I’m not a fan of chain letters, they are lazy viruses that ask us to do the work for them. But even if i’m not willing to forward them I too have been infected so the following is the content (apart from the endless send this to your friends for luck requests) of a recent chain. I suppose this just hit me at the right time when I was most grateful for the people I know and can call friends.
Also enjoy this lovely and really quite appropriate song I was sent the link to from a Friend the very same evening.
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools And ran to the bog.
There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.
The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.
‘I want to repay you,’ said the nobleman. ‘You saved my son’s life.’
‘No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,’ the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.
‘Is that your son?’ the nobleman asked.
‘Yes,’ the farmer replied proudly.
‘I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.’ And that he did.
Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.
Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia.
What saved his life this time? Penicillin.
The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill .. His son’s name?
Sir Winston Churchill.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like you’ve never been hurt.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Sing like nobody’s listening.
Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.
Ain’t nothing new in this fable but it’s a valuable point never the less.
Wow thanks to everyone who is contributing and continuing to spread the word it’s really interesting to see everyones handwriting.
Okay people are really going to think I have a Hand thing now :s
But if you read carefully this says HandWRITING so it’ll be fine
Okay here’s the deal a good friend of mine (Marlar) thought up a fun post to do like the accent challenge that did the rounds recently, but since she has a more private Blog than me she suggested that I be the poster of her idea.
So with much props to her for this cool idea this is it:
Simply post up a photo of your hand writing, dosen’t need to be fancy as in don’t spend ages perfecting your lines and curves, just write how you’d write a note to stick on the fridge or something.
As for what to write? well I had to think long and hard about what I should get people to write, I wanted something in common for everyone since it will then show the differences in style clearer but I also think you should have some freedom to do something of your own choice.
So after thinking for a few days…I asked another friend lol and she suggested something just right i think.
Hand Writing Challenge Rules:
Write your name or your Username:
Then write this sentence (this should be written naturally): ‘chocolates are amazing and so are you’
And then you can add something of your own choosing and this one you can spend a bit of time on and make it look nice if you like.
Then take a photo and post the results on your blog with a tag back to me if you would be so kind
And now here’s my attempt…as you will soon see my hand writing sucks and hasn’t progressed beyond printing :S but then who needs to write when you have a keyboard :/
Well It has been well cold enough for it and finally it snowed, it only lasted two days due to a storm comming by and raining rather than snowing but here are the first shots of snow for me this year.
LOTS of Shots, but I’ve kept them pretty small so it should load eventually.
The Macleods Tables (the smaller of the two)
The Macleods Tables (The big one, it has a Gaelic name but I can’t be bothered to search for it right now)
Both the Tables. and a somewhat suggestive central pair of hills
The mist boils over the Cuillins
Snow Rolls in from the Sea.
Out to Sea, and the outer Isles.
Seal Island.
The Ridge wrapped in snow.
Giving a snow man a hand job…ewww
Storm Cloud over the Loch.
The Wall.
View from the Wall.
Secret Government listening post…or maybe a phone mast.
This is one of the rare times i’ve been tempted by a survey type thing. I got it from @MyFaireLink
The Basics
First name: Bede
Nickname: Bedey, Blue, Little Cakes (mostly it’s just bede though because hell it’s short enough right? lol).
Age: 26
Gender: male.
Location: Highlands, Scotland. (wasn’t born here though)
Little more in depth
What are your favorite color(s)? Blue, Yellow and Red.
What are your hobbies? Drawing, and everything computer related.
Dislikes? Loud Busy places, show and pretense, controlled environment(paths in nature for example)
Loves? Computer Games, Film and TV, Comedy, Anime, Wilderness and nature.
What are your talents? Not many lol, computers I suppose and creativity if that counts.
What is/were your strongest school subject(s)? Didn’t go to school. Strongest subject for learning would be Computers though.
What is/were your weakest school subject(s)? Still didn’t go but I’m not great at Math and numbers.
What is your taste in music? Almost everything. But highlights at the momet are Kraftwerk, The Incredible String Band, Louis Armstrong.
What are your fears? Ghosts/Demons, Heights, Public speaking.
Are you a bitch all the time? Not by intention but yea I can be a bit bitchy, I don’t see the point in what I consider obvious, so i can be a bit quiet and sarcastic. Which makes people think i’m annoyed :/
Are you awesome all the time? Hehe no, But I try to be.
Are you open or are you shy? Shy and private, it’s annoying even to me but I just get to embarressed by everything.
Do you read? Nope, I can count the number of books i’ve read on my fingers.
A secret:I keep my online social life quite disconnected from my offline life.
Tell me a little bit more about you: I’m quiet and have lived all my life so far almost entirely isolated from any type of community other than my family. I spend a lot of time just thinking or imagining and am there fore a bit analytical, i’m also almost universally agreed to be a bit odd lol
I’m quite tall 6″4 and I work from home as a WebMaster and Internet Marketer.
What do you look for in a best friend or just a friend:
Someone whos happy to just be. I’m not great at interacting all the time with people so if they are willing to just sit in silence and be comfortable then that helps.
Gamers are also good or nerds in one way or another. Also someone who can see the funny side of life.
Communication:
Facebook: Yep (but i’m still on the fence as to if I like it or not)
Sorry best give you ahead warning that is is not the most uplifting poetry I’ve every written, but I went for a walk and wasn’t feeling all that posetive Hopefully getting it out on paper will help a bit.
Anyhoo I think it’s still voting time (just) for the XWWC competition so make sure you check it out.
I sat in silent solitude, staring at the sea. My heart was filled with loneliness so my mind escaped from me.
It soared high in the sky like a bird in the wind.
It’s wings of hopes and dreams carried it far and wide, I saw and live many lives but nowhere could I hide for always far beyond my reach were your perfect eyes, and nowhere that my mind could fly could tell me perfect lies.
And so my mind returned to me and found me still alone, more so than when it had flown.
Lost without my chance of hope and tired of all that’s real, deep within, my heart collapsed and I pretended not to feel.
Nothing stretched out around me and my foot steps sounded dull, while my mind lay sadly staring blankly from my empty skull.
I ask that something save me, I’m not strong enough alone. I want to want and feel and need I desire your limits and your rules.
Please look this way and break this spell, bring chance and time, bring heaven and hell.
My pictures are all faded nothing stands out there for me, and I fear if this continues I shall cease to see.
I know that what I’m offered is unlimited and free, but staring to that void feels like nothingness to me.
I’m am coward I know that now I am not wise enough to fly all I want is my sweet illusion and to fold away my wings, to look ahead towards the day with hope and a heart that sings.
This is a question that must have been asked hundreds of times before but now it’s my turn
So Why do you hit the REC button? do you have set criteria or is it pretty random?
For me I think I mostly REC because a post shows some kind of fun or makes me smile, I tend to see REC-ing as both a reward for the blogger and a way to get them more views because I think what they wrote or made is worth it and would benefit other readers as it did me.
Another big reason for my REC’s is support, if someone needs input or looks like they could do with a few more comments i’ll REC to try and give them a bit of a traffic boost.
I also have to admit if someone asks for a REC i’ll usually do it.
As for Comments, well I VERY rarely REC those but I will do sometimes if they really make me laugh or have a uniquness to their point.
Not usually a fan of just grabbing a video or something and saying some vague thing below it, seems like if you spent the time to visit my page then I really ought to have spent the time to post something unique :/
But I’m feeling very self critical at the moment and despite a great desire to spend the day on Xanga (again) I REALLY must get myself in line and do some work, so for now just marvel at this incredible display of physical fitness and ability.
And of course remember that you’ve still got to go read and vote for the Xanga Winnetou Writing Contest
Because I do, I like menus too. In fact i’d go so far as to say I feel unnerved or annoyed when my access to them is limited.
But the future seem to be moving away from giving the end user the power…okay I should clarify this is mainly to do with computers :/ but it still counts for other stuff.
I’m a real PC (as in Windows OS) guy so whenever I use an Apple Mac I feel really lost, partly thats because of unfamiliarity but even after I know what i’m doing it still makes things difficult because you can’t tell what you are interacting with.
It’s easier and those used to it rave about the ease of use and user friendlyness, but if you actually have to try to fix it or change something beyond the defaults or the ‘normal’ way you run into a complete lack of feedback, you have to jump through hoops to find the menus or just send it back to get it fix.
But i’m not getting into a whole Mac vs Windows thing, i’m just using it as an example to highlight the issue, which is even more obvious in computer games.
Older games offered LOADS of options, you could change and tweak the graphics to make the game run better or look better, you could change the controls and the way the game behaved in certain ways.
These options are still there thankfully…but they are getting limited more and more, the systems are moving towards ‘user friendly’ options where you don’t actully need to know anything or in the end do anything.
It’s the same in the games, rather than begin put into a situation where you can play with the concept of the game, try to push the boundries of the world or even try to figure a puzzle out. More and more Games are just films that you play the lead in, you feel like you are on Tram lines with littel or no deviation allowed or available.
Look at anything and it’s the same, we tend towards ease, more computers in cars that do things for us, more computers in our homes that make life easier…and worst of all pre sliced vegatables in super markets, i’ve even seen pre grated cheese!!! -_-
I like ease, of course I do…hell i’m seriously lazy, but that dosen’t mean I want to be given everything I used to have to work for, even minor work is useful to keep you engaged and why must lack of feedback go hand in hand with making things easier?
Why not make life easier but also tell us what it is we are having done for us, rather than the tooltip for Level of Anti Aliasing saying ‘Changes level of Anti-Aliasing’ we should be given the option to learn what it does and why we want to change it. (here’s some info about AA if you wondered)
The future if anything but industrial Sci-Fi is to be believed will be easier, more ease means less work, less work means more free time, more free time means more time to develope both the mind and spirit.
But free time with no need and no feedback is isolation and emptiness, we need to be engaged, we need to be presented with problems and challenges, otherwise we just become lazy, bored and aimless.
Also it’s still voting time for the Writing Contest so go check it out here
So to cast your vote for the best Story from the Xanga WildWest Writing Challenge go here: http://bmojsilo.xanga.com/757208517/xwwc—mfwa/ And comment your vote for the best story of them all as decided by Xanga.
And remember despite the fact that I’m stunningly handsome, charming and generally wonderful…inculding amazing powers of humility Don’t just vote for the Xangan. Vote for the story, read it, savour it, and find the one story that truly speaks of the Wild West and the hard bitten men and women who carved out new lives out on the range!…or the brave Indians who tried to hold onto their old lives as the newworld dawned around them.
For this contest I thought i’d take inspiration from a song, so please enjoy the tale of Texas Red, first told by Marty Robbins:
Ben stood breathing hard in a still desert while a blood red sun fell to the cool blue desert, as the huge red orb deformed on the horizon it set the desert ablaze the shrub and grasses catching fire in quick succession. As the blaze spread its speed increase finally reaching out horizon to horizon, then the fire engulfed him.
Ben woke with a start, his pistol in hand. The barn was still, the only movement the trails of dust caught in golden beams of light. Ben ran his thumb over the line of notches carved into the pistols handle, rubbing his face with his left hand he let out a long sigh and returned his gun its holster.
As he dressed he peered out through the cracks in the dilapidated barn, it was still, another hot day he thought. Outside there was nothing but the sounds of crickets and the calling of hawks, the sound reminded him of his childhood, reminded him of that day, the day everything changed the last day he’d spent sleeping in a bed he owned. He felt old as he looked at his reflection in his shiniest cook tin. 20 years seemed too long to have been on the run.
This town hadn’t been too bad for him though the folks were friendly they didn’t ask too many questions, but he knew this day would come they always caught back up each one just as determined to ‘bring him to justice’ as the last but he’d been surviving since he was 4 ever since the riders had found his village, during that day he’d been confused, scared. He didn’t know why these men hated him and his people but now he knew, he knew to most he was just a savage someone to be moved on, beaten or killed without a second thought.
It had been a hard learned lesson that had cost many men their lives and now a Ranger was after him. The Ranger had ridden into town not long ago it didn’t take long before someone let slip that Ben was in town, it didn’t matter, this ranger must have been tracking him for weeks, there was only one way out now.
Ben looked at his reflection once more, in his mind he was still Ben Blackrock but before him stood Texas Red the hard faced killer of 20 men, the man who was feared and respected across the west. He smiled at himself and walked out into the sunshine.
As he walked towards town he saw little Wally racing running down the path a cloud of dust following him. “Mr.Red! Mr.Red!” He was breathless and his face was marked with worry.
“Hey Wally, he waiting for me?” Bens voice was calm, he didn’t want this poor kid to worry for him, he’d been here many times before.
“He’s out in the street….just waitin’…what are ya gonna do Mr.Red?”
Ben stopped and looked away into the distance for a moment, then he turned knelt down and looking right into Wallys eyes said “What I have to kid…what I have to”
Ben walked to the town, but Texas stepped out into the main street and approached the figure standing in the middle of the dusty road. The Ranger said nothing as he approached, moving slowly he tipped his hat as Texas squared up infront of him.
He looked like a good man, probably thought he was doing a service to the decent folk hunting down this ‘dangerous’ killer, but Texas had long ago accepted what he ‘had’ to do to survive.
The two men uncovered their guns and waited. The Rangers BigIron looked to be a Colt, Texas carried his Smith and Wesson that he’d taken from the first man he ever killed, it’s handle pitted with 20 marks…soon he thought there’d be one more.
At 11:25AM Texas made his move, and at 11:26AM Ben Blackrock died a bullet through his heart, the Ranger left with his body and Aqua Fria was left with a legend.
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