GO!!!

Good Luck out there Fjordlings! See yas in '06!

-Tsunami-

ONE!

Friday stood over the bomb. It was about five feet long and three across. A mess of wires and conduit ran about the thing, and set at the very top was a digital clock. The numbers raced downwards at a speed which was definitely faster than your average time.

"Clever." Said Tuesday.
"What?" Asked Thursday.
"Using an alternate time signature on the timing detonator. It seems to be moving downwards at 8.7639 seconds per standard second."
"What does that mean?" Asked Wednesday.
"We don't have much time!" Exploded Monday. "Jeezus, Friday, would you get cracking!?" Monday paced across the front of the bomb.
"Don't do that." Said Friday, "You're making me nervous."
"Good!" Shouted Monday, "Because I'm nervous. Maybe it'd help move this thing along if some other people got nervous too."
"He's right." Said Wednesday, "We're taking too long."

Friday took hold of a few wires, and looked at where they went. Some blue ones went off to the right, and some white ones went off to the left. Some green ones went down, and a few yellow ones went up. They were all braided with a bunch of black wires, and they all disappeared into the body of the bomb. He examined the blue ones first. Then after a minute of careful observation, he moved to the yellow ones. After another long moment (with the timer moving past the 42 hour mark, and rapidly plunging towards 41) Friday moved aside a small plastic block, and found a second clock.
"insidious." He said.
All four weekdays asked in unison, "What?!"
"There's a second timer on the bomb. This one's just a clock...and it's set for Eastern Standard Time!"

Tuesday stood up from staring down at the bomb, and began a long series of,
"Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck..."
Monday whacked him on the shoulder.
"Stop that!"
"Holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck holy fuck...I can't take it anymore!" He screamed the last bit, and ran off at top speed.

"I guess we all kinda' figured that was going to happen." Said Wednesday. "Just a matter of when." The other weekdays nodded their heads in agreement. Friday looked back down, at the bomb, and continued his examination of the wires that led from the second clock. The same series of blue, white, green and yellow. Some joined their counterparts, others ran into random holes drilled into the bomb-case. Friday looked underneath the device, and saw nearly the mirror image of the top. He stood up, put his hand on the top of it, and leaned on it.

"Whaddaya think? Can you defuse it?" Asked Thursday.
"Well, I don't know," Said Friday, "It's complicated."
"We kind of figured that one out ourselves." Said Wednesday.
"It might help if I could get a look inside." Continued Friday, "Does anyone have a fiber-optic scope?"
"Hold on a sec!" Exclaimed Monday, who ran off.
The three remaining weekdays stood looking at each other oddly...for a moment, when a small bell chimed.

There was a second bell that chimed. A nice chime, like a "G" note on a vibraphone. A second later there was another, then a small squeak. Then a man with dark hair, dressed in a tuxedo walked up, pushing a small fine cart. Upon the top of it was a mirror. On top of the mirror were placed a number of bottles, and a large glass pitcher. As he walked, he struck a triangle, that was suspended from the push-handle of the cart.
"Martini! Martini for sale!" He called out in a rich baritone.

"Kickass!" Exclaimed Thursday. "Martini Cart!"

The three ran over and each ordered themselves one. The tuxedoed man opened a small cupboard in the side, and produced three stemmed glasses. Then pulled out an ice-bucket, and filled the pitcher with it's contents. Then with deft hands he poured the perfect amount of gin and vermouth. He stirred the pitcher, and poured three glasses. The three weekdays drank their drinks quickly, and ordered more. The man went through the routine again.

They were well into their fifth drink - happily chatting and exchanging banter with the martini-cart man, when Monday returned. He had a huge contraption over his shoulder, and pulled an air compressor on two wheels.
"Got it!" Monday cried. "Let's get cracking!"
"Got what?" Said Thursday.
"Jaws of life!" Monday exclaimed. Then he kicked on the compressor, filling the air with a whooshing series of thumps. Then he took the jaws, found a welded seam, and began to crack the bomb apart. Rending sounds of metal and machine filled the air. The others walked up with slight Dean Martin sways, and watched the action.

The jaws of life dug in, and split the case in two halves. Monday pulled back, and smiled. The smile fell from his face, when he saw the others with drinks.
"Hey! Where'd ya get the booze!!?"
The three pointed with their glasses at the martini-cart. Monday dropped the jaws of life, and went to get himself something. The other three looked at the bomb.

"I suppose we should take a look." Said Wednesday, putting down his glass, and grabbing the top. He pulled back carefully, and Thursday and Friday looked in. Inside a number of processors, hard-drives and l-e-d lights flashed. Wires were everywhere, and a number of dangerous warhead-shaped items sat within.
"Dang." Said Thursday, completely baffled by the complexity.
"Yeah." Said Friday, looking around. Inside there weren't just yellow and blue and green and white and black wires, but pink and silver and copper and navy and burnt sienna and mauve and maroon and cream. Making it even harder was the fact that some were spliced together with tiny chrome caps, making it nearly impossible to determine where one wire went, and where three more started.

Friday stuck his head in, and began to look more closely at the electronics. He peered intently for more than five minutes. He only paused to take a sip of his martini. When the glass was completely empty, he stood up. Monday was back, and just in time to watch (with the other two weekdays) Friday move back to the martini cart, and fill up again. He walked back, and looked at the others.

"I don't think we should defuse it." He said quickly.
"But..." Started Monday.
"We're the only ones who..." Interrupted Wednesday.
"Why?" Finished Thursday with a question.

Friday took a drink, and pointed in with his hand, pushing back a hard-drive, a plastic plate, and a mess of wires soldered to a circuit board.
"Here. Read that." And he stood back, waving over the martini-cart guy.

The other three looked in and saw what Friday had pointed out. Inside, stenciled on a chunk of casing were the words: "Party Bomb 2005".
"Fuck." Said Monday. "We can't stop that from going off. This thing's probably circa First of January!"
"Yeah, seems like we'd be doing a disservice to...well, everyone that made it through 2005." Thursday mumbled in awe.
"Besides," Began Wednesday, "It's probably too complex to stop, even if we tried."

"Right!" Said Friday. "And anyways, even if it's not a party bomb, I'm sure wherever we end up is going to be amazing! Let's get more martinis!"

They all rushed the martini-cart guy, who, like a good butler, put up with it.


Happy Friday.

TWO!

I guess there is someone out there who is in control of this countdown thing, and THEY'RE ADJUSTING WHEN WE'RE GOING TO SWITCH!

I'm not an expert, but this just seems odd to me.

Anyhoo...
I was blessed by a recurring dream for the past few weeks, that finally made sense to me. I'm not going to go into details...cause I find that dream explanations are stupid, and have no narrative thread...which is generally true, and makes for stupid conversation. (not to mention reading)

With that in mind, I'm going to say,
It's nice to know I have a dream girl.
It also nice to know that she's a total bitch.
Just what I'd expect.

Three!

Since nobody's ever really determined who controls the countdown...I guess I'll start.

Three more days left!!!


And with three days left, how about some excitement?!?
And what's more exciting than a knife fight?

Well...

Okay then.

I wrote this last night.

He was quiet, and rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. He was at the edge of the roof with a switchblade knife held loosely in his left hand. We were pretty high up - twenty stories or so, high enough that the fall could kill you just as sure as a knife, but neither of us wanted to fall. I pulled out my little dagger too. It was a sheath knife I'd inherited (or stole, it's hard to remember, it was a long time ago) from my father. There was some whaling themed scrimshaw on the ivory handle, and it had a thick solid blade about five inches long. I moved closer.

He pivoted and kept the edge of the building off to his right side. I'd never had to knife-fight a lefty before, so I told myself to be careful. Before I could finish the thought, he leapt and struck quick, his switchblade straight out. I knocked it to the side with mine with a little ring, but it's edge caught my arm, and made a little slice about four inches on the side of my forearm. It was, however, better than the gut he was aiming for. He didn't back after the leap, but struck again from up close. I caught the strike square on my knife. Sparks rang off, and I lashed out fast. He jumped back, and I moved forward, making a stab towards his hand. I caught a finger or two on the top of his hand, but he made a nifty nimble up-cut, and sliced me across the top of mine. In a couple of minutes, the blood was going to make the ivory handle hard to hold.

I made a quick move with my left, and caught him square on the jaw with a fist. He staggered back, making a sweep with his knife at my offending arm. He was good - this guy - and he would have made a nice gash along my wrist, but I had on a watch. His knife sliced through the band, and my near 300 buck Swiss Army Watch dropped to the roof. I hit him again with the fist, and it sent him back a step. As he stumbled, I struck. My blade caught the top of his right hand - went through it, and pinned his palm against his stomach. I pulled it out in time to fend off the strike coming from the other side. His switchblade rang off the hilt of my knife. He struck again in a little neat circle. It got past my guard, and ran into my shoulder, hitting bone.

It hurt. But in a spot like that, adrenaline is flowing pretty hard, and besides, you stop for too long thinking about how much you're hurt, you get hurt a lot worse. As it was, I took a step back, and ran my weapon up to knock his away. It was good that I did, since he'd already pulled it out of my shoulder, and was making a slash at my throat. I blocked it, and had him way over-extended. I ran my arm up, and pushed his knife-arm to his left, then ran my blade straight at his chest. He pulled up his right arm to block it, but my steel went through the soft part of his forearm, I pulled it back with a vicious rip. I felt the handle grate as the knife ran across bone.

He was in no position to do anything but give ground, so he did. I pressed in, but he got his knife back in front. I kept moving forward, and he went back, trying to get into a good stance. But he hit the edge of the roof with a calf. He staggered, and I jumped at him. He couldn't do two things at once, and tried to fend off my knife with his. It worked, and the blood oozing around my hand for the last minute or so, made the handle slippery enough, so my knife left me. But he was wobbly, and I was moving forward. I didn't stop, and gave him a head-butt into his face. He tried grabbing me with his off arm, but it was weak from two of my stabs. As he started to go over, he made one last lash with the knife. It missed my nose by a few inches. I gave him a kick, and he went over.

I'll give him this though, he didn't make a sound going down. He took it pretty good. I lost him in the dark after a few stories, but I heard the thunk when he hit. It wasn't loud from where I was, like, the sound of a neighbor across the street dropping a trash-sack on the curb. Which, I guess, was sort of like what he was. I wiped my hand on my shirt, and picked up my knife, and got my watch. The watch had sentimental value.

Home again, home again, rig-a-jig-jig

By all accounts, it's Tuesday...

Four more days till we bury this weird-assed year.

Anybody got any fiesta news for me?

Just One More Thing Before I Go...

Cute Overload.

Soooooo Cute!

Well my pretties...

Things are about to go into full-bore X-Y-&-Z-Mass Nutzville...and there's not gonna be much over here until at least a coupla' days past that.

Lemme' just say I hope you're all going to see some good friends, and at least some of the Family you like. And if not, at least I hope you eat for free. Anyways, after this it's just a happy-funland-waterslide smack into the Gjoddamn New One...and we'll start up where we left off - given' dem da business!

Cheers!
-Tsunami-

P.S. - Maybe if ya got it in your heart, send some well-wishes to our pals in NYC. I've lived thru my share of transit strikes, and they ain't fun fer nobody.

Friday Stood Upon a Hill of Red Fingernails

Long ones, like the kind you'd see in on the hands of...hand models. The hill rested upon a plain, made of black obsidian, that reached out far into the twilight. From the top of the hill, one could see two silver rails that ran straight across it. He reached into his jacket, and pulled out a pair of hi-powered binoculars. He watched the magnified image of a huge steam engine pulling a line of cars. The rails, appeared to be razor-thin, and where the engine sat, it crushed them down to puddles of molten silver. In front of the train, a small wave moved in the rails, about ten feet in front of the train's gravity...like a big ship cutting thru water.

"Well," Said Tuesday, "that confirms it, one comes every hour, on the hour."
"Unless they slow down the schedule after rush hour." Monday said flippantly, looking at the last rays of the setting sun. "Which, they might..."
"Nevertheless," Friday spoke, taking the glasses away from his eyes, "It seems to be a well used line. Let's get a move on."
He trudged down the hill, small red fingernails giving way in little avalanches. The other's followed after.
"Hey, where do you think these fingernails came from?" Asked Wednesday. After a long pause, Tuesday answered. "fingers."

It wasn't long before they were walking across the obsidian plain in the dark. The moon came up, and stars appeared. Each casting a reflection on the glassy-stone. Monday kicked a small pebble of the stuff, which skittered across it, making nearly the sound of a rock on ice. "So Friday, just let me get this straight. While we were busy working this week, you were seducing the Voodoo Queen, and then what exactly happened?

Friday sighed as he walked...he'd glossed over the story earlier, and didn't really want to explain it, but there was nothing else to do. "While she was getting her hair done, I went over to the hydroplane race. As I was watching those bad-boys on the water, I looked over the crowd, and spotted Mrs. Trixie."
"The wife of Coyote?"
"The very same."
"I had a thing for her once." Wednesday spoke into the night. Most of the other weekdays shuddered at any thought of the hunchback having any sort of sexual "thing" for anyone.

"Well," Me and Trixie go way back," Continued Friday, and somehow, we got to talking, and drinking, and what-have-you, and the next thing I know, the Voodoo Queen's right there, and thinking I'm doing something...improper. Of course, Mrs. Trixie plays the whole thing up, cause, she's Mrs. Trixie. So anyways, the Voodoo Queen gets all pissed, and she was mumbling some of her jumbo, and here we are."
"Fuck." Says Tuesday.
"Sometimes things don't really work out so good." Finishes Friday.

Up till now, Thursday's been pretty tight-lipped, but he breaks it, and says,
"What's that?"
The others look over into the night, and spot a bonfire, casting shadows around a number of thatched huts. Then the sound of a forlorn train whistle echoes across the obsidian plain.
"Eight o'clock" Wednesday reads from his digital watch, it's face illuminated with a small push-light. Then a HUGE blinding light blasts into their night-eyes. A massive sign lights up in neon. One letter after another. P-O-L-Y-N-E-S-I-A-N (then it goes dark, and more letters follow) P-A-R-A-D-I-S-E. Those letters go dark, and both light up together, POLYNESIAN PARADISE. Then suddenly, a huge tower behind the sign, and behind the thatched huts lights up.

"I believe I've read about this." Says Tuesday, "It was something about a native tribe called the Obsidian Polynesians...got a gaming license I heard.
"Whatever." Concluded Thursday.
"Yeah," Friday said, "Let's Go!"

They covered the distance in a small time, and walked past the thatched huts, which were actually well crafted parking structures. The bonfire was a huge affair, fed with some kind of gas jet, and about a city-block in size. It gave off a bit of heat. The five weekdays made it to the entrance, and the doors were pulled open by two handsome men in loincloths. Standing there was a proud looking fellow, about fifty, in a kickass head-dress, and somehow making it all work with a fine Italian suit.
"Friday, and his most esteemed colleagues, it is my pleasure to welcome you, the first guests to arrive, at the Polynesian Paradise. Try your luck at roulette, craps, blackjack, and the loosest slots on the Obsidian Plain!" He bowed, and waved his hand in gesture to a huge, and empty modern casino. Friday looked over to Thursday,
"Man, led me some money."
Thursday pulled out his wallet, and produced a thousand dollars.
"I know how you get when you're gambling Friday. Don't come back for more. Besides, we still gotta' get back."
"Back?" Asked Friday, "Back to where? This is where the party is. Where we're at!" He laughed, and ran like mad for the craps table.

Happy Friday

P.S. We're all lucky tonight.

It's been awhile since I touched on

What it's all about.

The Fjords.

As much as I like to think of our little webzine as rich in text as the most majestic of all landmasses, sometimes there needs to be a little refresher course as to how badass fjords look.
Checkit! And here! Maybe this'll help? Howabout this...

Anyways, I'm not going to start a "fjord of the week" segment, but if I did, it might be worth looking at. However, I am suggesting that with X-mas close on our heels, and with some people a little confused what to get (the notoriously hard to shop-for) Uncle Billy this year. Well...howabout a nice senic fjord? Who wouldn't love to have one of those stuck under the X-mas tree? Nobody! Not one body wouldn't love to get a fjord for X-mas. Not. One!

Since a few of our readers might be in the income bracket, where they (sadly) can't afford a fjord, I'm going to give you guys the next best thing. If you want to print out a fjordpost and give it to one of your extra special loved-ones, I will not set our lawyers on you for copyright violation! Huzza! Huzza for X-mas! Huzza for Fjord!

In other news, there's these jellyfish

And our good pal Pop has outdone himself again with this badass concoction of Chinese forward-thinking. You should read the whole thing...it's scarily astounding, and I'm kinda' astounded that I didn't think of it myself. Then again, I've been busy.

-Tsunami-

Sweetness and Light...

HeLLO!

Can't quite find the Fjords tonight...

But if you're hungry, go read my Sunday Dec. 11th post...

it's worth reading all those words. (again)

-Tsunami-

Tuesday seemed angry...

and however well sourced you think I am, I have no idea why. So, instead of wasting my time making pointless phone calls (since well before I get home every night, the real world has shut down and ain't answering) I'm just going to hit you with this link.

Some sweet lookin' art, if I do say so myself. Found, thanks once again to Cool Hunting - which made me regret not visiting for a while.

I got this idea in my head...

and I thought this was cool.

Fjord - ruling the Webmonster since January 2005...

so you don't have to.

So I was wondering...

Are we the last generation that will ever know the feeling of freedom from the Webmonster?

With P.D.A's to access the beast, and PSP's and other wi-fi devices, becoming more and more common, it's not like anyone's even tethered to a DSL/cable line at the house. If you want to use your imagination on a word like "net," well, we're starting to live in one. I'd always been fascinated with the way radio and television signals could travel through matter, (walls, cars, space, bodies, ice-houses) then there were cell-phones, ATM machines (yeah, don't kid yourself, when the Telstar Satellite got blown up by a massive solar flare, it took down a huge network of ATM's - not to mention a large chunk of gas-pumps - which were busy transmitting something thru your clavicle...(and no, I'm not smart/informed enough to tell you what))

Anyways, I'm one of those gray-beards that recalls a time before personal computers , and now the power of the global database is accessible by hand-sized devices. It's like Dick Tracy's wrist-radio, only with an up-link to the entire database of knowledge humanity has been able to create. While I'm more than happy (hell-addicted is more like the word) to surrounding myself with every kind of media, I'm just wondering, is it a trap that'll be hard to get out of, once it's really everywhere? (and if it is, and you're not reading Fjord, I'm going to find out...)

Will we ever be able to get free of knowledge, information, news, entertainment, backstory? And if not, what is that really going to change?

Private Binks had a problem

It wasn't something that was too bad. It was just that he couldn't pronounce the words "en" together without tripping up his lips and saying "nen." Now the only reason this was a problem was that Private Binks was attached to the First Infantry Division HQ Signal Corps, fighting the Nazi's. It was his job to relay the orders of General Thomas "Meatgrinder" Smith.

Now General Smith came from West Point, fought a little in the American Expeditionary Force in W-W-1, and considered himself a fairly martial kinda' guy. He loved the commands of battle, ordering in the deadly rain of artillery, or sending a mass of tanks like a rolling iron wave at the enemy. But Binks was running the theater of it all. It was so cool to send a brigade of riflemen around the enemy's flank, but it was not cool to have Binks, every single time say, "Yes Gneneral! I'll signal the troops your orders right away Gneneral!" It was starting to ruin the whole fun of being a General.

What made it worse, was Binks shared his job with a signalman named Private Thoss. Thoss was even worse, because he had a damn Daffy-Duck slur in his S's, and therefore pronounced every s, as if it were a "th."

"Call in the Mustangs!" General Smith would command, "We need some close air-support!" And Thoss would salute and say, "Yeth Thir! Your orderth are already thent!" It was worse when things were really hairy, and both of them were on duty at the same time.

"Where are the casualty reports!?" He'd ask.
"Perhapth on your dethk Thir!" Private Thoss would say.
"I'm receiving an nencoded message now Gneneral!"
-the field telephone rang, and Thoss answered
"Firtht Army Command Potht!"
(He suspected other Generals of calling just so they could laugh at whichever boob picked up the phone.)
Binks was doing something on the radio.
"Gneneral! The nenemy has pinned down Lieutnenant Glnenn's platoon! What are the Gneneral's orders!?"
"Thir! Eithenhower hath given the orderth to retreat. The flankth thouthwardth are in theriouth ditharray!"

General Smith put his hands to his head. How could anyone conduct a war like this!?

I guess it wasn't Private Binks that so much had a problem, as it was General Smith. Shortly thereafter, the 25th panzer-grenadiers landed a lucky artillery barrage which straddled the command post. The concussion was enough to knock General Smith out, and he was carried to safety by his two signalmen. When he awoke, much to his horror, he found he had somehow gained BOTH of the hideous speech impediments of Binks and Thoss.

"Do you know where you are?" Asked the medic.
"In Germany."
"Good. Do you know who you are?"
"Of courth, I'm Gneneral Thmith."

And with that, his military career was over. He was however, (to his humiliation) quite the study for psychologists and linguists for years.

wow...

that last one was weird...

even for me.

They thought they could shut me up!

With some high-falutin' talk, and a lotta' liquor. (of course you know...) It ain't gonnan happen, least-wise, not while yer pal D. Tsunami is at the helm controllin' this shit. I don't believe their lies, and I'm not buyin' what their sellin' - even tho that's their job, and they're good at it. It's like spam I get on the...

Fuck That!!

Look, I know you all are hungry for a happy friday post, but Gjoddamn, this particular Friday has been a jackhammer on my particular wisdom, and on my brain as well. And I'm not sayin' it hasn't been great, but, it's also been evil. The kind of evil you want to suck deep inside yourself and hope in the morning...that, that-evil manefests into a beautiful creature that's lying beside you naked, and compliant to whatever -dream/sleep/fantasy- kinda' deal-i-o you're into. The kinda' sitch-u-ation that would kinda' get your rocks off in...sorta' the most bizzare way you could possibly imagine getting yourself off to - in the way that you'd never admit, even to your closest lover. That's what Friday's all about tonight...and when I talk about Friday like this, you know I'm serious. This is clearly the King of All Weekdays - the kinda' Friday that needs no elaboration.

So, in other words, I hope you all win the lotto tonight, and if yer not that guy/gal, then I hope your tongues all get a gjoddamn workout. I'm wishing you a moment of comlete satisfaction...knowing at the moment you read this, the weekday is done. And that ain't half bad.

Happy friday.

Two Posts Down

Contains the line that may have been the best thing written in the last month.

It goes like this...

- He looked up, the smile on his face slunk away like a kicked dog. -


That's nice.

Okay...

Things have been a little quiet lately, and while I know that the International Community of Devoted Fjordlings is doing their part...I need you all to do more. (just a little, itty-bitty bit more...really...like 25 seconds more...)

If you'll notice at the bottom of each post is a little envelope icon, with an arrow. This icon allows you to instantly e-mail anyone of your choosing that particular post. Do us, over at the West Coast Branch, a favor, and send one of your favorite Fjord textuals to three of your like-minded pals. (or if you want, just copy and paste a link of our URL, or...if you've got a blog yerself hyperlink us in - that'd be cool)

That's it. That's all you gotta do. Just, yaknow for yer 'ole pal Tsunami.

In return, I'll do an un-assisted handstand. Here I go! HUP!
OOoop! Stuff's fallin out of my pockets! Shoulda' thought of this before I got up all upside-vertical, There go the...Keys - check. Lighter - check. Loose change - check. Wallet - check. Hey - don't run off with that - it's got my bus pass! Fuck you! I'm now chasing you down the street on my hands! I'm catching up - I move pretty fast on my hands! When I catch you I'm going to strangle you with my calves!

I'm just sayin' - three measly people...
and don't ever, ever, take my wallet.

Thursday Was Dark and Ominous...

And he walked through the hallways of his personal fortress, built from the toilings of thousands of wage-slaves, (which, to a weekday, ment nothing.)
"Whisky!" He demanded, even though his left hand was clutching a huge ceramic jug that had three X's stenciled upon it in yellow. Puny mortals scattered this way and that, to either fetch him the dark liquor, or to avoid his dark and ominous mood. One tripped, and fell flat to the floor. Thursday trampled him with a spiked-boot that would have made the official KISS cobbler proud.

Thursday drank from the jug until it was empty, then threw it against the wall where it shattered. He turned the corner, and a small man dressed in a white apron, stood by the awning of a small wheeled cart. As Thursday passed, the small man said,
"Would you like to try some falafel?"
Thursday took the back of his hand and sent the falafel salesman flying back into his cart, which promptly overturned. Falafel and various cans of soda spilled out onto the floor.
"I don't have time to eat!" Bellowed Thursday, "I need whisky!"
Of course, none appeared, which made Thursday even more dark and ominous. (Lets' face it, at a certain point dark and ominous crosses a line, and becomes downright threatening - which is the line we crossed a few paragraphs ago.) Thursday continued stomping down the hall. Behind him, hundreds of mortals, like rats, swarmed the falafel cart, and began hungrily stuffing their mouths, and popping open soda cans that fizzed and spilled over everything. The small falafel salesman tried in vain to stop his merchandise from being looted. Sad really.

Thursday flung open the doors to his fortress courtyard, where a few Thursday-Shock-Troops were practicing a vicious assault on a small hut. Sub-machine gun bullets ripped through the bodies of five target dummies inside. (at least, it seemed like they were target dummies) Then various grenades, flame-throwers, rockets, and missiles were launched obliterating the hut. There were hi-fives all around. Thursday dropped a mighty hand (covered in a fingerless, studded leather gauntlet - the kind of thing Judas Priest would adorn their hands with) on a Shock-troop's shoulder.

He looked up, the smile on his face slunk away like a kicked dog.
"Whisky." Thursday grumbled...and a pissed off Thursday grumbling is like the sound a volcano makes right before it's about to flatten a good chunk of a city.
"Try over at the trading post." The Trooper was able to say. "There's usually someone there that's got some stuff."

Thursday walked off, dark and ominous. A truck drove in his path, and he picked it up in one hand, without stopping, and threw it against a massive stone wall where it exploded. A fireball raced to the sky, and the driver spilled out of the cab, a charred cinder. Thursday came to the trading post, where various merchants and barterers were packing up their things and hoping to run away before any wrath could fall upon them.
"Whisky!" He yelled.
Merchants fled, some clutching bags or cases, but most willing to leave their wares to save their lives. Thursday watched the panic with some satisfaction, but mostly disgust - why was there no whisky to be had??!!

A man dressed in a seedy overcoat spoke up from the shadows.
"I gotcher whisky." He muttered.
Thursday eyed the fellow, from on high. He didn't look like he had anything but disheveled clothes.
"How much?" Thursday grumbled.
"As much as you need." The fellow said, his eyes a shadow from the brim of a shabby hat.
"Show me!"
"It'll be ten-thousand dollars."
"What!?" Yelled Thursday. His voice was like thunder, and it echoed off mountains miles away. Small woodland creatures scampered for their burrows.
"I said, ten thousand dollars,"
"Where are your trucks? Where are your wagons? Where are your porters? Ten thousand dollars buys a lot of whisky."
"Don't need 'em. Gots it right here." And with that the man reached into his shabby overcoat, and pulled out a mid-sized pewter hip flask. He shook it enticingly. Thursday laughed. "Ten thousand dollars for THAT!?! HAH!"
"Dude," The man said to Thursday, "It's weapons-grade whisky. You don't need much."
Thursday walked away. He looked about his fortress, which he now knew to be dry as a bone. He took a few more steps, but he knew, just as the man in the seedy coat knew, he'd have to buy it.

He turned and walked back. He fished out his wallet, and produced ten, thousand dollar bills. The man handed over the flask.
"Now, like I said, " the man spoke, "you'll only need..."
Thursday drank the whole thing. Peculiar sensations hit his mouth, throat and stomach.
"a mouthful or two." The man finished, and calmly looked up at Thursday. The big weekday looked about him, his eyes focused on something far off, then glazed over. His left knee bucked and he fell, flattening a post office, and part of a doughnut shop. Giant snores began to fill the air. The man in the seedy overcoat and shabby hat counted his money as he walked out of the fortress. As he did he mumbled under his breath.
"Fucking amateurs..."

Hello Kitty!!!

Greetin's my Fjordian Gangsta's and Gangsta'-ettes!

Tonite we delve into the realm of a couple of items the Webmonster threw my way today. Now, I'll preface this here post, by sayin' I ain't a huge "Hello Kitty" fan, but I do find the little creature to be pretty cute. But when I heard there was a Hello Kitty Guitar! I knew I needed to win the lotto and get myself one posthaste!

I shared my new-found knowledge with my pal Monkey, and found she could trump me one on the "Cool Hello Kitty Merch."

I'd get more use myself outta the axe, but I'll tell ya what, I'd be happy seeing either of these fine creations -actually in action.

Anyways, I know you're all gettin' hungry for another literary masterwork, but at the moment, I'm directing my energy towards another project, and I'm stealing that time from here. However, I will spill this little secret. Since I started writing at this here web-zine, I've found my work affected (effected? yeah, probly...) by every good piece of literature I've consumed. This year I'm going to say, that's exactly two books. (that's not how many I read, but how many ended up being good.) However, I'm busy ripping through Naked Lunch right now, and I'm pretty confident that it's going to start leaking over here in just a little bit.