his life changes. We discover he is not an ordinary boy at all, he is something special. He has royal blood in him, or he is the son of a great leader or simply in the right place at the right time and is the one who is chosen (by chance or will) to head off into the wider world. This is something that thrill or scares him. His journey brings him face to face with his past. He learns more of who he really is, either in character or genealogy and becomes a bigger, better man for it and becomes the hero of the day. He gathers his band of followers, one of who will be a great confidant and/or will have great knowledge of the path he is taking (not always a literal path) and he goes on to vanquish the evil that has covered the land and that keeps his people down.<br /><br />As you read that you may have thought of several characters. Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Frodo in The Lord Of The Rings. Rand in The Wheel of Time books. Or in the land of movies, there is obviously Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, or even Superman. I'm sure you can think of plenty more cos it appears a hell of a lot in fiction. Now I know this is not a new revelation nor a new observance. Georges Polti and others have commented that there are a limited number of dramatic situations (<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thirty-six-Dramatic-Situations-Georges-Polti/dp/0766133206/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1280051583&sr=1-3-fkmr1">39 according to Polti</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seven-Basic-Plots-Tell-Stories/dp/0826480373/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280051546&sr=1-1">7 basic plots</a> according to Christopher Booker) so that you will get these trends and similarities repeated often.<br /><br />But what struck me was that these stories are powerful and when you read them gave you a great feeling. You feel <a href="http://kottke.org/07/06/embiggen-cromulent">embiggened</a>. You feel like you can get up and take on the world. You may not have the family tree of greatness but you can be that backwater boy who finds the strength within himself to fight evil and succeed.<br /><br />This led me to think of the story of Jesus. This story fits the mold almost exactly as any other fantasy book. In fact by the time the Jesus story was being written, it was far from unique. There are may specific details in the Jesus story (date of birth, virgin birth etc.) that are shared by older myths (<a href="http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Jesus_and_Mithra">the story of Mithras</a>, for example). <br /><br />Jesus does not have to have existed for the Jesus story to have an impact. The myths that people told that shared the content of the Jesus story (the content that some commentators have said were borrowed FOR the Jesus story) were original never supposed to be taken as an actual story of an actual man. They were stories that were supposed to be told to give you spirit and hope and the will to try to be a better you.<br /><br />I think the Jesus story is better that way. Because that way it empowers you and gives you strength to do better for yourself. Instead of making you a servant to a mythical character and trying to live up to a false ideal that he has portrayed. I think it's better to live life for life's own sake. It's the only one you've got and instead of wasting it by praying to a God for help, or spending it spreading the word of this God but not doing anything to actually help people. Or worse, simply doing it for the promise of the reward of a magical afterlife or the fear of an eternity of suffering and unimaginable pain from your loving (?) God. That is a wasted life.<br /><br />Life by the golden rule. Life to improve your own life and the lives you touch along the way. <br /><br />That is a life well lived. Not one spend on your knees in a church or in a missionary. To me that is a self absorbed, self serving, self important existence.<br /><br />And you can tell <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager">Pascal</a> he can shag off for himself.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-58211746608569092482010-07-19T09:08:00.009+01:002010-07-19T09:17:50.058+01:00Welcome To This World (video)Good video made by The Thinking Atheist.<br /><br /><object width="540" height="330"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1Rwioe1SGkQ&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1Rwioe1SGkQ&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="540" height="330"></embed></object><br /><br />As PZ Myers said in his blog. The disturbing thing about this video is that you could easily see the irony being lost on the most devout and see it as a vindication of their unquestioning faith.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-43576240219780678492010-07-18T09:43:00.003+01:002010-07-18T10:11:15.293+01:00But It Might HappenIf ever there was a phrase that annoys the hell out of me it is "But It Might Happen". Those four words are like an instant dagger right into the cranky region of my brain (which is right next to the grumpy section and above the irritated section).<br /><br />It is such a cop out of a phrase and it usually delivered almost as a <span style="font-style:italic;">coup de grâce</span> in an argument as if the fact that there is a probability, regardless of how small that probability is, that something might happen, it justifies some pointless or irrational act.<br /><br />You need an example? Why? Surely you have heard this being said yourself and can completely empathise with my (over the top?) annoyance with four simple words in a specific order? No??? OK!!!<br /><br />Rabbits foot. <br /><br />"Rub the rabbits foot for luck?!<br />"Why?, I don't think rubbing a rabbits foot will make the questions I know the answers to, appear in my exam?"<br />"Maybe not....shur rub it anyway"<br />"No"<br />"But it might happen!!"<br /><br />Apply to any superstition you know.<br /><br />But it appears in more ordinary circumstances too. People have a fear of disease, theft, injury, all sorts of events that are normal enough, but share a common emotion that exacerbates this irrationality. Fear. Fear makes people believe stupid things and behave in stupid ways. Yes I said it....stupid. I know the PC police will be on to me for using such a judgmental word like that but if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck. It's not a feathered creature that is found in our lakes and ponds. It's a duck!! (Sorry, I'll come back to my PC annoyances some other time)<br /><br />People take unnecessary drugs or totally ineffective cures (Homeopathy, step forward...we are talking about you). But it can't cure you...."But It Might Happen!" (or it's close relative "But It Works For Me")<br /><br />I recently heard a comedian talking of how people unplug all their appliances before heading away for a weeks holidays. And it hit home. It is exactly the kind of thing you would justify with the magic words. <br /><br />"Why are you doing that?"<br />"In case they burst into flames when I am gone."<br />"What?"<br />"In case there is a short circuit or something?"<br />"How long have you had that TV?"<br />"2 years."<br />"Has it ever done that before?"<br />"No."<br />"Has anything you have ever owned ever in your entire life ever burst into flames while plugged in, while you were here?"<br />"No."<br />"So there is no point in doing this now just cos you are not going to be here...."<br />"But it might happen"<br /><br />YES!!! It MIGHT. But will it? NO!! The chances are ridiculously small.<br /><br />It would be the equivalent of me buying a lottery ticket and spending a fortune on new cars, houses, TV and everything I dreamed of buying, BEFORE the draw was made. I haven't actually won the money yet......"But It Might Happen"<br /><br />Now I know this is all a bit facetious and probably does not deserve this much attention. But why it really annoys me is that it kind of justifies the irrational and opens the door for more and different (and more dangerous?) irrationality. People not getting the MMR. You don't get Autism from the MMR...."But It Might Happen" No. It won't. But what MIGHT happen is that if enough people think like you, we will have a serious outbreak of a preventable illness.<br /><br />People worry about Pedophiles. They wrap their kids up in bubble wrap and are afraid to let them out of their sight. But the incidents of a child being abducted are very small....."But It Might Happen". No...it probably won't. As a parent I could think of nothing more devastating than the loss of one of my children. But there is a duty I have to them to provide for them and to nurture them. And by stealing a big portion of their childhood because I have bought into the media fear mongering (another rant for another time) I think I am letting them down.<br /><br />It's a flippant saying and it is usually used as the last word in an argument. Essentially it is a "look, I am going to do it anyway so just leave me alone" but I ask....Is it wrong to leave it alone? Maybe in some circumstances, the harmless ones. But that is the trouble. Which ones are the harmless ones?<br /><br />No one will be harmed if all the appliances are unplugged. It will actually save electricity. But to let the reasoning be accepted even though it is irrational is dangerous. It is the thin end of the wedge. It can open the door for more serious flawed thinking.<br /><br />And I know you are thinking...yeah but that is unlikely isn't it.....<br /><br />But It Might Happen!!! (see what I did there!!!)De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-81757023544394124452010-02-09T12:05:00.000+00:002010-02-09T12:06:18.988+00:00Why God Loves Atheists.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCMGf8qaVQnhS0gKiK5lmhHlTepSBREZ__IITX4uRf5BShSEMqfIqw_-nkkdzS7Y0g76ALYaPD_jqsalNmrnTFPZ5EsFVD2uhP-fIKtiLckwJKCiuH9G5WlQJH0u5FP5TrijjGjRYFY9A/s1600-h/godlovesatheists.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaCMGf8qaVQnhS0gKiK5lmhHlTepSBREZ__IITX4uRf5BShSEMqfIqw_-nkkdzS7Y0g76ALYaPD_jqsalNmrnTFPZ5EsFVD2uhP-fIKtiLckwJKCiuH9G5WlQJH0u5FP5TrijjGjRYFY9A/s400/godlovesatheists.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436213819323254946" /></a>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-27118631335201840812010-02-09T12:04:00.001+00:002010-02-09T12:04:53.834+00:00Funny God!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gmZvC3_VdRDfRe2LFMrQogggKfM5fgvDFpU-ELWn6l7eaiX4pKU2iHlopbJT45hvqNEiGe8rkuS30wmtzMpdtldNuwhj_lr_DsxG7cOXe36ZH7TtMKJIVL1f7AiedhM8X0m7asfAr8z1/s1600-h/funnygod.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 357px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7gmZvC3_VdRDfRe2LFMrQogggKfM5fgvDFpU-ELWn6l7eaiX4pKU2iHlopbJT45hvqNEiGe8rkuS30wmtzMpdtldNuwhj_lr_DsxG7cOXe36ZH7TtMKJIVL1f7AiedhM8X0m7asfAr8z1/s400/funnygod.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5436213493045817234" /></a>De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-90809188647882189402010-01-25T14:30:00.003+00:002010-01-25T16:41:25.012+00:00QWERTY spells God.The QWERTY keyboard was designed by a man (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Latham_Sholes">C. Latham Sholes</a> to be specific). I could stop there and say that so was God and that would do. But that actually wasn't my point. But it IS a good one!!<br /><br />The arms of the old typewriters had an annoying tendency to jam. If you typed too fast or used letters that were too close to each other they would clash with each other. This was a major stumbling block for the typewriter. In 1874, C. Latham Sholes designed the QWERTY layout (named after the first six letters of the top row) for the Sholes and Glidden typewriter and this design was sold to Remington in the same year. It became popular with the success of the Remington No. 2 of 1878. Had these issues not been overcome the typewriter may never have been as much of a success as it was.<br /><br />So QWERTY saved the day. The ingenious design of this keyboard layout slowed down the typing speed by putting commonly used letters apart from each other as much as possible. In doing this the clashes and jams were reduced.<br /><br />With the advent of golfball typewriters and electronic typewriters that no longer had an arm that clashed, the QWERTY configuration was no longer needed. With computer keyboards there is not even anything physical striking any page. But we still have QWERTY.<br /><br />Why? Well here is why. It's called the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect">Network Effect</a>. We needed it once. There once was a very valuable reason for having it and it served a very important function. It became more and more popular and was in use so many places. But as with all things, we progressed beyond the original need for it. But like an appendix we still have it. It would be too difficult to change now. Too costly. And why bother anyway? We all grew up with it and we are all very used to it.<br /><br /><br /><br />There was once a time when people needed a God. They needed him to give them comfort and to calm them when they were faced with things they did not understand, things that scared them, things that they could not control. A time when there were many more unanswered questions about life and the world than there are today. God was the answer. To have an answer even though it was always the same answer, even though the answer did not always make sense, was a solace.<br /><br />With the advent if scientific discoveries, a lot of what used to be mysteries are now explained. We no longer need to use a deity to explain them. The gaps are getting smaller and smaller. Our knowledge is getting greater and greater. We can now find comfort in our understanding of how we know the world works. We don't need to live in fear of the unknown because we can be confident of our abilities to shed light on these areas, and that which we can't control we can often predict. God is superfluous in the modern world.<br /><br />But God is a QWERTY keyboard. We grow up with it. We just accept it. And very often, don't even question it.<br /><br />But unlike QWERTY we have very good alternatives to God, that need to be explored and shared.<br /><br />When we do, we can finally rid ourselves from something that slows us down and holds us back.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-46237059749733204722010-01-24T08:51:00.005+00:002010-01-28T07:44:09.431+00:00Book Review : 59 Seconds - Richard Wiseman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_PBKIeHwiG23D4WF5xowvWa0bBnvGjQRWISIqb-9bwUzVr-CQ-b0c5pGFQDno7Jd8lbmj_uhTFHRBqTZMihBis-qgi5NEmZehkYaD34tZYmChrBUvepOKcGkPM7syl5ABb3Boq0b1kBZQ/s1600-h/59seconds.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 308px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_PBKIeHwiG23D4WF5xowvWa0bBnvGjQRWISIqb-9bwUzVr-CQ-b0c5pGFQDno7Jd8lbmj_uhTFHRBqTZMihBis-qgi5NEmZehkYaD34tZYmChrBUvepOKcGkPM7syl5ABb3Boq0b1kBZQ/s320/59seconds.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431693241796457650" /></a><br />This is the second <a href="http://www.richardwiseman.com/">Richard Wiseman</a> book I read (the first being <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quirkology-Curious-Science-Everyday-Lives/dp/0330448110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264324506&sr=8-1">Quirkology</a>) and it was as good as I expected it to be. Now that can mean any number of things so let me just clarify that I really enjoyed it.<br /><br />I am a big fan of science and psychology and love discovering weird and wonderful aspects of the way we behave, act and react and this book was perfect as it was full of very interesting stuff. But where <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/59-Seconds-Think-little-change/dp/023074429X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264324540&sr=1-1">59 Seconds</a> differs from Quirkology, is that in this book there is practical advice given on the strength of the studies and experiments that are explained in the book.<br /><br />The chapters are broken into various aspects of human behaviour/experience, like Happiness and Motivation. And there are also social based chapters like Relationships and Parenting (for me the Parenting chapter was especially eyeopening).<br /><br />In each chapter, common self-help myths are debunked and shown, not only to be incorrect or inaccurate but also explanations as to why. This last part is key as otherwise it would be one just another book pushing another point of view. But this book has science on its side. The advice in this book is not waffle from a puffed up, overpaid guru, but is advice as a result of detailed studies. <br /><br />The 59 Seconds refers to the amount of time you need to apply the findings from these studies to help you. I did feel that this was stretched a bit for some aspects and for some ideas (i.e. The Big Five Personalities) I would have liked to have had a 'further reading' or 'more information' section at the back as there is so much more to it than could have been covered in the book.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wiseman">Richard</a> was also very good in making it clear that in some studies, the results could not be taken at face value as they may not be a result of causation but of correlation. In some cases, he followed up with another study that tried to test these and remove the doubt. This not only highlights an important aspect of the scientific method but also shows that Richard (and the scientists involved in the studies) is being careful to avoid letting bias influence the results.<br /><br />Richard clearly has a big interest in these topics and has covered a lot of ground so that we don't have to. Like I said I would have liked a further reading type section but there are extensive notes and I'm sure I will be able to get more details from there.<br /><br />It is a good book, from a practical point of view (I have applied some of the tips already to great effect) but also from a purely intellectual point of view. After the reading the book, it is clear from what Richard has told us, we are a strange bunch of people and regardless of what we already know about ourselves, there is much more to learn.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-48538168661644750042010-01-16T16:53:00.004+00:002010-01-22T10:48:32.619+00:00ResolutionsNew years resolutions are not going well. I have not written as much as I planned. I suppose you could say that since this is my second blog entry today that I am at least writing something. But I want MORE. <br /><br />I am one of the millions of people who think they have a book in them. But I am actually right. I DO have a book. It's all about getting a plan in place and making the time to put the effort in. <br /><br />Maybe I am biting off more than I can chew cos I have also started training for a marathon in June. But there is no reason why I can't do both. If I do little and often I should be ok (which is how I managed to lose all that weight last year). <br /><br />I made a start to it last year by making out some character sketches and writing half a children book. I reconnected with an old collegue of mine who has illustrated a childrens book and she has offered to illustrate my so that will have to be my motivation. <br /><br />So I'll keep you posted and all going well I will be as to pot a link to my boom here at some point on the future.<br /><br />I would say I can dream anyway but I have spent took long dreaming about and it about time I started doing something about it.De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6037530465480898671.post-71806112206146787072010-01-16T10:25:00.008+00:002010-01-16T13:02:22.121+00:00Is IS 2010 isn't it???As if the ravings of Stephen Baldwin on Celebrity Big Brother ("If my daughter was threatened by a gun man and had to say 'Jesus Isn't Real' to survive, I'd tell her not to say it and I would see her in heaven") weren't jaw dropping enough, I recently came face to face with an evolution denier!!<br /><br />This never happened to me before and I was genuinely taken aback!! That was supposed to only happen to Americans when the stumbled into Creationist territory. I live in Ireland, where although there is a strong(ish) Catholic contingent, evolution is happily taught in schools and there is never even the suggestion that there might be a hint of a reason why anyone in their right mind might even begin to doubt it.<br /><br />I kinda had a feeling things were going in an odd direction when he said “But how can there be Global Warming when we have had the coldest winter in 10 years?” I had made a joke earlier in the week to someone else that I was waiting to hear that, but I never ACTUALLY thought I would. <br /><br />But as we were discussing global warming, I used the word ‘Theory’. As I was talking he said “I don’t believe in theories, only facts. And I can prove the theory of evolution is wrong too”. I thought I misheard (as you do) and so I asked him did I hear correctly. He said yes and then proceeded to explain that as man evolved faster than chimps, evolution is wrong because this cannot happen in evolution. Also this situation where one animal evolved faster from a common point has only ever happened to man.<br /><br />I told him that environmental factors dictate way each animal evolves and the differences between one animal and another. I also pointed out that birds and reptiles evolved from the same ancestor and that the alligator hasn’t evolved in millions of years but the birds have evolved much faster but it fell on deaf ears.<br /><br />He said but there are lots of holes in the theory of evolution. I said yes. And that is OK. That just means that everything isn’t fully understood yet. But I said the important word is yet. Scientists have been working on evolution for 150 years and I am confident they will find those answers at some point. But for now I am comfortable with the gaps.<br /><br />At this point he made some disparaging comment about Scientists being in it together and suggested there was a massive cover-up and that they are controlled by the government.<br /><br />In some way this last comment made the rest of the conversation easier to take. Added to the previous comments he was making about Global Warming (and an earlier one again about another supposed Government cover-up) I realized that there was a bigger picture going on here. That his focus is more anti-government-it’s-all-a-big-conspiracy-they-are-all-out-to-get-us rather than an evolution is wrong thing. At least I hope so.<br /><br />But it makes me sad (and a little angry) to hear people make statements about evolution that they have heard somewhere, from what they believe to be a trusted source, that are clearly wrong. But they are repeated so often that they just accept them (because they wish it to be true?). At no point do they verify or validate them. It’s the straw man. It’s easier to counter false arguments and evidence for evolution than the actual facts so they stick with them. This ‘proof’ was one of those. <br /><br />Like I said I was flabbergasted to hear this being said. I admit I wasn’t prepared for it in the slightest. I’m not sure if this will EVER come up again. If it does I can only hope that I can set him straight or at the very least give him something to think about. But it was a sad day to think that in 2010 we are still having conversations like this.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">www.twitter.com/ohyouthinkso</span><br /><br /><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><br /><script type="text/javascript">var addthis_pub="locaoimh";</script><br /><a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=20" onmouseover="return addthis_open(this, '', '[URL]', '[TITLE]')" onmouseout="addthis_close()" onclick="return addthis_sendto()"><img src="http://s7.addthis.com/static/btn/lg-share-en.gif" width="125" height="16" alt="Bookmark and Share" style="border:0"/></a><script type="text/javascript" src="http://s7.addthis.com/js/200/addthis_widget.js"></script><br /><!-- AddThis Button END -->De Langerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03553548288401468888noreply@blogger.com0