The Featured Post Blog

A collection of the featured posts as they appeared on mo'time

by: AmericanGirl

I've been thinking a lot lately about the butterfly effect.  The itty bitty things that happen to us, producing gigantic outcomes.  When I was getting married the first time, we had to attend pre-marital counseling sessions, as ordered by the Catholic church.  I think there were four two hour sessions, 30 young engaged couples sitting on folding chairs in a large room just trying to get through this so they could get on to more important things, like what color foil embossing should be chosen to best offest those personalized cocktail napkins.

On the last night the only thing on my mind was crossing this obligatory task off of my massive pre-wedding to-do list. Then we had the quiz.  It was a simple thing.  Sit where your partner can't see, and answer these simple questions.  I don't remember them all, but they were basic; How many children would you like to have, what is your fiance's favorite color, TV show, food?  And the kicker:  What is your fiance's worst trait?  I breezed through the quiz until I got to that one.  Not because it was difficult to come up with anything negative about this man I loved enough to consider spending the rest of my life with, but because I couldn't decide between the two worst things. Hmmm. Kinda makes you think.
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posted by: howard at 15:22 | link | comments |

by: InMyLife

I love the quiet of early Sunday mornings in the spring, when hardly a car passes by and the birds punctuate the silence intermittently with their morning song.  The colors of early morning are muted, dusky, tinged with gray, as though the sun hasn't had her coffee yet, but each minute adds light, deepening and sharpening the hues.  My coffee is strong and smooth and aromatic and blunts the chill of the crisp, cool morning air.

When I was a child, I had a love/hate relationship with Sunday mornings because I loved the weekly family breakfast and wanted to linger at that peaceful oasis, but many Sundays we had to dress for church, which I hated.  There was the latin mass, pungent incense which reminded me of our neighbor who seemed to bathe in cheap cologne, the boring cadence, the continual reminders to stop fidgeting.  Then there were the guitar masses, a bit more fun, but the sermons and dry wafers that always stuck to the roof of my mouth, served up by the man in black robes who never smiled and always asked for money, were so tedious.
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posted by: howard at 21:12 | link | comments |

by: Knut Albert

The snow covered most of Europe North of the Alps last weekend. The lakes in Copenhagen , where the water reflects the sunshine so invitingly on a summer’s day were frozen, and on a Sunday morning the empty bottles from Saturday night littered the ice. Cold wind swept in, seemingly all the way from the Siberian tundra, and the people huddled in their coats.

Luckily Copenhagen is filled with cafés where you can escape from the cold wind in the streets and the Swedish dopeheads filling the local trains. A very inviting place is Plan b in Frederiksborggade, close to Nørreport station.
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posted by: howard at 11:43 | link | comments |

by: hookemup

Dear Purple Blog,
Hi, I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for abandoning you. Towards the end of our relationship you just changed.  You weren't the blog I used to know.  You started nagging me to give you attention and to love you more but I just couldn't.  There was a lot going on in my life so I thougth we should just take a break but I kept thinking about you.
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posted by: howard at 14:46 | link | comments |

by: coopergreen

“Here’s the thing, Dave. Here’s where I really need you. You need to be vigilant, Dave, understand?” Dave nodded; he understood. “You and I, we’re only going to have a fraction of a second to respond if things go … not quite right. Got that, Dave?” Dave got that. “Vigilance, Dave, that’s the key. Vigilance. And here’s the thing. It is vitally important … critical, actually … that you stay well inside the Zone Of The Ethers for the entire time that the transmogrification procedure is underway. Critical, Dave, absolutely critical. Are you with me here, Dave?”

Dave the Helper blinked rapidly and involuntarily, feeling the pressure mount. ”You can count on me, Professor Dobbins. I will stay well inside the Zone Of The Ethers for the entire time that the transmogrification procedure is underway.”
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posted by: howard at 20:47 | link | comments |

by: allAkimbo

I sometimes fantasise about the apocalypse

Abandoned landscapes: an old highway cracks against the pressure of tree roots growing in a forgotten landscape. The old sandstone bridge that crosses the gully is subjected only to the sound of birds and insects. The rumble of engines and the honking of horns sound in the distance like an echo of what was once here; rebounding off the valley walls. The yellow dividing lines are faded and debris is scattered across the bitumen...

I thought about that scene when I stepped off the plane into the humid air of the Pacific. Indian miner birds, as much a relic of British colonialism in Fiji as they are in Australia, lined the walkway to arrivals. They added an eerie feel to the warm dusk, somewhat like a murder of crows lining the road waiting for carrion.
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posted by: howard at 13:13 | link | comments |

by: smhawke

To breed or not to breed, that is the question...

My male betta has built a beautiful bubble nest, and my female betta is very laden with eggs.  They're in separate 1 gallon tanks sitting next to each other, so go figure -- should've thought of this when I put them so close.  It is almost springtime and it did hit 78 degree today... being twitterpated and ready to pair off comes with the season I guess.
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posted by: howard at 23:54 | link | comments |