Feltie Tree Topper Angels!

After a hectic morning at work which can only be the sign of the fact that it's a few days before Christmas, an afternoon and evening of relaxation (a little cleaning): baking muffins, watching Terry Pratchett movies (and an episode of Buffy which was probably a ba-a-a-d idea, considering that Christi's away for the weekend), and crafting angel felties for our 3 mini Christmas trees! :) It's been nice. One more day of work, and then...Christmas Eve! and then...Christmas! Merry Christmas, everyone! Here is a random poem, composed on the spot. Not very Christmas-y, i'm afraid...but...enjoy your holiday!!

Time's run out when
Words are thin
When Meaning's weak
And Chatter wins
When all you've dreamed of's
Coming true
But leaves you wanting
What you knew
When debts are owed
And unrepented
Grace held back
Grace unrelented
What to keep and
What to lose
Is neither yours nor mine
To choose.

Besty-Bonnie Bitty-Bat

Argh! I was trying to get over fretting about the sideways pictures...but that's two in a row! Why??? alas and alack. Anyway. It's almost Christmas! And even closer to being Daniel's and my 3-month anniversary! (Our first quarter-annually :) so we will be going to get PEAR GORGONZOLA ETC PIZZA at hey, mambo! downtown then driving to see the be-yoo-ti-ful christmas lights at rhema. Hooray! and tonight is Christmas with Christi--there will be stockings exchanged and baby christmas trees lit up and it will be lovely. :)

in other news: i need a haircut.

Here is a poem, composed while drinking an extra-special coffee from Doubleshot. their columbian holiday offering. (i think the name is Maduro, but i could have that wrong) You should get some while it's still available!:

Besty-Bonnie Bitty-Bat
Was flitting through the sky
When something shiny down below
Caught Betsy's soft brown eye.
She flitted closer--found a lake,
Serene and full of stars,
And one fat fish who greeted her:
"Ahoy! Friend from afar!"
"How Could you know that I'm your friend?
I might be fierce and mean!
I Could swoop down and gobble you--
I Could be in-between:
A sometimes-friend, a sometimes-not,
A whimsy-driven beast...
Who jokes with you quite harmlessly,
Until it's time to feast!"
The fish--a trout--just chuckled,
"Oh, I'm sure I've not to fear!
I'm twice as large as little you,
And you can't catch me here!
If you should try, I'd dive beneath
These gently lapping waves,
And you could never follow me,
However fierce or brave!"
"Well, fine. I'll be your friend," she sniffed,
"But don't assume I'm weak!
I may be cute and furry, but
That doesn't mean I'm meek!"
She bared her teeth; the trout bared his
(That is, he grinned) and said
"If I assume as much again,
A curse upon my head!"
She shook his fin, he shook her wing--
They reconciled at last,
And spent the nighttime chatting of
The future and the past.

Nose Poem, Weird and Melancholy

I wish I had a nose as large
As twenty-times my own,
To sniff the scent of flower tears
When meadows have been mown.
To smell out sorrow--empty nests,
Once baby birds have flown--
Or miracles, like maples growing
Where a seed was sown.

With Apologies to All Brads

1. Goofy self-portrait 2. New Doubleshot coffee mug! Get yours for just $10! yea! :) 3. poor-quality poem illustration.

Today's poem is about one restaurant's attempt to make the most [money off] of a bad situation. :)

Try something new! (though it looks like a mess,
A medley of mush mixed in deepest distress)
See, Chef had a day most unspeakably bad,
And yet he created this dish we call...Brad!
The "B" stands for Butter, the "R" for Romaine,
The "A"'s for Asparagus, "D" is for Drain,
Cause that's where this masterpiece nearly wound up
When poor Chef lost his faith that good people would sup
Upon "Brad" with the rev'rance befitting a god,
And, with the last mouthful, rise up and applaud.
But we would not see him betrayed by his doubts,
And stopped him before he threw poor Bradley out,
Thus saving--ta-da!--a new taste for your buds!
So, try something new! It just looks like a dud.

Introducing Cecily the Cowardly Cat

Thanks go Daniel for this inspiring picture of Cecily, The Cowardly Cat :) This morning started off with lovely coffee at Doubleshot Coffee Company, and chatting/drawing/reading/writing. Purrr-fect! :) Follow that up with a oh-so-brief day at work and lunch at Tei Kei's (sesame chicken), a visit to home depot for some plastic window insulation (which is where the day hit a slight rough patch), and the promise of a nice relaxing evening = a very satisfactory day. Anyway, here is Cecily's poem:

Cecily Cat has a problem with heights:
She crawls on the ceiling both morning and night.
The coming-down scares her, she hates the foul ground,
For it's there that the lice and the rodents abound.
And Cecily's nothing if not cowardly,
So, despite disconvenience and difficulty,
She sharpened her claws so they'd help her to cling
To even the slickest of upside-down things.
And up from her perch she can crane her white neck,
And mock all the beasts that have made her a wreck
By scaring her back when she lived down below
By pretending to threaten to nibble her toes.
"So, who's clever now?!" she exclaims from her height,
But nobody hears her, not even a mite--
For all of her fears are made up in her head:
There are no pests near here, not living nor dead.
She's merely heard stories or mice, rats, and stuff--
But she is a coward, so that is enough.

One o' Those Rant-y Ones. Always a Bad Idea.

BLEAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! blech. blech. blech. argh. what. ever.
sigh....
This isn't really a poem perhaps. I had an idea to have the words form a robot, but...turns out i didn't want to spend the time figuring that all out. so, nothing but a rant in short-line format:

I am a Robot.
You don't keep me for
My smile,
Sense of humor,
Laugh, or
Love.
I get things done.
And am worth six flesh-dwellers in
Efficiency.
They chat and idle while
I set my jaw,
Spend time in friendship-building while
I bend my back and
Work and
Work and
Work.
My one emotion?
Panic,
Pure anxiety:
That what I'm programmed for
May not get done,
Or that somehow
I've missed the point--
Like maybe I should be There,
Laughing,
Smiling,
Offering
Whatever heart however small a robot holds.

And when I work,
I know I work too slow,
And when I stop,
It's threatening to burst,
And when they meet for drinks
And I'm alone
I wish I played a part
That I've rehearsed
And know as well as this:
I'm just a robot
So I won't be missed.

It ends pessimistically but i know that's not right. One lady I know has been trying to help me recognize the "darts" that Satan throws at us--i.e., lies that lead to self-loathing. Lies like: "People are better off without knowing me." "My primary characteristics are: awkward, unfriendly and worthless." "i have a dumb sense of humor and don't work out enough and therefore should live a life of guilt." but even when you recognize them as lies you've been believing them for so long you can't just stop believing. and you know that you're not called to a life of fear and self-pity and selfishness, and that the lies don't even make sense, but they're still there and you feel paralyzed.
i don't want to disappear. and especially not to stop growing.

Dude!

Good afternoon! I realized yesterday (or earlier today?) that it's been at least 3 weeks since my last zombie feltie. Today: Surfer Zombie! Which I made while watching four episodes of Better Off Tedd, Season 2, compliments of the combined services of the Wii and Netflix. :) such a productive day...guilt. guilt.
Anyway, here is a surfer-inspired poem. Oh, and I was having some geography issues. "Lake Tahoe, Michigan," sounded familiar...then i looked it up to be sure and got confused...then looked it up further and the internet seems to confirm my belief in a Lake Tahoe, Michigan, although according to google, i'm not sure it's the most well-known Lake Tahoe??? Thoughts?

Steve-o used to surf, but he
May never surf again--
You see, he moved from Florida to
Lake Tahoe, Michigan.

And lakes are never oceans, and
Some waves cannot be surfed.
And glitzy things may not be gold...
However much they're worth.

Montage!

Good Evening! Well, here is what happened with the fish: I didn't cook it. I went to the worlds most excruciating spin class...while Daniel came over and cooked a Fan-scrumptious meal of breaded lemon-pepper catfish, potatoes sauteed in italian dressing, and corn on the cob! Soooo...incredible...Five stars, yes sir! Today, i did some impressive housecleaning type things, including buying caulking for the windows...but not, as it turns out, the gun that is necessary for caulk application :( Ah well. Then lots of Harry Potter 7 reading! And a foiled nap. :( bad coffee.
Today's poem is just completely random and makes no sense, but was kind of fun to write anyway:

Rivers, roads, or roundabouts,
Salmon, sisters, skin,
Travels, turnips, twists, and trouts,
Universes, then...
A brief explosive dialect,
A language locked in time,
Whispers, wizards, worlds, wits,
A riddle closed with rhyme.

Hello again! I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! Mine was fun, and relaxing...no internet and minimal cell phone usage for 5 days! :) and no work, of course (besides helping out with vacuuming, bed-making, etc :) I have zero idea where today's poem came from...Line 1 just popped into my head, and it went from there...however, i will say that for my high school's production of The Hobbit, I played a dwarf (which one, i do not remember) with a uni-brow penciled in. You should try it sometime, just to see what it looks like!
Oh, and today at the grocery store, i bought Catfish Fillets! (because they are so much cheaper than salmon!) Dad's lemon pepper catfish was one of his signature meals when we were growing up, and oh-so-delicious. we'll see how mine turns out :)

"Uni-brows are underrated,"
One-Brow Bill proposed,
"Just think of all the warmth they offer
To that patch of nose.
In frigidaires like Canada,
The South or Northern Pole,
That bit of extra warmth is worth
Its triple weight in gold!
I've Never, Ever been ashamed
Of this genetic quirk,
And should you bid me 'Pluck your brows',
I'd promptly go beserk!
The only time it's ever been
A trait I longed to curse
Was when the girl I loved informed me
I could not look worse
If some pernicious caterpillar
Slept between my eyes--
But, given time, she married me
(A bit to my surprise).
So...yes! I love my uni-brow!
I'll sport it till I die!"
Thus ending his impassioned speech,
Friend Bill began to cry.